Discomfort with new technology

• You're not alone. We all feel this way at some point in our careers.
• Each generation of managers will be left behind at some stage.

What are your options?

• How can you get up to date? May be a losing battle - we have to let go sometime.
• Can you change your role? What else could you do?
• Find a new role elsewhere? See career stalled and not sure what.
• Can you reframe how you see yourself and your role?

Reframing your role

To what extent is your confidence based on your knowledge or technical competence?
How can you base your confidence on other skills?

• Manager - coordinates input of knowledge workers.
• Broker - ferrets out new opportunities for others.
• Coach - helps technical boffins smooth rough edges.
• Investor - supports and champions promising new ideas.
• Facilitator - resolves conflict between disparate specialties.
• Leader - champions new ideas without knowing details.
• Mentor - shows junior staff the ropes.

The key is to find a new way of adding value through leveraging processes rather than contributing content.

• Can you base your confidence on process skills instead of content?
• Great ideas are no good if no one can sell them.
• Excessive specialization creates tunnel vision. Someone needs to see the bigger picture to best combine specialist input.
• What new opportunities can you see for yourself if you decide to leave the new technology know-how to others?
• Process skills are never out of date.
• They will become increasingly necessary to help diverse specialists communicate effectively with each other.
• If you must keep up with some content/technology, how willing are you to risk focusing on a few core areas? Focus is high risk but too great a spread could be self-defeating if you do not know enough about any one subject.
• Can you think strategically about what you really need to know so that the investment of your time and energy adds the value you want?