The four Ps of IT: Performance, Productivity, Pressure and People? What really underpins success in technology today?
For nearly 50 years, IT has been transforming society. Today, technology not only has a mass consumer presence, but it is a critical business function responsible for connecting teams and creating the systems that bring a company’s vision and purpose to life.
While always evolving, it was the democratisation of technology applications in the last decade that really shifted how business IT fundamentally operates.
IT today
Now, IT teams have a plethora of third-party options available to them when they’re ready to improve processes and add to their tech stack. While legacy and history are still hurdles to conquer, with the right strategy, today’s roadblocks to growth are nothing compared to those of the past.
For many in-house IT teams, in particular, this has seen the pressure to always be in peak performance mode increase.
From the expectation of always having to be ‘ahead of the curve’ to the cross-business demands for time, insight and data, the modern hurdle isn’t necessarily the development and implementation of new systems but the ways in which IT teams manage capacity, unite and operate.
When bandwidth is tight, it’s easy to forget that behind the systems and processes are people with the same pressures and demands as everyone else.
It leads to the age-old question…
What really underpins success in the technology industry?
Widely, the industry considers an appetite for digital transformation and a hunger for curiosity as the gauges of potential. And yes, while an eye for innovation and disruption is a necessity to grow, we’re increasingly learning this is only part of the solution.
If the last few years have made anything clear, the psychological safety and well-being of employees is a critical contributor to performance. This is because the line between our professional and personal lives has permanently blurred. The headspace we have at home comes with us to work and vice versa.
Many businesses are now stepping up from the foundation of a good culture and a flexible approach to work to proactively support their team’s personal well-being, as doing so has a direct impact on an employee’s ability to deliver. It also shows a duty of care that good talent respects.
This starts by unpacking what enables employees to be their best selves and supporting them in developing healthy routines that empower this. While creating the right jobs and environment helps, research shows it’s a tailored understanding of what makes an individual tick that contributes most to prosperity. It is also critical to improving team morale, collaboration, compassion and productivity.
Considering the pressures of the IT field specifically — from the fast-moving environments and constantly changing needs to the intense deadlines — things can be incredibly isolating. And despite working alongside each other, due to the complex nature of the field, teams can easily struggle with trust, sharing, accountability and failure, despite it being a core part of discovery.
A real-life example
Understanding this, Mike Brett, Chief Information Officer at Australian Hearing, recently set his team on a transformation journey of a different kind.
In addition to managing the technology at one of Australia’s most influential research and well-being organisations, they collectively went through a neuroscience of leadership program designed to create self-awareness, inspire problem-solving and collectively stretch their thinking.
Brett said, “At Hearing Australia, we do a huge amount of work to help people around Australia live better lives. I believe this thinking is also critical to the success of our people. Within my team, we work on several projects at any one time that often require difficult conversations and compromise.
“To build a truly resilient and peak performance environment, we must first have respect for each other and be in the right headspace to explore new ideas. When siloed on a particular project, this thinking can be hard to factor in day to day. My goal was to create a team that worked as one. This starts by supporting everyone individually with their own growth strategies to build a collectively curious mindset ultimately.
“We spent time understanding how our brains work, from what they require to function optimally to the behaviours that best set us up for success. We then tackled our own well-being before we considered workplace strategies to ensure that everyone was ready to engage. As a result, the sentiment in our team shifted. First and foremost, we felt better about ourselves. We were then able to trust better and support each other.”
Brett’s comments show when invested correctly, people can be an influential performance metric.
He added, “We’d like to think increasing operational efficiency is simple, but in reality, there is no silver bullet to success — innovation and disruption are always shifting, as are our people and their needs. Solutions will also always be fluid, depending on team size, capability and scope.”
This leaves us with the reality that as the role of IT continues to expand, it is the teams behind the solutions and their ability to lean into challenges collaboratively that will ultimately define success.
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Book info: https://linksuccess.com.au/rewire-for-success/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vannessa-mccamley/
Meet Vannessa over 30 min Strategic call to show you the Simple 4 Step process used to transform Hearing Australia’s IT Leadership Team in 90-days: https://calendly.com/linksuccess/30min-strategy-call