Transforming It Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors, and Collaboration to Create an It Department That Outperforms - Hardcover

by Frank Wander (Author)

Practical, proven guidance for transforming the culture of any IT department

As more and more jobs are outsourced, and the economy continues to struggle, people are looking for an alternative to the greed-driven, selfish leadership that has resulted in corporations where the workers are treated as interchangeable parts. This book shows how the human factors can be used to unlock higher returns on human capital such that workers are no longer interchangeable parts, but assets that are cared about and grown. Refreshingly innovative, Transforming IT Culture shows how neuroscientific and psychological research can be applied in the IT workplace to unleash a vast pool of untapped potential.

• Written by an expert on IT culture transformation
• Considers the widespread "cultural blindness" in business today, and how it can be addressed
• Draws on the author's repeated success transforming IT divisions across major corporations by applying the human factors
• Explains why social intelligence, human factors, and collaboration are the source of harmony, shared learning, mutual respect, and value creation

Employees want positive change in business, something to stop the downward spiral we are on, both financially and emotionally. Transforming IT Culture shows how the essential ingredient to any high performing IT department is a culture where employees are valued and managed to their strengths. Using the Information Technology profession as a lens through which we can understand knowledge worker productivity and how to seriously improve it, this important new book reveals why Collaborative Social Systems are essential to every organization.

Front Jacket

The intense focus companies place on processes, technology, analytics--on just about everything except their professionals--screams out an unspoken message: people don't count. As knowledge grows, specialization increases, and complex activities require a web of experts--people--to move an idea from concept to reality.

Seeking to increase understanding of productivity in the 21st-century workforce, Transforming IT Culture reveals how highly specialized IT knowledge workers must collaborate to create value, uncovering the human factors that ignite success. Author Frank Wander explores how social intelligence, trust, and unselfishness are the indispensable management tools that will enable leaders to energize a human web and make it highly productive.

An unflinching look at the human side of production today, Transforming IT Culture peels back the layers, revealing the boundless potential of knowledge and experience across teams of highly skilled individuals, with guidance on:

• Unlocking human potential
• Why our human resource practices remain primitive
• The importance of empathy, caring, and compassion at work
• Designing a collaborative social system--and why it matters
• Shaping IT one interaction at a time
• Servant leadership in IT
• Building a culture of creativity
• Maximizing the productivity of your talent

The ultimate guide to building a better IT department from the inside out, Transforming IT Culture makes a strong case for a leadership style where the happiness and emotional well-being of workers is the key to extraordinary collaboration--and to a productivity revolution.

Back Jacket

Transforming IT Culture How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors, and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms

The intense focus companies place on processes, technology, analytics--on just about everything except their professionals--screams out an unspoken message: people don't count. As knowledge grows, specialization increases, and complex activities require a web of experts--people--to move an idea from concept to reality.

Seeking to increase understanding of productivity in the 21st-century workforce, Transforming IT Culture reveals how highly specialized IT knowledge workers must collaborate to create value, uncovering the human factors that ignite success. Author Frank Wander explores how social intelligence, trust, and unselfishness are the indispensable management tools that will enable leaders to energize a human web and make it highly productive.

An unflinching look at the human side of production today, Transforming IT Culture peels back the layers, revealing the boundless potential of knowledge and experience across teams of highly skilled individuals, with guidance on:

• Unlocking human potential
• Why our human resource practices remain primitive
• The importance of empathy, caring, and compassion at work
• Designing a collaborative social system--and why it matters
• Shaping IT one interaction at a time
• Servant leadership in IT
• Building a culture of creativity
• Maximizing the productivity of your talent

The ultimate guide to building a better IT department from the inside out, Transforming IT Culture makes a strong case for a leadership style where the happiness and emotional well-being of workers is the key to extraordinary collaboration--and to a productivity revolution.

Author Biography

FRANK WANDER is founder and CEO of the IT Excellence Institute, an organization dedicated to answering Peter Drucker's challenge to increase the productivity of knowledge workers. Prior to starting the Institute, Frank was CIO at Guardian Life for more than five years, transforming the culture and capability of IT to deliver business projects on time and on budget, across 90% of its portfolio. He is a highly sought-after speaker at leading IT industry events, contributes articles to CIO Magazine and Computerworld, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.