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As a transformational leader, we know how challenging it can be to build highly effective teams – from recruiting top talent and motivating employees, to managing meeting cadence, and leading agile product rollouts – it is a constantly evolving process with numerous considerations. In this article, we’ll share thought leadership from  Moya Jakobsson, Transformation Lead Martech, Aware Super on best practices and key learnings from her own experience leading transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide you with key takeaways that can be applied at any stage of your journey.

1. Build a Strong Foundation

“The world is changing and we have to change with it in order to continue delivering experiences that excite and delight customers.” – Moya Jakobsson, Transformation Lead Martech, Aware Super

The modern consumer has an ever-evolving set of preferences and behaviors, requiring brands to perpetually transform and optimize in order to meet their needs. Effective transformation is very much rooted in data and insight. But in order to take action on that data, leaders must have the right people in place, capable of analyzing those insights with a command of the technology required to implement change. From a leadership perspective, whether you’re building from scratch or evolving an existing team, there will be different challenges along the way. Having a well-established source of internal talent is crucial to navigating those challenges.

During the early phase of transformation, you’ll often find that attitude is more important than skill set. Pick people with the right energy who are prepared for the unexpected and willing to embark on the journey. Transformation is not for everybody, and that is okay. But as a leader, you want to build a team on the foundation of curiosity, with those who are passionate about problem solving and who have the stamina to endure ambiguity.

Being able to identify team members with this attitude is crucial for building a strong foundation. Below are three leadership qualities to set your team up for success:

• Vision – Be clear from the beginning on what your vision and purpose is for that team. This allows your talent to know what they are buying into and understand what they are there to do.
• Honesty – Set the tone for an honest conversation, and be transparent about what you know and what you don’t know. Set an example for your team by being comfortable with ambiguity and embracing the unknown.
• Openness – Transformation is not for everyone, and you’ll know who is committed to the journey if you create an atmosphere where feedback is welcome. Project openness with your team and be a good listener.

2. Prepare at the Global and Local Level

The challenges of transformation compound if your organization operates globally across dozens of markets.

Here are some strategies to effectively manage teams at both the global and local level:

• Recruit best-in-class talent
  
  Trying to transform and uplevel existing talent can drain resources and reduce momentum. Instead, after you’ve created a vision and gained your team’s buy-in, focus on recruiting best-in-class talent who can upskill existing talent.
• Don’t make it harder than it needs to be
  
  Consider which markets you can easily source talent in, and which markets may be more difficult. For example, it may be more difficult to source local talent in smaller markets, emerging markets, or markets in which your brand has a smaller footprint. Similarly, it may be easier to source talent in larger markets, strong economies, or markets where your brand has an established presence.
• Create a Center of Excellence
  
  Using your knowledge from the previous point, consider building a Center of Excellence (COE) either out-of-country or in-country, depending on ease of sourcing. For an emerging market, consider an out-of-country COE, allowing your best-in-class talent to work remotely, while training and managing lower level employees within that market. Conversely, if you are building a team in a large market, you’ll have an easier time sourcing talent and establishing a strong local Center of Excellence.

3. Set Goals and Perform Regular Check-Ins

When building a new team from scratch, leadership may encounter challenges such as getting individuals up to speed on new projects, making sure everyone is aligned and on-task, and last but not least, gauging their motivation levels and responding accordingly. Here are some tips on navigating this process:

• Define what success looks like - keep goals short and simple; don’t overcomplicate it
• Return to the vision - help the team understand the purpose and how they are fulfilling the organization’s vision
• Perform regular check-ins - don’t wait 6 months to find out how your team is doing, instead opt for weekly and monthly check-ins
• Use feedback surveys - find out what team members are feeling and how leadership is contributing; make it anonymous if needed

4. Think About the Day to Day

Consider that different individuals at different levels of the organization will have different wants and needs, and as a leader you’ll want to be able to walk them through how their day to day will be impacted. For instance, if you are introducing a new tech stack, the team on the ground will experience the effects first hand on a daily basis, whereas a higher level executive may only encounter minor changes to their daily or weekly routine. It is important to involve team members from defining and designing your strategy and use cases, all the way through to execution. With good communication and regular check-ins you can avoid transformation landing as a shock and causing stress for your teams.

5. Take a Work-In-Progress Approach

One of the key takeaways about transformation and team building is that it is a constant work in progress. To stop evolving is to fall behind, so it’s important to make time to review and revamp throughout the journey. Consider that some individuals may be more open to ambiguity than others. For example, in building a social and digital insights team, you may find using more junior level workers to be beneficial: they may be hungry for challenge, are willing to adapt to new situations, and are eager to have an impact. A junior team can build momentum, and a senior manager can direct strategy and ensure deliverables are being met. But remember, it is always a work in progress and this team structure may need to be reoptimized down the road.

6. Keep Communication Going

We mentioned earlier the importance of having a vision and team buy-in at the start of your transformation. But what about 6 months, 1 year, or 5 years in? Is that buy-in still as strong as it was at inception? Whether management remains the same or not, it is important throughout your transformation, to always have a pulse on team buy-in. Implement strategies on a recurring basis to return to vision, align goals, and nourish internal ambassadors who help to keep various members motivated.

Leadership Strategies In a Post-COVID World

“It’s the little things that really make a difference during this time.” – Moya Jakobsson, Aware Super

The global pandemic was devastating for workers at every level of the organization and leaders are faced with a number of ongoing issues, including:

• Burnout - exhausted employees with dense workloads and high stress
• Conflicting priorities - The pandemic put extra pressure on parents and caregivers, juggling responsibilities with family and work life
• Lack of connection - Bonding is harder without the in-person experience, particularly when putting scrums together and collaborating in an agile environment
• Time zone challenges and meeting miscommunication - such as calls getting rescheduled, canceled, or simply forgotten
• Border closures - halting the influx of new talent and shrinking recruitment opportunities
• Changing wants and needs - employees have reconsidered priorities and passions, wanting to retrain or change roles altogether

The challenges above are part of a new reality, one that executives need to be prepared to address and re-address with compassion and empathy. Here are a few ways you can make a difference as a leader:

• Establish strong brand values and embody them - honesty, transparency, openness, and empathy are all examples of excellent business values
• Create care packages - send messages of appreciate for hard work and meeting deliverables; consider care packages for individuals who may be suffering due to a lost loved one
• Make friends - have meetings that aren’t about work, ask how people are, have conversations not related to the organization
• Encourage team members in the same location to meet in person even if you can’t be there yourself
• Allow team members to not be in front of their screens during a meeting, encourage them to go for a walk while on the call if they would like