Cutting Through
Helping experts
engage ‘outsiders'
in complex ideas
Leading a major change effort while navigating almost polar opposite expectations of a board and the employees is no small task.
This week's Cutting Through guest Adam Bennett shares his experiences leading such a challenge as the first post-privatisation CEO of the NSW Land Registry Services.
Adam transformed a previously largely paper-based government department into a lean and modern digitised and customer-oriented team. We talked about how to
- Engage the team as the CEO on day 1 when about half of them had been picketing outside parliament against the organisation's privatisation
- Think about both the mindset and mechanics of the first 90 days and beyond
- Bring humility and honesty to appeal to the team's adulthood (or, in other words, how to simultaneously avoid sugar coating what's coming while not creating dissent).
I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation as Adam shared deep leadership and communication wisdom.
Timestamps
00:38 – Get to know Adam
06:18 – Engaging team as CEO on day 1
14:22 – Approaching the first 90 days as CEO
23:16 – Importance of both employee and customer satisfaction
32:36 – Handling the heat of tough discussions or unpopular decisions
36:40 – Maintaining a positive workplace environment amidst great change
47:26 – Adam’s final two tips: Mindset and Mechanics
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E6 – Carolyn Noumertzis – How to help a senior leader come back from a misstep
Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasHave you been in a position where you have seen a senior leader make a big mistake? In this interview Carolyn Noumertzis shared how she helped a Chief Financial Officer work back from a potentially...
E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation
Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDan explains the difference between transformation and change, sharing deep experience in helping top brands gain maximum value from their digital transformation efforts. An outstanding communicator, he...
E4 – Kerry Butler – Helping leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects
Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasKerry shares how he engages senior leaders in 'shifting their focus to the left' to prevent problems and smooth out project delivery. It turns out that software testing is a surprisingly creative and...
E3 – Baking Learning & Growth into BAU alongside Agile Ways of Working
Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDamien discusses his strategy for engaging 7Eleven in a new Agile-aligned learning strategy. He shares his experience in engaging the leadership as well as the organisation in this new approach to...
E2 – Making Time for Strategy
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E1 – Risk Management = Change Management
Anthony Wilson shares 30+ years' experience in engaging others in risk management. His biggest challenge is to encourage leaders and others involved in managing risk to move away from a ‘once and done' approach. He is convinced there is enormous business value in seeing risk management as change management.
E0 – Introducing Cutting Through
Welcome to my new Podcast, Cutting Through.
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