It’s 2024 and alongside the many challenges we are facing this year, the ever increasing pace of change continues to push the need for ongoing personal growth.
For an IT manager to become effective they need to focus on those non technical skills that will enable them to lead a team and provide a positive culture for success and your team enjoying the benefits of working for this company, and with you as manager.
We look at some of the most important business skills an effective IT manager needs in their tool kit.
1. Organization
An organised mind is a must, obviously. Things change rapidly, errors occur, people get frustrated. Getting ready for those changes and unexpected situations is much easier to deal with if you’re super organized in the first place. Constant fire fighting is no way to manage and not good for your physical or mental health.
Preparation is key. During projects and meetings it gets better to keep a track of all the things when you’re organized.
Having an organised mind and routine to the core tasks you deal with, prepares you for coping with the unexpected.
2. Highly Adaptive Mind
We all know how the IT industry just keeps developing everyday. Any IT manager or aspiring to be one, would know how much you learn everyday. There are always instances where you come across things that you have to adapt to or learn. This is why one should have a highly adaptive mind.
So that when there are new things, it becomes feasible to understand and adapt them. Walking with the time advancing is what is important and that matters in today’s world. One you master the skill of adaptation, a lot of things become very simple and classified for you.
3. Progressive Nature
May it be any work, our goal should be walking ahead. Progress is something we should look forward to. One may be doing really great but they should always look to grow. Look for progress in any job you do. If you think you did good this time, try to make even better the next time.
To become a CTO or any senior tech leader and manager also means the need for constant learning, polishing your management skills and improving your ability to lead. You can join CTO Academy to enhance leadership capabilities.
It’s not just for the IT matter, but in every field, there should be progress. When you have a progressive mindset, there’s nothing that will stop you.
4. Building Strategies
When a task has to be done or something has to be managed, there must be a plan or a strategy. The way a manager handles things tells a lot about his or her ability to work effectively and efficiently. There have to be strategies about how the finances have to be managed, what move needs to be taken if something happens in a certain way. The way the employees are managed and the projects are carried out require a lot of strategy.
5. Managing The Team
There are numerous instances when you have to work in teams. Working in teams helps us in wondrous ways. For an IT manager, it is essential that he or she is efficient in team management. While managing a team for a project, leadership skills are also built and tested.
If a person gets the hand of managing the team perfectly, the work which is undertaken is completed with ease. An IT manager should be able to handle his or her team in such a way that they go a long way with desirable results.
6. Qualitative Decision Making
In every company or even in our daily lives, we make like hundreds of decisions. It is very significant that the decisions that are taken are in a wise manner. An IT manager has to look after many things and mainly his or her team.
The quality of decisions highly depends on how things are analyzed and worked upon. The way an individual analyzes the problem and finds an appropriate solution for the same talks a lot about his or her decision making skills. For an IT manager, this skill is required and it will help them progress.
7. Achieving Goals
Setting goals is one thing and keeping up to them is another. When it comes to an industry like IT, keeping up with the set goals plays an important role. The changes that take place in this sector keep on advancing and keep pacing up.
To keep up with the ever changing environment, we have to execute our plans in such a way that the goals we are running behind do not lag. Once you get the hang of targeting goals consecutively or in a constant manner, it becomes a part of your routine. As you set a goal and achieve it, you develop a skill of doing that.
8. Communication
Communication is a skill that is a must for a manager. While working with a team or during any socialization, excellent communication skills are a requirement.
A good communicator is just the one who speaks really well or sends timely emails or messages. To be a good communicator you also have to be a good listener in the first place.
A manager should be able to construe or interpret things. When you have a good understanding for things you can have a positive outlook for most of the things.
9. Negotiation
As an IT manager you have to undergo a lot of negotiations, may it be with your team member or anyone you work with. A manager is often a bridge between the higher authority and the employees, so he or she must have that skill of negotiating in a manner that works out positively for everyone.
Talking about negotiation, it goes hand in hand with communication. When you can communicate in an effective manner, negotiating gets easier. A manager deals with a lot of give and take. Whether it is a simple negotiation or a complicated one, if you have that skill to handle such situations, you are already a step ahead.
