 Good morning everyone. Thanks for the introduction Ben. I'm so sorry that I can't be there with you in person this morning I'd like to say I'm in some fantastic exotic location, but I'm right here in Brisbane. I'm just very sick So I've got my tissues here, and I'm going to keep my germs to myself this morning Which I'm sure you all appreciate. So we're talking about leadership of technical teams and Why is that relevant? Well? We have a skills Shortage right now in the Drupal community So you may have noticed that there's a bit of a fight for talent. It's really hard to find talented Drupal developers in Australia But it's not just affecting Drupal it's not just affecting the tech industry It's actually the number one issue that's facing all Australian businesses at the moment And it's a global challenge very specifically in the tech industry Cornfairy have estimated that by 2030 We will be at a loss of over 85 million jobs, which is huge So the problem is not so much that robots are taking our job As there's not enough humans to fill the jobs. So how have we ended up in this situation? Why is this happening now? Well, some people say all businesses are software businesses we all need to use software in some form or other and that accelerates business growth and COVID has accelerated that Move to digital transformation. So a lot of organizations that were thinking well We need to do this digitally at some point in time Have gone ahead and started their projects and started their digital transformation journey So there's a global war on talent and it's not just affecting Drupal and it's not just in Australia So, how do we solve that problem? Well, we don't have much control over the supply But what we can do within our own organizations is create a workplace culture that will attract and keep The best employees. So that's what we're going to look at today This is going to be relevant for you if you're a business owner Currently a team leader Aspiring to be a leader or even if you're just looking for a great place to work or you want to improve the culture at your current workplace will give you the tips and tools to look at to assess whether an organization has a great workplace culture Before we dive into that just a little bit about me and about ATEC So I'm the managing director of ATEC We've been involved in the Drupal community for a very long time We started out in web development And now we're in cloud hosting as well and we've been utilizing Drupal since Drupal version 5 And what we do is Web development managed services and cloud hosting our data centers are right here in queen's land And we do offer Drupal as a service in Drupal as a platform as well We focus on mission critical websites and web applications and we work with the big end of town So the likes of virgin australia or the aviation safety authority And oftentimes that's in partnership with different organizations. So for example brisbane city council We provide the cloud hosting and managed services and we partnered with previous next who delivered the development for those sites So my technical leadership journey started a number of years ago. Um, I Actually started and grew ATEC from scratch and it kind of happened accidentally. I've always loved tech So I knew I wanted to work in tech and I went and did an IT degree and I thought great. I've got my degree Now somebody's going to hire me But nobody gave me a job. Um, so I ended up working in as a secretary in the property industry for a number of years and Then one day I met a very um handsome young man And he said quit your job and we'll go traveling around the world So I quit my job, but we didn't end up going traveling. Instead. I found myself married pregnant and without a job But as most of you know, if you're a geek and you don't have a job People give you work to do pretty quickly. Um, so that's what happened to me Um, I would have done it for free because I I love everything tech But the people that needed help were sort of friends of friends of friends. I didn't really know them directly So I just started charging a low hourly rate building websites for um small businesses So that sort of grew and then um one day I thought oh hang on a second I've accidentally created a full-time job for myself. I was kind of working about full-time hours making about That amount of money and in time then I needed some people to help me so My leadership journey really started with my first hire who's pictured Right here in this picture in our one of our data centers So that was the beginning of my leadership journey before then I'd never managed a team And I really didn't know what I was doing. So it was a lot of reading books and and studying to Build the professional development and learn those leadership lessons along the way So I've learned quite a bit about leading technical teams And nowadays this is what my team looks like. So when I walk into the boardroom, these are the lovely faces Smiling back at me And our business is actually entirely remote. So we've always been remote and everyone Works from all around Australia This was them actually in a room together, which was unusual so We've actually done really well at Creating a good culture at a tech Um developer tenure is how many years did tech employees Stay in your organization on average as you can see Some of the the best companies in the world don't really have great tenure for their developers So google on average developers stay only 1.1 years At a tech we're well above industry average so Because we had such um good tenure of employees and we had really talented employees. They started to Ask questions. So I go to my team and I would say, you know, why Have you chosen to work at a tech? Why do you stay at a tech? Why do you like working here? and One of the most common responses Was people would say it's the culture. We've got such a great culture. I used to think well What exactly is culture? What does that mean? So I started to ask more and more questions Because if the culture is really good, how do we Make sure we protect that? And continue to have a good culture so That's what we're going to talk about today is your workplace the kind of place that will attract and keep the best employees And how can we create a culture that fosters that? well, it turns out That usually people leave managers and not companies So this responsibility for creating a good workplace culture actually falls to the leaders And some people have done some fantastic research in this area gallup research looked at 80 000 managers at all levels in companies of all different sizes across numerous industries And they tried to distill What makes the difference between an ordinary manager? and a great manager and a great manager is someone that can coax world-class performance Out of their team And it turns out great managers do four simple things really well We're talking about managers This term can also apply to leaders It's just a different mindset and language around how we apply that this research was specifically around managers, but it relates to leadership principles in general number one select employees based on their talent and values rather than experience Now i'm sure you can all relate to this If you imagine someone who has 10 years of experience But is not that great at their job Versus one of the most talented people that you've ever worked with If you imagine them with only 12 months of experience, who would you rather hire and work with? And everyone is talented at something so some people are really fantastic at writing code Not so good at documentation Some people are great at documentation, but they've got terrible time management skills Everyone has some kind of talent so it's about really Leaning in to find out what it is people love doing What is it that they do and they lose track of time because they're so engaged with it? That's where you start to find where people's talents lie So for example what a lot of people look for when they're recruiting developers are soft skills They want a coder who can do all of the other stuff project documentation and you know team Meeting reports But maybe we just need to focus down and understand What are the true key talents that we're looking for and making sure you're not Cutting out valuable talent from that pool Number two evaluate performance based on desired outcomes Rather than direct control over the way a worker performs his or her job So if you're dealing with talented people They don't want to be micro managed all of the way So your developers in particular you want to be breaking down the tasks to a level where they know You know what they're supposed to be working on but you don't need to micro manage those tasks down to a very granular level Give them the freedom to go and work out how they're going to execute that Three stop trying to Fix people focus on their strengths and work around weaknesses So we spoke about people's talents before Have a focus around what the team can deliver rather than trying to get everything 100% With each individual team member. It's kind of like when you're building your character in an rpg You know, everybody's going to be great in different areas But when we work together as a team or as a party Then the team can deliver what we need to do so What a lot of people as I mentioned before look for in recruitment is they're looking for That coder that has all of these other Skills that you know, maybe they don't really need if they're working as part of a team. We have a Coder on our team who is autistic and non-verbal. So he doesn't speak at all So in terms of written communication or verbal communication He's not a great communicator. That's not his strength However, when we've done analysis Um on our team members We actually found that he was the most profitable and productive member of our team By a huge margin So the quality of result that he's delivering is so far beyond Whatever everyone else is delivering because he's so good at what he does So what we do is we pair people up with complimentary skills There's a member of our team who's fantastic at written communication And absolutely obsessed with it. So as a team, we all work together and produce a quality result And number four find the right fit for your employee's talents So if you've got someone that's a great coder Well, why are we putting them into a management position if they love being on the tools and they're great at being on the Tools, let them do it Find other ways to reward them for being good at that So these things matter For talented and untalented people as well. So those people that are happy to show up to work And you know, they're not doing a fantastic job. They'll be showing up for pay Great senior management benefits. Everybody loves benefits and pay But as a leader we want to be focused on keeping the talented resources Not everybody else, you know, the quiet quitters and the ones that don't really Care about the work they're delivering So we look at, you know, the best place to work an example of that is google It's a great place to work. We hear about all of the cool benefits. They've got pretty good pay But you know best place for whom it seems like their tenure is not so great 1.1 years Maybe the culture is not great for talented employees So how do you attract focus and keep the most talented people and not just everyone? Well, it turns out there are some questions You can ask 12 questions that will help you identify a strong workplace As seen through the best employees Those talented employees this can help you create a culture And a workplace where talented people really want to stay So these are the 12 questions and we'll drill down into each of these Number one, do I know what is expected of me at work? This is the first one because it's the most important You need to know what you're supposed to be working on every day You need to know the level of quality that's expected of you So as a leader make sure you're communicating that out to your team 2. Do I have the tools I need to do my job well? Talented people love to do a good job So if they don't have the right tools, they're going to get frustrated Now this might look like, you know, CICD tools We don't want to be giving our developers just, you know An FTP server with no security, you know, poor Code editors Give them the tools they need Regression testing tools to make sure they can consistently deliver quality results Because that's what talented people care about They care about doing a good job Question three This starts to look outside of What do I get to the contribution to the wider team? 3. At work do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? If you've got an awesome coder You don't want to be, you know, spending all day Writing doco or spending all day in meetings You want to be coding every day So make sure if you're in a leadership position You want to be creating those opportunities For talented people to do what they love and what they're good at every day 4. In the last seven days Have I received recognition or praise for good work? Now this is something that for me, I'm autistic So communication is a little trickier for me I have to continually remind myself to state the obvious When people do a great job I have to, you know, make an effort to go and say Hey, you know, great job on that, you know, well done with that Because too often you can get involved in your work And just almost feel like it's a given That people know that you think they're doing a good job But you have to verbalize that So people are continually getting that positive feedback And once again, this is for talented employees Talented employees love to know that they're doing a good job 5. Does my supervisor or someone at work care for me as a person? Personally, I think this is the most important question out of all 12 If you care for the people on your team Then everything else is going to take care of itself This goes deeper than just, you know, are they delivering good results at work? This goes to the level of, hey, you know, how are you going? You know, this is happening at work But is there something going on at home? Understanding what challenges and circumstances people are dealing with outside of work So that can inform how you support them at work 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? This is about positivity This is about belief Identifying latent talents in team members And encouraging them to pursue those talents Hey, have you ever thought about doing XYZ? And this can go upwards as well You can be, you know, positively encouraging People that are in leadership positions above you Now the next question is around belonging And this question 7 is so critical At work, do my opinions seem to count? When you have team members that have a very quiet voice You need to be the amplifier You need to be the megaphone You need to be spotting people when they make their contribution To really engage with that So that people have that sense that their opinions are valued 8. Does the purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? You may not have control over the overarching purpose of the company But you can certainly articulate the purpose to your team members And you can articulate the purpose of an individual project And the impact that that particular project will be having on other stakeholders So remember to engage with your team And keep them on track with the vision of why it is you're doing what you're doing 9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work? There's one thing talented employees really don't enjoy And that's working with people that aren't so talented and really don't care And I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this This is one of those ones that will really keep people engaged Is when you're surrounded by a team of high performers And you love what you're doing It's a really great culture and makes you feel like you belong as a talented employee Do I have a best friend at work? If you don't have a best friend at work, why not? Is it an unfriendly culture? So keep that in mind as a leader Making sure you're creating opportunities for people to connect socially If you're working remotely, which most of us are doing these days Those little water cooler type conversations We're on discord, we're having a chat We're talking about conspiracy theories Or off topic stuff Those are important because we're social creatures And we need to have that social connection with our team So these questions do I belong here? This is going to help us build an inclusive and diverse work environment And they help people to feel valued And that number one question is really do my opinion seem to count This one crops up a lot in gender discussions Where women may feel that they've raised an opinion And it's not heard by others or people claim that opinion as their own And so one way to tackle that is to be tuned in When people give an opinion to call it out And mention that that person came up with that idea Another idea is if you're in a meeting You may wish to sort of call out individual people And get a contribution and get them to speak during a meeting To make sure they're giving their opinions Is this my tribe? Does everyone look and speak the same here? Am I the other one out? And we talk about bias and discrimination and privilege And a lot of people are sitting there thinking Oh well, does any of that really exist? Is it really a problem? And I can assure you if you're one of those people that's thinking that It's because you have a lot of privilege And the problem with privileges oftentimes you don't really know And the way you can break yourself out of that cycle Is to put yourself beside a variety of people And see the world through their eyes As an example of that one of my team members was in a wheelchair And it wasn't until I spent a lot of time Walking around with him, booking accessible accommodation And venues for him that I started to really see That time I wheeled him home and the door to the hotel Is a big heavy door that you have to pull backwards to get in He couldn't do that in a wheelchair by himself Even though it was an accessible hotel So it's those sort of things that I would never have known How difficult it was unless I'd walked beside him And seen the world through his eyes Similarly going to the shops with a friend with quite dark skin And seeing how he was treated looking at jewelry and watches Versus how I get treated You can't see those challenges and those issues That people are facing every day Unless you have those opportunities to walk beside them And see the world through their eyes And similarly people from different cultures, different backgrounds I've heard people tell me that they have to adjust their accent And speak in a different accent when they're at work Because they're afraid A that people will judge them And think they're less capable than they are Or B that people simply won't understand them So just be mindful of the challenges that everybody is facing And when we create a workplace where there's a variety of different people We've got different cultural backgrounds, different abilities Then different groups and minorities Will feel like they belong as part of that tribe Because the tribe is so diverse An interesting thing to consider is the language that you're using In recruitment, particularly job ads At ATEC we had a requirement to maintain 51% females in a particular role Because of the grant we'd received from the federal government So the first ad we put out was completely non-gendered It didn't say anything about male or female We got 20% of applicants were female the rest were male And then we put the same job ad out and added a sentence at the bottom That said we're required to recruit female candidates for this role We got the same amount of applicants the second time around But 20% of the applicants were male and the rest were female So those ratios had switched But the really interesting thing was that the caliber of female applicants Was just phenomenal So they had really identified with the fact that we were looking for female candidates And we had some amazing responses So keep in mind the language that you're using in recruitment Is going to determine whether people feel like they can relate To the organization and it's also going to indicate to them Whether you're focused on diversity and inclusion Are they going to belong and feel welcome And the last two questions are about growth In the last six months have I talked with someone about my progress So I'm not getting check-ins on where I'm going about where I want to be going Make sure that is happening as a systematic process 12 at work have I had opportunities to learn and grow Talented people we don't want to be doing just the same thing over and over We want to be growing and getting better and learning new things So make sure you're giving your talented team members that opportunity for growth And that can come in a lot of different forms But firstly you need to make sure that your organization is providing access to resources Whether it's training or at ATEC everyone has access to LinkedIn learning And make sure you've got time and budget for professional development Some areas for potential professional development for For example developers that want to move into more of a leadership management role Project management process and procedure improvement if you want to head into operations Strategy and finance if you want to move into more of an executive role And communications for everyone if you're in a leadership position focus on your communications And so as a leader you're trying to find that match between What the organization wants which is value from your team members And what employees want which ultimately we all kind of want to get an identity from our work We're at a party and someone says what do you do we want to feel good about What we say we do so identity is really important when it comes to Delivering value for your employees And you can think about what everybody wants this relates to all relationships not just You know a leader You know managing team members this could relate to customers or Your partner at home or your children This is what everyone needs from a relationship and when these needs are met We'll keep coming back to that relationship. It'll be a strong relationship So those first three are the most important and everyone has different needs so some people Need to feel significant in a relationship. They need to feel like they're important and You know, you can't live without That relationship significance is important other people need Security they need to know they're you know, they're showing up to work or showing up to this relationship every time They know what to expect It's not going to be taken away from them Other people love variety, you know security and significance are not so important They just want stuff to be you know interesting and changing every day Once you've met those first three Needs then you can look at contribution and growth in any relationship People have a need to contribute So in an organization that's about you know contributing to the success of of the organizational contributing to the health and happiness of the team or something like that And growth everybody needs to be growing and improving and learning. So have a think about That framework if you want more information about that that's taken from a relationship Breakthrough by Chloe Medani's and Anthony Robbins highly recommend Reading that myth if i'm the best technically at doing this work that makes me a good leader Wrong That makes you an expert leader expert leadership is a trap An expert leader thinks well, I have to do this because no one else can do it as well as I can You're not willing to accept imperfection and so you create a bottleneck This is a huge risk for the organization if something happens to you No one else has been growing And learning to do what you do as well as you can do it And you're also the one that's usually in the spotlight because you're saving the day because you're so good at what you do That's not great. If you're a leader if you're a true leader This is what you need to focus on you need to focus on stepping out of that spotlight and helping other people And coaching other people to do The task as well as you can and the best way to do this is actually one on one coaching This can be really difficult if if you're a great coder. You just you know, you're used to being They're coding away So it's a very different skill set a different mindset if you're working remote, you know get on You know teams meets whatever and screen chat even spend a whole day just sort of looking at Somebody's screen and coaching them. It's so valuable And if you've got leadership ambitions, you're not currently in the leadership role It can be really difficult to break into that first role because you kind of need experience As a leader to be able to get experience as a leader. So how do you break out of that? And a lot of people think if they just do really well at that doing That their boss will promote them into a leadership position But that's not really true. You'll often get overlooked For leadership if you're just really really good technically Another myth is if you're sitting there, you're thinking well, you know, all that culture sounds great But I can't really do anything about that at my company wrong. You can be the catalyst for change Now somebody once said if you want something to happen, you need to start preparing for it to happen So the first step is to believe that this is a possibility So whether it's that you want to step into a leadership role Or you want the culture at your organization to change You need to start preparing for that. So the person that said this was a success talker And he came home from work One day and he walked in walked into his kitchen And he tripped over a bowl of water He said I put this bowl of water on the floor And his nine-year-old daughter said That's for the dog And he said well, we don't have a dog And she said yes dad, but you said if you want something to happen, you need to start preparing for it to happen So on and on this went she ended up buying a lead for the dog and she was you know, taking the imaginary dog For walks every day and you know, of course soon enough than the dog brought then the dad brought home a new Puppy So this is what we need to start thinking about if we want to be In a leadership position or we want to have a great culture at work We need to start preparing as if that is actually going to happen So we're going to start thinking and acting like true leaders We're going to start thinking about our 12 questions. I'm going to start creating an amazing culture So go and do it guys. Have fun. If you have any questions comments feedbacks There's my linked in So reach out That's all for me. Thanks guys