[The Manage IT Newsletter]

An overview of the growing demand for effective management and ideas on how to secure the training and development needed by managers despite budget constraints

Welcome to this months issue of the "Manage IT Newsletter." This monthly publication is dedicated to helping IT managers enjoy a richer career experience so they can reach their full potential.

The readership of this newsletter continues to grow as a result of reader referrals. Please continue to share this newsletter with your network, friends and colleagues. If you are an HR professional, an IT manager or a senior IT executive, please pass a copy of this newsletter on to your team members and peers. All who register will receive the TIPS FOR DRIVING PEAK PERFORMANCE seven-day email seminar, access to a rich library of IT management articles and reports, a copy of the Manage IT ebook and the Hiring Strategies audio program, plus more. In total this is an offer valued at over $1,000, which they get absolutely free. (This is especially valuable in light of how constrained training budgets are these days). A FREE subscription is available by sending a blank email to:
ManageITNewsletter-on@zines.webvalence.com

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With warmest regards, Joe Santana,
Co-author Manage IT
http://www.manageitbook.com

***************************In this Issue ****************************
* Focus Topic - Effective Management Training Despite Budget Constraints
* IT Management News & Trends
* Free Gift of the Month: A process that will help obtain effective management training despite constrained training dollars
* Closing Comments and Announcements
*********************************************************************

--------------------------- Focus Topic -----------------------------
Given the tightening of training dollars in today's economy, providing management training may often appear to be an impossible challenge. Impossible as it may seem, however, companies need to take action now if they are to effectively face the challenge of forces at work in today's business environment that promise to greatly increase their need for new managers in the near and long term future despite the abundance of technical resources. For example:

* The ranks of available qualified managers are shrinking due to a number of factors, not the least of which is the retirement of the "baby boomers." Private and public forecast tell us that about 45% of the baby boomer population will retire in the next 10-15 years. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics as early as by the year 2010, 10 million people will have left the workforce. Meanwhile managerial positions are expected to increase by 25% over the next 13 years. Translation: Management demand is increasing while the available supply is dwindling.

* The management role is becoming more demanding and as a result it requires more people management specific talent and a broader set of competencies in order for managers to succeed. Let's face it, the talent and competency requirements of a manager leading people whose lives are plagued by huge debt and other personal obligations and who work in our high-pace, stressful, diverse, financially constrained, global workplace are much greater than the skills required of their predecessors who operated in a slower, less stressful, less multifaceted economy. Brad Cooper, of Cooper & Associates, Inc (see www.wowspeak.com), explains how this increase in demand diminishes the available management pool with the following simple but powerful comparison: "There aren't as many people competing in the Iron man Triathlon as there are in the local Five Kilometer run/walk." So the bottom-line is that the number of people who even qualify for today and tomorrows management roles is shrinking because of growing talent and competency requirements.

* Finally according to Curt Tueffert with Teamcer, a professional training firm based in Houston (http://www.teamcer.com), many employees are simply not striving for leadership roles, even when they possess a generous portion of the desired talents because they see these high demands unmatched by appropriate training. (Who wants to be thrown off a cliff and told to learn how to fly while dropping even if they do have the promise of "flying-potential" as evidenced by a pair of tiny wings?)

The question then is what can you do about this in light of tight training and development budgets? Answer: The key to success is picking and developing the right people

In talking to the experts they all agree that the best approach to building a strong management pipeline despite a tight budget is to identify your few high-potentials and concentrate training dollars on these few versus spreading a paltry allocation across an entire population and hoping that "one of the seeds lands on good soil." It is with this in mind that Cooper states, "Effectively identifying the right people and THEN training them will expand the reach of your budget."

An important factor here is obviously, picking the right people. Surprisingly, however, according to experts like Russell Reeves, a managing director of human resources consultancy firm DDI, their surveys reveal that, "21% of organizations do not use interviews, 33% do not use 360-degree feedback and 61% do not use any form of structured assessment to evaluate potential leaders." The unfortunate result for these companies is that they often end up "backing the wrong horse" and not finding out until the race is over and they've spent a large portion of their development dollars attempting to develop the wrong people into unsuitable roles.

According to world renowned industrial psychologist and consultant Dr. Bradford D. Smart, author of Topgrading, his clients which include GE, Honeywell, Lincoln Financial Group, American Heart Association, Hillenbrand Industries, and Hayes-Lemmerz all train their interviewers who act as talent assessors in the application of the Chronological In-Depth Structured (CIDS) interview assessment process. The results are an astounding ninety percent selection accuracy. "Generally these clients set up a tandem interview in which two interviewers from a different area of the company (not the candidate's direct boss), meet with the candidate for up to five plus hours," states Smart. "In addition to the information captured in the report produced by the tandem interviews, these companies also collect multi-rater information from peers, subordinates, suppliers and other sources before they make a final determination," adds Smart. While spending money on training interviewers on how to perform a CIDS interview may not seem like the appropriate approach to suggest under the heading of "how to develop a management pipeline on a shoestring, its certainly less expensive and more productive than throwing money at a huge number of wrong candidates. Since it was published four years ago, Topgrading, which first introduced CIDS to readers in1999, has remained to date the number one book in Recruiting and candidate assessment and is a recognized established best practice manual in the candidate assessment space. (For more information on Topgrading and CIDS training, visit http://www.topgrading.com)

In this months tip sheet (www.joesantana.com/tip8.htm), I will share with you a simple three-step process that you and your organization can use to maximize the management development value derived from scarce training dollars. If you are a senior IT executive or an HR professional, you will find that this process will enable you to, as Cooper puts it "expand the reach of your current budget." If, on the other hand, you are a new or aspiring manager, you can use this information to present your company with a way to provide you with the training and development you need despite their current budgetary woes.

In the "News and Trends" section of this issue, you will find useful articles on the topics of management and leadership. Finally, in the "Announcement" section, you will find additional resources to support you and some of your key initiatives.

JS

-------------------- IT Management News and Trends -------------------
This month, we have a interesting collection of articles that contain various perspectives on management and leadership specifically in IT as well as in general.

A 1998 ComputerWorld piece that explores how you go about finding leadership qualities in an organization
http://www.computerworld.com/news/1998/story/0,11280,32786,00.html

A one-page article that sketches out the characteristics IT managers of the future will need in order to survive
http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00620030612bob01.htm&page=1&vf=tt

A recent 2003 ComputerWorld article where there is greater stress on managers having business-savvy as opposed to just strong technical competence
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,80937,00.html

A TechRepublic article, where the author interviews one of the co-authors of "Grow Your Own Leaders," William C. Byham on the need, means and benefits of growing leadership from within an organization
http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00520020410wei01.htm&src=search

A 2001 report from META Group that shows how Fewer than 15% of the IT organizations are prepared for the leadership competencies needed to transform business to flexible, innovative business models. This article also outlines the seven key behaviors that indicate an ability to execute effectively as a top IT leader
http://www2.cio.com/analyst/report252.html

An article published in the IT Management Section of EARTHWEB, which lists the four habits of successful CIOs that all top IT leaders should aspire to attain
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/cio/article.php/1035891

More about the need for strong IT leadership from an article published in IT World
http://www.itworld.com/Career/1916/CWSTO58256/

An October 2002 article published by US business Review Online that outlines the coming leadership deficit dubbed "the quiet crisis"
http://www.usbusiness-review.com/0210/05.html

------------------- Free Gift of the Month ---------------------------
For your free one-page tip sheet that will provide you with a process that will help secure effective management training despite constrained training dollars, visit http://www.joesantana.com/freenewsandtips.htm (Or visit my mirror site http://www.joesantananews.com/freenewsandtips.htm)

----------------- Closing Thoughts and Announcements -----------------
WANT TO HELP YOUR FRIENDS LOOKING FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO FIGHT BURNOUT AND ACHIEVE PEAK PERFORMANCE
Have them visit www.joesantana.com and sign up for the free TIPS DRIVING PEAK PERFORMANCE EMAIL SEMINAR. Delivered over seven days, this program is packed with advice that can immediately be put to use by a rookie or a veteran IT manager. (HR pros will also find it a rich source of ideas they can use to coach IT managers).

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT MANAGEMENT WITH JOE?
Visit www.ULiveandLearn.com and register for the IT Management webinar. This information packed program comes right to your desktop and offers you advice on one of your most important career decisions.

LOOKING FOR A SPEAKER OR SEMINAR LEADER FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT?
Contact Joe at joe@joesantana.com and find out if one of fifteen key programs ranging across topics such as outsourcing, driving performance, engaging the workforce or achieving alignment is right for you.

NEED HELP QUICKLY BUILDING A PIPELINE OF CANDIDATES.
Contact EmployeeROI www.employeeroi.com/1-888-654-8845

I hope you enjoyed this issue of the IT Managers Newsletter and as always I look forward to continuing to serve you.