Being a Tech Exec Archives

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.

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.

Virtual Conferences

Everyone is working virtually, if not fulltime, at least parttime. This makes connecting with people a challenge. Tech execs need to factor virtual ways of working as part of their technology strategy.

The virtual world presents challenges for professionals, especially newcomers. How to stand out on Zoom, Teams, and other platforms? It’s not easy. Mistakes, even the ones you are unaware of, are common.

New Way of Operating

Virtual conferences have become the standard way to meet at many organizations. Just like physical conferences, there are rules: be on time, turn on your camera, and actively participate. Following the rules is the first step to getting noticed, but it may vary depending on the organization and team. Getting an appropriate share of speaking time can be challenging with a competitive crowd. So, be nice and use the “raise hand” button, while avoiding jumping in too often or talking over leaders. These are just some of the mistakes to avoid. It’s important to have something valuable to contribute to the conversation, rather than speaking for the sake of being heard.

Leaders may be expected to talk

Believe it or not, some leaders feel the need to talk excessively during virtual meetings, repeating what’s already been said without adding value. Unfortunately, being the boss, nobody tells them to stop. Another mistake is ignoring these bosses’ judgment on your participation in the conference call. Though Joe may not have had valuable input, listening connected and enabled him to. So, if you find yourself being quiet Joe with a talkative boss, occasionally interject with a “thank you” or an insightful comment to show your involvement. Remember, adding meaningful input is key.

To “add meaty” and make the best impression you can, you need to do the following:

Check the meeting invite for the topic and attendees. Make sure you’ve accepted the invite.
Prepare – do your research on the topic and get to know who the people are who will be attending the call and their roles.
Create a bulletized list of topics that you could potentially discuss during the call.
Email the meeting organizer to ask if there is an expectation for everyone to provide some level of input during the call. If there was no agenda, or the agenda was not clear, this is a good time to get clarity from the meeting organizer.
Be on time to the call.
Dress neat – interpret how you should dress based on the kind of call and the culture of your organization. Virtual meetings are usually fairly informal.
Turn on your camera and smile – say hi to the crowd.
Use the “raise hand” button to be given a smooth transition into the conversation. You can also just start talking during pauses, if there are any.
Don’t talk over people. If you do, say sorry and defer to the person you stepped on.
Take notes so that you can respond to any requests or answer questions after the call.
Give a nice wave and smile at the end. Say something like, “talk to you all again soon.”

You’ll have virtual meetings where people don’t turn on their cameras. If everyone is doing it, that’s okay. The objective of these calls is to accomplish something, which doesn’t always require following all the virtual meeting rules.

When you don’t want to turn on your camera

Sometimes, you may feel uncomfortable turning on the camera due to the time of day or exhaustion. In such cases, especially if others have their cameras on, you can simply explain, “Apologies for not having my camera on. I’ve had back-to-back calls today, and I’m a bit worn out.” Usually, people will understand, unless the talkative boss is on the call. Knowing your audience is crucial, and in the case of the talkative boss, I always turn on the camera.

We’ll talk more about virtual meetings in the future.