Ability to Focus the Resources

R. Miscellaneous - Phone list

- After hours IT phone list - Expense reporting - Timesheets (if required) - Security codes, cards, etc.

- User-ID & passwords to systems

In addition to the orientation, don’t forget to coordinate the preparation of certain things such as:

A. Identify cube/office location B. Phone setup

C. PC/workstation setup D. Printer configuration setup E. USER-ID and password setup F. Office supplies

G. Building, facility, parking access cards H. Business card order

Much of this goes without saying, doesn’t it. The point to all of this is that the better prepared you are in helping a new employee get off to a good start the better. You will find that paying attention to a lot of these details (and others that I’m sure aren’t listed) helps the employee feel welcome and positions him/her to get off to a fast start. It’s well worth the effort.

Using a checklist makes it a simple task every time you add a new employee.

E. Ability to Focus the Resources

Many organizations have a focus challenge. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an organization that has people running all over the place trying to get things done. They are certainly working hard, but their effective output is marginal due to a lack of focus.

Once you have focused the overall organization on a goal or vision, you have to drop down to the next level to insure each person in the organization is focused on his/her set of

responsibilities that will get you there.

Sidebar: Let’s use an example. Imagine your team is an offensive line of a football team. The defense wants to “sack the quarterback” and will do all in their power to do so. Each member of your offensive line has a responsibility to “block out” certain areas of the line. If a defensive lineman moves around, the offense still focuses on blocking “zones” or “areas”, and does not run around trying to block an individual defensive player wherever he might move to.

Technology organizations need to look at it the same way. Sure, you may have a utility resource that can do everything but as your company grows, it becomes more necessary to specialize.

The right side of the line can’t worry about the left side. They need to know that the skills and focus on the left side will accomplish their mission so that the “team” succeeds.

The same scenario holds true for an IT organization. Put yourself into a CIO position. During the assessments, the CIO identified the issues of the IT organization and the capabilities of his staff.

Developing an organization plan that has appropriate focus on different components of the IT challenge is important in the same way that a coach puts his offensive line together to defend against an expected defense.

IT support challenges might include:

- business applications development - business applications support

- implementing new infrastructure services and architecture - support desk

- documentation

- software installation teams - research and development - data center requirements - systems uptime requirements - training

- establishing standards

- establishing workable service level agreements - and many more

It’s important for the CIO to develop an organization structure that can meet all the critical needs efficiently to help the company move forward. In order to do that, the CIO must have a clear picture of what must be “blocked” and which resources will “block” specific issues.

Getting the staff to stay focused to their designated zone is another challenge.

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How does a manager motivate his employees to stay focused on their assigned area ? Employees focus on the areas that lead to reward. We all do. That’s a good thing.

The best way to help the employee focus to a given set of responsibilities (or zone) is to:

1. Define the job requirement. That’s done in two ways. First, provide a job description that helps identify the position. Secondly, and more important is to develop a

Performance Plan that spells out what you want your employee to achieve and hold him accountable to it.

A good Performance Plan is used as a tool and not something to use against an employee. Good performance planning can not only help your employees stay focused, it can help enhance their performance output.

2. Communicate your vision and reinforce each person’s role in achieving it.

Often !!

I discuss the details of developing and implementing effective Performance Plans in the publication titled Building a Successful IT Organization, part of the IT Manager Development Series. Performance planning and reviews are essential ingredients in obtaining success from your organization.

Often, managers view performance planning as a burden required by Human Resources. It really should not be looked at that way. If you want to maximize the output of your employee and you want to help develop the employee’s skills and value to the company, look at performance planning and reviews as the greatest tools you have to do so.

Performance planning and review sessions can be some of the most enjoyable part of managing employees, , , even those required to address improvements needed. That’s what management is all about – not what you can do but how much you can accomplish through your team.

Watching an empowered, motivated team perform is an awesome thing. Every team has the potential to achieve great things; most do not. Managers make the difference.

More insight on developing a highly motivated staff is available in IT Staff Motivation &

Development, a part of the IT Manager Development Series.