New tech leaders often take inspiration from others whose styles and techniques they admire. They look at the successes of those who came before them and emulate approaches that make sense for them. As they evolve more deeply into their roles, they can learn what is working for them and adapt their methods as needed.
As tech leaders themselves, Forbes Technology Council members have learned which traits and practices facilitate truly effective leadership. Below, they share 15 of these aspects and explore why they are so important for new leaders to adopt and cultivate.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Being A Great Public Speaker
I admire leaders who can communicate well to all levels of their organization. It’s a tall order. Think about communicating an important strategic change—each audience comes with its own context and background. Great leaders can speak fluently to the audience in front of them. Do this well, and you’ll have a cohesive, productive and empowered team. – Shannon Goggin, Noyo
2. Listening To Your Team And Accepting Failure
Listen as if you’re wrong, and get comfortable with failure on the road to success. Often, you’re in a leadership role because you have a strong idea of what you believe and want, but your team should be able to tell you about the reality on the ground and when your assumptions might be wrong. That’s hard to do, but it’s critical if you want to identify why you’re failing or how you might go faster. – Satyen Sangani, Alation
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3. Knowing Your Strengths And Weaknesses
You are only as effective as your team. As a leader, this means knowing your strengths and weaknesses and surrounding yourself with great people who complement your weaknesses. A truly effective leader understands they don’t have all the answers and is humble enough to hire the right people and empower them to be masters of their craft. – Tooey Courtemanche, Procore Technologies
4. Keeping Up With Trends
Keep on top of advancements in technology, always be learning, and instill a sense of innovation in your own team and reports. It’s vitally important you don’t stay stagnant and can keep on top of market trends and where the market is heading. This is especially important in software product organizations, where change is constant. Customers want to know that they’re investing in the future. – Martin Owen, Quark
5. Following Through With Commitments
My dad taught me, “If you say you are going to do something, you better do it.” When your team sees you follow through, they often do the same, which builds a strong culture of execution. The best entrepreneurs have access to resources that they don’t own. Find creative ways to connect with people, and even tech, through bartering and trading of assets. As the saying goes, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” – Jeff Yasuda, Feed Media Group
6. Encouraging ‘Managing Up’ To Grow Careers
Even though I’m at the top of the organization, I give my managers space and trust them to manage their teams. At the same time, I have regular reviews with all employees that are very honest and open. In those meetings, I encourage non-management staff to “manage up” and plant actionable seeds where I see opportunities to help them grow their careers and do the work and projects that give them energy. – Gergo Vari, Lensa, Inc.
7. Being An Honest Communicator
From day one, prioritizing transparent and honest communication between the technical teams and company executives improves focus, reduces conflict and makes employees feel supported and engaged. – Matthew Polega, Mark43
8. Trusting Team Members Without Micromanaging
An effective tech leader must trust their team members. Most of the time, tech leaders come from backgrounds in development and related fields. Sometimes, it can be difficult to relinquish control. But leaders who trust their team members to perform their responsibilities without micromanaging them or refusing to delegate are the ones who will usually prove to be the most successful. – Nacho De Marco, BairesDev
9. Creating A Safety Net For Employees
I believe this applies not only to tech leaders but to all leaders in general. In my experience, you need to build a safety net for your team. They need to feel safe and empowered to make decisions and also make mistakes. This is not easy to do as a leader because it means that you also have to embrace vulnerability. But if you do it right, it is magical. – Martin Bouza, coder
10. Being Prepared For The Unexpected
In a world where technology is constantly changing, it’s important for tech leaders to be prepared for the unexpected. That applies to technology as much as anything else in life. For businesses to grow, leaders should be willing to experiment and make mistakes. This is essential for any organization, small or large, as experience can often be a double-edged sword. – Pavel Orlov, Innowise Group
11. Directly Connecting With Employees
The most impactful CEO that I’ve worked for allocated the majority of her time to connecting one on one with employees. Now, as a CEO myself, I make sure to schedule one-on-one conversations with every new hire to find common ground about our lives outside of work. I’ve seen that showing people that you care about them as individuals encourages them to put forth their best effort. – Kate Eberle Walker, Presence
12. Learning From Others To Improve
In my experience, genuinely effective leaders know how to listen to their clients, customers and employees. Furthermore, they take what these people say constructively and make improvements based on what they learn. This trait is highly desirable, especially in the tech field, where someone always has something new to bring to the discussion. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
13. Promoting Collaboration Among Teams
Establishing a culture based on both collaborative and individual efforts is a practice I’ve employed. People new to leadership roles tend to get wrapped up in “leading,” ignoring the benefits of collaboration in the process. Collaborative efforts foster engagement and teamwork among your team, thus cultivating the next wave of tech leaders. – David Gasparyan, Phonexa
14. Accepting That You Don’t Know Everything
No matter how technical or smart you think you are, there’s always someone who is smarter. Recognizing and accepting this allows you to continue to learn from everyone you interact with. – Nik Froehlich, Saritasa
15. Building Other Leaders
Leadership isn’t standardized; it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. For some, building leaders means growing and developing a skill set; for others, it is supporting leaders who will grow and inspire their individual teammates. When it comes down to it, developing other tech leaders is really about bringing out the best in every single person on the team. – Isabelle Meyer Stapf, Artera (formerly WELL Health)