We show that integrability of an almost complex structure in complex dimension m is equivalent, in the presence of an almost hermitian metric, to m(m − 1) equations involving what we call shear operators. Inspired by this, we give an ansatz for Kähler metrics in dimension m > 1, for which only m − 1 of these shear equations are non-trivial. The equations for gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons in this ansatz are frame dependent PDEs, which specialize to ODEs under extra assumptions. Metrics solving the latter system include a restricted class of cohomogeneity one metrics, and we find among them complete expanding gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons under the action of the (2m − 1)-dimensional Heisenberg group, and some incomplete steady solitons. In another special case of the ansatz we present, for m = 2, a class of complete metrics of a more general type which we call gradient Kähler-Ricci skew-solitons, which are cohomogeneity one under the Euclidean plane group action. This paper continues research started in [MR,AM2].