Managing Technical Teams

Is managing a technical team the same as managing all teams? No, not always. There are nuances specific to the environment, people and pace that affect what is expected of you when managing a technical team.

Common concerns we hear from those who attend this course include:

• How will I separate being a manager from being an expert?
• How will I get the best out of individuals and produce a high performing technical team?
• What are my strengths and those of my team, and how do I put them to best use?
• How do I deal with the challenges that managing a technical team can bring?
• How do I merge my technical and managerial skills for the greatest impact?

This workshop is based around up to date research about the most frequent challenges encountered by Technical Team managers, including what tech team members need from their managers, such as:

• Meeting the challenges of stepping up into a management role from a tech/specialist background
• Flexing your management style to avoid micro-management and delegate more
• Establishing and maintaining trust
• Understanding and working effectively with the mind-set of technical team members

It’s also a great introduction to the general challenges of management and leadership, supporting you wherever your career may take you.

This workshop uses powerful ideas, activities and specially designed technical team case studies to develop your management and leadership skills, helping you get the best from your technical team. You’ll also have the opportunity to share ideas and experience with technical team managers from other organisations.

It’s divided into 3 and 2 day sessions to help you minimise the impact on your work and to allow you more time to put your learning into practice.

• Explore the challenges of managing and leading technical teams, identifying solutions
• Develop greater awareness of ourselves and our team members so that we can improve communication, motivation and performance
• Explore how to handle conflict more effectively
• Examine how teams work and the role of trust in great team working
• Set SMART goals and objectives to create clarity
• Identify how we can flex our leadership style to drive great performance
• Discover how to empower people and delegate successfully
• Tackle challenging feedback and conversations confidently

This course is aimed at first and second-line managers who lead technical teams in all kinds of organisations.

Pre-Course Work

You’ll be asked to complete online Strength Deployment Inventory 2.0® and to capture your thoughts on being a technical team manager prior to attending the workshop.

You’ll also be provided with reading, team assessments and reflections around managing technical teams to complete between the first and second parts of the workshop.

Day 1:

• Welcome and introductions
• Managing in the technical environment
• Leading and managing technical teams
• Strength Deployment Inventory® 2.0
• Learning review and close

Day 2:

• Recap
• Strength Deployment Inventory 2.0® continued
• How teams develop
• Technical team case study – developing the team
• Building trust
• Learning review and close

Day 3:

• Recap
• Team dysfunctions
• Managing by outcomes
• SMART objective and goal setting
• Technical team case study – goal setting
• Learning review, action planning and close

Three week break

Day 4:

• Welcome back
• Review of intra-course reading
• Situational Leadership®
• Motivating your team
• Empowering and developing people through Monkey Management®
• Learning review and close

Day 5:

• Recap
• Nine steps of delegation
• Levels of delegation
• Instant coaching
• Structuring positive conversations
• Technical team case study – feedback and positive conversations
• Learning review, action planning and course close