Digital transformation has been able to bring together business and technology, making them the same and inseparable. Successful companies have shown that it is essential that instead of good management to have inspirational leadership. Why? It is the best approach to digital transformation.
Being agile and transforming from project management to product management requires teams to practice these new IT leadership skills. If you want to thrive, your company leadership needs to invent and create a sustainable, equitable, and profitable future for your 3 C-s, customers, clients, and communities.
Digital transformation success requires more than good management, it requires inspirational leadership
Are you willing to make the shift towards true leadership but do not know how? Here are some examples of how you can start.
Asking vs. telling
Sometimes we tend to believe that we know the answers to all the questions, but we need to repeat to ourselves that we may not know the best answer out there. Ask your team for their ideas before telling them yours. This has a two-sided benefit; you may come up with better ideas and also your team may develop their skills.
Wondering vs. knowing
There is a slight difference between knowing this for sure and not knowing anything at all. Both of them might lead you to kill curiosity and also knowing things wrong, which is the same thing as not know them at all. Start with questioning your assumption since it will show you the way how to keep alive your own curiosity.
Speaking with vs. speaking to
The first step to go from a good manager to a true leader would be the ability to enhance relationships and to engage more with others via dialogue. The true king of a conversation is the one who leaves space for others to share and connect, to speak their mind, and feel comfortable to do so.
If we would conduct a list of differences between leaders and managers, some of the main differences to be included would be as follows:
The big picture is seen by leaders. Managers tend to perfect what is while leaders create what does not exists.
Managers take care of how and when, while leaders take care of what and why. Try to explain to your team what needs to be achieved and also why the company needs to achieve it.
Instead of measuring your team’s annual performance try to be a leader and inspire them to be their best version of themselves instead. Do not force your team members to be a mini “you”. Explore the great potential inside of them instead.
Do not consider mistakes as a risk but try to leave some space for them so you can make mistakes and experiment. This is a key difference between managers and leaders. In fact, if you are not allowing yourself to make mistakes you are not taking enough risks and you are not improving.
Share this with more people on board who are trying to change from being good managers towards true IT leaders and ask them to share and add their personal experience in order to help every business during these difficult times remain competitive by understanding that their greatest asset is their people.
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