ICT Technician Responsibilities

[dwhyte85]

Hello,

 

My line manager has asked me to give staff responsibilities in-line with the recent payrises received. My issue is that responsibilities I have currently that I can share around are boring, mindnumbing jobs that are really administrative & not really hands on ICT.

 

I have to tread carefully as both members of staff had a pretty bad time with a previous manager, they were left without guidance or help to deal with a monsterous mess, to be fair to the previous manager he also inherited a mess but as the schools requirements have become greater the quality of IT received was gradually getting worse, until i came Both members of staff are happier than they were but, I don't want to be the big bad wolf and give them mindnumbing jobs & make them feel unvalued because of it, to be fair I can quite easily manage all the work I do (bookings for rooms & ICT resources, CMDB management, all ordering/sourcing, ICT Support & management of separate entities such as the VI form laptops where we have to work differently because of protocol).

 

I don't want to lose my staff, they're both hard workers but I don't think it's possible for me to continue with this workload & work on strategy, like my LM has said. What is the best way to approach this with staff who have already had a bad time, have low morale and probably quite happy to walk out...

[kmount]

What were the payrises given for? (That really is the question here as to whether their job /should/ change)

[dwhyte85]

Basically moving from trainee to a normal technician, but other factors have helped like technical certs with the rises they received, it was a fairly meaty jump they received, in-line with most 2nd level support around my area.

 

From the schools POV they have given the raise for the new strategies for the curriculum whereby VI formers all have a netbook (100), year 7 have a pilot running for 30 laptops, we are in the process of setting Macs up for our network & we have a new arts building with more Macs in the pipeline. The school is definitely on the up, lots of projects are going to also be in the pipeline with modernising our network.

[kmount]

I see. If the pay rise was for the introduction of netbooks, and extra laptops, mac's etc that's where I'd delegate the responsibility to them for.

 

I had one of my guys look after the 'suites' specifically ensuring they were up to scratch, damage handled etc.

 

Sit down and have a chat with them in a team meeting and see what they're interested in whilst remembering work isn't always fun!

[witch]

We all have to do the mind-numbing jobs, don't we, and if they are real techies then they need to take their share, surely? It sounds as though they will have new technical responsiblities so the odd boring job isn't too much of an imposition, I wouldn't have thought

[GrumbleDook]

Also look at giving them responsibilities centred around elements of FITS. An example would be patch management. Your staff do the analysis of what is worth doing, when, how, etc ... look at what the impact will be if it goes wrong, manage the risk ... but you give the final thumbs up or down ... something which you can trust them with more and more over the year but is a valuable process for them to learn.

 

Backup management, change management, release management ... lots of different opportunities for them to take on a role or task but you still provide the QA. Mainly because you are ultimately in charge of them.

[budgester]

Could you parcel areas of responsibility out .

 

Network Management

Software - Packaging, Commisioning

Hardware - Inventory, Ordering

Third Party Liasion

Helpdesk Management - Take job, prioritises and allocates them, and chase you and other techs.

AV Support

 

Look at the strengths, what do they enjoy doing, ask them what they would like responsibility for.

 

THe ultimate responsibility will be yours, but you can hand a fair amount off to them and just retain sign off rights. Welcome to the land of management.

 

Trust them, let them cock up and fix it themselves without jumping in to quick, commonly known as giving them enough rope to hang themselves.

[mjs_mjs]

why not sit down with them and talk about what has to be done, and ask who wants to do it, if no one does put it in the pot and share them out at the end. you may find that someone may want to take on some responsibilities.

[dwhyte85]

Cheers for the responses, the only problem I have with allocating a task like the Macs is... if we are to train a member of staff, give knowledge etc and they decide they are indeed fed up with working in a school we have wasted our money on training & time invested, the notebooks is exactly what my LM had said - so thanks for reiterating that as an option.

 

Patch Management & AV Management could definitely be one area.

 

CMDB/Itinerary management could certainly be another area

 

VI Form Laptop Management & Computer Room Bookings could be another

 

Studywiz & AD; hierarchy/OU & user management

 

Stock Management; Consumables and product sourcing.

 

Mac Administration is another area but, i'd like to share this between us as I don't want anyone person to become a guru incase they decide to leave.

 

 

Basically, they're everything I currently do. I think a meeting discussing this and explaining this is develop them as staff, not a kick in the teeth - if they then aren't happy I guess we'll have to see how it goes. I will of course closely monitor what's going on and offer my time of course to what i allocate.

 

Currently, I spend an awful lot of time of my own to ensuring we're good to go - i'm happy to do that, I knew this would be the case when I took the job but i'd hope the staff share my enthusiasm and realise that it's not all fun and cups of tea.

Edited September 15, 2009 by dwhyte85

[kmount]

Phew fella, be careful there; not training people for the fear of them leaving the school is scary territory, I left because I didn't get any training!

 

EDIT: Share the knowledge, if one goes on a course they should be sharing the knowledge and best practice amongst the team so everyone benefits. (Ok, they have the bit of paper that says they did the course but you all retain the knowledge)

[budgester]

If anyone goes on training paid for the by school, the training manuals go into the ICT documentation library, and of course any recurring issues and procedures go into your online knowledge base, and they share the training around.

[dwhyte85]

If anyone goes on training paid for the by school, the training manuals go into the ICT documentation library, and of course any recurring issues and procedures go into your online knowledge base, and they share the training around.

 

Let me rephrase... the school wont commit to training unless they commit to longer stays at the school, therefore it goes round in a circle as nobody wants to commit... technicians wont commit to a longer stay unless they're guaranteed better pay and access to new technology and the school wont risk the money for training unless they guarantee they'll stay.

 

The school has lost 2 members of staff prior who were trained, they didn't leave any knowledge... this was way before my time at the school and the previous NMs should have pressured to get this knowledge on paper/in a doc... they didn't and now the school is paranoid on the training side of things :-)

 

 

Anyway, thanks for your feedback - much appreciated :-)

[Butuz]

So your school is purposefully hindering your Staff's C.P.D. for fear of losing them?

 

Are they on temporary contracts or are they permanent?

 

Butuz

[GrumbleDook]

Phew fella, be careful there; not training people for the fear of them leaving the school is scary territory, I left because I didn't get any training!

 

EDIT: Share the knowledge, if one goes on a course they should be sharing the knowledge and best practice amongst the team so everyone benefits. (Ok, they have the bit of paper that says they did the course but you all retain the knowledge)

 

Oh blimey ... cascade the training ... set a regular meeting out to do this and make sure you stick to it. I've never managed to stick to it and feel bad for the folks working under me. Even if you do it over extended lunchtimes to discuss things and ideas it is worth it.