It is a challenging time to be an IT manager. IT departments are no longer mere tech facilitators. They are fast becoming business strategies and change agents. The enterprise looks upon IT managers as a key spoke in all aspects of the business. Here is a run-down on the changing face of IT managers in such a context.

1. From People Watchers to Facilitators

The traditional role of the manager, as a “people watcher,” directing and controlling the work of subordinates never worked well in IT. Micro-management or close monitoring creates tension and low morale. IT managers deal with knowledge workers, who have a high locus of control, are goal-oriented, and seek empowerment. With talent shortage affecting many jobs, the IT professional has a choice of many employers. They would leave rather than put up with micro-management or close supervision.

IT managers have an increasing role in HR activities. They: 

• Collaborate with HR and the recruitment team to hire the right person. Earlier, the focus was on technical competency. Now, the focus is on digital intelligence and adaptability. 
• Train and mentor new hires. Successful IT managers provide experiences, feedback, and opportunities to further professional development. They build a developmental relationship with the new hire and assess their readiness for identified roles.
• Adopt a servant leadership style. The most effective IT managers empower the employee to do their work. They facilitate the power-employees, ensuring they have everything to do the work. 

With talent crunch rife in the IT sector, especially in emerging technology, the IT manager has a key role in retaining talent. Employees carve recognition. IT managers collaborate with HR to ensure tech employees receive training and recognition.

2. Enabling the Gig Economy

The workplace is becoming matrix and adaptive. Hierarchy is fast becoming obsolete. The new order is a confederation of independent teams and agents. Managers become collaborators, making sure the ecosystem works.

47% of the workforce in the APAC region no longer prefer traditional, full-time employment. Jobseekers prefer portfolio careers for flexibility and other reasons. Most enterprises now have a mix of permanent and such freelance part-timer employees. Successful IT managers: 

• Ensure seamless collaboration with independent contractors. 
• Strike up a rapport with skilled freelancers and ensure the availability of talent when the company needs it.

3. From Troubleshooter to Strategic Partner

Traditionally, IT has been the tech enabler, focused on infrastructure. 41% of employees in the enterprise regard the main job of an IT manager as fixing general IT problems. Another 23% regard their main job as fixing server issues. But such traditional job descriptions are changing fast.

Business leaders now view IT as a collaborative partner. They expect IT managers to facilitate enterprise-wide solutions to improve customer satisfaction, efficiency improvements and innovation.

IT Managers need much more than domain knowledge and troubleshooting skills for these tasks. They have to be a tech-savvy innovator capable of heralding change across the business. They have to:

• advise on the technology to adopt or discard.
• envision new market niches, in a tech-driven business environment.
• leverage technology to increase competitiveness.

The increasing shift to the cloud lessens the administrative and troubleshooting burdens of the IT manager. But IT Managers still have to run networks and applications, and coordinate support and help desks.

4. Security Enabler

The IT manager always had the responsibility for enterprise security. The nature of security has changed though. Not too long ago, the IT manager was busy setting up firewalls, installing anti-virus, and fortifying the system. The increasing use of the cloud reduces the need for such tasks. But they now have other higher-level responsibilities. They:

• Review agreements with service providers to clarify and fix responsibility for data security.
• Stay abreast of technology to protect the network. For instance, they consider new AI-based network monitoring systems for robust security. 
• Lay down BYOD policies and enforce it, to ensure vulnerable employee smartphones do not compromise the enterprise network.

The onus is on IT managers to convince data security is everyone’s job. They need to make the rank and file internalize vigilance, to protect the company’s digital assets.

5. Change Agents

IT managers become change agents to implement new technologies that cause disruptions.

But it is no longer enough for IT managers to implement new technology. The C-suite expects them to understand how and why each function of the enterprise uses technology. Smart IT managers respond by:

• enabling collaborative internal relationships
• developing digital initiatives to enable smarter and creative work.
• mining data for real-time actionable insights that drive innovation or improve efficiency.
• overhauling digital structures and status-quo to improve customer satisfaction.

When the enterprise decides on new technology, IT managers become its champions by default. They have to sell the technology top the rank and file and empower end-users for buy-in. A key yardstick of success is how they communicate the benefits on offer and manage resistance to change.

6. Inculcating Shared Values

Today’s managers are visionaries and doers. They gain clarity on the company vision and mission and sync their mission and values with it. Next, they ensure the team inculcates such shared values, to foster a common vision.

The success of a new-gen IT manager depends on:

• Their ability to mobilize and pull together the intellectual and creative resources of the team
• Implement a culture of transparency and openness, eradicating data-silos and with free sharing of information.

The classical management theory expects the manager to plan, organize, lead, and evaluate. These basic precepts still hold. But the world of management and business is changing at a fast pace. Today’s world is fluid and unpredictable. Technologies change by the day, rendering incumbent paradigms obsolete. Also, the assumption of a stable, unchanging environment no longer exists. Success depends on strategic thinking, flexibility to work in a fluid environment, and agility to grab opportunities.