IT Leadership Alchemy for Women

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IT Leadership AlchemyforWomen Hi Tech
Identify Design
Teach Monitor
presented by Lou Russell Russell Martin
Associates 6326 Rucker Road Suite E
Indianapolis, IN 46220 [phone]
info_at_russellmartin.com www.russellmartin.com
12/05/02
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Presentation Contents

• Why is IT Leadership so critical now?
• Alchemy Turning common into precious
• The 11 Leadership Competencies
• The journey to
• Strengthen the hands of the strong

With speed so important, IT leaders have to be
much more decisive when addressing rapid changes
to technology and business drivers. They need to
be more technically savvy and must be able to
lead complex, diverse organizations. - RMA
Advisory Panel Member
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Scenario

• You are leading an extremely political and
  critical IT project. It is running about six
  months late, and you have been looking for ways
  to get back on schedule. This project must be
  completed before a new product launch can take
  place, which is critical to the survival of your
  company.
• There is a programmer on your team who will begin
  a new task on Monday. This task will involve
  technology that the programmer is not familiar
  with, but it is technology that you are an expert
  on. There is no other member of your team with
  your expertise in this technology.
• What are the three actions you will take on
  Monday?

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Why is IT Leadership so critical now? IT is very
sick

• A man was let go from his position through a text
  message on his beeper while attending a
  conference in the same city his office was in.
• A woman was abruptly given the job of her boss,
  who had just committed suicide. She was not given
  any directions, training or coaching.
• A five-year SAP project for a global company has
  logged two deaths from heart attacks, as well as
  large turnover rates and illnesses.
• A woman hired by a software firm discovered that
  she could no longer work with the technical
  people on her team, because they refused to
  communicate with her. Ironically, she was hired
  so that her communication skills would rub off on
  them. Her comment "Is there any place in IT that
  I'll be able to work my technical and people
  skills?

Side note I will often use the female tense
when speaking about CIOs and IT leadership. I
have a specific interest in the lack of women
entering IT, and the increasing number leaving.
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Why is IT Leadership the solution to the economic
problems?

• Market share is driven by speed to market,
  customer service, and/or efficiencies that drive
  out cost. These cannot be done without
  technology.
• Security, stability and safety start through the
  gateway of technology (see Byte Wars by Ed
  Yourdon).

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How is IT Leadership unique?

• Strongly technical IT people tend to follow a
  certain behavioral model. IT leadership deals
  with a unique group of highly intelligent,
  technical people immersed in the innate
  unpredictability and chaos of technology.

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Attitude Graph
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How is IT Leadership unique?

• The why of a business, organization or team is
  critical for IT project prioritization but
  generally unknown.
• Leadership development is a paradox. It must be
  practical, and immediate. However, to be able to
  do, leaders must find quiet time to develop
  self-understanding. There is a strong tension
  between the need to act quickly and the need to
  stop and think in IT. Leadership requires both.

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A Great IT Leader

• A great IT leader needs to know how to leverage
  the strengths she already has, and to surround
  herself with others to fill in her own gaps.
• A great IT leader realizes that each of his
  people is unique and coaches them to leverage
  their own strengths.
• Therefore, IT leadership, like all leadership, is
  about releasing the potential that is already
  there.

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Alchemy Turning common into precious

• SALT
• Self-understanding - Who am I? What do I believe?
  What are my strengths and challenges?
• SULPHUR
• Working with others - How are we all different?
  How can I motivate and influence others?
• MERCURY
• Integration - Given each leadership situation as
  unique, how do I customize to the need?
•  

Alchemy neither composes nor mixes it increases
and activates that which already exists in a
latent state. Franz Hartmann, late 19th century
alchemy historian from his book The Life of
Paracelsus and the Substance of his Teachings.
London, Wizards 1997
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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SALT
• Self-understanding
• Resiliency
• SULPHUR
• Interpersonal and Relationship Skills
• Communication Skills
• Employee Development (Coaching and Motivating)
• Creating and Actualizing Vision
• MERCURY
• Customer Orientation
• Strategic Business Acumen
• Project Leadership
• Managing Change
• A Plan for Action

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SALT Self-understanding
• Develop clarity of personal values, purpose and
  vision
• Develop and execute a personal branding strategy
• Demonstrate authenticity through behavioral
  alignment with values and vision
• Taking accountability for personal and leadership
  actions
• Knowing and trusting own intuition
• Learn to learn new technology

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SALT Resiliency
• Willingness to jump in and get things started
• Seek opportunities for performance improvement
  and development
• Build off of others ideas for the benefit of the
  decision
• Maintain appropriate, empowered attitude
• Persistence in managing and overcoming adversity
• Act proactively in seeking new opportunities
• Prioritization, time management

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SULPHUR Interpersonal and Relationship Skills
• Understand and appreciate diversity of
  perspective and style
• Participate and contribute fully as a team member
• Demonstrate empathy and understanding
• Build trust and demonstrate trustworthiness

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SULPHUR Communication Skills
• Understand and adapt to your audience - helping
  others learn
• Express intention clearly and concisely in
  written communications
• Build collaboration and clearly articulate
  intention in verbal communications
• Formal presentation skills
• Listen for understanding
• Manage flow of communication/information

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SULPHUR Employee Development (Coach Motivate)
• Motivating employees to high performance
• Coaching for development and improved performance
  
• Manage with appreciation/respect for diversity of
  individual values and needs
• Delegate tasks as needed and with awareness of
  employee development opportunities
• Select appropriate staff to fulfill specific
  project needs and responsibilities

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• MERCURY Customer Orientation
• Understand and apply customer needs and
  expectations
• Gather customer requirements and input
• Partner with customer in gathering requirements,
  maintaining communication flow and managing work
• Set and monitor performance standards

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• MERCURY Strategic Business Acumen
• Demonstrate ability to ethically build support
  for a perspective you feel strongly about
• Holistic view - think in terms of the entire
  system and the effects and consequences of
  actions and decisions
• Operate with an awareness of marketplace
  competition and general landscape of related
  business arenas
• General business acumen - functions of strategic
  planning, finance, marketing, manufacturing, RD,
  etc.

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• MERCURY Project Leadership
• Build cohesive teams with shared purpose and high
  performance
• Set, communicate and monitor milestones and
  objectives
• Gain and maintain buy in from sponsors and
  customers
• Prioritize and allocate resources
• Manage multiple, potentially conflicting
  priorities across various/diverse disciplines
• Create and define systems and processes to
  translate vision into action

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• MERCURY Project Leadership (continued)
• Maintain an effective, interactive and productive
  team culture
• Manage budget and project progress
• Gather and analyze appropriate data and input and
  manage noise of info overload
• Manage risk versus reward and ROI equations
• Balance established standards with need for
  exceptions in decision-making
• Align decisions with needs of business and
  organizational/team values
• Make timely decisions in alignment with customer
  and business pace

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• SULPHUR Creating and Actualizing Vision
• Create a clear and inspirational vision of the
  desired outcome
• Align the vision with broader organizational
  strategies
• Translate the vision into manageable action steps
• Communicate vision to enroll/enlist staff,
  sponsors and customers
• Influence and Evangelize (sales, negotiation)
• Gather appropriate input
• Understand individual motivators and
  decision-making styles and utilize to enroll
  others
• Facilitate win/win solutions

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The 11 Leadership Competencies

• MERCURY Create, Support and Manage Change
• Improvement Initiatives (three levels managing
  your own transition / transformation, managing a
  corporate (external) change initiative, coaching
  others through transition)
• Identify and implement appropriate change
  initiatives/efforts
• Promote and build support for change initiatives
• Understand cost/benefit and ROI of change
  initiatives
• Manage transition with employees - guiding and
  supporting the change process
• Support staff in navigating transitional
  process/challenges through organizational change
• Demonstrate and build resilience in the face of
  change

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Strengthen the hands of the strong

• The seed of leadership is in everyone. Identify
  and leverage your natural leadership strengths
  while minimizing your weaknesses.
• Your strengths are also your weaknesses.  
• Nurturing leadership competency is done on two
  levels self and others. The two are always
  connected, influencing each other.

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Thank You!

• Visit our Web Page www.russellmartin.com for more
  Project Management stuff, toys, resources and
  books.
• Drop me email or card for stuff I offered or
  information about our PM for 4th Graders or
  Project Management consulting and workshops.
• Check out my books
• The Accelerated Learning Fieldbook
• Project Management for Trainers
• IT Leadership Alchemy