Can you spot the Impact Player? 5 common situations where our Senior Tech Leadership approach harnesses the true potential of your team.

10 | 2024 Olli Laine, Kipinä Co-founder & CEO

Have you noticed how some team members not only perform the tasks and tickets assigned to them, but also add real value and raise the performance level of the whole team? Organisational psychologist Liz Wiseman calls these individuals 'Impact Players'. They stand out by taking an active role, solving complex problems and creating value beyond their job description.

Liz Wiseman's thoughts at the recent Nordic Business Forum on the impact of 'Impact Players' on successful outcomes resonated with us at Kipin with a big flame. Perhaps precisely because from those same ideas our experts, our catalysts, are building Kipinä's Senior Tech Leadership. Not a separate service, but a strong shared service attitude and mindset of Kipinä's experts.

Our team of 'Player Coaches' are what Wiseman describes as 'Impact Players' whose role is not just to manage technology, architectures and coding, but to genuinely support and develop our clients' teams, other contributors and the way they develop.

We dug deeper into the idea of the 'Impact Player' and identified five situations highlighted by Wiseman that are also recurring in IT development. So we decided to tackle these situations from the perspective of the Kipinä Senior Tech Leadership model.

1) Messy Problems (Messy Problems)

When responsibilities are unclear, expectations come from many directions, problems often become confusing and tasks fall by the wayside. Ordinary workers naturally stick to their roles. In these situations, 'Impact Players' step in and tackle the confusing problem, even if it is not in their job description. Such complex and ambiguous challenges are a feature of IT development, and Kipinä's experts have developed into true problem solvers. By taking an active role and taking responsibility - caring - in solving the problem and bringing in the right people, 'confusing situations' can be resolved. No important task is left undone just because it is not part of someone's role.

2) Unclear Roles

When leadership is unclear, it is natural for people to wait for instructions. 'Impact Players' naturally take leadership without being asked. For Kipinä experts, leadership is not a title, but a way of doing things. Especially at critical stages of projects, when decision-making is slow due to unclear lines of responsibility, we boldly take the lead to clarify roles and responsibilities to get the team back on track.

3) Unforeseen Obstacles

When problems arise, some team members tend to just pass them on. It is in the nature of an 'impact player' to take responsibility, find solutions and see a project through to the finish line with perseverance and determination. We see this as the 'finishing gene', which means that at Kipini we are not used to being discouraged by challenges. These overcomers take ownership of problems and work tenaciously to find a solution. Sometimes it may also require convening a wider crisis meeting or ensuring the issue is escalated.

When a critical bug occurs in the production environment, the kipinäläer ensures that troubleshooting progresses, organises the team's actions and ensures that the problem is resolved as quickly as possible, minimising business disruption.

4) Moving Targets

In changing circumstances, others stick to the familiar, and the pressure to change distracts from the focus. 'Impact Players' adapt quickly, ask the right questions and adjust their actions to stay on track. To adapt our operations and technical solutions to meet changing business needs, we at Kipini actively monitor industry trends and technological developments.

Often, the requirements of a project simply change in the middle of development, so our job is to quickly assess the new situation, adapt the plan and ensure that the team understands the changed situation and can continue motivated and focused on the new goal.

5) Unrelenting Demands

As workloads and demands increase, some become anxious and may make the work harder for others. 'Impact Players' are able to find ways to lighten the workload for themselves and their colleagues, bringing positive energy and focus to what matters most. In the most challenging digital development projects, with tight schedules and heavy workloads, the Senior Tech Leadership service mindset involves prioritising tasks, automating repetitive processes, reflecting on the big picture and team activities, and providing support to team members. It's much more productive to do the hard stuff, keep stress under control and work flowing smoothly. A big part of our role is to act as an Impact Player-like facilitator for our clients, so that the team can work more efficiently and focus on what's important in a positive atmosphere.

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The real potential of teams

Liz Wiseman's core message about the value of 'Impact Players' in teams is clear: the average player does their job with their head down, focusing only on their tasks. Impact Players take on what is not in their job description, but is a task that just has to be done. This is the attitude that every member of our team is equipped with. An attitude and a way of working that can take digital development to the next level.

We care. We act as a catalyst.

Senior Tech Leadership is not a separate service, but a critical part of everyone's thinking and actions that enables our clients' teams to achieve more than before, especially in these situations:

• For growth-stage companies to ensure managed scalability.

• In digital transformation

• In complex projects to minimise risks.

• Modernising core business from legacy systems to today.

• Maintaining competitiveness in a rapidly changing market.

When you want to take your team to the next level, the Senior Tech Leadership model is the key to reaching your full potential!

Olli Laine, Kipinä Co-founder & CEO

The author is one of the visionaries of the future of Finnish digital development, a passionate advocate of data-driven leadership and one of the co-founders of Kipinä Software. In addition to his CEO hat, he wears an orienteer's headlamp and a skier's hat.