Technical professionals with excellent skills and attention to detail are often offered the opportunity to become managers.  Yet the same skills that make them superb at their jobs don’t always transition well into the skills managers need to lead a team. This 10-part series over the next few months will guide you into the development of those needed soft-skills so you can excel as a technical manager.  For a summary post on all 10 skills, click here.

In part two of our series, let’s take a look for the special person in your organization who knows how to get things done. That “in the know” person is the one YOU need to get to know. How do you find him or her?  Here are some clues from my Management Training for Technical Managers series.

This person typically:

• Is very well connected (they are on at least friendly terms with most of the people in the workplace, no matter their job descriptions)
• Knows some of the “secrets” of the organization, such as political or personnel issues
• Is reasonably well-liked by most people at the workplace (they know how to get along with others)
• Has an uncanny way to get things done (is resourceful and well-organized, but beyond that knows how to deal with a variety of people.)
• May or may not have “formal” power yet has a lot of influence.

I discovered this special person by accident.  One of my staff members was struggling in her current role, despite skill in some areas.  In a sudden moment of clarity, I discerned that her greatest skill was getting things done through organizational connections.  She knew…

• People’s secrets
• Who cared about what
• Who pulled what strings
• The struggles and successes of most of the individuals on staff.

I created a Chief of Staff position for her, and she excelled.