Leading people is a challenge in itself. The needs and motivators vary from group to group;
marketing people are motivated by a completely different set of values than accounting
personnel.
Trying to understand the motivators or needs of the various
groups can be overwhelming at times, categorizing into one big pot is not
anymore the solution than throwing your hands up.
While much of what motivates an individual is within
the individual, as leaders its important to understand the needs of technical
professionals as you map your people strategy to get the most out of your
people.
Autonomy: To work without being
micromanaged is part of the reason that technical professionals choose there
given field. The more you can offer them
the freedom to accomplish the task with autonomy the more satisfaction they
will find. Of course, this is often
easier said than done but even in small doses the positive mojo the technical
professional will get from autonomy will pay off in spades.
Achievement: While everyone wants to feel a sense of
accomplishment at the end of the day, the techie is even more motived by a
sense of ‘done’ at some point. An
on-going project with no real end point will drive these folks crazy and serve
as a major de-motivator at some point. A
great way to overcome this is setting milestone achievements that can be
measured and tracked; this allows achievement to be real and validated for these
folks.
Keeping Current: Techies take great pride in their ability to stay on top of
the latest whiz-bang process or advancement in their field. Allowing them to keep current on their trade will
not only add to their happiness at work but more times than not will help the
organization get better.
Professional
Identification: While technical people enjoy their credentials more than
most, they find meaning in their professional identification and association
with the industry. This can be capitalized upon greatly by allowing them to
actively participate within the industry events, conferences or learning and
networking opportunities.
Participation in Mission and Goals: This is great because while some folks like to hide in the
weeds of the company mission, techies love to have a line of sight form their
role and responsibilities to the company mission. It is important to see their
impact on the company mission.
Collegial Support and Sharing: Beyond water-cooler chat and company softball teams these
individuals like to feel part of a bigger community. Again, this is a great opportunity for
companies and leaders to bring out the best in their people by developing and
recruiting focus groups, crowdsourcing and group think.
In the end, technical professionals want to be included and
actively participate in the company mission.
Developing an organization that meet these needs will fast track your group
into bringing out the best in your technical workforce.
If you are building a world-class technical team, and need some help. Contact one of the practice leaders at Connor|Caitlin.
