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I have been a quiet subscriber to this list for several years and, in spite of
the recent off subject messages, have learned a great deal from the list and
received many excellent referrals to web sites, books, and training
opportunities.

I recently gave up on being an independent management consultant. I am now the
Manager of Customer Support Services for ACS, Inc. (a mainframe computer
outsourcer) in Charlotte, NC.

Two of my major responsibilities are:

Management training for technical people who have been promoted from
technical positions (computer programmer, operator, etc.) to management
positions. These people have had no management training.

Customer Service Training for all personnel who have regular contact with
our customers. (managers, programmers, operators, account reps, etc.)

My experience is that people who are great technical people, used to working
with computers, often have a different outlook and background than the
"traditional manager."

My questions to the list are:

Are there any special programs or resources for providing management
training to technical people. Has anyone considered this area as a special need
for a large group of new managers?

Thanks,

Jim Massfeller

Get a copy of "First break all the rules", a book written by a couple opf
people from Gallup. It identifies the traits that make a manager good.
And, yes, even techies can sometimes fitr thpse criteria.

Don
> Customer Service Training for all personnel who have regular contact
with
>our customers. (managers, programmers, operators, account reps, etc.)
>
>My experience is that people who are great technical people, used to working
>with computers, often have a different outlook and background than the
>"traditional manager."
>
>My questions to the list are:
>
> Are there any special programs or resources for providing management
>training to technical people. Has anyone considered this area as a
special need
>for a large group of new managers?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Jim Massfeller
>

Ohio State has an engineering management program with such issues in mind:
http://www-iwse.eng.ohio-state.edu/~gradstdyp/EM.html

Cybercollegially,
Charlie Wankel
mg-ed-dv listmaster
wankelc@stjohns.edu

--------------------------

Jim Massfeller in Charlotte, North Carolina, asked:

Are there any special programs or resources for providing management
training to technical people. Has anyone considered this area as a special
need
for a large group of new managers?

Jim Massfeller, who recently "gave up on being an independent management
consultant" and is now "inside" so to speak, asks: "Are there any special
programs or resources for providing management training to technical
people. Has anyone considered this area as a special need for a large
group of new managers?

Dave Brown at Alabama has a long-standing interest in management training
for "techies" especially for engineers. Here's a snippet from a response I
made to an inquiry about communications skills for "techies" on another list...

>You might try a book titled "Technimanagement" by David Brown, head of the
>computer science department at the University of Alabama. You can find a
>write-up of David's book at amazon.com. You can also contact David at the
>following e-mail address: brown@cs.ua.edu



Fred Nickols
The Distance Consulting Company
"Assistance at A Distance"
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
nickols@worldnet.att.net
(609) 490-0095

Hi

Below is a reply to Jim Massfeller' posting which contains an offer that I
might make available to any other member of this list faced with the same or
similar challenge (subject to available time).

If you are interested in a different approach - one that helps professionals
in any field, not only technical experts but non-management types who are
assigned project or team management responsibilities make better managerial
decisions, you may want to correspond with me on your needs. The concepts
apply even to most positions with regular contact with customers.

I am an ex-engineer and ex-manager of technical people who switched into
management development many years ago. Recently I co-authored a book
(published by ASQ), and then developed a seminar workshop that is relevant to
your needs. Recently, a reviewer said this about it:

'From my point of view, the benefit of what you have done is paired
simplicity with complexity and taken a tiered, multi-layered approach to the
big-picture issues at the heart of management/leadership.' (For
clarification, let me state that concept of 'leadership', as used in the
program, applies to all managers, even those who have no staff - because
their decisions affect internal and external stakeholders.)

The seminar/workshop which is highly participative, proceeds from an analysis
of a hypothetical situation that can be adjusted to be specifically relevant
to your audience, to analyses of situations/challenges/problems contributed
by participants. It proceeds from there to analysis of other situations,
with increasing detail of background.

Participants do not need access to the book for full benefit.

If you are interested, I would provide the workshop materials, permission to
reproduce, assistance in preparation for its conduct, and make myself
available via telephone during the workshop, FREE of any costs. What I would
expect, however, is a commitment to provide detailed feedback on what
occurred during the workshop, including brief descriptions of the challenges
offered by participants - and your agreement to follow the facilitator's
guide (if there is anything in that guide that you would like to change, you
could do so but you would have to inform me of the changes before the start
of the workshop.)

I look forward to hearning from you.

Erwin (Rausch)

There has never been a more critical time for IT leadership. As cycle times
reach dizzying speeds, success demands the very best leaders achievable.
Business demands excellent communication between teams, internal and
external customers and other external forces on the continuum.

Our old pal, Albert Camus said," You cannot create experience. You must
undergo it."

That said, an investment in a "mgmt. training program for techies" is a bad
idea. Yup, there are lots out there, but the processing of these souls
through such a program results only in a check-off of a to-do list.
Organizations need to develop their own solutions based upon their
uniqueness, marketplace and culture. You can hire outside help to do it, but
don't buy it canned!

While we do believe that Leadership has core competencies which can and
should be presented to these people, unless you invest upfront in an ongoing
model that includes support and coaching back on the frontline, you'll
likely find your success limited. Sure, they will have been "trained", but
then they'll put the courseware up on their bookshelf and fight the daily
fires largely by intuition and their wits.

I'd recommend that you start by identifying the learning objectives. What
stuff do these folks need in order to be successful? How will this translate
into organizational success? How will you measure it?

Then think about chunking it out. A short couple of days to introduce the
endeavor, and then regular sessions bi-weekly, monthly etc. to pull the
learning thread, introduce additional materials and most importantly to have
your participants become a group of learners. Call it curriculum design by
organizational reality... use the real business to teach them. This approach
also would allow the use of a mentoring component... which if done well can
be dynamite for both mentor, mentee and the organization.

Lots of pluses here. You start building a cadre of leaders who collaborate
rather than compete, you increase organizational learning by spreading the
real business across several areas and you eliminate the "spray and pray"
approach of putting them through a 2-3-4-5 day management training program.

You'll also find some additional articles of interest at
http://www.campbellandco.com/Articles/articleslist.htm. I believe the
article, "Knowledge Management and Leadership" will provide some additional
food for thought. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to try and
answer them.

Congrats and good luck at ACS. I'm sure you guys will be busy with your new
joint venture with Applix!

Tom Campbell
Campbell and Company, Inc.
92 Cedar St.
Scituate, MA 02066 USA
ph: 781 545 3994
fax: 781 545 5506
mailto:tom@campbellandco.com
http://www.campbellandco.com

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