Soft Skills Coaching, the Art of Managing People

If you're a Chief IT Architect and you're looking to move into a more management role, then engaging the services of an IT architect coach is exactly what you need.

Because to be successful in management there is one skill you need above all others. Soft skills, or put simply your ability to communicate with people. Now you learnt how to program a server and design a network in University, but what you didn't learn was how to communicate with people. This is something you have learned to do while working on the job.

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But when it comes to managing people those skills will not be enough. You want to be as successful a manger as you are a technician. But to do that you need to realise that people are 10 times more complicated than any server. Top notch soft skills will be needed if you want to excel in management.

As a manager you'll be responsible for both technical and non-technical staffs, both are very different kinds of people and you can't communicate with them in the same way. So investing in soft skills can make the difference between being a mediocre manager and being a great manager.

There is often conflict between technical staff and non technical staff. This kind of behaviour is very damaging to the organization and in extreme case can result in staff withholding valuable information.

It's a manager's job to prevent this from happening in the first place. Life as a manger is not as simple as being an IT technician. There are many more things to take into account. There may be times when you wish you could go back to your old job for a simpler life.

Technical people have a reputation for being extremely bad at interpersonal skills, so much so that organizations often choose non technical people to manage IT projects. This obviously is not an ideal situation either.

Soft Skills are in strong demand

A manager with a tech background who can effectively deal with both technical and non-technical people is a rare commodity within a business. If you can effectively pull it off you'll soon become one of the most valuable people within the organization.

So talk to your IT Technical coach about learning soft skills. They can make all the difference to your management career.

Soft Skills Coaching, the Art of Managing People

Sharon C. Evans is an Enterprise Architect Coach, Mentor and Trainer. Her forthcoming book "Zoom Factor for Enterprise Architects: How to Focus and Accelerate Your Career" focuses on excellence and perspective for the Enterprise Architect and is due out in early 2010. She is the founder of Firefli Consulting Inc. and her member portal and more great articles can be found at http://www.architectcoach.com/category/blog/training/.

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