Lessons learnt presentation

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to present some key lessons learnt to date - based on our adoption of cloud services-  to an audience of government data leaders. I have presented this to a few difference audiences and it has always sparked lots of conversations. A few people have asked for a copy of my presentation so I have uploaded it here.

Harnessing the Power of Diversity and Inclusion

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to host a series of round table conversations at a conference event here in Wellington. The event saw over 200 senior leaders from across New Zealand converged on Te Papa to discuss a wide range of topics, challenges and opportunities facing the public sector.

The topic of the round table conversation was ‘harnessing the power of upskilling, diversity and inclusion’. .For me diversity (and inclusion) is a source of competitive advantage and differentiation for organisations but its also something that’s deeply personal to me; due to negative experiences I’ve had over the years including being told I wouldn’t get a job because I had a ‘funny sounding name’.

The level of engagement, and quality of discussion, during the round table conversations was fantastic, and insights and thoughts are definitely worth sharing so here is a summary of those:

• Almost everyone agreed that diversity and inclusion is much wider than gender, race, background etc. Those dimensions of diversity are important because they contribute to diversity of thought; the opportunity is to  harness the power of everyone’s perspectives, insights, skills and experiences.
• Diversity and inclusion requires deliberate focus and action; we need to move beyond targets/quoats/measures - which are often passive - to fostering cultures which genuinely value, and actively seek out, diversity.
• There is an opportunity to fold diversity and inclusion into a range of activities. For example, when hiring you should look for technical skills, team fit and contribution towards diversity. Onboarding provides a unique opportunity to set the cultural tone and expectations.
• At the centre of the conversation is bias (both implicit and hidden) and social conditioning - recognising both, and ‘checking in’ to see how they might affect any scenario or situation, is something we need to encourage everyone to do more of.
• The tech industry still suffers from a PR and perception problem. We all need to work to break down the conditioning and conventional wisdom - making technology and STEM-related jobs appealing to a wider cross section of people means getting involved with education programmes, encouraging apprenticeships, mentoring and community engagement activities.
• Creating cross-functional teams (for example, product teams) provides an opportunity to cut across different technical disciplines which can at times be reasonably ‘homogeneous’. The adoption of Agile creates a great opportunity to drive out more diversity and inclusion.
• The drive for diversity and inclusion is something that requires everyone’s support and is definitely something that can be driven ‘middle out’ in organisations but it requires top-level leadership commitment because it has to permeate everything we do, from what is measured/valued all the way through to how front-line activities are delivered.
• It’s tempting to set bit audacious goals but a series of well executed smaller initiatives beats a big audacious goal which struggle to gain traction every time.Small ideas, done well, can build momentum and a coalition for more change.
• A lot of organisations already have a good level of diversity in their workforce (this is very true in New Zealand which I’ve found to be quite multi-cultural) but don’t have the culture and working practices that tap into that diversity.Having diversity at the table isn’t enough if the conversation doesn’t promote and foster inclusion, we can all be doing more to include different insights and thinking into the mix. It can start with something as simple as ensuring everyone has an opportunity to voice their perspective. Sometimes just asking ‘what do you think’ broadens out the conversation. Putting in place mechanisms to allow anyone to provide feedback and suggestions is really important.
• The topic of neurodiversity came up in conversation; it’s where neurological differences are recognized and respected as any other human variation. It’s not an area I’m familiar with, so it’s something I will definitely do more research into. I know Richard Branson have spoken very openly about being dyslexic and how he believes it’s shaped his life and career.

A few people expressed frustration with the seemingly slow rate of progress in terms of gender diversity which is understandable. Diversity and inclusion conversations often spark debates which touch on big, complex topics such as gender equality, discrimination, entitlement, pay gaps and status (amongst other things) making them very confrontational. That makes most people - at least the ones who aren’t so egregiously prejudiced that they will never change - uncomfortable. It’s human nature to be repelled by things that make us uncomfortable. To move past the discomfort I think we need to immerse everyone in the topic to make it personal and relatable. In my experience focusing solely on underrepresented groups tends to alienate the wider audience who are looking for a safe and constructive way to engage.

For leaders at every level it is about creating psychological safety in your organsation to allow people to engage in meaningful conversations, focus on the human aspects, call out detractors (nicely) and work towards a commonly agreed set of goals.

Diversity and inclusion is a complicated topic, no doubt about that. Human beings are complex and navigating biases, assumptions, and misunderstandings will be a bumpy journey. It’s how those bumps are handled, and the ongoing deliberate focus on making things better for everyone that will see things through. There’s also no ‘one size fits all’ recipe - much of this is about experimentation and finding out what works for you, the important bit is creating an environment where that can happen.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the conversations. 

Oh, and to the bloke (I have to assume, I’m sorry if I’m wrong) who posted the comment about the benefit of employing young staff being their ability to contribute to the superannuation of those heading towards retirement, let’s talk in person. I assume lunch on Sunday is still on? What time shall we come round and what can we bring, other than your superannuation cheque of course :)

7 Themes for Making an Exponential Difference in the World

What Leadership Role Does An Effective CEO Need To Play In Today’s Business World?

Stalling transformation, its a leadership thing.

A rapidly growing number of organisations are reporting their digital transformations as either about to stall or stalling. In fact, according to a November 2018 survey by IDG, more than 50 percent of companies polled have abandoned their transformation projects. Forrester echos this, claiming that half of all digital transformation projects have stalled.

Those are some worrying stats at a time when all industries are undergoing disruptions and fighting for long-term relevance. I believe we’ve long passed the ‘transform or die’ stage; it’s no longer even a choice however too many organisations, and exec teams, still don’t feel that sense of urgency. Give it a few more years and those organisations will become the taxi companies of the transport industry.

Various analysts attribute these stalls - or deadlocks - to a range of factors: budgets, competing priorities, organisational and technology silos, security concerns and that fantastic catch-all of culture all get mention in these various whitepapers.

In my experience the issue is dead simple in the majority of cases; it hinges on leadership. Organisations simply have the wrong type of leadership to drive transformation. The old adage of ‘what got you here won’t get you there’ has never been truer.

So how do you know if you have the wrong type of leadership? There are a number of qualities to look for to assess if you have the right type of leadership in your organisation:

• Self-awareness - the right leaders know their both their strengths and weaknesses, and are prepared to be open and real about them. The industrial age thinking that management have all the ideas and answers has really had its day. If you have to constantly convince senior leaders that it was ‘their idea’ to get anything done then that should be a red flag.
• Greenwashing and unjustified optimism - another casualty of the industrial age management wisdom is the drive for positivity, especially the kind that happens just before an organisation folds. I’m a huge believer in positive thinking and pushing forward but the reality is you can’t effectively manage by fairytale. If you’re always greenwashing or editing memos to paint a positive story then that should be a clear warning flag. It’s something I fondly call ostrich management - head in the sand…going nowhere.
• Decision making and autonomy - modern leaders empower and energise their teams to achieve results. Devolution of decision making is something to watch for - if every decision feels like it’s yet another memo heading up to the exec team then that is usually a bad signal.
• Problem solving and exploration - complexity is increasing all around us on a daily basis - divergent thinking and exploring possibilities are essential qualities of leadership. Leaders should facilitate the solving of problems - not aim to be chief problem solvers themselves, which usually turns into micromanagement.
• Measuring value and contribution - again, the industrial age ‘time served’ model simply is no longer fit for purpose. Measuring someone’s contribution is about results - here and now - not how long they have been around. The ‘job for life’ days are over and we need to shelve the thinking that came with it. Jack Welch of GE fame advocated regularly culling the bottom 10-15% of performers which seems a bit brutal but equally modern, agile organisations simply have no room to be piling up the deadwood. If your leadership structure is heavy with people whose value and contribution is unclear to most people around them then perhaps its time to review it.
• Collaboration and influence - modern leadership is inclusive and collaborative, bringing all parties along on the journey as much as possible. Influence has replaced authority as one of the most powerful tools in your leadership toolkit. An operating model where conversations only happen in pockets and decisions are made at the ‘apex’ kill collaboration and innovation and are something to watch out for and avoid.
• Resilience and navigating ambiguity - leadership teams that are constantly asking for more information before making a decision have a bumpy ride ahead - the world is increasingly ambiguous and being able to navigate that ambiguity (and it’s results) is an essential trait of fit for purpose leadership. A balance of data and ‘gut based’ decision making is required and if your organisation gets paralyzed by wanting more data it will simply be left behind by others who are willing to operate in a more ‘just in time’ manner.

The best leadership teams I have worked with have focused just as much on how they lead as they have on who/what they lead. Leaders should be holding each other accountable to exhibit the right values and behaviours, especially at an executive level. If you’re not having a conversation to check in on how you’re leading on a regular basis then I’d suggest that should be top of the agenda for your next exec team session. Be willing to be hard on yourselves as leaders and actually act on what you find - too many teams spend too much timing explaining away things rather than actually acting on them to fix whatever issues exist.

I totally understand there are plenty of people who have built careers on doing what they have always done, and that change is confronting - we are however moving beyond industrial age management into digital leadership which is a different ball game and change is the new normal. Steady state - or stalling - simply isn’t good enough anymore. We need to usher in a new generation of digital business leadership - we owe it to our organisations, our customers and most importantly our people.