32% of IT professionals will be looking for a new job in 2018. This could be good news or bad news depending on your situation. Good news if you’re confident in your ability to attract new skilled IT talent; bad news if you’re concerned that your team will be targeted by recruiters and competitors.

Top reasons IT professionals are looking for a new job:

• Higher pay 
• Advancing their skills
• Working for a company where IT is more of a priority
• Working with a more talented team

All of these reasons point to the fact that IT job seekers know where the market is headed and are looking to maximize their earning potential and job security.

As an IT leader are you positioning your organization to lead in the new digital era and be an employer of choice for top IT talent? Taking the following steps should be on your agenda in 2018:

1. Review your project plans and rate them based on business impact. Innovative projects that increase your organization’s competitiveness and security projects that keep data protected should rate high. Work that is more routine such as endpoint deployment, basic software and hardware upgrades, and first level help desk activities should rate low.
   
   
2. Review engagement and skillset of your current staff. During performance reviews ask team members about the type of work they find motivating and work they feel enhances their skills. Connect the projects you have planned with the work they want to do.
   
   
3. Assess your team’s willingness to learn and take on new responsibilities. If a team member seems hesitant to move up to more complex critical work take the time to highlight the benefits of working on a challenging project. Consider assigning a mentor or training program.
   
   
4. Create a hiring plan that highlights key digital projects you are undertaking. Clearly define how working on these projects will enhance the career of new hires because they will gain new skillsets, work on high business impact technology projects, and join an advanced technology team.

In order to do all of this though, you have to be certain that the low impact but necessary work will still get done. Work smarter and free up your team’s time by engaging outside partners to take on the work your team would rather not do. Look for companies with strong references who have taken on similar responsibilities in the past.

In order to excel as an IT leader it is important to fully understand the impact of digital transformation. IT is now seen as profit generating and there are exciting new digital opportunities for your organization and your team. As the IT leader, your role is at the center of this change and you can lead your organization and your team to a promising future.