For many CIOs and business leaders, the most critical value we can help bring to life when recruiting for their leadership teams is being able to objectively assess the candidate’s strengths in technology, business strategy and leadership capability. While technical credibility is still vitally important in all IT leadership roles, it's no longer the main reference point on whether someone will be a success. It’s their impact on business performance which is becoming increasingly critical.
In my experience business leaders and CIOs are now far more technology agnostic when it comes to hiring their leadership layers, with strategic thinking, business acumen and well-rounded leadership capability being held as highly significant for today and tomorrow’s IT leadership.
Here are some of the key skills business leaders and CIOs are looking for when hiring talented IT leaders:
Strategic thinking and business acumen
Understanding the business: Candidates are increasingly expected to show a deep understanding of the company’s goals, challenges, and market position. IT leaders are increasingly involved in business strategies more than ever so it’s becoming a critical need.
IT strategic alignment: Business leaders and CIOs are looking to see that potential hires can align IT strategy with overall business objectives regularly, priorities may change and therefore the critical thinking from IT leaders when it comes to strategies needs to be able to pivot, adapt or accelerate all changes.
Financial decision making: Whilst this is an obvious critical trait in all business leadership roles IT leaders at all layers of the structure are increasing expected to have the ability to make sound financial decisions, maintain financial control and most importantly understand how investment can positively or negatively affect business performance.
Leadership and people management
Inspirational leadership: Colleagues and future employees need to be inspired by the leaders we hire into businesses. This can come in many forms so it’s not about being an extrovert vs an introvert but what’s key is someone has and is willing to motivate and inspire teams to regularly achieve exceptional results.
Change management: A leader’s ability to see past learnt experience and have a change management mindset is fundamental. IT leaders are more than ever the innovators driving business opportunity and change. So even at the lower leadership layers, business leaders and CIOs want to see someone has the capability to lead change and help teams on the journey.
Talent development: I have reinforced this many times since establishing Vitreus Talent. The best candidates and clients I’m working with develop talent from within. IT leadership candidates need to care about this and develop the skillset if they haven’t had leadership exposure, whilst there is always a place for individual contributors in leadership roles, it’s a key requirement of all leaders to be able to develop their own talent.
Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills: IT leaders are expected to have developed these skills in their development or show the capability to operate at the level required (but not yet had exposure to). As a candidate you should be striving to build strong relationships at all levels persuading your stakeholders to support your initiatives. Both internally and externally you will be able to showcase effective communication and influencing skills, drive change, and navigate complex and competing priorities. See influencing as a game or skillset constantly in development and it’s often easier than you think once you have the mindset.
Of course, technical expertise is still critical. Senior candidates are still expected to have strong digital transformation skills, deep technical knowledge, a proven ability to use technology to solve problems, mitigate business risk and drive business advantage. Executing and overseeing projects using the most appropriate methodologies and with operational excellence at the heart of every change is now the day job. All this combined has actually become the pre-requisite for any senior IT role.
And therefore, increasingly it’s the business skills, leadership traits and growth potential that the recruitment process is looking to truly test.
Mark
Director - Vitreus Talent
07900557982