How Did I get here?

I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up until I was around 45. I had progressed my career from small time project manager to leading the implementation of national health care projects, running complex programmes and heading up a PMO. I was good at it. I could have progressed the career even further but there was something missing and it often felt too process orientated and bound by the rules of specific methodologies. And so, I kept my mind open to opportunities that would allow me to explore the freedom and creativity I wanted without giving up the career and salary. This resulted in me heading up the organisational innovation programme where I realised, thanks to great mentorship and teaching from Prof Eddie Obeng, that I needed to focus on people, ways of working, changing the local environment and culture rather than shiny gadgets. I kept what I was doing under the radar, delivering through invisible leadership, learning from smart failure, and was able to make a real difference for individuals, teams and the projects and services they were providing.

But it wasn’t big and shiny.

And I was continuously being told to focus on shiny gadgets and to adhere to process and management systems. Although I was delivering great outcomes that had a noticeable impact on people, behaviours, culture and ultimately patient services, the specific work I was doing was less tangible than shiny gadgets, was hard to measure and wasn’t being delivered in the traditional project management way or following ‘due’ process. But despite the criticism I received, and the battles I fought, I did find that missing bit, that missing insight.

And that was that the only way to really achieve successful change was to focus on people, behaviours and motivators.

That by really understanding those involved in change as individuals, and not just as ‘stakeholders’, I was able to develop pragmatic ways of making progress by stealth using ‘ninja’ moves. Finally I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I stealthily set up my own business where I could share the learning, support and mentor others, and train people in new ways of working while also writing about my experiences in ‘The Change Ninja Handbook’.