I also particularly enjoyed the chapter on “Humanness, Confidence, and Creative Competence”, and that is the basis for this article, especially as it echoes aspects Protagion has covered in previous posts:

• Encouraging change, including how a leader’s role is to support people through change, especially as different people in an organisation have different levels of desire for change
• Thriving as a contractor / gig economy worker by managing the human anxieties of contracting, using “liberating connections” as support to “endure the emotional ups and downs of [independent] work and gain energy and inspiration from the freedom [contracting offers]”

At Protagion, we’ve also been thinking about the trend towards automation and its longer term impacts on the nature of work. Many commentators argue that the best response for us is to sharpen and emphasise our skills which are uniquely human, including empathy, compassion, creativity, strategic thinking, communication, and collaboration / teamwork. Doing this, they argue, will enable us to outsource the routine, process-driven, optimisation-focused work to robots, giving us more time to focus on where we as humans can add most value.

Another excellent article courtesy of LinkedIn that we wanted to share with you. This one is authored by Rob Powell, Chief Executive at the Legal Ombudsman in the United Kingdom. In it, he shares nine lessons from reflecting on his first year as a new Chief Executive, as well as a snapshot of the highs and lows over the year. 

Below we summarise Rob’s advice he would have given himself – it’s also incredibly helpful for others stepping up into new roles. We add the extra advice given by some of the readers of Rob’s article too.

The original Linkedin article, followed by reader comments, can be found here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-chief-executive-one-year-what-i-would-tell-myself-rob-powell/

Rob’s reflections and suggestions (with our emphasis):

• Remember why you got the job and don’t change who you are or how you lead i.e. authenticity and faith in your personal style
• Use every opportunity to communicate your vision and plan simply and clearly
• Pick an early priority as a strong signal and drive real change
• Make quick decisions that are good enough to progress the organisation’s core strategy, even if the decisions aren’t perfect
• Ringfence time to think strategically and get your focus right
• Invest time in the key relationships, within your organisation, externally, and with your Chair and Board
• Get your team right and develop your people, including sourcing the capabilities you need, emphasising and signalling the behaviours you want, and providing positive and constructive feedback
• Control the pace and ambition for the organisation, and build both speed and space into your plans and resourcing
• Make time for your own development and build your network as support from other leaders is invaluable as a sounding board
• Look after your own wellbeing and energy, including holidays and hobbies which give you perspective and space

Other suggestions before starting a new role:

• Prepare thoroughly for the responsibility (as advised to Rob by his Chair, Wanda Goldwag, when he took over the role, following internal promotion)
• Take the deepest breath you can
• Persevere, try to enjoy it, and don’t expect too many thank yous
• Admit you’re still learning
• Get some training upfront before starting
• Be straightforward with colleagues and stakeholders
• Remember that you’ll look back on the new role and your accomplishments with pride
• Know your networks and use them (as advised to Nicci Russell, Managing Director at Waterwise, by Cathryn Ross)

Please do let us know if you have additional suggestions for those stepping up into new roles – we’d love to hear your thoughts.

A new TEDx talk we’d like to introduce to you: the speaker is David Wicks, founder of Digital Hunters which celebrates the success of high-growth technology businesses and helps others to follow in their footsteps. David has spent over 20 years hiring engineers and building software teams in start-ups and multinationals, and brings this extensive experience to bear in his talk. One of David’s previous roles was as Director of Development at Orbis Technology, which was awarded a place in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 for two consecutive years, so he has hands-on exposure to sourcing and building talent in environments of rapid change.

The talk is roughly 17 minutes long, is entitled “How do we solve The Talent Crisis” and was given at TEDx Coventry in June 2018. While David himself is from the technology industry, the topic of his talk is incredibly relevant to other industries as more and more professionals will need to learn new skills in order to work alongside machine-based solutions powered by automation and artificial intelligence. As an example, consider the rise of the Fintech and Insurtech industries. The nature of human work continues to change, and the speed of change is ever increasing. 

David covers a range of anecdotes, including the Movember movement, the American goal of landing a man on the moon during the 1960s, and Skyscanner, an online travel company which has been listed in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 seven times so far. He weaves them into a narrative about:

• talent supplies from our education systems’ graduates and those already in work, including people from other countries
• finding talent in unconventional ways i.e. moving beyond CV keyword matching
• using storytelling to convey an organisation’s purpose / larger vision / North Star, including its past, present, and desired future
• suggestions for candidates, including sharing their own stories