ENTREPRENUER IN RESIDENCE, ABC

The Technology team at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation wanted to introduce a new lean approach to experimental learning. This Experimental Learning Program functioned as the MVP (minimum viable product) for this new approach, and served as a complementary training program to be integrated into other departments of the business. I was brought in as the EiR to bring the ELP to life, from go to whoa. 

EXPERIMENTAL LEARNING PROGRAM

The Experiment & Learning Space primarily was, as its name suggests, an experiment of learning - a safe place for ABC employees to test new ideas and develop solutions to problems beyond their day-to-day roles. It was also an experiment in experiential training as it will took technology and management employees away from their daily tasks and immersed them in the entrepreneurial mindset that has served the startup ecosystem so well.  More than anything, the Experimental Learning Program was meant as a key-turner in the ignition for internal culture change. The ABC Technology division needed to move into the future, and we were charged with training the hearts and minds to do so. 

Goals for the programe

• Design a scalable learning programme that will introduce ABC employees to lean startup (experimental) methodologies. 
• Build a programme that can be considered to be rolled out into the broader ABC that will compliment the highly technical broadcasting business. 
• Develop training content that can be shared in the business. 
• Identify entrepreneurial talent in the ABC Technology employee pool that can lead the innovation charge internally. 
• Introduce ABC and its Technology employees to the innovation ecosystem. 
• Build a platform of collaboration with the innovation ecosystem via events, content, workshops and ongoing training. 
• Design, implement and deliver the program with limited additional internal resources: mainly the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (CBL) and a program coordinator to look after logistics and implementation. 

The program, in short. 

To ensure its survival, the program had to be simple to run and simple to explain. The design had to be kept simple, modular and with lots of room to wiggle. We settled into a model similar to the one we had used to Interchange 2015 with a mix of speakers, workshops, facilitation, and activities - with one overarching team project that would aim to solve an internal ABC problem. The program would culminate with a big pitch event, with guest judges from inside and outside the ABC. The winning teams then would have the chance to implement their ideas internally and take their new learnings back to their "normal" jobs. To do this, we broke it into 3 distinct stages:

• 1 week of introductory full time facilitated immersion,
• 4 weeks of participants working on their project, with coaching and mentorship, while at their "normal jobs"
• 1 final week of immersion to run final experiments and prepare for pitching. 

"Show me where it hurts."

Before any planning or design work could being, it was imperative that we identified the problems we were solving. The idea is very simple: If their culture was ready and able to do this, they'd be doing it already!  The first task was to put together a questionnaire for the Technology Leadership Team to help us uncover some hidden blockers for innovative ideas or the intrapreneurial spirit. The questionnaire asked broad questions that could then be used to benchmark progress in the program and could be repeated down the reporting line to uncover other blockers. Once the questionnaire was sent and answered by the leadership team, I was able to sit down with each team lead to chat through their answers and find patterns. As the sessions went on, the underlying problem steadily bubbled up: there was a big hold on new ideas due to the high risk intolerance of middle management. Now we had a dragon to fight! 

Softening the ground

The most important part of any of these experimental projects is to get buy in from the people who could resist it the most. After all, team leads had to acquiesce to send their teams to this training, so the success of the program depended on their commitment to do so. We gathered the main stakeholders at the ABC to present the purpose, goals, and design for the program. We sent a one-pager ahead of time and made sure we sent any materials to every participant straight after the session. We also encouraged everyone to ask questions and to lean into the ambiguity of an experimental program. By the end of that 2 hour session, even if we had not gotten everyone on board, we had enough people excited about the ELP to assure bums on seats and an open mind. These sessions are crucial to any new initiative in a big, legacy organisation.  

Levelling the playing field

 Since the biggest blocker was this "middle management" deterrent, we had to get people out of their hierarchical mindsets, and fast. That's when we came up with the idea of inviting students from UTS to participate. UTS is conveniently around the corner, and both the ABC and my team had close ties to the faculty. This played a crucial part in balancing the acidity of reporting lines in the program - you can never underestimate what adding new people to do the mix can do for group dynamic. All of a sudden, no one was anyone's boss, no one was "the new guy", there was no "this is how we've always done." The students were the perfect tonic for team balance, not to mention an injection of young ideas and perspectives. 

Facilitating the facilitators 

The last piece of the puzzle was to bring together the right blend of facilitators to deliver a comprehensive program over 2 weeks. The curriculum included highly technical lean startup education, agile leadership coaching, vulnerability and creativity as business tools, plus workshops around creative confidence and pitching. Once again, the design depended on modular facilitation, building on a broader narrative for the program. Additionally, we were tasked with introducing the participants to the broader Australian startup and tech ecosystem. That gave us a great excuse to get the ABC participants out of the building, both literally and metaphorically. We visited Fishburners, Vibewire, Pollenizer, the Hub, UTS, my current home at BlueChilli, among others. The experience would have not been nearly as complete or immersive had we had to stay in the same building where the participants came to work every day. 

Measuring success 

Looking back at the ELP now, I can truly appreciate what a departure it must have been for the leadership at the ABC. I am so grateful, not to mention impressed, that they decided to take such a big leap. The program ran in iterative incarnations four times over 18 months, each with a new batch of participants. At the start of the design, the Director and Deputy Director of Technology sat down with me to map out goals for the program and ways to measure it. One of the decisive numbers we built on each time was the number of applications we received for the program (ABC employees had to apply to participate), and the number of participants who returned as mentors and coaches for the following program. 

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

There are 10 members of the Technology Leadership Team, so it was impossible for all of them to attend an immersion week at the same time. In lieu of that, we designed a learning experience that would compress most of the learnings into two days. Enter Pollenizer. Considered the original incubator in Australia, Pollenizer was the premier provider of startup science until its closure in 2017. They had developed a methodology that took innovation newbies from zero to hero in just two sessions. Designing the experience around their validated formula was a no brainer. The purpose of this session was to connect the leadership team with the experience their own teams were going through during the ELP. That way they would understand their new ways of working and empathise with the change. Additionally, we were able to seed some key language to accelerate culture and behavioural change from the top down. 

MENTORS & ADVISORS

The final piece of the puzzle was to create a network of advisors, mentors and coaches that the ELP participants could connect with throughout and beyond the program. We gathered a roster of leadership coaches, corporate innovation experts, lean startup practitioners, hackathon mavens and eventually former ELP participants to lend their expertise to the teams. We were careful to provide contact protocols and rules of engagement for the teams to connect with their mentors. Even though these were iterated as the program went on, establishing boundaries at the very start proved crucial for coaches and mentors returning to the program for all 4 incarnations. 

Getting out of the building 

Having the ABC as a headquarters had bugs and features. It's, of course, a national landmark, but it's sensitive security measures made the free flow of people nearly impossible. Impromptu or casual check ins from mentors and coaches were out of the question. Sessions had to be scheduled, cleared with security and rostered in. However, this proved the best excuse to get the teams to leave the building and meet around the Ultimo precinct. Ultimately, the teams ended up advising each other on the best places to meet and new sources of local inspiration, which helped them form closer bonds. It also gave them the impetus to talk to new people and visit places like Fishburners, UTS and other venues in the Ultimo Goods Line. The ELP was all about connection, so this proved to be a feature more than a bug!