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High-performing technology leaders

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Who are the technologists who can translate opportunities into results? What does it take to become someone who can consistently deliver measurable results? I read an article recently that sparked my thinking.

High-performing technology leaders are leaders first, technologists second.

Leaders manage people well. They have learned the “soft skills” of leading others. Leaders know how to move a group of people from here to there. Leaders specialize in leadership. They are generalists in technology. High-performing technology leaders are still passionate about technology, but focus on the missional objectives, not the technologies.

High-performing technology leaders have learned to speak another language.

Learn to speak the language of leadership, the language of mission and business. Ask questions. Read books. Broaden your perspective. When around non-tech leaders, never, never, never talk about servers and protocols and megabytes and upload speeds. Ever!

Etched in my memory is a meeting with a technology leader and his organizational director. The discussion was about a new database system to replace the one that was about to exceed it’s maximum 1.5 million record limit. The director asked “Will this new system you are proposing last for a long time, or will it fill up like the current one?” The tech leader replied with a 15 minute explanation about how the Chunnel system linking France and the U.K. uses the same database system, has millions of passengers and vehicles a year pass through hence millions of database records added each year, and will last for many many years without exceeding the database’s maximum record limitations. The director asked his question again, “But will it last for a long time or will we be replacing it in a few years?” Another lengthy explanation. The director asked a third time. I jumped in to help the struggling tech leader saying, “What he is saying is ‘Yes, it will last a long time.'” The director thanked me for clarifying this important point.

High-performing technology leaders have found a balance.

When speaking outside the technology department, the high-performance leader speaks the language of leadership. Inside the technology department, the high-performance leader balances the language of leadership with the language of technology. The technology staff feel their leader understands the challenges they face and compromises they are making. All technology solutions are a balance, a compromise. The tech team needs to have confidence that their leader understands the issues and engages in the details.

What components of high-performance leadership have you found in technology leaders?

Leading with Information

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The mission task is changing in many ways. Some concern the content of missions. Others, such as what I’m writing about today, concern the context of missions.

In the past, missionaries were “prepared for everything”. The context of missions today, though, allows us to prepare for focused, precise opportunities and outcomes.

How?

Through the rich information available to us today. Through the way the internet is allowing rapid collection of metrics and the rapid dissemination of what we are learning back into the spiritual context of changing lives.

These changes are affecting many aspects of the missionary enterprise. But perhaps the most jarring aspects are in technology and traditional Information Technology. Server uptime or minimizing help requests are no longer the primary measures of success. Engaging people in meaningful life transformations are.

What is driving these changes in the role of technology? There are several significant trends, including:

  • Social networking. Mashable says it well, “Once, Twitter was a place where you could read about someone else’s cat. Now, it’s the first place you go to when there’s breaking news.” Recently, to repair the door handle on my car, I went to YouTube to see how someone else did it.
  • Mobility. Facebook statistics indicate that users are twice as engaged when using a mobile device. Most people are rarely more than 3 feet from their mobile device.
  • Cloud computing. Information is stored so that it is available anywhere, all the time. It is no longer “at home on my computer” or “at the office”.

These drivers are leading to relevance-driven engagement with information. A friend commented to me recently that when she was looking for something for her children, she did not use information-based searching such as Google.com, but searched through her social networks such as Facebook for what her friends recommended. What do my friends saying about this new movie? What are my friends doing this weekend? I’m at the local coffee shop, and I wonder who of my friends might be nearby?

Technology is at the core of these opportunities. But we have to think about the opportunities in non-technical, mission-driven ways.

What ideas do you have to engage in using information to lead?

    Permission to Innovate

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    This blog post first appeared as a guest post on the Campus Crusade for Christ Blogference. If you’ve not been there yet, you are missing some good materials. Get on over there!

    Innovation takes many forms. It may look like a new use for an old tool; a new tool for an old need, or more commonly, a new tool for a new need.

    Christian Maureira, the national director for Campus Crusade for Christ in Chile, innovated. He saw a creative opportunity to engage 33 miners with the reality of Jesus Christ. He took a common tool (the Jesus film in audio) and innovated a strategy to reach them 2660 feet below ground. And we all applauded his creativity, his courage, and his innovation.

    Global Media Outreach innovated. In the era of sophisticated websites, they saw an opportunity. Their “simple sites” are basically the Four Spiritual Laws and are designed for those the Spirit has brought almost to the point of decision. The saw an opportunity for those around -1 on the Engel scale, who simply needed to know how to ask Jesus into their lives.

    Agape Europe innovated. In their spiritual environment, they understood that there are many steps from those who are far from God. To move seekers from -10 on the Engel scale to the point of a decision for Christ, takes multiple steps. So they devised the stepping stone strategy. They develop web experiences as a series of steps moving people closer to God. They connect people with mentor coaches to help them along the way. They looked at the process of discovering God, and met people at critical points along the way with insightful experiences and trustworthy people.

    Brian Barela innovated. This blogference is a creative way to engage hundreds of people around critical topics focused on reaching and discipling people today. Creatively. Innovatively. Faithfully.

    What a time to be alive! What a time to be engaged as Christ’s ambassadors. We can connect with people in ways that Paul, Barnabas, Peter and others could only imagine. We are only bound by our imagination of what God could do through our availability.

    God needs each of us to engage with all the creativity He gives. Our organization needs each of us to engage full of faith, growing our collective ability to fulfill God’s calling, employing every approach we can imagine to be fruitful. Our organization needs us to share what we’re learning, both what is working and what is not working. We also need people who have mastered the basics. People who can make a clear presentation of the gospel at the drop of a hat. People who understand the basic elements of how people grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

    At the recent Catalyst conference, Seth Godin said, “Change is made by people who eagerly accept responsibility without expecting authority.” Personally, I have rarely felt held back from innovating in my staff career. Innovation has been a hallmark of my time with Campus Crusade for Christ. While I am responsible for what I have done, I have always had freedom to try.

    What about you? Are you eager for responsibility? What are you going to do before the end of this year that you have never done before?

    Leading with Information

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    It’s not how many worms the bird feeds its young, but how well the fledgling flies. (United Way of America, 2002)

    We are engaging in a significant initiative in what we call leading with information. LwI is an intentional plan to add objective, outcome-based measures to our use of anecdotal, life stories in measuring effectiveness in accomplishing our mission.

    It is helpful to understand four types of measures:

    • Inputs: Resources dedicated to or consumed by the organization
    • Activities: What the organization does with inputs to fulfill its mission
    • Outputs: The direct products of organization activities
    • Outcomes: The differences the organization makes

    It is easiest to measure inputs: how many staff are on the field, funds raised. Activities are things the staff do each day: gospel presentations, bible studies led. Outputs are things like: exposures to the gospel, indicated decisions. Outcomes are the most difficult to quantify: changed lives, behavioral changes.

    Since outcomes are the most difficult to measure but are the most important measures of mission success, it is important to identify and quantify the key drivers of each outcome. But to identify the key drivers, it is important to understand the end-to-end process flow and the critical points in the process.

    Changed lives are the result of God’s direct intervention. Most of the time, God chooses to work through his people. God does not share his glory with anyone, but he does invite us into his processes in the lives of others. We do have a part.

    We are working through these issues. We are seeking God’s wisdom to measure our part with excellence so that we can improve.

    [NOTE: Click here to read my notes from several articles and papers I’ve read.]

    Continuous services through connected devices

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    Ray OzzieRay Ozzie has been a long-time pioneer in the computer world. He invented Lotus Notes, a collaboration environment from the 1990s. He invented Groove, then joined Microsoft as their chief architect.

    He recently wrote a lengthy yet interesting memo as part of his stepping down as chief architect at MS. His article is here.

    His key vision of the future: a post-PC world based on a combination of Continuous Services and Connected Devices.

    Some excerpts:

    Continuous services are websites and cloud-based agents that we can rely on for more and more of what we do. They’re always-available… They’re constantly assimilating & analyzing data from both our real and online worlds. They’re constantly being refined & improved based on what works, and what doesn’t.

    Connected devices beyond the PC will increasingly come in a breathtaking number of shapes and sizes, tuned for a broad variety of communications, creation & consumption tasks. Each individual will interact with a fairly good number of these connected devices on a daily basis – their phone / internet companion; their car; a shared public display in the conference room, living room, or hallway wall.

    It’s an exciting time to be alive, to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and to have the privilege of helping lead in the technology-enhanced mission to help everyone know someone who truly follows Jesus.