Cloud leadership: the Educator
It is puzzling that many technology teams routinely underspend their training budgets - even though those budgets are rarely large enough to start with. I have not conducted the research to prove that this pattern is universal, or to diagnose its cause, but I suspect that part of the cause is that most enterprises do not measure technology leaders directly on the capabilities (or career development) of their team: rather, they measure them on project success, operational performance, and management of cost and risk. To achieve all of those things, you need a good team, but if those things are all you are measured on, you may be tempted in the short term to buy, borrow or rent the team, rather than by building capabilities and careers.
This pattern is not sustainable when attempting large scale transformation, such as Cloud transformation. Such transformations require a shift in culture and capability at least as much as a shift in technology. That’s why the Educator is one of the seven key leadership roles for Cloud transformation. Given the transactional approach of many enterprises to technology learning, the Educator is also one of the roles most likely to be left out of the transformation leadership team, or to be ill-defined: giving someone the job of organising a set of technical training, and making sure that <x> people have achieved accreditation by <y> date is not to give them the role of the Educator.
To help shape this role, I’d suggest following five principles:
Education is for everybody: when attempting technology enabled transformation, it is tempting to focus on technical skills for technical people - the kind of skills based training which is measurable in formal accreditations. This type of training is essential, but it is never enough: true transformation requires everybody in the company, and education should be for all of them, whatever their technical background. In particular, it should be for senior business leaders who do not have a technical background: the degree to which they come to understand technology will have a direct impact on business performance.
Education is never done: education should not be a once and done activity which creates a critical mass of technical skills within the organisation. The rate of technology change means that technology professionals must always be learning. This is particularly the case for Cloud transformation, where new capabilities - often fundamental new services, rather than just upgrades for existing services - are being made available all the time.
Learn by doing: technology is a practical discipline - we build things and run things. This means that classroom or online training is not enough: people must have the opportunity to put their skills to work. The Educator should advocate strongly for giving people this opportunity, and should remind their colleagues that such activity it not just ‘playing around’ with new technology: it is the kind of practice which every professional must undertake to achieve high performance.
Show humility and pride: the training required for deep technology transformation can feel like going back to school for people with deep technical experience - or people who left a hands-on technical role many years back. The Educator should promote and role model the humility which goes with career-long and lifelong learning: there is always more to know. The Educator should also encourage people to be proud about their achievements: its always good to see new certificates and accreditations proudly displayed on platforms such as LinkedIn - and it encourages learners and their colleagues.
Enhance capability and career: transformation can be disruptive and disconcerting, and it is important to show the people affected what it means for them and their careers. A shift away from transactional, reactive learning to career-long learning, matched to people’s goals and aspirations, is a powerful way for the Educator to demonstrate that the enterprise is serious about their future.
If the Educator follows these principles (and discovers others which I haven’t found yet,but which I am sure will be better than these) then they have the opportunity not just to support the transformation of their enterprise, but to make the attitude to learning an essential part of that transformation: a transformed enterprise should be a learning enterprise.
