“Today’s work environments are much more collaborative, and we’re
all being asked to take more cross-functional positions,” said Kirsten Lora,
director of project management and professional skills at Global Knowledge, an
IT and business training company based in Cary, NC. “You might be a great
programmer, but you might be asked to manage a project or be a team lead, so
you need to understand the business drivers for doing something and how to
communicate progress and status.”
Some tech workers are clearly getting the message. According to a
2007 study from CompTIA, IT professionals believe that employers value
interpersonal and communication skills along with technical skills the most,
followed by strategic thinking and project management. To get those skills,
more than 70 percent indicated that they plan to upgrade their business skills
within two years, either through self-study or online training.
Employers can—and should—help as well.
“The nature of what we do in IT has become so much more embedded
with business that companies realize that they have to hire for basic knowledge
and train for the rest,” said Barbara Gomolski, a research vice president at
Gartner of Stamford, Conn.
That means training in many skills that traditionally have been
left to higher-ups—skills like understanding of the business, how to negotiate,
and how to build consensus.
Understanding the financial underpinnings of the business, at
least on a rudimentary level, could help an IT team leader, for example,
explain to executives where the opportunities are in his or her specific area
of technology.
If you have clearly defined business objectives and have explained
them to your employees, along with developing critical thinking and
decision-making techniques, “when IT employees are making decisions, they can
keep corporate goals in mind, which leads to better decisions,” Lora said.
Communication skills are perhaps the most important skill for tech
workers today, along with a basic understanding of the business and its goals.
Because money can be in short supply, especially in smaller companies,
successful companies often teach these skills by example.
“Ideally, you want to practice what you preach, so if you’re an IT
leader who exhibits those communication skills and is a strategic thinker, you
can impart those qualities to your staff,” Lora said.
But don’t forego formal training altogether, Lora said. Focus on
short, half-day courses, white papers and online, self-paced courses.
For IT managers or CIOs, more formal “soft” skills are in order.
That means having a full grasp of the financial aspects of the business, as
well as top-notch relationship management skills.
“It’s really important that the IT leaders understand the business
intimately: how the business makes money, how the business wins in the
marketplace, how it distinguishes itself, and how it succeeds at its mission,”
Gomolski said. “It means that you’re a business executive first and an IT
expert second—your principal job isn’t to make sure IT is up and running, but
to make sure the business understands how to use technology to meet its
business goals.”
And in fact, if done right, it should be
a self-perpetuating cycle.
“If you have the right skills, you can be a coach and mentor for
your staff, which in turn will get them up to speed on the skills they need,”
Lora said.
