The success of an information technology department lies in the competency and collaboration of its team members. But when looking to train and retain the talent that guides your company’s technology infrastructure, where do you begin? Rather than hiring from the outside, many organizations find the most success in mentoring internal staff. But although 76 percent of individuals believe that having a mentor is important, only 37 percent of the workforce is afforded such an opportunity.

You’re in the Outpatient Healthcare Industry

For a moment, step into the shoes of an individual that leads Georgia’s healthcare services for mental health, addiction, and developmental disability. Your business works hard to raise awareness of behavioral health issues, offering both telehealth and on-site resources for the community you serve. Following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), your team takes extra care when storing sensitive information in servers or cloud services. In turn, your IT department consists of a four-person team, including an IT manager that oversees technical innovations and three other individuals who offer support to keep your network running.

Risks in the Healthcare Industry

Due to recent events surrounding the pandemic, the number of patients seeking online healthcare services, such as telehealth apps, recently tripled. And while many individuals now consider technology and healthcare to go hand-in-hand, you can’t deny that the industry is facing a significant lack of qualified IT professionals. Fortunately, you were ahead of the curve, and for years you worked tirelessly to build an IT department of technology-minded leaders that are loyal to your cause. But between cybersecurity regulations, cloud services, and telehealth products, the recent pandemic has placed more pressure on the business’ technology infrastructure, and you can tell your IT manager is becoming overwhelmed.

Your IT Manager Quits

As you search for a means to alleviate any risk of burnout, you come across Rocket IT’s services, which offers customers a virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) whose main goal is to work strategically with your current IT manager. Immediately, you enlist the help of Rocket IT and schedule your first strategic meeting. But, before you can announce these plans to your technical team, your IT manager unexpectedly quits. Knowing this lack of technical leadership serves as a vulnerability, you expedite plans with your new vCIO.

You Proactively Seek Strategic Help

During the first formal meeting between Rocket IT’s vCIO and your internal IT department, you’re provided with the suggestion of promoting one of your current team members to fill the empty management role. While you question if any current team members are up for the task, Rocket IT’s vCIO assures you that they will work closely with the new IT manager and provide them with the skills needed to lead your day-to-day operations. Having trust in your new vCIO, you promote your most well-versed technician to IT manager.

“When a high-ranking team member unexpectedly leaves, they take their expertise and training with them, creating knowledge gaps that often take months to fill,” said Eric Henderson, Rocket IT VP of Services. “To decrease this downtime and prevent your productivity from slowing to a halt, Rocket IT conducts a thorough audit of your network and policies, crafting a crash course to get your newly promoted IT manager up to speed.” 

To get acquainted, Rocket IT’s vCIO meets with your new IT manager once a week. During these sessions, the vCIO pours into the leader of your technical team, taking them under their wing as a mentee. Within a short period of time, the confidence of your IT manager soars, and they quickly begin to embrace the leadership role that they were called to undertake.

But to truly accelerate your company’s rate of innovation, Rocket IT’s vCIO works closely with your IT manager to develop a culture of improvement within the technical staff. To foster this environment, your IT manager is assigned the task of promoting collaboration within their team. Additionally, rather than simply waiting on technical problems to arise, Rocket IT’s vCIO teaches your IT Manager about technologies that can proactively solve cybersecurity and network issues before they occur.

What Does This Mean Long-Term?

After just a few weeks of mentorship from Rocket IT, your IT manager feels comfortable putting the knowledge they’ve acquired into practice. Through daily huddles and weekly one-on-one meetings, a chain reaction of mentorship occurs and knowledge gaps within your IT Department quickly begin to shrink. Soon, high performing employees feel empowered by the knowledge they’ve gained, and the proactive solutions that were recently implemented provide them with time to work on future innovations.

Without these opportunities for growth and mentorship, individuals in the information technology sphere face the highest rate of employee turnover at 13.2 percent. However, by defining necessary skills for each role, identifying knowledge gaps, providing additional training, tailoring the onboarding process, and providing mentorship opportunities, a company could retain 94 percent of its employees for a longer period of time.

If you haven’t already put company culture first, it’s time to adjust the course to ensure you have reliable talent to keep things running smoothly. By investing in resources to better support your IT managers, you can make greatly mitigate the risk of employee turnover. For more information of Rocket IT’s vCIO service, email Rocket IT at marketing@rocketit.com or call 770.441.2520.