Good leadership and making IT an attractive career option

Although some IT Directors are excellent leaders, managers in general in the UK do not get a good press. It seems the David Brent School of leadership is more prevalent than the abilities of say Richard Branson, or Terry Leahy. A recent survey by law firm Eversheds found that nine out of ten people questioned said they had worked for ‘bad’ managers, and most would like their bosses to communicate more. The law firm also found that a third of staff have a dim view of their bosses. Some thought they lacked direction and some thought they used inappropriate management-speak to try to communicate, with phrases like ‘out of the box’ and ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ being the least popular.

Being able to inspire, empower and motivate staff – lead them, rather than drag them - is key in this new era of the IT organisation. IT has never been seen in the mainstream as a glamorous career option. Many people see their own organisation’s IT department as rather beleaguered and under pressure, with job roles and responsibilities expanding for little extra recognition. The problem is that no one should really notice IT unless there is a problem. Consequently many IT Directors are suddenly finding that recruiting, training and managing staff has become one of their most pressing concerns.

Being a good manager isn’t easy, or an excellent leader because it involves the vagaries of human nature. People may be the most valuable asset that a company has, but it is far easier to deal with a logic-based problem than to unravel a member of staff’s lack of motivation. Traditionally IT Directors have not been seen as possessing those so-called ‘soft’ skills needed to get the most out of their staff – especially when trying to communicate. If they had been, more would have gone on to CEO and Chairman roles in their organisations. But now is the time to change.

At a recent CIO roundtable the main topic of conversation was worries about staff and a potential skills shortage. One CIO from a leading logistics company said that people were the single most important issue he was dealing with, and that they would be on his agenda for the foreseeable future.

The changing nature of roles within the IT organisation and offshoring are both fuelling concerns about recruiting and managing staff. The argument goes that because much more coding and systems development work is taking place offshore, IT Directors are finding it increasingly difficult to find IT project managers with the right skills, because there is no obvious funnel through programming to find managers. This is why good leadership is important. If the next generation of IT managers is not coming up through the ranks of programmers, then they are going to have to come from a more general business background. That means that IT Directors need to make their departments attractive to all round business staff, rather than those just interested in computer science.

And because the scope of an IT jobs is also expanding, it needs to be managed very carefully, otherwise the expansion could seem an onerous burden rather than an opportunity for staff to develop their careers. Skills need to be broader, so it makes sense for more of them to come from a wider background. IT Directors must be able to attract these people into their organisation, and make sure that the department gets the recognition it deserves. Good leadership skills are a must.