What key skills or attributes do you consider will be essential your success in this role?
First and foremost, people skills (EQ) and culture creation. The military is working hard after the results of some tough inquiries to improve our culture collectively to make a more inclusive work environment. We still have a way to go, but I feel data leaders with a developed EQ who can self-regulate, motivate, and empathetically lead their team is the bedrock of getting this right. I believe that having a technical pedigree as a data leader is vital, it allows me to understand new and emerging concepts more quickly within data. However, less and less of my workload is inherently technical and instead is more people-centric. Therefore, overall success within my teams is more closely tied to me creating both the culture and conditions for my team to achieve.
My final one, which is entwined with EQ is being able to react to failure quickly and properly. I often see throwaway statements in leadership seminars like “fail fast” which I don’t find too useful. Projects can fail at any stage for myriad reasons, it is not practical to compartmentalise the risk of failure to the early project stages. I have witnessed project failure first-hand, but knowing how to deal with that is paramount. As a data leader, my role is to ensure the team and I positively learn from failure and share those lessons with our colleagues to improve future projects collectively.
How did you develop – and continue to develop – your current skills or attributes?
As an Army officer, my leadership development began at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), a world-renowned 44-week course that teaches attendees how to lead soldiers; the RMAS motto is “Serve to Lead”. RMAS has served as a strong foundation from which to develop a more personal leadership style which has been shaped by experience and subsequent command and leadership courses. The greatest continual development of my leadership skills is the people within my teams. The Corps of Royal Engineers are home to some of the brightest and adaptable people within the Army, and to lead them you must continue to grow and adapt your leadership style – they are not shy in letting you know if you are getting it wrong.
My technical skills on the other hand were initially developed on my MSc in Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Cranfield. Where the Army truly excels in my opinion is the ability to conduct continuous professional development (CPD). Technical skills in data aren’t always taught on the job, but there are so many funded pathways to improve yourself if you want to do that; importantly this removes some barriers to learning. Funded higher education is one of the ways I have benefitted, but I have also developed myself in more technical fields such as coding and engineering through the Defence Innovation (JHub), Defence Digital, Standing Learning Credits (SLCs), University Short Courses, and The Institute of Royal Engineers (InstRE). I don’t think I can recall any subject I have wanted to learn not being supported by some facet of the Army.
Over the past two years, I have been a digital nomad, working within Defence, government and most recently supporting the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). As much as there is an emphasis on an individual to develop themselves, I have found by diversifying the organisations and teams I have worked with my leadership and technical skills a been significantly improved for the better.
