HM 2.0: The next generation of hybrid managers?

I blog from my reflections on what I see, talk about or hear from my sources...yes, I have sources, I will tell you in a minute who they are.

The last couple of weeks have been busy with many things at work and elsewhere. Like everyone else who lives a 'modern' lifestyle, I have had to juggle with visits to the doctor, meetings with my 'clients', preparing plans, thinking of research ideas, responding emails, attending other meetings with bosses, driving around, and trying to have some quality time with family and friends during the week end.

A news item caught my eye: the founder and CEO of an IT company (I think it was twitter) is stepping down to leave room for a new CEO, someone who can take the company to the 'next level', in other words someone that can consolidate it and make decisions to secure its future. The article was suggesting that this is necessary. The founder might have inspired others to follow him/her but might not be capable of taking tough decisions to the possible detriment of customers. That is why a CEO is needed. Founders can still remain in the company as inspirational leaders, also as a testimony of the values that many if not all employees (should?) share.

Interesting. In my role of educator I try to inspire people to become hybrid managers, people who can talk business and IT, people who can act as translators between these two worlds. I have been in these two camps before and can tell from experience that life is hard. Not only IT can have life on its own, but businesses can also decide they want business as usual, so that IT becomes a liability rather than an opportunity or a tool. Here is we need people that values both. These hybrid managers can also be called boundary spanners to sound a bit more academic but no less important.

You might be thinking: so what are you trying to say? The indication of many IT companies that want to separate roles could lead us to think that hybrid management needs re-thinking if not separation. Well, that is only a view of what is currently happening. Separation of roles is also evident if you think of why things like cloud computing have become popular. Not only cost seems to be a big driver, but also separating the 'day to day' of IT from its planning or policy. Before you think of separating, see what the next paragraph suggests.

Will this separation work? My view is that it can, but because there is no separation, rather a fragmentation (well, this is modern life is it not?). You will still need people who can do translation between different speakers. You will still need people who can make sure that CEOs and founders are on the same page, even if they read it for different purposes. Being on the same page means thinking of customers, clients, students, patients and the like. The problem with fragmentation is that it can lead to isolation. I wonder what the agenda of founders is really about. Fragmenting? I do not think so. Maybe they just want to stop being so busy, or maybe they step down from the public eye so they get the media off their backs whilst they plan the next big thing.

My sources (former students and colleagues) tell me that they are now in temporary contracts in project management or IT research if not in setting up their own business. They have to translate ideas into projects and facilitate work between experts. Some of them think that it is difficult to make organisations flexible and responsive. Old styles of management based on command and control, and supported by pyramidal structures still inhibit technology construction: this is a consequence of fragmentation, of dividing things too much. Maybe what is needed is a more serious consideration of the power of networks and networking, so that you can let go of things whilst you co-ordinate; a network should not be fragmented. Or maybe you need people with the skills to translate, co-ordinate and develop trust in each other.

The separation of roles in IT companies could be geared in that direction, or it could be a new attempt to disguise hierarchies and mind games. Only a hybrid manager can spot the difference.

My message and question to founders and to hybrid managers is: Get back to the innovation department where you originally started, to the old days of dreaming, trying, venturing; get out of your comfort zone, get back to where you started. Maybe you need to leave your old company. Can you really let it go?

And the message to myself: Time to go back to basics, and have a hybrid , normal life.