Imagine for a moment leading a company wide transformation and “be suddenly leading that level of change in an area that I really did not have deep domain expertise. I had not worked in that way before. I was having to learn while we were building and be able to be quickly build my own knowledge around it. But the biggest challenge was, it challenged me personally. So it wasn’t just that I was working on something that was new to me. I had to really reflect on my own leadership and how I was showing up and what this was all going look like and feel like.”

Alex knew that the T22 transformation was what Telstra needed, and a leaning in to the strategy was very much one of her strengths, but this change “was probably one of the most fundamental out of comfort zone experiences because it challenged a lot of deeply ingrained practices and ways of thinking.

“It profoundly impacted what work we did, how we delivered that work. It profoundly impacted all the people in the function. And in my mind, I had to adapt and change to that new way of working fastest of all, if you’re going to advocate for it, and you’re going to push for it.

“There wasn’t a guide. It’s not as if I could sit down and read the 101 manual and suddenly just get it. It was very much a learn through experience and trying some different approaches.”

Alex felt anxiety, fear of failure and a loss of control as she led the company through this huge change. A lot of which she admits came from high expectations of herself.

I asked Alex how she dealt with those feelings “I think on one hand, one of my lucky strengths is that I am pretty naturally resilient. I think we’re all different in how we deal with anxiety. But I do think there are a couple of things that help you with that.

“One, I tend to be pretty open with people around me. So my direct reports, I would joke with them about how I was learning and trying to get it right and knew I was going to get it wrong at least 50% of the time. And I do think when you verbalise things that make you anxious your halfway there to being able to deal with them because then they’re not the biggest secret that you’re carrying. Fear of failure is a really heavy thing to carry. It’s actually sharing it with others explaining what you’re challenged by and asking for feedback. Others will help guide you. 

“And the other is actually just to invest some time in in learning. I do believe to lead something, try and exemplify that you must educate yourself. Knowledge builds your confidence. Learn the language, the things that make it feel intimidating. If you can cross that boundary, then suddenly it’s not so frightening and a whole bunch of it’s just common sense. 

“So educate yourself and lean on others.”

Alex surprised herself with her adaptability throughout this journey “you can start to believe your own excuses about ‘I’ve been working too long. This is the way I grew up working’. All of that sort of stuff. But it really proves to me, we can all choose to change, we can all choose to change how we manage work, how we manage people, workplace relationships, and that as the world around us is changing traditional assumptions around organisational culture and engagement are changing as well. 

“For senior execs, or those of us who’ve been around a bit longer, it was that absolute reinforcement of we need to stay fresh and contemporary. If you’re still relying on research you heard 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, there’ll be some gems in there. But there’ll be some things that have fundamentally changed because the new generations coming into our own organisations their expectations are shifting. And we’ve got to be able to constantly learn, adapt and change, to be able to deal with that.”

And Alex told that was as relevant with a 15 year old and a 6 year old at home as it was in business – you have to keep pace with change in order to relate.

Another important learning for Alex was to focus on the long goal, not the short term wins: “… being pragmatic. We had big bold visions, and you want to do everything at once and change everything. You’ve got to pick your battles, and you’ve got to work out which one’s most important. Which one do you really want done? And which one can you come back to later? What’s the most important step for us to take?

“I do think sometimes you can get a bit too wedded to your plan.”

Of course I asked Alex for her advice to anyone considering a step out of their comfort zone “one of the pieces of advice I can give people is think about adjacencies. For a lot of us, we’re not prepared to completely change everything. Think about the core skill set you have.

“One of the things I often suggest to people is think about what are the three or four anchor skills you’ve got that are not described by the functional, the specialist area you’re in? And then what’s the next logical step? So, if I’m working in risk, start to look around you and go, what are things that look a bit like that? Well, health and safety is a second line risk function. Compliance is a risk related activity, depending on what your training and expertise is regulatory might come in to the frame. So think about that first layer of the next circle around you and dip your toe in the water because you’re leveraging core strengths, and you’re not too far away from home.

“The other thing is I do think you’re often trying that in an environment where you’ve got sponsorship. Think who’s your supporter? Who’s going to be the person you can lean on or call out to when you’re learning. And when you’re learning, you’ll probably make a couple of mistakes. And you probably stumble and fall a couple of times. It helps to have a friend and a sponsor in those moments to help guide you. So think about the adjacencies, have your sponsor lined up, then take the job and give it a go. Because rarely do does anything dreadful happen.”

What great advice, thank you Alex!

Alex Badenoch is the Group Executive Transformation, Communications & People at Telstra
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-badenoch/