Management Practices That Motivate Your IT Team

Employer Insights

Boost Your IT Resume

Effective management is never easy and managing an IT team can have unique challenges. Sometimes IT managers may struggle to keep their employees actively engaged and productive, which can lead to unnecessary tension in the workplace, such as passive aggressiveness, lack of teamwork and poor communication. For your IT department to function properly, it’s essential you make the management of your employees a top priority.

Here are some of the best management practices to motivate your workforce and improve job satisfaction among your employees:

Define roles and responsibilities.

The common saying of “too many cooks in the kitchen” often applies to underperforming IT teams. While tasks and responsibilities will always overlap a little bit, it’s critical to establish set expectations for each employee’s specific role within your department. This will prevent confusion among your team and ensure each person is performing duties according to their specific jobs. At the end of the day, your employees will appreciate having a clear understanding of their respective jobs.

Provide ongoing support.

It’s normal for most organizations to provide new employees with initial onboarding and training support. However, some managers neglect to offer guidance and mentorship to their employees on a continual basis. Checking in with the members of your team on a weekly or monthly basis will allow you to identify areas of weakness in your staff and intervene as necessary. Most importantly, offering regular feedback and professional development opportunities will demonstrate to your employees that you care about their performance and are invested in their long-term success.

Show your appreciation.

While your IT employees are expected to do a good job, it’s always important to show your appreciation and celebrate your team’s milestones. Whether it’s a tech crisis your staff averted successfully or the completion of a department-wide initiative, recognizing your employees for their accomplishments can go a long way in keeping motivation levels high.

In many cases, your employees are only as good as your management style. Implementing the management practices above will not only increase job satisfaction in your IT department, but improve productivity outcomes for every person on your staff.