People watching…

Software is delivered by teams. Teams are groups of individuals.

This means that as an IT Risk Manager your greatest risk is your team. No team, no deliverables.

As teams are composed of individuals, you need to be aware of three things

Individuals.

Relationships between individuals.

Groups.

Individuals

For individuals your risk is that they are not performing at their optimal level or that they might leave. To manage both risks, the important things is establish effective relationships with your team and to watch their behaviour. If someone’s behaviour changes, you do not make any assumptions as to why, you simply use that knowledge to know something has changed. You can then talk to them to find out whether there is anything that can be done to assist them. A few of the things that could cause a change are:

1. Things going badly in their personal life.
2. Things going particularly well in their personal life.
3. Struggling at work.
4. Conflict at work.

Although most people strive on an element of stress in their life, after a certain point, an increase in stress can be harmful. The community surrounding the Myer Brigg Type Indicator are aware that stress can cause someone’s MBTI to change.* They themselves may not even be aware that their behaviour has changed.

A small additional stress in their home or work life may be causing them difficulty. When someone is struggling in one part of their life, make sure they relieve stress in another part.

If someone is thinking of changing their job, as an IT risk manager you would ideally like to know about it before they hand in their notice. Get to know them so that they trust you with that information. They may decide they want to come back.

* “Was that really me” by Naomi Quenk