Louise Ah Wong is a Professional Services Director at Agilisys, an innovative cloud and Digital Transformation specialists. She explains her job role and her management philosophy.
Describe your current job role.
My current role is Professional Services Director at Agilisys. Agilisys is one of the UK’s largest employee-owned organisations. I lead the Digital Transformation and Innovation business that generates the ideas, capability and capacity that our clients need to make and deliver change to their organisation and services with confidence.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
I’ve spent 17 great years at Agilisys. Three years ago, I joined the senior leadership team – a role I had wanted for a long time. I couldn’t be prouder. I get out of bed every day and am genuinely excited about the difference I can make to our customers and staff.
A personal highlight within my role must be the creation of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and development of the Belonging Strategy which underpins everything we do.
This has enabled us to bring together all the things we’ve aspired to be as an organisation. The level of investment and commitment of resources planned across the next five years is humbling and has been a key milestone in my career.
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
Good management comes from leadership and encouraging people to find their own strengths and areas to work on – whether that is through 1-1 sponsorship, mentoring, coaching or team development.
Effective leaders need to be agents of change and prepared to challenge the status quo. Within my role, I am passionate about encouraging others to have confidence in their own voice.
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?
Tech talent, skills and people is the greatest challenge and opportunity that we face. Ensuring the workforce is diverse and inclusive, reflecting the customers we are supporting to serve. Also, that we have teams that challenge each other and bring out the very best solutions.
If you could go back and change one career decision what would it be?
So many people say that university is the best way to start your career, but if I could go back, I would start with an apprenticeship. People don’t have to get a massive student loan to have a good career now, which I think it brilliant.
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain C-level position in your industry?
Search out mentors and people who will sponsor you and give you honest feedback, not just what you want to hear. They don’t have to be more senior than you but do need to be able to see you for all your good and bad traits and give honest feedback that you are prepared to listen to and engage with.
I’ve worked with amazing people in our business who have gone on to be successful tech leaders themselves. I have had younger, less experienced mentors that have inspired and challenged me in different ways. The dynamics are different now.
What behaviour or personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why?
My work ethic and hunger for knowledge. If I don’t know something, I will find out about it and I won’t stop until I do.
Also, being able to appreciate the value of my team and learning to delegate. You can achieve so much more by empowering others. That’s something I’ve taken a long time to learn.
What’s your go-to productivity trick?
I believe productivity is fuelled by what nurtures you. For me, it’s spending time with my wife and our one-year-old. As a result, that helps me to be productive when I am at work. The past year has been great in that aspect, being two working mums with amazing careers but still being able to spend lots of quality time together as a family.
I also believe exercise is vitally important to productivity. Living in Brighton, I have easy access to the beach and beautiful countryside, so I always make sure I get outside every day.
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months?
The appetite for Digital Transformation has been exponential driven by COVID, but also by the changes in demographics in our communities. We are relying on technology at home in our families and in our workplaces. It’s that demand for more digital services that is transforming whole sectors. For businesses like Agilisys, it is vital that we keep innovating. We need to ensure we are continuing to bring and focus on the next technology that will support the end-user.
I would also say my role will involve encouraging more women and diversity in the sector to ensure solutions are applicable for all. My job will be more around training, building skills in the business, collaborating with organisations and keeping up with how technology is changing.