This is very dicey. What about technology-agnostic managers? Don’t they become good Managers? How much of a value-add is thrown-in with the ‘technical’ tag. End of the day its Management - be it technical or non-technical. Some of you might agree or disagree – which is your entitlement. From a holistic view, Management is totally different ball game compared to pure technical role played in IT industry. Management role is very dynamic wherein one should know where to reach and how to achieve the same. For anyone to be a successful Manager at senior level, build a team having right composition of skill; more than that, the next-level line managers will be instrumental in executing the decision. Hence much depends on Manager.
Of course, the Manager needs to have big picture and good clarity on the vision to give the right direction to the next- level , however that’s not enough for the success.. Manager should have right people to execute the same vision and position at the right place. But how does one identify ‘right’. Call it acumen or something gained from experience or inner calling or instincts – or sum of all. Subjective as ‘right’ might be, it does prove critical for the success of the Manager in any organization.
Know Self/Team: Any Manager should assess and evaluate his/her strength and team’s strength as well. The clarity should be crystal clear for the Manager / team to achieve the mission/vision of the team.
Know the gap (Self/Team): And it is imperative to know what's the gap within the current team setup is technically, functionally & behaviourally. Most of us will think why do we need to worry about missing behaviour aspect?
When a Manager is introvert, he/she may hesitate to connect with people and the team may not get the visibility it should get. In that case Manager should identify that as a gap to the team and close either by self or hiring some enterprising people in the team.
Fill the Gap:
Self or Hire? - Gap can be filled in multiple ways depending on the scope and width of the gap. If the gap is on technical/functional aspect, team can undergo the required training if there is enough time for learning curve. When the need to address gap is critical or urgent, it’s better to hire people with right skills.
Managers always should try to work on people’s strength and enhance/sharpen to bring the best more out from his/her team. That will help the team to be engaged fully. Managers don’t manage; they lead.
When Manager decides to fill the gap by hiring new resources, the ability to assess about the new hire to deliver is a one of the key clincher. If not, nothing wrong in seeking the opinion of peers’ help to connect with the right fitment. It’s very important that we choose the right people for any opening as most of the cases it’s the fitment that’s diagnosed as the pain point – and that too late in the project. Screening and selecting suitable candidates who are sound technically can cut out most of the spillage and increase the turnaround time. Technically sound professionals have an appreciable head-start as compared to the less informed as the learning curve isn't that steeper and with a minimal time spent in training the crew can be inducted in the team and start contributing.
So back to the poser – why ‘technically sound Managers’? Well it helps a great deal if the other person speaks your language as it does engage and keeps the team on the same page. Hence, it’s not good to have but need to have soft skills for the making of a Manager. Won’t agnostic managers scale? Yes, they can – with time and effort, and it costs companies bandwidth and training for the transition to hire such kind of managers known for leadership traits and management skills, but start-up can’t afford the luxury of grooming as expectation will be for ‘the professional with practice’. On top of technical expertise, certifications carry that edge to make you look distinct even from a distance. Learn about our certification programs http://goo.gl/7iDPnJ
We place our perspective in this platform to know more about yours. Look forward to your comments.
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