And no matter how much experience you have, every organisation has the ability to help guide you toward the landmines.If you’re reading this and an employee then you know all about it, being guided toward failure by a lack of institutional knowledge (the information about the way the business runs – AKA the business metadata). If you are a manager, you know all about this too. You’ve seen people under-perform, not meet your expectations, and come undone at the worst possible time.

As an employee you have to wonder why? Why you weren’t guided better, helped to avoid the issues. As a manager have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered why you have not helped people get things done, enabled them to succeed, provided the keys to the institutional knowledge locker that would assist employees to know the business in a short time?

So what can you do as an employee and as a manager?

1. The employee should be willing to ask for the boundaries of the role, spelled out in clear and obvious terms and not be afraid to ask for clarification. The more you know about the role you occupy, the more you about the role you play in the business. Ask questions, because if you don’t most of your managers will not give you answers. If they don’t give you answers understand that they may not know the answers. Of course they may simply not want to give you the answers either.
2. The manager should have a clear understanding of what he wants an employee to do, to achieve and to be responsible for. Ideally a little though on each role under the managers authority should be undertaken. Each role description should have some straightforward outcomes that the manager needs the person to meet, and managers should be willing to work on an informal document that outlines the pitfalls and minefields that exist within the organisation.

Summary

1. Good managers should do their utmost to aid, enable and empower their employees in their roles. Like any growing thing care and feeding are required to reach their full growth
2. Good employees should ask questions that aid them in defining their role, their boundaries and their area of operations within the organisation.

If you have found yourself in a similar situation how about sharing your experience?

Till next time, keep the good fight going.

Andrew

I found myself in an interesting if unfortunate position today. I had to deal with a fellow supervisor being unruly toward myself and staff.  Under pressure they allowed their anger and frustration to break over everyone. I opened a dialogue with him after the event to attempt to make sure that we’d completed what was needed.

I asked that we set in place a minimum set of information needs to ensure that no further miscommunication took place. None of this went over well. While I was reasonable in my approach, and sensitive to their state of distress the issue is not resolved.

This situation has brought to the fore some core issues that I have seen with many I.T. departments in many owner driven businesses: the pressure to perform, usually on zero-day timelines, with maximum compliance, and zero errors.

Fears, Uncertainty, Doubt (F.U.D.)

The only way to resolve the tears, is to overcome the fears, the uncertainties, and the doubts that exist within I.T. that are caused by the fluid nature of many owner-operated businesses. I.T. management structures in these businesses often result from the growing like Topsy model of growth.

Many businesses fear imposing structure on the I.T. space because they are uncertain about what the I.T. staff will do (leave them in the lurch, or sabotage the black arts) or simply doubt the function’s impact on the business. The reality of course is that today any business that relies on its computers are in the I.T. business.

The moment that a company takes on its first computer, and relies on the information within it to conduct the day-to-day operations of the company I.T. has become the company’s business. To ignore this is to live on the knife-edge between operation and disaster.

Ignoring, and allowing the I.T. function to grow without regard for business needs is the greatest sin company owners and managers can commit. It leads to the I.T. prima-dona who goes out of their way to “save” the business from crises and disaster.

I’ve seen this sad series of events unfold upon companies more than once. With the removal of the Prima-Dona problems begin to disappear, the waters calm and the sun shines for the first time in a long time. The big issue for managers is in seeing the signs and assisting the “troubleshooter” to a new career at some other poor unfortunate business. Ideally your competition. ;}

Regulation

Despite the fears of business management nothing is more demoralising for an I.T. staffer than a lack of hard and fast rules. Rules provide a bounding box within which the I.T. staffer can bounce around without straying outside of the boundary and entering into disciplinary action.

Ideally the I.T. space should be among the most regulated section of the business. Even more regulated than the Accounting and HR functions, for whom I have the greatest respect as they can be our greatest supporters.

Todays’ take-away

1. I.T. staffers need to know what they can and cannot do. This framework removes the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt associated with dynamic business environments.
2. The I.T. function should be among the most regulated sectors of the business, at least as regulated as the Accounting and HR functions.
3. Regulation is an enabling behaviour, not a disableing one, especially in personally owned businesses.
4. Your regulation should aim to improve the effectiveness of the I.T. section of the business not bog it down in red tape.

Definition:

–noun

1. a law, rule, or other order prescribed by authority, especially to regulate conduct.
2. the act of regulating or the state of being regulated.