Are I.T. People Special?

Are I.T. People Special?

Do they need to be managed differently from the rest of your staff?

Are I.T. People Special? Page 2

Do they need to be managed differently from the rest of your staff?

This article sets out to answer three questions: 1. Do they need to be managed differently from the rest of your staff? 2. Are IT people really different from the rest of an organization’s employees? 3. That unkempt antisocial geek in the corner is your best programmer. Do you

let him do what he does best or counsel him to fit your ideal employee profile?

Before I try to answer these, allow me to clarify some of the terms and tools I am

using so that we completely understand each other:

Consider Character & Competency Allow me to briefly lay out the terms I use so that

you understand how I am using the terms of

character, competencY and competencE

When I embarked on my doctoral research it was

apparent that nobody could really agree if

competence and competency were the same thing.

And then there’s a whole debate about whether we

need to BE a leader or should we DO leadership.

This paper is not intended to open that particular

debate, though you can contact me if you would like

to read the rather turgid academic paper I wrote on

this subject

This article sets out to answer three

questions: ......................................... 2

Consider Character & Competency2

Brief overview of the 9 Characters

of Leadership.................................... 4

IT Team Leadership Roles ............... 5

IT Strengths and Weaknesses ........ 7

Do IT have a different Mindset? ..... 8

I.T. people are different ................ 11

So how? ........................................... 11

Are IT people special? .................... 12


I consider CHARACTER to be the way we are human BEINGS. The elements of our

personal make up, our genetic inheritance, upbringing, and environment and so

on – all these help create our character.

The way we do things – that, I consider to be our competencies. The way we do

things changing over time and adapts to our context and environment and may,

or may not, support the way we DO our actual job.

How we execute the tasks that are our job, I regards as competence.

It is these three, working in combination that generates our performance.

The combinations of individual efforts are the organization activities and generate

organizational performance.

I shall start by looking at whether IT people show a different character, then share

their differences in competencies and lastly, the ever so important, “so what?”

part… and answer the question posed with some advice on what you can do now.


Brief overview of the 9 Characters of Leadership I’d like you to think of your effectiveness in your role within a team as the

interplay of your own character and competency. We’ll ignore the job specific

competences someone in IT needs as these are all very different according to the

project in hand.

The greater your competency – the more effective you are

The deeper your character – the more effective you can be.

In our research we have found that individuals can be considered as having one of

nine dominant characteristics:

Compliant – these individuals

show some aptitude for

leadership in their role, and

some depth of character –

though essentially they are

doers of their job.

Controllers – have greater

aptitude for leadership than

Compliant and very often like

to keep control of their own

domain.

Conquerors – are often more

aggressive. Very good at

DOING leadership things, but with a winner takes all attitude.

Connectors – like to connect with people. We find that there are two versions of

connector: The giver (at their own expense) and the taker (at others expense).

Cavaliers – are the idea people – the mavericks if you like. Highly focused on

other people though not especially fussed about the best way of DOING

leadership things.

Conductors – like an orchestra conductor with their back to the audience, they

draw people together and create harmony and agreement.

Craftsman (yes I am coming back to conjurors) have great leadership aptitude

and work well with others. Imagine the Master/apprentice relationship as an

example.

Chess players are the strategists and planners of the team. Great at doing

leadership and with a string character.

Conjurors are the leaders in the middle. 360 leaders if you will. They have one of

the toughest leadership roles because they have a boss (often several bosses in


IT) and a team to lead, and customers, and suppliers and colleagues. They are the

glue of any team and organization, and in this world, make up the majority of

middle management throughout the world. Good enough at DOING leadership

and good enough at BEING a leader.

TO be at its most effective, any team needs people in each of these roles. Any role

that is lacking is like riding a bicycle with a buckled wheel. You can still make it

happen, but it’s hard work and less rapid than a well balanced team.

A note about the Data

Data submitted are self-assessments using GAPPS or MECA tools All data submitted between 2006 and 2015 All subjects based in Asia/Aus/NZ. 78% of all subjects in South East Asia Data is reported at .05 Significance

IT Team Leadership Roles When we analyzed the different roles in

our IT group, we split between IT staff,

managers and senior managers, and

because this is a paper to support a

seminar for CIOs, well CIOs and CTOs.

It is reasonable to assume that staff

members are more likely to be in the

bottom left hand quadrant – after all,

they are independent and not leaders

right?

Managers in the middle, well, we’d

anticipate them to be in the middle, around ‘Conjuror’. CIOs we can expect them

to be the strategists and planners.

To a certain extent, this is true, but do note… none are Cavaliers!

IT SHOWS SOME POSSIBLE DIFFERENCES TO WHAT WE MIGHT REASONABLY

EXPECT, BUT ARE THEY “SPECIAL”?


IT Roles and Ops Roles

How does IT compare to Operations as an example. Both functions serve the

organization. Both may, or may not have direct customer facing roles, they are

predominantly ‘back end’ supporting functions.

Operations appears to be more evenly spread and closer to what we might

expect… IT is certainly different then.

ARE THEY SPECIAL?

IT and Operations Teams Compared Both IT and operations

are ‘heavy’ in the

middle, both are ‘light’

on Craftsmen. But IT

has no Cavaliers.

IS THIS SPECIAL?


IT Strengths and Weaknesses What does this tell us?

If this is typical of an IT team – and our research suggests that it is, just that within

a single IT team of about 20-25 individuals the differences are not statistically

significant.

We would expect these strengths to be manifest Well-disciplined, efficient and practical Make good use of group, draw team together Co-operative, averting friction Quick to explore new opportunities (new projects that excite!) Single minded and professional dedicated

In particular, IT teams are seen to be more cooperative than any other

organization team. They are more disciplined than others teams (including

finance)

When we coach IT people, one word (and its variants) is repeated… Pride. Pride in

a good job, in solving a difficult problem, in keeping up to speed with the latest

technologies…

And these weaknesses. Lack creativity, think within the box and accept everyday realities as cast iron. May be seen as uninspiring or slow-moving Indecisive when lack data May be weak on follow-through Limited in interests

When we talk to other people about their IT folk, the biggest gripe is about how

long it takes for “them” to fix a “simple issue”.

NOW WE MIGHT CONSIDER THAT IT IS SPECIAL.


Do IT have a different Mindset? A quick introduction to Mindset. Mindset is about your BELIEF as to whether your abilities are fixed (i.e.

personality, intelligence, traits, abilities, talents cannot be improved upon)

Or, you can believe that you can achieve (almost) anything you desire to achieve

through effort and practice. This is a growth mindset.

For more on Mindset, do read Carol Dweck’s excellent book entitle Mindset, on

her research. If it doesn’t change your life, it might give your kids the lift they need

from you.

IT show just over 60% are Fixed Mindset, whilst Operations are evenly split.

So what does this mean?

More IT people have a fixed mindset. They believe that they are x intelligent, and

have a y personality and z traits that they can do nothing about. Most importantly,

if a specific task or project is beyond their BELIEVED abilities, IT people are more

likely to give up and avoid the problem (often by finding something else “more

urgent” to do).

I want to stress here. This is a BELIEF about how we are. And you can change a

belief.

SO MAYBE IT IS REALLY A SPECIAL CASE.


Leadership Competencies What about IT competencies then?

Remember these competencies are not their technical knowledge and abilities or

skills, rather their team leadership competencies.

In our research, we have analyzed and discovered what makes someone

successful in their role.

We define leadership success as: "Behaving in a congruent and righteous way

that generates a sustainable superior return on investment."

Behaving: your manifest actions and words.

Congruent: in accordance with stated and unstated beliefs and values

Righteous: acting in an upright, moral and virtuous way (within the context of the

environment)

Sustainable: able to maintained or kept going

Superior return on investment: continuously returning greater benefit to the

organization and/or people than the investment in time, money, effort. i.e. a

greater ROI than most other leaders.

Identifying those individuals who have achieved success in particular functions,

we know the zone for their competencies.

Analyzing IT on this benchmark shows that some are above, some below the zone

and many within the zone.

The red columns here suggest that something may be amiss. So let’s look at this

more closely.


Significant Competency Issues

For IT people, there are potential issues in so many being weaker than a

‘successful’ IT person in three Applied intellectual competencies, and three

emotional intelligence competencies.

The three Intellectual Competencies of concern are: Critical Analysis and Judgment Strategic Perspective and Vision and Imagination.

Don’t get me wrong here, IT people are usually very good at analysis… so long as

it’s numbers and so long as it’s logical. The most frequent ‘complaint’ we hear

from CEO’s and even CIOs is that their people don’t think about the whole

(business) picture. And this frustrates people in other parts of the business.

The second biggest compliant we hear from peers and staff on other departments

about IT is that they only say “yes” when it fits with the existing systems or

processes.

The three EQ competencies of concern are: Engaging Communications Self-Awareness, and Interpersonal Sensitivity


I.T. people are different IT people speak in a jargon of their own, and they laugh at jokes nobody else thinks is funny…

That unkempt antisocial geek in the corner is your best programmer…

Let’s face it, IT people consider Dilbert to be a guru.

So how? So what do you do about it?

IT ARE CERTAINLY DIFFERENT.

Without your IT people, your business would die! Even if your business could go

back to paper and pencil, can the stock exchange?

So if IT are different and you need them, whether they are “special” or not is more

label to try and make them (and you) feel good about your difference. So if it

makes you and your team feel good… then you’re special.

If, on the other hand, “special” makes you think “special needs” and doesn’t make

you feel good, then, no you’re just essential.

IT does need to communicate empathetically and honestly with the rest of the organization and understand the whole business perspective.

The need to transition from a technology led thinking to a business led thinking

These can be trained.

So you, and by ‘you’ I do mean you personally. Need to develop the leaders in

your IT team… by mentoring them.

1. Firstly, help them shift their mindset to a growth mindset (if they are fixed) a. Then make certain they understand that this won’t happen after an

event… it’s a daily process. b. Now mentor them.

i. In particular, in how to lead up effectively – the chances are very high that currently your middle managers do not know when to push back at you and when they should back off… you can help them.

2. Secondly, help them in leading across the organization… in particular, letting the best idea win – no matter what technological headaches it is about to


cause… it’s still the best idea and the fact that it came from the spotty teenager in accounts does not make it a bad idea.

Are IT people special? Do they need to be managed differently from the rest of your staff?

o YES Are IT people really different from the rest of an organization’s employees?

o YES That unkempt antisocial geek in the corner is your best programmer. Do you

let him do what he does best or counsel him to fit your ideal employee profile? o NO! YOU MENTOR HIM TO BE THE BEST THAT HE CAN BE IN HIS JOB AND

DEVELOP HIM AS A PERSON

To develop your special IT people, contact me today. You’ll find my contact details

on the back page.

Business

Are I.T. People Special?