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IT employee work behavior - we really can't help who we are
In 1990 I joined a small company as the new CIO and was exposed to two new concepts that contributed significantly to my management growth. The first was this issue of IT due diligence and what's involved in acquiring other companies and then managing newly acquired IT organizations effectively. We acquired over 35 companies in just over five years, and this activity gave me a lot of exposure to other companies and their IT organizations.
The second concept was about the importance of understanding a person's work behavior tendencies. Our company used a tool called Predictive Index, or PI, to develop a work behavior profile. Initially, I was one of those "nonbelievers", but over time situations and insights I was able to gain using PI convinced me of the accuracy and validity of the program.
This article is not intended to promote a product. I write it to help you realize the value of being aware of the work behavior profile of your employees and even of yourself. Well over 70% of the IT employees have a similar work behavior profile, or tendencies in how they approach their work. It's amazingly consistent and I've surveyed hundreds of IT managers and employees before coming to this conclusion.
In my 5-day IT Manager Institute, we discuss work behavior in the very first session on Monday morning. The reason is that it's a vital part of me establishing a foundation of managing an IT organization and people before we begin discussing the steps in my IT Management Process. I use examples of why our work behavior tendencies have certain impacts (both positive and negative) on how we approach situations as we try to manage technology resources effectively.
The typical IT employee profile
This goes for IT managers as well as employees since most of the IT managers come from the IT employee ranks.
The vast majority of us are:
Self motivated, self-starters, technically oriented as opposed to socially oriented, independent, decision makers, analytical, and competitive
More introverted than extroverted, like time alone, reserved, serious, thinkers, and even moody
Impatient, have a high sense of urgency, fast learners, and a lot of drive to get things done
Detail oriented, careful, thorough, conservative, sensitive to criticism
There is no good or bad in a person's work behavior profile; but depending upon what the person's job responsibility happens to be, some work behavior traits can make it more difficult to be successful. For example, a person who is impatient and likes a lot of diversity probably won't do well on a manufacturing assembly line. Likewise, a person who has a very low sense of urgency and doesn't like a lot of detail would probably be a poor network administrator.
There is a reason why most of us in IT are detail oriented, have a high sense of urgency, and actually like dealing with new technology. It actually motivates us to be involved in new technologies, even though we don't particularly care for change. Certain type of work actually attracts those who like the dynamics of the work and what takes place around it. If we don't like it, we eventually leave it.
There is a combination of work behavior traits that makes it difficult for most of us in IT. These two traits happen to be the fact that we are reserved and more introverted combined with being high detail oriented and sensitive to criticism.
Let's break this down a bit:
First, introverted people tend to avoid communicating with others outside of their own network, especially if it might lead to controversial discussions or criticism from others. We like "doing our thing" and don't particularly care to discuss tough issues with people outside of our comfort zone. It does not mean we can't or won't; it means we prefer not to.
Secondly, we tend to take criticism personally and being analytical by nature we can become very critical of ourselves as well. Some might call us "perfectionists", and they would be right for the most part. This adds to the issue of avoiding communicating with those outside our network, like our client.
IT people are not given a lot of education or developed in the area of effective communication. We tend to deal with technology as technicians, not people. We become very comfortable working with the technology and communicating within the IT organization, not with clients. After all, our IT manager or project manager is taking care of the client discussions.
At some point, many of us get an opportunity to take an IT manager role, and that's when our lack of communication skills begins to surface. Have you observed an IT manager who likes keeping his/her door closed so he/she can "get some work done? Some seem to have more work to get done than others, don't they?
An introverted person becomes energized when he is able to spend time alone and can work on a project in solitude. An extrovert gets fatigued and demoralized in such a situation. I know because it happens with me (the introvert), and my wife (the extrovert). On the other hand, meeting new people for the first time and having social conversations with them energizes the extrovert and absolutely drains the introvert.
Let's clarify something. An introvert like myself can actually be viewed as the "life of the party" in his own circle of people and can actually be perceived as quite outgoing. The determination of whether you are introverted is to ask yourself, "At the end of the day, would I like to go to a party and meet 20 new people for the first time?". If the answer is "yes", then you are an extrovert, not an introvert.
The point with all of this is that most of us in IT are more introverted and lack strong communication skills, plus we are not very eager to communicate a lot. This can create some real difficulties when trying to support clients.
Another significant issue is that high detail people do not like change. This is not a contradiction to the earlier comment that we like to learn about new technologies. That part is true because we are quick learners and like challenge. The real issue is that we do not like change such as organizational change, management changes, and things that affect our job. We like the security that "sameness" gives us and tend to stick to routines in what we do and how we go about it.
High detail people are analytical and when we encounter a change, we definitely begin analyzing the situation. Unfortunately, if we do not understand why the change is happening our analysis usually comes up with answers that are negative; in other words, "This must not be good for me.".
Understanding this can be a valuable insight for an IT manager. The best example I can give you is that when our company was acquiring other companies, the impact on our programmers always baffled me. You would expect the programmers in the acquired company would be concerned, even anxious about the merger - they are afraid they might lose their job. The interesting thing is that our primary company programmers also had the same concern every time we acquired a new company - afraid they might lose their job. Even when our track record was to consistently migrate the new company's technology to the primary company's technology platform, our programmers always got nervous when they heard about the new acquisition.
The point here is that with high detail people, you need to take the time to explain what the change is all about and why it will be good for them. By knowing this, an IT manager can anticipate the challenge certain changes may create with the IT staff and prepare to address these issues proactively. Helping high detail people understand why we are doing this and what's in it for them defuses the concern to a great extent, , , but not necessarily completely.
High detail oriented people have a sincere need to know what's going on, so when things are changing you need to communicate proactively to let them know what's happening, why, and why it's a good thing for all of us.
By the way, many of our clients are detail oriented people as well. When the IT organization implements changes to systems, business applications, and various technologies for the company, it puts many of these detail types into a "tail spin". You can save yourself and your IT organization a lot of pain by communicating proactively with your client and keeping them "out of the dark". Just as your IT staff needs this, so does your client.
There are several tools available that will give you insight into a person's behavior traits and tendencies such as Predictive Index, Myers Briggs, and Personalysis. Tools that help you better understand your employees can be a big help in managing technology resources effectively, and we need all the help we can get.
Best of success.
Mike Sisco
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