For the past year I have been reaching out to individuals in technology leadership positions. For someone like myself to get a leadership position. I need to interview individuals that have a role which I might inspire to have one day.

Interview 1

For a  Technology Leader’s what challenges do you see in the work environment?

• Change Management
• Alignment projects
• Specialization of matrix
  • QA
  • Solution reliability
  • Data integrations
• Forming, storming, performing, norming
• Change out of control. Change we can control. Time to do things in particular way.
• Bring alignment to answer questions
• Timing.

Evolution of change and new roles.

• New working agreements
• Bring clarity to teammates
• Allocation and establishment.

What does success look like for the roles of Software Leader?

• Working through challenges
• Bring along teammates
• Create the culture we want in solution delivery
  • Give people a pathway and lead them that way.
• Eliminate Silos because of specialization
  • Always be a project that needs other resources.
  • Customer, team mates or solution need.

How is this different from previous role?

• Approach project with multiple projects.
• Diverse projects.
  • Ask on project management
• Technical leadership role
  • Make a technical call when needed.
  • Know business value of the team.
  • Understanding all the technical capabilities.
  • Know standards

What does alignment look like with Solution Enablement and Solutions Reliability & Quality.

• Mixed bag
• Technology consistent approach of projects.
  • How can we get things done for all
  • Trust to work in a project
• Guidance
• Consistent
• Measure reliability
• Create framework and alignment.

What challenges or opportunities do you see with alignment with Architecture and Solution roles.  

• Challenges of consistent
• sustainability across of solutions
• responsibilities of these roles
• day of in a life
• more focus on direction of reliability
• direction of solution
  • what does someone need to solve for?
• Project alignments with teams.
• Collocated with a team.

Interview 2

What do you value in leadership?

• Authentication
• Leads by example
• Leads by how I feel
• Call it what is but have optimistic feeling.
• People First
• Adaptability
• Relationship Building
• Calculated risks
• Following rules vs intent of rules

What qualities do you look for in alignment with other leaders?

• Align to
• Who are you open too
• Getting things done
• Great good of getting something done
• Agreeing what is most important.
• Transparent and open about a reason. The ask.

Based on leadership roles you have had, say 30 days to a year later, what would you have changed in terms of expectation vs reality?

• People on own island
• Create opportunity
• Schedule ideas to connect
• Lonely spot until other peers.

What is Solution Reliability?

• Monitoring challenges
• Strong focus for reliability
• Go out of our way
• Who do I talk to, who owns this

 Interview 3

What do you value in leadership?

• Values (honesty & integrity)
• Judgment
  • Trust their judgment when you are no there
• Watch people to coach teammates
• Strong culture in team
  • Diversity
• I don’t want coaching to be dramatic
  • Realtime feedback
  • Watch intently
  • Conversations are effective
  • Seeing and doing something

For Technology Leader’s what challenges do you see in our new environment?

• New job, leader, lead dev,
• Most of everyone has new team
• time
• prioritized of enablement
• ppm tool
• work coming at all angles
• work at organization
• work with constituently.

What does success look like for the roles of Solutions Enablement and Solutions Reliability & Quality.

• Learning
• Create people, great project and great technical
  • Can a person hire
• Business features
• Education and advocacy

My follow-up to all these is what challenges or opportunities do you see with alignment with Architecture and Solution roles.  

• Real clear what the role
• Enablement alignment

Misc

Hunger to learn, gain experience relationships, pulled into facilitation, cross function team relationship, taking off job interview, never know, deeply caring about people, thank,

Get a high from this, what makes you have it. Make people feel better and see potential.

Find joy

Interview 4

What do you value in leadership?

• #1 trust & empathy
• Create those synergy
• Can you overachieve
• Capability to connect
• Understand
• I should feel comfortable to ask him about work
• Empathy: understand and work (emotional intelligence)
• Create more leadership
• Honesty and trusty
• Connecting leadership
• Having a conversation now to find a cadence?
• Want to coach and mentor?
• Transform things
  • Cadence

What qualities do you look for in alignment with other leaders?

• Have to spend some time.
• Tour of meeting people
• My background, what I like to do,
• Communication with purpose

Based on leadership roles you have had, say 30 days to a year later, what would you have changed in terms of expectation vs reality?

• Look at Business at current state
• Pain points
• Realized risk is how things go through
• People and culture
• Change

Interview 5

Preparing for a interview

• Biggest overall plan
• Experience and Project Team
• Plan written out
  • 30
  • 60
  • 90

What do you value in Leadership?

• Let team make decisions
  • Opinion on how to get buy in
  • Trust people with skills
  • Command control of
    • Leader should not get in there way
    • Reason to get there
    • Check with this

• let people, make a decision

Interview 6

What do you value in leadership?

• Authentic
• Servant Leadership
• Healthy (productivity vs toxic)
• Trust vs Performance
  • Loss when something is down
• Craftsmanship
• Good Cause
• Safe at work
• Let’s other shine

What do qualities do you look for in alignment with other leaders?

• Treating others
• Assume good intent
• Give credit where credit is due.
• Recognize the good
• Servant
• Seeking excellence
• Building connections in how they working.

What are your challenges as a leader?

•  Going first in a sign of leadership
  • Inhibits others
  • Speak loudest
• Is how to differentiate between employees?
• Competition
  • Can destroy

High performing teams

• Your awards have to match your actions?
• Does merit match award?
• Wanting the same for each

How to Stay motivate

• Does everyone have what they need
• Celebrate
• Selfless
• Growing and engage
• Doe the people you lead happy

Interview 7

What do you value in leadership?

• Relationship and Trust
• Amazing how talented people
• Open honest
• Learn from each other
• Ability to be in more conversations
• Working for more people
• Find more opportunity
• How can they
• What do they want or open and transparent
• Team Success and associations
• What can help guide them too
• Perception is important
• Leadership to emulate
• Authenticate
  • Perception
  • First to talk
  • Accountability is team in general

What qualities do you look for in alignment with other leaders?

• Trust and honest
• Open to disagreement and direction
• Diversity in thought
• Relationship to understand where someone
• When someone doesn’t say anything and silently disagree
  • Looking for body language
  • Personalize to someone

What are your challenges as a leader?

• Alignment
  • Brand new to season leader
  • Education
  • Strategic aspect
  • Position ourself to future
  • Everything is a guess
• Evolvement
• Does a person have to prove themselves?
• Everyone has own scale of how agile and predict how a person can adapt to it.
• Custom solution to out of the box
• Virtually seeing people

Interview 8

What do you value in leadership?

• Leader is another role and responsibility.
• Humility
• Courage
• Collaboration
• People are being taken care of opportunities  pursue people to inspire professional

What qualities do you look for in alignment with other leaders?

• Prefer work with people when you manage.
• Limits a person possibility
• What can Ilearn
• Diverse skill sets
• Take initiative
• Integrity
• Work hard and get things done
• Afraid to try 

Based on how you started at FCSAmerica, say 30 days, what would you have changed?

• Support to figure out App Dev
• Schedules meetings networking/relationships
• Need to find way

A follow up to the question about What are your challenges as a leader in our new environment?

• Challenges what to stop to keep priorities of organization
• Not burning teammates
• Culture hit on what
• Business owner manage expectations
• Stay innovated