When it comes to the IT industry, there is a lot that goes into managing tech teams and projects – successfully, that is. A significant portion of managers and leaders across any industry lack the appropriate knowledge and approaches that are evident in a successful project. Yes, they might see positive results, but they will often not be close to reaching their potential.
Implementation of the appropriate management strategies and approaches, even regarding the smallest of changes, can have a large impact on outcomes and return on investment. However, the way to reach the correct approaches comes down to open minded approaches to management, constant learning, and an innovative mindset.
Reconsider Your Overall Management Style
Often, managers will be under the impression that their management style is optimised and effective. Whilst employees will adapt to management styles and certain approaches can be effective overall, an open minded approach to management is often the key to productivity and reaching goals. This is also particularly true with tech teams, given the often flexible and forward thinking nature of tech work.
There are a few areas in which managers often fail to hit the mark when it comes to overall management styles – for example, management often put focus on hours worked, rather than outcomes achieved, which can often be counterintuitive depending on the type of work being done. Furthermore, micromanagement can often be a problem in the workplace. Whilst the intention may be to ensure that employees are consistently on track, it can cause a lack of respect and independence from employees, when they would otherwise thrive on the freedom that comes with a less controlling management style.
You should also be sure to focus on the more specific metrics involved in IT projects – clearly setting out things like leadership roles, project scope and budget, for example. In addition, promoting professional and effective communication, as well as managing relationships are factors that are just as important.
In conclusion, your employees might have adapted to your current management approach. However, this does not mean that the overall management style currently implemented is optimal in terms of productivity, team morale, quality of results, and general project progress. Thus, adjusting your stance on various management styles and beliefs is an effective way to improve the operations of your tech team – be sure to look at and evaluate your current processes, and how your team operates under them.
Constant Learning
In reevaluating your management approaches, you might not be sure of where to start. Regardless of whether you are confident in the changes you want to make, it is important to consider the developments that have been made in managerial research and the most effective approaches as taught in today’s leading institutions.
As a business function, management has seen a notable evolution as evidence continues to shape the workplace structures, workflows, and overall work environments. Despite the limitations and inconveniences that come with extensive educational endeavours such as getting a degree, there are a number of alternatives that allow for convenience and effective results.
In particular, an online approach to learning can allow for convenience, flexibility, and industry recognised qualifications that are designed for retraining and upskilling – take Monarch as an example of a project management course.
The Importance of Innovation
With the willingness to implement change and an idea of how you can approach the process of learning, you should consider the importance of innovation in deciding which techniques you might want to implement. Regarding tech teams and IT companies in general, a more innovative approach can have positive effects and the potential for an increased culture of innovation overall – not only is this effective in improving productivity, but it can also lead to improved creativity and more independent thinking by employees.
Consider the practices and processes of current organisations that were developed over the previous century – coming as a result of managerial innovators of their time, they now define how we work and operate as businesses. However, today’s lack of formal innovation processes demonstrates an inefficiency that many businesses exhibit. As a result, taking the initiative to work on this aspect of management provides a significant opportunity that competitors will fail to see.
Ultimately, in focusing on innovation within your management practices, you should implement innovative changes first hand, but it is important to also ensure that you implement changes that promote innovation themselves.