Abstract :
The author implied that communication and people skills are a "must have" for technology managers, and mentioned that hearing the following from managers is not uncommon: "It\´s not the technical work that\´s challenging, it\´s the people stuff." The "stuff" that is being referred to here are the typical "people behaviors" you see in your teams: "John is in a mood today, keep your distance from him"; "can someone tell Shirley that she speaks too loud in her cubicle and I can\´t focus on my work?"; "Matt talks about religion at work and it offends me because I\´m an atheist, he needs to stop talking about religion in the work place"; "Thelma took all the credit for the work that I did, and now everyone thinks she came up with that idea;" How many of you managers, have come across complaints such as these at work, and what have you done about them? The answer must be something besides "nothing;" or "I don\´t have time to deal with this childish behavior;" or "I have work to do." Communication and interpersonal skills go hand in hand and technology managers need to improve their skills for both. As a manager, you need to learn how to communicate because now your comments carry not only the message, but also its meaning. Communicating is in many ways simple and also very complex; listen and learn how to be quiet, think before you speak, allow freedom of expression, understand the issues of the situation under discussion, stay with the facts, and above all avoid the gossip. Sounds like something we can accomplish in ten easy lessons, but human nature, being what it is, somehow prevents us from following a simple process; it takes conscious effort to meet these simple requirements.
