Exceptional Female Role Models - Kathryn Tingle

Kathryn Tingle sits within tech leadership at Sainsbury’s and is responsible for leading ￡multi-million cross-functional technology programmes across the business.

She was recognised as one of the 'Top 20 Digital Innovators - Europe 2021' by Contino for the delivery of high-profile tech and digital programmes.

She is a law graduate, who began her career with Gartner and then Deloitte in consulting, programme management and strategy.

She is a Business and Strategy Mentor, advising start-ups and growth businesses, helping them to formulate their business cases, new customer facing propositions and VC pitch decks; and contributed to the first Black Accelerator in Europe, backed by an Angel Investment partnership and London Borough start-up programmes.

Kathryn chaired the Strategy & Innovation World Forum (2020), and founded “Non-techies Journey to Tech” which showcases trailblazers within tech who have come from a non-technical background.

She is committed to busting the myth that a thriving tech career is not possible for people coming from a non-technical background.

Can we start by learning a bit more about your background and career journey to date?

I was born and raised in West London and have many fond memories growing up. I have strong Caribbean roots, due to my ‘Windrush generation’ grandparents. I frequently travel to Grenada - a small Caribbean island, and my own personal paradise. This joy has obviously been tampered with by Covid restrictions!

I was considered a high-achiever at school and really enjoyed learning and sports - I swam competitively for my Borough and also participated in athletics.

I studied Law at King’s College London, and after successfully completing a post graduate Legal Practitioners Certificate and having undertaken a number of internships, I decided to take a different journey. I went into Consulting as I loved trouble-shooting strategic problems and finding solutions. I advised FTSE100 and Fortune500 companies on their transformation journeys.

After doing this for several years, I pivoted into the retail industry as an Internal Management Consultant. I joined Sainsbury’s after the acquisition of Argos and worked on the integration of Sainsbury’s clothing line into Argos. This was the first commercial programme of work post-acquisition. I managed the end-to-end delivery of the programme from a tech, digital, supply chain, stores and financial perspective.

Since then, I have delivered many high profile and complex programmes at Sainsbury’s. Since joining the business in 2017, I have been promoted to tech leadership as a Senior Technical Programme Manager, which includes continuing to lead tech and business programmes on the Operating Board’s top strategic priorities.

I was also recently recognised as a Top 20 Digital Innovator across Europe for 2021.

What skills do you wished you had learned earlier in life?

Acceptance - I wish I had learned earlier that I would be ‘one of one’ in many rooms for a very long time. I was the only black girl in my all-girls school for all of my academic years, and that has continued throughout my professional life to date. 

When I was more junior in my career, I did not use this experience to empower myself enough. I didn’t have the sense of belonging to teams and instead of searching for that, I want younger black girls to see this as their superpower. Being different brings strength to a room, it provides diversity of thought and a different world view – which inevitably brings value as businesses pitch to a diverse customer base and audience.

It’s well-proven now that diversity brings better outcomes to teams and commercial benefit to any business. Previously, I did not understand that irrespective of what the table around me looks like, and how sometimes this can play out in various scenarios of discrimination or micro-aggressions, I shouldn’t feel under pressure to continuously over-deliver and over-achieve to justify my seat at the table.

There are historical structural issues at play that often mean no-matter how much extra effort you put in, sometimes you can’t break through these barriers, and for my own mental well-being, I wish I had realised earlier that sometimes it’s not you, it’s far beyond the requirement of excellence or ‘burning the midnight oil’.

I feel I’ve always been hard-wired to be an over-achiever, but I needed to realise that I shouldn’t put too much pressure on myself to change perceptions, structures and everything else that I’ve been challenged with.

What is the best professional advice you’ve ever been given?

Make many mistakes but never make them twice.

Failure and mistakes are such a taboo in most areas of life, but particularly in work. However, people and companies that embrace failure and are committed to continuous improvement are typically the most innovative and ultimately the most successful.

Matthew Syed’s book on ‘Black Box Thinking’ really delves into the benefits of failure. If you think about aviation and medicine as two examples – a lot of innovation around creating better and safer products and procedures has entirely come from learning from (unfortunately often devastating) mistakes.

I’m a recovering perfectionist, so I’ve learned to adopt a “progression over perfection” attitude. Agile principles within tech has really helped with this. 

Also, leading complex programmes and having to find solutions without the full picture and lots of ambiguity has meant that I’ve learned to be okay with taking chances and bringing people along on a journey.

When creating high-performing teams, I think it’s essential to give them a safe environment to make mistakes, but also to incorporate a ‘post-mistake review’ process where we are continuously learning how we can do things better and understanding what could have been done differently.

What are the biggest life lessons you have learned?

Integrity is the cornerstone of who I am – both in my personal & professional life.

This is often revealed as honouring my inner voice and intuition – when something doesn’t feel right, it usually isn’t right. In today’s world, have the courage to stay true to your integrity and values and stand up for what is right. Speaking out against what isn’t right is powerful and really important to me.

I really believe that you will be remembered for your courage and your behaviour when you are tested.

Also, I’ve learned that you can’t pour from an empty cup. You have to prioritise your well-being in order to show up as the best version of yourself.

And finally, life goes on. We usually land on our feet and I firmly believe that you’re in exactly the place where you’re meant to be, even when it doesn’t make sense at that time.

How important have mentors or sponsors been to you in your journey?

Mentors have been incredibly important to me, and as I’ve progressed through my career, I’ve appreciated the value of sponsors more. It’s proven that ethnically diverse people are typically over-mentored and under-sponsored.

I’m the type of person who really enjoys connecting the dots, but I also want to arm myself with different points of view and analysis to help me with my decision-making. Finding people who will allow me to soundboard ideas with them in a safe space has been really valuable.

There are quite a few people that I could call out who have helped me in these areas, but one person who immediately springs to mind is Jessica Hall, a former manager and currently the Director of Portfolio at Just Eat. She is absolutely phenomenal, she has integrity by the bucket load – she has been a great mentor, support and role model. A great mentor is someone who leads by example and who challenges you to expand.

I also really value developing my network, and if you are not investing in putting a network around you, I feel you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Also, my advice is don’t just restrict this to people working in your current organisation. One of the silver linings to come out of the awful pandemic and lockdown is just how accessible some really inspirational people have become.

I’ve always been a big believer in paying close attention to other people’s careers and journeys – where they are currently at, where they have been, where they are going to be.

What comments do you have regarding the importance of black female role models?

It’s all about intersectionality and the nuances that come with that. The journey to leadership for a black woman is going to feel and look very different to the journey of a white woman. Both journeys will have challenges, but the challenges will be different and they will be nuanced.

So I think that have having visible role models that look like you and that you can identify with – not just for how they look, but with knowledge of the journey they will have taken – is really powerful.

This belief that ‘if they have done it, so could I’ is very encouraging.

In the past, I actually wrote an article on the importance of female role models in a male dominated industry. It’s so important for other colleagues that look like that role model – it shows the art of the possible. It also shows other leaders that people who don’t look like them bring value, and their point of difference is a strength to their leadership team which is to be embraced.

The more familiar and comfortable everyone gets with embracing diversity, the better.

Do you have any general comments around the challenges of being a black woman in business?

One of the worrying things is that I find a lot of the discrimination, microaggressions and bullying seems to be worse when you are at a junior level. As you attain some seniority, life seems to get better. Although some of these things still exist, they play out in a different way.

It is sad though that the most vulnerable and inexperienced staff in a business usually face the most blatant version of discriminatory behaviour.

It’s a shame that as I look back, I would say one of the key strengths I have had to develop is resilience. With experience, I’m now very intentional around the companies, people and teams I align myself to. I want to be in places where I can thrive and bring my best thinking, and where my voice is valued.

I’ve come to the conclusion that some companies, and teams, will always struggle to be consciously inclusive. The only upside is that these companies are missing out on a deep pool of high-performing talented diverse people, and that really is their loss.

When you think back to times when you were challenged, what strategies have you developed to dealing with these?

I’m quite logical and strategic so I’ll always undertake an assessment as to what I think is going wrong.

I want to get down to the bare bones and the factual elements, stripping away the emotions.

Once I know precisely what the issue is that is causing me discomfort, I can then develop a logical and non-emotive plan in order to get back on track. This has not always been easy.

I do believe that you also need to be able to let certain things go and move on, or sometimes just develop the ability to suck it up. Control what you can control, don’t over-assess things and choose your battles. Look at everything on a case-by-case basis, understand that some things are just ‘noise’.

Have you developed any strategies for investing in your mental health – particularly to help you through lockdown?

At the start of lockdown I just threw myself into work. I was working really hard and I think in hindsight that was the right thing for me to do – just keeping really busy. Due to how hard I work and having many mental tabs open at a time, I’ve become intentional about my wellbeing. I think it’s also important the messages we send to our team as leaders. If we look after ourselves, it will encourage them to do the same. I partition my time so that before I do anything for anyone else, I have to prioritise doing something for myself.

I immediately put in place a 6am run or some form of workout every morning – it’s a sacrifice of some sleep, but I wanted to be really intentional – this is followed by a lemon hot water drink and some vitamins. Also, this allows me to get ready for my day ahead not feeling like I’m under any time pressure. It’s become my ritual now and I even do it at the weekends – although I do push the timings on a few hours from 6am!

I want to keep my creative juices flowing – the other day I actually bought a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle! I have also been journaling.

In terms of work-life balance, I also am involved in other activities such as being a Trustee of a Mental Health Charity and a School Governor.

What does success mean to you now?

Continuing to have a positive impact is important to me. I want to help young girls and women who want to set out on a corporate career, and especially those that want to enter tech.

I see it as almost a need to give them a ‘heads up’ so they don’t end up quite as bruised, and if I can be inspirational or some form of role model for them I would like to do that.

Personally, it’s still important for me to get to the recognition for the value I provide. I’m looking forward to delivering innovative change with high yielding benefits for businesses.

I also don’t want to continue to be ‘one of one’ in rooms, but if I am, then I am committed to keeping the door open and paying it forward so that eventually that ‘one of’ becomes a much bigger number.