What is it like to become an Exceptional Intelligent Automation Leader?

An Intelligent Automation leader provides technology selection, training, and evangelism. These are fundamentals of any successful automation program. Investing in an Intelligent Automation leader sets the foundation for a strong automation program.?

There are many sheep but fewer shepherds. There are many managers but few truly exceptional leaders. A business needs a great Intelligent Automation leader to successfully scale an automation program and an exceptional leader to make automation work.??

An exceptional RPA | IA automation leader will deliver business results. Using automation and digitization tools, a poor leader will break a great program into thousand pieces and deliver nothing.??

But what makes an EXCEPTIONAL Intelligent Automation leader??

There are 8 secrets to becoming one:

1. Ability to create a bold vision for the automation program aligned to business strategy??

An exceptional automation leader understands business strategy. They align an automation program’s outcomes directly to that strategy. They identify the areas where automation can have the greatest impact.??

They present a bold vision of how automation can speed up and improve the business. They evangelize this vision. As they deliver results and tell a compelling story of how automation helped. This maintains executive support and encourages others to join in.

And, as they scale the automation program they continue to refine the strategy. They design a digital and automation communication strategy to keep the business on the side.?

2. Tenacious and Resilient??

Digital Transformation is a journey, not a destination. An automation leader must navigate that journey with the team. They must bring the automation program and business along. They understand the importance of starting. Even when one takes small steps.??

They understand that transformation brings change. The greater the impact, the great the change. With change comes resistance. They anticipate resistance but are dogged in their pursuit of excellence.?

They recognize that transformation is tough. They must innovate to transform. They recognize that some innovations may fail. But they are prepared for this eventuality. They are resilient and coach their team and the business to be resilient too.??

3. Have high Emotional Intelligence (EI)?

High EI is needed to understand how people will be affected by the transformation. An automation leader needs to understand how those affected by the change will feel and how they will react. They must be able to put themselves in their colleagues’ shoes. Listening and leading empathetically.??

They must prepare people for change. They must educate the business on the positive side of change, and prepare those impacted by transformation for the downsides. They must convince, cajole and console in equal measures keeping the business engaged.??

4. Must be a great communicator and evangelist of automation??

The automation leader must be a persuasive and impactful orator. They need to be able to communicate a big vision, Storyboard the use cases, pitch the value proposition, build the case for change and convince people to act.??

They need to create a bold vision for the automation program that inspires others to join in.?Sharing success stories impactfully. Mitigating the impact of failures along the way. They must recruit evangelists from businesses and encourage them to tell their stories.?

5. Understand a business’s customers and how technology can help deliver?

Businesses change direction due to customer behavior changes, industry shifts, or competitors' actions. They must react rapidly to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.??

An exceptional automation leader tracks market and business changes. They watch where the CEO and executive leadership is driving.??

They spot ways in which automation can aid the business to deliver its strategy. They need a deep understanding of emerging tech and use it to deliver customer and business outcomes.??

6. Mentor and coach people to be better?

A great automation leader develops other great leaders. They have no ego and want what is right for their colleagues, the business, and the automation program. They are a people person. They coach people in the right way and they mentor both tech and business team members through digital change.??

They help technical team members appreciate the business’s point of view. They help the business appreciate the intelligent automation and robotic process automation technical teams’ point of view.?

They help their team broaden and deepen their tech and business skillsets by creating opportunities where none existed and they teach others how to do the same.?

7. Champion Data and Analytics to drive digitization and intelligent automation?

Data is the foundation for any automation program. To identify hotspots of automation, measure process KPIs, and understand variations in the process one needs data. The analytics derived from data can help unlock more digitization and automation opportunities.??

An automated process can generate significantly more granular data than a manual process. This granular data can then be used to generate unique business insights. For example, to understand customer ordering patterns or to unlock efficiencies in customer service.??

An exceptional automation leader understands the value of data and analytics. They strive for continuous and measurable progress backed by strong data and analytics.?

8. An exceptional leader targets and delivers exceptional results.?

Exceptional automation leader recognizes that they are employed to deliver business results, not excuses. They are not employed just to lead teams, explain tech or be a good team player. They are employed to deliver business outcomes. Too often, some leaders fail to deliver what they promised. When that happens a host of excuses spew forth. e.g., we made no money but our colleague and customer NPS is higher; our processes are more compliant. Whilst these are worthwhile deliverables, they don’t make the tills ring in quite the same way as cash does. Exceptional automation leaders deliver results that show in the P&L. Poor leaders deliver intangibles that don’t count anywhere.??

In summary, an Exceptional Automation Leader builds a vision for the intelligent automation and robotic process automation program, ties it to business outcomes, wins executive support, and shares the purpose. They will emphasize the positive, break the change down into measurable initiatives, facilitate collaboration amongst diverse teams and rally the team around a bold vision.?

An Exceptional Automation Leader is inspiring. They will mentor and coach, roll up their sleeves, and get involved when issues arise. They focus on driving change management and creating evangelists in the business and prioritizing high-impact items even if they are tough to achieve. They bring a relentless focus on outcomes with a never say die attitude and they deliver results the right way.?