Proud to be an IBMer

Today was just one of those days that reminded me why I continue to be proud to be an IBMer, even after 20+ years!

This morning at 5am local time, I was up early with a little bounce.  Today my sub-team colleagues Benedicte, Ricardo, Susannah and I were having an introduction meeting with the Organisation we have been aligned to – United Way Bay Area (UWBA).  With Notepad on screen for notes, poised with anticipation, taking a deep breath, here we were, on video conference finally getting to meet to talk with the Client.

With introductions done, it was time to switch on those skills and remembering the first rule of thumb and a couple of IBM’s 9 practices – put the client first, and listen for need, envision the future!

We listened, we learned, with only an hour, and knowing it was only to be an introduction with more to come in the near future.  But oh my, how the mind was going through all the possibilities on how we can assist to help the organization.  They have a few programs, but they are wanting to focus on the one which is supporting the Youth in the Bay Area, which in turn helps those volunteers and business partners that help to make this happen.

Our mission to help UWBA is to provide solutions for:

• Analysing and reporting on UWBA employer engagement specifically for Business Partnerships
• Labor Market Research for Youth Employment in the East Bay and beyond to expand youth employment work to new areas/sectors
• Exploring data collection and an analysis protocol to conduct a longitudinal study on impact of business partnerships and the connection to youth jobs

Then came question time.  Questions were asked, notes taken, the mind whizzing through all the fleeting thoughts ensuring that we made the most of this opportunity.  Before long, the hour was up, and we were all looking forward to meeting each other face to face in less than 3 weeks time.  So with a little more knowledge of what was ahead, I was feeling a little more grateful for all the skills I have learned over the years and knowing that they will come in very useful moving forward.

Later in my morning, it was time to put my focus on IBM, my employer.  To listen, to learn, to contribute to our future as IBM A/NZ and what that looks like, and how this could evolve and potentially contribute to the wider IBM as a corporation.

IBM has had such a transformation over the recent years, it has certainly been a ride that a lot of us still here have been watching play out.  Our A/NZ Managing Director, David La Rose being new to this role in October 2017, went on a journey across his Markets to introduce himself, where he is from, but most importantly, to listen, to learn, to understand his teams.

From this, David has taken the information he learned and with the help of his leadership team is doing something that has everyone curious about.  We are about to embark on an exciting journey of culture growth and change where all A/NZ employees are encouraged to get behind and support, and to be a part of.

David and the IBM Leadership Team introduced a new program “Vision Sprint”.  So today I attended the 22nd sprint session of Create. Lead. Become.  Being a part of Sprint Session 22, a master number in numerology (the ability to manifest your dreams into reality), it was sure to be a lively session, full of great ideas.  The Vision Sprints are focused on creating a workplace culture and new ways of working that will bring out the best in each of us. By participating in a Vision Sprint, we got to have the opportunity to work with IBMers from across all of our teams and businesses to create the IBM culture that will ensure IBM’s continued success.

The 2 hour session gave us an opportunity to ask what is our state now, what do we want to stop, and what do we want to keep.  There was also a series of questions for what we would like to see in our future in IBM that we got to rate in sub-teams, and well, you can see from the pictures below, that most of our teams were focused on satisfaction with a constructive style (in the blue) over aggressive/defensive or passive/defensive styles.

If nothing else in my time so far with IBM over the last 20+ years, transformation is something we have the privilege to do regularly in many different areas.  If something is not right, then we step forward to make a change, to course re-correct, to make a difference!