6 Important Questions That Help Grow Your Tech Leadership Career
There are a myriad of ways that tech professionals can sharpen their technical skills – forums, online courses, tutorials, sample code, videos, and so much more. But when it comes to sharpening leadership skills, there are fewer options and growth becomes more complex.
For tech professionals, moving into a leadership role often means dealing with something that no longer comes naturally. It involves inspiring direct reports and dealing with performance issues. It means shifting from the day-to-day technical issues toward developing and communicating vision and strategy. The path to get there looks different for each person, but there are 6 core questions that, when answered, help build the foundation for tech leadership growth.
1. What are my top 3 – 5 strengths?
By strengths, I don’t mean technical skills at the 1000-foot level like what programming language you know. I’m talking about strengths at the 30,000-foot view. Are you good at seeing the big picture in the data, are you a person who is calm amidst the pressure of a big deadline, or are you especially good at spotting how to improve a process? Knowing your strengths can help you leverage them to inspire your team, improve communication and even fill gaps in your leadership.
2. What really motivates me?
At the beginning and end of the day, what gets you really excited? Is it when you’ve made an impact on something or someone? Is it when you’ve brought a big project to completion, or is it when you’ve been given the opportunity to explore a new path and find a better solution to the outcome? Knowing these matter because it helps you choose leadership paths that leverage your motivations and operate in your “sweet spot”.
3. What are my blind spots?
The flip side to a strength is a blind spot. And they are hard to spot because, well, they are blind spots! These are the things that might trigger you into negative behaviors or they might be habits you’ve formed that cause stress for others. Regardless, discovering them is critical to leadership growth and is important for the health of your team. You can’t fix something if you aren’t aware it is broken.
4. How do my peers, my people and my boss characterize my strengths and weaknesses?
Getting feedback from others can be hard. It often feels personal. Having an effective and safe way for peers and direct reports to provide feedback, both positive and negative, benefits both you and them. As a leader, getting direct feedback is a gift that will help you grow and improve. For the feedback givers, they will feel heard and included in your growth journey. Asking for feedback and accepting it graciously also sets a great example for the people you lead.
5. What are my core values at work and how do they affect my leadership?
Understanding what is important to you helps define your leadership. If sharing information and ideas is something you highly value, it is important that you communicate that to your team and build in processes and channels of communication to help keep everyone informed. If you don’t like last minute surprises (the bad kind), you may want to create a culture that helps your people feel comfortable sharing problems early. Your values as a leader can directly translate into operating principles that help your team.
6. What do I want my leadership role to look like in 3 years and how will I get there?
This is a question that many tech leaders do not take the time to consider but is important. Knowing your strengths, motivations, blind spots, how you are viewed, and your core values all contribute to helping envision your future leader self. And when you know where you want to be, you can more easily chart a path and strategy to get there.
Finding the answers to these questions isn’t easy and is best done with the help of a leadership coach who can facilitate the process and assist you in finding the answers. The result? Improved leadership skills and career growth.
If you’d like to learn how the Leadership Infusion Coaching Program for tech leaders can help you grow in your career, schedule a leadership strategy call with me at: https://go.oncehub.com/ShylaAllard.