As technology evolves faster than ever before, what are the main skills that tech leaders should hire for and develop? Also, what is the necessary culture for them to thrive?
Below I share my top 4 thoughts on this topic -
1️⃣ Focus on Fundamentals
It's easy to get caught up in the buzz of the latest technology trends. While technologies continue to evolve, fundamentals remain largely invariant and highly relevant. This includes cognitive abilities such as analytical thinking, problem solving, troubleshooting/diving deep as well technology fundamentals such as algorithms, and software design. Interview for these and continue to focus on developing these within the team.
2️⃣ Lean on Learn and Be Curious
Hire for, foster and reward a learning and exploring culture. This requires team members to have a growth mindset, be adaptable and flexible and recognize that their value stems not only from what they already know but from what they can and will learn. Consider candidates that have a desire to learn, who actively seek out opportunities to expand their knowledge, and have demonstrated a capacity to translate this passion into tangible results.
3️⃣ Experiment and Don't be Afraid to Fail
Seek candidates with a history of taking calculated risks and experimenting. Focus on the learnings from these experiments and how team members utilized these rather than over-indexing on the outcome of the experiment. Create a culture that embraces failure from experiments as normal course of business.
4️⃣ Drive Organizational Learning
Understand that for technology to deliver value, the organization as a whole has to learn it, embrace it and leverage it to create customer value. Look for candidates and develop talent that can communicate, teach and influence - in order to bring the organization alongside the journey and drive innovation working backwards from customer needs.
