Being a technology leader is nice, but also very responsible. As such, you need to ensure your teams are always learning. They should have the opportunity to challenge the status quo and experiment with new technologies and approaches.

If this doesn’t happen, there’s a good chance that any effort to succeed will be delayed or worse – abandoned. To avoid this, it can be useful to identify which skills make someone stand out as a technology leader.

Today, we’ve chosen to present some skills that show tech leaders are looking to the future, according to The Enterprisers Project.

Inspiring others
Harvesting innovation requires changing how teams plan, think, and act. Inspiring others is key to encouraging teams to think differently. This is a challenge, as most organizations create barriers to change – opting for minor incremental improvements versus leapfrog breakthroughs. Inspirational technology leaders create teams that challenge the status quo, risk failure, and seek continuous learning to unlock innovation.

Inspirational leadership is a continuous activity. Future-ready technology leaders keep teams motivated and progressing toward a shared goal through committed action.

Storytelling
Once teams are motivated to create change, the next step is moving the entire organization toward the transformation goals. To achieve this cross-organization momentum, today’s technology leader must be a strong storyteller. A leader’s ability to connect the purpose of a transformation with each member of the organization is critical to help everyone see themselves as part of the journey.

All transformations require team members to learn new skills and possibly take on new roles in the future. This can be a challenge for many team members if they are successful in their current role and do not see the need to change. Being a storyteller helps team members envision themselves being successful at the end of the transformational journey.

Decisiveness
Teams look to leaders to be decisive. As the pace of change quickens, it is even more critical for technology leaders to build confidence through decision-making, and most do not. With abundant choices and decisions, most technology leaders adopt a wait-and-see approach out of concern that making the wrong decision can hurt the team. However, with a timely decision based on the best information available, teams can accelerate progress.

Flexibility
Decisiveness by itself is not enough. A strong technology leader needs to operate with flexibility. The pace of change is no longer linear, and leaders have less time to assess and understand every aspect of a decision. Consequently, decisions are made faster and are not always the best ones. Realizing which decisions are not spot-on and being able to adapt quickly is an example of the type of flexibility a leader needs.