The Voice of the Techie

Occasionally I reply in writing to questions from colleagues, clients and social media sites and cc them here.

Question: How do we manage, motivate, influence and inspire technologists? Are they really unique and different from non-technologists? What makes them click?

As an expert in the management of knowledge and innovation, I get to keep a foot in the world of technology. While working with one client, I became frustrated with what I felt was excessive push-back regarding the implementation and adoption of a new social media platform for KM (knowledge management). After several months of assuming I was dealing with technocrats rather than innovators, I learned from one of the risk management experts that there were fundamental flaws in some of the technology that would put the organization at risk, so there were security issues at play that made sense. No one had bothered to disabuse me of my assumption, and in truth I should have questioned it myself since most "techies" that I know get into it because of the new and exciting capabilities that technology affords. That they have to say "no" to new technology, whether IT or in other areas, goes against their nature.

So I'd say one of the lessons learned from this that dovetails with the academic research on the topic is this: don't make assumptions, but if you do, assume that technologists will push the organization as fast as possible. They will shut down only when they feel their voice is not being heard by management. So it remains imperative that, beyond the "skunk-works" approach to innovation, some foresight around how the technology will be reintegrated into the business model requires that those on the frontiers of discovery remain in the loop. At the point of decision this can become more complex depending on the decision-making process.

Finally, I'd say in this day and age we are all "techies" to some degree, so let's not label and dismiss. Moreover, if you are ever labeled an expert in technology you will come to understand how limited your knowledge truly is. Which is why we specialize. Which is why we need cross-functional teams. Which is why communications and systemic feedback loops - especially difficult conversations among people of different specialties and levels of seniority - remain essential to the evolution of innovation.