Highly Effective Financial Technology Leaders engage teams and drive purpose

In this fourth article in our series on the 7 habits of highly effective financial technology leaders we speak to Colin Slight of The Realization Group, Jennifer Nayar, CEO, Vela Trading Systems, Leda Glyptis, Chief Client Officer, 10x Future Technologies and Philip Miller, Co-CEO & CoFounder of?Solidatus about the art of engaging teams and driving purpose in a post-pandemic world.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created challenges at all levels of society and the economy. The financial services community has faced a particular pressure, in continuing to perform and to support and underpin economic activity, whilst individual employees cope with the demands of working from home whilst home-schooling and caring for children, social isolation and uncertainty about the future. Employees have been carrying on the development of products and services, sales to new customers and support for existing ones, all whilst dealing with the same challenges around home working and family commitments. Their leaders, pioneers and entrepreneurs with visionary aspirations, have had to motivate – and sometimes build – teams and share their visions, goals and company culture in a remote working environment. For many, it’s been an extremely challenging time, under circumstances they had previously never considered or planned for.

Whilst financial technology leaders are entrepreneurs and visionaries, none of that can be translated to success in the real world without the ability to mobilise, inspire and guide teams of people. It’s not a habit that comes naturally to everyone, but successful leaders who are less naturally talented in this area will identify those within their organisation to whom they can delegate and drive this important form of internal engagement. The pandemic has required all of our financial technology leaders to lean in more when engaging with their staff and teams. Without the nuances of day-to-day interactions, driving teams towards a single purpose becomes impossible without taking the time to make sure that everyone is engaged, clear on the mission, and has the support they need.

Vela Trading Systems is headquartered in New York but has offices in London, Belfast, Chicago and Manila. The firm therefore experienced the onset of lockdown as a wave slowly breaking across their offices around the world.?Remote working was already fully enabled via their business continuity plans, and given its global footprint, the firm had already experienced and learned from events such as 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, monsoons in Manila and others. Staff were accustomed to switching to remote working when necessary, and the transition was fairly seamless. What they weren’t accustomed to was doing it for long, indefinite periods, amidst the personal stress and uncertainty of a global pandemic.

This is an extract from a longer article, which can be read in its entirety HERE.