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Leadership
Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 12:00 AM

Experienced managers.... Manage Employees, Inexperienced managers.... Micro-Manage Employees.

 

In a high tech fast paced world of software engineering one must be experienced enough with the staff and the technologies that staff uses to understand how much time needs to be spent on those tasks. Then when assigned they should be able to understand the inevitable speed bumps that occur in a project and be capable with a level head to react to those changing requirements and timelines.

 

A Leader must be able to handle their outside influences and stand strong when it comes to timeline issues like scope creep and dependency deliverable timeline shifts rather than simply adding insurmountable tasks on their most talented contributors and standing behind them as they try and complete said tasks.

 

I find time and time again that when one is promoted through the ranks at one particular environment you notice they tend to micro manage. A real leader will have managed multiple types of groups in their respective field, possibly in charge of forming teams of people and working jobs that require strict timelines for clients and responding to clients requests knowing that each decision affects their wallet.

 

Fortune 500 companies have eased themselves into a position where they do not have to work this way, they overspend time on tasks that get thrown away like planning and time tracking. In an environment when any startup can come along and completely disrupt your entire operation a powerful business, is one that acts like a real startup for deliverables, which requires a leader that understands how to motivate the staff with benefits they can appreciate.

 

My leadership methods include such things as:

 

  1. Weekly schedule to work on Futuristic ideas associated with the company’s core project.
     

  2. Providing an equity share to those individuals that take advantage of #1
     

  3. Field Trips, Believe it or not one can learn a lot from a field trip to see how people interact with things in their environment.
     

  4. See what the clients are doing, talk with them personally, make a day of it. Your products will be much better when everyone knows how things should work.
     

  5. Know the technology, if you do not know the technology yourself your employees can start making up improper timelines that make it difficult to manage.
     

  6. Do not micro-manage! People will check their Facebook, people will watch a YouTube video at the office or reply to a craigslist ad, do not hold this against them as they are either doing it quickly at their desk or sneaking off and taking time consuming breaks to do the same thing.

 

With a good personable attitude and implementing some motivational methods like I introduced above you will begin to see employees not only respect you, but they will have an attitude reminiscent of an army where they would follow you into battle. I believe I have a crew of individuals that would follow me from business to business and it is because of my unique, innovative leadership methods. How many managers/leaders can say that? Can you?

 

If you want to be successful, I believe you should start taking a lesson from someone such as myself that has managed multiple types of design and engineering teams….. or you can just pay me to do it.

 

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