I’ve spent the last 23 years helping companies make better decisions.

These improvement projects varied in size and duration. The work often required training and coaching leaders and managers. During that time, I helped and observed 1000’s of people. What’s always struck me, was the downstream impact these groups had on their staff.

They were often disconnected from that affect.

This lack of effective leadership drives my desire to help tech pros transform into business pros.

When I’m working with leaders and managers, I see them:

• Spend too much time in meetings.

• Focus on topics that are reactive and repetitive.

• Using anecdotal evidence to guide discussions.

They don’t have the base skills to create an environment that brings the best out of people.

The result - There’s a good chance you’ve never experienced quality leadership.

These leaders are stressed and are ineffective.

They are forever making decisions for people 2 or 3 levels down the organisation. They’re doing their subordinates jobs. This leaves everyone waiting to be told what to do. Performance wobbles, productivity sinks, and the issues just keep coming. Pressed to deliver results, these leaders resort to coercion.

They appeal to their position in the hierarchy, and impose blanket solutions.

All this does not bode well for your personal development.

The organisation may have a development process and all the requisite forms. There may also be fortnightly or monthly one-to-ones. But most leaders/manager lack the coaching skills so these devolve into status updating.

If in the development process, you hear or see the term “self-starter”, you know you’re on your own.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t growth and advancement opportunities.

It’s just that you can’t rely on anyone else to make them happen for you. You start that by raising your intellect. That happens through reading and then experimenting.

Move beyond the technical end of you chosen profession and start exploring how businesses work.

A great exercise is to map the organisation using the Business Model Canvas (google it).

Start filling that in. When you get stuck go find the person you think will know something about that specific area of the canvas. Gathering input from others expands your network of connections inside the business and you begin to develop your business acumen.

As you learn how the business works, you’ll gain new insights into what the bosses pay attention to and why.