Leadership Mastery: How to Integrate Tech Skills with People Skills

“The real danger is not that computers start thinking like men, but that men start thinking like computers.”

Sydney J. Harris

Mastery of leadership in the digital age requires an integration of skills. Whether your dominant skill is technology aptitude or your dominant skill is dealing with people, the future requires all of us to integrate our skills to achieve leadership proficiency in the digital age.

If you’re a tech-savvy leader, chances are you’re smart, capable, analytical, process-oriented, fast, and focused. These skills are highly valued in the workplace and now is the time to integrate technology skills with people management skills to improve overall leadership effectiveness and move your team and organization forward. The skills needed to be a masterful leader in these digital times include being tech-savvy AND being evolutionary.

In the past, developing people skills has often been brushed aside as too ‘sensitive’ or unimportant and in the last decade a higher value has been placed on technological skills. Since the global economic challenges of 2008, progressive organizations have noticed the gap and have been investing in training and developing their leaders to now include highly developed leadership skills related to the ‘people’ side of the business. A talented and skilled workforce is an asset that companies now understand the value of, and as such, they now know they must have great leaders who inspire and develop talent from within or their good talent will leave and go elsewhere.

A few years ago I had a consulting contract with a high-tech company that was experiencing challenges keeping its Gen Y employees. Upon investigation it was found that Baby Boomer leaders were not adapting to the attitudes and styles of Gen Y work. In that company the leaders of the Baby Boomers had an attitude of superiority and demanded that all employees conform, the old style of ‘my way.’ or the road’. As you can imagine, this was not very well received by Gen Y employees and a fair number of highly skilled employees were leaving in droves.

As technology leaders get younger and younger, the challenges have shifted to having the leadership insight and understanding of human behavior to keep the team happy, running, and creating superior results.

The leaders of the Baby Boomers had a superior attitude and demanded that all employees conform. As you can imagine, this was not well received by Gen Y employees and a good portion of them were leaving in droves.

There is a need in today’s modern workplace and the workplace of the future for leaders who are adaptable, astute, and capable of mobilizing people to perform their jobs at their highest levels, manage remote teams and teams flexible working arrangements and are technologically savvy leaders. that they are more than good leaders; leaders who have mastery of leadership.

With so much focus on the technological aspects of the job, many leaders have lost sight of good change leadership tactics or have never been exposed to them.

In this chapter we want to see the difference between a technology-savvy leader and a people-savvy leader.

Let’s take a look at the table below for examples of some of the main differences:

Tech-savvy leader

Analytical

Fast pace

computer-centric

Data centric

output centric

Impatient with people’s problems.

Communicate in technological language

Less aware of the emotions of others.

Focused on the task

Focused Results

People-savvy leader

Sociable

open and curious

people centered

Focused on what data does for people

He deals with people’s problems with understanding.

Highly aware of the emotional states of others.

team focused

As you read the lists for each description of the technology-savvy leader and people-savvy leader, you may have found yourself judging some of the items on the lists. Or you may have thought that you have a high level of each of the skills listed.

For example, I have a client who is an extremely people-focused CEO, however, she lacks the tech savvy, so she’s people-savvy but not as strong with technology. As her consultant, I’m working with her to develop both areas so she can be more effective as a leader. When I refer to tech savvy, I mean having tech awareness and function, not becoming tech savvy!

Leaders seeking to achieve mastery and who are more technologically savvy choose to spend the time necessary to develop their personal skills in addition to the time dedicated to the continuous development of their technological knowledge and awareness.

I was recently presenting for a major multinational technology group in Orlando Florida and when I present I give out my cell number so my audience can text me while I’m talking and ask me questions. This really works well because the questions are anonymous (unless they want to identify themselves) and I can answer them as I go through the content of my presentation. One of the questions I was asked while talking about the need for tech professionals to improve the leadership side of their interpersonal skills was, “How do I get my team members to stop doing politicking and focus on the worked?”

I texted the leader to ask if it was okay to openly announce the question and address it as a benefit to the group. He said yes, so I answered a question: “Do you have regular team update meetings, either in person or via Skype?” the leader replied, ‘no’ and then I asked, “do you openly share what’s going on with your team so they have the latest information first hand?” and he replied, “no.”

People don’t leave their jobs, they leave their leaders, a harsh reality that you’ve probably experienced yourself as an employee and as a leader.

The reason I wanted this to be discussed with the whole group is because in this scenario the leader was focused solely on his tech savvy skills and he wasn’t employing any people savvy skills at all and there were many others similar to him in the audience. The person who texted the question had the courage to identify himself to the group and we discussed how he can get his team to stop politicking and focus on work. The ideas that came to him were:

#1- Host a team meeting (virtual or in person) on a regular basis (weekly if possible) to discuss what the goals are for the coming week, who is doing what, and the latest news from your boss and the company.

#2 – Identify one or two people who are the ‘influencers’ of the politicking and invite them over for coffee or lunch to talk about the company or schedule a one-on-one Skype if they are remote workers, their satisfaction with their job and what they need to help them focus on getting the job done. Having the support of influencers is a great advantage.

When the audience member was given these ideas, he said out loud, “Wow, this managing people is a lot of work!” And therein lies the real challenge for most leaders!

Many leaders get caught up in deadlines, technology upgrades, business results and forget that to successfully accomplish any of these things, you have to trust your people. People are not machines, they are human, emotional and need to be treated as valued members of your team.

People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their leaders, a harsh reality you’ve probably experienced both as an employee and as a leader.

As a leader, you need to ask yourself if you are willing to help people succeed, grow people, and ultimately focus the time and energy to be a great leader. As the workplace continues to accelerate and change, it is now more important to focus on both the technology and people sides of the business and this means knowing who you are as a leader and adapting to the reality of people management.