I strongly believe that Leadership is a critical competency for successful Enterprise Solution Architects.To some, that statement may seem bold. To others, its obvious. forthose that this seems bold, I hope this blog post helps explain whyEnterprise Solution Architects have strong Leadership competencies. Forthose that this statement seems obvious, I hope I'm simply attemptingrefining this concept to bring it to a more mature level. |
A bit of my background leading to thoughts on strengthening Leadership competencies as an Enterprise Solution Architect |
During my career as an IT guy, I've always been laser focused on mycareer mission "Improve IT's business value proposition". This is mypassion and it is my guiding principle for making career choices. It'sworked well for me probably because there always seems to be newopportunities to explore and deliver more business value such as;exploring different software delivery models, exploring differentsoftware design processes and techniques, implementing new and excitingtechnologies, engineering business architecture, and scalingto enterprise-level constructs like enterprise architecture frameworksand organizational dynamics. In fact, I feel lucky to have been able toachieve so much and still be totally inspired to learn and grow more. My career has taken me through many IT roles gaining experience asan IT software engineer, tester, business analyst, project/programmanager, and solution architect. I've carried pagers while in IToperations support roles. I've spent time in sales selling softwaresolutions and I've spent time as a consultant delivering softwaresolutions and coaching customers and partners how to deliver softwaresolutions. Because I've always had a hankering to make bigger, broader,enterprise-wide business value from IT, my career has led me to where Isit today, an Enterprise Solution Architect. |
Enterprise Solution Architects require Leadership skills the most |
I think that all Architects require Leadershipcompetencies to some degree but one Architect type that stands out asbeing the most dependent on Leadership is the Enterprise SolutionArchitect. Because I haven't seen an attempt to articulate theLeadership abilities in the context of the Enterprise SolutionArchitect role, I thought I'd share my opinion of what they might be.So, here's how I think of Leadership. Leadership is a competency andit can be decomposed in a number of ways; leadership principles,habits, values, emotional intelligence abilities, leadershipimperatives, et al. All are valid and often share the same semanticmeaning but conveyed in different terms and constructs giving us lotsof choices to find the one that resonates with each of us individually. |
Daniel Goleman's Leadership model as the base construct |
One such Leadership model that resonates with me is Daniel Goleman'sEmotional Intelligence (EI) abilities organized by the domainsSelf-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and RelationshipManagement. The complete list of Goleman's EI abilities withdefinitions are located at the end of this blog. This is an Architect's blog post, so I created some views of the EIdomain model as well as the actual model using UML notation for thosewho like to read models: |
Leadership Domain Model |
Leadership Object Model |
![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Relating Goleman's Leadership Competencies to the Enterprise Solution Architect |
So, how does this all relate to the Enterprise SolutionArchitect role you say? Well, I think that this is where things getfascinating. Below is an attempt to describe how Goleman's Leadershipabilities relate to the Enterprise Solution Architect role. It is veryrough but my hope is to mature the thinking to the point we can manageLeadership abilities like we can with other Architect skills like I described in this blog post regarding growing Solution Architects. It should be noted that the Enterprise SolutionArchitect's Leadership competencies are required or be the highestmaturity achievable. The aim of this blog post is simply to describethe relationship between Leadership competencies and the EnterpriseSolution Architect role. |
Leadership Competency | Narrative description how Enterprise Solution Architects use the Leadership Competency |
Self-Awareness | |
Emotional self-awareness | This is one of the more criticalcompetencies that Enterprise Solution Architects have. We are oftenengaged in discussions that are extremely complex with very seniorleaders when suggestions are asserted which unintentionally break theintegrity of the enterprise architecture we have so carefully nurtured.Enterprise Solution Architects must have self-awareness competency toinject architectural integrity back into the discussion withoutsacrificing relationships or, as Goleman might say, "emotionalcapital". engineering rigor involved in defining shared software platforms.Instead of bursting aloud and delivering 'an education' to the group,Enterprise Solution Architects might choose another route. Perhaps s/hemight respectfully acknowledge the leadership's role and compliment thesuggestion with the option of off-lining that decision to allow time toreview impacts and return with their analysis results. |
Accurate self-assessment. | Because Enterprise Solution Architects interact at all organizationlevels in the business and IT organizations, they become acutely awarewhere they must grow and improve in order to be more effective. Thebest Enterprise Solutions Architects, therefore, seek mentors andcoaches, join networking clubs with a passion for self-improvement.This is one of the reasons why find themselves at networking events andsharing experiences at enterprise architecture conferences. |
Self-Management | |
[b] Self-control[/b] | Enterprise Solution Architects are some of the most psychologicallymature Architects an organization has. They are often "the rocks"within the most complex, high-profile IT projects a company has. Theyare masters of self-control for the project team and in planning teams.Their decisions carry weight both in the eyes of the business and ITand any wavering can cause ripple effects strong enough to cause doubtand ultimately shake the foundational confidence of a project. |
Transparency | Transparency is a major part forgaining a Trusted Advisor relationship with senior businessstakeholders and engineering teams. Often, the Enterprise SolutionArchitect must deliver messages that are not what stakeholders want tohear so setting expectations early and being transparent to thedecision-making stakeholders is critical. to gain support from several Lines of Businessand engineering organizations to commit to the software platform. Thisis a tremendously complicated task that can be thwarted from severalangles. Enterprise Solution Architects provide a Leadership rolethrough this process and the great ones build Trusted Advisorrelationships through transparency. |
Adaptability | Adaptability is a core competence of the Enterprise SolutionArchitect because of the diverse situations and audiences they arefaced with on a daily basis. As an example, I once led a highly complex software designdiscussion with highly-talented and, should I dare, 'critical'engineers involving system integration modeling of our Microsoft OnlineOrder Management systems in the morning, sat with business leads tobrainstorm licensing business logic for our to-be-released OnlineProducts over lunch, and delivered an architectural brief to a group ofBusiness and IT Vice Presidents on the impacts to our enterprise forour S+S company strategy all in the same day. |
Achievement | Enterprise Solution Architects are measured by adoption.Everything they are set out to accomplish is carefully prioritized andburned into the forefront of their consciousness. Think of StephenCovey's second habit of highly effective people"Begin with the End In Mind". The 'end' for an Enterprise SolutionArchitect is the delivery of change whether it be decisions on whichsoftware platforms are to be built and how they are designed, deliveryof enterprise-class software solutions, optimization of the applicationportfolio, enabling IT with the right architect to deliver faster,efficiently and cost-effectively. |
Initiative | Enterprise Solution Architectshave the opportunity to view broadly across the company and often arequick to see opportunities for progressing the advancement of theenterprise architecture. They look for ways to gain adoption quicklyand often are able to provide feedback to IT process owners ororganization designers on observations made that potentially canimprove the organizational effectiveness in terms of improved deliveryto the business. |
Optimism | Enterprise Solution Architectsknow that no one want's to work with pessimistic wet blanket. Gainingmomentum is critical to the success of delivering large-scaleinitiatives and, therefore, optimistic leaders help carry the momentum.Not all Architects can perform the Enterprise Solution Architect role.It is mostly a thankless job and often highly criticized. I'm sorry ifthis sounds like a bleak picture for the Enterprise Architect but to behonest, we must be optimistic to try, try again. |
Social Awareness | |
Empathy | I just love this Leadership ability because it is often so sorelylacking in the IT industry, thus representing a great opportunity toapply focus and get huge improvements. Engineers often don't have thetraining or basic social skills to have a positive dialogue. All themore reason why the Enterprise Solution Architect has very matureempathy abilities so as to resonate and get decisions made to rapidlyenable change. I can't put it better than Jack Welch's "Three S"approach to Leadership; Self-Confidence, Simple, Speed. I've created aconceptual model of the "Three Ss" concepts and added a couple of newone's taken from anecdotal mentions from Goleman for another View tohelp describe the concepts. Here's how to relate Empathy to the Three Ss concept. ThroughEmpathy, an Enterprise Solution Architect can identify a Simple messagethat resonates with allowing them to act on the message with speed. |
Organizational awareness | Enterprise Solution Architects often find themselves inorganizations that lack fluid understanding for involvingenterprise-wide concerns. This is common and natural. For example,large companies often have several business strategies that are notin-sync eventuating in siloed supporting IT systems. EnterpriseSolution Architects must be able to understand who to influence inorder to contribute due diligence efforts for deliver solutions toenterprise concerns such as application rationalization, delivery ofshared enterprise software platforms, software platform designs builtfor flexibility, reusability and availability. Now, I would like to make a distinction between Organizationalawareness from a Machiavellian politician who studies organizationaldynamics and manipulates and drives their self-interests. Like Goleman,Stephen Covey and Jack Welch note often, "those individuals are a boreand bring down organizations." I'm in complete agreement. |
Service | Service is one of the mostimportant competencies Enterprise Solution Architects have. We arehumble and serve our business partners and teammates to achieve ourgoal, adoption. I described tips for gaining adoption in a previousblog - see here.Enterprise Solution Architects fill the gaps and complement the team'splan directly or indirectly through encouraging the appropriate roleowner to pick it up.
|
Relationship Management | |
Inspiration | When Enterprise SolutionArchitects discover business problems that cross several Lines ofBusiness and engineering teams, they have a tough challenge ahead ofthem. Often, Enterprise Solution Architects make all groups aware ofthe problem and inspire them to collaborate on solving the problemtogether, thus bringing synergy to the organization.
|
Influence | In the software industry, if youare not directly writing source code you are in an influencer role. Icannot stress the importance Enterprise Solution Architects place onthis leadership competency. It is critical to the success of gainingmomentum for software initiatives and truly delivering in a TrustedAdvisor capacity. |
Developing others | Goleman often cites statisticsthat the IT Business sorely lacks this competency. Goleman believesthat this is likely due to the fact that engineers focus on improvingone's technical skills rather than focusing on improving other people'sskills. He's got a great point. organization's competence. The bestEnterprise Solution Architects I know, dedicate time to mentor others,contribute to skills discussions and often express their ideas in broadaudiences all with the intention of helping grow the discipline in thedirection of improving IT's value proposition to the business. Enterprise Solution Architectwithin Microsoft. |
Change catalyst | Many esteemed thinkers in thespace of Enterprise Architecture often evangelize the role ofEnterprise Solution Architects as 'change agents'. This is true. Like Idiscussed in the Initiative item above, Enterprise Solution Architectsdo have an unusual position of seeing an impartial view of the 'bigpicture' and when opportunities for gaining efficiencies regardingre-prioritization of our business needs, tweaking our delivery process,restructuring governance models, identifying skill gaps, to drivechange for improving the IT organization's effectiveness to delivermore value to the business, we do it. |
Conflict management | I love this competency! In the ITindustry there is so much social insecurity that it impairs even themost trivial discussions resulting in relationship destruction. Theseoutcomes are unacceptable to Enterprise Solution Architects and wemitigate these outcomes by leaning heavily on our Conflict Managementskills. avoid from insecurities that exist with each ofthe team members. Normally, insecurities manifest themselves from teammembers that were part of a failed project they wish to not be remindedof, or senior resources wanting to be recognized for their position bysubordinates, or from highly educated individuals who want to bepublicly recognized for their educational credentials, or for culturalsensitivities typical in the western and eastern cultures and the listgoes on. where logic prevails over all social conflict. :) Then, suggest a simpleresolution to the group that a) can progress the group's initiative,and b) does not seem threatening to any one person or the group theyrepresent. |
Teamwork and collaboration | Enterprise Solution Architects,by necessity, have experience managing project teams, virtual teams,relationships "owners" with other organizations on behalf of theirorganization to deliver planning and delivery functions. We often exudethe ability to create an environment with strong collaboration and dothis by leveraging our Teamwork and Collaboration competency. |
Self-Awareness
Leaders high inemotional self-awareness are attuned to their inner signals,recognizing how their feelings affect themand their job performance. They are attuned to their guiding values and can often intuit the bestcourse of action, seeing the big picture in a complex situation.Emotionally self-aware leaders can be candid and authentic, able tospeak openly about their emotions or with conviction about theirguiding vision.
Leaders with highself-awareness typically know their limitations and strengths, andexhibit a sense of humor about themselves. They exhibit a gracefulnessin learning where they need to improve, and welcome constructivecriticism and feedback. Accurate self-assessment lets a leader knowwhen to ask for help and where to focus in cultivating new leadershipstrengths. |
Self-Management
Leaders with emotional self-controlfind ways to manage their disturbing emotions and impulses, and even tochannel them in useful ways. A hallmark of self-control is the leaderwho stays calm and clear-headed under high stress or during a crisis -or who remains unflappable even when confronted by a trying situation.
Leaders who are transparent livetheir values. Transparency - an authentic openness to others aboutone's feelings, beliefs, and actions - allows integrity. Such leadersopenly admit mistakes or faults, and confront unethical behavior inothers rather than turn a blind eye.
Leaders who are adaptable can jugglemultiple demands without losing their focus or energy, and arecomfortable with the inevitable ambiguities of organizational life. Such leaders can be flexible in adapting to new challenges, nimble inadjusting to fluid change, and limber in their thinking in the face ofnew data or realities.
Leaders with strength in achievementhave high personal standards that drive them to constantly seekperformance improvements - both for themselves and those they lead. They are pragmatic, setting measurable but challenging goals, and areable to calculate risk so that their goals are worthy but attainable. Ahallmark of achievement is in continually learning - and teaching -ways to do better.
Leaders who have a sense of efficacy -that they have what it takes to control their own destiny - excel ininitiative. They seize opportunities - or create them - rather thansimply waiting. Such a leader does not hesitate to cut through redtape, or even bend the rules, when necessary to create betterpossibilities for the future.
A leader who is optimistic can roll withthe punches, seeing an opportunity rather than a threat in a setback.Such leaders see others positively, expecting the best of them. Andtheir "glass half-full" outlook leads them to expect that changes inthe future will be for the better. |
Social Awareness
Leaders with empathy are able to attuneto a wide range of emotional signals, letting them sense the felt, butunspoken, emotions in a person or group. Such leaders listenattentively and can grasp the other person's perspective. Empathy makesa leader able to get along well with people of diverse backgrounds orfrom other cultures.
A leader with a keensocial awareness can be politically astute, able to detect crucialsocial networks and read key power relationships. Such leaders canunderstand the political forces at work in an organization, as well asthe guiding values and unspoken rules that operate among people there.
Leaders high in the service competencefoster an emotional climate so that people directly in touch with thecustomer or client will keep the relationship on the right track. Such leaders monitor customer or client satisfaction carefully to ensurethey are getting what they need. They also make themselves available asneeded. |
Relationship Management
Leaders who inspire both createresonance and move people with a compelling vision or shared mission. Such leaders embody what they ask of others, and are able to articulatea shared mission in a way that inspires others to follow. They offer asense of common purpose beyond the date-to-day tasks, making workexciting.
Indicators of a leader's powers ofinfluence range from finding just the right appeal for a given listenerto knowing how to build buy-in from key people and a network of supportfor an initiative. Leaders adept in influence are persuasive andengaging when they address a group.
Leaders who are adept atcultivating people's abilities show a genuine interest in those theyare helping along, understanding their goals, strengths, andweaknesses. Such leaders can give timely and constructive feedback andare natural mentors or coaches.
Leaders who can catalyze changeare able to recognize the need for the change, challenge the statusquo, and champion the new order. They can be strong advocates for thechange even in the face of opposition, making the argument for itcompellingly. They also find practical ways to overcome barriers tochange.
Leaders who manage conflictsbest are able to draw out all parties, understand the differingperspectives, and then find a common ideal that everyone can endorse. They surface the conflict, acknowledge the feelings and views of allsides, and then redirect the energy toward a shared ideal.
Leaders who are ableteam players generate an atmosphere of friendly collegiality and arethemselves models of respect, helpfulness, and cooperation. They drawothers into active, enthusiastic commitment to the collective effort,and build spirit and identity. They spend time forging and cementingclose relationships beyond mere work obligations. |