What does good tech leadership really look like?
Being a tech leader comes with a huge level of responsibility for both the business and employees, however, leadership in the private sector compared to the public sector is slightly different and a unique skillset is needed for each. Eman Al-Hillawi, CEO of Entec Si, explains what good tech leadership really looks like: and how to drive innovation through strategic goal setting and data-driven decision making.
Public sector organisations are faced with numerous challenges that leaders must overcome. From tough budget restrictions and legacy technology through to everchanging target, government restrictions and service delivery targets, these factors can create barriers for the sector to truly embrace digital transformation. However, in the face of these challenges, confident and flexible tech leaders that harness data and look at decisions from a business and people need perspective rather than a technology starting point, will always come out on top.
For any business, the driving force behind technical leadership is determined by its primary goals, whether that is sales, sign-ups or users reached and supported. Defining these goals as a first step helps to set the roadmap of technical needs and lay the foundation for good tech leadership to be built upon.
For example, a business leader tasked with increasing sales for a B2C company focusing on e-commerce will have an entirely different roadmap from that of a not-for-profit whose main target is to drive donations to support its user base. One key skill that supports this is the ability to draw upon relevant experiences and knowledge to develop and implement a plan. It’s one thing to have the right experience, but there is true skill in applying this to new scenarios and achieving success.
Private sector lessons
Leaders in the private sector, who often have more money to invest in digital innovations, are likely to have big ideas, big budgets and a dedicated team to help deliver the change. With these things considered, defining a good tech leader ultimately hinges on a well-tempered combination of people and process.
Being a leader and taking risks go hand in hand, however without risk there is often little reward. Investing in new systems, changing goals or spending what feels like a big chunk of the annual budget can all feel overwhelming, so data driven decision making is essential. It empowers leaders to use existing insights to determine exactly what is needed by staff or service users and can often help to identify possible issues before they become a problem. Data can be taken from feedback portals, AI and machine learning, analytical tools, internal KPIs and external data sources, decision making applications, A/B testing or simply analysing learnings from previous change programmes.
In our evolving digital landscape keeping ahead of the curve is essential. That includes reflecting on processes and procedures by adapting digital systems regularly and updating technology as and when is required. That way, leaders can be in a better position to fully drive growth.
Keeping ahead of the curve also includes being the first to know about emerging tech that will benefit the business, such as integrating new AI systems to ease the workload of employees. Having an in-depth understanding of the tech market is important, but knowing how new tech can benefit the business and having the ability to roll it out successfully is essential.
Engaging with staff across services can also help to refine goals to ensure they meet business need, or identify cross-service requirement to optimise systems, but leaders must be prepared to face pushback. Change is personal and therefore engaging staff will help leaders to roll out a change programme that works for everyone. This might include additional training, regular communication or opportunities for feedback. By making all employees feel like part of the transformation process, reaching the shared goal and ensuring change for good is much easier to achieve.
Good tech leadership on the surface differs depending on the sector and business goals, however, looking beneath the surface the parallels become much clearer. Without risk there is often no reward, but risks should be taken based on in-depth data analysis to ensure a successful outcome. By developing and implementing strategic data-driven goals, sharing these with the wider team and encouraging employee buy-in, change for good is guaranteed.
Eman Al-Hillawi, CEO of business change consultancy, Entec Si.
