How to level up from IT management to IT leadership
CIO.com Next CIO Award winners weigh in on what it takes to grow your career toward technology’s corner office.
If becoming an effective IT leader requires spending less time focused on technology and more time focused on people and business strategy, how can an IT manager determine when to step back from the technical work and start prioritizing leadership—even if they believe their technical expertise is what makes them valuable?
A few key points stand out:
Develop business acumen. IT leaders need to understand how the organization makes money, serves customers, manages risk, and makes strategic decisions. Technology should be used to solve business problems rather than simply being implemented because it is new or interesting.
Build strong communication skills. As people move higher in an organization, they spend less time doing technical work and more time explaining ideas, influencing others, mentoring employees, and creating alignment.
Take on challenging projects. Large or difficult assignments provide opportunities to demonstrate leadership. Importantly, the leaders interviewed in the article emphasize learning from mistakes rather than trying to avoid every failure.
Think about the people affected by technology. One example describes how a major healthcare technology rollout created confusion for nurses because multiple changes happened simultaneously. The experience reinforced the importance of empathy and considering the end-user’s perspective.
Build relationships outside of IT. Future technology leaders should develop connections throughout the organization and understand the problems that business teams are trying to solve.
Develop other people. As leaders advance, success becomes less about what they personally accomplish and more about what their teams can accomplish because of their leadership.
Find mentors and seek honest feedback. Mentors can help aspiring leaders understand organizational politics, decision-making, communication style, and leadership expectations.
Overall, the article argues that moving from IT management to IT leadership requires a shift in mindset: from managing technology and tasks to influencing people, understanding the business, and creating organizational value.
https://www.cio.com/article/4207533/how-to-level-up-from-it-management-to-it-leadership.html