The importance of leadership skills in IT

Agata Nowakowska at Skillsoft argues that it’s important to know which leadership skills are most important if you are to build robust organisational performance and successful teams

 

Symptomatic of the constantly changing technology landscape and evolving ways of working, leadership skills have become one of the most sought after power skills - particularly in the IT industry.

 

Skillsoft’s 2022 IT Skills and Salary Report found that two thirds (66%) of IT professionals found that effective team communication is the most important skill for IT leaders to have, followed by interpersonal communication, emotional intelligence, and business skills.

 

At a surface level, leadership appears to be defined by seniority or title; however true leadership goes far beyond this - it’s about a set of characteristics that any individual in the organisation can show that delivers improved results and outcomes.

 

Often, it’s the most obvious of leadership skills that are undervalued and are areas where most employees have something to learn and can continue to improve. It’s important to know which leadership skills are most important to master to build robust organisational performance and successful teams.

 

Foundational leadership skills to power tech teams

A key objective of a successful IT leader is to deliver business outcomes by seeing the bigger picture and helping the technical team understand how their work can advance company goals.

 

Other key facets of any good IT leader include: 

• Communication: Effective communication skills enable teams to outline their business problem or need. By assessing the different solution options (people, process, data or technology), technical teams can ensure they always deliver a winning solution that meets stakeholders’ expectations. Communication skills, effective listening and the ability to create and communicate a strong narrative are essential to line everything up for success.
• Influence: Being an effective IT leader also involves a considerable amount of time influencing to achieve desired outcomes. This involves breaking down silos across the organisation and advancing company agendas, even when it’s not their direct responsibility. The ability to influence shouldn’t be underestimated - it requires a broad understanding across all facets of the business, ensuring that the best interests of the company are promoted.
• Prioritisation: Technology team members are also very familiar with the pressure of demand far exceeding capacity, of a voice that comes across the loudest, the urgent trumping the important. Therefore, the ability to prioritise is a key leadership skill. The ability to effectively prioritise also calls on the other skills such as communicating and influencing to drive alignment and the ability to get people to adhere to that prioritisation.
• Resilience: With a full suite of skills to communicate and influence, this may seem like enough. But for a leader to navigate unexpected and challenging business situations, resilience plays a key part in successfully managing change. Building traits such as self-awareness, self-confidence and perspective provide an anchor of resilience to develop and thrive as a leader.

 

Leadership skills benefit individual employees

Leadership skills have a direct impact on the entire team’s performance. By effectively prioritising to solve business challenges, IT leaders can create a greater sense of purpose, strong engagement and a more positive work environment.

 

These skills can be directly applied to advocate for individuals or teams, broaden networks, and to explore new areas of the business. Foundational leadership skills also spill over into how employees navigate their personal lives, communicate, influence, prioritise their time, and handle change.

 

Practising these skills at work offers enormous opportunities to develop personally and professionally.

 

Strong leadership skills can also improve diversity and inclusion, for example by helping women to re-enter the workforce and motivate them to succeed. Working toward gender equity requires a concerted effort by both women and the organisations that employ them.

 

But study after study has shown the benefits of this - that businesses with women in leadership roles outperform those without. Leadership skills benefit the individual, the team, and the company.

 

Safe learning spaces to practise leadership skills

It’s never too late to develop good leadership skills. Continual learning is essential for all employees, from the new starter with potential to the CEO. Finding ways to learn and broaden perspectives is essential, whether it’s mastering a new hobby or developing a new leadership skill.

 

In finding ways to practise and apply these skills, IT leaders will gain confidence and see first hand the positive impact they can make, proving that leadership truly is a competency, not a role.

 

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Agata Nowakowska is AVP EMEA at Skillsoft

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com