Taking on an IT management role requires an initial focus on developing people skills, forging relationships with staff, peers, and executives, and becoming familiar with operations, vendors, and business needs—a lot to handle when you’re first starting out. This ebook offers a practical look at how you can juggle these priorities, survive the challenges, and build a solid career as an IT manager.

From the ebook:

IT leadership requires the ability to work with a broad array of people from diverse backgrounds, identify company needs and how best to deliver on them, and ensure that team roles and responsibilities are identified and assigned appropriately. Managing people can be just as tricky as managing technological environments, and getting up to speed in a new situation can be overwhelming.

I’ve had over a dozen bosses in the course of my career and the majority of them arrived after me, so I’ve gained some firsthand insights into their successes and shortcomings. Whether you’re promoted to a leadership role at an existing company or you’re starting a brand new leadership job at a new organization, these 10 tips can help you to make the most out of the experience right out of the starting gate.

1. Get to know your staff
First and foremost, you need to meet and become acquainted with the people who will work for you. Share your background, such as where you previously worked (if elsewhere), the last position you held, the areas of IT you’re familiar with, and some projects you’ve worked on. Discuss your career goals and priorities both from a general standpoint and those that relate to your new role. This will help your staff understand who you are and the kind of leader they can expect you to be. Just be careful not to talk about yourself too much; you don’t want to come across as self-absorbed. Don’t make blanket promises either, since you need time to find out what sort of resources are available to you in the form of budgets, training opportunities, etc.

On the flip side, talk with your staff about their backgrounds and roles at the company and find out what makes them tick. What are their interests and goals? What do they like about the department and company and what do they want to do more of? What are they doing right now? What should they be doing instead? Do they have any concerns or ideas for improvement? Where do their strengths lie?