My three guiding principles of IT middle management

The beginning of the year means performance evaluations at my workplace. I gladly welcome them as I enjoy having open conversation and feedback about my contribution to the company.

One thing I’ve newly experienced was having to conduct my own evaluation! While there’s usually a small portion of the process to throw in a comment or two about your own performance, I’ve never experienced the insight of holistically evaluating myself for someone else. As the time nears for me to conduct this annual self-eval, I reflected on my role and summed up three main tenets I subscribe to being in IT middle management:

My staff – I want to provide you the tools and resources you need to get the job done. I want to help you find happiness in your role and help you thrive so you can do your best work for the company. I believe in servant leadership and promise to support you always and fight on your behalf for what’s deserved.

My boss – I want to do what I can to reduce your workload and stress, and ensure that you don’t have to worry about my department. Feedback and updates will be constant and transparent, and I’ll do my best to keep things on-time and within budget.

My customers – basically our colleagues – I promise my team will do their best and always be happy to help you with your issues. I also promise that our sysadmins will keep our servers in the best shape and config possible, and keep a vigilant eye for anything amiss. We’ll escalate to vendors as needed and re-evaluate systems for Continual Service Improvement (ITIL).

In return, I expect my service to you, my fellow colleagues, to be met with

My staff – keep dialogue open and be honest. if you see something, say something. Continue to learn and help your teammates.

My boss – guide us with your vision and communicate your expectations clearly. Trust us to tap into our expertise and experience to do what’s best for the company.

My customers – do your part in reporting issues. Follow protocol and procedures when making requests. Respect your colleagues and the company by making appropriate requests, not asking for more than what you need or marking things more urgent than they are.

I intend to revisit this post periodically as it’s very important to me to live by these tenets at work. I’ll probably refine this as I gain a deeper understanding of how I can best serve my company. 💖