7 Questions Tech Leaders Should Be Asking Themselves

How well do you know yourself as a technical leader? Great leaders have clarity -- they know themselves well. They play to their strengths, are aware of their weaknesses and recognize how they affect others.

The process of getting clarity on who you are as a leader is similar to renovating a house. Before you jump into a full-scale renovation, you need to gain complete knowledge of the house from the inside out. What are the home’s best features? Is it a great floor plan, or maybe a beautiful backyard? You’ll want to emphasize those areas. What are its weaknesses? Is the roof leaking? Is the paint color out of style? You’ll want to repair or replace those. Having a full picture of the condition of the home will allow you to make a well-thought-out renovation plan.

Although human beings are much more complex than houses, the renovation analogy emphasizes the importance of understanding the “full picture” of who you are before making a plan to move forward. 

Here are 7 key questions tech leaders should be asking themselves. And more importantly, they should be discovering the answers.

1. What are my top 3 – 5 strengths?

2. What really motivates me – what conditions exist when I’m operating in my sweet spot?

3. What are my weaknesses and how do I manage them?

4. How do my peers, my people and my boss characterize my strengths and weaknesses?

5. What are my core values and how do they affect my leadership?

6. What do I want my leadership role to look like in 1 to 3 years?

7. How will I get there (how will I achieve that leadership vision)?

Having clear answers to all of these questions is a mark of an extraordinary technical leader, but finding the answers isn’t easy. That’s why we have developed the Leadership Infusion Program for tech leaders.  

With personalized coaching, in-depth assessments and a unique process of exploring past achievements, the following benefits are realized.

• You will know what gives you passion and purpose, so that you are engaged rather than depleted of energy.

• You will discover your blind spots and learn how to improve in weak areas, so that you can better support those you are leading.

• You will be able to identify when you need support, so you are more efficient and effective in getting important work done and goals accomplished.

• You will become better at managing yourself, so that you can manage others well.

• You will learn to lead authentically, so that you earn the respect of others.

• You will be able to lead with both confidence and humility, so that others are inspired by your leadership and more engaged.

• You will have what you need for casting a vision for your leadership, so you can set a path for growth and progression.

Now let’s take the home renovation analogy a step further.

Once you have clarity on the condition of the house, you can now cast a vision for what you want it to look like after your renovation. If you’ve ever watched HGTV, you’ve seen this play out on animated computer designs of renovated homes before the work begins. It gives you a visual and inspirational view of what the finished product will look like. And once you know your end result, you can create a plan to make it happen.

Much like the simulated home renovation, it is important to start with the end in mind and then strategize on how to get there. In our program, leaders cast an inspirational, challenging, and achievable vision for their leadership future by leveraging what is learned in the assessments and coaching. This sets the stage for improvement, growth and progress for the leader, their people, and the company.

Once the vision is cast, the next step is determining how you will get there (the renovation plan). This can be challenging. Many technical leaders are good at setting technical goals, but have a hard time determining how to create leadership goals since by comparison, they can feel a bit “squishy”. 

Leadership Infusion Program

In the Leadership Infusion Program, we overcome these barriers by helping leaders set stretch-goals that focus on key areas. We then identify smaller, attainable actions to make progress toward the goal and, ultimately, toward the vision.

This was true for my client, Sam, who set an aspirational leadership vision based on his strengths and motivations but was struggling to identify goals to achieve it. Determined to make his vision for increasing his responsibility happen, we identified a few overarching goals, each with multiple actions, that allowed him to take achievable steps over time to bring his vision to life. Within a short time, he was promoted twice and given responsibility for three departments.

“The most impactful outcome of our coaching engagements was – they worked! I learned about myself, my motivations and what made me tick. This taught me to increase my awareness of others and their motivations. Because of the strategies developed from coaching engagements, I was able to increase meaningful interactions with my teams, build trust and respect, empower my leaders to develop their teams, and continue to help them grow.”

Helping technical leaders to get clarity on who they are, create a vision for who they authentically aspire to be, and be accountable to creating and achieving the actions to get there, is central to the Leadership Infusion Program and is vital to an ordinary tech leader becoming extraordinary.

To learn more about how you can be a part of the Leadership Infusion Program to accelerate your growth and the growth of your team, click here to schedule a leadership strategy call.