Tech leaders often work with teams that were established, built and shaped by someone else. Sometimes, that means inheriting a less-than-ideal culture or discovering that team members are missing essential skills and traits. A tech leader who finds their team isn’t firing on all cylinders or working well together may wonder what qualities and behaviors it would be most impactful for them to start fostering and modeling.
Below, 20 members of Forbes Technology Council share the group and individual traits they look for and emphasize in their teams. Read on to discover the factors that contribute most strongly to a cohesive, productive, innovative and happy tech team.
1. Belief In The Mission
At a time when tech investment is ever-challenging to secure, it is perhaps most important that you focus on finding individuals who not only contribute to business strategy and output, but who also truly believe in your mission. If you prioritize helping them find their passions within that mission and channeling their energy, you will foster a motivated, determined workforce that grows together. – Alex Ford, Encompass Corporation
2. Integrity
The most important attribute is integrity. Without it, all of the following skills, while highly important, are not worth much. After integrity, look for intelligence, curiosity to learn new skills and, last but not least, energy (or work ethic). Culture fit is more malleable. If you use a consistent set of criteria (choose your own) to hire, promote and fire, you will automatically build the culture that you want. – Chandra Duggirala, RAFA
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3. An Entrepreneurial Mindset
I want people on my team who want to own their jobs, not rent them. We can teach technical skills; what’s more difficult is finding someone who is willing to own a problem from start to finish. – Rohana Meade, Synergy Technical
4. A Culture Of Continuous Learning
When building a tech team from scratch, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation is essential. In today’s dynamic tech world, staying ahead of the competition and creating a name for your business requires the team to be versatile, skilled, adaptable and eager to learn new technologies, methodologies and tools. Continuous learning helps the team solve new challenges with ease. – Namrata Sengupta, Stellar Data Recovery Inc. dba BitRaser
5. Agility
Building a tech team in a new company requires a unique temperament and mindset. The success of a new company or startup hinges on maintaining momentum, making it crucial that the tech team is built to understand and drive this momentum forward. The team needs to be agile and capable of moving quickly, recover rapidly from missteps, and be skilled enough to hit the ground running from day one. – Kartik Agarwal, Technosip
6. A Focus On Customers
My first priority would be creating a culture focused on providing value to customers. Innovation, a passion to learn and a proactive mindset would be my key principles for the team to emulate. People who are focused on problem-solving, have a passion to learn and are willing to work as a team have the key skills needed to make the most of their technical skills. – Buyan Thyagarajan, Eigen X
7. ‘Hyper Connectivity’
Beyond the table stakes, such as culture fit and aptitude for growth, I’ve learned to value “hyper connectors.” These are individuals who actively empathize with colleagues outside of your team and build greater connectivity across your organization (or broader community). They often participate in industry conferences or other thought leadership, and they are the keys to creating a spark that starts a blaze of growth. – Cal Al-Dhubaib, Further
8. Humility Paired With Enthusiasm
Tech team members need humility and enthusiasm for collaboration. In Ireland, there’s an emphasis on community support and helping others without seeking status for oneself. Whether we’re advancing vision AI or diving into customer pain points, our productivity flourishes when we eagerly embrace challenges together. Experience and knowledge can be built up, but a person’s character is much more impactful in hiring. – Alan O’Herlihy, Everseen
9. Strong Communication Skills
Strong communication skills are essential. Without active listening and a commitment to clarifying objectives and confirming requirements, it is very easy—particularly in diverse, geographically spread teams—to become misaligned in terms of what is required and the importance of specific tasks. – Stephen Farrugia, BAI Communications
10. A Long-Term Strategic Approach
When building tech teams, adopting a long-term strategic approach is crucial, as success hinges on the scalability of technology and processes. Small teams often start with off-the-shelf solutions, but as they grow, these can become bottlenecks. Build teams that have the foresight to plan not just for today, but for tomorrow, to anticipate challenges and ensure sustainable growth. – Jeff Wong, EY
11. A User-Centric Product Mindset
I would focus on instilling a product mindset in my team. By prioritizing user-centric solutions, the team becomes more innovative, customer-focused and agile. This focus drives cross-functional collaboration, guaranteeing that the team consistently delivers value and adapts swiftly to changes in today’s rapidly evolving market. – Pankaj Chawla, 3Pillar Global
12. Diversity
While experts in relevant topics are fundamental to sustaining developments related to the company’s heritage, diversity in background and experience is of paramount importance for fostering innovation and development that’s open to new topics and adjacent subjects. Diversity in background and experience, combined with a continuous learning culture, creates a very solid starting point to sustain growth and keep up with the competition. – Mattia Lucchini, Datwyler Switzerland Inc.
13. Complementary Skills And Passion For Individual Roles
When building a new team from scratch, look for team members who are interested in solving problems and are passionate about their roles. Additionally, team members have to have complementary skills; each should be the best in their role and passionate about it. Passion leads to success, and when you set someone up for success, you maximize their productivity and they become more valuable to their team. – Amina Elgouacem, NEOSTEK
14. Commitment To Helping Others Succeed
Primary emphasis must be given to building a self-sustaining ecosystem across an organization. This entails propagating a warm culture of offering a helping hand among employees and recognizing and rewarding those who help others. Such an approach mitigates any issues arising from a sudden need for specific skill sets when in the midst of new implementations, ensuring employees are not left struggling at critical moments. – V S Adithya Dwadasi, AHEAD
15. A Strong Work Ethic And Positive Attitude
When building a tech team from the ground up, prioritize hiring exceptional individuals. Choose growth-oriented members with a strong work ethic and positive attitude. A team’s culture and success are driven by its members. Exceptional team members deliver high-quality work and inspire their peers, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. – Shivani Modi, Konko AI
16. The Right People In The Right Roles
It’s crucial to hire the right people for each role and play to their strengths. Think of it as a dolphin excelling as a swimmer but not as a runner. Each team member should be in a role that best matches their skills. Small teams often require people to “wear many hats,” but these should be the right hats. This not only boosts productivity, but also fosters a culture of excellence and innovation. – Andrew Kucheriavy, Intechnic
17. Critical Thinking
With the rise of AI technologies, critical thinking skills are increasingly vital to the success of tech teams. Having the capability to process, interpret and question a range of relevant information is especially crucial in today’s climate of rapidly evolving technologies accompanied by dynamic social and regulatory challenges. – Merav Yuravlivker, Data Society
18. Psychological Safety
When building a tech team from the ground up, prioritize psychological safety. Creating an environment where team members feel safe to express their ideas, ask questions and admit mistakes without fear of criticism or retribution is crucial. This fosters innovation, collaboration and continuous learning, which are essential in today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving tech landscape. – Roman Vinogradov, Improvado
19. The Ability To Thrive On Challenges
I would look into how team members react to stress and challenges. In a fast-moving tech landscape, things will always go wrong and require a quick solution—especially in startups in relatively new niches of the tech industry. Thus, your tech team has to have at least a few key members who thrive on challenges and are ready to take things into their own hands rather than shift responsibility. – Julius Černiauskas, Oxylabs
20. A People-First Mindset
For me, it would be maintaining a business mindset over a technological mindset. This means keeping the focus on the most important aspect of any business: its customers and employees. We are currently in an exciting time of great technological advancements, but it’s important to remember that technology works best when it’s deployed with a people-first mentality. – Shane Behl, Enterprise Mobility
