“The 2017 State of DevOps Report listed as a Key Finding, “The characteristics of transformational leadership — vision, inspirational communication, intellectual stimulation, supportive leadership, and personal recognition — are highly correlated with IT performance.” We will explore these five characteristics as they apply not just to DevOps, but to anything we undertake.

Leadership is not limited to “senior leadership”. The characteristics of Transformational Leadership are necessary for leaders of any type and at every level of the organization, not the least of which are Project Managers and the Subject Matter Experts and other technical leaders with whom they collaborate to achieve project success.

We will begin with the focused definition of leadership (in the paragraph above) to inspire all audience members to see the content as being relevant to their own work. Then we will walk through the five characteristics of Transformational Leadership (as identified by the 2017 State of DevOps Report) and explore what each looks like, and how we as leaders make each a part of our leadership style:

• Vision
• Inspirational Communication
• Intellectual Stimulation
• Supportive Leadership
• Personal Recognition

We will wrap up with an inspirational look at the expected net effects of this leadership style:

• Generative and high-trust cultural norms
• Better project outcomes
• Team experimentation & innovation, to achieve outcomes faster
• Working across organizational silos for strategic alignment

Presenters:

Alan S Koch