I’ll admit that I was once like that too, but I’ve worked hard to eliminate it. Though, very rarely, when I’m really stressed out, you can see that side of me come out.. but that hasn’t happened in a really long time :-).

I’m proof that even those “techie” IT staff can change and become more personable to the users within the business. All they need to do is develop their softer skills.

What are these soft skills that IT staff should develop? And how can you help them?

Communication Skills

This is at the top of the list. The common complaint is that IT staff are unable to communicate effectively. I disagree though. IT staff are able to communicate very well; they are unable to communicate with people who are not their peers.

IT staff need to learn to communicate effectively to the layman, by understanding their audience and thinking about how they may understand the topic that they are trying to communicate.

There are many ways that you can help staff members become better communicators, whether written or verbally.

• Suggest joining Toastmasters, or send them to a Dale Carnegie course.
• Have internal sessions where you give each person a chance to speak about something non-technical that is important to them.
• Give constructive feedback on written works they’ve done.

For a member of IT learning to communicate with users is not always easy, but another skill can help…

Empathy

Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. I’m not at all saying that members of the IT department have no empathy; if they didn’t have empathy they’d all be sociopaths (although some may argue that they are).

What I am saying is that sometimes the IT staff has problems understanding the experiences from the users’ point of view. By helping them to become more empathetic, IT staff can relate to user challenges, and will hopefully treat them better (I make no promises).

You may sometimes hear about this as “Emotional Intelligence” as coined by Daniel Goldman. There are courses on emotional intelligence, although I believe this is something that requires longer term coaching.

Someone needs to point out to the IT person what they did, and simply ask, “How would you feel if so and so happened to you or to a loved one?” or “How do you expect that the other person feels about so and so?”.

You have to get them into the other person’s shoes so they can begin to relate to it.

Of course the person doing the coaching should be empathetic too, otherwise it’d just be a case of the blind leading the blind.

It may take some time, but after a while, the person will show improvement. Granted, they may not be the most compassionate person in the world, but they would certainly be more empathetic than they were before.

Critical Thinking

IT staff tend to be very logical thinkers. We follow a well defined thinking style to resolve issues. It is indeed one of our strengths, and is also found in areas such as engineering and other physical sciences.

However, such thinking style often results in rigid beliefs and thoughts. What we need to grow is our “Critical Thinking” skills.

Critical thinking is the process of critically assessing our thinking, and finding ways to improve it.

A definition I like from the Critical Thinking Community:

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it.

Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

We must therefore revisit our thoughts and beliefs and discover if they are right. Especially in this fast changing field, what we once knew, may not be true anymore or even relevant.

Developing critical thinking is a process, and there are many books and tools out there to help you develop it. One of my favourite books is “Why Didn’t I Think of That? Think the Unthinkable and Achieve Creative Greatness” by Charles McCoy Jr., but there are tons of other books out there, such as “Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius” by Michael Michalko (which I also recommend), that are worth investigating.

The development of critical thinking may work best in a group setting, so set time aside for group activities where you can help your entire team become better thinkers.

In Summary

There are other skills that may help, such as presentation skills, but the three I’ve listed would help your team go a long way.

IT staff often see their technical skills as the be all and end all of what they need in order to succeed. But I’ve seen time and time again, where not having the right mix of softer skills truly hampers the growth of very talented people.

These skills just don’t make you a better member of the IT Staff… it makes you a better person.

And it’s never too late to learn to be a better person.

Original article: 3 Soft Skills that every member of IT should have'">The softer side of IT 3 Soft Skills that every member of IT should have

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These same reports put lack of user involvement and stakeholder engagement as one of the top obstacles that these IT projects face.

I think that IT departments sometimes forget that they’re there to help end-users do their job; IT is a tool for the business, but users are treated as secondary to the operations. This is particularly so with IT projects. I suppose it’s because it’s easy for IT teams to get absorbed and giddy with new technologies.

Users are consulted, but at the beginning of the project, and only to get the “user requirements”. The IT department then goes off to work to create the next big thing. They return later with the finished product and the users hate it. Tony Collins once said, “Users are likely to reject any system that gives them what they asked for. Better… to understand what users do rather than what they say they do.”

You can increase the chances of success of IT projects by collaborating and getting buy-in from users. Even projects that are on the brink of failure can be recovered and go on to be successful, as the PM Solutions report shows.

Here are some ways to work with your users to increase project success rates.

• Truly engage your users. Don’t just put them in a meeting and tell them what you are doing, but listen to them. Ask about their thoughts; tell them your difficulties and ask for their input on how you may solve them. You might be amazed at what you may get.
• Start training them from the start. If you have an exam in the next couple of months, you don’t wait until the last minute to study (ok, maybe some of you do, but you don’t do that well, and you forget everything by the next day); instead you study and practice a bit before the exam so you can ace it. So why does the IT department expect users to suddenly adopt the new IT system when it goes live with little or no training? Instead start training them once you have a minimum viable product. The feedback you get would also be very valuable.
• Be consistent. Have you ever gone on a diet and achieved your target weight? If you’re like most people, a few months later you’ve gained it all back, or at least a few pounds (sometimes a few more than when you started). People have a tendency to go back to the status quo if you have not put systems in place to keep the change effective. Keep on top of the users, getting their feedback, and incorporating it into continuous improvement.

Original article: Your users hold the key!'">Improve the Success Rates of your IT Projects with these Simple Ideas Your users hold the key!

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I’m sure you’ve also seen it happen at the department level – power plays between employees. I’ve seen it before where staff members will not do certain tasks, see issues but will not resolve it, or worst, sabotage efforts of another to make them seem incompetent.

Such negative activities reduce the capability and productivity of the department. And in the IT department, it can be hazardous for your data, which can become pawns in this dangerous game of chess play.

So what can you do about it?

1. Do not get involved

Often the manager or team supervisor will get involved with the gossip and negativity with the intention of being “friends”, but this just adds fuel to the flames. Don’t do that! Nothing demoralises a department or business more than the leadership getting involved in the politics, even if done behind closed doors.

So what to do instead?

2. Listen and Be Open

When there is conflict or negativity, listen carefully to your staff and team. Do not interject or offer advice, no matter how much you want to. Get the person talking about what is going on. Why do they feel the way they do? What do they think cause it? What do they want to happen? What would they like the environment to feel like?

Do not judge. Just listen and take notes (after asking if it is okay to do so first).

3. Mirror and empathise

This is a very tricky area here. You do not want to make light of anyone’s issues, but also you do not want to agree that they are right (unless for sure they are). Instead empathise with the way they feel saying something, “and this whole situation has you feeling… angry? Disappointed?” or “I understand that you may be feeling frustrated”. The idea here is to let the other person feel felt.

4. Formulate an action plan

Once the person is talking and is open to dialog, formulate an action plan as to what needs to happen next. It might be tempting to bring the other person in, but I suggest that you talk to the other person in private first to get them open to dialog as well. Once that happens, then you can have both in the room with you as a mediator. Mediation is another skill that I will address in another article, but for now, know that it is something that may be required.

Ensure to set deadlines to when certain things are to happen so that there is not another issue of unmet expectations.

Issues addressed, what next?

Once major issues have been addresses and things have settled down, it may be beneficial to do the following.

Understand the informal organisational structure

Not all power and influence comes from position and job title. Many people have influence outside of position or may have the ears of people in high positions. There may be cliques and groups, and others who seem dead set to put one against another. By understanding these linkages, you will be in a better position to head-off potential problems.

Keep your ears to the ground

Listen out for grumblings among employees and staff, and be ready to address any rumour circulating before they become uncontrollable. In the absence of open dialogue, presumptions run wild. Keep friendships with people who are always in tune to the grape vine; this is usually the receptionist, but could also be admin staff.

Build relationships at all levels

By building relationships at all levels of the business, you can have greater resources at your disposal to address issues that come along. You can also learn from others how best to approach certain issues so you can benefit from that knowledge and handle the politics more effectively.
Learn to recognise and treat all peers and employees fairly.

You may never be able to eliminate office politics from the work environment, but you can work to minimise the negative effects. And if you can minimise office politics within the IT department, you have one less thing affecting your data to worry about.

Do you have a story to share about how you handled your internal politics? Or how do you feel about the advice that I’ve given? Please leave your comments below.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail list where we plan to send out regular tips on how you can improve IT and your business along with it.

Original article: Here's what you can do about it...'">Office Politics can hurt your IT Here's what you can do about it...

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They’re usually on call 24/7, albeit not always officially, but most do not hesitate beyond the thought of “he/she is always so crude/blunt”, to call at any hour to resolve from the mundane to the seemingly unfathomable to non-IT personnel.

How then can an organization boost the output of these already very productive individuals?

Improving “soft skills” or as it is widely referred to, the Emotional Intelligence, of IT staff would certainly go a long way to doing just that. Because it is an occupational requirement for IT staff to be technically proficient at their jobs, the opportunities to practice and therefore enhance these “soft skills” tend to be very limited.

By promoting the development of several key areas, an organization can transform its disassociated relationships into synergistic alliances between its IT staff and their customers. Some of these skills include, but are not limited to:

• Teamwork – team building, negotiation and conflict resolution, consultative approach
• Leadership – strategic thinking, management fundamentals, promote an enhanced grasp of business processes
• Empathy through Effective Communication – active listening, knowledge sharing
• Personal Effectiveness – handle stress, time management, improve influencing and selling skills

Another factor to consider is the cultivation of critical thinking skills. IT staff would then be better equipped to provide the right solutions for their customers at the earliest possible time since – the critical thinker must actively clarify goals, evaluate information, decide upon and accomplish actions; all while remaining committed to open communication and considering and even integrating alternative perspectives.

These “soft” and “critical thinking” skills would only serve to complement the “hard” skills the IT staff already possess and in their practice, a deeper understanding of business issues, not just those that are technical in nature, can be achieved and with that, pertinent IT solutions to those issues may be developed.

Any organization that recognizes the importance, relevance and benefits to be derived from an IT department that is accepted and treated as a credible business collaboration instead of just the “tech-support” unit, is an organization well on its way to achieving its goals through highly productive IT staffers.

Original article: Improve your business by improving the people within IT'">How to get more Value from your IT staff Improve your business by improving the people within IT

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