DL2022 Aron Tucker & Jane Nguyen - Reimagining leadership teams

How do we set our future design leaders up for success now and not leave until they become a design leader? Our talk will share how our trials and tribulations of challenging the norm of a leadership team, to ensure we stay true to our principles and break the mold for inclusion.

Transcript

1. Seing future design leaders up for success, now
   Reimagining
   Leadership Teams
   | Jane Nguyen & Aron Tucker
   

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2. we believe in having
   humans at the centre
   of everything we do
   (not just customers),
   our focus is helping
   businesses make
   human decisions about
   digital products.
   At
   Jane Nguyen
   CEO
   Aron Tucker
   Principal Designer
   

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3. Who or what is
   Pretzel lab anyway?
   You might be thinking…
   “Do they make
   pretzels?...”
   “Are they going to
   give us pretzels?…”
   “What do pretzels have
   to do with design?”
   “All this thinking about pretzels has made me hungry…”
   

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4. We started with a
   venn diagram…
   User
   Desirability
   Technical
   Feasibility
   Business
   Viability
   …which kinda looks
   like a tasty pretzel…
   Voila!
   …so we squished it
   around a bit and stuck
   some arrows on it
   

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5. Why do we continue to wait
   until our designers are
   “leaders” before we train
   them to be one?
   

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6. Formal
   leadership
   training tends to
   start …
   when you get
   your seat at the
   table
   What does
   being a
   leader really
   mean?
   What do you
   when you finally
   get at seat at
   the table?
   When do you
   get …
   Business
   strategy &
   commercial
   exposure
   Tenure creates
   an echo
   chamber
   Being an elite
   does not make
   you a team
   player
   Design is
   particularly
   hierarchical
   Observations & Experiences
   

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7. Inspiration for change
   The Round Table of Camelot Reinventing Organisations Team of Teams
   

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8. Diversified
   Revenue
   Streams
   Long
   Standing
   Relationships
   Lean
   Business
   Model
   Most
   Prominent
   Brands
   Innovating &
   Unique
   Oerings
   People
   Leadership
   Culture &
   Principles
   The strongest
   culture and EVP
   in Australia and
   New Zealand
   consulting and
   professional
   services
   Depth in our
   teams ability
   to lead and
   execute
   Engage the market
   with
   the most
   innovative and
   unique
   capabilities /
   oerings in the
   Australia and New
   Zealand tech
   services industry
   Most prominent
   Australian
   brands in each of
   their respectives
   specialisations
   Industry leader in
   lean agile
   operational
   business
   processes that
   grow in line with
   business need
   Develop long
   standing
   relationships
   with diverse
   customer set in
   Australia and
   New Zealand
   Acquire
   diversified
   revenue streams
   across
   customers,
   industries and
   engagement
   models
   

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9. Lessons
   Learned
   after 1 year
   

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10. Expectation
    Reality
    Showing up
    despite the
    heartache
    Lesson 1:
    Resilience
    

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11. It doesn’t maer how
    hard you try or how much
    you care, people will
    break your heart and
    they still wont get it.
    As a leader, you don’t
    just have to show up
    everyday but you have to
    try more and be beer.
    Expectations
    ● The eort you put in is
    reflected in the outcomes
    and outputs of the team
    ● Everyone has a team over
    self aitude and
    commitment because you
    do
    Reality
    ● You fall on your ass, a lot
    ● People comprehend
    information at dierent
    speeds
    ● Assumptions are
    dangerous
    Lesson 1: Resilience
    

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12. Expectation Reality
    Eectiveness
    with the
    broader team
    Lesson 2:
    Communication & Planning
    

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13. Spend the time to craft
    your messaging so the
    team is just as eective
    in communicating up,
    down or across the
    organisation.
    Expectations
    ● I did the work, so I’ll be able
    to talk about it to the team
    ● I’ll be able to stay across
    what everyone else in the
    leadership team is doing
    ● Planning happens at the
    beginning and end of each
    quarter
    ● We’d say some stu and get
    lots of questions
    Reality
    ● I’m not as good as I think
    on the fly
    ● Not everyone
    understands how the
    business plan relates to
    them
    ● We presented a plan and
    no one said anything
    Lesson 2: Communication & Planning
    

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14. Lines of communication
    

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15. Expectation
    Reality
    It’s no longer
    and individual
    sport
    Lesson 3:
    Persistence
    

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16. The skills that make you
    a good practitioner do
    not automatically make
    you a good leader.
    Leadership is a team
    sport and in the absence
    of trust, the team
    doesn’t win.
    Expectations
    ● A team of high performing
    individuals will make for a
    high performing leadership
    team
    ● Earning trust with the
    broader team individually
    will translate to trust in the
    leadership team
    Reality
    ● Everything you do is
    about the team
    ● Trust is hard to build and
    requires leaning into
    discomfort often
    ● It’s very obvious to the
    team when leadership
    don’t have it together
    Lesson 3: Persistence
    

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17. Non-persistent leadership teams
    

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18. ● No passengers
    ● Everybody owns something
    ● Equal voice dierent sized
    accountabilities
    ● Boom up planning
    ● “We” come up with the plan -
    not Jane
    ● “We” come up with the
    metrics - not jane
    ● Collaborating with the whole
    team to create the plan
    Principles &
    accountabilities of
    the tot’s
    Our first attempt
    FY22 & FY23
    ● Joining in covid
    ● People rotating out
    ● Constantly keeping the team
    on the same page
    ● Changing people often means
    a constantly changing
    dynamic
    ● What does this look like long
    term? Can go 2 ways
    Challenges
    so far and to come…
    

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19. View Slide

20. Expectations
    ● I did the work, so I’ll be able to talk about it to
    the team
    ● I’ll be able to stay across what everyone else in
    the leadership team is doing
    ● Planning happens at the beginning and end of
    each quarter
    ● The plan makes it easy for the broader team to
    understand what we’re doing
    ● We’d say some stu and get some questions
    Reality
    ● I’m not as good as I think on the fly
    ● Not everyone understands how the business
    plan relates to them
    ● We presented a plan and no one said anything
    Lesson 2: Communication & Planning
    Spend the time to craft your messaging so the team is just as eective in
    communicating up, down or across the organisation.
    

    View Slide

21. Expectations
    ● The eort you put in is reflected in the
    outcomes and outputs of the team
    ● Everyone has a team over self aitude
    and commitment because you do
    Reality
    ● You fall on your ass, a lot
    ● People comprehend information at
    dierent speeds
    ● Assumptions are dangerous
    Lesson 1: Resilience
    It doesn’t maer how hard you try or how much you care - people will break your
    heart and they still wont get it. As a leader, you don’t just have to show up
    everyday but you have to try more and be beer.
    

    View Slide

22. Expectations
    ● A team of high performing individuals will
    make for a high performing leadership
    team
    ● Earning trust with the broader team
    individually will translate to trust in the
    leadership team
    Reality
    ● Everything you do is about the team
    ● Trust is hard to build and requires leaning
    into discomfort often
    ● It’s very obvious to the team when
    leadership don’t have it together
    Lesson 3: Persistence
    The skills that make you a good practitioner do not automatically make you a good
    leader. Leadership is a team sport and in the absence of trust, the team doesn’t win.
    

    View Slide

23. Principles & accountabilities
    of the tot’s
    Our first attempt
    Fy 22 and fy 23
    Challenges
    - Joining in covid
    - People rotating out
    - Constantly keeping
    the team on the same
    page
    - Changing people
    often means a
    constantly changing
    dynamic
    What does this look like
    long term? Can go 2 ways
    What did we actually do
    - No passengers
    - Everybody owns
    something
    - Equal voice different sized
    accountabilities
    Bottom up planning
    - “We” come up with the
    plan - not Jane
    - “We” come up with the
    metrics - not jane
    - Collaborating with the
    whole team to create the
    plan
    

    View Slide