Episode 26: Staying Steady in Times of Transition with Dr. Mary Anne Moser
As the current President & CEO of TELUS Spark Science Center, Dr. Mary Anne Moser is an award-winning designer and communications director. Mary Anne brings more than 25 years of experience in entrepreneurial roles where science meets society. Twelve years ago, Mary Anne co-founded Beakerhead, an international first that brings people together at the crossroads of art, science and engineering, and was their full-time CEO for 6 years. Mary Anne has worked across a variety of not-for-profits from the Banff Centre to the University of Calgary to innovative organizations created by the government. Being a working mother of triplets has made Mary Anne a coveted leader to work for, as she understands the individual needs of her team members and is a major advocate for flexibility.
Some questions Tynan asks:
What does the innovation strategy & team for a science center look like?
Even when a workplace is as exciting as Telus Spark, you can still have challenges with retention and attraction. How do you manage these elements of work?
How do you build an innate sense of collaboration within leaders of your organization?
How do you measure a coaching culture?
When navigating the creative process, how do you cope with ideas getting shut down or not believed in?
On the days when it feels like everything is falling apart, how do you and your team move forward?
What you'll learn from this episode:
Having a moonshot vision for your team is incredibly motivating and definitely ties to increased employee engagement
If you want collaboration, you need to build a coaching culture where performance isn't measured by how well someone does their job, but how much they collaborate and learn together.
The moonshot vision you set actually attracts the type of people you want. If you declare that you're going to play in an international league, you will attract ambitious people that aren't interested in a slow-paced environment. Don't be surprised when the right people come to your door when you set an aspirational goal and make it public.
Setting up cross-functional teams can help leaders get to know their employees much better and reduce silos in a significant way.
"Separate ideas from their owners. It's not personal." When you surround yourself with a strong safety net to funnel ideas through, then about 1 every 9 ideas will likely be great and they'll affirm and encourage you. Your crew also needs to be there to help you understand.
Steady not flashy is a great way to live to find a steady state, recognizing it's not supposed to be easy all the time and still being resilient in that place.
When going through a leadership transition, taking a genuine look at what you've got and being honest about it is crucial. Whatever change mandate that is required, which often is what prompts a transition, lean into that, "set an aspiration together and then see who wants to opt-in, and who might want to opt-out."
