I have been kicked upstairs...

Good point, gautam, as in: Yeah, where IS that whip?! ;-)
If you need a bodyguard or a pro Whip who will sort your staff in order, just holler. I can make myself available for a week or two.

The place is in a mess to be honest. There seems to be an army of people, and all seem to be doing the same thing, that is nothing. People saunter in at 0930ish and saunter out at 1630ish (is it because the holiday season ??) Been very busy meeting with my business and operation partners today - still not managed to have my team meeting, although sort of know who all are working for me.

The message is that I have to get tough. We have to pull up our socks if we want to save costs and deliver. The worrying message which I am getting is that people are ignoring real work because they are too bogged down in admin processes. The bureaucracy in this place makes UK red tape feel like a walk in the park !!

Speaking of Processes, the SQM (Software Quality Manager) is a dish !! But managed to upset him in the first meeting itself, when I told him that *work* takes first priority - and if I find that real life is suffering because we have to follow 100000 different processes, then the process will have to change - did not go down very well with him - he ran off to complain to his boss One attractive person and I manage to piss him off - Am I strange or what ????

well, you want people to work! nobody likes that. i'd run away pronto! what helps me is being given a project, along with deadlines and all responsibility for it. then i deliver like there's no tomorrow. otherwise i tend to shirking, for that is the human nature. shame is the motor of progress - goes along with responsibility for things. you are not strange, just devoted. the dish will come crawling back when things turn for the better for you, which they surely will in no time!

Strange, but in a good way.

I think my approach would be blunt and to-the-point. It is no secret anywhere that effecient productivity is the lifeblood of business. A Senior Management decision was made and action taken to effect enhanced performance in thatr department's management, and that task fell to you. Critical to every employee is the need to address the issue of performance; it is to everyone's benefit to pull together. Be perfectly upfront about your lack of tech background, and make perfectly clear that you respect and admire their capabilities in that realm, and eagerly anticipate learning much from them. Present yourself not as a taskmaster, but as an intercessor, and a team member charged with the organization of the team effort. Request input, invite discussion of concerns, and expect performance from all in the interest of all.

Of course, a good oldfashioned row with a resistance ringleader, climaxed by an unambiguously mandated and executed firing can be quite useful, too

Oooh, Timber's take on 'how to' is very good!

I think it's quite clear!

If things were so bloody wonderful, why did the management see the need to bring in someone from outside?

To set different goals (or set some goals)
To change the work ethic
To establish or improve efficiency
To overcome the administrative and bureaucratic nightmare
To improve service to the rest of the organisation
To improve profitably

If there hadn't been problems in at least some of these areas, you wouldn't be there.

(psst - you're the boss - don't **** in your own nest!) This may generate more problems than it's worth!

OooooOOOOoooooh! Yes! Yes! Yes! I just love it when men act like men!!!!!

Hooray for Timber and Gautam! That's right, stand up there and take charge. Somebody has to, and you know how. Do it.

Timber, around here it's become almost impossible to actually fire anybody for any reason, no matter how well documented. They call them all "layoffs" now to avoid lawsuits. Ah, for the good old days when you could just write "incompetence" on their file and be done with it...

I agree with what Timberl and Margo are saying...

Oh no, it sounds awful; there's no wonder that a promotion such as this one has to come with a catch. My fingers are crossed for you-- (to turn around the business and to swoon the SQM! Is he gay?)

Reasons why I will end up living as a crappy author with only a few friends and a partner in the Pyrenees...

387) I would either feel sorry for them, talk to them for hours about their lives, or get done for breaching the Human Rights Act... reliable Gemini.

Hell, Eva, I miss the days when you could out-of-hand fire or decline to hire someone on the basis of "Gut Feeling". Now, nobody ever gets fired for cause, they are "Encouraged to choose to explore other opportunities". It was so much more satisfactory when all that needed to be said was: "Clean out your desk (cubicle, locker, vehicle, whatever). Payroll has been advised to expect you."

hmmmmmm
have there been several miracle-worker/cowboys dropped in on this group before? if so, how did they do?

tech departments are interesting. everyplace i've ever worked, the rules for i.t. were very different than for other departments. they are the chefs, the divas, they must be kept happy. Gautam, have you had the opportunity to work with other managers/v.p's of tech departments before being popped in with this group?

timber - people can still be fired for cause. What seems to have happened in a number of situations, is that when lawsuits came up - it turned out there was no cause - there was a manager with a gut feeling wanting to get rid of someone. My employer is facing a couple of lawsuits right now as a result of managers firing people they clearly didn't like. The company is going to pay. No doubt about it.

Gautam--reading with interest. You are getting lots of good advice from people who only want success for you. This is like a private classroom for IT managers, run by the very best in the business.
With your talent and the good advice, you will be unstoppable!!

Gautam has got it going on, very perceptive and good instincts.

Yes, I am absolutely loving all the advise and encouragement which is coming in from you guyz. Makes me feel that I am not alone.

I agree with Timber - my perception of this dept, and some of it was formed when I was in business and used to intercat with them, is that the softly softly approach is not gonna work. People are far too complacent (is that the right word ??) and a crack of a whip might seperate the men from the boyz. Partly the fault lies with the senior management of this dept before us (me and my boss) - there was no energy, no drive, no new initiatives - and when things remain like they are for a long time, they do go stale. What I need to do is to find out people who are willing to pull up their socks and work in the new surroundings and get rid of the dinosaurs who will be unwilling to change.

I have so much information swimming arnd in my head that it is amazing. I actually woke up last night at arnd 0100 with a solution to a problem which I had been pondering before I went to bed - and to hunt arnd my bedroom for a paper and pen to write it down, from today I will sleep with one on my bedside !!

As for the dish, he is those typical good looking guys, who know that they are stunning and act all smug, safe in this knowledge. And I dont even know if he bats for my side !! But does make things interesting, having an eye candy arnd !!

One of the guyz who is going to work for me has been in this dept since 1978 !! Talk abt stagnation !!

Well, I hope that you can pull it through without overworking yourself; but, as is said, everything is experience. How do you think they reacted to this 'hard hand' plan? Do you think that you will see anyone's resignation? Don't be afraid because of your comparative lack of experience; they promoted you for a reason!

Agh, I know that kind; the 'über-smug.' I hate them. Yet, it is surprising to me that your SQM is a stunner- whether he be an amiable stunner is another matter- as all the SQMs whom I've known have been eccentric short men... I think that turning up and immediately hitting on someone could be a mistake, but as a long-term project-- good luck!

Never
Never dip your pen in company ink.

search for a gem
One of the high priority items for me would be to look for the gems, the people actually doing the work who know what the problems are and how to fix them. Management often doesn't have a clue about what is really going on and the people who know how to correct the problems usually don't have the power to make changes. Of course, you have to filter out those whose solutions are only to benefit themselves and their status, not the team.

There are two ways to approach this search. In team meetings, ask for solutions to problems that remain unresolved. Some people will be unwilling to discuss their solutions with you in a private meeting for fear of not getting credit because many managers take full credit for others ideas without getting credit to the originator. You have to learn which setting will be the most productive to instill trust and loyalty to you. A subordinate once betrayed will be your enemy and a saboteur forever.

BBB

Good points from BBB.

I think you definitely want to take pains to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater. That'll just be a lot more work and a lot less efficiency.

The scary thing with IT is they really could bring down the house of cards. Some of them know where the kinks in the system are, where to stop a vital process or leave out a necessary update. I think that is why they tend to be smug. Yes, in the end, they could get fired or sued or blackballed (after you figure out which one did it and if you can prove it) but meantime, you might have some truly ugly customer service problems to deal with.