WEBVTT
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.559
Hello and welcome to the Leadership Shift.
00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.239
I'm Nicola Martin.
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.160
I'm a career and leadership coach for people in technology.
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.239
Over the past couple of episodes, we've explored the first two parts of the shift framework.
00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:38.320
We started with situation, taking the time to understand what's happening before rushing to solve it.
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:49.439
Then we looked at human because every challenge at work is experienced by a person, and if we ignore that, we often miss what's really going on.
00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:54.560
Today we're moving on to the I in Shift, insight.
00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.840
Before we dive in, let's remind ourselves where we are.
00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:15.120
Shift is the framework I use in my coaching practice, and each letter builds on the one before it.
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:19.920
So for example, situation asks what's happening.
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.400
Human reminds us to understand the person behind the problem.
00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:30.879
Insight helps us discover what's really happening beneath the surface.
00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:42.799
Next comes forward where we explore the options available to us, and finally we take action, where we decide what we're actually going to do.
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:03.840
There's a deadline, a production issue, a difficult conversation, a delivery problem.
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.480
Our instinct is to fix it.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:15.039
But without understanding the situation, the human and the insight, there's a real risk that we solve the wrong problem.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.280
That's why insight sits right at the heart of shift.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:29.599
When people hear the word insight, they sometimes think it means having a brilliant idea or a sudden light bulb moment.
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.560
Sometimes it does, but more often, insight is quieter than that.
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:36.879
It's recognizing a pattern.
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:41.120
It's noticing an assumption you've been making without realizing it.
00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:48.159
It's understanding why something keeps happening rather than simply accepting that it does.
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:04.479
One of the reasons I think this matters so much in technology is because we're trained to solve problems.
00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:05.840
That's what we do.
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:18.000
Software engineers solve problems, quality engineers solve problems, architects solve problems, product managers solve problems, engineering managers solve problems.
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.719
It's one of the reasons many of us enjoy working in technology.
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.879
But coaching asks us to slow down for just a moment.
00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:34.400
Before solving the problem, we need to work out whether or not we're solving the right problem.
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:36.960
Let me give you an example.
00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:42.960
I was having a conversation only last week with someone working in a software engineering team.
00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:53.199
They were frustrated because delivery plans kept slipping whenever someone was on annual leave, off sick, or unexpectedly unavailable.
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:07.759
The immediate reaction was that the team needed more people, or perhaps they simply needed to plan better.
00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.639
They're all reasonable conclusions.
00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.319
But insight asks us to look a little deeper.
00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:24.399
As we talked, it became clear that the real issue wasn't the people, it was the way the work had been designed.
00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:29.600
Certain areas of the product relied heavily on one person's knowledge.
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.319
Some technical decisions could only be made by one individual.
00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:39.199
There were parts of the system that only one engineer really understood.
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:54.879
The people had unknowingly become the contingency plan, or perhaps more accurately, the lack of contingency.
00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:59.759
In modern engineering, we talk a lot about reducing bottlenecks.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:08.720
Agile has encouraged us to spread knowledge, collaborate across disciplines, and avoid creating single points of failure.
00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:16.959
Yet sometimes we become so focused on optimizing delivery that we forget the system is made up of human beings.
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:29.120
People take annual leave, people get ill, people have caring responsibilities, people have emergencies, people need to take time away from work.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:46.160
In fact, one of the ironies of modern agile ways of working is that in our drive for speed, flow, and efficiency, we can sometimes lose sight of something that older project approaches, for all their flaws, often did better.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:54.160
Remembering that people are human beings, not interchangeable resources to be pushed through a delivery plan.
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:59.680
None of these things should be treated as unexpected interruptions.
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:01.759
They're entirely normal.
00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:20.240
The insight wasn't that someone needed to work harder or cancel their holiday or avoid taking sick leave.
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:29.360
The insight was recognizing that the team had unintentionally built a system that depended on everyone being available all the time.
00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.639
Once they saw that, the conversation changed.
00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.120
Instead of asking, how do we stop people becoming bottlenecks?
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:49.040
They started asking, how do we build a team where knowledge is shared, resilience is designed in, and people can step away without the whole system falling apart.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:55.759
That's a completely different conversation, and it starts with insight.
00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.639
Here's another example.
00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:14.480
Many organisations have invested heavily in AI over the past couple of years.
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:21.920
They've introduced coding assistance, AI search tools, or generative AI into everyday work.
00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.439
Leadership expects productivity to improve.
00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.800
Some people embrace the technology immediately and others barely use it.
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:39.360
The easy assumption is that people are resisting change, but insight encourages us to ask a very different question.
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.800
What's stopping people from trusting the tool?
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.959
As those conversations develop, the answers are rarely technical.
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.600
One engineer worries that relying too heavily on AI will weaken the skills they've spent years developing.
00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:15.839
Another has seen AI confidently generate code that looked convincing but introduced subtle defects.
00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:23.439
Someone else simply isn't sure when AI is helping and when professional judgment should take over.
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.000
The insight isn't whether people are using AI.
00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:00.639
It's understanding what confidence, trust, and professional judgment look like in a team that's learning to work alongside it.
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:08.559
One of my favourite moments in coaching is when a client pauses halfway through a sentence.
00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:15.039
They stop talking, not because they've run out of words, but because they've just realized something.
00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:19.360
They've connected two ideas that never seemed connected before.
00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.240
Those moments are rarely dramatic.
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:27.600
Often they're very quiet, but they've changed everything.
00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:32.960
Because once you've genuinely seen something, it's very difficult to unsee it.
00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.279
It's about understanding enough to make a decision next time.
00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:54.799
That's all.
00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:22.720
And if those assumptions weren't true, what different possibilities might you begin to see?
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.600
You don't need to answer these questions immediately.
00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:31.360
Sometimes insight arrives during a coaching session.
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:40.639
Sometimes it happens on a walk, driving home, over a coffee, or halfway through a conversation with someone who simply asks a different question.
00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:43.679
Give yourself permission to notice.
00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:58.320
One of the things I've learnt from working in technology is that we're surrounded by information.
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:13.279
We have sprint metrics, delivery dashboards, incident reports, velocity charts, AI-generated analytics, they're all valuable, but they mostly tell us what happened.
00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.320
Insight helps us understand why.
00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:21.840
And when we understand why, we're much more likely to solve the right problem.
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.960
That's why insight sits at the centre of shift.
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.960
Situation helps us understand what's happening.
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.840
Human reminds us that work is always experienced by people.
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:43.440
Insight helps us see the patterns, assumptions, and pressures that aren't immediately obvious.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.960
Only then do we move forward, exploring the options available to us.
00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:59.120
And finally, we take action, choosing our next step with greater confidence because it's based on understanding rather than on assumption.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.879
That's the difference shift is trying to make.
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.600
Not helping people necessarily move faster, but helping them move in the right direction.
00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:15.440
Next time we'll explore the F in Shift.
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:24.879
How do we turn understanding into meaningful options without rushing towards the first solution we can think of?
00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.519
Thank you for listening to the Leadership Shift.
00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:41.360
If this episode has given you something to think about, I'd love to continue the conversation.
00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:56.399
You can find the accompanying newsletter on LinkedIn and Substack, and you can subscribe on both of those, where I explore these ideas in more depth and share practical reflections to help you apply them in your everyday work.
00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:02.240
Until next time, take care of yourself and keep asking good questions.
00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:07.039
And remember that better leadership often starts with better thinking.
00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.399
I'm Nicola Martin, thanks for listening.
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.559
Hello and welcome to the Leadership Shift.
00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.239
I'm Nicola Martin.
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.160
I'm a career and leadership coach for people in technology.
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.239
Over the past couple of episodes, we've explored the first two parts of the shift framework.
00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:38.320
We started with situation, taking the time to understand what's happening before rushing to solve it.
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:49.439
Then we looked at human because every challenge at work is experienced by a person, and if we ignore that, we often miss what's really going on.
00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:54.560
Today we're moving on to the I in Shift, insight.
00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.840
Before we dive in, let's remind ourselves where we are.
00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:15.120
Shift is the framework I use in my coaching practice, and each letter builds on the one before it.
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:19.920
So for example, situation asks what's happening.
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.400
Human reminds us to understand the person behind the problem.
00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:30.879
Insight helps us discover what's really happening beneath the surface.
00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:42.799
Next comes forward where we explore the options available to us, and finally we take action, where we decide what we're actually going to do.
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:03.840
There's a deadline, a production issue, a difficult conversation, a delivery problem.
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.480
Our instinct is to fix it.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:15.039
But without understanding the situation, the human and the insight, there's a real risk that we solve the wrong problem.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.280
That's why insight sits right at the heart of shift.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:29.599
When people hear the word insight, they sometimes think it means having a brilliant idea or a sudden light bulb moment.
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.560
Sometimes it does, but more often, insight is quieter than that.
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:36.879
It's recognizing a pattern.
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:41.120
It's noticing an assumption you've been making without realizing it.
00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:48.159
It's understanding why something keeps happening rather than simply accepting that it does.
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:04.479
One of the reasons I think this matters so much in technology is because we're trained to solve problems.
00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:05.840
That's what we do.
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:18.000
Software engineers solve problems, quality engineers solve problems, architects solve problems, product managers solve problems, engineering managers solve problems.
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.719
It's one of the reasons many of us enjoy working in technology.
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.879
But coaching asks us to slow down for just a moment.
00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:34.400
Before solving the problem, we need to work out whether or not we're solving the right problem.
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:36.960
Let me give you an example.
00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:42.960
I was having a conversation only last week with someone working in a software engineering team.
00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:53.199
They were frustrated because delivery plans kept slipping whenever someone was on annual leave, off sick, or unexpectedly unavailable.
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:07.759
The immediate reaction was that the team needed more people, or perhaps they simply needed to plan better.
00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.639
They're all reasonable conclusions.
00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.319
But insight asks us to look a little deeper.
00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:24.399
As we talked, it became clear that the real issue wasn't the people, it was the way the work had been designed.
00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:29.600
Certain areas of the product relied heavily on one person's knowledge.
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.319
Some technical decisions could only be made by one individual.
00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:39.199
There were parts of the system that only one engineer really understood.
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:54.879
The people had unknowingly become the contingency plan, or perhaps more accurately, the lack of contingency.
00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:59.759
In modern engineering, we talk a lot about reducing bottlenecks.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:08.720
Agile has encouraged us to spread knowledge, collaborate across disciplines, and avoid creating single points of failure.
00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:16.959
Yet sometimes we become so focused on optimizing delivery that we forget the system is made up of human beings.
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:29.120
People take annual leave, people get ill, people have caring responsibilities, people have emergencies, people need to take time away from work.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:46.160
In fact, one of the ironies of modern agile ways of working is that in our drive for speed, flow, and efficiency, we can sometimes lose sight of something that older project approaches, for all their flaws, often did better.
00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:54.160
Remembering that people are human beings, not interchangeable resources to be pushed through a delivery plan.
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:59.680
None of these things should be treated as unexpected interruptions.
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:01.759
They're entirely normal.
00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:20.240
The insight wasn't that someone needed to work harder or cancel their holiday or avoid taking sick leave.
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:29.360
The insight was recognizing that the team had unintentionally built a system that depended on everyone being available all the time.
00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.639
Once they saw that, the conversation changed.
00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.120
Instead of asking, how do we stop people becoming bottlenecks?
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:49.040
They started asking, how do we build a team where knowledge is shared, resilience is designed in, and people can step away without the whole system falling apart.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:55.759
That's a completely different conversation, and it starts with insight.
00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.639
Here's another example.
00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:14.480
Many organisations have invested heavily in AI over the past couple of years.
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:21.920
They've introduced coding assistance, AI search tools, or generative AI into everyday work.
00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.439
Leadership expects productivity to improve.
00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.800
Some people embrace the technology immediately and others barely use it.
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:39.360
The easy assumption is that people are resisting change, but insight encourages us to ask a very different question.
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.800
What's stopping people from trusting the tool?
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.959
As those conversations develop, the answers are rarely technical.
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.600
One engineer worries that relying too heavily on AI will weaken the skills they've spent years developing.
00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:15.839
Another has seen AI confidently generate code that looked convincing but introduced subtle defects.
00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:23.439
Someone else simply isn't sure when AI is helping and when professional judgment should take over.
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.000
The insight isn't whether people are using AI.
00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:00.639
It's understanding what confidence, trust, and professional judgment look like in a team that's learning to work alongside it.
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:08.559
One of my favourite moments in coaching is when a client pauses halfway through a sentence.
00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:15.039
They stop talking, not because they've run out of words, but because they've just realized something.
00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:19.360
They've connected two ideas that never seemed connected before.
00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.240
Those moments are rarely dramatic.
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:27.600
Often they're very quiet, but they've changed everything.
00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:32.960
Because once you've genuinely seen something, it's very difficult to unsee it.
00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.279
It's about understanding enough to make a decision next time.
00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:54.799
That's all.
00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:22.720
And if those assumptions weren't true, what different possibilities might you begin to see?
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.600
You don't need to answer these questions immediately.
00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:31.360
Sometimes insight arrives during a coaching session.
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:40.639
Sometimes it happens on a walk, driving home, over a coffee, or halfway through a conversation with someone who simply asks a different question.
00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:43.679
Give yourself permission to notice.
00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:58.320
One of the things I've learnt from working in technology is that we're surrounded by information.
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:13.279
We have sprint metrics, delivery dashboards, incident reports, velocity charts, AI-generated analytics, they're all valuable, but they mostly tell us what happened.
00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.320
Insight helps us understand why.
00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:21.840
And when we understand why, we're much more likely to solve the right problem.
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.960
That's why insight sits at the centre of shift.
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.960
Situation helps us understand what's happening.
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.840
Human reminds us that work is always experienced by people.
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:43.440
Insight helps us see the patterns, assumptions, and pressures that aren't immediately obvious.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.960
Only then do we move forward, exploring the options available to us.
00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:59.120
And finally, we take action, choosing our next step with greater confidence because it's based on understanding rather than on assumption.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.879
That's the difference shift is trying to make.
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.600
Not helping people necessarily move faster, but helping them move in the right direction.
00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:15.440
Next time we'll explore the F in Shift.
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:24.879
How do we turn understanding into meaningful options without rushing towards the first solution we can think of?
00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.519
Thank you for listening to the Leadership Shift.
00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:41.360
If this episode has given you something to think about, I'd love to continue the conversation.
00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:56.399
You can find the accompanying newsletter on LinkedIn and Substack, and you can subscribe on both of those, where I explore these ideas in more depth and share practical reflections to help you apply them in your everyday work.
00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:02.240
Until next time, take care of yourself and keep asking good questions.
00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:07.039
And remember that better leadership often starts with better thinking.
00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.399
I'm Nicola Martin, thanks for listening.
