Digital Transformation And Innovation (Part 2)

Digital Transformation And Innovation (PART 2)

[00:36:06] Alexander: And now let’s get to the next bullet point. Policies. So I think this is a really, really interesting one, because we have I think there’s a lot of [00:36:20] companies or groups and companies that never really think about that. Yeah, they have some kind of default way to going about it. So what are the different policy aspects that we can, that we can think about?

[00:36:39] Chris: [00:36:40] Alexander, I have just listed a couple here. And so working so closely with I. T. Or or digital however we want to look at it has given me a perspective that not a lot of statisticians or data scientists experience [00:37:00] on a daily basis on DSO. It’s really been by and large last 15 years or so that I have Worked very closely with them, and there’s a lot of discussion from a let’s call it a tech strategy.

[00:37:19] Like [00:37:20] statisticians have their own strategy. Oh, we’re going busy. And are we not? Are we doing this? Are we doing that? Right? That becomes in in the analytics or the analysis aspect on really the big tech aspect. There’s a strategy as well for for the [00:37:40] enterprise. Statisticians tend to focus on business applications, not Hey, are we in the cloud?

[00:37:49] Or do we have 57 servers that were executing this on? Right? That is squarely more of of an I. T. Topic. And so, [00:38:00] like statistics, data science ClinFarm, Real World Evidence every other business line is forced to make economic decisions and, and operate in a more efficient, productive cost effective [00:38:20] way it’s the same with, with IT.

[00:38:23] And there are different approaches to, to doing that. And, and so there is a classic one of do, do we build something or do we buy something? And, and that has a lot of implications to it. [00:38:40] And a lot of the implications are contradictory. So, from an IT perspective, it is generally more economical to buy something than to, to build something, generally.

[00:38:56] The, the part that is the non general is [00:39:00] what are we asking it to do? And what are we asking it to do is building something that is fit for purpose Because something that already exists has been already built may not fit your purpose. 

[00:39:18] Alexander: Yeah, 

[00:39:18] Chris: And so [00:39:20] I have, I have worked at, at a, a company where there was a very well known software company that had created let’s call it somewhat of a, a, of a platform.

[00:39:34] And it, it was forcing the company that [00:39:40] was implemented, implementing it. And so my role was the business lead over implementing this globally, this thing. And so I was within the biometrics organization. And so what this forced was change how you operate so that you fit the technology.[00:40:00] 

[00:40:00] Instead of determine how you’re going to operate in a way that is optimal for your department or, or your company or whatever the scale is, and then we’ll get technologies that fit how you want to operate, you can see they’re very, very, very different, and that is part of [00:40:20] build versus buy and.

[00:40:23] Somewhat related is there are there are times that someone up above in leadership sponsor, an executive sponsor, etcetera, might mandate. We just bought this, so we’re going to keep it [00:40:40] as a as a technology or. We’ve just spent a year and a half rolling out this new process optimization. So we’re, we don’t want to lose that money.

[00:40:52] We don’t want to frustrate people build around that. And those can be limitations. Usually it goes, it goes [00:41:00] back to the mindset. Of protect versus maximize, et cetera. So this is more of an application of that where someone has decided that we’re going to keep a technology and you can build around it.

[00:41:19] Or a [00:41:20] process and you can make sure that we enable this or our tech strategy is to build something. And oh, by the way, we have a strategic relationship with company XYZ and they might not have even the best product for what you’re doing, but that [00:41:40] helps us from a financial perspective. These are real pressures.

[00:41:46] I’m just pointing out that they can limit the value that comes from the actual production transformation. 

[00:41:56] Alexander: Yeah. And yeah, there’s also, of course, a [00:42:00] big timing aspect always in these. And it definitely relates also to the mindset topic. I know definitely companies where if we haven’t built it ourselves.

[00:42:13] We don’t trust it. Right. And so any kind of software [00:42:20] training, whatsoever, every kind of things that you use, it needs to be built by us. Yeah. If it’s built by someone else, That’s crap. Yeah. And maybe they don’t say it, but they think it. They 

[00:42:35] Chris: just say it with their friends in private, right? [00:42:40] They wouldn’t, they wouldn’t say it with someone that they fear saying it in front of, but given that this is the effective statistician, I I’m taking a lot of perspective of statistics, data science.

[00:42:56] And the the [00:43:00] group of typically very well educated with a niche expertise of statisticians and data scientists are very much the I need to make sure it’s done right, because there’s there’s a lot of things that a [00:43:20] statistician, a data scientist does, and I’m talking more on the statistical side of data science.

[00:43:25] That is not overt, maybe not obvious to someone that doesn’t have very similar training. And so really quickly, I, I, I spent three years leading good clinical practices [00:43:40] quality over bio, biometric, well, statistics. At a company. And part of my remit was to help infuse some subject matter expertise over system statistics, systems and processes and deliverables.

[00:43:56] And there is a general [00:44:00] hesitation when someone talks statistics because it’s really mathematics, 

[00:44:06] Alexander: right? 

[00:44:06] Chris: It’s, it’s not necessarily. Anyone can do something if they’re told, right? There’s an expertise. And so there is a bent that would [00:44:20] say, I need to do this myself. And there is generally some hesitation when something is going to be built for them.

[00:44:32] So to your point, it is very much alive and well In innovation transformation type [00:44:40] of topics, but it certainly goes beyond that. 

[00:44:44] Alexander: And so yep, it’s it’s a very, very interesting point. Point to look into. Okay. Let’s look into the next bullet point. Which is communication and I’m repeating myself. Communication is the only tool you have [00:45:00] as a leader.

[00:45:01] And there’s lots of lots of different forms to communicate. And communication Yeah, is one thing that you really, really need to get right. Otherwise everything else will fall apart. And yes, there’s definitely overlap with all the other things that we talk about here. 

[00:45:18] Chris: Yeah, [00:45:20] I agree. Right. That that is our our tool.

[00:45:24] Andi. So from my from my perspective I have been part of two very large transformation efforts at two different companies. I have been the business leader over to cross functional programs. [00:45:40] Capital campaigns. They they all had over 100 folks in them. And I’ve had an innovation team that was within biometrics.

[00:45:50] The common thread that I have used in my leadership style is to be as transparent, as [00:46:00] absolutely ethical and, and responsible to, to do. I do not keep information close to the, the vest. I believe in being transparent, and I think that there sometimes can be a tap into the [00:46:20] emotion by not being transparent.

[00:46:23] I think that there are times that certain people can fear or have concern. Over what is unknown more than what is known, but disliked. So there there is a complexity of emotions [00:46:40] that that people have, and I think we need to respect them and understand that as part of of learning our craft to be effective.

[00:46:52] And that part of that starts with transparency and what the objective is. [00:47:00] And I was being transparent before when I was saying if someone lives in fear, they may not be part of of your future, right? You try to break someone out of the fear. You try to create a different mindset by communicating [00:47:20] genuinely and clearly, transparently the facts and opportunities.

[00:47:25] But ultimately you’re not responsible for that. You can’t be responsible for that, but we can only do what we can do. And that involves being transparent as communicators, especially in a [00:47:40] role where we’re trying to influence someone to, to move from point A to point B. 

[00:47:46] Alexander: And now that is an interesting aspect.

[00:47:49] You say transparent, and that is kind of, is a very, very. positively associated word. Yet, [00:48:00] very, very often when change comes, yeah, and change is implemented, people are, or leaders are, everything but transparent. And I think that’s the It has a lot to do with mindset, you know, [00:48:20] because when they, when they are not transparent, they are very often not transparent because of, they think if I tell everything here, Yeah, that will, people will not be able to handle that.

[00:48:37] Yeah. And the mindset [00:48:40] behind that is this kind of, I think it’s a little bit like adult to child communication, yeah. Rather than adult to adult. Communication. And honestly, I’m a big fan of adult to adult communication. Although I need to say I’ve done that in the past. [00:49:00] And sometimes people really like to be treated like a child.

[00:49:06] And I had, and I had real challenges with these people. Although I need to say coming out of that, I still want to communicate at all to adult level. Yeah, [00:49:20] and it’s not my problem if there is childlike behavior or childlike kind of mindset in there. So this kind of mindset behind that is really, really important.

[00:49:33] Yeah. So it’s not being transparent versus being, you know Irresponsible. Yeah. So [00:49:40] it is very often transparent versus being protective or overprotective. 

[00:49:47] Chris: Yeah, yes. And and so for for me, I think being transparent is part of being genuine that [00:50:00] there are times that 100 percent of the situation can cannot be shared in any organization.

[00:50:07] And so that’s beyond necessarily our control. But I take transparency as part of trust and rapport. And being genuine. And [00:50:20] so, as I have influenced, regardless of position, have influenced IT, have influenced cross functionally, have influenced team, have influenced upwards, and, and gotten capital funding at, at multiple companies.

[00:50:37] I have been transparent, [00:50:40] not always fully appreciated. But we have to live with ourselves, right? We have to be genuine. And so, for me personally, I am going to be trusted and want to be respected [00:51:00] and appreciated for being honest and responsibly honest. But I am not trying to win a popularity contest.

[00:51:11] I’m trying to do my job as ethically and morally effective as I can and [00:51:20] be as genuine a person as I can and and forge genuine relationships. And they don’t always go you know, happy duty. You don’t, you don’t always have rose colored glasses and in every relationship, but what we each can control is, are we going to be genuine and authentic and, and [00:51:40] transparent?

[00:51:40] And I think a lot of it has to do with respect for the audience. So if we were to get this back to innovation transformation, if, if we are not really comfortable with where we’re going. And, and asking people to take that journey of transition to [00:52:00] where we’re going. What I think we’re more likely to not be transparent and I’ll put a different word on it, manipulate.

[00:52:08] So and, and management, right. We, as managers different than leader as we try to manage something, we want to have is as little disruption [00:52:20] as possible for the group that we’re managing. And so sometimes we may not tell them the whole story, or we may not put as fine an edge on it because we don’t want the, the disruption.

[00:52:37] And I believe that that [00:52:40] cut, cuts people short. I believe that that is not respecting what you have planned and people’s ability to see it and their respect for someone that is genuine and transparent. And I think that disliking [00:53:00] something is, is different than a fear of the unknown. They’re different emotions and you’re going to get a different response.

[00:53:08] So if there’s something that’s going to be. Negative, I’d rather be ethical, transparent, genuine, and, and trust in their [00:53:20] response and trust in my plans. 

[00:53:21] Alexander: Yeah. And. Honestly, very often people are smarter than you think. And so when you hide something, even for reasons that you tell yourselves are good, [00:53:40] yeah, it probably comes through because some people will think like.

[00:53:46] There is an aspect, there’s a kind of, there’s a hole in the argumentation here, or this stands on shaky ground. And I think this will going to happen, but they don’t speak about it. [00:54:00] Are they not smart enough to not speak about it, or are they hiding something. And those consequences. I’m not increasing trust and trust is absolutely important here to drive change.