Making an impact as a CTO: It’s not what you know

You know that feeling - you have a new role, and you are really excited and looking forward to it.

Maybe you’ve come up through the ranks, and this is your first CTO role.

Or perhaps you have been in the role temporarily and now you have secured the official position.

Or it could be you have come into the business directly from elsewhere and you are joining an established team.

And you're hoping for great things because it's a great opportunity.

But now you are here, something is not quite right.  

You thought you were going to have a great relationship with the people on the team, but it doesn't seem to be quite like that.

There's some tension, perhaps a little bit of conflict, it doesn't just feel quite right, and they seem to be pushing back on your ideas.

They don’t even let you loose with the things that you know that they've asked you to do.

So, what's happening?

Unfortunately, this can be a classic case of not having the relationships and trust that you need for people to let go and allow you to fly, and therefore, even though you are amazing at what you do, they aren’t ready to let you do it.

It can even be that they actively stop you. 

And that is frustrating, and not effective.

The problem is that even though you're really good technically, if the team don't know you like you and trust you, then you will not be able to influence decisions and change.

You cannot be a trusted advisor, because you are not on an equal footing as the other founders - Yet.

And, although we could say “Well, they employed me, so they need to accept me!”, that is not going to work. 

We need to look at ourselves first, but from the perspective of the other people in the room. 

We need to understand, and get conscious of the impact that we have on other people.

We need to understand other people’s perspective and be alert to whether they feel like they want to listen and they want to trust. 

And, if they don't, we need to adjust our behaviour, and the way we show up to help them to be able to be open to our ideas.

And understanding their perspective gives us information that allows us to see what they are thinking, feeling and what they need.

Now that might sound a little one-sided, and yes, it is. Because we can only be responsible for our behaviour.  

BUT

Behaviour breeds behaviour.

So, when we are alert to other people’s perspectives and needs, and we are open to how we show up, then other people will, in response behave more positively. 

They will become more alert to your perspective, open up and begin to relax.

But, someone has to go first. 

And, when you do, the trust builds, the barriers come down and the collaboration goes up. 

Then you are the trusted one, and you can feel part of the team. Because you are part of the team. 

So what skills do I need to focus on?

In order to make this happen, you need different skills to those you have relied upon to build your technical knowledge. 

The ability to really listen

So many of us are on “transmit” rather than listening to others, or to a situation. So we don’t see what’s happening or how things are panning out. This means we can easily say the wrong thing or not realise what someone needs to be able to work with us, instead of against us. 

So we have to turn on those antennae to receive the information we can then work on. 

Empathy

Stepping into someone else’s shoes gives us great insight into someone’s motivations, needs and triggers. When you have that, you are in a position to stop second guessing as to why they are the way they are and get to the crux of the issues (which is often not what you might have assumed). 

You can therefore act upon that information from a position of knowledge, which is far more effective.

A good grasp on human nature 

You don’t need to be a psychologist, but you do need to know what it is to be human (or should I say the different types of human). A knowledge of different communication styles and behavioural traits, plus a good grip on noticing them in people’s behaviour, will give you a superpower that is often overlooked. 

When you understand what’s going on, or at least try to ask yourself why, then you are in a great place to put aside your ego and feelings of conflict and upset and get to a place where you are not triggered by people and their foibles.

Vulnerabiilty

Sometimes if we present ourselves as they perfect person, we are not coming across as open or safe to be vulnerable with. That means that we end up with people posturing or hiding their soft spots and therefore we don’t build trust. So, we need to allow others to see the real us. 

Allow them to see a few chinks, so they aren’t nervous of showing what’s under their armour. And then we get real people, talking to real people – honestly, openly and productively. 

Guts

We need guts because all of the above are hard to do when you are the only one doing it. But when you do it, it allows the other people to do it to. But we can’t bank on them doing it. So, it’s down to you. 

And if you would like to watch our latest 15 minute live on this subject, then find us here.

Now, if you would like some help developing these traits then that’s good news, because these are just some of the elements we teach and coach on our CTO Impact Accelerator 12-week programme. 

Message me to find out more about the programme and how it can help you grow your CTO Superpowers and your impact in your role. 

Julie. 

Julie "Chief Impact Engineer" Hutchison

Email: [email protected]

P.S. Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader:

1. Join The "Quiet Leaders Lab™ Facebook Group and connect with other leaders who want to grow

It's our Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes – Click here

2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine™

It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader - Click here

3. Join our Leaders Launchpad™ Mastermind Group Programme

This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders, in an online community, focused on growing your results.  

With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting and challenging you to design and implement real team performance in your business.

Send me a message or email [email protected] with "IMPLEMENT" in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just message and put "PRIVATE" in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!