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Technology Leadership

Technology Leadership Interview Questions

Welcome to the Technology Leadership Community,

Strong Information Technology (IT) leadership is crucial to aligning IT with the organization. Higher education organizations leverage IT to solve business challenges, drive change, and transform learning. These changes require leadership capable of creating and executing on a shared vision, inspiring employees to leverage IT to improve processes, and enhancing the educational experience. The Technology Leadership Community is focused on helping IT professionals achieve developmental objectives and gain skills that would further them on their career path to becoming Technology Leaders of tomorrow.

In preparation to meet with you to discuss ideas around you career development, we would ask that you share some background about you with us prior to meeting. Please send an email and provide the following information to techleaders@byu.edu.

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Key Leadership Skills Identified for Technology Leadership


Five key technology leadership skills have been identified to focus on and that we will discuss in addition to the general skills identified which are: Emotional Intelligence; Communication; Leadership; Innovation and Creativity; Business Acumen; and Customer Orientation. Please be familiar with the definition of five skills below as we will review and discuss these specific skills with you.

  1. Strategic Thinking - Strategic thinking is the intentional process that defines the way people view, assess, and then create the future for themselves and others. For IT leaders, strategic thinking guides how technology supports the business strategy and organizational goals. Effective technology leaders develop, articulate, and implement plans while also gaining the perspective of others on critical and complex issues. Effective leaders encourage and enable others to become more strategic thinkers.
  2. Organizational Management - Organizational Management is the process of planning, assessing, and directing the resources and members of the organization, as well as embedding the organization’s purpose, priorities, and principles into a framework that helps achieve its goals. Organizational management gives a sense of direction and purpose to employees, including ensuring roles and responsibilities outline how the employees fit into the structure and mission of the organization. Effective leaders ensure that financial and other resources are aligned in a manner that delivers maximum value and helps the organization achieve its objectives.
  3. Influencing Others - The best leaders successfully influence up, down, and across the organization as well as out to the community. They are courageous, humble, and seek to act for themselves instead of being acted upon. Influencing behavior is not a one-time event, but a continuous process and investment in building relationships and trust. The goal of wielding this influence is to understand the community, campus, organization, members, and their work in order to come together to achieve objectives.
  4. Results Oriented - Successful leaders identify what results are important to the organization and what steps need to be taken to achieve them. They have the ability to make decisions, resolve issues, and gain alignment. They can consider different viewpoints, drive results, and deliver value for the organization.
  5. Mentoring - Effective leaders help assess and build the capabilities of people through mentoring. Mentors help people explore and take ownership of their professional development and career path. Mentors provide sponsorship and opportunity to support the growth of employees.

We look forward to interacting with you.

Chad Feilbach, Chris Johnson, Michelle Bennett, and Mike Holdaway
Technology Leadership Committee