A strong internal IT team can help your company reduce costs, raise productivity and gain competitive advantages. So how can you make your tech department stronger? Think like a body builder and design an ongoing regiment of nutrition, training and the right supplements.

Begin with Benchmarks

Start by doing an assessment of the team’s skills so you know which areas need work and which are the greatest priorities. Benchmark not only technical expertise, but also soft skills, like interpersonal communications and time management. Talk with coworkers, clients and managers to find out where staff members excel and how they might improve. Use these insights to create a customized development plan for each individual on the IT team.
 

Train

Because technology changes quickly, your business can gain competitive advantages by keeping your team up to speed on the latest and greatest tools. But your training shouldn’t stop there. Your IT team may also benefit from training in business skills, from strategic planning to team motivation. Committing to training opportunities will build staff loyalty and may ultimately reduce turnover.

… And Cross Train

Use job rotations and “training days” to introduce team members to new skills. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to learn, and ultimately will be better able to do their jobs because they’ll have a better understanding of how different positions and business priorities fit together. In addition, you’ll end up with a multi-skilled team to cover your needs. This is likely to lead to decreased downtime because every team member will be able to chip in across roles.

Monitor the Team’s Diet

Keep your team on a low fat, high performance information diet. This means making sure IT leaders are part of important strategic meetings and decisions. It also means resisting the temptation to pull them into every meeting. Being selective about their involvement will ensure they have enough time to get their daily work done, while still having the information they need to proactively identify high performing IT solutions. The more the team understands about business goals, the better able it will be to identify appropriate solutions.

Consider Supplements

It’s a unique IT professional who knows the answer to every technology question or challenge. Your team’s success may depend on providing specialized supplements to support areas of weakness. For instance, the depth of training needed to bring an internal person up to speed on VoIP may be unreasonable given that you can hire an outside company to do the rollout, and then have this vendor train your staff in ongoing monitoring and maintenance.

Provide the Right Equipment

Just like a top performing athlete needs the right shoes, your IT leaders needs the right equipment to get the job done. Does this mean the most expensive equipment? Not necessarily. But it does mean avoiding asking them to run a marathon in a pair of Converse sneakers. If they need software upgrades or additional licenses, don’t bog down the process unnecessarily. Lost productivity from using the wrong tools or dragging out approval processes will hurt your company and may have a negative effect on morale.

Offer Feedback

Developing employees requires ongoing, two-way communication. Keep staff members updated on their professional development and your hopes for how their role in your company will grow. Listen to their feedback about what’s working and what’s not. This ongoing circle of learning and feedback will lead to improved performance and a winning team.