Six thoughts for six months in #wavespace

6 months as EY’s EMEIA?#eywavespace?Lead?leading to 6 ah-has!?I had a chance this last week to take a pause from the daily and reflect on the past few months with?Jenny Coombes, our?EMEIA?wavespace?Knowledge?Lead.?These are some of my learnings?from the past half-year in the role.??

Six thoughts for six months?

1. ‘Individually smart, collectively brilliant’ principle. One of the things that excited me?most?about the role was the entrepreneurial spirit and diversity of the?24?locations in?the?EMEIA?wavespace?network and?how powerful these brilliant locations could be for clients if they?were?‘lego-bricked’ together – the ‘individually smart, collectively brilliant’ principle. That spark is unchanged. But a network needs some engine oil to help it run optimally. That might be looking at what roles are needed, such as fantastic Operations (@Naveen Sadhu , we’re so happy you joined!) or support to deliver?wavespace?sessions to answer our client’s most pressing questions using a multi-talented Resource Hub (thanks @KoshyMathew and @AbrahamMV).?
2. ?It takes courage to build a team.?In EY we put time, effort,?and passion into building highest performing teams. Trust is the foundation of any team, and we believe that building trust involves showing vulnerability, asking for help and admitting our skill deficiencies. That takes courage - from the top, the bottom and everywhere in between. In?wavespace, we’re building a super-team, where we are creating a shared vision and coalescing around it. It’s not easy but it’s something we passionately believe in. Some will come on the?journey,?some may decide it’s not for them. Earlier this year, EY announced the formation of?Europe West?which brings together 25 countries, including eight?wavespace?locations. @RudolfBoehlke, Europe West?wavespace?leader, has embarked on a journey to ‘lego-brick’ the?wavespaces?that serve our clients in these countries –?working together, with?the?common purpose of helping our clients address their most complex challenges, whilst preserving their own diversity and serving our diverse clients. Teams courageously forming and reforming, built on trust, and coming together as one network.???
3. ?Do what you do?for?the?love of the network. I was moved by @Peter Bellamy’s post?Don’t build teams, grow family. In my case I get real joy from working as part of a network and from looking back over what we’ve done together and looking forward to what we will do.?To me, we have to live?our purpose of?building a #BetterWorkingWorld,?and that love-in-action is supporting each?wavespace?in finding its identity and preserving its diversity.?For example, @JulianGrote?has a strong sense of belonging to a network of Germany,?and?Europe West?and?EMEIA?and?EY,?and he is able to assert the individual identity of that?wavespace?as?Munich’s?Quantum Space, enabled by?EY’s alliance with?Microsoft.??
4. ?The emotional and political are as important as the rational.?My mother asked me what I do – and I passed the “mom test”?when?I explained that?all?of us bring?our belief systems, hopes and fears into any situation, professional or personal.?Clients might have rational reasons for picking one strategy over the other but we are not rational beings?alone?– we have emotional reasons (“I like working with EY”) and political reasons (“I might get promoted for implementing this on time”) too.?wavespace?acknowledges this and deliberately designs experiences where people feel safe to express emotions,?making?space to?resolve issues,?as suppressing them can derail any change journey.??
5. Proudly pitch the successes of the network.?I have an absolute allergy to chest-thumping and have been hesitant to speak?“loudly” about?wavespace?or our collective achievement. But I had a major ah-ha recently: that some amount of “tooting one’s?own horn” is important for all of us who work in EY and?for?wavespace?as we have great pride in what we are doing for our clients,?we know we are making a difference, and?we want more?people?to benefit from the difference that we make.?Pride, and more importantly the potential to bring about change,??grows and spreads when we speak up about the good work we are doing, whether it is via the Friday?wavespace?stories I share?internally?in EY?with @HanneJescaBax, our?EMEIA?Managing Partner, Markets & Accounts,?and my colleagues on her EMEIA Markets Management Team - @PriyaFitch, @TomVelema, @SuganDPalanee,?@JoostVreeswijk,?@MikeDuggan, @JuliaDuggan, @MaudKnijnenburg, @GillianFitzgerald, @BiancaHageraats?-?or externally,?for example this?article about?InsurHUB?describing how?five insurance companies?worked collaboratively?in?the?Berlin wavespace?to?co-create new business models.?
6. Design for the outcome you want. Unless you’re very lucky,?you don’t?get results by accident?– you plan and design for them. In?wavespace, that is exactly what we do. We have a rigorous methodology?that helps clients?design new possibilities, find answers faster and align on actions they will take to achieve the outcomes they need for their business.?This could be anything from understanding the impact of new technologies,?planning and evaluating a restructure,?charting their?course in response to new competitors, or designing?the future of their industry.?Above all, our clients are part of the design process?– we don’t do anything ‘to’ them but work collaboratively with them.?

In our first conversation back in March,?Jenny asked me?what the young Gitanjali wanted to be when she was at school and I said I had wanted to be a pilot in the air force. We joked about the difference between that dream and where I actually took my career.?When I took this role?6 months ago, I worked with my team on?our?strategy?and called it ‘Revving the?rocketship’ –?wavespace?is?a transformative rocket that can take you fast and take you far, so maybe my dream has just grown – from air force pilot to astronaut!?