Uncover the innovators

As the new financial year looms and projects are soon to kick off, it might be good to pause and consider the team before embarking on your next major technology initiative. Of course, there’s a lot of pressure to “get going” and start building new business solutions, but we think it’s the perfect time to slow down, to “Architect the Team, before the Technology”.

We find that even within a team that has worked together for decades, spending time in this mode of “people discovery” uncovers hidden talents and allows leaders to uncover the innovators in the organisation.

Organic Growth of Teams

One of the challenges we love working with a team that has grown organically – this could be over a year or two, or it might have been over decades. In that time, the needs of the business have changed and the hiring processes usually would have matured.  Put simply – the team, as it stands today, is part of the history of the business and its decision makers.

Lack of neurodiversity

So this organic growth leads to something we see in every team – there is a habit to select new employees who are quite similar to us and this results in a lack of real neurodiversity in these teams.  Without a lack of “brain diversity,” it will be difficult to innovate.  Plus we have the need for bi-modal type tech environments, where old legacy tech is being run alongside newer technology and management.  People can disagree about waterfall versus agile, but if we look “under the hood” on these teams, we find that certain types of thinking have been hired to achieve the work which needs to be surfaced and discussed.

Ultimately, if your team is full of “clones” it is doomed to run tech as BAU – unless you bring in new people.

But what if you can assess the natural skills of the team, and find people who can lead your innovation agenda?

The Opportunity

So we’ve outlined the issue, but this also presents the opportunity. It’s the opportunity for the people to learn so there’s loads of opportunity to learn new skills. With the right purpose and project in hand then there are great opportunities for people already within teams.

Ultimately, we know that if we work with people to find their natural strengths, then we start to locate the right people to lead innovation and make the best of the people you’ve already invested in.

Watch more here:

Arrange a Conversation