Newsletter #82 : 121s, New Lectures

Jason

February 15, 2021

CTO ACADEMY 14 days till Christmas!

Exactly two weeks to go until Christmas and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the downtime. After the year we’ve had, it’s never felt more important to take advantage of opportunities to unwind, recharge and have some quality time with my family, all within the local guidelines of course!Before then, there’s much to do but first off, welcome to this week’s “5 Minute Tech Break”. This week, we are covering the release of our new lectures, tips on how to make your 1:1’s more effective, how to answer commonly asked interview questions, where you can watch the recording of our last webinar and our latest event now live. Have a great weekend and take care of yourself!
Adobera Ejikeme

LEADERSHIP How to make your 1:1’s more effective (& less onerous)One consistent question that emerges during our coaching sessions with tech leaders from around the world is, “How can I be more effective when conducting 1-2-1’s with my team?”

Elizabeth Grace Saunders, author of How to Invest Your Time Like Money says …“One-on-ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager. They are where you can ask strategic questions such as, ‘are we focused on the right things?’ And from a rapport point of view, they are how you show employees that you value them and care about them.”

So this week we asked some of our coaches (and brought in some high profile insight) to explain more and it led to a top 11 list ….

1. The trick is to start well
2. Have genuine interest in other people
3. Be consistent and reliable
4. Prepare agendas and action plans
5. Be present
6. What’s their place in the big picture
7. Build a corporate culture of transparency
8. Feedback: Get it, don’t give it
9. How often and how long?
10. Celebrate wins, however small
11. How to end well

And in our latest blog, from Co-Founder Andrew he dives into the steps needed to make those 1:1’s as effective as possible.

RECRUITMENT How to answer 3 common interview questions

When it comes to answering interview questions, there are tons of resources and support available out there. However, what there isn’t enough of is how to evaluate the answers given by candidates in response to those questions. During a light-hearted interview with Stephen Curry and Bill Gates, they ran through some commonly asked interview questions and how to answer it. The questions asked included: – “Why should we hire you?”– “How do you define your strengths and weaknesses, and how would you incorporate them into a team?”– “What are your salary expectations for this job?”If you’re interested in finding out more then get in touch with our Head of Careers, Richard and his team who can help answer any burning questions/concerns about the interview process, whichever side of the fence you’re on. Find out more here.

EVENTS This week it was #2 in our webinar series on The Future of Work & Tech Leadership

On Wednesday, we had an engaged online audience filled with questions to accompany a passionate discussion about digital transformation and the future roles of the CDO, CIO and CTO.Host Ramesh Balanagu welcomed esteemed guests from different parts of the Baker Tilly empire. From Canada was Partner Deepak Upadhyaya and in Denmark was the Chief Digital Officer Lasse Rindom and with guests from all corners of the world, it was a fascinating talk.If you missed the event, we have you covered with the recording right here.

Mark your diary for #3 in January …

For the 3rd in this series, Ramesh will be joined on Weds 13th January 2021 by Samir Sharma.Samir is a data strategy guru, analytics leader and founder of Datazuum who deliver projects across both private and public sectors including: Charities, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government, Housing & Construction, Law Enforcement, Logistics, Media & Publishing, Outsourcing, Postal, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Utilities.He also previously worked with Accenture, Christie’s and consulted into national governments.Samir is a fascinating guest and a really interesting topic so please do come and join us for another lively Q&A webinar.Wednesday 13th January at 0900 CT / 1500 GMT.To register, click HERE to sign-up!

BOOK OF THE WEEK Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around YouAs leadership experts here at CTO Academy we like to keep an eye out for great reads and we’ve been gathering a list of books in preparation for our festive reading list which we’ll be sharing next week. In the meantime, Unleashed is one I came across recently by authors, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss.

In this book, it shows that to lead others, you need to be the best version of yourself and how the most effective leaders use a combination of trust, empathy and creating an environment for people to thrive in. All of which touch nicely on some of the points raised above on how you can make your 1-2-1’s more effective.In a review by Arianna Huffington, Founder of Thrive Global she describes this book saying;“Frei and Morriss have written the definitive guide of leadership today, just when we need it most. In voices that are fresh, playful, and unapologetically direct, they give us permission to look beyond ourselves and focus instead on the true challenge of leadership: how to help other unlock their full potential.”

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