Active Leadership for IT Professionals

Course Overview

Intense competition coupled with flattened hierarchies, multi-dimensional teams and a diverse working environment characterize today's business climate. For those leading IT teams, this reality is compounded with the challenges of:

• Realizing that most IT employees have deeper technical knowledge than their leaders
• Communicating with and supervising employees when you often can’t tell what they are doing
• Motivating IT employees who may not be interested in traditional career paths
• Coaching and developing highly technical skilled employees
• Hiring and retaining the best talent
• Bridging the communication gap between IT and the rest of the business

The Active Leadership for IT Professionals program provides the concepts, tools and practices to help overcome these challenges and to help IT leaders effectively coach, empower and lead individuals and teams to higher levels of performance.

Target Audience

Course Objectives

After the workshop, you will be able to:

• Assess personal leadership behaviours and attitudes that impact the performance of others
• Plan and deliver clear, concise communication to direct, guide and engage employees
• Understand what people need in order to change a behaviour or practice
• Determine how ability and motivation impact performance and outcomes, regardless of the task
• Explore three different leadership styles and when they should be used to maximize the performance of others
• Match the appropriate leadership style to individuals and specific tasks
• Explore how the foundational principles of coaching impact coaching results
• Differentiate between “coaching for job” versus “coaching for career”
• Provide behavioural feedback that recognizes and rewards employee performance
• Use a consistent approach to providing feedback that reinforces desired behaviours and helps achieve performance improvements
• Assess performance gaps and improve task performance
• Coach, reinforce and create a motivational climate for employee growth and retention
• Create a personal development plan based on assessed leadership strengths and development needs

Further Information

The Active Leadership for IT professionals course focuses on the following seven competencies:

• Communicates Effectively
• Demonstrates Self-Awareness
• Establishes Clear and Aligned Goals
• Manages Performance
• Coaches for Development
• Motivates Others
• Recognizes and Rewards Performance

Benefits for the Individual:

• Improved knowledge and skills for effectively coaching, empowering and leading others and getting results
• Greater adaptability for leading a diverse workforce
• Increased confidence and capability for handling difficult and challenging situations
• Stronger leadership communication capabilities for assigning, reviewing and recognizing employee performance
• Greater confidence in providing meaningful feedback in both formal and informal settings
• A comprehensive inventory provides you with personal feedback on your specific leadership behaviours

Benefits for the Organization:

• A practical, pragmatic approach to leadership that improves implementation of key strategies to achieve results
• Improved leadership capabilities that are key for sustaining an effective and efficient working climate
• More effective planning and utilization of resources
• Integration of the leadership skills and practices needed to lead a diverse workforce
• A greater focus on developing the Human Capital of the organization
• Increased capability in providing fact-based feedback to enable greater organizational achievements