Here's how you can elevate your leadership skills as a mid-career IT manager.

Elevate your leadership skills by embracing change, staying adaptable, fostering innovation, and guiding your team through transitions with confidence and support.

Change is something that we all need to enbrace in today's world. Sometimes we get uncomfortable with new things and new way of doing things. When we come out of that comfort zone, we feel out of place and we imediately become closed minded. As we seen and experience all these days, change is something that is inevitable and we must move with it. Instead of fighting change, we must embrace and find new ways of using these new technologies.

Change is inevitable. Embracing and championing change as a leader is very important. As a leader, if you resist change, you may not be around long enough to see the change. Continuing to the move the needle forward means status quo is not good enough. The phrase "we've always done it that way" can be a career killer.

Commucation is should a critical component when being a leader. We all can easily say that we communicate but the reality is, that's a skill that takes some time to master. When you have collegues, co-workers and a team that depens your on guidance or leadership skills, communication plays a huge part. Hold re-occuring team meating, use message boards or even white boards. The key thing is for your team to always know that's going on and if they have any to do's, make sure they know what to do.

To foster effective leadership as an IT manager, hone your ability to communicate complex ideas simply. Break down technical jargon for all stakeholders, ensuring clarity in project goals and expectations. This not only enhances team collaboration but also strengthens interdisciplinary relationships, driving successful project outcomes and elevating your leadership profile.

If you can master communication, the rest is gravy! Clear and concise communication in a change environment is so critical. Effective communication builds trust among the team and puts legitimacy around the change. Transparency is key. Don't sugar coat but champion the change. Making sure your team is current and hearing from you their leader vs the "grapevine" will work wonders in the team embracing change.

When you have a team behind you, it's critical that you do and say what you teach. Show your team that what you preach is what you do. It's important for your team to easy see what you're doing and how effective it is on what you are doing. This will show them exactly how things are and being done with what you teach.

Leading from the front during change is important. Being a champion for the change, even if you aren't 100% on board, your role is to make sure you set your team up for success. If you lead by example the team will follow. If you don't embrace the change you become a roadblock and the effectiveness and success of your team may falter. Walk the talk as they say!

Innovation can be a wonderful thing. Encourage your team to innovate. Make them part of the change team. If they have a "seat and a voice at the table" when change is being discussed, that can go along way of them becoming a champion of the upcoming change. This also drives engagement team wide. Each team has those who want to be involved vocally and others that want to sit back and watch from afar. Both are valuable pieces of the team. Getting the team to buy in and understand how this change will benefit them, is huge and will pay dividends long term. I believe innovation also equals empowerment. These go hand in hand for me.