I was over on the Tech Republic website where 'Local Support' made a good point - it's not just the subordinate staff in a Manager's section that have a chance to educate him or her 'from below'. The IT support people have unique access to just about everyone in an organisation. In fact the only people who don't have respect for a really good IT support person would be the propeller heads in the IT specialist areas.
So what does a good IT support person 'do' with this access. Obviously you're there to help solve problems. But the access, the respect that you have allows you to 'influence' things here and there, connect people together, make a suggestion, give an opinion. All done very carefully, the more precise or 'strong' you are in your views the more likely that you'll bump into resistance (and be wrong!). And being 'wrong' means you lose the respect and the ability to influence.
Let's use an example, say a system that the staff are having a lot of trouble using (because it was badly designed). The manager is blissfully unaware of course (none of his own staff will tell him bad news), and the senior ranks of IT know but won't admit they've got a 'dog' on their hands (and after all, the support guys will 'fix it up') and if anyone has the guts to tell the Executive they won't want to know that they've just wasted a large sum of money. So who can tell the manager - well obviously the IT support guy. How? Well you could say, next time the Manager needs some support,"I can't come down now because I'm busy fixing the problems with that XXX system". Ok, but this is better: "I'll come down straight away, I have a heap of work to do with problems with that XXX system and this will be a chance to deal with them all at once.
IT support people might be the 'lowest rung' in the IT ladder, and looked down upon by folk who ought to know better . But it's not altogether a bad thing. It's not just the technology or the fact that you 'service everyone' that gives you access within the organisation but also your 'low status'. Managers and staff will confide in you because you 'don't matter' (well not in the sense of competing with them for promotion). But a cat - as they say - may look at a King, and tell him a tale or two about 'what's really going on'. And the manager (and this was the point of the post originally) might learn that it's possible to manage a section and have no idea of what's going on until he/she's told by a 'most unlikely source'.
While we're here I may as well canvas some other 'angles of influence'. You could categorise the story of the IT support guy talking to the Chief Executive under the heading 'Access'. Of course getting yourself demoted so that you can wander round the building and talk freely to anyone at all has it's downside. We'll firstly there's the cut in pay, but then there's also the cut in 'status' - and status has a lot to do with your ability to influence. What you might do is use someone who is already in that role (rather than stepping into it yourself) and form an 'alliance to influence'. Mind you, if that seems complicated, another fellow I knew seemed to run a fairly good angle by inviting his targets out on his boat. Even the offer sounded rather grand, and if accepted it created an interesting power play 'on board'. Obviously the captain is the guy at the wheel...
Other angles, well the old powerpoint presentation might win hearts and minds, but nothing beats raising some issue close to your heart while addressing your companies customers (preferably in the presence of your Executive). Or even better, writing a speech for your Executive to read when addressing those customers. While the latter method is prone to editorial interference by the Exec's, it's less likely to be prejudicial to you career. But heck, if the company doesn't care for the ideas that are 'close to your heart' what are you doing working there anyway?
Other angles involve sending key players off on 'mind altering' training courses, seminars, or experiences. How does this work on your Boss or the Executive? One method is to apply to them (with all of the brochures etc) for authorisation to go (and write a justification that says 'although more suited to higher management I would dearly like to spend a week on the beach in Bora Bora') Result: one sun-tanned Executive primed to do whatever the trip primed him or her to do (there was some 'how to be a better Executive course attached to the holiday wasn't there?). On the other hand if you have a vacilating Executive, pray for a near-death experience for him/her just prior to the next 'normally unproductive meeting'. There's nothing like the whizz of the grim reaper's scythe to put things in perspective for the chronic procrastinator. Leaving brochures and publications around helps as well.
In fact bringing astronomy magazines in to work (one of my interests) launched one of my colleagues on a entirely different career path. Which leads me to a nice concluding point. If you want to talk about influence you need to decide before hand what you are trying to influence folk to do (or believe, or whatever). If you're fuzzy about that you'll get fuzzy results. And then you have to understand why they (and they'll all have different reasons) won't think it's a good idea. And then work on persuading them how good it will be for them (individually). Very seldom - and you knew this already - is it about the 'merit' of the idea or the product. It's all about engineering a 'coincidence of interests' - mine and yours.
Posted by: John McCann | February 10, 2006 at 02:19 PM
Interesting how access to IT and trust can weild so much information power and lets face it information is power. Just look a wikipedia. Thank you for part one and I hope to see part two as good and the first installment. Can we be friends, I hate to think enemies accumulate.
Posted by: Roddy Young | June 20, 2006 at 12:43 AM