Business Skills for IT Professionals

Course Description:

Success in a technical field does not guarantee success in a management role. Management is a specialization just like every other aspect of business. Become the best manager you can be by learning the latest techniques and approaches to management issues.

In this course, you will be introduced to the best practices in management science - the productivity tools you need to succeed in a constantly evolving workplace. This is knowledge that every manager can put to use every day.

Managers can be overwhelmed by new responsibilities - but only when not properly prepared. Unskilled and untrained managers lack the people skills necessary to be efficient and effective managers.

Choose to be exceptional. Draw on the experience of others to develop your own skills. Broaden your focus from a short-term manager to a strategic thinker. Develop a professional outlook through optimism and ambition.

In this course, you'll learn what experts in the field are saying about communications, leadership, negotiation, delegation, motivation, time management, critical thinking, and decision making. You will discover the fundamentals of effective management including the tools for powerful communications: quickly write reports that are concise and clear, structure letters and memos with purpose in mind, and prepare and deliver high-impact presentations that focus on specific, desired outcomes. Plus, you'll analyze financial statements and become familiar with budgeting, and you'll gain an understanding of critical thinking and how it relates to effective decision making.

Management skills are developed not found. To develop as a manager you must take advantage of the experience of others. Get started on the road to excellence by taking Business Skills for IT Professionals.

This course is suitable for New managers, potential managers, and anyone wanting to advance his or her career by becoming increasingly responsible for directing staff and resources. Department managers, project managers, IT project managers, IT managers, software architects, developers, general IT staff, and new directors.

Upon completion Delegates will know:

• How to develop as a professional manager
• Best practices for communicating up and down the organizational structure
• How to structure and compose communications for clarity, relevance, and precision
• What it means to be organized and the rules of effective time management
• Delegation for maximum efficiency and management effectivenessWhy motivation is key to core to success and a fundamental responsibility of every manager
• How leadership serves as a management style and motivational tool
• The techniques for generating imaginative solutions that lead to optimum outcomes
• Best practices in decision analysis
• Preparation for and execution of win-win negotiations
• Preparation and delivery of productive presentations

This course includes the following modules:

Professionalism

• How attitude and ambition contribute to career development

Effective Communications

• Learning to judge communications according to quality standards
• Developing the ability to actively listen

Written Communications

• Effective and efficient business writing
• Understanding business style
• Using templates to simplify and speed up the writing process

Presentations

• Best practices for preparing and delivering dynamic presentations

Dynamic Meetings

• How and when to avoid meetings
• Organizing the best possible meetings when you can't avoid them

Motivation

• Patterns of motivation in the workplace
• Motivational tools and how to apply them

Delegating

• Delegating as the art of management
• Managing and monitoring delegated tasks for maximum productivity

Negotiating

• Negotiation fundamentals
• The art of haggling

Leadership

• Choosing a leadership style
• Recognizing when leadership is necessary

Managing Time and Priorities

• Knowing what is the best use of your time, all the time
• Techniques for minimizing interruptions

Beyond Budgets

• How Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and rolling forecasts are replacing traditional budgeting process

Critical Thinking and Reasoning

• Introduction to the science of critical thought and reasoned analysis

Problem Analysis Guidelines

• Best practices for reaching optimum decisions
• Case Studies

Case Studies

• Case Study 1: Attitude Management
• Learning to be positive.
• Case Study 2: Communication Fundamentals
• Judging communications according to quality standards.
• Case Study 3: Editing for Clarity
• Focus on brevity and precision in writing.
• Case Study 4: Editing for Business Style
• Focus on purpose and outcomes.
• Case Study 5: Structuring E-mail
• Applying templates to speed and improve the writing process.
• Case Study 6: Letter Writing
• Preparing formal communications that are brief, clear, and accurate.
• Case Study 7: Writing Presentations
• Outlining effective speaking notes.
• Case Study 8: Ranking Motivators and De-motivators
• Understanding the role of planning in the motivational process.
• Case Study 9: Dissecting the Reasoning of Others
• Dismantling the logic and thought processes that individuals use to arrive at decisions.
• Case Study 10: Evaluating the Quality of Reasoning
• Judging the inputs of an individual's thought processes.
• Case Study 11: Restating a Problem to Clarify Purpose
• Dismantling a decision to be made by reinterpreting the objectives.
• Case Study 12: Determine the Major Factors
• Analyzing a decision to be made by drilling down to the pivotal issues.