Furnishing External Representation
The function of external representation carries over relatively unaltered from traditional leadership to geek leadership, largely because you are dealing with "normal" business managers rather than your internal team of geeks.
Functions of Representation
The author describes some of the typical functions of representation:
Acquiring Information
The leader must acquire information from outside the team to facilitate the activities of the team itself. The author likens the role of the leader to that of a scout, who checks the route ahead for any obstacles or concerns.
Primarily, the leader-as-scout keeps an eye out for the future business plans, political landmines, changes in technology, the attitude and expectations of the client, and the industry environment.
Establishing and Maintaining Alignment
The work of the team often depends heavily on cooperation from other groups. The leader must foster cooperation by making sure that interests are aligned, and stay aligned in a changing environment, and that it is clear to the other party why their interests are aligned.
Obtaining Resources
Another function of external representation is logistics: obtaining the inputs that the team needs to accomplish their objectives.
This may include budget, people (staff and contractors), equipment, physical space, test data, and the attention/assistance of the client.
Managing Expectations
Managing expectations is another important function. Even though there is generally a formal charter that defines the scope of a project, and its details are thoroughly documented, there are always additional expectations and assumptions about what the team is delivering that go beyond what is documented.
Managing these expectations, and preventing the scope fro creeping, is a key function the leader fulfills that is crucial to the perceived success of a project, which is important to the future relationship of the team to clients.
Projecting Prominence
The leader also serves as the representative of the team to the business - ensuring your team has some degree of prestige and esteem in the eyes of other business units is critical to its collective power within the organization, as well as to the morale of the members of the team.
In general, you should attempt to ensure the following qualities of your team's persona:
- Expertise - The team is knowledgeable and others should reply upon its ability to make judgments in its technical area
- Integrity - The team is honest in its dealings and can be trusted
- Forthright - The team is straightforward in its dealings (does not withhold information to gain power) and expects the same of others
- Insight - The team understands the business and is interested in contributing to the bottom-line success of the company
- Articulateness - The team is able to communicate effectively with outsiders and non-technical personnel
- Reputation - The members of the team are "best in class" in the industry
- Charisma - The team is "likeable," friendly and approachable
Many of these qualities are extraneous to the accomplishment of the immediate objectives and heads-down work of the team, but are critical to its relationship to other departments and facilitate its future success.
Insulating Geeks
While the task of projecting prominence is meant to integrate the geeks into the culture and identity of the business as a whole, some effort will be needed to maintain insulation: they do not need to be drawn into day-to-day affairs or the political power-struggles, and must to some degree be left alone to do their work.
Attracting Geeks
The leader is also responsible for attracting new people to the organization: identifying the needs of the team for skills and bringing in talent who can provide it (whether this is gaining capabilities or replacing those that are lost when people change jobs).
In addition to the skill requirements, the leader must also seek out those who are a good cultural fit, and will not be disruptive to the environment. While this is perceived as less important than the objective hands-on skills, a bad cultural fit can have a significant negative impact on the team's productivity and culture.
Internal Relationships
In most companies, geeks are gathered into a single department, and organized into functional teams. Of key importance to the short-term and heads-down success at the immediate work of the team is maintaining positive working relationships with other technology teams.
This can be particularly difficult because teams with IT are often in direct competition for resources. There is also considerable specialization and silo-building, plus the tendency for each team to blame others for a problem that is discovered (and in such cases, the root cause is failure for them to have cooperated in the first place).
In addition to client and peer relationships, teams must also cultivate upward relationships to the chain of management that govern them. Without executive support, the technology group can become a backwater, and a general whipping boy for the business - the CEO and other key executives may be "with" the business and "against" IT rather than objective in their estimation, and more likely to punish failure than enable success.
External Relationships
Customers are generally considered an external relationship, though in many cases the customer is an internal department rather than an external firm. Maintaining a positive relationship with customers can help to avoid or mitigate any problems that arise.
You will also need to maintain strong relationships with your vendors: having a positive relationship wit ha vendor is key to getting preferential treatment, or getting them to go the "extra mile" for you when you're in a pinch and need them to step up their level of service to help you make a deadline.
Talent is also a key external relationships: creating a positive impression on the pool of candidates that you may have to draw upon to meet your future needs. Geeks often value culture and challenge over compensation, and the reputation of your team and your company is key to obtaining the talent you need.
Depending on your organization and product, a geek leader may need to develop a relationship with the media - particularly the media within your industry.