Acknowledge that your team is “Time-Poor.”

Let’s acknowledge that young Technology Leaders won’t take part in leadership development if it’s not connected to their work. As such, our leadership work on the team must be “Sensible” and links to the young leader’s current professional needs. One way to create sensible learning opportunities is to focus on proven solutions that our team can quickly deploy when we need them. Concentrating on proven leadership solutions is especially useful for giving feedback that many young technology leaders may not have received formal training. We will need to find creative ways to connect our leadership focus to crucial school priorities.

Build a Low-Stress, but High-Energy Culture.

Technology departments that operate in schools know those information systems, and teaching opportunities change quickly and unpredictably. New competitors enter the market; sometimes, schools will be forced to use new products and services that are untested. When you factor in the reality that many technology leaders are expected to solve problems and assume responsibility for ensuring that mission-critical systems work, these leaders are often in their 20s or 30s — and this is a perfect recipe for high stress. In most cases, their peers who work in the classroom or the leadership positions might be 20 years older and have had more time to develop stressful coping skills in their areas of control. But these teachers and principals have no experience working in the technology field and can not understand the responsibility of these young leaders or the stress associated with the job. – But this is a solvable problem.