Being an engineer empowers you with basic skills needed to be a great team leader – you are forward-thinking, tech-savvy and you know the methodology, quirks and the ins-and-outs of a great IT team culture. If you’re a techie looking for leadership roles in IT sector, here are four traits that will help you pull off the role with ease:
Team Building
To be a successful team leader, you’ll have to manage existing teams and build new ones, so good management and team-building skills are a must. A lot of people rely on the HR for this task and filling in gaps but a strong leader manages and communicates with his team himself. Team-building skills also include talent hunting and paying attention to team members’ strengths and weaknesses and addressing those in favour of the company.
Networking and Communication
If you are an engineer or come from development background, networking may not come naturally to you. But, you’ll have to learn to love it. Networking is a valuable skill that comes handy not only for landing a new job but also while you’re taking up your role as a new team leader.
Learn from your boss about how to develop networking skills and start connecting with people within the industry to figure out what your needs and capabilities are. Then you start building bridges externally – networking events and conferences will come to aid. Social media is another platform you should leverage.
You will also need to be good at communicating, not just within the team but with coordinating external teams to translate business needs to IT and IT requirements to the business.
Business Drive
You understand technology. Good. But if you lack a solid understanding of business drivers within which your IT department functions, you might lose out on an important trait. You can use your knowledge of technology to solve business problems and not only as a solution in and of itself.
Tech Skills
Tech qualifications matter and so does staying updated on various skills and trends in the market. You should keep your engineering skills sharp and stay active in developer communities. You can do this by checking out job openings and the job description to get a better understanding of skills companies are looking for in their IT leadership candidates.
