Here's how you can use emotional intelligence to excel in IT Strategy roles.

Any IT strategy need to address all 3 elements, People, Process and Technology. More often establishing consensus is missed out along with the process leading the lower adoption and eventually failure. Chain is only as strong as its weakest link, same way ensuring people are aligned along with the right process is critical for any strategy to succeed. Communicating clearly on how relevant strategy is for different teams and individuals, acknowledging their perspectives and also being open for changes without diluting the core is a place to start. In summary, organization need to ensure that people can associate with the strategy/ changes to make it successful.

Being emotionally intelligent in IT strategy roles includes awareness of self, understanding emotions in others, and managing communication and interpersonal relationships effectively. First, familiarize yourself with the concepts of feeling and passion in decision-making. Lead with compassion when obtaining or giving support from and to your team to fully appreciate their needs. Have a clear and empathetic tone of voice so that all parties get to be recognized for what they are – equal and valuable. Approach the subject sensitively, avoid escalations, and foster teamwork by demonstrating professionalism and trust.

Inspiring and Motivating: Beyond empowerment, emotional intelligence enables leaders to connect with their teams on a deeper, emotional level, which is essential for inspiring and motivating them. Understanding the intrinsic motivations of each team member allows leaders to align these personal goals with the broader objectives of the organization. When leaders can tap into what truly drives their team members, they foster a sense of purpose and connection within the team. This emotional connection is critical for maintaining high levels of engagement and commitment, particularly in challenging situations. A team that feels inspired and motivated is more resilient, adaptable, and willing to go the extra mile to achieve desired outcomes.

It’s important to understand that being aware of emotional intelligence and skillfully understanding how to use emotional intelligence is the key. It mostly applies to situations of assessment, negotiation and change. Change being the key piece where an emotionally intelligent individual would succeed. It’s extremely important to understand personality types and the change models like Kotter’s.

Having a higher Emotional Intelligence (EQ) will help you connect better with your team or anyone you interact with in the professional space. You will be able you show empathy with the person you interact with, understand their story and contribute in a manner that will encourage them. Higher EQ always brings along a positive vibe and help you build a positive rapport with all.

A good IT strategy does not stand for itself, it is aligned and consistent with the company's business strategy. So although the technical staff will have a focus on IT strategy, they should as well understand how it helps to execute on the business strategy, and why the strategic goals support company's vision and success, and how they are beneficial for all employees. This requires not only effective communication within IT, but across the different functional units.

IT strategy needs to be supportive of Business Strategy. An aggressive IT strategy to modernize may put it in direct competition to a new marketing strategy. The issue quickly becomes... Where does the business profit? IT has to partner with the business to align the IT spend with the business needs. If the business needs a better Client Relation Management system, it is not time to discuss a new service management system, unless your first upgrade is for the CRM. If your Website is stale, and not delivering any sales, you need to improve the content before (or along side) changing the technology of the backend. Make your strategy profit the business.

Relationships management is a core skill of a PM. Each person is different - needs, aspirations, working style, core skills etc. So the PM should be able to grasp it. And the beauty is that when people with different DISC profiles are added to the mix, managing becomes complex. Empathy plays and important role and once we "know" peple it is easier to manage expectations, aspirations etc. We will be able to communicate better. And this heps in resolving conflicts effectively. The project manager then gains respect and with that comes soft power to guide the team towards the goalpost.

Lead with compassion and understanding. When team members face personal or professional challenges, offer understanding and support. Be flexible and accommodating where possible. Recognize that each team member is unique and may require different types of support or motivation. Tailor leadership style to meet individual needs.

Conflicts will always be part of the job, but it depends a lot on what kind of conflicts. In my opinion, those who generate different roles within the team should be in the minority, and in the majority, they are due to a misunderstanding of the responsibilities and mandates of each position within the work team. Clear communication is required, and you must check with each leader on a recurring basis to see if they are clear about their position's mandate and how their relationship with the different areas develops. This will help you have a conscious and focused team.

Promoting innovation is the right thing to do, but it depends a lot on the organization's situation. Depending on the level of maturity, you can carry out certain practices that encourage different thinking and that carry out transformation processes, but I insist that it depends on the level of maturity and the situation in which the organization finds itself.

Your IT department cannot excel if it is not building the technological impact on the business. Adapting new technologies means the business does it, not the IT department. Growing your IT capabilities in areas the positively impact the bottom line will quickly make you popular. Successfully protecting the business from scammers, from Data Breaches, from data loss, will make you successful. Being able to adapt to the business, and grow the business through the technology, will make your impact profitable.

It’s often tempting to religiously stick to your strategy or plan once you’ve invested considerable time and effort creating and perfecting. As IT constantly evolves, you can easily find that halfway through a multi-year plan, your target or goals need to change or shift accordingly. To ensure you have the ability to adapt and evolve an in-flight programme, you have to build that flexibility into your approach from day one. How you actually achieve this will be case specific and could include mid programme discovery (or rediscovery), including at least some agile methodologies or specific contingency for these purposes. It’s almost always better to assume that some of these will be needed rather than to react quickly when they do.