Inside your data center: How to create a healthy working environment

(Jul 13 2010) ERP , ERP Blog

Categories:
Technologies: Cloud Computing, CRM, CRM Blog, ERP, ERP Blog, Green IT, on-demand, SaaS, web-based
  1. Inside your data center: How to create a healthy working environment

    It starts with team work. Are you working to create a place for your IT team to thrive and grow?

    By Todd R. Weiss                ERP Blogger

    You and your IT staff spend a lot of time together in the trenches in your company's data center.

    You put out ERP and CRM fires together. You deploy new hardware and configure it while working side by side. You resolve technical glitches and outages together and come up with innovative and smart ways to get it all done.

    That's a lot of time that you all spend together, building your team and learning how to work together as one cohesive unit for the greater good of your company.

    That can make a very healthy work environment for all of you, and it's something to be encouraged, grown and built upon.

    It can be a really a great thing.

    So why am I writing about this on ForecastingClouds.com, a tech blog for ERP and CRM?

    Because I think that that kind of teamwork and networking between co-workers is often forgotten when things get crazy busy, and man, the last couple of years have likely been crazy busy for your understaffed, overworked and overstressed IT staffs. The economic recession took its toll on every member, I'd bet, as they were the ones who were left to do the work after others were laid off. They sure have been doing a lot more of that work, haven't they?

    I thought about all of this today when I read a blog post, "The Subtle Art of Networking," by Melanie Spring, principal of marketing and branding firm Sisarina Inc.   

    As I read her list of 10 things to remember when networking, I quickly realized that these were all tips to also keep in mind when you're working with the people you already know -- those same members of your hard-working IT team.

    "The definition of networking is 'to cultivate people who can be helpful to one professionally,'" Spring wrote in her blog post. "The core of this is lost on most business owners and salespeople. To cultivate means to really work at something. In order to network well, we must plan to befriend those around us. We work with people we like, not just people we know."

    Wow. What incredible insights into how we can work with the others in our IT teams. Actually working together at something. Growing together. Befriending each other and moving forward toward common goals.

    Are you skeptical?

    Do you think this isn't that important?

    OK, listen up -- here's where the light bulb in my brain really lit up as I thought about how IT teams work together:

    Springs's other advice:

    "Be engaged" with the people you are talking with.

    "Network with everyone." Don't leave people out. It's all good and everyone can be a part of what you are doing together.

    "Be a resource." Help those whom you are working with and watch the trust and information sharing grow among you all.

    "Be a connector." Encourage everyone to join in. Be the person to invite others who are hesitant. Encourage the group to bond.

    "Stop talking about what you do" at work. Instead, take the conversation -- and the connections you are building and encouraging -- to a higher level by discussing who you really are and what you like to do in your own life. Be a human being, not only a manager.

    "Don't force a conversation." Let the members of the team react or not as they see fit. Just let everyone be who they are.

    "Don't judge." Everyone may not be interested in every single thing each team member has to say. So ask about other things and open up the conversation to things that interest others.

    "Listen." This is so huge and can be so difficult. When you ask someone a question, take a breath and hold it. Then just sit back and  listen. We all like to be heard. Remember to just listen.

    "Networking happens everywhere." It's not just at tech conferences or in business meetings. It's also right there in your IT shop. In your data center. In your staff lunchroom. Right there in your offices. Foster it. Watch it thrive.
     
    "Be yourself." Don't be a boss. Don't be a team leader. Just talk to the people on your team and get to know them. Let them actually get to know you, too. Listen to them. Share a laugh with them.

    It's funny to me that we sometimes need to be reminded of things like this.

    Your IT staff is your key to getting things done in your data center, from ERP to CRM to software patches and everything in between.

    Work together, laugh together, find common ground and get your work done together.

    Let great networking start from within and watch it spread.

    Now that's an IT shop that every IT staffer would want to work in.

    Make it yours.

    Todd R. Weiss is an award-winning technology journalist and freelance writer who worked as a staff reporter for Computerworld.com from 2000 to 2008. He spends his spare time working on a book about an unheralded member of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and watching classic Humphrey Bogart movies. Follow him on Twitter @TechManTalking. Write to him at toddrweiss (at) gmail (dot) com.












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