Respondents to last week's IT Manager channel poll talked about the skills that they thought were important to being successful as an IT manager. 'Soft skills' were invariably listed as among the most important.
One of the respondents argued that all managersâ€"including IT managersâ€"need people skills. -Also, an ability to help each worker see themselves within the organisation's vision, purpose statement and strategic plan," she said.
According to the respondent, coaching staff and the ability to -take people with them during change", were also important skills for IT managers.
IT professional Sanjeevi Prasad talked about the importance of motivating individual team members, and pulling them together towards a common goal. -A good manager is not carried away by success, and neither is she or he depressed by failure," he said. -This stability spreads to team members too, and then we have a tremendous team which is self-aware and can improve all the time."
Another respondent spoke of the need for communication. -It is also important that IT managers serve as a good bridge between IT people and other departments in the organisation," the respondent argued.
Nor are IT professionals the only ones finding that the ability to manage people is becoming as important a skill as a technical background.
When ZDNet Australia spoke to Grant Montgomery, managing director at search firm E.L Consult, he also emphasised the importance of soft skills.
Montgomery said that sometimes managers that came from a technical background lacked the necessary people management skills. He included communication with other people, motivation and the ability to delegate as other important traits for IT managers.
-I don't think that because you're dealing with a technical outcome that you need to be any different a manager than if you're dealing with a more conceptual [department], like marketing," Montgomery said.
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