While many organisations focus their leadership programs on the upper and executive levels, Interflow Managing Director Daniel Weaver sees success, and the concept of leadership itself, in a different way.
“Leadership is not about rank or hierarchy, or where you sit in the organisational structure,” he says. “It’s about creating a particular type of environment.”
In that environment, the individual and anybody working with them is encouraged to be their best.
And so, an effective leader has powerful impact on the people around them, who feel good about going to work and are physically and emotionally safe.
Leaders also create a positive environment for those affected by their work, such as the communities they serve.
With almost 700 people in the Interflow team, spread across various roles and in numerous geographies and locations, Weaver believes each and every one of them has a role to play in shaping the work environment.
His passion is around ensuring every individual is clear on what it takes to be a great leader at Interflow and has the opportunity and the tools to lead in their capacity.
“The potential of our people is limitless,” Weaver says. “It’s possible that some of them have not had opportunities in leadership development, in the past. Some of our best leaders right now are likely self-made.”
“So I think, in terms of the people at Interflow, the best is yet to come. My goal is to help them reach their full potential.”
Interflow’s leadership program, now in its second year, is focussed on boosting the leadership capability of individuals at all levels, and particularly those in field-based roles.
It was developed after a period of research to really understand Interflow’s people and customers. The output of that research convinced Weaver that the only way to ensure permanent and positive change was to empower those people who had the greatest capacity to shape the everyday work environment. Those people are out in the field, working on water projects across Australia and New Zealand.
What’s unique about Interflow’s program is that it was built by the team, for the team through a solution design process. They brought together people from every level of the business to understand what it means to be a great leader at Interflow.
It was clear from the design process that tools and approaches needed to be customised to the way people work and where they work, which for many includes challenging and high-risk environments.
Also crucial was that leadership be hardwired into every people process, policy and system, so that it becomes simply ‘how we do things’ and not an add-on.
The resulting program centres around two-day workshops which bring together around 25 current or potential leaders from across the organisation to Sydney to explore their leadership potential.
In the first year, Weaver himself rang each attendant to invite them, personally explaining the purpose, goals and value of the program. Although the practice of personally inviting each participant has become more difficult as the program has grown in scale, it was important during the first year, to set the tone.
Now, as there is a far-reaching understanding of how it works and why it exists, people are reaching out to be included.
“I would love to still be able to have those conversations, but it says more that I no longer need to,” Weaver says. “The ripple effect we’ve seen from people applying what they learn every day is that there’s now a real understanding of the importance of learning to be a great leader. It means people want to take part and leaders want to support their people to take part.”
Part of the value of having 25 people together in a room, all from different regions and with varying levels of seniority, is the group’s diversity of knowledge and experience and the ability to connect.
“If you put people in a room and they’re all from one team, you’ll get one common set of thinking,” he says. “But if you have people from different teams, it disrupts that group-think. They connect with and learn from each other”
“They’re coming together to start or continue a journey of leadership, which is about the collective Interflow environment. But it’s also about developing the individual, and about connecting with and learning from peers from other places, people you didn’t previously know.”
The leadership workshops are based around a model Weaver describes as “Four circles of leadership”, which focusses variously on leading people and teams, leading work and leading oneself.
Participants evaluate their strengths in each area, as well as their potential for growth, which introduces a powerful mix of validation and self-awareness.
“For some, it’s like, ‘Aha, I do that. I do lead in a balanced way.’,” he says. “For others, they realise they’re spending 95 per cent of their time leading the work, leaving them very little time to focus on their people, or on themselves.”
At the end of every two-day session participants provide feedback on their experience and that informs enhancements for future programs.
“We are basically empowering the business to decide whether the program continues or not,” he says. “As long as the business says this program is helping, it will continue.”
After just two years, Weaver says the program is already having tangible effects, including strengthening resolve around Interflow’s stated purpose – “to improve the lives of the people we work with, the communities we serve and the environment we work in, for generations to come” – as well as improvements in people engagement and retention and attracting the right types of people with the very best attitudes and approaches to work.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that answers to all challenges lie within,” he says. “It has never ceased to amaze me what you can learn, solve or create when you get 25 people from the business together.”
“Seventy to 80 per cent of our business is based in the field, so our people in the field can all have an impact on the work we do, on the people around them and on the local communities. They can all be leaders, and my goal is to give them the opportunity, mindset and tools they need to do that.”
