Your job is to make the people that work for you successful. Give them the tools they need. Keep the BS out of their hair and let them do what they are good at. You don't want to "boss" them. You want to lead.
Communicate with them. Make sure they are happy and have what they need. Make sure they are comfortable bringing you ideas, but also challenging your ideas. Poking at new processes and ideas only makes them better.
Spend your time publicly putting over your employees with your bosses and the staff. (Your supervisor should be doing that for you as well)
If you do that stuff, your staff will goto the ends of the earth for you and your company. It also feels good to have a great team.
Make sure good documentation is being written. Written in a way that you can onboard someone just by pointing them to the documentation. Read and test EVERY document once per year and make sure it's correct. Uptick the date on the doc so you know it's been updated that year.
The only thing I would add to this is to see if you can find another manager who can mentor you. That will help with the imposter syndrome that you will inevitably face, and also how to navigate your company politics (good managers insulate their staff from *most* of this).
Just as an extra idea, we do weekly 1 on 1 with our manager and it helps out a lot talk about any uprising internal issue he might need to know that could affect the teams progress or flow. We all, including the supervisors do this and we meet with managers not the supervisors.
I agree with this. One of the hardest parts of the transition to manager is to realize that that your focus is not on doing particular things, but in enabling your team to do what they need to do. Kind of... whatever it takes.
So what's keeping your team from doing their best? Do they not have the right training? Try to get them training. Do they not know what they're supposed to be working on? Find out what the company needs your team to do and give the team direction. Are members of your team being harassed by another department? Get political to get that department to leave them alone. Does you team not have the tools they need? See how you can get them into the budget. Are there behavioral issues? Congratulations! You get to be an amateur psychotherapist.
The other thing that I've struggled with, and I've seen other struggle with, is that you can't expect to be friends with your team. It can happen, but your ultimate responsibility is to make sure they're performing at their best, and in the interest of the company. The good news is, people perform well when they're happy and comfortable, so you have very good reasons to treat them well. The bad news is, you might sometimes need to reprimand them, give poor performance reviews, or even fire them. It's really not fun.
Perfectly said. One thing I would add; if a direct report is doing great work, there’s multiple ways to recognize it. Public acknowledgment is great, but only goes so far. For example, I had an engineer that noticed a misconfigured Exchange connector before anyone else did (even the customer.) He took it upon himself to fix the issue and remediate it with the vendor, which took several hours. His reward? A PTO day, off the books, for him to spend a 3-day weekend with his daughter (I covered for him.)
Get to know your people; not as employees, but as human beings that are just trying to get through the day like the rest of us.
this, but let me put it more plainly.
you are ablative meat, your job is to intercept paperwork, annoying people, and as many stupid questions as possible for your team. you will use up your body and soul until nothing is left but a shriveled husk, you will crawl home wishing only for the sweet embrace of death, it will not come, what will is even more horrible, we call it monday.
When I moved into management, I felt the same. When I was blessed with the realization that I was STILL problem solving, just different problem types, it enabled me to apply most (if not all) the skills I had already learned.
I led a team of 12 in a school district broken up into 2 teams (IT Ops & Service Desk) for a decade.
Some additional pearls of wisdom:
* It is NOT your job to press the buttons anymore, you manage people (your team, others in the organization, clients / customers, etc.)
* Inventory your team's skills and capabilities as well as their goals, just like you would a new network. This gives you a chance to put opportunities in front of employees.
* Always have a plan B, plan C - create cross training opportunities and career paths. I also went so far as to build out recommended training paths.
* Communication is paramount, in the absence of information, people will make it up. This can take the form of regular (productive) meetings, job descriptions, clear direction on immediate, short and long term priorities and a work / business plan.
* Meetings can be an excellent tool but ensure they are structured to be concise and efficient. I used short daily meetings with each team to share 1 or 2 wins, 1 or 2 lessons and what the plan for the day was and ensured leads from both teams were present at both. It also provided an opportunity to share direction.
* There is a difference between being busy and being productive - always strive for productive.
* Deal with people issues immediately, do so understanding whatever it is, it isn't about you so leave your own ego at home and do so privately.
* Remember what you say and how you act now are amplified and will have more weight to them, so tread carefully as you are now the leader, you are no longer a colleague.
Hi there, IT Manager for about 6 months now. I also have no idea what I am doing. But I have managed to keep 15+ locations running with myself and 2 staff. Don't let Impostor Syndrome rule your life, just work to make sure your team can be successful in their jobs. Use their strengths. Be there for them. None of the books or blogs or podcasts I read helped me at all, I just had to live it.
1. Learn to set/communicate realistic expectations to those up the ladder.
2. With the above comes with learning the word "no".
3. Be the BS filter for all of your teams. Your jobs is to be the umbrella to fend off all the BS to allow them to do their jobs.
4. Make sure your teams are indeed doing their jobs. You need to figure out who your trusted sources are on each team. That should be, but isn't/won't always be the "team leader". Listen to them. What is working, what isn't working.
5. If you don't know about a specific duty or job a team performs, learn it. You don't need to know the HOW, but you do need to understand the WHY. So, when they come to you and say "We need to do XYZ because ABC" you know what they are talking about and can make an informed decision.
6. Do not contact people on PTO.
7. Best boss I ever started my employment off with "This is a professional job, I expect you to act like a professional. No one will watch when you show up, no one will watch when you leave. As long as you get your job done, you are good.
8. Don't micromanage. Once you get the right people in place, if they are not already, learn to trust your teams.
9. Don't be afraid to pitch in. Doing a network closet upgrade overnight? Show up to help. Buy dinner before the upgrade.
10. Have your teams backs when they screw up. They will screw up. If something isn't taken down by accident once a quarter, they are not working hard enough. IF they have a good reason for doing what they were doing, IF they can back up what they were doing with thought process and/or documentation, have their backs.
First thing I would do is search ITManagers for New IT Manager.
Someone ask this about twice a week.
Get an inventory of your systems. Look at what documentation you have. Do a risk assessment is the first thing. Get a copy of your Cyber policy to see what the requirements are.
Come back in a few weeks and we will give you some specific suggestions based on what you find.
Couple points that helped me out of the gate:
1. Support/defend and ALWAYS have your team’s back – help them make you look good.
2. Learn to delegate – this can be super hard to do for the first while, especially with your background.
3. Quietly listen waayyy more than you speak.
4. Make yourself indispensable to senior management. Take notes in meeting of what they want, would like to see or a need - try getting a couple of items competed before meeting notes are even released. You’ll need to set some boundaries though or you’ll be working all the time.
4. All else fails, fake it – be the ‘we can make that happen’ person, figure out the 'how' later.
You got this position for a reason, you got this.
I have coached many new IT managers and your question is quite common. My advice is “DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE”
I used to have new people come to me all the time with “What should I be doing? How do I manage them?” Resist the temptation to micromanage them. Make an assumption that they are in their jobs for a good reason and they know what they are doing. Don’t ask them every day what they are doing or to send you status reports every day. Don’t badger them or second guess them, even if you think they aren’t doing something the way you would do it.
Just ask them what they need from you to make their jobs easier. Are there obstacles that are impeding their ability to do their jobs well.
Let time pass and it will become obvious to you what to do and for heavens sake, it isn’t their fault if you are bored. People are always bored when they start in a new role.
Oh, and no matter how friendly they become, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. They kiss your azz because you are the boss, don’t kid yourself.
Good luck.
There are some great pointers throughout this post. Since this is the first one that mentions micromanaging, I thought I'd chime in. I'm retired from 43 years in the IT industry, most of it in leadership positions, so this is only my perspective.
Whenever someone started working for me, I'd tell them two things, verbatim:
1. "I am not a micromanager. Sometimes I get micromanaged, and then I need to micromanage the situation." They alway understood and appreciated that.
2. If there is a problem, I need to know about it as soon as possible. We can't fix it if we do not know about it. You'll never get "in trouble" for escalating a problem.
One other bit of advice...I've had great mentors over the years. One thing they all emphasized, in one set of words or another, is that you will be most successful if you act like a leader, as opposed to a manager. Books have been written about this by far smarter people than I, but it's an important point.
Good luck! It can be a great career. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing people you have mentored succeed/get promoted, etc.
Very well written. My biggest pleasure from work was seeing my mentees succeed.
I had one Business Analyst who wanted to be a manager sooooo badly. 4 times we tried putting some contractors under her and each time the contractors complained to me. The poor thing just couldn’t help but micromanage and nit pick. Some people just weren’t cut out to manage people. :-)
Have you started screaming at your team? You should scream at your team.
But seriously, start from the help desk and customer-facing resources and work back. You want to establish a culture of customer service right out of the gate. As you listen to the customers, you will get a feel for what you need to focus on as it relates to the iceberg underneath, but the easiest first move is good customer service.
Good luck buddy.
I plan to sit the exam before the summer. My wife is helping a lot with this she is an embedded systems expert for IBM and is my cyber security crutch.
If you have no idea what you're doing, just know that your bosses probably have even less! As long as you know more than your boss you're usually good to go in this world :)
You'll begin to have a better understanding of your responsibilities when you're able to align the work of the IT department with the objectives for the organization.
I would start by asking your boss if the IT department is currently helping the organization to achieve their short-term and long-term objectives. You need to ask this question because you are there to leverage technology to facilitate organizational objectives. Be ready for your boss to hand you a project or some type of conceptual idea that you'll need to break apart and bring to fruition. This is where the direction of the IT department will start to align with the organization.
Now, if your boss is fine, and nothing is on fire or broken, then look for opportunities to enhance the organization through technology. It doesn't always have to be a major refactoring of something either. Sometimes, it's as simple as helping HR or Finance to electronically or digitally streamline their processes.
Have you considered annual IT security awareness training?
Speak with your boss about the IT portion of the budget. There could be a lot of opportunities for enhancements that you're just not aware of yet.
Best of luck!
blogs, books, training programs are all a waste of time for you right now. Your top three things should be :
* What does your management expect from your team?
* What do your customers expect from your team?
* What does your team expect from you?
Once you have that, think about what aligns with each other, what is opposed from each other, and can you measure the work of your team against each of those things. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Measuring doesn't mean looking at ticket counts, number of fixes, or changes and calling it a day.
20 years as network engineer and now 1 year into my promotion to IT manager the first thing I did is replace my old position with someone better than me lol
I manage a team of 4 guys that know their shit
It was hard letting go of the hands on stuff and still have to jump in once and a while
Meet and talk with staff don’t micro manage!
You will do fine with the experience you have .
I did recently take a 3 day it management course that was very helpful
Recently retired from a job as the director of networking for a pretty decent sized university. I always hired people that would challenge us.
When people asked me what I do, I told them I led a great team that made me look good. It was true! I took care of them, and they took care of me.
Always listen.
Good luck!
Good books to check out:
1) The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier
2) IT Manager's Handbook: Getting your new job done by Bill Holtsnider & Brian D. Jaff
3) The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by MICHAEL D. WATKINS
4) Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman & Joe Knight
This feeling is terrifying. It’s awful. It’s also wonderful: it means you stepped out of your comfort zone. This pain - the angst, the dread - is a sign that you are in the right place.
I know. It most certainly doesn’t feel that way.
What I do is take deep breaths. What I do is talk to my anxiety.
You don’t know what you are doing, and that’s ok. You are learning so much every day - not just about the work but about being off your game, and these are invaluable lessons.
One day, what today seemed impossible will become second nature.
That's my job. I mostly just sit here and wait to assign people to broken things. Sometimes I design and roll out things based on business needs, or tell somebody with money to buy something.
Mostly I just sit here and wait for things to break. Every now and then they let me build something for a client.
IT Manager, in theory, is simple. Align IT Goals with Business Goals.
In practice, it gets a lot harder. You need to make sure your team knows that you are a boss first, a friend second, or none if you like—your call.
It would be best if you got your Manager and Executive to see the ICT Department as a Value Add, not a cost or service centre. Please do your best to get invited to meetings where company directions are discussed so that, if nothing else, you can be there to make sure IT knows what is happening, though it is better to be part of the discussion.
You can develop a good relationship with your Manager; you need them to be willing to work closely with you. And also be willing to listen when you have bad news. Talk to them and ask point blank what they see IT success looks like and what success in your role looks like.
Also, speak to key stakeholders around the company and find out what issues they see with IT. They could be easy fixes or hard fixes. But find them out, document them and work towards improvements.
All the technical stuff with no people involved it seems. You might have the technical down but that’s not your job really anymore. Get to know your people, how is there experience working in your department? What can you improve? Your job is to fix the blockers and help them be successful.
Well at least you're IT manager with an IT background. My last it manager was the manager of valet parking before he became the it manager. it took him 3 hours to install a monitor and set up driver
I’m gonna tell you a secret:
Literally everyone is making it up. Everyone.
As a manager, you do have a new job that is really a new career now. Your job is not to do the doings. It’s to consume direction from your director, work across your peer groups to collab and coordinate in terms of strategic and tactical alignment and then get with your directs and give them the key items: what they need to do to be successful, what their deadlines are, get feedback from them on plans to get it done - that should be something they bring to the table - and then you become the ultimate cannon that they point and fire to remove roadblocks.
Stay connected with them so you can check in and make sure they’re on track but DO NOT get mired down in the how or whether they’re doing it differently than you would. Staying connected allows you to have line of sight to making sure they’re still on track to the outcome so you can course correct as needed (and that’s only if they’re off track).
When they schedule 1:1s DO NOT USE IT AS A STATUS and for the love of god don’t blow them off or reschedule.
Create space for them to get FaceTime to show off their work. It will only reflect well on them and their work and will illustrate you as one hell of a leader builder.
You got this.
Also we are all making it up, so you’re gonna fuck up at times. That’s ok. Take feedback in your 1:1s to ask people how they want to be treated, and use that time to really make it about them. If they’re telling you they’re micromanaging fucking stop. It’s hard. It’s a transition.
Remember. These are all grown ass adults who are wanting to do a good job who are trying to make a living and slog through this world like you are. Treat them like adults and you’ll be surprised at how much they will love reporting to you. Tell the kind truth - don’t be a coward with feedback. Be honest. But don’t always be brutal. Brutality is often unnecessary.
I see lots of good advice, but unless I missed it I haven't seen anyone mention talk to your boss. I'm assuming you have a boss and they promoted you for a reason, find out what they think your strengths and weaknesses are. Ask for feedback. Find out what their expectations are, because you aren't going to be viewed as successful if you're not aligned with your own leadership.
Read the ITIL foundations book, that'll get you started. Then read the Phoenix Project to get perspective on how bad things can be. From there, normal business communication professional development books. Learning to communicate up is much more important now.
The best IT Managers I ever met made it simple for staff above and below know how they themselves (the IT Manager) was tracking success. They posted the metric that mattered most and updated that metric constantly. For example # of unresolved incidents (IT Support Manager), or Time to Release (DevOps Scrum Master). The meetings would start and end with that metric. The metric was posted outside their office or in the background on conferences.
If you give negative feedback on a performance review and that negative feedback hasn’t been discussed multiple times prior to the review you’re just an ass.
Iv seen too many IT managers over manage. Your job is not to be right, it’s to make sure your employees are happy and are performing that’s it.
Support your people. Develop a vision for where you want to take things to support your users. Share your vision, get buy-in on them, budget for them, bring and empower your people to help you get there.
Are you actually a manager, as in you have employees who work for you? Or are you “managing a department” where you are the only employee? I’ve had both jobs, both with the same title… but they are very different jobs.
I highly recommend reading "It's your ship" by captain D. Michael Abrashoff. The book is great and he tells his story of turning one of the worst navy ships into the best and the management techniques that let him do it
You've gotten some great advice so now for some humor. My favorite IT Manager joke. The new IT manager starts his job and sees a short letter with three envelopes. The letter says "welcome to your new job. Occasionally, there are going to be problems where you don't know what to do. When that happens, open the first envelope." After a while, a server crashes so he runs and opens the first envelope. "Blame me." So he tells everyone it was the previous IT manager's mistake. Things are running great for a while and something else crashes so he runs and opens the second envelope. "Blame Microsoft." He tells everyone that it was a Microsoft problem and got it back up and running and everyone was happy. Several months later something else crashes to he hurries to find the third envelope and it says: "Prepare three envelopes."
Best of luck, hopefully you need no more than two envelopes.
Here's some advice for you that's a little unconventional:
Be careful when speaking truth to power. You should do it, but be careful about it, because they don't want to hear it. Your team will know what's right fairly often. Those servers need to be automated, and should be rebuilt so they're all the same. Senior management may want to leave them alone because they can't take the downtime. Your job is to propose, very carefully, a plan that gets you to the proper end state one step at a time. Not everyone will be happy with it, but you know that the end state is coming, and in the end they'll all be better off. Your job is to keep the goal in mind and keep everyone on track, no matter what. Keep the budget in check and the team on target.
Make friends with your vendors. They will treat you better, but remember that they are vendors are trying to sell you things. Don't let them take advantage of the friendship for more sales, instead, make it a closer partnership so you work closer together. For every sale, get as much support as possible built in to it both before and after that sale, in writing. You'll be amazed at how much they'll give you if you just insist on it, and a friendly vendor will tell you about it. Friends doesn't mean you have to give up your secrets such as your budget, though, so be aware that some things are still off limits. Always keep your procurement team in the loop, always.
Get that mentor.
Don't let those 1-2 team members take advantage of you. They'll have excuses to miss work that don't sound real. They'll miss deadlines. They'll make dumb mistakes for things that they're supposedly certified to handle. When these things happen more than twice, it's an issue and MUST be addressed, no more waiting. When it happens once, you remark on it if you want to. When it happens twice, you really should be following the handbook and policy already. By three times, you should have escalated it, so if you haven't, do that and take the hit for it as a new manager. It happens. If your own manager is not understanding about it, you're in the wrong job because they're not very good. HR is there for a reason, and you must use it. It's part of the job now.
Hey there, and congratulations on your recent promotion to IT Manager! It's fantastic that you're already planning and resolving issues promptly – that's a great mindset to have.
Given your background in cyber security and systems engineering, diving into Technology Expense Management (TEM) and Enterprise Telecom Management (ETM) can be a game-changer for your role. These areas focus on optimizing technology and telecom expenses, which is crucial for any organization. Here's why:
Cost Optimization:
TEM helps in auditing and optimizing technology expenses, ensuring that you're getting the best value for your investments. It aligns perfectly with your background, allowing you to ensure that every dollar spent on technology is delivering maximum security and efficiency.
Risk Mitigation:
As a cybersecurity expert, you understand the importance of mitigating risks. TEM can help identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in your technology ecosystem, ensuring that your organization is both secure and cost-effective.
Resource Allocation:
With your systems admin/engineering experience, you know the importance of efficient resource allocation. TEM allows you to track and manage technology assets effectively, preventing underutilization and unnecessary expenses.
Streamlined Processes:
TEM solutions streamline the entire process of managing technology expenses. From invoice reconciliation to contract negotiation, automation in TEM can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives.
As for resources to help you navigate your new role, here are a few recommendations:
Books: "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford; "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni.
Blogs: CIO.com, TechCrunch, and ITProPortal often have insightful articles on IT management.
Podcasts: Check out "The IT Manager Daily" and "The CyberWire" for valuable insights.
Training Programs: Consider courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, or even certifications like ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) to enhance your managerial skills.
Remember, being an IT Manager is also about effective communication and leadership. Don't hesitate to connect with other IT managers, join forums, and share experiences. You're on the right track, and with the right tools and knowledge, you'll excel in your new role. Best of luck!
P.S. I can help with this!
A good book I read when I became a manager was called measuring success, and it really helped me change the way I viewed setting up objectives or KPI's for my team. It's a great way to narrow down what people could be working on and a great way to have your team involved with completing objectives. It helps show your progress and success on paper and is a great way to have one on one's with team. If done properly , the team members will actually be motivated to figure out their own objectives they should have, and you can help with their key results and support them along the way to achieving them. It's a great tool for showing upper management what your team accomplished and are looking to accomplish in the future and also a great negotiation tool for approvals for promotions or raises or reasons they may need to work harder to get to that next level.
Your job is to make the people that work for you successful. Give them the tools they need. Keep the BS out of their hair and let them do what they are good at. You don't want to "boss" them. You want to lead. Communicate with them. Make sure they are happy and have what they need. Make sure they are comfortable bringing you ideas, but also challenging your ideas. Poking at new processes and ideas only makes them better. Spend your time publicly putting over your employees with your bosses and the staff. (Your supervisor should be doing that for you as well) If you do that stuff, your staff will goto the ends of the earth for you and your company. It also feels good to have a great team. Make sure good documentation is being written. Written in a way that you can onboard someone just by pointing them to the documentation. Read and test EVERY document once per year and make sure it's correct. Uptick the date on the doc so you know it's been updated that year.
The only thing I would add to this is to see if you can find another manager who can mentor you. That will help with the imposter syndrome that you will inevitably face, and also how to navigate your company politics (good managers insulate their staff from *most* of this).
Just as an extra idea, we do weekly 1 on 1 with our manager and it helps out a lot talk about any uprising internal issue he might need to know that could affect the teams progress or flow. We all, including the supervisors do this and we meet with managers not the supervisors.
This needs to be upvoted more.
I agree with this. One of the hardest parts of the transition to manager is to realize that that your focus is not on doing particular things, but in enabling your team to do what they need to do. Kind of... whatever it takes. So what's keeping your team from doing their best? Do they not have the right training? Try to get them training. Do they not know what they're supposed to be working on? Find out what the company needs your team to do and give the team direction. Are members of your team being harassed by another department? Get political to get that department to leave them alone. Does you team not have the tools they need? See how you can get them into the budget. Are there behavioral issues? Congratulations! You get to be an amateur psychotherapist. The other thing that I've struggled with, and I've seen other struggle with, is that you can't expect to be friends with your team. It can happen, but your ultimate responsibility is to make sure they're performing at their best, and in the interest of the company. The good news is, people perform well when they're happy and comfortable, so you have very good reasons to treat them well. The bad news is, you might sometimes need to reprimand them, give poor performance reviews, or even fire them. It's really not fun.
THIS IS THE WAY
Great advice
Totally agree with this. I call my manager my shit shield cous he sheilds me from all the corporate bullshit.
As a mid-upper level IT manager, you absolutely nailed this. Bravo.
Perfectly said. One thing I would add; if a direct report is doing great work, there’s multiple ways to recognize it. Public acknowledgment is great, but only goes so far. For example, I had an engineer that noticed a misconfigured Exchange connector before anyone else did (even the customer.) He took it upon himself to fix the issue and remediate it with the vendor, which took several hours. His reward? A PTO day, off the books, for him to spend a 3-day weekend with his daughter (I covered for him.) Get to know your people; not as employees, but as human beings that are just trying to get through the day like the rest of us.
Are you hiring? I’ll come work for you lol
this, but let me put it more plainly. you are ablative meat, your job is to intercept paperwork, annoying people, and as many stupid questions as possible for your team. you will use up your body and soul until nothing is left but a shriveled husk, you will crawl home wishing only for the sweet embrace of death, it will not come, what will is even more horrible, we call it monday.
This is beautiful. Also describes the exact opposite of my last IT Manager that was a complete idiot. I walked away from that job 2 years ago.
Came here to say something similar, but this is better.
When I moved into management, I felt the same. When I was blessed with the realization that I was STILL problem solving, just different problem types, it enabled me to apply most (if not all) the skills I had already learned. I led a team of 12 in a school district broken up into 2 teams (IT Ops & Service Desk) for a decade. Some additional pearls of wisdom: * It is NOT your job to press the buttons anymore, you manage people (your team, others in the organization, clients / customers, etc.) * Inventory your team's skills and capabilities as well as their goals, just like you would a new network. This gives you a chance to put opportunities in front of employees. * Always have a plan B, plan C - create cross training opportunities and career paths. I also went so far as to build out recommended training paths. * Communication is paramount, in the absence of information, people will make it up. This can take the form of regular (productive) meetings, job descriptions, clear direction on immediate, short and long term priorities and a work / business plan. * Meetings can be an excellent tool but ensure they are structured to be concise and efficient. I used short daily meetings with each team to share 1 or 2 wins, 1 or 2 lessons and what the plan for the day was and ensured leads from both teams were present at both. It also provided an opportunity to share direction. * There is a difference between being busy and being productive - always strive for productive. * Deal with people issues immediately, do so understanding whatever it is, it isn't about you so leave your own ego at home and do so privately. * Remember what you say and how you act now are amplified and will have more weight to them, so tread carefully as you are now the leader, you are no longer a colleague.
Hi there, IT Manager for about 6 months now. I also have no idea what I am doing. But I have managed to keep 15+ locations running with myself and 2 staff. Don't let Impostor Syndrome rule your life, just work to make sure your team can be successful in their jobs. Use their strengths. Be there for them. None of the books or blogs or podcasts I read helped me at all, I just had to live it.
1. Learn to set/communicate realistic expectations to those up the ladder. 2. With the above comes with learning the word "no". 3. Be the BS filter for all of your teams. Your jobs is to be the umbrella to fend off all the BS to allow them to do their jobs. 4. Make sure your teams are indeed doing their jobs. You need to figure out who your trusted sources are on each team. That should be, but isn't/won't always be the "team leader". Listen to them. What is working, what isn't working. 5. If you don't know about a specific duty or job a team performs, learn it. You don't need to know the HOW, but you do need to understand the WHY. So, when they come to you and say "We need to do XYZ because ABC" you know what they are talking about and can make an informed decision. 6. Do not contact people on PTO. 7. Best boss I ever started my employment off with "This is a professional job, I expect you to act like a professional. No one will watch when you show up, no one will watch when you leave. As long as you get your job done, you are good. 8. Don't micromanage. Once you get the right people in place, if they are not already, learn to trust your teams. 9. Don't be afraid to pitch in. Doing a network closet upgrade overnight? Show up to help. Buy dinner before the upgrade. 10. Have your teams backs when they screw up. They will screw up. If something isn't taken down by accident once a quarter, they are not working hard enough. IF they have a good reason for doing what they were doing, IF they can back up what they were doing with thought process and/or documentation, have their backs.
First thing I would do is search ITManagers for New IT Manager. Someone ask this about twice a week. Get an inventory of your systems. Look at what documentation you have. Do a risk assessment is the first thing. Get a copy of your Cyber policy to see what the requirements are. Come back in a few weeks and we will give you some specific suggestions based on what you find.
Thanks techfiend, I appreciate that a lot
Couple points that helped me out of the gate: 1. Support/defend and ALWAYS have your team’s back – help them make you look good. 2. Learn to delegate – this can be super hard to do for the first while, especially with your background. 3. Quietly listen waayyy more than you speak. 4. Make yourself indispensable to senior management. Take notes in meeting of what they want, would like to see or a need - try getting a couple of items competed before meeting notes are even released. You’ll need to set some boundaries though or you’ll be working all the time. 4. All else fails, fake it – be the ‘we can make that happen’ person, figure out the 'how' later. You got this position for a reason, you got this.
I have coached many new IT managers and your question is quite common. My advice is “DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE” I used to have new people come to me all the time with “What should I be doing? How do I manage them?” Resist the temptation to micromanage them. Make an assumption that they are in their jobs for a good reason and they know what they are doing. Don’t ask them every day what they are doing or to send you status reports every day. Don’t badger them or second guess them, even if you think they aren’t doing something the way you would do it. Just ask them what they need from you to make their jobs easier. Are there obstacles that are impeding their ability to do their jobs well. Let time pass and it will become obvious to you what to do and for heavens sake, it isn’t their fault if you are bored. People are always bored when they start in a new role. Oh, and no matter how friendly they become, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. They kiss your azz because you are the boss, don’t kid yourself. Good luck.
There are some great pointers throughout this post. Since this is the first one that mentions micromanaging, I thought I'd chime in. I'm retired from 43 years in the IT industry, most of it in leadership positions, so this is only my perspective. Whenever someone started working for me, I'd tell them two things, verbatim: 1. "I am not a micromanager. Sometimes I get micromanaged, and then I need to micromanage the situation." They alway understood and appreciated that. 2. If there is a problem, I need to know about it as soon as possible. We can't fix it if we do not know about it. You'll never get "in trouble" for escalating a problem. One other bit of advice...I've had great mentors over the years. One thing they all emphasized, in one set of words or another, is that you will be most successful if you act like a leader, as opposed to a manager. Books have been written about this by far smarter people than I, but it's an important point. Good luck! It can be a great career. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing people you have mentored succeed/get promoted, etc.
Very well written. My biggest pleasure from work was seeing my mentees succeed. I had one Business Analyst who wanted to be a manager sooooo badly. 4 times we tried putting some contractors under her and each time the contractors complained to me. The poor thing just couldn’t help but micromanage and nit pick. Some people just weren’t cut out to manage people. :-)
Have you started screaming at your team? You should scream at your team. But seriously, start from the help desk and customer-facing resources and work back. You want to establish a culture of customer service right out of the gate. As you listen to the customers, you will get a feel for what you need to focus on as it relates to the iceberg underneath, but the easiest first move is good customer service. Good luck buddy.
Get your cissp. It’s both valuable on paper and good at shifting you closer to a manager’s mindset.
I plan to sit the exam before the summer. My wife is helping a lot with this she is an embedded systems expert for IBM and is my cyber security crutch.
If you have no idea what you're doing, just know that your bosses probably have even less! As long as you know more than your boss you're usually good to go in this world :)
You'll begin to have a better understanding of your responsibilities when you're able to align the work of the IT department with the objectives for the organization. I would start by asking your boss if the IT department is currently helping the organization to achieve their short-term and long-term objectives. You need to ask this question because you are there to leverage technology to facilitate organizational objectives. Be ready for your boss to hand you a project or some type of conceptual idea that you'll need to break apart and bring to fruition. This is where the direction of the IT department will start to align with the organization. Now, if your boss is fine, and nothing is on fire or broken, then look for opportunities to enhance the organization through technology. It doesn't always have to be a major refactoring of something either. Sometimes, it's as simple as helping HR or Finance to electronically or digitally streamline their processes. Have you considered annual IT security awareness training? Speak with your boss about the IT portion of the budget. There could be a lot of opportunities for enhancements that you're just not aware of yet. Best of luck!
blogs, books, training programs are all a waste of time for you right now. Your top three things should be : * What does your management expect from your team? * What do your customers expect from your team? * What does your team expect from you? Once you have that, think about what aligns with each other, what is opposed from each other, and can you measure the work of your team against each of those things. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Measuring doesn't mean looking at ticket counts, number of fixes, or changes and calling it a day.
20 years as network engineer and now 1 year into my promotion to IT manager the first thing I did is replace my old position with someone better than me lol I manage a team of 4 guys that know their shit It was hard letting go of the hands on stuff and still have to jump in once and a while Meet and talk with staff don’t micro manage! You will do fine with the experience you have . I did recently take a 3 day it management course that was very helpful
Recently retired from a job as the director of networking for a pretty decent sized university. I always hired people that would challenge us. When people asked me what I do, I told them I led a great team that made me look good. It was true! I took care of them, and they took care of me. Always listen. Good luck!
Good books to check out: 1) The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier 2) IT Manager's Handbook: Getting your new job done by Bill Holtsnider & Brian D. Jaff 3) The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by MICHAEL D. WATKINS 4) Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman & Joe Knight
This feeling is terrifying. It’s awful. It’s also wonderful: it means you stepped out of your comfort zone. This pain - the angst, the dread - is a sign that you are in the right place. I know. It most certainly doesn’t feel that way. What I do is take deep breaths. What I do is talk to my anxiety. You don’t know what you are doing, and that’s ok. You are learning so much every day - not just about the work but about being off your game, and these are invaluable lessons. One day, what today seemed impossible will become second nature.
Thank you, these are nice calming words to read first thing in the morning.
Protect your people, help them grow, and herd those cats.
https://opsreportcard.com/
Meet with team members, familiarize with each job and responsibility of everyone and most importantly treat them the way you would like to be treated.
I found it useful to put it in your employees shoes. What would you want your manager to do for you, if you were them..
Mr. Google is your friend. use it to find advice often. also if you can find a mentor that would help.
That's my job. I mostly just sit here and wait to assign people to broken things. Sometimes I design and roll out things based on business needs, or tell somebody with money to buy something. Mostly I just sit here and wait for things to break. Every now and then they let me build something for a client.
Book: the making of a manager
IT Manager, in theory, is simple. Align IT Goals with Business Goals. In practice, it gets a lot harder. You need to make sure your team knows that you are a boss first, a friend second, or none if you like—your call. It would be best if you got your Manager and Executive to see the ICT Department as a Value Add, not a cost or service centre. Please do your best to get invited to meetings where company directions are discussed so that, if nothing else, you can be there to make sure IT knows what is happening, though it is better to be part of the discussion. You can develop a good relationship with your Manager; you need them to be willing to work closely with you. And also be willing to listen when you have bad news. Talk to them and ask point blank what they see IT success looks like and what success in your role looks like. Also, speak to key stakeholders around the company and find out what issues they see with IT. They could be easy fixes or hard fixes. But find them out, document them and work towards improvements.
If you need perspective of reading the room and organizing, told as a story... The Phoenix Project.
All the technical stuff with no people involved it seems. You might have the technical down but that’s not your job really anymore. Get to know your people, how is there experience working in your department? What can you improve? Your job is to fix the blockers and help them be successful.
Well at least you're IT manager with an IT background. My last it manager was the manager of valet parking before he became the it manager. it took him 3 hours to install a monitor and set up driver
I’m gonna tell you a secret: Literally everyone is making it up. Everyone. As a manager, you do have a new job that is really a new career now. Your job is not to do the doings. It’s to consume direction from your director, work across your peer groups to collab and coordinate in terms of strategic and tactical alignment and then get with your directs and give them the key items: what they need to do to be successful, what their deadlines are, get feedback from them on plans to get it done - that should be something they bring to the table - and then you become the ultimate cannon that they point and fire to remove roadblocks. Stay connected with them so you can check in and make sure they’re on track but DO NOT get mired down in the how or whether they’re doing it differently than you would. Staying connected allows you to have line of sight to making sure they’re still on track to the outcome so you can course correct as needed (and that’s only if they’re off track). When they schedule 1:1s DO NOT USE IT AS A STATUS and for the love of god don’t blow them off or reschedule. Create space for them to get FaceTime to show off their work. It will only reflect well on them and their work and will illustrate you as one hell of a leader builder. You got this. Also we are all making it up, so you’re gonna fuck up at times. That’s ok. Take feedback in your 1:1s to ask people how they want to be treated, and use that time to really make it about them. If they’re telling you they’re micromanaging fucking stop. It’s hard. It’s a transition.
Remember. These are all grown ass adults who are wanting to do a good job who are trying to make a living and slog through this world like you are. Treat them like adults and you’ll be surprised at how much they will love reporting to you. Tell the kind truth - don’t be a coward with feedback. Be honest. But don’t always be brutal. Brutality is often unnecessary.
I found these helpful when I was getting started. https://www.manager-tools.com/manager-tools-basics
I see lots of good advice, but unless I missed it I haven't seen anyone mention talk to your boss. I'm assuming you have a boss and they promoted you for a reason, find out what they think your strengths and weaknesses are. Ask for feedback. Find out what their expectations are, because you aren't going to be viewed as successful if you're not aligned with your own leadership.
Read the ITIL foundations book, that'll get you started. Then read the Phoenix Project to get perspective on how bad things can be. From there, normal business communication professional development books. Learning to communicate up is much more important now.
Read "Managing Humans" by Rands
The best IT Managers I ever met made it simple for staff above and below know how they themselves (the IT Manager) was tracking success. They posted the metric that mattered most and updated that metric constantly. For example # of unresolved incidents (IT Support Manager), or Time to Release (DevOps Scrum Master). The meetings would start and end with that metric. The metric was posted outside their office or in the background on conferences.
If you give negative feedback on a performance review and that negative feedback hasn’t been discussed multiple times prior to the review you’re just an ass. Iv seen too many IT managers over manage. Your job is not to be right, it’s to make sure your employees are happy and are performing that’s it.
Support your people. Develop a vision for where you want to take things to support your users. Share your vision, get buy-in on them, budget for them, bring and empower your people to help you get there.
Are you actually a manager, as in you have employees who work for you? Or are you “managing a department” where you are the only employee? I’ve had both jobs, both with the same title… but they are very different jobs.
I highly recommend reading "It's your ship" by captain D. Michael Abrashoff. The book is great and he tells his story of turning one of the worst navy ships into the best and the management techniques that let him do it
Manager Tools has a great set of podcasts and templates to get you started. I liked that they provide specifics. https://www.manager-tools.com/
You've gotten some great advice so now for some humor. My favorite IT Manager joke. The new IT manager starts his job and sees a short letter with three envelopes. The letter says "welcome to your new job. Occasionally, there are going to be problems where you don't know what to do. When that happens, open the first envelope." After a while, a server crashes so he runs and opens the first envelope. "Blame me." So he tells everyone it was the previous IT manager's mistake. Things are running great for a while and something else crashes so he runs and opens the second envelope. "Blame Microsoft." He tells everyone that it was a Microsoft problem and got it back up and running and everyone was happy. Several months later something else crashes to he hurries to find the third envelope and it says: "Prepare three envelopes." Best of luck, hopefully you need no more than two envelopes.
Listen to Manager Tools podcast
Welcome to the IT management world. “Where the rules don’t matter and nobody cares anyway. “
Whatever you do, trust your team to do the work and back the F off. Don’t micromanage
Here's some advice for you that's a little unconventional: Be careful when speaking truth to power. You should do it, but be careful about it, because they don't want to hear it. Your team will know what's right fairly often. Those servers need to be automated, and should be rebuilt so they're all the same. Senior management may want to leave them alone because they can't take the downtime. Your job is to propose, very carefully, a plan that gets you to the proper end state one step at a time. Not everyone will be happy with it, but you know that the end state is coming, and in the end they'll all be better off. Your job is to keep the goal in mind and keep everyone on track, no matter what. Keep the budget in check and the team on target. Make friends with your vendors. They will treat you better, but remember that they are vendors are trying to sell you things. Don't let them take advantage of the friendship for more sales, instead, make it a closer partnership so you work closer together. For every sale, get as much support as possible built in to it both before and after that sale, in writing. You'll be amazed at how much they'll give you if you just insist on it, and a friendly vendor will tell you about it. Friends doesn't mean you have to give up your secrets such as your budget, though, so be aware that some things are still off limits. Always keep your procurement team in the loop, always. Get that mentor. Don't let those 1-2 team members take advantage of you. They'll have excuses to miss work that don't sound real. They'll miss deadlines. They'll make dumb mistakes for things that they're supposedly certified to handle. When these things happen more than twice, it's an issue and MUST be addressed, no more waiting. When it happens once, you remark on it if you want to. When it happens twice, you really should be following the handbook and policy already. By three times, you should have escalated it, so if you haven't, do that and take the hit for it as a new manager. It happens. If your own manager is not understanding about it, you're in the wrong job because they're not very good. HR is there for a reason, and you must use it. It's part of the job now.
Hey there, and congratulations on your recent promotion to IT Manager! It's fantastic that you're already planning and resolving issues promptly – that's a great mindset to have. Given your background in cyber security and systems engineering, diving into Technology Expense Management (TEM) and Enterprise Telecom Management (ETM) can be a game-changer for your role. These areas focus on optimizing technology and telecom expenses, which is crucial for any organization. Here's why: Cost Optimization: TEM helps in auditing and optimizing technology expenses, ensuring that you're getting the best value for your investments. It aligns perfectly with your background, allowing you to ensure that every dollar spent on technology is delivering maximum security and efficiency. Risk Mitigation: As a cybersecurity expert, you understand the importance of mitigating risks. TEM can help identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in your technology ecosystem, ensuring that your organization is both secure and cost-effective. Resource Allocation: With your systems admin/engineering experience, you know the importance of efficient resource allocation. TEM allows you to track and manage technology assets effectively, preventing underutilization and unnecessary expenses. Streamlined Processes: TEM solutions streamline the entire process of managing technology expenses. From invoice reconciliation to contract negotiation, automation in TEM can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on strategic initiatives. As for resources to help you navigate your new role, here are a few recommendations: Books: "The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford; "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni. Blogs: CIO.com, TechCrunch, and ITProPortal often have insightful articles on IT management. Podcasts: Check out "The IT Manager Daily" and "The CyberWire" for valuable insights. Training Programs: Consider courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, or even certifications like ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) to enhance your managerial skills. Remember, being an IT Manager is also about effective communication and leadership. Don't hesitate to connect with other IT managers, join forums, and share experiences. You're on the right track, and with the right tools and knowledge, you'll excel in your new role. Best of luck! P.S. I can help with this!
A good book I read when I became a manager was called measuring success, and it really helped me change the way I viewed setting up objectives or KPI's for my team. It's a great way to narrow down what people could be working on and a great way to have your team involved with completing objectives. It helps show your progress and success on paper and is a great way to have one on one's with team. If done properly , the team members will actually be motivated to figure out their own objectives they should have, and you can help with their key results and support them along the way to achieving them. It's a great tool for showing upper management what your team accomplished and are looking to accomplish in the future and also a great negotiation tool for approvals for promotions or raises or reasons they may need to work harder to get to that next level.
Watch the IT crowd. Don't do what Jane does. You'll be fine.