Without doubt some of the key traits of a software development management, CTO or CIO
are that of:
• Conductor
• Visionary
• Cheerleader
Proverbs 29:18 - Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Any manager of a team needs to have a vision for where to take that team and what it
would be like to get there. As managers we need to grow in trusting our inner sense of
direction and in being courageous in acting on our revelations. It could be that for a while
we need to check our vision with those around us or even better those ahead of us but once
we ‘feel’ and ‘see’ that picture clearly before us we need then to act on it. If we can create
clear specific achievable goals for our teams that they can and do follow then we move on
from being Visionaries to Visionary Leaders.
In thinking for a moment about the characteristics and qualities of someone we would class
as a visionary leader – perhaps Steve Jobs or Nelson Mandela, we discover that there is an
element of the spiritual and emotional about this person as well as the core values that
have come together in creating an alluring charismatic quality that people have followed.
Without this enigmatic blend it would not have been possible to manifest their vision. A
visionary leader begins to embody their core values in a way that becomes very clear to
those around them, there is a sharp sense of commitment and integrity that energetically
radiate from those persons, a sense of urgency and vitality that touch on the spiritual. I
think that these visionary leaders start to “…be the change that they want to see in others”
to paraphrase the great Mahatma Gandhi.
Visionary leaders grasp the need to build up others and empower them to share the dream,
because of this they tend to treat others with care and respect realising that domination
is not the way but inspiration. There is a great sense of reward in seeing others grasp our
vision and make it their own. Team spirit, morale and ownership are highly prized stemming
from their desire to share and partner with those whom they work. This too in and of itself
reciprocates greater loyalty and trust from their team, if you know that the one leading you
cares you follow trustingly.
Visionary leaders are powered by transforming their surroundings and constantly striving
for change for the purpose of improvement.
