Transformation musings...

As I head into the eve before I fly off for two weeks of Oxford learning experience for our second and third cohorts of the Future of Transformation Forum, I'm so grateful for all the amazing leaders I've had the pleasure of engaging with over the past (nearly) 2 years.

When I started building this program last year, I knew with the support of some incredibly talented colleagues that we would achieve something special, but I never prepared myself for just how amazing it would be. Yet here we are, about to take another 100 incredible transformation leaders through the journey.

As the Global Program Leader, I have the true privilege of getting to know all the participants individually and the wisdom that has been shared during our many conversations has been incredible.

If you are a transformation leader or are part of a transformation team, my top insights from engaging with this dynamic, highly intelligent and well experienced group of leaders would be:

1.????? Don’t be afraid to deviate from where you thought you might end up. A large proportion of our participants started in degrees or early careers that don’t necessarily scream “future transformation leader’”. But the key consistency is that all the leaders jumped headfirst into challenging and unique career opportunities and projects that ultimately saw them rewarded with unparalleled skills and experiences.

2.????? Your ability to connect and team is paramount. Not all teams were created equally and certainly in transformations, resourcing can be challenging. For many of our leaders, teams might be much smaller than one might think, with some not even having direct reports (yet!). The key to the leaders’ success? Again, all leaders have consistently established excellent rapport and trust with key allies in their respective businesses and they place a strong emphasis on the value of those relationships.

3.????? Accept that you can’t beat the clock. Whilst nearly all leaders would love to have more time in their days, the one key trend that really emerged through my program intake sessions was an acceptance that there is only so much you can do either in one day, on your own or without the support of technology. All leaders recognized that setting realistic stakeholder expectations and key project milestones were critical and they equally all emphasized the incredible importance of a trusted team that can deliver. Lastly I would say there were very few leaders who also didn’t raise the importance of technology in both their transformation program and their own leadership. This is a group of people who are embracing change daily and really leading the approach to putting technology to best use to support their people.

This is really just the tipping point of the multitude of insights I have gained from talking with these immensely interesting and generous leaders. I am so excited to spend the next couple of weeks hearing more and watching as they really experience what our program is all about.

I look forward to sharing more insights into my experiences as a Program Leader over the coming weeks and cannot thank our participants enough for their trust, their candour and their genuine enthusiasm for our program.