February 2023

Treat Employees the Way You Want to be Treated

Numerous tech execs, as well as leaders in various domains, often possess a mindset that assumes respect from their subordinates solely based on their position of authority. However, it is crucial to question what actions or achievements have truly earned the leader’s respect. Merely holding a leadership role does not automatically warrant admiration.

It is essential to treat your employees with the same respect and consideration that you would expect for yourself.

Your employees lead fulfilling lives, with dreams and a strong desire to find meaning in their work. Rest assured, they do not seek a boss whom they must constantly defer to in the office. We are individuals who should treat one another with respect, regardless of our hierarchical positions.

Ensuring the well-being of your employees is a crucial element in effective team leadership.

As a leader, do you truly understand your team and their aspirations? It’s surprising how some leaders fail to connect with employees on a personal level. We all have basic desires and needs. People come to work to provide for themselves and loved ones. However, some leaders expect endless gratitude from employees just for having a job. This mindset doesn’t foster a positive work environment. If you treat people the way you want to be treated, show empathy, and help them succeed, your team will do amazing things for you.

And you as a leader will be successful in turn. Everyone wants to feel good about what they are doing. I always say:

“Make sure you hire the best, align them with what they are good at, ensure they are happy with their work, and help them to achieve their goals.”
Tech2Exec

If you are doing these things, your employees will do amazing things for you.

More About the Importance of Understanding Culture

I highly value this topic. However, some tech executives may not share the same level of interest, often due to not fully grasping the importance of culture. As a tech executive, like a CIO, nurturing a positive culture is crucial for your progress and longevity.

Culture defines an organization’s operations, deeply ingrained in people, making change a challenge. Grasping and adapting to culture is vital for navigating organizations. Failure is inevitable without this understanding or by bypassing culture. To change culture, collaborate with like-minded leaders. It’s tough.

Gain a deeper understanding of culture with these key insights:

Culture should be aligned with business strategy and direction.

Culture must align with and support business strategy. There’s a connection between an organization’s culture and the strategy pursued to meet challenges. There’s no one right culture; it must adapt over time.

Leaders at all levels drive the creation and reinforcement of culture – for good and bad.

Culture is shaped by leaders who set examples, teaching problem-solving skills and instilling lasting “real values” in organizations.

Uncover the values and beliefs that work ‘below the surface’ first.

To shift culture, start by uncovering ingrained beliefs. These mental models shape behavior, sometimes differing from stated values, and are reinforced by organizational systems and symbols.

Leverage your existing cultural strengths to change culture.

When transforming culture, identify strengths in symbols, behaviors, and systems to shape a new culture. Assess meaningful traditions and rituals that positively connect with the organization’s history.

Changing ‘what you can see’ will help you change what’s below the surface.

By changing behaviors and using symbols and systems to reinforce this, you can drive the changes in beliefs and values you want.

For each of your cultural initiatives, think about message, messenger and channel.

To create lasting culture change, prioritize individuals, teams, and the organization. Modifying behaviors can drive transformative shifts across the entire organization. Adjusting symbols and systems, such as strategies and performance management, facilitates effective change.

Think integrated and focus on cultural change on all levels (individual, team, organization) and in co-ordination with other business initiatives.

Cultural transition needs to focus on the individual, team and organization in order to shift culture and ‘make it stick’.

As a tech exec, you play a vital role in shaping the organization’s culture and driving change in shaping the future culture.

Click here for a post on how a tech exec can lead with compassion and impact culture.

Technology Innovation

Innovation is critical to the success of a company. Companies that do not innovate die. Technology executives need to factor innovation in as part of their technology strategy.

But it’s important for organizations to pursue a more conscious approach to innovation not driven solely by technology trends and performance. It will be essential to bring innovation closer to human needs in the new normal and devise an interaction that balances virtual and physical elements.

If companies do not want to be caught unprepared and wish to continue to thrive, companies will first need to build on their past experiences, while, at the same time, rethinking what “be resilient” really means and developing a new DNA accordingly.

Moreover, companies cannot afford a wait-and-see strategy; they must take immediate action to adapt their business strategies and operating models, taking account of the changing economic context and the availability of supranational financing, so as to move to a dimension best suited to seize the opportunities resulting from the expected “rebounds.”

With one caveat: the call to action is not just for entrepreneurs and business leaders, but it involves all areas and all company levels, although with different tasks and duties.

Pandemic’s Influence on Technology

The pandemic’s influence forced tech execs to prepare and to look at digital technologies and business applications in a different way.

Before the pandemic, 65% of companies invested in digitalization. In the beginning of 2023, the spread of digital investments has surged even more: 75% of companies plan to invest in these areas due to a hybrid work model. This shift has led to the widespread adoption of digital technologies in personal and professional settings, driven by the necessity of remote work and online communication during social distancing measures.

The pandemic’s influence has forced businesses to make substantial investments in new tools and platforms to facilitate remote work and uphold productivity levels. These investments encompass a wide array of resources such as advanced collaboration software, cutting-edge video conferencing platforms, efficient project management tools, and versatile cloud-based services. The surge in demand has ignited a wave of innovation and heightened competition within the digital technology market, prompting companies to continuously enhance their offerings to provide optimal solutions for remote work environments and seamless communication processes.

Moreover, the global pandemic has underscored the critical role of cloud computing in facilitating smooth and secure remote access to data and applications. The scalability and adaptability of cloud platforms have emerged as indispensable assets, ensuring uninterrupted business operations and continuity amid the unprecedented challenges brought about by these times.

The future holds promising advancements in infrastructure and information system security. Moreover, it encompasses the development of business-supporting models by leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Big Data, IoT, and Cloud Computing. These technological advancements are set to revolutionize the way businesses operate, ensuring improved efficiency and effectiveness in the long run.

Click here to see a post on the future of collaboration tools.

Skills for the Virtual Work Environment

The work environment has undergone a significant transformation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is conceivable that the way a tech exec approaches work will not revert to its pre-pandemic state. Therefore, a tech executive must possess the essential qualities of flexibility and adaptability to thrive in the current working model.

Modern companies have implemented long-term strategies for a hybrid work environment, acknowledging that numerous aspects of our professional lives will be permanently altered. Even organizations advocating for a return to the workplace recognize that remote work will continue to be the norm in the new normal, with employees operating from home more frequently than before.

In the post-Covid hybrid work environment, certain qualities will be crucial for employees to embrace in order to achieve success:

Ability to adapt to change.
Ability to work in a team.
Ability to develop creative, out-of-the box thinking.

Developing the skill of captivating peers and capturing the attention of leaders is vital for achieving success in the virtual world. Building meaningful connections and cultivating a robust online presence are essential for thriving in this era of digital transformation.

Click here for a post on the future of collaboration technology.