Training for managers

Classes, informal training help managers move up the ranks

To climb the IT management track, you need an assortment of communication, business, leadership, and organizational skills. These skills can help you package and sell ideas to small and large groups of people, articulate ideas, and better understand patterns of politics and relationships.

MBA programs, of course, teach these skills. But they are not the only means of training for managers. University courses, seminars, programs sponsored by professional associations, company training, and informal training can all help you get and stay aboard the leadership track.

The first priority for any technical professional who wants to move up the management ladder is to acquire overall business knowledge, says Ken Prager, a principal at Riverton Management Consulting Group, in Palmyra, N.J. Second, he says, learn to become a strategic thinker.

"Here, the training is to understand how markets drive strategies and how the particular market [for] your company is changing," Prager says.

TRAINING METHODS. Prager recommends both formal training, including strategic planning workshops, …