Finding that perfect balance between business and technology can be a challenging process. Aligning them together where they are useful to one another, productive and most of all on the same page has proven to be the key to success for many organizations. It’s simple, in order to maximize return on technology investments, organizations must align IT decisions with strategic business goals.

Now, we have all heard that all old, outdated and inaccurate statement that Information Technology (IT) is a cost center. While at times, this certainly can be the case, I would like to respectfully disagree and here’s why. Irrespective of the business/industry you are in, today, you need technology to be more productive, responsive, available and well informed and as such IT is enabling and helping people do their jobs better. Disagree? If so, imagine how productive would your work day be without technology?

Having been in IT for over a decade I have seen both sides of this negative, adversarial environment where business and IT are competing instead of collaborating towards a common goal, organizational success. To be fair, most IT personnel is of a unique sort (I know, I’m one of them) and at times we transgress our responsibilities and by doing so impose on the business side and their goals and objectives. This is absolutely the wrong way to go about it (unless you are an IT company of course) as IT employees don’t have the full grasp and understanding of business objectives and strategic plans. Conversely, I attended meetings where business executives have enthusiastically stated that, “business* will drive technology as that’s the only way it makes sense.”

NO! That’s the not the solution either. Business and technology need to be partners, not competitors or in subservient positions to one another. They need to work collaboratively early in the process (or project) to benefit from each other’s strengths while at the same time minimizing weakness that both sides certainly have. Us vs. them approach needs to end and we need to realize that we are all in this together and that the difference between success and failure of our company, organization, project or idea is directly correlated to how well we work together.

* replace business with a more applicable term (revenue, ROI, market, education, pedagogy, research agenda…I heard them all).

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Business & technology are partners, not competitors

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Tell me what constitutes a great leader in your mind. Is it their industry specific knowledge; personality traits; communication; management style; decision making process, appearance,…?

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How many great leaders do you know?

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Knowledge is a powerful thing, but its real power and comes out when shared with others. Find a suitable way to share what you know and gather knowledge from other people as if will be mutually beneficial down the road.

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Your knowledge is only useful if you share it

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Hearing people make comments such as “does he know what he’s getting himself into” and “wow, that’s a lot of work” makes me ask myself the following question: Since when is hard work and desire to help make things better frowned upon?

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Challenge yourself

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Planning a simple move of personnel and their equipment (office furniture, computers, etc.) from one location to another shouldn’t be a difficult and complicated process, should it? Unfortunately, at times it can turn into an uncomfortable experience to say the least. Often the success of such (and other, much more complex) projects depends on proper selection of one person, project manager.

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Project Management is an acquired skill

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The New Jersey State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee is meeting today (begins at 9 AM) at Montclair State University.

This public hearing can be watched via live stream.

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New Jersey Senate Budget Hearing

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I’m a strong believer that you must know the area you are managing. You should have either moved up in that industry or took some time to actually get yourself up to speed on current practices and common knowledge. Being only a manager of people without having the necessary (even if only fundamental) knowledge directly related to the area you are representing and leading is unacceptable.

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Know what you manage

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Photo Credit: http://www.wordle.net

Above is a visual representation of the words most used by Barack Obama in his inauguration speech.

“new“, “nation“, “America“, “people“, “every“, “must” and “less” were among the most frequently used words in President Obama’s inauguration speech. Words which were synonymous with his campaign didn’t make a notable appearance. “Hope” was mentioned three times while “change” only once.

Now after sharing that completely random bit of information, it’s time to get back to work.

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Obama’s Tag Cloud

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“We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.  And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.” - President Barack Obama

This statement seems to resonate the most amongst folks in technology, sciences and education and has already started circulating many list serves, blogs and mailing lists. It is time for science to return to its rightful place of helping the world, enabling people and improving lives across all of our communities.

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President Barack Obama

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Do you see your current boss as a leader? Do you enjoy working for him/her? What would you do differently?

These are some of the questions we have all asked ourselves at some point while assessing our current professional environment and deciding what to do next. Most of us have also worked with or for people who had trouble leading a team in one way or another. Some of these folks weren’t even good managers (I’ll get to differences between managers and leaders some other time, but they are quite apparent).

I came across several people asking what makes someone a good leader and here are few things I have to share. Based on my experience these are important things (in no particular order) to consider when leading a team or even managing others.

1. Be approachable

Every single employee on your staff from the new employee who started last week to your right hand person, senior professional, have to be able to walk into your office, call or e-mail you if they have questions. An open door policy must be in effect at all times. Hiding in your office doesn’t help you or your team in any way, it alienates the two and creates a disconnect. Your employees need to feel comfortable to approach you regarding smaller concerns as well should they chose to do so.

2. Listen, then ask questions

When people are speaking with you, it is important to give them your undivided attention. Focus on their issue, treat it as the most important problem at that time and allow them to express what they are thinking and feeling about it. Once you hear what they have to say, ask questions on items that require further clarification and attention. Don’t assume anything, if you are not certain what the need is, ask until you get to the bottom of it.

3. Be fair and consistent

This is crucial in getting everyone to feel as an equal member of the team. Don’t allow someone to get away with stuff while penalizing someone else for the same action (or lack of). You can’t be too strict either, but it is important to be fair, consistent and set certain boundaries early on. Operations tend to run much smoother when everyone involved is clear of the expectations.

4. Acknowledge publicly, correct privately

You always expect and hope your team to perform well, but when someone goes above and beyond the call of duty make sure you acknowledge this stellar performance in front of the entire team. It’s up to you how you want to carry this out, an e-mail to the team or verbally at a meeting, either way it is important to be done in a timely fashion.
On the other hand, when a team member makes a mistake of some kind, speak with that person in private and try to understand the root cause of the issue. Do what you can to help them understand what went wrong and how to correct it. Humiliating them in front of their peers will only embarrass them and potentially push them into other mistakes. Furthermore, you don’t want your staff to be unhappy or ashamed at work.

5. Enable your team

If you have set expectations for their performance then you MUST be able to provide them with the tools necessary to achieve those goals. This is a very simple, but effective way to enable your team to perform up to specifications and be successful. This tools and incentives range from hardware, software, training to vacation and sick days. If your team’s success depends on availability of trade tools, it is your responsibility to find a way to provide them. In addition, enable people to make their work area comfortable and pleasant for them, if they want to hang some photos or posters (as long as they are not offensive to anyone) let them do so. I once knew a technician who liked to hand a photo of a particular mountain range in Asia as he said it relaxed him and helped him focus. I had no problem with that, as after all, while we do operate as a team, each of us is a very complex individual with distinct set of values, beliefs and skills. Here at work, people can listen to music as well, as long as it is not too loud (don’t want to upset the neighboring departments), disruptive or offensive. You need to have some fun as it is impossible to be in a business only mentality for 8 or 10 hours a day.

6. Empower your team

This is one of the areas were managers and leaders differ quite a lot. Managers tend to be control freaks without trust in their employees which is no way to run a team, department or an organization. If you have done your due diligence in selecting and training your team, you should be able to empower them by allowing them to make their own decisions. Staff also needs to be aware that every decision making ability comes with accountability for those decisions and actions. Obviously, certain decisions will still need to be made by only you, but as long as staff decisions are done along the previously agreed path and are working towards desired performance and success you should feel good about it. Enabling people to be in control of their destiny and make their own decisions is something they will all thank you for at some point. Furthermore, when making important strategic decisions, consult your team, you could be pleasantly surprised by their way of thinking and ideas you might have overlooked.

7. Fight for your team

As a leader of a department or a group it is your responsibility to fight for your team up the chain as well when working with other teams and vendors. Taking the fight on for additional resources, support, respect and organizational acknowledgment should be on your permanent to do list. It is one of those items you will never be able to check off.

8. Know your staff

I’m sure that most if not all of you have heard the saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none” which is not how you should staff your team. It is important to work with well rounded professionals, but it is even more important to know their strengths and use them in projects and operational responsibilities. You, as the leader need to be able to recognize what they are good at and enjoy doing and leverage those skills for the benefit of the entire team.

9. Remember, you are PART of the team

You happen to be in a leadership position for one or more of the following reasons:

- you own the business
- you have been there the longest
- you are the most knowledgeable and experienced person on the team
- you got “lucky”

Whatever the reason is you always need to remember that you are a part of the team, never above it or superior to anyone you work with. Treat people the way you want to be treated with respect, dignity and professionalism. People need to want to work with you and get their tasks accomplished, not to do so out of fear or retribution. Furthermore, the moment you use your title (VP, CIO, President, CEO…) as a reason to justify why someone needs to complete the work you have assigned to them, you have lost the respect of that person forever.

10. Keep up with your team and industry

In my case, it is important to stay current with the latest IT news, events and technologies. The importance in doing this lies not only in your own personal development and advancement, but in addition in retaining the respect of your employees. Generally (in IT field in particular), if employees think that their boss is clueless in their particular industry and area of expertise they lose respect for their authority and decision making ability. Bottom line is, be knowledgeable about the business you are in. You expect your employees to do so and the same rules should apply to you as well.

11. Put the puzzle together

All of these things considered, leading a team is not an exact science. There’s a lot of planning and organizing involved, but there are also times that require quick thinking and improvising in order to best respond to newly created situations. Keep working at it and tweak along the way to find your own style that best suites your personality and character.

Those are the main principles I follow when working with my team and they are constantly changing, growing and being improved. While there are not exact science and there’s no blueprint to success, following these general principles will go a long way in creating, maintaining and leading a successful team of individuals.

If you have any of your own tips to add, please share.

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11 things to consider when leading a team

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