How Does Behavior Affect IT Leadership?
That book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, released in June, is a nice add-on to CIO Insight's summer reading suggestions. In addition to offering strategies for managers and execs to boost their EQ, the book fleshes out four key skills to necessary for doing so: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Eileen's post provides some snippets into each one. That got me thinking again about some of our recent coverage around CIO behavior and personality. In a groundbreaking study, Chris Dowse and Dr. Paul Hertz ripped the scab off the "human element" of IT leadership--an issue of huge importance but little discussion. That research report breaks down the key personality/behavior traits of IT leaders, based on responses to an online questionnaire. Their preview analysis came to a striking conclusion: that more often than not, people issues trump concerns over technology or process. Very useful reading for new and veteran CIOs--and those aspiring to the perch--looking to transform not only the function of their IT shop but also to boost the collaboration and morale of their staffs. And straight to that point, Eileen offers this in her post: IT professionals are often portrayed as being socially awkward--more comfortable with machines than with people. That's an unfair characterization: Many tech pros are very "human-friendly." In fact, more and more IT job descriptions--especially at the higher levels--include a requirement for good relationship management skills. And a lot of that comes down to communication. Sure, the stereotype has always been that IT pros are geeks with limited communication skills. But our recent package on the topic reveals that this doesn't have to be the case. So, a big question for IT leaders: How often do you think about your own behavior or emotional intelligence in evaluating how you lead? And from there, how often do you think about the EQ of your staff? |
Comments (1)
In any field, IT or otherwise, I have found that leadership fundamentals are based around the ability to build solid teamwork and motivate toward goals. The only way to do that successfully is by treating your team as individual people with individual personalities. Whether it's knowing which of your team members need more stroking to keep them comfortable, or which you need to be more hands-off with, or any other of the thousands of other variations of what would make a team member successful, I've learned long ago you have to adjust your style as a leader. In some ways it's similar to teaching, not all of us have the same learning styles, so good teachers are the ones that adjust the learning style for the student, and they let them know that being different is okay. Similarly, good leaders adjust their management styles to get the best efforts out of the individuals that make up their team, and especially in IT where personalities can vary greatly, it's an art (not a science).
Posted by Patricia Sibilia | July 18, 2009 6:22 PM