Strategic Leadership and Recognition with Diego Silva

Ever wondered how to tap into the hidden potential of your team? Diego Silva, Chief Information Officer at Gates Corporation, joins us to share his expertise on maximizing team strengths and fostering an environment where every individual, from interns to VPs, can truly shine. Discover the transformative power of strategic leadership that appreciates the diverse superpowers of each team member. With Diego's guidance, learn how to create alignment within your team that not only leads to success but also garners recognition and praise.

We also dive into the finer points of leadership, especially in the tech world, where the interplay between guiding and giving autonomy is delicate yet crucial. Recognizing team achievements with unique traditions can be a game-changer, and we'll explore how these celebrations propel continuous improvement. This episode is packed with wisdom on team dynamics, executive strategies, and the burgeoning questions that today's leaders grapple with.

In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. The importance of recognizing and leveraging the unique strengths of each team member.
2. The significance of providing teams with clear objectives or "mountains to climb".
3. The role of leaders in actively participating in the team's journey.

CONNECT WITH DIEGO:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-silva-bio/

This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
Are you struggling to take your IT organization to the next level?
We help our customers do so with confidence. Turn your vision into reality, call LucidPoint today!
https://www.lucidpoint.io/

CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/

CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Quick Take Podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Susie Tominchuk.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.

Speaker 1: 0:35

All right. So I'm super excited. Today we have Diego and we told you a little bit about him. James, why don't you just kick us off?

Speaker 2: 0:42

We're super excited to have a new program here which is really straight talk from the top, and so we're bringing in some amazing guests like Diego to talk about the things that they really want their staff to hear. And so, diego, we were chatting earlier about the work that he's done and the exciting things he's doing at Gates. So, diego, why don't you tell us a little bit about your firm and the role you play there?

Speaker 3: 1:07

Sure, so I'm Diego Silva, chief Information Officer at Gates Corporation. Gates is a very iconic company here in Colorado. It's been here for more than 100 years, started here, it's now in more than 30 countries. So we manufacture products for fluid power and power transmission. So we're talking about bales and hoses, but they go into multiple products, from a Peloton thread mill to a 3D printer. You will see our products everywhere. So, personally, a little bit about myself. I've been in this industry for quite some time. On IT. I started when I was 18 years old, building internet startups in my home country, uruguay. I came to the US, did an MBA and then I went to Europe. I did the Europe for 10 years. I came back to the US seven years ago and I had the opportunity to join Gates three years ago. So I've been in Colorado for the last three years.

Speaker 2: 2:06

That's so great because both Susie and I everybody knows we're townies, we've been here multiple generations and that Gates facility downtown has been there for a million years and it's just so great that that company continues to be a key part of our fabric of Denver and it's so cool that it's still doing some unique and progressive stuff. I've been to Diego's office. The entire powertrain for the Tesla is in there, the stuff that it does for Peloton, like you mentioned, the chainless bike chains for lack of a better term very cool technology. I've looked at that for my own bike. So cool stuff.

Speaker 2: 2:47

You know, it's super exciting to see that company like that grow and you know, diego, you're a great leader at that company. You've been received numerous awards over the years and you continue to be a great leader, so we're excited to have you here today to talk about some of the tricks of your trade. So, with that, really, what I'm going to do is I'm going to let you, you know, identify. You know some of you have some ideas on thoughts, on the things that you want your people to hear. So why don't I let you, uh, jump in and give us the first nugget of of of Diego wisdom?

Speaker 3: 3:22

I mean the topic today we're we're covering is about building basic class organizations, and one of the things that, for me, I've gained has been incredible in the last two years is we've been driving a transformation. Uh, we won six awards in the last 18 months and a lot of people think maybe it's about me, but it's not about me, it's about the team that's driving this. So some of the things that I wanted to share with everybody, some of the tips or things to think about is the first one is about everybody has a superpower. Our job as leaders is to identify this power in each individual to put together the right cocktail mix.

Speaker 3: 4:00

Sometimes I come across people that have great talents but they are assigned to the wrong area or they're in the wrong project. Making those corrections make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the team. This is a little bit also like a soccer team you want to have the right player in the right place. Usually don't put the goalkeeper. You don't ask the goalkeeper to go score I mean he can do that but you want to make sure you build that effectiveness in the team.

Speaker 1: 4:28

Yeah, you know what's so interesting about that too. I think it's such a good point. What leaders often forget is that those people don't always know their own superpowers, and so being that outside person to help bring that out and show them, to give them that confidence to use that, it takes space and time to allow yourself to understand that so that you can articulate it to them or just let them shine.

Speaker 2: 4:56

Yeah, I love that. It's so often I mean, as a coach, you know, Susie, you see it a lot where people are just not sitting on the right seat of the bus or they have some belief that I have to be a manager, when at the end of the day, they are a better individual contributor. And yeah, I think that that's one of the most important roles a leader can play is to really help folks find their super power.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Yeah, I love that. And you don't have to be better than them at their superpower. I think that's what Diego's point is, too, is, let them be them, let them shine. What else would you add, diego?

Speaker 3: 5:33

Correct. I mean, and even on that same line, I mean, this is why diversity is so important. You want to have that diversity of thought, diversity of skills and, as you look at the organization, it's also everybody in the organization, from the VP to the intern, that you need to bring up to the table to make up that team, because everybody's going to bring something different. When we think about teams, it's usually a pretty flat organization. There are no hierarchies. So this is why you want to spend as much time with the interns, with the middle management, with everybody, and make sure the team works together towards that goal.

Speaker 2: 6:11

Yeah, really well said, and I think that that's one of the things that you know. When I've talked to you about what you've done with your teams and I've heard you speak, it is your, your uh willingness as an individual, as a leader, to go out and meet people where they are, help them understand the role they play and help them find the right. The right role is just uh, it's a testament to the progress you guys have made.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Diego, what is your tip or what is your trick, Like how do you find people's superpowers? What are the things that you do that you think people miss out on by really exploring that?

Speaker 3: 6:44

Well, I think the first thing is you need to observe and you need to have a people focus. I spend probably 70% of my time on people things versus IT things, trying to identify what people is good at, what the strengths, what are the weaknesses, where they need some help, and then try to make sure that they are assigned to the right task and, you know, try to get the I mean getting the team together, working together. A lot of this is observation, is understanding, is having conversations with them, understanding their needs and what they want to do, and then making sure that you give them an opportunity to shine.

Speaker 2: 7:30

Yeah, you know, I often say you know the tech part as a technology part, the technology as a technology leader. The tech part is the easy part. Right, it's the people part that's hard, and those of us that are that you know I think the people that are successful there know that because you know the tech will figure itself out. It's. Getting the people lined up is the second, is the hardest thing. All right, so let's pivot. Diego, hit us with your second nugget.

Speaker 3: 7:56

The second one is that the team needs a mountain to climb, and we're in Colorado. There are lots of mountains. So that's a good analogy. A strategy, vision, a plan and, ultimately, a challenge are critical for the team to take on. It's important that they have that sense of purpose, that they have that sense of purpose, that they have a goal, they have something that they want to go after, and this is usually something that they can only achieve as a team. They won't be able to do on the round. It's something they've not done before. On the round, they're going to need to, I mean, take advantage of the rest of the team to get there, and that's critical. We as leaders need to provide that clarity, help define that end state or that mountain that we want to climb. We can also bring them into that as part of the process. They can help us define that. But we need to set a goal that's challenging, that it's going to stretch and it's going to challenge them to do things that maybe they haven't done before.

Speaker 2: 9:04

That's a good one. Help me understand. So many of us in technology aren't lucky enough to be working on the greatest thing in the world. You know there's. I'm not. You know I don't have my AI team and my next generation product team. You know a lot of folks are doing, you know, technical debt resolution, bau, bug fixing. How do you find that mountain in a pile of garbage? What's your strategy there? Mountain in a pile of garbage?

Speaker 3: 9:34

What's your strategy there? Well, in many cases, when we look at what needs to be done in IT, I mean you need to address technical dev. There are things you need to do like ERP replacements, cybersecurity things, just to keep things going, and then you have the AIs. You have the more, let's say, shiny tools and cool things that you want to do as an organization.

Speaker 3: 9:59

One of the things that I play with quite often is with the time. How long is it going to take us to resolve? And the sooner we resolve some of the ERPs, the low-hanging items that we need to address, the more time we're going to be able to spend on the more interesting things that add value. So, for example, one of the things I challenge my team on is to execute projects in a really, really short period of time. There are projects that I've done before in previous organizations that have taken me maybe two years, that I challenged the team and said look, we don't have two years, we're going to need to do them in six months, and initially the reaction is that this is not possible, of course. But then, once they get together and they start thinking different, they start changing the way to approach the problem.

Speaker 3: 10:51

I mean we have demonstrated and they've been incredibly successful at getting those things done in incredible I mean really really fast breaking of records. So the time sometimes is one of those challenges. Sometimes it's exploring a new area that we've never been before. But, yeah, you need to set something that is going to be challenging for them, Because once you get to the end and once they accomplish that, that sense of accomplishment, that celebration that you can do, is going to also motivate them to go and they're going to come back and ask what's the next mountain now? And that's the most exciting part of the journey.

Speaker 1: 11:33

You know, you mentioned that they have to do it together and I think that when a team has been working together for a long time and they've faced that mountain before, they kind of understand their roles. But how would you give some advice to people that have a newer team? Or how do you get people to understand to be dependent on one another and and how they'll work together, and how do you insert yourself along the way to make sure that they're really collaborating well?

Speaker 3: 12:02

Yeah. So the and this actually leads into my third, my third recommendation Classic Susie Susie's always good about that, she's Sorry, yeah which is don't sit on the sidelines, right, you need to empower the team so they can drive, but you also need to identify where help is needed, develop the individuals and help remove obstacles. You are also part of the team. I mean, it's not like you and the team. You are part of the team. You also bring, as a leader, certain strengths and weaknesses into the equation and you need to make sure that you help them out. It's not about hiring people and delegating. You need to win the wins and help them out. You need to keep in mind your job is to make them successful. If you make them successful, then they will make you successful, so all the focus needs to be on that.

Speaker 2: 12:57

Yeah, I love that and I think you're right. Those are two, really you know, complementary things. I do want to go back, briefly though, to you know that having a mountain to climb I love, where you know you were giving folks context. You know, yes, we have to do the CRP thing, but it's, it's part of a bigger picture, and I like the idea of breaking it up into consumable boxes. Uh, for um, for you know that that you know little wins on on a bigger spectrum. Um, I also think that one of the things that that I find really interesting is that, um, you know, to your first point, which is, you know, sometimes there are people who are really interested in fixing bugs, there are people who love cleaning up old code.

Speaker 2: 13:44

I have a team member who we, you know, we have multiple CRM systems in place and his goal for the, you know, for the next three years is to kill all of them, and that's his. And he wants that we have an entire initiative to build a new one, but that's not. And he wants that we have an entire initiative to build a new one, but that's not what he wants. He wants to be the person that ends that, and so I think yes, having identifying the battles, the mountains to climb, but also finding the right people to find the right battles, is equally huge.

Speaker 1: 14:08

I find that, leaders also, it's so hard not to show all the parts, like James you just said, kind of show them the pieces or the you know the milestones. Maybe it's hard to think about how do you give them the goal, give them some parameters and then back out but no one to go in and it's an art more than a science. So do you guys see it that way, from two people that are very technical?

Speaker 3: 14:43

Is that a challenge? Yeah, I mean and and and look, um, we also um, we will not always be successful, right? So you need to set these mountains, you need to start climbing, You're going to, you're going to start going, you're going to learn new things through the process, you're going to adjust and then you're going to try again. So it's a continuous process and you learn through the process also. But, yeah, I mean giving people, you know, small, you cut the problem into different pieces and then in pieces that they can, they can resolve, and then, once you put it together, I mean you get there.

Speaker 3: 15:17

I mean, one of the things that I also always, um, also play with is I don't necessarily tell everybody, I mean, what the big full picture is gonna be, um, and then you know we get moving in that direction and then, by by the time, they realize suddenly, oh my gosh, we're already there and we're already done all this. And this is, I mean, another little bit of a different strategy. Sometimes, when you go and you tell people about, yeah, we're going to climb the Everest and we can hardly walk, I mean they cannot imagine, they cannot see how that's going to happen. So this is where you need to take them through a journey. And then suddenly you, they realize you're already halfway through the mountain. And then it's like, well, you know, it's just a little bit more and we'll get there. So there are some, some techniques to get there.

Speaker 2: 16:07

You know I love the way you put that and and you know when you, I always joked that. You know when you, I always joked that you know there are some technical people on my team that don't want the big picture. They want to know what they have to do on Thursday, right, and that's what they want to focus on. Don't bother them with the budget, don't bother them with the next generation product. They want to be right here. But then there are also technical people who want to know where we're going to be in 20 years, and that, I think, goes back to the superpower identification. You have to know your people know what their drivers are and, as as senior leaders, obviously you can't do that at an individual level. We don't have that scale. But you know, I think that's the challenge of of a large, of a large team.

Speaker 1: 16:47

When you're done, how do you celebrate and how do you look back and how do you really benefit from the process for the team? What do you do? What are your best practices?

Speaker 3: 16:59

So every project, as soon as we finish, we celebrate. It can be something as simple as a dinner to something a little bit more creative and different, dinner to something a little bit more creative and different to. For example, one of the things that we we started in. We're doing at gates in it is we have these recognition coins, challenge coins, so as a project is finished, everybody gets a coin, and our it community and also the business are now collecting these coins. So now there is there is this a little bit of a competition about who has more coins, which makes it really exciting. But also, you know, as a team, we get together.

Speaker 3: 17:38

We've done it in the past big celebrations for the big projects. We go out and you know, we book a venue and we really, really celebrate because this is important. I mean, people don't do this every day and that is great for the team. It helps on the connection also, the building of the relationships, and then it creates also excitement for what's coming next and that generates more demand, more investment, more. So it becomes a flywheel right. Once you start moving, it feeds on itself and it takes you to the next challenge.

Speaker 2: 18:19

You know a lot of our listeners are thinking about how do they implement that, and you know the idea that coins is so great and what a culture driver. But one of the things I think we haven't touched on here is I mean, you have a very international footprint. You know this isn't you know a Delaware, denver office situation. How do you scale that and how do you create that kind of cohesion with? You know offices in so many locations with so many different. You know different, not only different cultures, but also different, very different products at each location. So it is so diverse that it's not even like everybody's doing IT. We're doing different things in different cities. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 3: 19:02

Yeah, so when we look at the IT organization, we think about the global IT organization. We try to make sure people feel that they're part of, I mean, the bigger IT, not just the local site IT or the local region. It is the bigger IT and everybody's part of the same global organization. We drive standards. We try to make sure everybody is on the same page on what we're trying to do as an organization.

Speaker 3: 19:26

I have a town hall. Actually this week was the quarterly town hall, actually this week was the quarterly downfall. And then I mean, going back to the piece of the recognitions, one of the things that I do is I have an award, an annual CIO award. So all the projects that we deliver in the year we have, each team member in IT can nominate a peer because this person has done something incredible through the year or a project, and then they nominate themselves. It comes to my leadership team to pick the top three and then it comes to me to make the final determination. And that's a global right, it's a global recognition that we do, and you know I mean this.

Speaker 3: 20:08

Last year we had somebody from Brazil that won the CEO award, so he was here this week picking up the award. Everybody was cheering and you know seeing him. I mean, he did a fantastic job and that's what helps build this global community. Everybody feels that they are part of one global team, whether you're in Brazil, whether you're in Thailand, in Australia, we make sure you're connected and we work as one.

Speaker 2: 20:35

That's great. Thank you for that. You have a different point of view than some of our listeners, so I wanted to highlight that. All right, I'm going to try to bring it home here. Let's see if I can summarize the three bullets that Diego had. So the first one, which I love everyone has a superpower. A superpower you know take the time to learn the floor. What people are great at, make sure they're, they're being able to focus on that and and they can be more successful, to give the team a mountain to climb. Having people understand both the smaller and the bigger picture helps them understand their position in the in the project, and also gives them a sense of accomplishment when they do succeed. And then the third one which I love is don't sit on the sidelines. You, as a leader, you have to get involved at some level. You can't be sitting in the corner office and yelling edicts out across the floor, but you also can't be holding hands. So find the balance. How did I do there, diego? Was that a good summary? Awesome, great job.

Speaker 1: 21:34

What a great example of intentional leadership, diego. Wow, you gave so many great keys and tips, and thank you so much for sharing your story here. I think our listeners will be really glad to have some things to really think about and follow in your footsteps. So thanks for that.

Speaker 3: 21:51

Thanks for you, sus footsteps. So thanks for that, thanks for you, susie, and thanks James. I appreciate it. Thanks for the invitation.

Speaker 2: 21:57

It was a lot of fun. Thank you, hey, susie. I've been wondering what's the one phrase or word or thing that you do that will instantly make your daughters roll their eyes.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Well, one thing is they've always well now they know, because they're in their 20s, they realize that I have zero medical abilities Like I'm the mom whenever they weren't feeling well. Have you had? Did you drink water? Take an Advil and call my friend, that's a nurse. Were the three things I would so whenever they're still feeling they know better.

Speaker 1: 22:36

Like they just go right to my friend now normally, especially if it's and sometimes she'll text me and go hey, just so you know when your kids aren't feeling very well this is what I told them. Like I'm like really bad about it. So whenever I say you know when they were not feeling well, my automatic hey, have you drank enough water today? And they're just like oh my gosh mom especially now. They're just kind of like mom, I'm bleeding.

Speaker 2: 23:01

My bone is sticking out.

Speaker 1: 23:03

Did you drink enough water today, exactly?

Speaker 2: 23:06

Exactly. That's me Way to know that I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1: 23:11

Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.

Speaker 2: 23:21

You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes. We appreciate you.