Originally Posted by svandamme
James,i'm definately one that subortinates IT to business
even as a techie, i had several headbuts with folks who wanted to sell crap just for the sake of it, while my goal was to find solutions that made sense, worked, and were ROI worthy, one more reason why i don't want to get any consulting gigs
Ah, but once you get into management you are now part of the "company" and there is a fine balance between toeing the company line and doing what is "right". Unfortunately there is a lot of grey and you need to draw the line yourself. The kind of things you run into is if your boss takes a dislike to one of your staff and tells you to fire the guy...and he/she has done nothing wrong...do you do it or not?
Dennis
do i like people? well, yeah, work for me is part social life as well, i'm not into agreeing or disagreeing
My comment about whether you like people is not social. You are more of a parental figure than anything else, you will rapidly learn that while you can get respect and honour, you cannot be everyone's friend because you need to make the tough calls and resolve the disputes...some times making winners and losers. You also need to make workable, positive relationships with people who you cannot stand or like at all, but they do good work and get good results. You can't play favourites, you can't run anything other than a meritocracy, and never forget, when you are having your a** kissed, when you look down all you see is bright and shiny faces.
The job of management is one of managing overall outcomes on many dimensions, including building a team and dealing with any holes/overcapacity in any area without causing unintended consequence.
i'm into getting stuff sorted out in a rational way based on facts not BS, i do prefer action over endless discussions just for the sake of it, taking the bull by the horns so to speak
You'll find that some times you just need to be there and listen. They will solve their problems and being direct and rational is an excellent start....until you realize that you actually cannot solve their problems, you can just lead them to a place where they have a better chance of solving the problem themselves. If you are the one who takes control of most situations you will run into a syndrome called "vicious compliance".....which means exactly what it says. If I had a Euro for every time I spent hours after work, when I had about 30 things to do, listening to the hearfelt fears and concerns of one of my staff...I'd be rich.
PM is not my goal in life, that's for sure, i prefer dealing with people who know what they're doing, and letting them do their thing, and just make sure that they know i'll do what i can if they need me to do something for them
i'm more into the big picture then into the nitty gritty
....OK, a question, pretend I am the emperor of China in the 15th century, you are my chief engineer and I come around and ask you to build me a new Great Wall of China. What is your first question?
I'm not the type that would delegate something, and then bug em every minute of the day till it's done, although i do make sure i have a fix on the situation, it's not fire and forget
You can't. You need awareness of overall result but you need to allow for individual brilliance...at the right time, you're smart. You'll learn...
goal tending, well perhaps yes, but i think part of that is translation to upper management, if you can't explain what your IT dept is doing, and what you've done, prevented, or made happen, then yeah, you have results but nobody cares..if you don't sell it, it won't be bought
I don't like the idea making people do anything, do i lead? not sure either, i think i'm more into operational stuff, solutions to problems, prevention of problems, and supporting those i work with or for... not sure how that fits in to the line of your mentor
Since we have been conversing for a while, I suspect you are deeper than that...but if I based judgement on just this statement alone I would have concern about whether you can lead or manage. The key gift that is required is that you want to lead. You believe that you know how to get better results than most people and are prepared to mold it to the way you think it ought to work....if you don't want to tell people what to do sometimes, that can be a problem.
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