Throughout my years leading teams, I can’t say I’ve seen it all, because I keep getting one surprise after another. But I think I’ve seen enough to have a fair insight into what makes teams respond because they feel inspired to do so, and not just because they must.
I strongly believe that just achieving the result is not enough, it needs to be reached the right way. This means that values should always go first, pressure needs to be handled and not passed down, and we must prioritize creating long-term strength over short-term wins.
We need to lead in a way that makes us proud to repeat, teach, and scale.
So here I go, with the 5 main things I’ve found that work for me.
Clarity
For sure, we will never have all the answers. But we can never lack clarity on what we need to do, and we must be capable of transmitting that same clarity to our teams.
Having a crystal-clear image of general and particular objectives will make everyone’s life easier and more meaningful, and it will allow the teams to bring the best of their talent to the table.
When it comes to solving problems, we need to have a very clear understanding of the problem itself. Finding solutions first, and then determining the technology to address it, should be the approach.
Finally, my favorite part: knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.
This is closely related to the next point.
What I mean by this is that we cannot freeze under any circumstances. We need to have procedures in place to keep the business operating while we figure out how to solve any unseen or unlikely-to-happen situation, and even for that, we need to have a structured approach to troubleshooting.
Handling The Pressure
Everyone can be charming on a calm day, but remaining human when things get hot is not always easy. The way we speak, the tone, and the intention has a big and direct impact on the outcome of the situation.
As tech leaders, we need to juggle the situations themselves, the teams working on them (our own team, vendors, contractors, key users), the rest of the organization, the executive team, and whatnot. Regulating our own emotions and responding instead of reacting is crucial, and having clarity on how to proceed contributes to staying calm in rough situations.
In his book, The Spartan Way, Joe de Sena calls this “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
As crazy as it sounds, I found this to be a great mindset. If we expect things to be always smooth and perfect, the moment reality shows its ugly face, we will not enjoy it.
And really…how often is life smooth and perfect in our IT reality?
Materializing The Vision
On paper, being a visionary is a walk in the park, even more now that we have GenAI tools available everywhere.
Transforming that vision into something tangible is something else.
Now that technology is underlying everything, the CIO is one of the most critical players in any organization for materializing the vision.
I recently came into a concept by Peter Hinssen that fascinated me: we are living in the never normal.
And it is so true!
We constantly mention how things were in the past and how simple it would be to solve a given situation if the circumstances were normal, but that usually never happens. In this never normal, innovating becomes critical, and pivoting from a risk-management mindset to a risk-appetite one is the only way I see to remain relevant in an organization or in the marketplace.
So, make a clear plan, get comfortable knowing that things will become uncomfortable, and start building that dream.
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Taking Ownership
I don’t mean just being accountable, but being responsible in all directions: sharing success, absorbing failure (and learning from it), and feeling secure without the need for credit or recognition.
This also means getting fully involved in activities and not just reading the reports, giving the time and attention to what demands it, and shifting from rigid plans to agility when needed, and the other way around.
It is necessary to simplify IT to handle complexity and become a true business leader who understands both the technological and non-technological sides of the organization.
Relentless Commitment To People
We need to be aware that no matter the organization, industry, size of the team, or the goals we might have, we are not just building outcomes; we are building humans. We must be capable of coaching our teams, challenging them, and creating the right conditions for them to stretch and grow.
The more we empower the people, the more the team will accomplish, and the more the team accomplishes, the bigger the impact on the organization.
If we share and multiply this knowledge and way of thinking, we will not just be meeting our business goals, but we will also be creating leaders capable of creating leaders. In the end, the best feedback we can have from people who have worked with us is their willingness to do it again.
And people don’t usually quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.
The Wrap
Leadership is not proven when everything works; it is proven when it doesn’t. How we react to situations will impact not only the immediate outcome, but how teams perform in the long run.
Results will always matter, but how we reach them is what defines the kind of leaders we become and our legacy to the organization.
If the way we lead produces great outcomes, strong teams, more leaders, and people who would choose to work with us again, we are not only delivering results, but we are also creating a winning culture.
