Team Alliances are a way to create a relationship with others in order to achieve common goals. They help people stay healthy and motivated, and they can be helpful when it comes to resolving conflicts. Brittany Cotton joins host Etienne de Bruin to share the benefits of a Team Alliance.
Brittany Cotton is Head of Coaching at 7CTOs and Program Leader, Coach, Trainer and Facilitator at Accomplishment Coaching. She is also Executive Coach at Be Radical Coaching. Certified by the International Coaching Federation as both a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and an Associate Certified Coach, Brittany is an expert in leadership development, career development and life coaching, and corporate training.
A Team Alliance is a conversation around intention, commitment, and contribution, Brittany explains. It’s an agreement to come together under shared goals and collaborate, establishing clear expectations about what needs to be done to achieve those goals.
Many people are uncomfortable answering questions about their goals and aspirations, and give themselves little time to think about what they truly want in life. Without a clear idea of what they want, people tend to live their lives at the effect of their circumstances, rather than being in control of them.
It’s important to identify potential obstacles or “leaks” that could prevent the team from achieving their goals. In a boat, a leak may not be noticeable, or it may even seem manageable, but it diverts your attention and energy from the real goal, which is getting to your destination. Similarly, leaks in the team slowly sap you of willpower, forcing you to keep attending to the same recurring issues.
Your Team Alliance needs to be able to communicate openly and honestly with the group if something is not working, without assigning blame or guilt. This requires a certain level of vulnerability.
In order to prepare for a Team Alliance conversation, people should come to the forum with a willingness to let go of the past and forgive themselves and others for any mistakes or shortcomings, Brittany shares. Etienne advises people who might feel stuck or like they're repeating the same process as last year that it's important to approach the Team Alliance conversation with a fresh perspective and openness to new insights and ideas.
Facilitators of Team Alliances are there to facilitate the discussion and handle any situations that come up. Members are encouraged to communicate their needs and what they would like to experience from their facilitators.
KEY QUOTE
“A Team Alliance is a conversation around intention, commitment, and contribution.” - Brittany Cotton
Resources
Brittany Cotton on the Web | LinkedIn
Be Radical Coaching
7CTOs Forum

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In this episode of the CTO Studio Podcast with host Etienne de Bruin, Mark Hunter discusses the myths of leadership and how they can be harmful to individuals and organizations. He goes on to discuss how leaders can overcome their fear and create gaps in order to identify opportunities for growth. Finally, he encourages CTOs to build authentic relationships with their teams in order to foster trust and communication.
Mark Hunter, author of “The Brink: How Great Leadership Is Invented,” is founder and President at Pinnacle Coaching, and Senior Program Leader at Accomplishment Coaching. As a business and executive coach, Mark works with both corporate and individual personal clients to help them get out of their own way and into new levels of possibility, transformation, leadership, and results.
Mark believes that context and relationship are foundational concepts for sustainable and scalable teams. Leaders in particular need to develop relevant skills such as understanding context, understanding the audience, and situational awareness.
Fear is not inherently bad, Mark comments, but the way we treat it creates problems. Because we view fear as something leaders shouldn’t have, we don’t tell others when we are afraid, which creates shame, and we suffer in silence.
Enrollment is important because it ensures that people are committed to what they’re doing. If you complete tasks just because you’re expected to without any real attachment or investment in that goal, it will be much easier to quit when the going gets tough.
Leaders should understand that gaps in teams are opportunities for growth.
Humans are problem solvers, and if we don’t perceive that we have problems to solve, we manufacture them. 
Hierarchy exists, but you don’t have to lead from it. The hierarchy creates a fundamental imbalance of power, and leading from it deepens that imbalance. There is a difference between issuing orders from the title you possess, and using that title as the source of your power. 
Resources
Mark Hunter on LinkedIn
The Brink: How Good Leadership Is Invented

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Quick, critical thinking is one of the core strengths of a CTO, but unlearning the problem-solving mindset might do them good. Jeff Miller, founder and CEO Jeff Miller Coaching, defines and discusses curiosity. In this episode replay, Jeff describes his experience coaching CTOs and why they struggle with curiosity. 
The environment that raises CTOs is one that teaches them to solve problems as quickly as possible. CTOs have been rewarded for their ability to think quickly and critically in efficient ways, but has this critical mindset actually stunted their curiosity?
Executives of all kinds have been brainwashed into separating themselves from others, Jeff shares. While a good thing in some situations, it can hinder them from being as effective as they can be. CTOs, in particular, need to relate to many people across their organizations, which becomes difficult if they’re always seeing themselves as different.
Jeff has observed that the higher the intellect and the more successful a CTO is, the more skeptical they are of coaching. 
Curiosity is an invitation to learn, make mistakes, and have fun without necessarily having the answer. We need to give ourselves permission to be curious and not program ourselves into thinking in one way.
Resources
Jeff Miller on LinkedIn | Website

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Curiosity exists in the realm of the unknown, and it cannot be predicted or directed. Joanie Connell of Flexible Work Solutions returns in this episode of the CTO Studio Podcast to discuss how we can learn from not knowing. 
Team members can preface their questions by stating their curiosity, Joanie shares. Saying “I’d like to take a moment to be curious” immediately identifies the present time as inquiry mode, opening the floor to others to share their curiosity as well.
Fueling your curiosity with rage takes away from the genuine desire to learn something new because you have a specific end in mind with your questioning. 
Participative curiosity is performative, whereas reflective curiosity is introspective. Participative curiosity only appears to be curiosity, but when this is applied, you’re not absorbing anything. Reflective curiosity, however, occurs when you are actually open to changing your mind and willing to consider something new. 
It’s important to have diverse perspectives in teams to stir creativity. Whether people agree or disagree, keeping the conflict centered around the issue they disagree on can lead to more creative solutions or more thorough answers.
Resources
Joanie Connell on LinkedIn | Twitter | Website

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Asking questions is an outcome of curiosity, and curiosity leads to questions - but not all questions represent curiosity. Joanie Connell of Flexible Work Solutions returns in this episode of the CTO Studio Podcast to share how to foster curiosity in our teams by changing the way we ask questions.
Open-ended questions invite people to answer in ways that reveal their thoughts and ideas. Beginning a question with “I wonder if…” is a great way to start, Joanie shares.
Reserving judgement is key. Genuine curiosity withholds assumptions, leaving space for people to speak freely and convey what they mean without fear of being judged.
Curiosity within relationships is about feeling excited to see what the partnership and intention you’re setting with someone is going to produce.
We are often imperfect communicators, but we may be even worse when we’re curious. In our haste to learn, we may unintentionally convey the wrong message to people by how we phrase our questions and tone of voice. We should be mindful of being approachable when asking questions. Better yet, we can also tell others how we’d like to be spoken to, and how to phrase their questions in ways that don’t cause harm.
Resources
Joanie Connell on LinkedIn | Twitter | Website

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Empathy is more than simply putting yourself in someone else's shoes - it begins with curiosity and asking questions. Joanie Connell, founder of Flexible Work Solutions, defines curiosity and describes how being curious can help interpersonal relations at work. She joins Etienne de Bruin to discuss how leaders can nurture curiosity among team members.
Part of the curiosity mindset is the courage to take risks, be vulnerable, and try things that may not work.
In relationships, being inquisitive can be difficult since it often involves asking people what they're feeling even when you don't know what that might be. You have to be humble and be open to the possibility that you may be mistaken.
By setting expectations for how questioning will be used, leaders can establish a culture of curiosity. Employees may be hesitant to ask questions for fear of being punished, so leaders must take the initiative to make their environment a safe zone for curiosity.
There is a time and place for curiosity; if you keep the questions rolling at a bad time, you can slow the process down and miss deadlines.
Resources
Joanie Connell on LinkedIn | Twitter | Website
Email Etienne: [email protected]

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Etienne du Bruin goes solo this week as he discusses the complicated nature of a CTO’s role. He talks about the four S’s of a CTO, and describes how systems thinking can be used to understand the role of a leader.
CTOs shield their organizations from existential threats internally and externally; stretch out the organization with design thinking and organizational design; speed up technology delivery; and work with the cross functional teams to increase sales, Etienne claims. 
Complex systems consist of many elements on many different scales, all affecting one another on different levels. 
Systems thinking can be used to understand how the components of a complex company interact with each other. Levels of complexity within companies necessitate that leaders be able to adapt quickly in order to manage these complexities.
Etienne believes the role of a CTO is one of business, with a budget to build teams that deliver technologies to grow revenues. 
Resources
Email Etienne: [email protected] 

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How does the left and right brain differ in decision-making? In this week’s show, Aaron Longwell, a Software Manager at Amazon Web Services, dives deep into this idea. He joins Etienne de Bruin to talk about the importance of context in decision-making, communication, and how pushing management decisions down in an organization can lead to problems.
Some ideas you’ll hear them explore are:
Throughout history, humans have favored the left-brain model of thinking. "We pay less attention to context and … to emotions, pay less attention to the body and more to the brain," Aaron says. Alternatively, the right side of the brain is more creative.
Good communication is a major factor in solving challenges. Code is communication, so being able to communicate effectively will allow you to code more effectively. 
Getting communication right from the start saves you time. Don't assume that you're being understood, verify that you are. Ask questions that can let you know that the other person is understanding what you are saying and that you're both on the same page. 
The mentality of reusing what you can is flawed. The idea that because someone already built in some component of the communication in the software, so it doesn't need to be reworked opens you up for a lot of third-party dependencies and increases complexity.
Pushing management decisions lower down in an organization creates redundant decision making.
Complexity is a prerequisite to being robust.
Resources
Aaron Longwell | LinkedIn 
Thinking, Fast and Slow
The Master and His Emissary 

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Have you interviewed and hired someone only to have it not work out soon after? This week’s show discusses the importance of hiring people who will be successful in your company’s culture. Casey Kleindienst, a Management Professor at Cal State Fullerton and a consultant to small and medium enterprises, explores how to identify those individuals. He joins Etienne de Bruin to share how to screen candidates for emotional intelligence and potential risk.
Some ideas you’ll hear them explore are:
The interview process tries to answer two questions: Does this candidate fulfill the minimum requirements for the job? And will they succeed in the company’s culture? Culture and potential are the two most important variables to consider, Casey says.
Don't hire resumes. Rather than the resume, look at the character. The character will give you a prediction of future performance. Hire people that have the potential to deliver value to your company in the long run. 
Seventy percent of jobs come from the hidden job market, meaning they don’t get posted. Employers call people in their network and ask if they know suitable candidates.
Being able to teach people and bring them into learning is a skill that demonstrates that someone has actually mastered the craft that they've learned.
Decision making is a singular activity. If you assign decision making to more than one person, despite whatever discussion they have, they will eventually reach an impasse. They're not going to be able to go forward because there are two opposing views and they both have equal merit in the eyes of the holders.
Instead of running from them and trying to get rid of them, you should work towards your weaknesses. On the other side of them, there are strengths.
Resources
Casey Kleindienst on LinkedIn

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Just how easy is DevOps? In this week’s show, Phil Borlin and Ken Cone, co-founders of SleepTight, share the answer. They join Etienne de Bruin to talk about the challenges that come with navigating a company's DevOps, and what developers should keep in mind. 
Some ideas you’ll hear them explore are:
DevOps is the idea that developers need to be in charge of their own destiny. Therefore, somebody needs to be able to help them get to that point. 
"What we're trying to do is change the way people do computer science," Ken says. You don't have to flip the ones and zeros on the machines anymore because transistors do that. It's high time DevOps is that way for people who want to create value.
Your business should be unique in your market, but not in your ops nor your tech. 
Developers should understand their tools, but that doesn't mean they have to write their tools.
Continuous integration simply means that all the code that is being written is grouped together continuously. Trunk-based development is going back to this ideal and feature flags is wrapping all the code. 
Trunk based development, terraform and infrastructure are all important in approaches to code. Phil and Ken detail the steps and procedures that go into terraforming and building code infrastructure.
Resources
Phil Borlin | [email protected]
Ken Cone
SleepTight

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