Leadership in IT. Is it really so difficult?

In my life outside of work I have come into contact with many people who have impressed, excited, inspired and generally filled me with enthusiasm for the task in hand. It is with some sadness that I have to admit that my experience within my chosen profession is somewhat different.   

I have lost count of the number of team leaders, managers and executives I have worked with and for over the years, but I do know how many have left an indelible mark, never to be forgotten because of the pleasure and sheer joy (yes joy) of working and achieving alongside them. Four! And but for the embarrassment I would clearly cause them, I would be happy to name them. I have met another ten or so who were good (or vaguely competent) and the rest have been pretty damn awful to be brutally honest. Any achievements made by the team were largely in spite of their presence, rather than because of it.

 I am hoping this post may stimulate some thought processes and help you decide what kind of leader you want to be, because at some point in your career (if not already) you will need to be a leader so you might as well be a good one!

 Now managing IT projects and IT people is not an easy task – herding cats anyone? The IT guys (sorry ladies – no sexism intended) can be a difficult bunch at the best of times, intelligent, nerdy, all of them motivated by vastly different personal objectives and containing a huge range of interesting characteristics. As a group we don’t tend to conform to any set model, so adopting approaches as developed in the Motoring, Military or other large logistic organisations (such as Tesco’s/Wal-Mart etc) do not provide a panacea for success. And just to make it even more fun, you definitely cannot organise 4 of them the same way you run a team of 44.

Companies spend vast amounts of time, effort and cash on measuring performance and recruiting staff, you would think that this would be all sorted by now? But despite all the “science” applied, this is just not the case. This is also not really my focus anyway. I am not really concerned with the inbuilt ability to succeed in an interview process (you can buy a book on that) in order to secure a job or then go on to manage a career and keep your nose clean for 20 years until eventually being found out and paid off with a nice pension and/or severance payment.

We have all met (I am sure), the “Genius”, the “Climber”, the “Safe Option” and the “Nutter” to name but a few of the stereo types that succeed early but don’t actually inspire those around them and eventually get found out for what they really are.

I am far more concerned with what it is that makes a good leader of teams in an IT environment. Based on my observations and experience (and stolen without any shame from those who have inspired me with their leadership), here are 6 behavioural patterns I think good leaders exhibit and 6 that they don’t. Well, at least the best leaders I have worked for have all shown these and I have attempted to copy and adopt them as my own:

Do this:

• Be honest, consistent and decisive with those around you. Teams like and respect consistency and certainty. And remember that when everything else is stripped away all you have left is your word!
• Look after your team in work and pastorally. The Para’s apparently have a saying that they leave no man behind. It’s a good mantra. Make each of them feel important and care for them when they need help. You need to get the best out of each person, so knowing them better cant but help that process can it?
• Set the example – if you want people to take the objectives seriously, then you must as well. Do be early to work. Do work hard. Be on time for meetings. Be appropriately dressed. Set the ambiance – this is a place where good things happen by people who work hard and have fun doing it.
• Delegate, don’t abdicate. You must accept that the only way the team will achieve and grow is if you enable them to take the responsibility to own tasks and learn and achieve through doing. They will go wrong, you must take the hit. They must be free to make mistakes and grow through the activity.
• Be sincere and passionate in what you do. If you care about what you are doing and show it, it will rub off on those around you.
• Walk the floor! Speak with anyone and everyone about their life and work. This is best done when leaving late from the office to those that are still there. They are there because either they got in late (good to know why), or they are behind schedule and actually care about it (also good to know why). 

Do not do this:

• Keep all the thinking and planning to yourself. Your team must know (and be part of) the journey as well as the destination. They must feel at least in part, joint owners of the plan. If it is all your plan then it will remain your plan – the team will not feel any sense of participation and ownership.
• Belittle the role of anyone. All roles contribute to the total outcome. Every job and every person is important. The guy who loads the printer or cleans the sink and fills the dishwasher is just as important to the overall outcome as the head designer – perhaps more so!
• Take the glory. The team delivered and won, not you!
• Be a bully. Ask people nicely. If they don’t want to play its worth making a note of for later conversation. But please, please, please do not attempt to “make” people do something. Persuade yes. Compel, no!
• Be late. Late for a meeting, late for a delivery. Don’t do it. It is bad, bad, bad! At best it sends a message that you cannot manage your time effectively. At worst it can be seen as very rude and disrespectful.
• Report falsely. This applies in terms of progress achieved and also conversationally in questions of fact. Most specifically, this does include the practice of staying silent when you know wrong conclusions are being drawn because important information is not being exposed.

 There are many more of course and like all human interactions so much of it has to do with personality, charisma, the ability to orate and our own personal motivations (fears and rewards). But I have observed the above demonstrated by the very best and clearly missing from the worst “leaders” that I have come into contact with over the years and I share this offering in the hope that it causes you to pause and think or perhaps comment and add your own recipe to inspire those around you?