[The Bean Centre] Navigating Change in the Future of Work – Your Toolkit for Turbulence
Hello, everybody. Nice to see you, and it's lovely to Be back. So we're gonna change gears a little bit now in our presentation and what we're doing today. Up until now, you've heard a lot about what's going on in education around disruption. You've heard about some wonderful use cases for Instructure's wonderful technology. Now we're gonna do something a little different.
Now we're gonna talk about what I believe as I do my work all around the world is the is the single biggest challenge that we've got in the implementation of technology. Sorry. I'm being asked to put the mic in front of my mouth. I'll swallow it if I put it any any closer in front of my mouth. So so hopefully, you can all hear me now.
The biggest impediment as I work with universities and colleges and schools all around the world, is not the software, It's not the hardware. It's not the services. It's the people. It's the people. It's the people and their willingness and their ability to be inspired to make the journey.
And in a world of generative AI, where the technology is literally changing every twelve weeks. That ability to have an adaptive mindset, have the ability to realize there is no right, there is no wrong, there is only experimentation, failure, courage, adaptability, try again, is the only way we'll be successful in disrupting our institutions to innovate and be successful. And the fun part for me is that's where my two worlds have collided. My entire career has been at the intersection of technology and education, But the work that I do now as an academic is all about the future of work, the future of leadership, and the future of technology. And when you bring those three things together, what's absolutely essential for all of us, and we heard that in the keynote this morning, is that our communities, our societies, our economies have got to evolve, our education institutions have to keep up.
So what I'm gonna do today is to take you through some of the elements of my book that I co wrote with a wonderful author. His name is Graham Winter. He's a performance psychologist and the former three time lead psychologist to the Australian Olympic team. And what we did was we wrote a book around what we need to do for leaders to help them lead in these turbulent times. I'm going to showcase in the twenty eight and a half minutes I've got with you a few of the tools from the book.
If you go to the website, many of them are downloadable for free. I encourage you to use them. And it's all about helping you, those of you in this leadership track, go back to your institutions and lead yourself and lead your teams to successfully navigate this turbulent world we're in. I'm going to be using Slido through the presentation. So if you wanna just pick up your mobile device and just take a photo of that QR code.
It will take you to the landing page. We won't be using the q and a tab. We'll just be using the polling tab. I've got a few questions for you along the way, and I'll be looking at our results as they come up. Don't worry, the QR code will come back each time that we get to each of the questions.
So sit back and relax, but recognize this session is all about you. It's all about you as a leader and what you need to do to lead through turbulent times. So topic number one is what Graham and I describe as the pathway of advantaged leaders. It's without a doubt, this is a different world, that the leadership playbooks and toolkits of just a few years ago have become obsolete. This graphic just talks about some of the turbulence around us.
I had a ten year old recently just say this to me. He said, Martin, it feels like the world is just holding its breath. It feels like we wake up every day, this morning included, and something else has changed in the world that makes navigating it so much more complex. And the backdrop for this presentation that you've heard is the recurrent theme throughout this conference is what generative AI is doing to our communities, societies, economies, our education institutions, and the world of work. And so my first question to all of you, it's anonymized so you can be truthful.
How would you describe your leadership environment right now? You can put in as many words as you want. How would you describe what it's like to be a leader in your institution right now? And let's take a look at what comes up. Proactive. That's good to hear. As the first lead out word, collaborative, progressing, challenging, persistent, cool.
I love cool. Challenging sort of coming up. Challenging again. Innovative, a lot more positive than a lot of the nations I work in around the world. Warm, toxic, that's interesting.
Volatile and unpredictable, but aims to find common ground, shared responsibility, complicated, lacking, directive, full of surprises, that's a great one. Limited, complex, caged. Oh, I haven't had caged before. Full of red tape, hopeful, difficult, Toxic just got bigger. Complicated.
Forward looking. Lacks transparency, stretched, corrupt, desgaia. I have no idea, but obviously, it was hubris. If I just offended anybody, my apologies. Inclusive new role.
So you start to get a picture. You start to get a picture of the environment in which we all operate, And it is an it is an environment just like that that we're seeing on on the screen. We've still got a few more coming through, but I'm going to to move on. So this is the pathway of advantage leaders, folks. Advantage leaders, when the disruption arrives, they use it as a force multiplier to achieve what's impossible in stable times.
So generative AI has arrived. The adaptive leaders, they don't get angry. They don't get upset. They're not in denial. They recognize that it's here, and they immediately say, what can we do with it to achieve things that would be impossible before it arrived.
Then they adapt. They recalibrate their personal and team mindsets. They let go of what was and they look forward. And education institutions are terrible at doing that. We love staying stuck in the past.
We love being the victim of the tyranny of conventional wisdom. We hear the excuses over and over again about we can't move because we haven't done it that way. Our regulator won't let us do it that way. Our students don't want it to do that way. And the ones that do adapt, the ones that do move on, come up with their own new way of looking at the world for themselves as leaders, all of you, and then leading their teams to adapt, they're the ones that move to advantage.
They're able to apply those new strategies and techniques. They're able to I I was really struck this morning by how, as a nation, you've decided that lifelong learning is a priority. You've decided that micro credentials are a priority. But the data that went up on the screen said that we as a sector been slow to embrace those innovations. That's classic classic old guard thinking.
Those of you who embrace that direction realize the world is moving from a world of eighteen to twenty four year olds to a world of sixteen to seventy year olds. Adapt, have that mindset and move. You are the ones that will create the advantage, and you are the ones that will win with where our societies and economies are going. Those that don't won't be here in years to come. Second topic, mindset.
Mindset. That shift in the way that we and our teams actually think about the world. According to Heifetz and Linsky, there are two types of challenges. There are technical challenges. There's a practical known solution.
There's an expert knowledge to provide best practice. There's clear rules and boundaries. If you fix the problem, it restores equilibrium. And you know what? There's this wonderful, predictable pathway to build confidence and trust. Wouldn't it be lovely if every challenge we had was a technical whole challenge.
Back when I first started in the workplace back in the nineteen eighties, most of the challenges were technical. They were predictable. They were reliable. You could follow a playbook. But the world in which you all lead is a world where the solution is unknown and the problem is unclear.
There is no best practice, so you've got to explore. It crosses all the conventional boundaries. It requires new assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Ambiguity and uncertainty are everywhere, and that gives rise to unease and resistance. Ladies and gentlemen, human beings, everybody in this room, we are not wired to lean into ambiguity and uncertainty.
We are wired to go defensive, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But before I do, can you think about one challenge, one really adaptive challenge that you've got right now and write it down? Write down one adaptive challenge that you've got right now. Something that might be keeping you awake at night, but where there's no clear answer. There's no clear solution, Just write that down on the paper in front of because it it helps to write it down, to name it. If you can't think of one, you're incredibly lucky.
And I wish I was I was you. So you've written your adaptive challenge down. Now look at this model. This is the working model of an adaptive mindset, and Graham and I talk about it as really being your leadership superpower on the pathway. Human beings in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, we're wired to go defensive.
That's security thinking. Cautious and fixed. In the in an organization, in a university, in a school, in a college, you see people holding on tight to control and power. People are quick to judge and criticize. We dismiss others' ideas.
We try to be too perfect to protect ourselves, and we're constantly comparing ourselves with each other, or we play it safe and avoid risks. We agree too readily. We shy away from conflict. We wait for others to act or we passively resist. And that's where a lot of universities and colleges fail.
They allow people to passively resist us and what we're trying to do from an innovation perspective. I call them the treacle poorest and the bricklayers. They're the people that in the room agree and say, yep, I'll absolutely support that. And then they go back into the institution and they pour treacle in to slow everything down. Or they're the bricklayers.
We battle our way through the resistance, and they tuck in behind us and relay the bricks that we've broken through. So our goal for ourselves and as leaders for our teams is to go adaptive. It's to be able to show the light on the hill, that clear intent of where we're going and run towards those challenges. It's about iterating and experimenting. It's about expecting mistakes and learning because that's how we adapt.
It is about persisting through difficulties. It's about building relationships, assertively speaking up, openly seeking feedback and insight, encouraging others' views, And more than anything, the literature would say, it's about having a growth mindset. It's about walking into every room with an understanding and belief that it's about helping each other grow rather than cutting each other down. And with generative AI, any of the literature you will read will tell you that the best way to get the early wins is by actually allowing everybody to learn from each other. Peer to be learning to make that happen.
So when you look at your challenge, what I usually ask an audience to do is to look at where are you. If you look at your adaptive challenge, ask yourself the question, am I right down here in defensive thinking or am I way up here in opportunity thinking, constructive, courageous, creative? Then ask yourself another question. Where's my team? Are they all the way down here in defensive, or are they up in constructive? And when you go to lead change in an academic institution, you have to expect people to be defensive, and your job is to move them to be opportunity thinking. So thinking about that and going back to the survey, what's one technique you use as a leader to help move people when you're trying to create change from being down in defensive to be up in opportunity. What's a technique you use? The number one I use is by involving them in the actual solution itself.
It's about not feeling the pressure to have all the answers. It's about being able to say, that's where we've gotta get to. Now work with me to get it done. So we've got some great ones coming forward. Open mindedness, humility is huge.
Relieving yourself of the pressure of having to have all the answers. Rapport, being proactive, accepting other ideas, could be a collaborative, be a evaluative. Collaborative and acceptance are coming up. Go on a vacation. I like that person.
Emp be empathetic, brainstorming to get others involved. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Pause.
Absolutely. Use a pause to canvas the thoughts and opinions. Acceptance. Drink tea. Listen first.
Trial and error, absolutely. Experiment to get there. Mental health break, absolutely. It's hard. It's challenging.
Being conscious of mindfulness to help bring people along. Open communication, communication, communicate. You see that coming up over and over again. Can you see as this picture builds how deeply human it is? Nobody's really talking about the task, the technology, the systems. What they're talking about is humanity.
How we bring the humans in the organization along for the ride. Somebody put lie in there. That's not so good. But we'll see how we go. Alright.
Third topic then. If that's sort of the prescript if that's the sort of the diagnosis, What's the prescription? As you build any team for change in your organization, there are three things you wanna pay attention to. Your team needs to be aligned and committed. That's about having a shared set of vision, values, principles, goals, budgets, prioritize priorities, expectations, and agreement. It's about everybody being on the same page strategically.
And in change with technology and education, it's truly about having an agreed set of shared principles before you embark. It's then about collaboration or what we call sharing. How well the team is connecting, engaging, problem solving, co creating, coordinating, supporting, challenging, and giving. And finally, it's about the learn. It's about the learning.
How well the team is adapting? How well they have an adaptive mindset? They're reflecting, they're debriefing, They're being open to feedback, insights, innovation, and tempo. So as you build your change teams or your executive teams inside your institutions, it's really important to think about how well are we aligned, how well are we working together, that's the collaboration, And how well are we adapting as things change? And here's a great model that you can use to actually run a diagnosis of how well your team is doing. Graham and I believe that really high functioning teams have five shares that they are good at. Share the big picture. Share the reality.
Share the air. Share the load, and share the wins and losses. And for each of those shares, there's the dark side. If there are Star Wars fans in the room, you'll know what I mean by the the dark side. And those are teams that pursue separate agendas, avoid and deny, stifle communication, protect their own turf, and play I win, you lose.
What I want you to do is think about your organization or your team. Your old leaders in the room or your parts of teams inside your institution. And as I quickly run you through all of these descriptors, I want you to write down the ones that you believe your team either needs more or less of. Maybe look for your top three as I go through. What are the top three things that you or your team need to focus on to be more effective.
Let's start with the first one. How much does your team have a clear, meaningful, and agreed purpose and vision? How much are you committed to shared values? How well do you engage others in a compelling big picture? And on the dark side, does your team put their own business unit ahead of the overall outcomes? Do members think and act in tactical and not strategic ways? And do they produce project disunity as a team On share the reality, How well does your team take a shared accountability for outcomes? How open are they to constructive feedback? And how well do they really engage in high quality Debates. Or on the flip side, when you come together, do people put a spin on things and lack cut through? Do people act in defensiveness or aggressive ways or avoid the tough conversations or choices. Out of any of those, if you think there are areas you need to work on, just start writing them down. How well does your team share the air? They act in ways to build trust.
They keep the lines of communication open, and they actively listen to each other? Or are they guilty of stifling communication by dismissing alternative views and options, blocking or over controlling communication, or showing a lack of care and respect for each other. On share the load, how well do they treat colleagues as equal partners? Plan and prioritize together and collaborate away from formal meetings? Or are they stuck in protecting their own turf, planning and prioritizing in isolation, making decisions to protect status, or missing opportunities for collaboration, And finally, sharing the wins and losses. Paying close attention to overall results, celebrating the team wins, and debriefing regularly to learn and adapt. Or are they stuck in playing I win, you lose, looking to blame others, evading accountability as a team, or being slow to learn and adapt. Look for your top three.
If you could pick three things to go back to your organization to focus on, what would your three things be to do more of or less of? Just write those down for me. The three things that you would do differently to lead your teams to be more adaptive, to be able to manage change more effectively. And why don't you go start typing them in? You don't need the exact words. Just start typing in those areas of where you believe your team needs to focus. Let's just see what what pops up.
I win, you lose. Very insidious. To be more collaborative, I win, use, lose will I win, you lose will immediately undermine trust and credibility in a team. Share the air. Take some time to celebrate a little bit more.
Teamwork, share the wins and losses, big picture teamwork, prioritizing, absolutely critical in the times we live in. Time management, you'll hear me talk about that this afternoon. Accepting mistakes and celebrating them. Thank you. Involving others.
Give credit where credit is due, commitment to each other, celebrate the small wins, classic game theory, celebrating the small wins, So important. Yeah. Be honest about the brutal reality. I agree with you. A commitment to each other and the team.
Be open to constructive feedback. Being honest and open about how you really think and feel and being open to listening to others is huge. Share the load. Absolutely. Be transparent.
You see a lot in there about just leveling with people, being honest with people, to not lose scope, stay unfocused, reward great output. Approach it prayerfully. Financial support. Yep. Making sure you've got the right resources.
A really wonderful, wonderful list. I guess the backdrop for all of you though is that none of this will happen unless you build the teams. If you dive straight into the technology, if you dive straight into the systems and don't build the team making sure that they are aligned, that they are working well together, and that they are adapting in the face of generative AI, you will fail. Thank you for your wonderful wonderful list there. This is an example of a team I've been working with for a few years.
And what they distilled out of the five shares was this. ET first, executive team before functional teams. Have each other's back. Trust and support is a priority. Talk it out.
Be accountable to each other. Resolve issues. Close out issues and ensure follow ups, and step up. Prepare for meetings, and don't waste each other's time. So I would encourage you when you've got your next change team or the team you're on now, put the five shares in front of everybody and ask everybody to rate how well your team right now is performing against the five shares.
Choose your five areas of focus as a team. Start every meeting reminding the team of this is the way that we wanted to work together, and at the end of every meeting, do a debrief. In the meeting today and since we were last together, how well have we been doing these things? And guess what? Some will take care of themselves. That's great. But others will emerge.
So this is a process that you can use constantly to make sure that that your teams are aligned, they're collaborating well, and that they're learning and adapting. It is without doubt one of the most successful tools in the book, and people have used it to great success around the world. I'm gonna wrap up now because I've got about two minutes left with just at a really personal level. We interviewed fifteen other senior executives for the book. And we talked to them about what have they learned in leading an extreme turbulence that really helps them be a powerful leader.
And you know what they shared? And it was interesting because it came through in the Slido polls that you shared with me as I went through this brief presentation, They said it's all about vulnerability, Martin. The superpower that I nurture now is the ability in the face of turbulence to be vulnerable. Vulnerability helps build authentic and genuine connections and relationships and creates a safe and supportive environment. Being trying to be perfect as a leader, it just doesn't work anymore. It probably never has, but now when you look at Gen z and you look at the millennial generation, even if you look at old people like me, the last of the baby boomers, you know what? We the the leaders that we trust and respect are the leaders that are prepared to be vulnerable, to be honest, and to be open.
They're willing to admit uncertainty that they don't have all the answers. They're open to feedback because they wanna grow. They're prepared to ask for help. They're able to show their emotions. They're really great storytellers.
They're the first to admit mistakes and learn from them, and they get comfortable with taking risks. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you today for a brief time. My one my one call to action for all of you is looking at this list of the seven signs of vulnerability. If you take nothing else away from my brief presentation today, pick one. Pick one on that screen that you know if you spend a little bit more time practicing, you'd be a better leader.
It's an absolute pleasure to be here. I'll be back with the panel later. Enjoy your afternoon, and thank you for your attention. Bye for now.
Now we're gonna talk about what I believe as I do my work all around the world is the is the single biggest challenge that we've got in the implementation of technology. Sorry. I'm being asked to put the mic in front of my mouth. I'll swallow it if I put it any any closer in front of my mouth. So so hopefully, you can all hear me now.
The biggest impediment as I work with universities and colleges and schools all around the world, is not the software, It's not the hardware. It's not the services. It's the people. It's the people. It's the people and their willingness and their ability to be inspired to make the journey.
And in a world of generative AI, where the technology is literally changing every twelve weeks. That ability to have an adaptive mindset, have the ability to realize there is no right, there is no wrong, there is only experimentation, failure, courage, adaptability, try again, is the only way we'll be successful in disrupting our institutions to innovate and be successful. And the fun part for me is that's where my two worlds have collided. My entire career has been at the intersection of technology and education, But the work that I do now as an academic is all about the future of work, the future of leadership, and the future of technology. And when you bring those three things together, what's absolutely essential for all of us, and we heard that in the keynote this morning, is that our communities, our societies, our economies have got to evolve, our education institutions have to keep up.
So what I'm gonna do today is to take you through some of the elements of my book that I co wrote with a wonderful author. His name is Graham Winter. He's a performance psychologist and the former three time lead psychologist to the Australian Olympic team. And what we did was we wrote a book around what we need to do for leaders to help them lead in these turbulent times. I'm going to showcase in the twenty eight and a half minutes I've got with you a few of the tools from the book.
If you go to the website, many of them are downloadable for free. I encourage you to use them. And it's all about helping you, those of you in this leadership track, go back to your institutions and lead yourself and lead your teams to successfully navigate this turbulent world we're in. I'm going to be using Slido through the presentation. So if you wanna just pick up your mobile device and just take a photo of that QR code.
It will take you to the landing page. We won't be using the q and a tab. We'll just be using the polling tab. I've got a few questions for you along the way, and I'll be looking at our results as they come up. Don't worry, the QR code will come back each time that we get to each of the questions.
So sit back and relax, but recognize this session is all about you. It's all about you as a leader and what you need to do to lead through turbulent times. So topic number one is what Graham and I describe as the pathway of advantaged leaders. It's without a doubt, this is a different world, that the leadership playbooks and toolkits of just a few years ago have become obsolete. This graphic just talks about some of the turbulence around us.
I had a ten year old recently just say this to me. He said, Martin, it feels like the world is just holding its breath. It feels like we wake up every day, this morning included, and something else has changed in the world that makes navigating it so much more complex. And the backdrop for this presentation that you've heard is the recurrent theme throughout this conference is what generative AI is doing to our communities, societies, economies, our education institutions, and the world of work. And so my first question to all of you, it's anonymized so you can be truthful.
How would you describe your leadership environment right now? You can put in as many words as you want. How would you describe what it's like to be a leader in your institution right now? And let's take a look at what comes up. Proactive. That's good to hear. As the first lead out word, collaborative, progressing, challenging, persistent, cool.
I love cool. Challenging sort of coming up. Challenging again. Innovative, a lot more positive than a lot of the nations I work in around the world. Warm, toxic, that's interesting.
Volatile and unpredictable, but aims to find common ground, shared responsibility, complicated, lacking, directive, full of surprises, that's a great one. Limited, complex, caged. Oh, I haven't had caged before. Full of red tape, hopeful, difficult, Toxic just got bigger. Complicated.
Forward looking. Lacks transparency, stretched, corrupt, desgaia. I have no idea, but obviously, it was hubris. If I just offended anybody, my apologies. Inclusive new role.
So you start to get a picture. You start to get a picture of the environment in which we all operate, And it is an it is an environment just like that that we're seeing on on the screen. We've still got a few more coming through, but I'm going to to move on. So this is the pathway of advantage leaders, folks. Advantage leaders, when the disruption arrives, they use it as a force multiplier to achieve what's impossible in stable times.
So generative AI has arrived. The adaptive leaders, they don't get angry. They don't get upset. They're not in denial. They recognize that it's here, and they immediately say, what can we do with it to achieve things that would be impossible before it arrived.
Then they adapt. They recalibrate their personal and team mindsets. They let go of what was and they look forward. And education institutions are terrible at doing that. We love staying stuck in the past.
We love being the victim of the tyranny of conventional wisdom. We hear the excuses over and over again about we can't move because we haven't done it that way. Our regulator won't let us do it that way. Our students don't want it to do that way. And the ones that do adapt, the ones that do move on, come up with their own new way of looking at the world for themselves as leaders, all of you, and then leading their teams to adapt, they're the ones that move to advantage.
They're able to apply those new strategies and techniques. They're able to I I was really struck this morning by how, as a nation, you've decided that lifelong learning is a priority. You've decided that micro credentials are a priority. But the data that went up on the screen said that we as a sector been slow to embrace those innovations. That's classic classic old guard thinking.
Those of you who embrace that direction realize the world is moving from a world of eighteen to twenty four year olds to a world of sixteen to seventy year olds. Adapt, have that mindset and move. You are the ones that will create the advantage, and you are the ones that will win with where our societies and economies are going. Those that don't won't be here in years to come. Second topic, mindset.
Mindset. That shift in the way that we and our teams actually think about the world. According to Heifetz and Linsky, there are two types of challenges. There are technical challenges. There's a practical known solution.
There's an expert knowledge to provide best practice. There's clear rules and boundaries. If you fix the problem, it restores equilibrium. And you know what? There's this wonderful, predictable pathway to build confidence and trust. Wouldn't it be lovely if every challenge we had was a technical whole challenge.
Back when I first started in the workplace back in the nineteen eighties, most of the challenges were technical. They were predictable. They were reliable. You could follow a playbook. But the world in which you all lead is a world where the solution is unknown and the problem is unclear.
There is no best practice, so you've got to explore. It crosses all the conventional boundaries. It requires new assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Ambiguity and uncertainty are everywhere, and that gives rise to unease and resistance. Ladies and gentlemen, human beings, everybody in this room, we are not wired to lean into ambiguity and uncertainty.
We are wired to go defensive, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But before I do, can you think about one challenge, one really adaptive challenge that you've got right now and write it down? Write down one adaptive challenge that you've got right now. Something that might be keeping you awake at night, but where there's no clear answer. There's no clear solution, Just write that down on the paper in front of because it it helps to write it down, to name it. If you can't think of one, you're incredibly lucky.
And I wish I was I was you. So you've written your adaptive challenge down. Now look at this model. This is the working model of an adaptive mindset, and Graham and I talk about it as really being your leadership superpower on the pathway. Human beings in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, we're wired to go defensive.
That's security thinking. Cautious and fixed. In the in an organization, in a university, in a school, in a college, you see people holding on tight to control and power. People are quick to judge and criticize. We dismiss others' ideas.
We try to be too perfect to protect ourselves, and we're constantly comparing ourselves with each other, or we play it safe and avoid risks. We agree too readily. We shy away from conflict. We wait for others to act or we passively resist. And that's where a lot of universities and colleges fail.
They allow people to passively resist us and what we're trying to do from an innovation perspective. I call them the treacle poorest and the bricklayers. They're the people that in the room agree and say, yep, I'll absolutely support that. And then they go back into the institution and they pour treacle in to slow everything down. Or they're the bricklayers.
We battle our way through the resistance, and they tuck in behind us and relay the bricks that we've broken through. So our goal for ourselves and as leaders for our teams is to go adaptive. It's to be able to show the light on the hill, that clear intent of where we're going and run towards those challenges. It's about iterating and experimenting. It's about expecting mistakes and learning because that's how we adapt.
It is about persisting through difficulties. It's about building relationships, assertively speaking up, openly seeking feedback and insight, encouraging others' views, And more than anything, the literature would say, it's about having a growth mindset. It's about walking into every room with an understanding and belief that it's about helping each other grow rather than cutting each other down. And with generative AI, any of the literature you will read will tell you that the best way to get the early wins is by actually allowing everybody to learn from each other. Peer to be learning to make that happen.
So when you look at your challenge, what I usually ask an audience to do is to look at where are you. If you look at your adaptive challenge, ask yourself the question, am I right down here in defensive thinking or am I way up here in opportunity thinking, constructive, courageous, creative? Then ask yourself another question. Where's my team? Are they all the way down here in defensive, or are they up in constructive? And when you go to lead change in an academic institution, you have to expect people to be defensive, and your job is to move them to be opportunity thinking. So thinking about that and going back to the survey, what's one technique you use as a leader to help move people when you're trying to create change from being down in defensive to be up in opportunity. What's a technique you use? The number one I use is by involving them in the actual solution itself.
It's about not feeling the pressure to have all the answers. It's about being able to say, that's where we've gotta get to. Now work with me to get it done. So we've got some great ones coming forward. Open mindedness, humility is huge.
Relieving yourself of the pressure of having to have all the answers. Rapport, being proactive, accepting other ideas, could be a collaborative, be a evaluative. Collaborative and acceptance are coming up. Go on a vacation. I like that person.
Emp be empathetic, brainstorming to get others involved. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Pause.
Absolutely. Use a pause to canvas the thoughts and opinions. Acceptance. Drink tea. Listen first.
Trial and error, absolutely. Experiment to get there. Mental health break, absolutely. It's hard. It's challenging.
Being conscious of mindfulness to help bring people along. Open communication, communication, communicate. You see that coming up over and over again. Can you see as this picture builds how deeply human it is? Nobody's really talking about the task, the technology, the systems. What they're talking about is humanity.
How we bring the humans in the organization along for the ride. Somebody put lie in there. That's not so good. But we'll see how we go. Alright.
Third topic then. If that's sort of the prescript if that's the sort of the diagnosis, What's the prescription? As you build any team for change in your organization, there are three things you wanna pay attention to. Your team needs to be aligned and committed. That's about having a shared set of vision, values, principles, goals, budgets, prioritize priorities, expectations, and agreement. It's about everybody being on the same page strategically.
And in change with technology and education, it's truly about having an agreed set of shared principles before you embark. It's then about collaboration or what we call sharing. How well the team is connecting, engaging, problem solving, co creating, coordinating, supporting, challenging, and giving. And finally, it's about the learn. It's about the learning.
How well the team is adapting? How well they have an adaptive mindset? They're reflecting, they're debriefing, They're being open to feedback, insights, innovation, and tempo. So as you build your change teams or your executive teams inside your institutions, it's really important to think about how well are we aligned, how well are we working together, that's the collaboration, And how well are we adapting as things change? And here's a great model that you can use to actually run a diagnosis of how well your team is doing. Graham and I believe that really high functioning teams have five shares that they are good at. Share the big picture. Share the reality.
Share the air. Share the load, and share the wins and losses. And for each of those shares, there's the dark side. If there are Star Wars fans in the room, you'll know what I mean by the the dark side. And those are teams that pursue separate agendas, avoid and deny, stifle communication, protect their own turf, and play I win, you lose.
What I want you to do is think about your organization or your team. Your old leaders in the room or your parts of teams inside your institution. And as I quickly run you through all of these descriptors, I want you to write down the ones that you believe your team either needs more or less of. Maybe look for your top three as I go through. What are the top three things that you or your team need to focus on to be more effective.
Let's start with the first one. How much does your team have a clear, meaningful, and agreed purpose and vision? How much are you committed to shared values? How well do you engage others in a compelling big picture? And on the dark side, does your team put their own business unit ahead of the overall outcomes? Do members think and act in tactical and not strategic ways? And do they produce project disunity as a team On share the reality, How well does your team take a shared accountability for outcomes? How open are they to constructive feedback? And how well do they really engage in high quality Debates. Or on the flip side, when you come together, do people put a spin on things and lack cut through? Do people act in defensiveness or aggressive ways or avoid the tough conversations or choices. Out of any of those, if you think there are areas you need to work on, just start writing them down. How well does your team share the air? They act in ways to build trust.
They keep the lines of communication open, and they actively listen to each other? Or are they guilty of stifling communication by dismissing alternative views and options, blocking or over controlling communication, or showing a lack of care and respect for each other. On share the load, how well do they treat colleagues as equal partners? Plan and prioritize together and collaborate away from formal meetings? Or are they stuck in protecting their own turf, planning and prioritizing in isolation, making decisions to protect status, or missing opportunities for collaboration, And finally, sharing the wins and losses. Paying close attention to overall results, celebrating the team wins, and debriefing regularly to learn and adapt. Or are they stuck in playing I win, you lose, looking to blame others, evading accountability as a team, or being slow to learn and adapt. Look for your top three.
If you could pick three things to go back to your organization to focus on, what would your three things be to do more of or less of? Just write those down for me. The three things that you would do differently to lead your teams to be more adaptive, to be able to manage change more effectively. And why don't you go start typing them in? You don't need the exact words. Just start typing in those areas of where you believe your team needs to focus. Let's just see what what pops up.
I win, you lose. Very insidious. To be more collaborative, I win, use, lose will I win, you lose will immediately undermine trust and credibility in a team. Share the air. Take some time to celebrate a little bit more.
Teamwork, share the wins and losses, big picture teamwork, prioritizing, absolutely critical in the times we live in. Time management, you'll hear me talk about that this afternoon. Accepting mistakes and celebrating them. Thank you. Involving others.
Give credit where credit is due, commitment to each other, celebrate the small wins, classic game theory, celebrating the small wins, So important. Yeah. Be honest about the brutal reality. I agree with you. A commitment to each other and the team.
Be open to constructive feedback. Being honest and open about how you really think and feel and being open to listening to others is huge. Share the load. Absolutely. Be transparent.
You see a lot in there about just leveling with people, being honest with people, to not lose scope, stay unfocused, reward great output. Approach it prayerfully. Financial support. Yep. Making sure you've got the right resources.
A really wonderful, wonderful list. I guess the backdrop for all of you though is that none of this will happen unless you build the teams. If you dive straight into the technology, if you dive straight into the systems and don't build the team making sure that they are aligned, that they are working well together, and that they are adapting in the face of generative AI, you will fail. Thank you for your wonderful wonderful list there. This is an example of a team I've been working with for a few years.
And what they distilled out of the five shares was this. ET first, executive team before functional teams. Have each other's back. Trust and support is a priority. Talk it out.
Be accountable to each other. Resolve issues. Close out issues and ensure follow ups, and step up. Prepare for meetings, and don't waste each other's time. So I would encourage you when you've got your next change team or the team you're on now, put the five shares in front of everybody and ask everybody to rate how well your team right now is performing against the five shares.
Choose your five areas of focus as a team. Start every meeting reminding the team of this is the way that we wanted to work together, and at the end of every meeting, do a debrief. In the meeting today and since we were last together, how well have we been doing these things? And guess what? Some will take care of themselves. That's great. But others will emerge.
So this is a process that you can use constantly to make sure that that your teams are aligned, they're collaborating well, and that they're learning and adapting. It is without doubt one of the most successful tools in the book, and people have used it to great success around the world. I'm gonna wrap up now because I've got about two minutes left with just at a really personal level. We interviewed fifteen other senior executives for the book. And we talked to them about what have they learned in leading an extreme turbulence that really helps them be a powerful leader.
And you know what they shared? And it was interesting because it came through in the Slido polls that you shared with me as I went through this brief presentation, They said it's all about vulnerability, Martin. The superpower that I nurture now is the ability in the face of turbulence to be vulnerable. Vulnerability helps build authentic and genuine connections and relationships and creates a safe and supportive environment. Being trying to be perfect as a leader, it just doesn't work anymore. It probably never has, but now when you look at Gen z and you look at the millennial generation, even if you look at old people like me, the last of the baby boomers, you know what? We the the leaders that we trust and respect are the leaders that are prepared to be vulnerable, to be honest, and to be open.
They're willing to admit uncertainty that they don't have all the answers. They're open to feedback because they wanna grow. They're prepared to ask for help. They're able to show their emotions. They're really great storytellers.
They're the first to admit mistakes and learn from them, and they get comfortable with taking risks. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you today for a brief time. My one my one call to action for all of you is looking at this list of the seven signs of vulnerability. If you take nothing else away from my brief presentation today, pick one. Pick one on that screen that you know if you spend a little bit more time practicing, you'd be a better leader.
It's an absolute pleasure to be here. I'll be back with the panel later. Enjoy your afternoon, and thank you for your attention. Bye for now.