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Scaling Innovation and AI at Avanade with Nancie Calder
Manage episode 486660121 series 3619237
#10. Nancie Calder is a Senior Vice President and Global Consulting Practice Lead at Avanade, based in Toronto, Canada. From her start as a freelance consultant to leading a global team of 3,000 people, Nancie brings three decades of experience driving innovation at scale.
Nancie shares her hard-won insights about what it really takes to nurture innovation and continuous learning across a 3,000+ person global practice—especially in the fast-changing Microsoft ecosystem. Her emphasis on combining practical experience with scalable programs really hit home.
KEY LESSONS
- Innovation is for everyone. True innovation goes beyond technology. Nancie instills an innovative mindset throughout her team by hiring for passion and curiosity - not just technical skills. Encouraging everyone to leverage AI and new Microsoft tools is at the heart of their success.
- Continuous learning is non-negotiable: Avanade dedicates specific learning hours, gamified certification paths, and peer mentoring to ensure their team is always up to speed. A growth mindset isn’t just a buzzword - it’s a requirement for staying relevant.
- Global knowledge sharing matters: With biweekly cross-regional meetings, dynamic communities of practice, and creative use of Copilot to gather project learnings, Nancie demonstrates the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing for scaling leadership across borders.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Helping teams deliver AI assessments and using AI in practice
00:35 Introduction to Practice Leading and the focus on innovation at Avanade
02:42 Nancie Calder introduces herself and her journey in the Microsoft partner ecosystem
05:02 Scaling a global practice and building capability across regions
06:40 Defining innovation at a global systems integrator: product development and service improvement
08:26 Balancing billable work and professional development in consultancy
10:48 Instilling a culture of innovation and continuous learning at scale
13:17 Capturing and sharing project lessons learned across the organization
16:07 Incentivizing knowledge sharing and using AI to identify expertise internally
19:34 Formal innovation initiatives like hackathons, Innovation Days, and global knowledge sharing
21:11 Practice overlaps and navigating resource contention between business units
23:48 Supporting team members with different growth mindsets and learning from client attitudes toward innovation
29:36 Choosing which Microsoft innovations to invest in and building specialized practices
RESOURCES
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