Technology leaders face a plethora of new challenges as they attempt to deliver novel solutions and adapt to change more quickly. Obstacles include budget cuts due to inflation, technical skills shortages, and repercussions from rushing recent technology adoption, which can lead to security gaps, compatibility issues, poor performance, and much more. However, IT leaders also find themselves in a unique position to meet business goals and drive value upstream through digital transformation and technology innovation.

IT leaders require a diverse skillset and background to fuel innovative thinking and solve complex business issues. For them, innovation is an inward process that begins with leaders with an innate ability to apply strategic and creative thinking.

There are many leadership qualities that help fuel innovation. The most effective leaders foster collaboration and a bias for action within their teams. They motivate employees to perform their best, encourage exploration of cutting-edge technology and help the organization continuously innovate, and evolve by introducing the necessary mechanisms to make that possible. To succeed, IT leaders need a combination of hard and soft skills – namely, technological and business management skills, the comfort of navigating ambiguity, along with strong communication and problem-solving abilities.

Start With a Foundation of Business and Technology Knowledge

CIOs and other IT leaders have moved away from being technology gatekeepers who enforce rules, and IT is no longer a one-stop shop for technology. Considering that technological advancements and innovation are crucial to a modern business’s strategic goals, IT leaders are becoming trusted advisors to executive leadership.

The changing role of IT leadership comes as no surprise given the rapid technological advancements in the past few years. Innovation and business goals are now inseparable. To bring an organization’s ideal technology vision to life, IT leaders must acquire a skillset that spans business management and technical insight. Background in only one or the other will not offer enough varied expertise to be an effective leader.

If you’re looking for executive leadership training, keep an eye out for university courses and programs, coaching workshops, online certification courses, and company training opportunities that will help you develop skills across technology and business.

Typically, the pathway to becoming a CIO begins on either the technology or business side, with most people adopting the other side, sometimes over the course of their careers. I started on the technology side, studying computer science, while an undergraduate, and then immediately earned a MBA to supplement that knowledge. I used formal education early on to develop both sides, and then made a point to grow those skills throughout my career, combining my technical knowledge with the business side through marketing and sales positions.

Perhaps you’ve focused on one side of the skillset spectrum for years and are hoping to develop abilities on the other side. Fortunately, it’s never too late to further your education. Start looking into options for an advanced degree or other certification that will allow you to round out your experience and map toward a leadership position.

Develop Your Soft Skills Through Listening and Communicating Well

Generally speaking, it’s common to find two “types” of individuals within the IT department: introverts who are excellent listeners, and extroverts, who are gifted in teaching and communicating. Both are highly valuable, and IT leaders need to develop abilities on both sides. If an IT professional embodies a combination of these traits altogether, that leader then becomes that much more valuable to any business.

The loudest or most talkative person in the room does not make a great leader. The leader can often be the opposite of this. The ability to clearly express ideas is important, but leaders should also be thoughtful listeners. Don’t listen just to perform the act of listening. Leaders listen to learn, understand, and hear what is really being communicated. You can absorb more and learn a great deal from colleagues and experts when you keep an open ear and mind. Listening well allows you to uncover important information that will later fuel innovation and drive decision-making.

Listening to team members and encouraging their ideas shows that you value their opinions, allowing you to better support your staff and be a more dependable manager. Gaining a reputation as a good listener will also help encourage shy or nervous employees to speak up and share their ideas without you prompting them. This helps your staff grow personally while also allowing them to contribute to the overall success of the business.

The perfect complementary skill to listening is the ability to clearly communicate with others. Communication might not always be the first skill that comes to mind when thinking of IT management, but it is crucial when it comes to great leadership.

For example, recruiters and managers filling IT leadership positions should take note if candidates are sharing their knowledge. While interviewing a candidate, seek out displays of thought leadership and entrepreneurial thinking. A candidate might share blog posts highlighting their expertise on LinkedIn, a personal website, or an online column. Others may prefer participating in webinars, seminars, or company videos. Anything that displays proactive thought leadership and offers valuable lessons to readers or viewers speaks volumes about one’s credibility as a teacher and studied expert.

Leaders who can effectively communicate and share their knowledge are essential, as they are the most qualified to build up strong employees and encourage them in their career journeys. The best mentors know how to effectively communicate to create opportunities to advance employee skillsets, build stronger teams, and improve workplace relationships.

Matching technical and business management skills with the softer skills of listening and communicating well puts IT leaders on the best path to success and equips them with the ability to bring innovation to their businesses. Continuing to implement and grow these skillsets will allow you to advance in your career while encouraging employee growth and meeting your organization’s long-term goals.

Develop Your Skills at Actian

Interested in learning more about how you can further your career in technology? Visit our Careers webpage to view current open positions and discover more about our employee-first community values.

About Steve Padgett

Steve Padgett is Chief Information Officer for Actian, overseeing IT, Facilities, and Cloud Operations globally. He brings 30+ years of IT leadership, including past CIO roles at Pervasive Software, Supportkids, and Tivoli. Steve has implemented large-scale, secure infrastructures and drives continuous improvement in enterprise systems. His blog posts at Actian focus on cloud management, operational efficiency, and IT strategy. Read them for insights on modernizing organizational infrastructure.

We’re thrilled to share that Actian has been recognized as a Top Workplace of 2022 by the Austin American-Statesman for the third year in a row! The Austin American-Statesman’s Top Workplaces of Greater Austin project recognizes the best places to work in the Austin metro area, based solely on employee feedback. The program considers 15 culture-drivers that are critical to the success of any organization, including factors such as alignment, execution, and connection.

At Actian, we strive to develop a workplace that fosters innovation and allows our dynamic team to thrive on creating technology for the next generation. “Employee-first” is the way we do business, and we place a huge emphasis on our people and culture. We want each employee to have the opportunity to show up as their authentic self, enabling them to do their very best work by offering a warm, welcoming, and friendly environment. It’s our goal to ensure our employees know that they always matter and that they understand the critical part they each play in making our customers and our company successful.

We do this by following several core values:

• Innovation: We believe in innovation broadly across all functions. We are committed to being on the cutting edge of technology by ambitiously looking for opportunities to improve by expanding our patent portfolio, refining our approach, continuing to innovate and enhancing the products and services we offer our customers.
• Teaming to Win: We are comprised of experienced, talented people who believe in the power of our team. We are devoted to leveraging the power of diverse, individual perspectives and new ideas with respectful discussion and debate, treating all with dignity and respect.
• Customer Focus: We recognize that customers depend on us to conduct their business. Most have been with us for many years. We work collaboratively with our customers and prospects to deliver reliable, performant products that bring substantial value.
• Decisive Action: We are bold and decisive in our actions. We make prudent, thoughtful decisions and act with clear intent and strong business judgment. We approach challenges directly, confidently, and collaboratively, without hubris or arrogance.
• Candid Communications: We communicate to our investors, customers, partners, and internal teams openly and honestly. We impart accurate information, act with sincerity, building trust and establishing mutual respect.
• Integrity: We are committed to working ethically and with complete integrity in all that we do and place trust in our people to act accordingly. We mean what we say and deliver on our commitments.

In addition to being named a Top Workplace, Actian has been honored with several Culture Excellence Awards, given to showcase strong values of companies that rank in the top 25% of surveyed organizations. This year, Actian has received Culture Excellence Awards in the categories of Innovation, Work-Life Flexibility, Compensation and Benefits, Leadership, Employee Appreciation, Employee Well-being and Professional Development.

We are truly honored to be recognized by our employees and would like to share our sincerest gratitude to everyone who voted!

Careers at Actian

Are you looking to join a rapidly growing company that values its employees and is transforming data management and integration? Join our team of innovative, enthusiastic employees to grow in a collaborative and welcoming environment.

Find out more about current career opportunities at: https://www.actian.com/company/careers/. Ready to apply? Click here.

About Rae Coffman-Bueb

Rae Coffman-Bueb is Director of Employee Experience at Actian, dedicated to enhancing organizational culture. With a background in People Operations, Rae has implemented global best practices that empower teams and streamline HR processes. She provides guidance on talent development, onboarding, and cross-functional collaboration. Rae's blog posts focus on employee engagement, internal communications, and HR innovations. Check them out for tips on boosting workplace satisfaction.

Leaders across every organization learned valuable lessons about leading their teams more thoughtfully during the pandemic. Here at Actian, we learned that being a flexible, adaptable, and empathetic leader goes a long way in building trust with our teams. The pandemic and resulting seismic shift in how we interact with our colleagues shed light on the importance of understanding how external factors can impact mental health. Today, the onus is on leadership to foster an emotionally intelligent and empathetic working environment to make employees comfortable and feel supported in their roles.

A vital trait for today’s leaders, and the key to truly supporting your team, is having a developed sense of emotional intelligence. Leaders, across every industry, need to be able to foster an environment that allows employees the freedom to cope with the emotions and stressors in their lives while juggling work responsibilities.

Emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient, is generally defined as the ability to identify one’s emotions, apply them to problem-solving situations, and manage them positively. Personally, I equate being an emotionally intelligent leader with being able to make genuine connections with my team members. These “soft skills” are becoming more important than ever to company success (especially in a distributed workforce), as they allow us to become better, more empathetic, and more approachable leaders.

Of course, emotional intelligence comes more naturally to some than to others. Thankfully, it is a skill that can be learned and nurtured throughout a leader’s career and lifetime. Let’s look at a few traits of emotionally intelligent leaders and how one can develop these skills.

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Clearly Express Employee Value

Leaders can acknowledge employee value by showing that they trust team members to complete their work well, without constant touchpoints. Make a point to eliminate micromanagement, and instead, delegate tasks, training employees in new skills where necessary. At Actian, our employees have flexible schedules allowed by the benefit of remote work. People want to arrange their day in a way that is cohesive with their personal life – whether it’s taking their kids to school, joining an after-work club or hobby, or simply prioritizing family. Offering flexibility like this is one way to confirm that leaders trust employees and value their contributions.

A key soft skill that emotionally intelligent leaders express is empathy. An empathetic leader will understand that any number of unseen factors could delay a project – sickness in the family, relationship problems, or kids struggling in school can all impact an employee’s work performance. An emotionally intelligent leader will have situational awareness and encourage open, honest, and ongoing communication. Keeping an “open door policy” helps employees feel empowered to reach out when they are struggling and demonstrates that leaders care about the team members and not just about their contributions to the team.

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Strengthen Connections with Employees

People with high emotional intelligence are skilled at creating strong, lasting connections with others. One of the best ways to improve connections with employees is to schedule time to connect one-on-one. Tech leaders are often busy, but packed schedules are the enemy of progress.

Additionally, when employees do have personal or professional issues they might like to discuss, they will feel significantly more comfortable initiating the conversation with a manager they already have an established relationship with. Leaders who put in the effort to establish those connections from the beginning will be better equipped to help their employees find solutions to these problems.

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Let Their Own Walls Down

Becoming an emotionally intelligent leader can be challenging. To help overcome any personal reservations, leaders should first work to develop a sense of self-awareness. It’s crucial to deliberately identify, understand, and regulate your own emotions before you can support others. Improving self-awareness allows you to expand your emotional scope to better understand and support employees.

Another way to connect more deeply with employees is to find and create teachable moments. Draw from your own mistakes and successes to develop an environment that focuses on continuous improvement, rather than perfection. Encouraging learning will in turn improve employee confidence, comfort, and overall satisfaction.

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders are Authentic in Their Approach

Last, but certainly not least, emotionally intelligent leaders will come to work as their authentic selves. This will lead employees to do the same and make regular wellbeing touchpoints easier. Bring your undivided attention to check-ins and show a real interest in your team members. A people leader must display that they care about their employees, not just about solving the problem at hand.

Lessons learned during the pandemic and the subsequent move to remote work will equip leaders with the skills needed to overcome future high-stress moments. Leaders must think about their workers holistically, looking for early signs of stress and other mental health factors. Health, especially mental health, is fragile, and once it’s fractured it is hard to put it back together again.

Interested in joining a company that values its employees’ contributions and prioritizes the wellbeing of workers? Take a look at the open positions on our Careers page to see where you could fit in!

About Emma McGrattan

Emma McGrattan is CTO at Actian, leading global R&D in high-performance analytics, data management, and integration. With over two decades at Actian, Emma holds multiple patents in data technologies and has been instrumental in driving innovation for mission-critical applications. She is a recognized authority, frequently speaking at industry conferences like Strata Data, and she's published technical papers on modern analytics. In her Actian blog posts, Emma tackles performance optimization, hybrid cloud architectures, and advanced analytics strategies. Explore her top articles to unlock data-driven success.