Technology Use/Management - Competency
Definition: Technology Use/Management is the ability to implement new technologies effectively while coordinating the human, technical, and organizational transitions required for successful change. It involves integrating systems and workflows across teams, evaluating options and risks, and applying analytical insight to ensure technology genuinely improves performance. It requires optimizing processes, governing technology use responsibly, allocating resources strategically, and measuring outcomes to ensure investments deliver meaningful ROI. It also includes developing staff capabilities, shaping a supportive digital culture, and aligning roles and training so employees can confidently adopt and sustain new tools.
Administrative Skill
Decision Making
Quality
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Initiative
Innovation
Goals
Time Management
Change Management
Juggling Multiple Responsibilities
Achievement
Results Oriented
Commitment
Technical
Technology Use/Management
Clarity
Excellence
Objectives
Risk Management
Safety
Regulatory/Compliance
What are Technology Use/Management Skills?
Components of Technology Use/Management Skills
Why are Technology Use/Management Skills important?
How can I improve my Technology Use/Management skills?
Questions to include on your survey.
Components of Technology Use/Management Skills
Why are Technology Use/Management Skills important?
How can I improve my Technology Use/Management skills?
Questions to include on your survey.
360-Feedback Questionnaires Measuring Technology Use/Management:
Survey 1 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 2 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 3 (5-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 4 (5-point scale; radio buttons)
Survey 5 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 6 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 7 (5-point scale; competency comments; N/A)
Survey 8 (3-point scale; Agree/Disagree words; N/A)
Survey 9 (3-point scale; Strength/Development; N/A)
Survey 10 (Comment boxes only)
Survey 11 (Single rating per competency)
Survey 12 (Slide-bar scale)
Survey 13 (4-point scale; numbers; floating anchors)
Survey 14 (4-point scale; N/A)
Survey 1 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 2 (4-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 3 (5-point scale; Competency Comments)
Survey 4 (5-point scale; radio buttons)
Survey 5 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 6 (4-point scale; words)
Survey 7 (5-point scale; competency comments; N/A)
Survey 8 (3-point scale; Agree/Disagree words; N/A)
Survey 9 (3-point scale; Strength/Development; N/A)
Survey 10 (Comment boxes only)
Survey 11 (Single rating per competency)
Survey 12 (Slide-bar scale)
Survey 13 (4-point scale; numbers; floating anchors)
Survey 14 (4-point scale; N/A)
Self-Comments: Do you have to complete a self-assessment or performance appraisal? If so, the
self-comments here may help.
self-comments here may help.
Performance Assessments that include Technology Use/Management:
Assessment 1 (5-point scale; IDP Comments)
Assessment 2 (3-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 3 (Manager Assessment; 360-Feedback)
Assessment 4 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 5 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 6 (5-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 7 (Comment Boxes Only; IDP)
Assessment 8 (Comment Boxes Only)
Assessment 9 (3-point scale with Letter Grade)
Assessment 10 (360-Feedback; Bonus/Merit Pay)
Assessment 11 (Core Values & Job Competencies)
Assessment 12 (4-point scale; 6 Comment Boxes)
Assessment 1 (5-point scale; IDP Comments)
Assessment 2 (3-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 3 (Manager Assessment; 360-Feedback)
Assessment 4 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 5 (3-point scale; Rating Limits)
Assessment 6 (5-point scale with Comments)
Assessment 7 (Comment Boxes Only; IDP)
Assessment 8 (Comment Boxes Only)
Assessment 9 (3-point scale with Letter Grade)
Assessment 10 (360-Feedback; Bonus/Merit Pay)
Assessment 11 (Core Values & Job Competencies)
Assessment 12 (4-point scale; 6 Comment Boxes)
What are Technology Use/Management Skills?
Technology Use/Management is the capability to implement new technologies effectively while ensuring they meaningfully improve how work gets done. It begins with Implements, where a manager adopts best practices, introduces new tools, and creates flexible, technology-enabled solutions to operational problems. It also includes Evaluates and Analytical behaviors--assessing current usage, weighing cost/benefit and risk, analyzing workflow bottlenecks, and determining organizational readiness so that technology decisions are grounded in evidence rather than assumptions. Together, these dimensions ensure that technology is selected, configured, and deployed in ways that genuinely strengthen performance.
A second core element is orchestrating the human and operational transition through Facilitates Tech Change, Integration, and Workflow Optimization. This means aligning technology changes with policies and workflows, coordinating with HR, IT, and leadership, and communicating early and clearly so employees understand what is changing and why. It also requires ensuring systems, data, and processes are interoperable, reducing duplicate work and enabling seamless movement across platforms. Managers map and refine workflows, adopt new communication methods, and continuously improve processes as new capabilities emerge, ensuring that technology enhances--not complicates--daily operations.
Finally, Technology Use/Management includes the strategic, structural, and cultural conditions that make technology sustainable. Governance and Responsible Use ensures compliance, privacy, and security through audits, policy alignment, and oversight of third-party tools. Strategic and Resources dimensions guide long-term planning, investment decisions, and responsible allocation of budget, staffing, and time. Outcomes and ROI validates whether technology delivers the intended improvements, while Staffing and Training and Development build the workforce capacity needed to adopt and sustain new tools. Underpinning all of this is Culture--creating collaborative spaces, celebrating early adopters, and fostering an environment where innovation, experimentation, and digital confidence thrive.
A second core element is orchestrating the human and operational transition through Facilitates Tech Change, Integration, and Workflow Optimization. This means aligning technology changes with policies and workflows, coordinating with HR, IT, and leadership, and communicating early and clearly so employees understand what is changing and why. It also requires ensuring systems, data, and processes are interoperable, reducing duplicate work and enabling seamless movement across platforms. Managers map and refine workflows, adopt new communication methods, and continuously improve processes as new capabilities emerge, ensuring that technology enhances--not complicates--daily operations.
Finally, Technology Use/Management includes the strategic, structural, and cultural conditions that make technology sustainable. Governance and Responsible Use ensures compliance, privacy, and security through audits, policy alignment, and oversight of third-party tools. Strategic and Resources dimensions guide long-term planning, investment decisions, and responsible allocation of budget, staffing, and time. Outcomes and ROI validates whether technology delivers the intended improvements, while Staffing and Training and Development build the workforce capacity needed to adopt and sustain new tools. Underpinning all of this is Culture--creating collaborative spaces, celebrating early adopters, and fostering an environment where innovation, experimentation, and digital confidence thrive.
Components of Technology Use/Management Skills
- Implements: Implements focuses on the technical execution side of Technology Use/Management. It's about selecting, configuring, and deploying the technology itself--turning concepts, prototypes, and best practices into working systems that improve productivity, compliance, engineering output, or product delivery.
- Facilitates Tech Change: Facilitates Tech Change focuses on the human transition required for technology to actually take hold. It's about preparing people, aligning workflows, coordinating across functions, addressing resistance, and ensuring that adoption sticks after go-live. Someone strong in this area shapes communication, creates transition plans, supports leaders, gathers feedback, and reinforces new behaviors so the workforce can successfully absorb the change.
- Integration: Integration is about creating a unified, connected technology ecosystem across the organization. A manager strong in Integration ensures that systems talk to each other, data flows cleanly across departments, and tools, naming conventions, and processes are standardized so work moves seamlessly from one team or platform to another.
- Evaluates: Evaluates focuses on judgment, comparison, and determining value. A manager operating in this mode is weighing options, assessing whether tools are worth keeping or replacing, validating vendor claims, reviewing workflows for improvement opportunities, and determining whether technologies deliver the expected return.
- Analytical: Analytical focuses on deep examination, interpretation, and understanding of underlying patterns. A manager strong in this area digs into data, identifies root causes, models downstream impacts, forecasts scenarios, and interprets complex system behavior.
- Workflow Optimization: Workflow Optimization is about improving how work actually gets done within those systems. A manager strong in this area examines bottlenecks, engages frontline employees, tests different workflow configurations, and redesigns processes to reduce friction, eliminate unnecessary steps, and increase speed, accuracy, or quality.
- Governance and Responsible Use: Governance and Responsible Use focuses on protecting the organization--its data, its people, and its ethical standards. A manager strong in this area ensures that technology is used safely, legally, and responsibly by setting clear norms, monitoring compliance, and intervening when risks appear.
- Strategic: Strategic focuses on long-horizon direction, competitive positioning, and shaping the organization's future through technology. A manager operating in this mode looks outward and forward--anticipating technological trends, identifying long-term opportunities, and ensuring technology choices strengthen the organization's mission, operating model, and future capabilities.
- Resources: Resources focuses on the practical allocation and stewardship of the people, budget, tools, and expertise required to make technology work day-to-day. A manager strong in Resources ensures teams have the right access, training, support, and funding; coordinates with procurement and IT; manages lifecycle costs; and reallocates resources away from low-value tools toward high-impact solutions.
- Outcomes and ROI: Outcomes and ROI focuses on proving that technology delivers value--operationally, financially, and strategically. A manager strong in this area defines success metrics, measures adoption and performance, conducts post-implementation reviews, quantifies gains, identifies hidden costs, and translates technical results into business insights.
- Staffing: Staffing focuses on getting the right people in the right roles to support current and emerging technologies. A manager strong in Staffing anticipates how automation or AI will shift responsibilities, recruits or redeploys talent with the necessary technical capabilities, assigns people to initiatives based on strengths, and builds internal champions who can guide others.
- Training and Development: Training and Development focuses on building the skills of the people already in those roles. A manager strong in this area ensures employees receive ongoing upskilling, creates opportunities to learn new tools, designs targeted development plans to close competency gaps, and supports those who struggle with new technologies.
- Culture: Culture focuses on the mindsets, norms, and shared behaviors that shape how people relate to technology. A manager strong in Culture builds enthusiasm for digital tools, reduces fear or resistance, celebrates early adopters, and creates spaces where employees experiment, learn, and innovate together.
Why are Technology Use/Management Skills important?
Technology Use/Management skills matter because they determine whether a business can actually turn technology into performance, rather than cost or chaos. Organizations adopt new tools constantly--automation, AI, communication platforms, workflow systems--but without strong implementation, evaluation, and integration skills, those tools create friction instead of efficiency. Leaders who can assess needs, analyze risks, align systems, and optimize workflows ensure that technology genuinely improves speed, accuracy, collaboration, and customer experience. These skills also protect the organization by enforcing responsible use, data governance, and compliance, reducing the likelihood of security breaches or regulatory failures.
Just as importantly, Technology Use/Management shapes the human side of digital transformation. Businesses succeed when employees understand new tools, feel supported during transitions, and work in a culture that values innovation rather than fears it. Skills such as facilitating tech change, developing staff capabilities, allocating resources wisely, and measuring outcomes ensure that technology investments deliver real ROI--not just in dollars, but in adaptability, morale, and long-term competitiveness. In a market where technology evolves faster than strategy cycles, organizations with strong Technology Use/Management capabilities are the ones that stay resilient, aligned, and ready for whatever comes next.
Just as importantly, Technology Use/Management shapes the human side of digital transformation. Businesses succeed when employees understand new tools, feel supported during transitions, and work in a culture that values innovation rather than fears it. Skills such as facilitating tech change, developing staff capabilities, allocating resources wisely, and measuring outcomes ensure that technology investments deliver real ROI--not just in dollars, but in adaptability, morale, and long-term competitiveness. In a market where technology evolves faster than strategy cycles, organizations with strong Technology Use/Management capabilities are the ones that stay resilient, aligned, and ready for whatever comes next.
How can I improve my Technology Use/Management skills?
- A manager can strengthen Technology Use/Management skills by regularly evaluating how current tools are being used and where gaps exist. This includes reviewing workflows, gathering user feedback, and identifying opportunities to enhance or reconfigure existing systems before investing in new ones. Building this habit sharpens analytical judgment and ensures technology decisions are grounded in real operational needs.
- Improving change-management capability is essential, especially when introducing new tools. A manager can practice communicating early, coordinating with HR and IT, and aligning technology changes with policies and performance expectations. This builds confidence across the team and reduces resistance during transitions.
- To enhance integration and workflow optimization skills, a manager can map processes with employees and identify where technology can reduce delays or duplicate work. Collaborating with teams to redesign workflows helps ensure that systems, data, and roles align smoothly. Over time, this strengthens the manager's ability to create interoperable, efficient environments.
- Strengthening governance and strategic thinking requires staying informed about security, privacy, and compliance expectations while also tracking long-term technology trends. A manager can conduct periodic audits, review third-party tools, and participate in strategic planning discussions to understand how technology investments support the organization's mission. This builds a balanced mindset that values both innovation and responsible use.
- A manager can grow their capability by investing in people--through staffing decisions, training, and culture-building. Assigning staff based on strengths, developing internal "technology champions," and encouraging cross-functional knowledge sharing builds collective capability. This not only improves adoption but also creates a culture where innovation and continuous learning thrive.
What questions could be included on a 360-degree survey that measure Technology Use/Management Skills?
Questions to include on your survey.
Implements
Implements focuses on the technical execution side of Technology Use/Management. It's about selecting, configuring, and deploying the technology itself--turning concepts, prototypes, and best practices into working systems that improve productivity, compliance, engineering output, or product delivery. Someone strong in Implements is hands-on with tools and processes, understands how to operationalize new technologies, and builds solutions that maximize technical capability. Their work is oriented toward building, integrating, and optimizing the technology so the organization can use it effectively at scale.
- Understands and is committed to implementing new technologies.
- Proficient in the use of technical systems and processes.
- Promotes transparent communication about upcoming technology changes.
- Maximizes the use of new technology to deliver products and services.
- Implements AI throughout the production process.
- Quickly turns pilot and prototype ideas into full products.
- Uses technology to boost engineering productivity.
- Adopts the implementation of new technology into the workplace.
- Adopts best practices for technology use.
- Implements automated code generation and testing.
- Implements technology controls to reduce costs and meet compliance needs.
- Creates flexible solutions to problems maximizing the use of new technology.
- Develops strategies to maximize implementation of technical solutions to problems within the department.
Facilitates Tech Change
Facilitates Tech Change focuses on the human transition required for technology to actually take hold. It's about preparing people, aligning workflows, coordinating across functions, addressing resistance, and ensuring that adoption sticks after go-live. Someone strong in this area shapes communication, creates transition plans, supports leaders, gathers feedback, and reinforces new behaviors so the workforce can successfully absorb the change. Their work is oriented toward guiding people and the organization through the disruption that technology introduces, ensuring the implementation is not just technically correct but socially and operationally sustainable.
- Communicates upcoming technology changes early and clearly.
- Coordinates with HR, IT, and leadership to align change activities across the organization.
- Ensures leaders and supervisors are equipped to support their teams by providing talking points, FAQs, and guidance on how to coach employees through the change.
- Gathers real-time feedback during rollout (through surveys, check-ins, or user groups) and adjusts the implementation plans to address emerging issues before they escalate.
- Recognizes and reinforces early positive behaviors such as successful adoption, creative problem-solving, or peer support.
- Aligns technology changes with existing policies, workflows, and performance expectations.
- Provides structured support during rollout (such as office hours, pilot groups, or transition guides) to reduce disruption.
- Identifies sources of resistance and proactively addresses concerns to maintain momentum.
- Prepares teams for transitions by outlining expected impacts on workflows, roles, and responsibilities.
- Ensures post-implementation stabilization by monitoring adoption, resolving issues, and reinforcing new practices.
- Creates clear transition timelines and milestones so employees understand when changes will occur and what actions are expected at each stage.
Integration
Integration is about creating a unified, connected technology ecosystem across the organization. A manager strong in Integration ensures that systems talk to each other, data flows cleanly across departments, and tools, naming conventions, and processes are standardized so work moves seamlessly from one team or platform to another. The emphasis is on interoperability, cross-department alignment, enterprise-wide consistency, and building a cohesive digital environment where AI, communication tools, and production systems reinforce each other. Integration is fundamentally about connecting systems and structures so the organization operates as one coordinated whole.
- Uses technology in decision making and problem solving.
- Standardizes technology practices across teams and locations, ensuring that shared systems, naming conventions, data structures, and communication channels function as a unified ecosystem.
- Integrates AI usage across various sectors and divisions enabling new capabilities.
- Maps end-to-end workflows to identify where systems must connect.
- Works with IT and process owners to close gaps that slow down collaboration or decision-making.
- Integrates AI in the design and production processes.
- Prioritizes digital transformation in the department.
- Ensures data, tools, and processes are interoperable, reducing duplicate work and enabling teams to move seamlessly across platforms during daily operations.
- Coordinates system upgrades and integrations to align downstream tools, roles, and processes.
- Ensures technology initiatives are integrated across departments, reducing silos and enabling enterprise-wide data flow, collaboration, and decision-making.
- Adopts new methods of communicating with employees.
- Integrates technology effectively into the work environment.
- Fosters an environment that minimizes the impact of disruptive technological changes within the department.
Evaluates
Evaluates focuses on judgment, comparison, and determining value. A manager operating in this mode is weighing options, assessing whether tools are worth keeping or replacing, validating vendor claims, reviewing workflows for improvement opportunities, and determining whether technologies deliver the expected return. It's about making informed decisions by comparing alternatives, assessing cost/benefit and risk, checking alignment with strategic goals, and deciding which technologies should move forward. Evaluates is fundamentally about deciding what is good enough, what should change, and what direction the organization should take based on evidence, standards, and strategic fit.
- Evaluates operational workflows to determine where technology can meaningfully improve efficiency, accuracy, or throughput.
- Redefines technology use metrics and governance.
- Benchmarks current tools against industry best practices and emerging technologies to identify gaps, modernization opportunities, and competitive advantages.
- Selects appropriate technology solutions to meet the department needs.
- Identifies areas where AI can have the greatest impact on production capabilities.
- Monitors performance data, user feedback, and system outcomes to determine whether current technologies are delivering expected value.
- Selects the appropriate technology to meet the needs of the team.
- Encourages teams to experiment with new tools and approaches.
- Assesses whether existing tools can be enhanced, reconfigured, or better utilized before recommending new investments.
- Evaluates the long-term scalability, sustainability, and total cost of ownership of technology options.
- Reviews technical requirements, integration needs, and vendor claims to validate that proposed technologies meet functional, security, and compliance standards for the department.
- Evaluates team capacity to absorb new technology work (such as testing, piloting, data cleanup, or system transitions) and adjusts assignments to prevent overload during digital change.
- Evaluates technology decisions through a strategic lens of scalability, adaptability, and competitive advantage.
- Assesses current technology usage and implementation.
- Assesses the cost/benefit and risks associated with implementing technology in the department.
Analytical
Analytical focuses on deep examination, interpretation, and understanding of underlying patterns. A manager strong in this area digs into data, identifies root causes, models downstream impacts, forecasts scenarios, and interprets complex system behavior. Analytical work is about breaking problems apart, understanding why something is happening, predicting what will happen next, and using structured analysis to inform decisions. It is fundamentally about sense-making: uncovering insights, diagnosing issues, and generating the analytical foundation that later supports evaluation, planning, or implementation decisions.
- Analyzes workflow bottlenecks to determine where technology can meaningfully reduce delays or errors.
- Establishes KPIs to measure AI adoption rates.
- Assesses the downstream impacts of technology decisions, modeling how changes in one system will affect data quality, workflow timing, staffing needs, or compliance requirements.
- Analyzes user feedback, performance data, and incident trends to determine whether technology is improving outcomes.
- Conducts root-cause analysis on technology-related failures or inefficiencies, distinguishing between system issues, process gaps, and user-driven errors before recommending solutions.
- Uses AI tools to synthesize data and documents.
- Evaluates patterns in cross-system data (e.g., throughput, error rates, cycle times) to identify where technology can create measurable performance gains or reduce operational risks.
- Uses scenario analysis and forecasting tools to compare technology options when making strategic decisions.
- Tracks the percentage of code generated with AI assistance by the team.
- Applies complex rules and regulations to maintain optimal system performance.
- Analyzes the feasibility, risks, and organizational readiness for adopting new technologies, including skills, processes, and cultural factors that influence successful implementation.
- Anticipates changes caused by the introduction of new technology to Company problems.
Workflow Optimization
Workflow Optimization is about improving how work actually gets done within those systems. A manager strong in this area examines bottlenecks, engages frontline employees, tests different workflow configurations, and redesigns processes to reduce friction, eliminate unnecessary steps, and increase speed, accuracy, or quality. The focus is on refining tasks, sequences, and user experience--ensuring that technology simplifies work rather than complicating it. Workflow Optimization is fundamentally about improving processes and performance, using data and continuous refinement to make daily operations smoother, faster, and more efficient.
- Analyzes existing workflows to identify inefficiencies that can be improved through technology.
- Ensures that technology solutions simplify work rather than adding unnecessary steps or complexity.
- Continuously refines processes as new capabilities or insights emerge.
- Measures the impact of workflow changes to confirm improvements in speed, accuracy, or quality.
- Coordinates workflow changes across interconnected teams or departments, preventing bottlenecks or misalignment.
- Ensures that redesigned workflows maintain compliance, quality standards, and auditability.
- Collaborates with teams to map new workflows.
- Tests multiple workflow configurations or tool settings to determine which arrangement produces the most efficient, accurate, or user-friendly process.
- Engages frontline employees in diagnosing workflow issues, ensuring optimization efforts reflect real operational needs rather than assumptions.
- Redesigns processes to take advantage of automation, analytics, or digital collaboration tools.
- Uses workflow data (such as cycle times, error rates, or throughput) to guide continuous refinement.
- Identifies manual, repetitive, or error-prone tasks that can be automated, freeing staff time for higher-value work and reducing operational friction.
Governance and Responsible Use
Governance and Responsible Use focuses on protecting the organization--its data, its people, and its ethical standards. A manager strong in this area ensures that technology is used safely, legally, and responsibly by setting clear norms, monitoring compliance, and intervening when risks appear. The emphasis is on privacy, security, ethical AI use, regulatory alignment, and preventing misuse before it becomes a problem. Governance and Responsible Use is fundamentally about guardrails: establishing the policies, behaviors, and oversight mechanisms that keep technology trustworthy, compliant, and aligned with organizational values.
- Conducts periodic audits of team technology practices to verify that data access, storage, and sharing behaviors align with organizational standards and regulatory requirements.
- Identifies misuse or risky practices and intervenes early to prevent issues.
- Monitors technology usage to ensure compliance with security and access protocols.
- Provides regular training and refreshers on digital ethics, cybersecurity hygiene, and responsible data stewardship.
- Establishes team norms for communication platforms, file sharing, and digital collaboration.
- Sets clear expectations for responsible AI use, including when human oversight is required, how outputs should be validated, and what types of decisions should never be delegated to automated systems.
- Reinforces ethical guidelines for AI, automation, and digital tools within the team.
- Ensures third-party tools, plugins, and AI services used by the team meet security, privacy, and compliance criteria.
- Partners with IT or compliance teams when governance concerns arise.
- Ensures employees follow organizational policies for data handling, privacy, and responsible technology use.
Strategic
Strategic focuses on long-horizon direction, competitive positioning, and shaping the organization's future through technology. A manager operating in this mode looks outward and forward--anticipating technological trends, identifying long-term opportunities, and ensuring technology choices strengthen the organization's mission, operating model, and future capabilities. Strategic is about building multi-year roadmaps, framing technology as a driver of transformation, and ensuring that investments, architectures, and innovations position the organization for sustained advantage.
- Frames technology adoption as a strategic opportunity rather than a burden.
- Aligns technology investments with organizational strategy, mission, and future capability needs.
- Identifies strategic risks associated with technological stagnation or outdated systems.
- Uses technology to redesign processes and operating models, rather than simply digitizing existing workflows.
- Identifies long-term business opportunities that can be unlocked through emerging technologies.
- Anticipates how technological trends (such as automation, AI, or data analytics) will reshape workflows, roles, and customer expectations.
- Champions digital transformation as a core strategic priority.
- Creates accelerated release cycles.
- Leverages technology use to improve operational efficiency.
- Builds multi-year technology roadmaps that sequence upgrades, integrations, and capability development.
- Views and adopts technology as a strategic priority.
Resources
Resources focuses on the practical allocation and stewardship of the people, budget, tools, and expertise required to make technology work day-to-day. A manager strong in Resources ensures teams have the right access, training, support, and funding; coordinates with procurement and IT; manages lifecycle costs; and reallocates resources away from low-value tools toward high-impact solutions. Resources is about operational enablement--acquiring, deploying, maintaining, and optimizing the tangible inputs that make technology usable and sustainable.
- Leverages internal and external expertise (such as cross-functional partners, vendors, or consultants) to support complex technology needs.
- Ensures employees have the access, tools, and training needed to fully leverage available technologies.
- Plans for the full lifecycle of technology resources (including maintenance, upgrades, and sustainability costs) to ensure long-term reliability and performance.
- Promotes investments in technology adoption and integration to enhance operation effectiveness.
- Directs budget, staffing, and time toward technology initiatives that deliver the highest operational impact.
- Reallocates resources away from redundant or underperforming technologies, redirecting support toward solutions that improve productivity and outcomes.
- Coordinates with procurement, finance, and IT to efficiently acquire and deploy technology, reducing delays and ensuring responsible use of organizational funds.
- Uses technology to optimize supply chains and acquisition of resources.
- Works with the IT department to create innovative solutions to meet customer needs.
- Able to allocate resources as needed to procure new technology.
- Helps make sure employees have access to latest technology.
Outcomes and ROI
Outcomes and ROI focuses on proving that technology delivers value--operationally, financially, and strategically. A manager strong in this area defines success metrics, measures adoption and performance, conducts post-implementation reviews, quantifies gains, identifies hidden costs, and translates technical results into business insights. The emphasis is on validating impact, informing future investments, and ensuring continuous improvement. Outcomes and ROI is fundamentally about results: determining whether technology is worth the investment, whether it improved outcomes, and how those insights should shape future decisions.
- Communicates results to leadership to inform future technology decisions.
- Quantifies the time savings, error reduction, or productivity gains resulting from new technologies and uses these insights to justify future investments.
- Identifies unintended consequences or hidden costs (such as increased support needs, workflow disruptions, or data-quality issues) and adjusts plans to protect ROI.
- Conducts post-implementation reviews with stakeholders to determine whether the technology delivered the intended operational, financial, or customer-experience improvements.
- Benchmarks technology performance against industry standards or peer organizations, ensuring the organization remains competitive and aligned with best practices.
- Tracks adoption rates, usage patterns, and performance outcomes to evaluate effectiveness.
- Incorporates lessons learned into future technology planning and implementation.
- Uses outcome data to refine technology governance, training, or workflow design, ensuring that improvements compound over time.
- Uses data to recommend scaling, modifying, or retiring technologies based on value delivered.
- Translates technical outcomes into business-relevant insights so leaders can clearly understand the value, risks, and tradeoffs associated with technology decisions.
- Identifies whether technology investments are producing expected operational or customer benefits.
- Defines clear success metrics for technology initiatives before implementation.
Staffing
Staffing focuses on getting the right people in the right roles to support current and emerging technologies. A manager strong in Staffing anticipates how automation or AI will shift responsibilities, recruits or redeploys talent with the necessary technical capabilities, assigns people to initiatives based on strengths, and builds internal champions who can guide others. The emphasis is on role design, workforce composition, morale, and ensuring the team has the human capacity to absorb technological change. Staffing is fundamentally about structuring and positioning the workforce so the organization has the talent needed to implement, maintain, and evolve its technology ecosystem.
- Builds internal "technology champions" or super-users who can mentor peers, model effective use, and provide first-line support during and after implementation.
- Monitors how technology changes affect team morale, workload, and confidence, and intervenes early with coaching, support, or workload adjustments to maintain engagement.
- Anticipates staffing impacts of new technologies, such as automation or AI, and proactively plans for role shifts, reskilling, or redeployment.
- Creates opportunities for staff to participate in technology pilots, evaluations, or design sessions.
- Creates staffing plans that align with long-term technology roadmaps.
- Identifies the technical skills required for current and emerging technologies and ensures the team has the right mix of talent to support them.
- Ensures technology responsibilities are clearly defined within job roles.
- Collaborates with HR and IT to recruit or develop talent with specialized technical capabilities, ensuring the department can implement and maintain key systems.
- Assigns staff to technology initiatives based on strengths, expertise, and developmental needs.
- Selects staff with appropriate technical backgrounds.
Training and Development
Training and Development focuses on building the skills of the people already in those roles. A manager strong in this area ensures employees receive ongoing upskilling, creates opportunities to learn new tools, designs targeted development plans to close competency gaps, and supports those who struggle with new technologies. The emphasis is on capability growth, AI fluency, hands-on learning time, and continuous improvement of technical proficiency. Training and Development is fundamentally about growing the workforce's skills, ensuring employees can confidently use, adapt to, and innovate with the technologies the organization adopts.
- Supports technical training and development of employees.
- Provides comprehensive AI education for the team to ensure high levels of adoption and usage.
- Supports employees who struggle with new technologies by providing coaching, resources, or peer support.
- Adapts training to keep up to date with changes in technology.
- Ensures workload distribution includes the time required to learn, test, and adopt new technologies.
- Encourages cross-functional knowledge sharing about effective technology practices.
- Ensures employees receive ongoing training and upskilling opportunities so they can confidently use new tools and adapt to evolving digital demands.
- Trains customers/clients how to use software applications.
- Identifies skill gaps created by new tools or automation and partners with HR or learning teams to design targeted development plans that prepare employees for evolving roles.
- Identifies gaps between actual and needed technical competencies and provides recommendations for required training.
- Supports employee training and development initiatives regarding implementation of technology.
- Trains employees how to use software applications.
- Increases AI fluency in the department.
- Encourages learning new technologies.
- Encourages knowledge sharing among staff to build collective technical capability, reducing reliance on single points of expertise.
Culture
Culture focuses on the mindsets, norms, and shared behaviors that shape how people relate to technology. A manager strong in Culture builds enthusiasm for digital tools, reduces fear or resistance, celebrates early adopters, and creates spaces where employees experiment, learn, and innovate together. The emphasis is on psychological readiness, openness, curiosity, and collective confidence in using technology. Culture is fundamentally about how people feel about technology--their attitudes, willingness to try new tools, and belief that digital transformation is part of who the organization is becoming.
- Builds collaborative spaces--such as user groups, pilot teams, or innovation circles.
- Creates an environment of rapid software development/innovation and release cycles.
- Develops a culture of digital transformation driving higher rates of AI adoption and usage.
- Recognizes and addresses cultural barriers to technology use, such as resistance, fear, or outdated norms.
- Celebrates early adopters and showcases successful technology use cases.
- Frames technology as a lever for innovation, growth, and differentiation.
- Models openness to new digital tools by using them personally.
- Promotes a culture of continuous digital learning.