How can technical folks at the individual contributor level upskill themselves in non-technical aspects of the business?
CIO in Education, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
Learn from their leadership. Talk to clients about their business processes.Director in Manufacturing, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
A simple starter is through reading of your own outward facing website. Do you know all the products? Do you know the benefits compared to competitors? If public have you read all the filings? Listen to the public earnings calls, they are different from the town halls for employees All this can be done without even telling your boss
Senior Director in Healthcare and Biotech, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
If you are talking strictly about the business, there are multiple avenues, from community college courses in the area you are supporting to what I personally have employed in my career - a day in the life. Whenever I changed roles or went to a new company, I would request from leadership of various business areas to shadow some of their personnel. I would shadow everyone from pickers in the warehouse to accounts payable clerks - just to understand the pains in daily life for our IT customers and also spark ideas for how to help/improve various processes. Content you might like
CTO in Software, 201 - 500 employees
Without a doubt - Technical Debt! It's a ball and chain that creates an ever increasing drag on any organization, stifles innovation, and prevents transformation.Our team will have the option to work remotely for all or part of the week42%
Our team will return to the office as soon as it is safe to do so32%
Our team will permanently work remotely12%
Our team has already returned to the office10%
Our team never left the office to work remotely1%
Undecided2%
201 PARTICIPANTS
Salary levels that match the local cost of living28%
In-office perks (free lunches/snacks, fun events, etc.)45%
Commuter benefits42%
Childcare options/reimbursement28%
Pet care reimbursement19%
Updated/renovated office21%
Safety and sanitation protocols in the office23%
Office relocation13%
Opening satellite offices9%
None of these — any company can mandate RTO without these changes13%
Something else (comment if you’d like)1%
185 PARTICIPANTS
Chief Technology Officer in Software, 51 - 200 employees
My personal experience. I usually get the feedback and go back with data driven analysis providing details to cross leaders to understand the context and make decision basis data and and not gut feeling.
Community User in Software, 11 - 50 employees
organized a virtual escape room via https://www.puzzlebreak.us/ - even though his team lost it was a fun subtitue for just a "virtual happy hour"
The most essential skills you need to build are related to people management, which can’t be learned by shadowing because you're not part of those one-on-ones. You can do one-on-ones with your colleagues, not for the purpose of people management, but to build rapport and get an understanding of what those conversations are like.
Management training is always available through courses and books, but if your company provides future leaders with management training, you should take advantage of that. Because when you move into roles where you have line management responsibilities, it is a completely different job. That's something that I've always advised to budding team leads or people managers. I’ll ask, "Is this what you want to do? What are your expectations? What do you think that role actually means?" It’s an opportunity to align their expectations with reality.