the it staff of the future: the importance of it business alignment for staff development katherine...
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The IT Staff of the Future: The Importance of IT Business
Alignment for Staff Development
Katherine Spencer Lee
Executive Director
Robert Half Technology
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
What We’ll Cover
• The blurring of IT and business
• Why IT staff need soft skills
• Evaluating your team’s soft skills
• Helping staff build soft skills
• Recruiting employees with strong soft skills
• Obstacles to overcome
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Business Alignment• IT is embedded in many functions that run
today’s organizations, regardless of industry, such as:– Accounting– Operations– Sales/Marketing
• IT staff must:– Collaborate with cross-departmental colleagues– Speak a neutral language– Understand the unique needs of end users– Think strategically– Take a service-minded approach
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Business Alignment
• New legislation has brought IT to the forefront of organizations
• Much of compliance burden falls on IT staff
• IT staff must – Understand concepts that fall outside IT– Be able to work across all departments
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Business Alignment
• Continuing to prove cost effective for firms to outsource purely technical roles
• Yet, companies are still short of skilled staff• IT staff must
– Coordinate projects– Assess risk– Determine budgets– Assess applicability of technology in marketplace– Manage vendor relationships
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Business Alignment
IT Department Then• Functioned as a
separate “silo”• Little interaction with
other departments
IT Department Now• Integrated into
virtually every department
• Constant collaboration with other groups
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
The Soft Skills Your Staff Needs
• Communication skills
• An understanding of business fundamentals
• Project management skills
• The ability to collaborate
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Communication Skills
• Effective communication skills allow your staff to:– Describe technology in “plain English”– Describe the nature of training end-users
will need– Describe technological capabilities to
management– Speak to a wide variety of groups for sales
or training purposes
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Communication Skills
IT Professionals Then• Communicated “tech
speak” with each other
• Less interaction with other departments or external customers
IT Professionals Now• Must communicate
with outside professionals
• Must talk “business” with others
• Communication built into planning process
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
An Understanding of Business Fundamentals
• Allows your staff to:– Contribute to the decision-making and
planning processes– Anticipate operational needs– Remain flexible– Apply relevant technology to business and
affect the bottom line
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
An Understanding of Business Fundamentals
IT Then• Technology drove
business• IT didn’t address
needs of marketplace
IT Now• Business drives
technology• IT projects are only
initiated if there is a true business need
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Project Management Skills
• Allow your staff to:– Remain on time and on budget– Hit key milestones throughout lifecycle– Maximize company resources– Ensure projects align with corporate
strategy– Develop solutions with companywide
compatibility– Ensure consensus
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Project Management Skills
IT Then• Jump right in and
get to work as quickly as possible on a project
• Limited vision on resource availability for projects
IT Now• Proactive planning
to ensure best use of resources
• Strategic mindset to identify potential shortfalls
• Resources allotted strategically
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
The Ability to Collaborate
• A strong sense of collaboration allows your staff to:– Diffuse tension and approach sensitive
situations with tact– Build consensus– Motivate groups toward a common goal
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
The Ability to Collaborate
IT Professionals Then• Worked almost
exclusively with other IT staff
IT Professionals Now• Regularly work with
a variety of non-technical professionals
• Get buy-in from other departments throughout process
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Evaluating Your Staff’s Soft Skills
• Develop competency models
• Look beyond tasks
• Focus on attributes needed to complete those tasks
• How do task requirements and skill sets align?
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Evaluating Your Staff’s Soft Skills
• What qualities should be included?
• Look to your team’s top performers
• Consult customers
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Evaluating Your Staff’s Soft Skills
• Network engineer
• Which soft skills are required to best align IT goals with strategic business demands?
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Helping Your Staff Develop Soft Skills
• Show staff how their products are used• Have personnel meet with cross-
functional managers of other teams– Marketing– Technical support– User interface design– Development– Localization
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Helping Your Staff Develop Soft Skills
• Provide training in non-technical areas
• Leverage in-house resources
• Encourage staff to enroll in business-training courses
• Provide tuition reimbursement or flexibility
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Recruiting Staff With Soft Skills
• Look within your organization– Existing IT staff– Staff from other areas– Work cross functionally
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Recruiting Staff With Soft Skills
• Don’t overlook those who lack strong technical skills
• Pose questions that allow you to gauge soft skills
• Pay attention to the candidate’s actions during the interview(s)
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Recruiting Staff With Soft Skills
• Recruit non-IT professionals– Many not aware of opportunities in IT– Attend career fairs– Network outside IT industry– Join general business associations
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Overcoming Obstacles
• Lack of enthusiasm– Show staff the benefits to the business– Show staff the benefits to their careers
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Overcoming Obstacles
• Lack of qualified candidates– Show prospective employees your firm’s
career-advancement plan– Point out that IT managers are frequently
tapped for other operations
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
Overcoming Obstacles
• Lack of progress– Base performance reviews on attainment
and utilization of soft skills– Solicit feedback from other departments
Robert Half Technology | www.rht.com
The IT Staff of the Future: The Importance of IT Business
Alignment for Staff Development
Katherine Spencer Lee
Executive Director
Robert Half Technology