De (super) kracht van functioneel beheerders

Superman's powers have been further adapted over the years or as I see it: he has developed them further. You and I may not have the super powers of Superman, but we also have powers (skills) that we can further develop. You can see this clearly with functional administrators. They often have good technical skills and knowledge. In the beginning they work hard to resolve issues, and they have little impact within the organization. But once they have optimized their strengths, they can move applications, people and even entire organizations. Of course this takes effort, practice and time. In the first comics Superman could only run fast, jump far and high and he was a bit stronger than the average person. But now he can fly, has laser and X-ray eyes, super hearing, freezing breath and has become a lot stronger and more invulnerable.

Looking for skills

There are many different discussions about the importance of hard skills (technical skills) versus soft skills (personal skills). One of the most frequently cited studies on this is the one conducted by Harvard University, The Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center. This study concluded that 85% of job success is due to well-developed soft skills. Only 15% can be related to hard skills. Of course you can discuss the research and the percentages, but I am convinced that in most situations technical knowledge and skills are less important than personal skills. It starts with understanding and then being understood.

What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that’s how I approached the part. Christopher Reeve

If you search for soft skills, there are dozens of skills to be found. To keep things clear, you can reduce them to the following clustering:

  • Communication

  • Decision-making and resolution

  • Self management

  • Collaborate

  • Leadership

It is difficult to say which soft skills a functional administrator really needs. This is because every role, organization and situation requires slightly different skills. But functional managers who rise above it are what I believe are better able to understand issues, oversee the playing field, ask good questions, give clear advice, a service attitude and their creativity. Of course, this list is not complete and not all skills are easy to master. If you don't want to develop skills, believe in them or think they don't suit you, it's going to be very difficult. Skills must eventually become part of your character in order to apply them at the right time.

(Correct) place and time

The reason Superman is always in the right place and at the right time is because he works as Clark Kent as a reporter for the Daily Planet. This makes him the first to know about the big and most important news. As a journalist, he can also be present in the right place. Superman has chosen his alter ego because he cannot be Superman 24/7. Fortunately, too. Otherwise, chances are he spends too much time putting out small fires. And therefore is not involved in time in the really important situations where he is really needed.

“This looks like a job for Superman.” Clark Kent

What we can learn from Superman is that the functional manager must also position himself correctly within the organization and must have the correct mandate. Without it, chances are he will be passed over or involved in decisions too late. Or that he is too far away from the right people and the information. As a functional manager, you will have to keep your super ears and x-ray eyes open to find out what ideas there are within the organization, how and why systems are used, how they are experienced and what objectives and strategy the organization has. Sometimes your subjects will have to freeze temporarily, you will have to take a few blows here and there. In order to do this properly, you cannot spend all your time solving ad-hoc issues, because then you will probably miss the most important thing that your users, management and the entire organization can help with. Of course you can grow in this just like Superman: run first, jump high and only then fly. In the end you become more and more handy and better at it.

The world (just) keeps turning

If you saw the first part of Superman, after Lois Lane's death Superman orbited the Earth so fast that he stopped the Earth and  reversedall the events of the last 30 minutes. However, what was meant is that Superman himself went back in time and not all of Earth. I did not understand this until many and many years later. The fact is that the world keeps changing. Once an application has been set up and taken into use, it does not mean that the organization will remain the same. People, goals, processes and everything around them change. The boss suddenly wants greater job satisfaction in the workplace, cost savings and good systems that contribute to achieving the objectives. An application that gives the flexibility where you can do a lot of design yourself, such as the  Fortes Change Cloud and a supplier that is innovative all help. But then it is still essential that a functional manager is there with the right skills and mindset, to ensure that the application matches the users and organization. That is why as a functional administrator you should have a lot of contact with end users, management teams and suppliers. If you focus on customer satisfaction, in addition to more satisfaction, you will most likely also ensure: better information provision, better motivation to use the application in the right way. And productivity and effectiveness will be increased, which can ultimately lead to cost savings and happier people. On to the next (super) hero!

“There is a superhero in all of us, we just need the courage to put on the cape.” Superman

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