CEO Today Hall of Fame

HALL OF FAME 5 www.ceotodaymagazine.com continue to shape customers’ expectations. Then we break it down: The growth of this sector has spurred a huge demand for a multitude of support options — FAQs, live agents, email, SMS, etc. The catch is, all these channels have to work together. If someone wants to start online shopping on a smartphone, finish it up on a desktop computer and then Facebook message the company with a question, we need to identify the right tech and processes to make sure it’s a consistent and seamless experience. In what ways have you been a transformational CEO in this era of rapid change? History is littered with examples of companies that focused solely on technology without investing in organizational capabilities to ensure their positive impact. I realized early on in my career that you need to think of your team as the keys to ‘start the car’ - without them, you go nowhere. This is even truer today, in an age when technology is ‘threatening’ to displace humans. Think about it - how likely is it that your employees will adopt and embrace a technology that may immediately or eventually negatively impact them and their role? The answer is ‘not likely’, unless you create an environment in which you communicate, and they recognize and truly believe on a visceral level that your plan is to concurrently invest in and upskill them so they are better able to work in concert with the technology. For this reason, leading by example, I work diligently to ensure that we foster the right mindset and culture among our team members. What good is a strategy written down on a piece of paper when success hinges on its execution? My role as a transformational CEO is to make sure everyone ‘gets’ it when it comes to organizational change — that they understand the plan, how it will affect them and how they can personally contribute to its implementation. Each individual should know what they are working on today, this week and this month that will directly impact our objectives and goals. But, more important than the ‘what’ we are all doing, is ‘how’ and ‘why’ we are doing it. At TELUS International, our value proposition sums it up well: We empower the human experience through digital enablement, agile and lean thinking, spirited teamwork, and a caring culture that puts customers and the value of human connection first. These aren’t just words on a boardroom wall, we strive to instill it in every decision we make and every action we take, reverberating throughout the company. How do you ensure your team members are happy and feel valued? What makes them want to give you their best? Companies can no longer subscribe to a ‘one size fits all’ mindset when it comes to what matters most to their people. In the digital age, companies must leverage data and insights to help direct where investments are made throughout the company in order to achieve the greatest positive impact. Employees thrive and grow with one-on-one coaching, heartfelt encouragement and personalized recognition. Companies that meaningfully prioritize the employee experience by marrying digital transformation with a human connection will most often have engaged, inspired and motivated teams that are more adaptable to the workplace changes brought about by the new digital era. Ongoing training and development are also key in my opinion. Technology investments have significant potential to drive growth and operational success, but only if companies make simultaneous investments in strategic learning and developmental roadmaps to upskill employees, along with forward-looking recruitment plans that target requisite new skill sets for today and for the future. Last - but certainly not least - is making employees part of something bigger than themselves by providing opportunities to volunteer and make a positive impact in their local communities. At TELUS International, giving back is part of our cultural DNA, and I have no doubt that our passionate commitment in this regard has helped us attract and retain the best people who are consistently delivering on our company’s ambitious goals, which has ultimately led to our exponential growth over the years. Do you have any last words of advice when it comes to digital transformation? First, you ought not to delegate digital transformation. When some businesses set up innovation hubs or appoint a Chief Innovation Officer, there is a temptation for the rest of the organization to assume that innovation is being taken care of elsewhere. You must ensure your entire organization is on board and involved to avoid widespread apathy. Second, although digital transformation may be top of mind for many, too often the security component is an afterthought. Like making a cake, security considerations need to be baked in, not just layered on top like icing. Companies must simultaneously increase awareness of, and adherence to, new security and privacy considerations brought about by the digital era, going as far as to include a security component in each employee’s role description. Last, many executives continue to be focused on digital transformation as a way to more efficiently, quickly and cost effectively continue to do what they have always done when I think their time would probably be better spent getting clear on what business they are really in. Once leaders ask themselves this one difficult question and get to a clear answer, they must then be constantly looking for ways to apply that definition to new technologies and new markets, thereby perpetually unlocking huge new growth opportunities. MIT researcher, George Westerman, said it best, “When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.”