How do you make an impact? (diary of a digital transformation)

I’m sharing my story for four reasons:

i) to help me reflect and learn

ii) to share my lessons to help you

iii) to connect and learn alongside people who want to develop

iv) to be honest and open about my experiences, good and bad (to set an example) I’m being particularly honest this week!

I was talking to a colleague this week about the impact we were having with my main client Lloyds Banking Group. In this case, the impact refers to changing ways of working so that the customer is the focus and not the business.

(this is based on the assumption that focusing on understanding and meeting the customer needs first will reduce business costs and increase revenue second. Simple to make this change right? Turns out not to be but I’ll save a discussion on this for another post ;-) )

I was also talking about a pro bono client of mine, Hilary, who I am mentoring when I suddenly realised that I was having a much bigger impact with her than I was with Lloyds. And this was despite the fact that I spent at most a few hours a month helping Hilary and 5 days a week with Lloyds.

So I thought it would be worth exploring what makes my working relationship with Hilary so impactful.

First, a quick introduction to Hilary — Hilary has set up a tech co-op called Sleuth and is on a mission to solve complex social problems through technology. One of her main customers are local authorities as she has spent a long time working for local authorities and wanted to help them be more successful.

I have been advising her for several months on a variety of areas where I have relevant experience including startups, product strategy and development and growing the co-op.

We have a shared mentality which challenges the status quo and questions why it has to be this way — frustrated employees, underutilised/overlooked talented people, poorly performing organisations, winner takes all organisational culture. We are inspired by a vision where these issues are removed and organisation’s and societies thrive as a result.

We have a working relationship based on mutual respect, transparency and an expectation that commitments will be made and delivered.

In practice, this means that we will discuss topics of concern and I will ask some questions or maybe offer some advice if requested where I have relevant experience.

Hilary will reflect and decide on her preferred course of action. She may take my advice, reject or adapt it but we’ll keep talking and learning regardless. Like any good leader, Hilary seeks advice from other trusted collaborators, partners and, crucially, customers. I trust that these relationships have the same basis — there are no bosses, managers or hidden agendas here who will dictate direction.

Perhaps more importantly, she will take action rather than letting doubt and uncertainty delay any action taking. If things don’t work as expected, we’ll discuss why, learn and adjust accordingly.

My only expectation is to be treated as an equal, get honest feedback and transparency so I understand why decisions have been made and who has been involved. This is an adult relationship, noone is telling the other what to do but we both value what the other brings. We recognize the world is full of uncertainty and the best response is to test, learn, work together and grow the capability of the co-op.

Also, I am free to decide on my contribution. You might not be surprised as it is pro bono! However, giving me the freedom to choose is liberating and is positive for Sleuth. As I understand and am bought into the mission, I will contribute where I can make the most impact given the financial constraints. I will also look to get more involved and play to my strengths by helping create commercial opportunities through collaboration.

Finally, I would say that we have some key shared values — we haven’t talked about these but they are reflected in the way we work. Behaving in an ethical way is important along with showing integrity and fairness to colleagues, partners and customers.

So, a quick summary of why I have greater impact when working with Hilary is as follows:

• Shared vision
• Bias towards action
• Mutual respect
• Individual freedom
• Transparency
• Shared Values — ethical, integrity, fairness, honesty
• Love to learn

Let’s look at my work with Lloyds and see where there are opportunities for improvement:

• Bias towards action — in some areas, colleagues will act, in others it can revert to caution and endless reviews. Perhaps more courage and humility is required — admitting to not being perfect creates a more human relationship where mistakes are permitted.
• Mutual Respect — on an individual level this is true but it is not reflected in being fully empowered. Also, issues such as failure to prioritise finding solutions to air conditioning during this heatwave.
• Individual freedom — this might seem like an odd concept. How can an individual be free to choose how they contribute to an organisation’s objective? We all have to have a defined role, don’t we? Actually, in my team, there are few defined roles, the team adapts and evolves to meet the team’s purpose. Individuals build up their reputation over time within the team and we try to play to our strengths and interests when delivering to our purpose. This is a legacy of Marcus Dimbleby’s contribution and is, I hope, achieved in other teams but it is far from the usual model. This is a long term project!
• Transparency — on a localised, team level this often happens. However, it is not widespread throughout the organisation. It should be simple and quick for every individual to understand the company vision and how their actions are directly contributing towards that vision (and be empowered to change if that is not the case!)
• Shared Values — on a team and individual level, this is generally true. However, this is not consistently reflected when promoting or dismissing individuals.
• Love to learn — this is true in part but it takes time to move an organisation to value ongoing learning and recognizes this delivers better customer outcomes (it’s easier to carry on focussing on delivery of stuff )
• Shared vision — the vision differs and some individuals are further on the journey towards that vision than others. The new Chief Design Officer has opened his calendar for anyone to book time directly with him. He has also explained his reason why he has joined — money is in every part of our lives but our relationship with finance is generally very negative— he wants us to create a positive relationship with our finances. Simple but compelling!

Food for thought!

What is your experience of what you need to have an impact?