The Soft Skills... Are the Hard Skills

Developing a high performance IT team is more important than the technology you choose. (I'll be spending much time on this topic over the next while).

As IT leaders, we are usually familiar with, if not intimate with technology trends, issues, ROI, strategic technology plans, and more, but have typically not had training in "soft" skills such as managing people, hiring well, strategic thinking, selling the "invisible" concepts, value propositions, etc. Where does one start?

Find time to read good books, find a mentor, find a group of progressive thinkers (e.g. CIO Canada) and build a network. Be willing to invest in yourself, and invest in your team. It's the people who make technology magic by deploying it well.

A good book to start with? In this blog, I'll highlight books from my library that have been instrumental in my thinking. Enjoy.

Patrick Lencioni is an artist in storystelling, who takes a business model around organizational dynamics and makes it make sense. His "5 Dysfunctions of a Team" should be on every leader's shelf.

Check out the book on Chapters Online: http://bit.ly/e6IPZR