Let’s begin by acknowledging that selecting and upskilling individuals and teams to enable them to succeed in their roles is not an easy feat, so the intent of this article is not to provide a prescriptive approach but rather to give you some thinking prompts to guide your efforts. And to be able to guide your efforts, the first question you would ask yourself is: what am I selecting and training these individuals for?
The first step, as you will always hear me say, is to define the desired outcomes you are looking to achieve. What are you expecting these individuals to accomplish? Are you forming a brand-new team to work in parallel to your existing teams? Are you creating a mixed team from a cross-section of your departments? Start with defining the desired outcomes so the team can be formed to match those.
Internal upskill, external hire or both?
This is a common question when looking to implement a new capability or offering in your company. While the first instinct can be to think that a new skillset needs an external expert, the reality is that no matter which way you go, you will almost always need to work closely or at least interface with internal teams to execute the plan. This is why a small investment in getting different teams to understand each other’s priorities and constraints will take you a long way into realising results.
In terms of selecting individuals within your existing teams, it may be the case that someone with the right attributes and some training can generate a lot of momentum based on their own knowledge of the business and their networks. After all, a lot of what gets done is based on our formal and informal connections. We prioritize doing things for others because we have a relationship with them, so with the right outcome in mind an internal appointment may get you there faster. But what if you don’t have a clear option and you decide to look outside your company?
If you are thinking about hiring externally then think about it strategically beyond the obvious role requirements and think instead about what specific skill they may bring into your team. How would they value-add to the existing culture? How have they gone about influencing change in the past? Even if you hire from external sources, if you look for the right attributes you will notice very quickly they will start with empathy first and move from there into building the relationships required to influence business outcomes.
Removing the ‘soft and fluffy’ label
This one is a very important one to look out for when forming a new team tasked with embedding innovation or any other human-centric frameworks and processes to the way the business has traditionally operated. This is because as the new team implements the required changes, they will develop a new language and a shared identity. They will be on a slightly different journey to the rest of the company to be able to lead the change, so they will have a slightly different approach. In this article, I wrote about four potential ways to go about embedding the team into your operations.
When using innovation techniques, they will ask teams to think about others, empathise with their feelings, test their ideas with low fidelity prototypes, brainstorm all their thoughts without judgment and the biggest taboo of them all – have fun.
From the perspective of a company that is starting the journey this may seem ‘touchy-feely’. Some may say it is a waste of time, others may say they don’t see why the company needs this at all, others may outright be against it. But as I mentioned in this article about quality and risk minimisation, these processes are rooted in a tangible result to your bottom line.
Further to this, the team will have to plan the roll-out of what they are trying to achieve, communicate it up, down and sideways, prioritise their focus, execute to a timeframe, organise internal and external stakeholders, produce status reports, and all activities that go with executing a process.
It is important to highlight the operational and measurable elements of these roles because otherwise you can risk having a lot of activity but not a lot to show for it, which is usually when some of these efforts start to lose some traction internally, especially with those who were not convinced from the beginning.
Look for ability and skills that are directly related to influencing change
In terms of leading transformational change, the characteristics and skills I have found to be useful to look for when tasking individuals with carrying out a change process tend to fall in three categories: process, people, and person. In terms of process, by now it should be quite evident that project management skills are a must. Keep in mind we are not talking about qualifications, but skills. It is about focusing on the people who can deliver results by creating and following processes and taking people on the journey.
Which leads us to the second category: people (and more specifically, people-focus). Your change catalysts are going to have to have the ability to lead through influence and empathise with their peers as they take them through the transformation process. Some of these change elements can be quite personal to some, which is why having people that can understand and connect with others to explain clear and compelling reasons for the change is a definitive advantage.
Which in turn leads us to the final category: person. This one is about the characteristics of the individual and is by no means an exhaustive list, only some to consider: empathy to understand other people’s journeys and how to adapt the change efforts accordingly; integrity and honesty to admit when things are not going as planned and owning the results and the process to change them; perseverance to continue to strive the desired outcomes without giving up on people; and resilience to be able to cope with the ups and downs of the journey.
This last one is a big one, and it is not necessarily about looking for people that have it, but to keep an eye on your team so you can intervene when needed. We know change is hard for those that are in the process, but let’s not forget that it can be even harder for those leading it, as they have to both go through the change process themselves and simultaneously deal with pushback from peers, stubbornness, and many other emotionally draining situations.
Is it required to tick all these boxes?
The intent behind this summary is not to provide a recipe list to go shopping for the perfect change agents to drive your innovation initiatives (or any other change for that matter). The idea is to provide you with some points to consider, which in turn will focus your training and upskilling efforts.
Do you have a great match but they are lacking some project management skills? That’s what you train them in. Found the most empathic project manager in your organisation with no formal knowledge on the specifics of innovation processes? That’s what you train them in. Found a designer and project manager who is great with people and can produce results and report them? Perhaps training that focuses on mental health, coping mechanisms, and wellbeing is what might be needed.
I hope by now you can see that it’s not just about training in the specifics, but taking a holistic view of the individuals to be able to support them and give them the tools they need to succeed based on their individual requirements.
What is one action you can implement this week as a result of reading this article? Give it a go and let me know how you go!
