What are the key skills and competencies for IT service managers and leaders?

One thing in particular that has helped me in my career in tech has been taking every opportunity available and using it as a learning opportunity. Now you might day, “what does this have to do with communication?” Later in my career I realize I can speak to anyone and to any role because I have been able to spend time to learn in that particular space. The power of communication beyond your direct department or expertise is invaluable to success. Personally, and business.

Strong emotional quotient (EQ) skills are essential as well. Actively listening with insight into what might be going on in the other's mind is key to understanding expectations

Effective communication skills are the backbone for all managers and leaders. In the dynamic IT landscape, they serve as the bridge between technical experts and non-technical stakeholders. This skill set enables them to convey the significance of IT services, manage relationships with various parties, and drive successful outcomes.. Ultimately, strong communication empowers every leaders to foster collaboration, resolve issues, and lead their teams towards achieving IT service excellence.

IT service managers and leaders need a blend of technical expertise and strong leadership skills to guide their teams effectively. They must be customer-focused, ensuring that services meet or exceed expectations while maintaining a high level of quality. Problem-solving and analytical thinking are crucial for addressing issues and driving continuous improvement. Effective communication and interpersonal skills help in managing relationships with both stakeholders and team members. Lastly, strategic planning and risk management are essential for aligning IT services with business goals and ensuring long-term success.

Communication skills are critical to being a successful IT Service Manager. Here are three tips to be successful: 1. Know your audience: Who is in your audience will guide you in communicating the message. You would communicate differently if the audience is your team vs your customer. 2. Put yourself in the audience's shoes - How would you respond if you received the message you will be giving? Understand your audience will respond the same way. 3. Think twice before sending the message: It's good to step away for a few minutes and review the message. As they say, "You can't un-ring the bell."

The statement underscores the critical role of technical skills in IT service management. It emphasizes the need for a broad understanding of IT infrastructure, service lifecycle, and current trends like cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Overall, it's concise and comprehensive.

I am never sure if this is a business skill or just common sense, keep an eye on what you actually have and when it renews! I have seen so many IT managers who are stuck with something they don't use because they missed the cancelation window or that have been paying (normally BT) for things they don't have anymore. For goodness sake, its not rocket science, if you don't know what's on the invoice or budget line item, then find out before you nod and agree it should be paid for!

Service management typically includes measuring and demonstrating value through metrics and reporting, as it comes as part and parcel with the role. A focus on assessing the capabilities of the department, resource utilisation and process maturity will help drive informed business decisions on the condition that there is clear leadership and direction on where organisations they are moving towards.

The statement highlights the importance of business skills for IT service managers and leaders. They need to align IT services with business goals, understand the market and competition, and clearly demonstrate the value of IT services. Additionally, they should manage budgets, resources, risks, and compliance, while optimizing costs and quality.

One cannot underestimate the value of managing expectations, with the immediate team, business stakeholders, customers, and/or end users. By continually sharing the vision and meaningful updates (what's in it for me?), the leaders offer assurance in their services, thus gaining trust and adoption. Additionally, ongoing data analytics and insights, paired with industry research, is a critical skill combination to drive improvements and achieve business objectives. Lastly, motivating and growing the team by providing the framework then allowing room for creativity and plan development cultivates overall employee satisfaction.

There's more to success than just the technical aspects. Great tech managers are also masters of delegation and trust, empowering their teams and fostering a sense of ownership. They understand the power of empathy and emotional intelligence, building trust, navigating conflict, and creating a positive work environment. Most importantly, they celebrate success! Recognizing and rewarding achievements, both big and small, keeps teams motivated and engaged. A simple "thank you" or a team outing can go a long way in fostering a culture of appreciation and high morale. By celebrating wins, tech managers can create a thriving team environment where everyone feels valued and contributes their best work.

Being a leader is not an easy task. Need to wear multiple hats for multiple people and situations. But to keep self-motivating and progressing, three practices are required. 1. Don't blame 2. Look in the mirror 3. Engineering the solution. By following the practice, people will have faith on you, your team will trust you and you can do the work and also get the work done. What goes around comes around! 1. When you don't blame people for the mistakes, your team will never blame you. 2. When you look in the mirror, i.e. when you take ownership for the mistake, the team stands by you. 3. When you engineer/suggest a solution, your team shall volunteer for more possible solutions. This approach helps to evolve as one team.

Before you can effectively lead a team, you have to win over the team. The first 90 days are critical to establishing an engaged and collaborative team. Here are the five things every leader must do to be successful: 1. Build trust 2. Communicate effectively 3. Lead by example 4. Recognize and reward contributions 5. Foster a positive work environment If you follow these five tips, not only will you have a powerhouse team but they will move mountains for you.

Empathy. Respect for others. Insight. Clarity of thought. Perspective. Critical thinking. The ability to translate complex issues into solvable chunks, and to set and measure realistic outcomes. Delegating the "interesting" work, and empowering others (both team members and stakeholders) to get involved, applying their knowledge, skills, and expertise to solve the challenges at hand. And, ultimately, the desire to see others succeed; positive change only "sticks" if those involved have a vested interest in ongoing success, and a sense of achievement and satisfaction in the overall outcome.

IT Service Leaders must possess leadership, effective communication, strategic thinking, problem-solving, customer focus, ITIL framework knowledge, change management expertise, financial management, vendor management, risk management, commitment to continuous improvement, team building, adaptability, project management, and security awareness.

One of the biggest challenges is that when it comes to problem solving, instead of addressing the cause and optimising and automating, technical debt is created by applying various workarounds that doesn't really address the problem, but can be a quick-win. Although workarounds are acceptable in service management and are part of problem management they shouldn't be considered the default approach when trying to address problems as they will eventually contribute to higher complexity, which will make services and systems operating in a non-effective and efficient manner.