Who Looks After The Leaders‪?‬ Adam Detwiler/ State of Matter

Welcome to our final episode of Who Looks After The Leader? In this episode, we’re giving a recap of the series so far, including all the fantastic insights and lessons our interviewees have shared with us.

Thanks so much to our guests on this podcast mini-series, including Deanna Lomas, Chief Integrated Supply Officer at NHP Electrical Engineering Products, Shaun O'Brien, National Manager of Risk Partners at IAG, Sue Bingham, Executive Coach, Effie Gorringe, Director of Operations at L'Oréal, Dirk Dobbs Strategy, Implementation and Change Executive at HESTA, and Ian Wall, Global Security & Resilience Director at Worley.

You can find out more about State of Matter at www.sofm.com.au, or connect with Fraser Moore and Alex Lal on LinkedIn.

You can find out more about Adam Detwiler at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamdetwiler/

There will always be a new crisis to deal with, and organisations with teams across the globe have to be prepared to facilitate effective localised responses when they hit. Today’s guest is Ian Wall, the Group Director of Security and Resilience at Worley. In this episode, Ian shares his unique perspectives from 15 years of experience building Worley’s global crisis planning and response capability and how this has recently been deployed in more than 50 countries during the COVID pandemic. Ian shares some of the major crises he has dealt with in his time at Worley, and some of the major differences and commonalities terms of the crises themselves as well as the response protocol between those and the current situation. He talks about the value of investing upfront in preparation, and what this means at Worley with its vast network of teams and clients all over the world. For Ian, responding to crises effectively is a matter of localised action and he talks about training branches of the organisation in different parts of the world to think critically under pressure and instilling a sense of preparedness in them. Ian believes that no response is the result of one leader with all the ideas, and he shares about doing what it takes to make it to the finish line as a team. We hear from Ian about his personal response to his line of work too – his thoughts about building perspective amid crisis, taking care of himself as well as many others, and how to see this moment not just as a disaster but a seed from which many great things can flourish too.

Key Points From This Episode:

A profile on Worley and Ian’s role in crisis prevention, preparation, and incident management.
Insights into Ian’s personal life, his family, stunted travel plans, and love of gardening.
Prior crises Ian has helped mitigate leading up to the present one in the form of COVID.
Common practices for preparing for all kinds of crises whose main challenge is the unknown.
The value of responses being team initiatives with a clear distribution of responsibility.
How Ian and his team work with clients around the world to foster crisis preparedness.
The unprecedented scale of the Worley response to COVID; the value of localised initiatives.
Getting teams and clients across the world to buy into preparedness in benign periods.
The toll this crisis has taken on Ian, lessons he has learned, and how he gets perspective.
How Ian approaches caring for so many people being just a single person.
Personal habits that help a handle a demanding position like Ian’s at this unique moment.
Ian’s advice for business leaders at this time; seeing this moment as an opportunity.

State of Matter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/state-of-matter/
Adam Detwiler: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-detwiler/
Ian Wall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-wall-a8b10114/

For today’s episode, we’re joined by Dirk Dobbs. Dirk is the Head of Strategy and Product at HESTA, an Australian industry superannuation fund for workers in health and community service sectors. In this episode, we’re talking about finding opportunities during crisis and tuning out the noise, and Dirk shares his learning from emergency situations, both in a professional context as well as a very unique and time-sensitive fatherhood challenge. Dirk also talks about the importance of remaining flexible and adapting to changing circumstances, creating a window of calm in the chaos, and maintaining explicit and transparent communication. We discuss making process changes and taking action without hesitating, and Dirk also has some great advice about seeing positive opportunities in challenging times and tuning out the noise to remain focused on the task at hand in emergency situations. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

Dirk shares a bit about himself, both professionally and personally.
The financial crisis of 2008 and how Dirk managed it by staying flexible.
Creating a window of calm in the chaos by increasing communication and being transparent.
How Dirk remains flexible at HESTA during COVID-19, thanks to technology.
Working from home and how Dirk’s team has adapted to daily check-ins and start times.
How Dirk creates a flexible work environment for his team by having explicit conversations.
Something that Dirk learned from dealing with the financial crisis in Hong Kong that he is applying to his work now is to look out for positive opportunities.
Making process changes, like moving from print to digital, which save time and money.
Dirk talks about his wife’s home birth as a personal emergency that he has experienced.
Taking action and not hesitating thanks to adrenaline and the expert guidance from 000.
Some commonalities between Dirk’s professional and personal crises, including adapting to circumstances as they change, and distinguishing the signal from the noise.
Dirk’s personal experience of COVID-19 and how he has adapted to functioning well.
Having a dedicated workspace has been helpful for Dirk, after working from home for an extended period of time now.
How Dirk has kept his team connected, motivated, and productive through the pandemic and as they move back to the office, including daily check-ins and transparent communication.

Effie Gorringe has over 21 year's experience at leading teams across supply chain, logistics and operations. She is now Director Operations at L'Oréal ANZ and oversees a huge team of over 400 people. She knows that in times of crisis, it's about keeping teams happy and safe first and foremost, then everything can flow from there.

In this episode, she discusses:

- How she has ensured the physical and psychological safety of her teams
- How technology has helped her problem solve in difficult times
- What she looks for in her team members in terms of entrepreneurial-ship and resilience
- How she creates happy and productive work environments
- How the COVID-19 crisis has helped her value family time and reassess how much she travels
- The importance of a healthy work / life balance
- How having a strong partner can help you succeed in your career

State of Matter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/state-of-matter/
Adam Detwiler: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-detwiler/
Effie Gorringe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/effie-gorringe-038ba247

With so much expected of leaders, especially during difficult times like the current pandemic, self-care rarely finds its way onto the schedule. However, running on empty not only harms leaders’ abilities to make decisions and connect with their teams, but it also takes away from their personal connections. Today’s guest, Sue Bigham, is here to share the importance of filling up the tank and fully embracing self-awareness. Sue is a former Naval Officer, a leadership and organisational coach, and a counsellor specialising in PTSD and addictions. In this episode, Sue shares more about her Naval experience and what that taught her about herself and leadership generally. Having lived life with a façade, Sue did the work to break it down and subsequently discovered the most authentic connections she had ever experienced. We learn more about some of the benefits that leaders will encounter once they explore their true selves. We also dive into how to cultivate self-awareness practices during the pandemic and the importance of making self-care rituals a non-negotiable on the daily calendar. COVID-19 has been a difficult time, and leaders must lean into any tough feelings and sit with them to find the lessons they contain. Along with this we also discuss some practical self-reflection tips, the knowledge leaders should take from this transitional moment, and how leaders can create emotional closeness rather than distance with their teams. Be sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

Learn more about Sue’s personal and professional backgrounds.
Sue’s time as a Naval Officer and her transition to counselling and corporate work.
What has stood out to Sue about leadership during stressful times.
Why leaders need to consider an expanded definition of a nurturing activity.
The importance of planning self-care activities and cordoning off time for them.
What people should do if they notice many difficult feelings during this stressful time.
Sue’s commitment to breaking down her façade and choosing to be herself in the Navy.
The benefits of connecting to your true self as a leader.
Learn how Sue connected to her true self and how it transformed the relationships in her life.
Find out more about an interesting exercise Sue does with leaders and executive teams.
Sue’s tips for leaders who want to take time to do some self-reflection.
Why Sue believes it’s important to bring your purpose ‘out into the light.’
How ‘you’ language creates emotional distance between leaders and their teams and how to remedy it.
Moving forward: What leaders can learn from this interesting transition period.

State of Matter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/state-of-matter/
Adam Detwiler: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-detwiler/
Sue Bigham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-bigham-00502652

Welcome back to the show! Today on the podcast we are joined by co-host, Fraser Moore, the COO of State of Matter Consulting Firm and we’re excited to share the next episode of our mini-podcast series, Who Looks After the Leaders? This podcast is specifically created for those who face the stress associated with being responsible for high-performing teams and organisations, yet anyone in a professional role will benefit greatly from this content.

Today’s guest is a good friend of ours, Shaun O’Brien. Shaun is the National Manager of Risk Partners at IAG Australia, and in this episode we talk about the impact of COVID on innovation at IAG, maintaining a positive mindset, and how Shaun’s viewing the benefit of more time with his family. Tune in for this enlightening discussion and don’t miss out on today’s episode!

Find out more about State of Matter here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/state-of-matter/
Find out more about Adam here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-detwiler/