About Eric Bloom

Executive Director IT Management and Leadership Institute

10 Steps to becoming an internal IT consultant

I’m tired of feeling like an order taker for the business group I support.  How do I get them to ask me what’s needed, not just tell me what to do and what applications to implement? The short answer to your question is to begin moving toward being an internal consultant, rather than simply a technical resource.  The long answer to your question is the remainder of this post. My advice to you is to be proactive with your business users, not just reactive.  That is to say, slowly move toward suggesting innovative business solutions related to the technology you provide.  Then, over time, as your business users begin to appreciate the value of your suggestions, they will begin to come to you as a problem solver, not as just a solution provider. Moving to a proactive role and being seen as such, by its nature, is not an easy task.  To make this transformation, consider the following steps: Gain a deep understanding of the work performed by the group you support. What do they do? How do they do it? Why do they do it that way? What issues do they have that could potentially be solved using technology? How comfortable are they with using technology? What challenges and issues exist related to change? How do other companies in your industry perform similar tasks? Understand what processes, support, and project work your group (not just you personally) is currently providing to your user base. Ask yourself what technology exists within your [...]

By |2025-05-13T14:42:23+00:00May 13th, 2025|
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8 Time management To-Do tips for managers

As a manager, you and your time are most likely pulled in many different directions. As a result, it’s really easy to lose track of the large list of tasks that must be performed. At a high level, your time probably falls into the following types of categories: Department level planning (e.g. scheduling, budgeting, etc.) Employee related processes (e.g. hiring, performance reviews, etc.) Managing employees (e.g. giving instruction, giving assignments, reviewing work, etc.) Communicating (e g. emails, writing status reports, giving presentations) Going to meetings (e.g. meetings, meetings, and wow, more meetings) Special projects for your boss and others Potentially your own work if you’re in a player/coach type supervisory role Occasional non-work related tasks like calling your kid’s teacher, buying a birthday card for your spouse during your lunch hour, or calling the doctor to schedule an appointment Because of these different task types it’s extremely important that you have an organized way to know what needs to be done, when it’s due, and when you are going to find time to do it.  Some people can keep all this stuff in their head.  As for me, I’m definitely not one of those people. If I don’t write it down, it’s never going to happen. If you are like me, the following tips and suggestions may be of value. Have one To-Do list that includes both work and personal tasks.  You do work at home and occasionally have to do personal things at work. Therefore, it might as well be shown [...]

By |2025-05-06T12:05:54+00:00May 6th, 2025|
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The power of long term networking

I was speaking to a group of recent college graduates who all had the good fortune of being hired into the same company's IT consulting practice and were in the process of going through an intensive introductory training program.  I would like to tell you what I told them. I asked the class to make believe it was fifteen years in the future. Then, I pointed to a person on my left; I'll call her Mary, and asked the group to make believe that she was now the Senior Vice President of North American operations for the company.  I then pointed to a person on my right named John and said he had left the consulting firm about ten years ago and was now the CIO of a Fortune 500 company. With this stage set, I turned to Mary and told her that John's company was in the process of looking to hire a consulting company for a two million dollar project. I then asked the group which of the following scenarios Mary would have wished had transpired over the past fifteen years. Mary and John had kept in touch every couple of years via LinkedIn, simply saying hello and congratulating each other when each was promoted. Mary and John have not spoken in the past ten years since John left the company, but she did go to his going away party. Mary and John have not corresponded since the training program they were both in at the beginning of their careers. [...]

By |2025-04-22T14:47:38+00:00April 22nd, 2025|
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If you’re a technical manager, know about technology

I was speaking with a group of younger software and hardware IT professionals.  They were a great crowd, extraordinarily knowledgeable in their specific areas of expertise, and just a joy to be with, but had a lot to learn. As part of my presentation to this group, I asked them what they know about less-we-known IT megatrends such as digital twins and dark data centers.  I found it fascinating to learn that most of the people in the room were not at all familiar with these trends.  Upon further discussion, it also became apparent even though these people truly knew their specific technology; they were not very familiar with other technologies that surrounded them within their own IT shops.  As we talked further, it became apparent to almost everyone in the room how a wider view of their chosen profession could help their current job performance and their future professional growth. The moral of this story is NOT that techies should be experts in everything, that’s impossible.  The moral is that you, as an IT professional, should be a mile deep in your technical specialty and be a mile wide and an inch deep in the other areas of IT. What I mean by a mile wide and an inch deep is that you should have a broad, basic understanding of the various technologies used within IT and a general understanding of the technology trends that are driving change and innovation within the industry. This is particularly important to those in IT [...]

By |2025-04-09T19:03:32+00:00April 9th, 2025|
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5 Reasons teaching technology to others is good for you

We all know that teaching others is a time-honored activity.  Parents teach their children about the world. Master craftsmen teach their apprentices the tools, tricks, and techniques of the trade.  Many athletes become coaches and many technologists often mentor new, less experienced, members of the profession. As you may expect, this training is of great value to those being trained; the children, the apprentices, the young athletes, and less seasoned techies. What is the true value to the teacher?  The answer to this question is the thrust of this topic. Teaching others in the workplace, as either a professional instructor or as a helpful mentor is in many ways more valuable to the teacher than to the student.  I believe that most IT professionals would agree, that in the workplace, we should all help, mentor, and guide those with less experience than ourselves.  After all, it’s good for the company and it’s the right thing for us to do as human beings.  That said, teaching your technical skills to others also has the following personal advantages: The people you teach will become your internal company supports It expands your knowledge of the topic Helps to position you as a thought leader within the company Helps you define a very positive professional brand Helps maximize your value to the company The reasons that the people you teach will become your internal supporters are:  You have personally taken the time to help and mentor fellow techies. This type of kindness is generally greatly appreciated. [...]

By |2025-03-25T17:43:43+00:00March 25th, 2025|
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6 Ways to start thinking like a CIO and how it can help you get there

What things can I start doing now, as an IT Manager, to move toward me goal of eventually being a CIO? It may sound premature to start thinking like a CIO this early in your career, but it will help you begin to notice things you would otherwise miss. This phenomenon is best described using a totally non-technical example. Think of a highway that you drive on all the time. It could be to and from work, to and from a loved one’s house, or to and from your favorite activity. Ok, with this vision in mind, let’s pretend that one day when driving down the highway, your car is very low on gas, and the “Gas” light starts to flash. Wanting to save money, you made the decision to buy gas at the station near your house, rather than off the highway, because you thought it would be cheaper. Then, during your drive home, you begin noticing road signs everywhere advertising gas stations just off almost every highway exit. Why is it that you never noticed these gasoline signs before? The answer is because you didn’t need gas. As a second and third example, this analogy also works for restaurants when you’re hungry and restrooms for, well, you know. Back to the topic at hand, this same phenomenon is true in the workplace. If you only concentrate on your specific job, and not the other things around you, you won’t notice the manager level, IT-User level, and upper management level interactions [...]

By |2025-02-25T15:48:56+00:00February 25th, 2025|
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3 Steps to get the best IT projects to work on

My team and I never seem to get great projects to work on. I feel like we’re always assigned boring tasks that no one else wants to do. What can I do to help our chances of working on the good stuff? I’m going to divide my answers into three distinct steps: a self-assessment, observations of others, and a gap analysis. Before moving to this three-step answer, there is one underlying question that you must ask yourself. Are there any projects within your organization that you think you would find exciting, or do you consider all the available projects to be boring and uninteresting? The reason I’m asking you this question up front is that if there are no projects that you find engaging and challenging, perhaps you are working in the wrong place. Regarding a self-assessment, you need to do some soul searching and consider the following questions, and questions like them, to see if you can surmise why you are not getting to work on the projects you would like. When answering these questions, try to be objective, not emotional. The more objective you are, the more insights you will gain toward attaining your desired assignments. Why do you think the projects you want are being given to other teams? Do you and your team have the right skills to take on these projects? Do you and your team have enough experience to take on these projects? Do you think your manager has confidence that you and your team can [...]

By |2025-02-12T13:59:03+00:00February 12th, 2025|
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10 ways to maintain your professional connections

I have been contract project manager for about five years and have made some great business connections. My hope is to use these people as professional references, job referrals, and potentially to rehire me for additional contract work. How can I keep in touch with these people without being annoying or looking only self-serving? Thanks for the question and I hope my answer is of value to you. To begin, you are very wise to want to maintain your previous business connections for references, referrals, and future work. Many businesses are made and careers are enhanced with the assistance of those with whom we have previously worked. To your question, the key for you is four fold; Touch base with your contacts enough that you will not feel uncomfortable reaching out to them for a favor or question If possible, find ways to provide them value and help, so their assistance to you does not feel like a one-way street Be thankful and respectful of those who provide you assistance Pay it forward by helping others as a thank you to those who helped you Listed below are various ways to accomplish the above criteria: Create a spreadsheet listing the people you would like to keep in touch with, the last time you connected with them, the reason for the contact, and notes from your last conversation. This spreadsheet will help you keep track of how long it’s been since you spoke with them and conversation starters based on the notes from [...]

By |2025-01-21T14:58:57+00:00January 21st, 2025|
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12 Tips when writing emails and business communication

Do you have any tips on how to enhance the emails and other written communications I’m sending to my team, other people inside IT, and my non-IT counterparts and vendors?  The ones I’m writing now seem to leave people flat and uninspired. Let’s begin by discussing the importance of written communication. The standard party line for this topic is that the quality of the emails you write, the presentations you display, and the documents you create are a reflection of your professional ability, attitude, and attention to detail. Yes, this is all true. Let’s, however, expand this statement into the virtual world we now live and work in. The advent of email, Microsoft Teams, blogs, discussion boards, and social media in general has caused a resurgence, if not a rebirth, of the written word by everyday people. In the workplace this is magnified by the popularity of virtual teams spanning across the street, around the country, and around the world. As a result, many of the people you work with today, maybe even including your boss, you may never meet in person causing your main interpersonal communication to be totally phone, Zoom, and email based. There have been various studies that have said that a relatively small percentage of the communications between people are based on the word and that the majority of the communication is based on body language and voice tone. These studies range from 93% body language and non-verbal queues by James Borg to studies by others ranging from [...]

By |2025-01-07T13:15:34+00:00January 7th, 2025|
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2 Very hard, but doable, steps to becoming a technical thought leader

What is an internal IT thought leader and how can I use it to accelerate my professional growth? One of the best ways to move ahead professionally is to be viewed by those at your company and those generally within your industry as a thought leader. This, of course, is not an easy task but is very doable with the right plan, a willingness to learn, and a willingness to share your hard-earned expertise with others. One advantage of being an IT professional is that you have the opportunity of becoming a thought leader in various areas including the following: In a specific technology, such as AWS, Azure, or Python In the use of a specific vendor’s software package, such as SAP, Microsoft, or Oracle In an IT area, such as datacom, cybersecurity, or AI In IT related practices and methodologies, such as Agile, Project Management, or ITIL In technologies related to a specific industry or profession, such as patient records, equity trading, accounting, manufacturing, sales, or social media If done correctly, from a personal branding and technical expertise perspective, becoming any of the above can help get you promoted, increase your income, get you a seat at the table when technical decisions are being made, provide you the opportunity to speak at professional conferences, get quoted in industry publications, and other similar activities and accolades. The first step in becoming a technical leader is to maximize your technical knowledge and truly become an expert: Get any formal credentials, such as certifications, [...]

By |2024-12-17T15:36:26+00:00December 17th, 2024|
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