It always has been a little complex to figure out what exactly makes a top-notch Information Technology (I.T.) Manager. Well-Run Concepts has been conducting research to quantify what is needed in the position of I.T. Management today by defining these key areas:
· Attributes: personal skills or competencies
· Values: rewards and culture
· Behaviors
We used a comprehensive, validated, step-by-step process called the Trimetrix™ system to determine what is needed for top performance. This article will summarize our findings to date and here is what we found.
Attributes tell us if an individual can do the job by looking at what personal skills or competencies are needed in the job of I.T. Manager.
The Top Seven Attributes are:
1. Results Orientation: The ability to identify actions necessary to complete tasks and obtain results.
- Maintains focus on goals
- Identifies and acts on removing potential obstacles to successful goal attainment
- Implements thorough and effective plans and applies appropriate resources to produce desired results
- Follows through on all commitments to achieve results
2. Customer Focus: A commitment to customer satisfaction.
- Consistently places a high value on customers and all issues related to customers
- Objectively listens to, understands and represents customer feedback
- Anticipates customer needs and develops appropriate solutions
- Meets all promises and commitments made to customers
3. Teamwork: The ability to cooperate with others to meet objectives.
- Discards personal agenda to cooperate with other team members in meeting objectives
- Contributes positively and productively to team projects
- Builds and sustains a trust relationship with each member of the team
- Supports other team members and team decisions
4. Conflict Management: The ability to resolve different points of view
constructively.
- Faces difficult issues with objectivity
- Considers all opinions and facts before drawing conclusions
- Identifies appropriate solutions for volatile situations
- Negotiates acceptable solutions between parties to successfully move beyond confrontation
5. Self Management: The ability to prioritize and complete tasks in order to deliver desired outcomes within allotted time frames.
- Independently pursues business objectives in an organized and efficient manner
- Prioritizes activities as necessary to meet job responsibilities
- Maintains required level of activity toward achieving goals without direct supervision
- Minimizes work flow disruptions and time wasters to complete high quality work within a specified time frame
6. Interpersonal Skills: The ability to interact with others in a positive manner.
- Initiates and develops business relationships in positive ways
- Successfully works with a wide range of people at varying levels of organizations
- Communicates with others in ways that are clear, considerate and understandable
- Demonstrates ease in relating with a diverse range of people of varying backgrounds, ages, experience and education levels.
7. Leading Others: The ability to organize and motivate people to accomplish goals while creating a sense of order and direction.
- Inspires others with a compelling vision
- Empowers others to accomplish common goals
- Represents a positive, motivational example of others to emulate in becoming leaders
- Supports others through providing clarity, direction, organization and purpose
Values make up the next critical success factor needed, which tells us why an individual will do the job or, in other words, what rewards & cultures are they seeking on the job.
The Top Three Values are:
1. Theoretical
Rewards those who value knowledge for knowledge’s sake, continuing education and intellectual growth.
2. Individualistic/Political
Rewards those who value personal recognition, freedom and control over their own destiny and others.
3. Utilitarian/Economic
Rewards those who value practical accomplishments, results and rewards for their investments of time, resources and energy.
Behaviors tell us how an individual will perform the job. We analyzed which of the behaviors an individual should possess to perform well in the job of I.T. Manager. This is very important information to know in understanding communication styles.
The Top Three Behaviors are:
1. Versatility
The job calls for a high level of optimism and a "can do" orientation. It will require multiple talents and a willingness to adapt them to changing assignments as required.
2. Urgency
The job requires decisiveness, quick response, fast action. It will often be involved in critical situations demanding that on-the-spot decisions be made with good judgment. The job will repeatedly face important deadlines that must be met on time.
3. Frequent Change
The job requires a comfort level with "juggling many balls in the air at the same time!" It will be asked to leave several tasks unfinished, and easily move on to new tasks with little or no notice.
Now that we have a clear picture of what the I.T. Manager Job looks like, I would like to ask you this:
- If you are an I.T. Manager, do you have these critical success factors mastered? If not, what’s your plan to develop them?
- If you are in business, how are you currently measuring the talent in your I.T. Department today?
- Do they have the above named attributes, values and behaviors?
- If so, great! You are ahead of the competition!
- If not, how will you develop them or better yet, select talent that already has it?
Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
- If you want to know for sure, then run a Personal Talent Profile on yourself or your staff. Then match the results to the benchmark of the I.T. Manager Job in this article.
- If you have a unique culture in your company, you may want to be more specific and run a Trimetrix™ job benchmark with your own stakeholders. Then you can match your talent to your unique culture.
- What process are you using to determine what it takes to be a top-notch I.T. Manager in your company? Is it scientifically validated?
