Hello and welcome to this edition of the Practical IT Manager Tips Newsletter.

This week's article
Two "bits of wisdom" that helped boost my career
Earlier this month, I discussed the concept of "stretching your people" and the benefits that are derived from doing so. One of the people I learned about this valuable lesson was from my IBM Systems Engineer Manager, one of the best managers I've been associated with.

He also gave me two more "bits of wisdom" that have been instrumental in helping me develop my skills and boost my career for the past 35 years. These are simple concepts that will help anyone.


Read the article below.

MDE News

Invitation accepted to present to Canadian Government
I will be teaching a session at Bill Carico's Technology Awareness Series (TAS) for the Canadian Government in Ottawa, Canada on October 4-6, 2005.
The topic requested: IT Due Diligence: preparing to leverage the merger

EDS registers twelve students for MDE's Belmont class
Why would a company like EDS send twelve more people to the IT Manager Institute? There are probably several reasons, but the simplest answer is because the program provides real value to those who participate.

EDS had 9 IT managers attend the spring session hosted by Belmont University. They have confirmed twelve more people for the fall session and have even hinted about the idea of sending more EDS employees to the IT Manager Institute.

The Institute is the only program to offer a certification for IT managers that focuses on the business aspects of managing technology resources. The IT Business Manager Certification (ITBMC) is gaining worldwide attention and the program is experiencing rapid growth.

Achieve more

Two "bits of wisdom" that helped boost my career

Last week, I shared insight about "stretching your employees" and discussed the benefits of what it does for your company, employees, and yourself. If you missed it, click here to read the article.

While writing the article, I recalled two very important concepts that one of my favorite managers gave me. Bryan Hathcock was a seasoned Systems Engineer (SE) Manager for IBM when I showed up in the late 1970's. He became a good friend and still is today, and I learned a great deal about managing effectively from him.

The very first week at IBM, Bryan began coaching me and molding me into a strong SE. His management style was persuasive and not authoritative. He was more comfortable in pointing out the direction for you to take than micromanaging an employee on how to do everything.

In the first week, he gave me some advice that I still adhere to today. It has been something that has made a real difference in my development as a manager and professional, possibly even as a human being.

I know that may sound quite strong, but I believe it to be true.

The advice, "Observe others and incorporate what you see as strengths into your own style of doing things."

The context of these words of wisdom was when he was telling me about his plan to pair me up with senior SE's and Marketing Reps over my first six months at IBM to learn about the business. He suggested that I would see some very different, even unique, approaches to dealing with various customer issues, opportunities, and problems.

Bryan's advice was to observe how different people go about their business and when I saw something that worked well or was a strength, to incorporate this approach or skill into my own way of handling situations. As for those things that do not work well, exclude them from your repertoire.

I took this advice to heart and to this day I still observe others and learn from the actions of others. You might say that over the years I have been a "student of management". I pick up sound management techniques from all types of sources. It might be from a management situation I observe taking place, from a movie, even from my wife who is trying to manage me or comments she makes about a situation. Management situations occur all over the place; I tend to look for these situations and learn from them.

One of the best examples of management in a movie is in the first five minutes of Gladiator. If you are looking for it, you learn a lot from a very short segment such as things like respect, commitment, motivation, strategy, and leadership. Don't laugh, I see every one of these concepts every time I watch this part of the movie. When I need a morale boost, I put my Gladiator DVD in the box and watch just 5 minutes of the movie. It's great.

Bryan gave me another piece of advice at the time I was about to leave the SE organization and move into the Sales organization. Part of my career path was to become a Marketing Rep after three years as an SE because having sales experience would be beneficial to my future career as a manager.

In one of our last meetings as Bryan's employee, he gave me some extremely good advice that I've used in counseling many of my employees over the years.

His advice, "When you move into a different role, focus on aspects of the new role and stop focusing on the things that got you there."

What he meant in this case was that I needed to drop the technical skills and focus I had on technology once I became a salesman. Having strong technical skills is not what will make you a good salesman. It certainly won't hurt, but if you continue to focus on the technology, you won't be developing your sales skills and doing things that are going to make you successful as a salesman.

This is some of the best advice I have ever had in all of my career !!

I believe this advice is what helped me eventually leave the technology behind when I became a manager and focus my full attention on what it takes to succeed as a manager. It was a very difficult transition for me just as it is for most of us who are technical experts who become IT managers. By nature, we are very detail oriented and we have a need to learn "what makes things tick".

The problem, of course, is that as an IT manager, you simply don't have the time to maintain your technical skills at the expert level and do what you need to do as a manager. Something has to give. If you don't focus your time and energy on management issues and in developing the skills that are needed in this discipline, your team and company suffer and your organization's results will not be to the level they should be.

Managing an organization is totally different than managing technology issues as a technology expert. All of a sudden, you have to get things done through other people and not yourself. This was the hardest part for me to learn because I was so used to doing things myself and only being accountable for myself. It is one of the more difficult transitions for all of us to make and it is possibly the most important aspect of becoming an effective IT manager.

Management is a full time job and so is being a technology expert. Both disciplines can be very rewarding for a person, but it is very difficult, if not impossible, to be effective in both areas.

Summary
I learned a lot from Bryan, but these two concepts have probably been the most important in helping develop my career. I continue to observe others all the time and learn from them. I look for management situations that add value to my existing skills and understanding. And when I take on a new role, I quickly focus on what's important to be successful in the new role rather than focusing on what I know from my past. I keep the past in the background and use these experiences when they are helpful, but the concentration and focus is placed on developing skills and dealing with issues that will make me successful in the new role.

Incorporate these two concepts in your own approach and you will find that they will benefit you for years to come.

Best of success.

Mike Sisco, ITBMC

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