© Best Practices in IT Leadership, Mosaic Media, Inc.
Leadership in the First Person
BY PAM HAGER 

The culture among IT professionals has long assumed that leadership is someone else’s responsibility. After all, isn’t it easier to stay one step ahead of the pack and keep your technology skills at the cutting edge when someone else is leading the way? In today’s technology-driven work-place, this approach just doesn’t make sense any-more. You have undoubtedly realized that there is greater risk that your skills will be wasted in organizations that lack the leader-ship to take best advantage of them.  

Technology experts can no longer afford to accept a backseat view of the action. In today’s workplace, leadership is indeed everyone’s responsibility. To realize the full potential that your skills represent to your organization, it is important for you to show the way. You can become not only a leader of technology, but also a leader of the organization, by cultivating your own sense of leadership.  

Project You: The business case for developing leadership skills  

This process, called “leadership in the first person,” refers to your assuming responsibility for developing your leadership talents. The process follows the familiar life cycle of most IT projects. It starts with analysis, moves into design, then on to development and implementation, and closes with the thorough evaluation of lessons learned. It means taking ownership of your actions and empowering yourself to act as a leader, regardless of title or position.  

So, here’s your challenge: What are you willing to do in order to grow and strengthen your inner leadership capabilities?  

Phase I: Analysis 
As you begin transforming yourself into a leader in the information technology arena, it is important to understand who you are, and to identify your strengths. In the IT environment, you may feel as though you are indistinguishable from your technical expertise. In reality, you are more than just a list of technical skills and acronyms. You need to break out of this mold. Begin by examining where you are today.  

Here’s the first step: Identify the things that characterize you professionally. The following tips can help get you started:  

• Define your niche in the technology environment. The IT world has so many specialty areas, it is imperative that you be able to underscore several of them as your bastion. Describe the expertise you call your own.  

• Within your specialty, consider what you stand for, that is, what matters to you as a technologist. For instance, is it a quality solution that drives your decisions, or perhaps your ability to interpret business needs as technological challenges?  

• Analyze your contribution to the organization. If asked how your work matters, what would you answer? Another aspect of your contribution is to explain how you make a difference each day. How would you describe the value of your work to the organization?  

The next step: Assess those quail-ties that differentiate you from the rest of your IT group. It is important to leverage the talents and qualities that define you as you develop your leader-ship characteristics. What are your strengths as a technology professional?  

Performance differentiators have little to do with particular subject matter expertise and lots to do with what is inside you as a professional. What centers your work ethic? Then ask yourself about your values. Look over past goals you have set for yourself, and review the behaviors you used to reach those goals. Can you characterize them in any certain pattern, and does your pattern produce positive results?  

The final step in the analysis phase is to examine two important attributes: 

• How do you learn? There are many learning styles. Determine which actions enable you to absorb new technologies and knowledge. 

• How will you get results that make a difference? What methods are the most effective and efficient? Try to predict future actions that can differentiate you from others.  

Phase II: Design
 The next move in developing leader-ship in the first person is to design a plan to enlarge your skills and enhance your leadership capabilities. To begin, there are three practices that have been used by successful organizational leaders that you can adopt as a template: 

1 Balance your technical knowledge with sharp business skills. It has always been important that your technical skills be their best. To this, you must now add business savvy— understanding and discussing business considerations as they relate to technological decisions. Identify those business skills that are lacking in your portfolio of talents, and start working on them.  

2 Look for ways to leverage the technology talents of colleagues, and encourage the same behavior among your team. It has been said that no one can know everything; in today’s business climate, there is just too much new information to absorb instantly. The point is not whether you could or couldn’t know everything. Instead, draw on the strengths and talents of your colleagues and others around you. Add to your design plan the development of the skills of a teacher, a mentor, and a coach.  

3 Develop a genuine interest in communication, particularly with those from outside the technology arena. Technologists are often regarded as information hoarders and people who speak in jargon. Whether you are dealing with an IT colleague or one of your business partners, you will gain no points by failing to explain and share your knowledge. The best leaders give away what they know is needed for others to succeed; you can always get more yourself. Work at acquiring skills for communication, negotiation, and collaboration as well as translating techno-babble into everyday terms. Those skills will come in handy once fine-tuned.  

Phase III: Development and Implementation  

Becoming an IT leader on any level is challenging. There are so many skills to develop; it may seem that an eternity must pass before you are transformed. Here are two guidelines to jump-start the process as you develop those skills:  

• Imagine yourself as a leader. Take initiative. Listen, then offer ideas. Don’t fear breaking a few rules. IT professionals already use one of the best development processes for bringing solutions to completion. Use those analytical skills to uncover cracks in the “tried and true” business-as-usual approach.  

• Be inquisitive. Use your innate curiosity to understand the client’s business needs before turning to a technology solution. You don’t have to understand everything; there’s a network of staff and colleagues whose expertise you can draw upon regularly to fill in the gaps.  

Phase IV: Lessons learned  

Becoming a “leader in the first person” demands much of you. To more easily come to grips with your assignment, I have gathered some tips for you: Take time to refresh, to consolidate, to catch your breath. Becoming an IT leader doesn’t have to happen in a single day or week. Give it time to develop. Avoid saving the day every day. It wears a person down. Leaders don’t save the day; they allow for action to be taken by themselves and others. They lay the groundwork and step aside for the troops to come through and do their jobs.  

There are no bonus points for reinventing the wheel. Find an expert, or at least someone with more experience, and have coffee. Being a leader implies you are not alone. Creativity and innovation rarely appear in a vacuum. Get out and mingle, solicit input, and respect that better idea when it comes along.  

These days, the IT professional hardly has a choice but to take the initiative when required, step aside when it is appropriate, and roll up his or her sleeves occasionally. The trick is, gauging the best approach for the circumstances. The leader evaluates each situation and chooses the optimal tactic. No waiting, no foot shuffling. Rather, “leadership in the first person” means taking responsibility for making the call.  

It’s a new world out there, and it’s changing as fast as the technology you support. Becoming a better leader lets you lead the pack!