5 trends in management to follow during 2016By Javier Delgado, CEO of Quadion.

IT as a business and profit center.

IT divisions are experiencing a strategic shift in the corporate chain of command. While before IT used to be a staff area, it is now becoming a business development unit, with a technical competence, and a focus on performance.

More and more, IT managers are being elevated to C-Level and board member positions. Their mission is not solely to interconnect the "Information flow" of the company anymore, but to focus on innovation and creating a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization.

Innovation is not a zero-sum game.

There's something about the word innovation. It sounds nice, gives hype and sparks interesting debates. When was the last time you saw a company describe itself as "conservative, unmovable, slow and fixed in the past"? Everyone's an innovator nowadays. Even when they are not.

Innovation is a win or lose game. Usually, loser loses it all. Time, money and resources invested in innovation. Patience and optimism, also. There's no way of becoming an innovative company if one doesn't embrace that danger.

Innvation carries a big cost. For the company, its stakeholders, its decision makers and its staff. Innvation may divert resources, de-focus the company and deplete its war chest on futile flashy projects.

Innovation requieres focus. And focus requires sacrifice. Being innovative means to shun on all the "other" things that may drive our attention from our goals.

Innovation will bring us great opportunities and satisfactions, but only when done correctly. Only when the focus of innovation is aligned with the goals of the organization as a whole. Innovation as an exercise in abstraction is just art. And art is wonderful, but it is not business.

Three words in IT: delivery, delivery, delivery.

Delivering fast and consistently has been key for centuries. But delivering while remaining agile on an organisational level is the trick of the day.

Year after year, new ways, frameworks, theories and methodologies are deviced for IT companies to remain agile. The problem today, is not how to become agile, but how to be agile in a way that is consistent with its company's ways and culture. How to choose the right agile method, how to boost (and not to stall) the company's performance.

Delivery is King. Agility just a tool to an end. And a good esquire always chooses the right tool, or the right weapon, to serve its King.

Growing and developing talent.

IT is going through a "hunting" phase when it comes to talent acquisition. And, while hunting is always important, growing in "agricultural", organic ways is more and more important.

Bigger companies are more prone to hunt for professionals, rather than building their core team from the ground up. It’s easier and cheaper to buy talent already crafted. And they can afford to fail.

Midsize enterprises don't have that luxury. They must be as picky as possible, to develop every ounce of available talent in a person, from day one. This need breeds a culture of mentoring and career building, wich is beneficial both for the company and the professionals.

The word of the day is "hotbed" of people. Great IT companies must not only be great at their core business: developing software and services, but also at developing their talent. Organic, nourished, home-brewed talent is the way to go.

(C) Quadion 2016. All rights reserved.