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Smart leaders and managers know that it is important to build
and maintain the value of their greatest resource — their people. It's
difficult to develop the potential of your people if you have not ascertained
their existing skills, knowledge, and abilities — in other words, their
competencies.
Each individual's competency requirements will differ depending
upon the role s/he fills within the group and/or team. For example,
individuals who work with other departments or directly with clients may need
a broader spectrum of communication skills and business or political savvy than
those who work solely with their technical teammates. Others may need a certain
in-depth knowledge of a software package or computer language. Still others may
need to have a clear understanding of testing protocols.
Paul Glen, author of Leading Geeks: How to
Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology, suggests that the following
twelve competencies be used to measure and guide the productivity of techies (listed
in order of increasing difficulty and complexity):
- Technical competence [early career]
- Personal productivity [early career]
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously
- Ability to describe the business context of technical work
- Ability to forge compromises between business and technical constraints
[for more advanced work]
- Ability to manage client relationships [leaders/managers]
- Ability to manage technical teams [leaders/managers]
- Ability to play positive politics [leaders/managers]
- Ability to help expand client relationships [leaders/managers]
- Ability to work through others, to make others productive
- Ability to manage ambiguity [leaders/managers]
- Ability to manage time horizons
Your Human Resources department should be able to suggest various
formal test instruments and/or processes for evaluating individual competency
levels in these areas. In addition, the Leader's Edge CA teleseminar
Techies on the Rise™: Five Essentials for Mastering
Technical Leadership recommends ways to assess the competencies and overall
performance of your people, including (but not limited to):
- Spotlight reviews and presentations
- Skills assessment instruments
- Tracking helpful statistics
Personal Development Options
The rapidly changing pace of technology requires that your people
continue to learn and grow or be left behind. If you want to attract and retain top
talent, you must be willing to continually invest in their long-term personal
development. Techies are perpetual students; they love to learn and expand
their knowledge and skill sets. As innovators, this is a necessity, not a luxury.
If you provide an environment where continual learning is encouraged, you will
retain the good people you have and attract other top performers.
Here are a few suggested ways to encourage personal development:
- In-house mentoring programs
- Individual and/or group coaching
- Free or low-cost teleseminars, self-paced e-courses, e-books, and
other information products
- Local live events (conferences, training seminars, professional meetings,
etc.)
- In-house "lunch and learn" workshops/mini-seminars and technical
round-table discussions
© 2007 Yvonne T. Ryan. All Rights Reserved.
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