Are you hungry for change yet?

Being the meat in the sandwich has never been fun – especially for a vegetarian, but it sure does teach you a lot.

That’s where we are now, the meat between old ways and new days. The transformation of traditional structures and ways of management to decentralised systems and new thinking. We are seeing it in the energy sector as we fight the challenges of integrating renewables. We are seeing it in finance as we watch the battle of centralised banking against decentralised cryptocurrency. We are seeing it with our people as remote working replaces office time and intrinsic motivators shift completely.

We are seeing it across every industry who seeks to decarbonise but then must find a way to integrate rapidly evolving technology into existing (and sometimes outdated) systems.

Congratulations everyone – we are the lucky people who get to lead change and eat that sandwich while being baptised by fire! What a time do be alive! But it doesn’t have to be one of “those” sandwiches – not at all. In fact, it could be the best sandwich of your life – whatever kind of sandwich you like! It all comes down to your perception and your ability to adapt to change – and being thrown in the deep end sure does get you to either sink or swim. It truly is exciting times ahead, one where we will watch the transformation of our World and either adapt or die.

So! With this thrilling experience underway how can you prepare yourself as leader of change? Well, lets look at the main project management style used in Silicon Valley – the stomping ground for technology advancement and rapid change, thereby requiring all who enter this place to be as adaptable as Play-Doh. Throw back to the late 1990s and we have IT companies ditching the typical ‘Water-fall’ approach to a more agile way of working – aptly named ‘Agile’. Software companies were (and still are) living in a World of constant change, and the old way of delivering projects was weighing them down in their fight to sink or swim so they decided to find a new way. Suddenly, instead of being plagued with scope creep and delays to project deliverables due to changes in key assumptions, the Agile way of working enabled project teams to work collaboratively and deliver faster while adapting to change efficiently and effectively.

Lets bring it back to present time and the Agile way of working is in full steam and gaining momentum. Because it’s not just the IT industry anymore who need to be able to adapt quickly to changing priorities, but now to reduce carbon emissions we are seeing all industries needing to adapt quickly and respond to changing priorities. The platter of options to consider when decarbonising is an ever-changing buffet of technology that brings about massive changes to CAPEX requirements each time a new dish is served. A challenge for study leaders indeed!

And so here we are – the meat in the sandwich of change. The answer is never black or white, there are always shades of grey and if one end of the spectrum is the “Waterfall” and the other is “Agile” then the answer probably lays somewhere in between.

Are you hungry for change yet? What kind of sandwich will you be eating or are you still the process of figuring that out? Let us know in the comment section below!

You can check our capabilities and experience on Incite Energy website: https://lnkd.in/gMKPcsE7

Author: Kody Ponds – Incite Energy Decarbonisation Director 

Image credit: Incite Energy