Working in the IT sector can be both fulfilling and rewarding. But if you wish to embark upon more challenging frontiers and advance into a more senior role, you’ll need to hone some new skills. To help you climb the ladder into management, we’ve provided an overview of these skills below.
Become an expert at managing expectations
- To manage expectations with clients, always communicate scope, goals and progress.
- To manage expectations with team members, always address priorities (both long- and short-term), key challenges and timeframes.
Giving instructions that are as clear as possible to all parties enables others to perform at their best in line with your vision.
Lead by example and foster the growth of others
Furthermore, you must be supportive, inspiring and communicative of successful outcomes. Guide others in an empowering and constructive way. You’re no longer the hero – you become a coach. Use your leadership skills to help others realise their potential. Encourage them to flourish both personally and professionally. Good managers map out the desired outcome and purpose of each task, while allowing space for people to use (or discover) their own techniques and approaches.
Learn to delegate
Critically break up tasks so that they can be done more efficiently. As a manager who has experience with those tasks, you may be tempted to take the reigns. But be mindful, you’re no longer responsible for actually doing them – you’re now responsible for ensuring they get done.
Assigning different jobs to different people requires skill – you will need to know which team members are best suited to certain duties and will be responsible for tying together smaller tasks into a bigger picture or goal.
