​Over the last year I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve had conversations about AI. Everyone is obsessed, from business owners looking to maximise profit and productivity to Developers and Testers worried about being replaced, and everyone else in-between. This makes sense of course, however I personally feel there is a bigger challenge facing technology teams at the moment and that’s the lack of leadership capacity and capability.

Company owners want more from less, this isn’t new but recent technology advances have ramped this up considerably. Throw in a global uncertainty, Brexit, high interest rates (the list could go on) and you have a lot of pressure falling on the shoulders of leaders to create more value with less, often including smaller teams.

Many companies are under investing in building great leadership skills in their current and future teams at a time where more than ever is expected of their people. We’re arguably in a time where the pace of change is faster than anyone has ever seen before, this obviously creates great opportunities, however, it also brings fear, anxiety and uncertainty for people. This is the time where we need to double down on building leaderships skills to help coach and guide people if we want to achieve the best results across our businesses and teams.

Being able to lead and inspire people to great results in uncertain times will require high levels of emotional intelligence, great communication skills and swift decision making.

Leadership is a learnt skill, but like anything it needs practice and cultivation.