As a newly independent IT services company spun out from IBM, Kyndryl launched its business with 88,449 employees servicing an enviable customer list of more than 4,000 enterprises, including 300 in the UK and Ireland alone, and globally about 75% of the Fortune 100. Despite US$19b in revenue that ranks it next to McDonalds, in many ways, this a start-up business, albeit one that supports 70% of the UKI banking industry.

As Kyndryl’s UK and Ireland President, the task of defining and creating the new company’s culture topped my list, but it was a challenge in which I knew I could bring to bear more than thirty-five-years’ experience working in the technology industry.

I have long been an advocate and champion for a people-centred culture during my career so it was a challenge which I was eager to embrace.

As a people-centric IT services business, we understood that the firm’s culture and employees formed the foundation of its ability to succeed. And in a rapidly changing business environment where digital transformations are reshaping industry, it was also clear that a culture rooted in continuous learning and skills development was a must.

People at the centre of everything we do. Our employees are the ones who turn up in front of our customers every single day. They’re helping our customers solve critical technology challenges, such as maintaining business continuity, reducing operational risk, enhancing operational efficiency and driving transformation.

Continuous learning

The organisation now has nearly 90,000 employees represent the best global talent in the industry. These are people with experience in addressing critical technology challenges, with deep experience in working with hybrid IT and multi-cloud environments as well as working with new and emerging technologies like edge computing and 5G. Last year, our people earned more than 140,000 digital credentials in strategic areas including cloud, AI, analytics and security, to name a few.

And the continued development of people – the firm’s human capital – broadening their skills even further is one of the highest priorities. The company has been expanding its skillsets in Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Google, VMWare and SAP are supporting our acquisition of skills that will be critical to making Kyndryl a broader player.

Building a purpose driven culture

Fostering a culture that prioritises people isn’t a new mission for me. In fact, it’s the very reason I remain in the technology industry after more than three decades.

The company is building a new, purpose-driven, people-centric culture, and our partnership with  One Tree Planted  reflects those values. In fact, one way that the company is celebrating and honouring our employees through the One Tree planted partnership, is to plant one tree in the name of each employee. That’s 88,449 trees planted, establishing roots in communities around the globe. Each tree is an expression of gratitude to every employee for the meaningful contributions they have made and will continue to make.

To build upon this initiative, the company has hosted local employee planting events. These events empower our employees to celebrate the launches in their local markets, bringing teams together to plant the seeds of our new company and establish roots within our communities where we live and work. And beyond this, they are really enjoyable.

The UK employee tree planning event took place recently at Yeading Brook Meadows where 700 whips were planted at this site in Greater London with a local planting Partner, Trees for Cities bringing together the local UK team, helping to improve the ecosystem of the local community.

Inclusion helping to foster innovation

The vision is to be the very best infrastructure services company in the industry: a company which operates fast and flat with a focus to deliver exceptional services to our customers, and one that is open, transparent, and accessible to customers. Our purpose is how together, each of us advances the vital systems that power human progress.

One of the key pillars of  the culture is embedding inclusion, diversity, and equity into the core of our business – aligned with our strategy and the tenets of the brand.

We empower “Kyndryls” to embed inclusion, diversity and equity in every aspect of our business. We encourage varied perspectives through continuous learning which ignites innovation. These are critical elements that enable our focus on delivering exceptional service for our customers and creating shared success.

The organisation strives to be a top quadrant employer in the UK and Ireland, ensuring it is a company of choice for a diverse population – and it aims to continually invest in this area and work with universities to provide new programmes to stay ahead of the game.

This topic is very close to my heart and throughout my 35 years in the IT industry, I have always been very passionate about building high performing and engaged teams that are diverse and inclusive. I´m convinced that openness encourages diverse perspectives and promotes stronger partnerships. I´m a strong advocate on this topic.

In my role as Executive Straight Ally when I was at IBM, I supported the LGBT+ community, sponsoring Pride, provided reverse mentorship, and ensured the community has visibility within the organisation. We have also helped raise awareness of mental health in the workplace and implemented mental health first aiders across the UK and Ireland – 48 in total now! Last but not least I am an active supporter of graduate, future leader and apprenticeship programmes to identify the next generation of talent.

I truly believe that if we are to succeed, we must all promote the advancement of gender equality in business leadership. Elevating qualified women in the workplace is not only important, it´s essential. There is ample evidence that gender diversity is one of the key drivers of creativity and innovation – which ultimately leads to better economic return. This all relates to hiring, developing, mentoring and promoting women at every level of the organisation – so this applies to both attracting and retaining female talent. This can only be achieved through a concerted effort by all – men and women alike.

It is essential to help and support employees, keep building the momentum, be advocates for the culture and encourage employees to bring their authentic selves to work. Everyone can play his or her part and everybody can and should be an advocate for women for example.

Winning over the board

The management team is roughly split among leaders, from external organisations and alumni from IBM. Indeed, the executive team includes former CEOs of RSA Insurance Group, CIOs of State Street, GE and NBC Universal.

I believe that the diverse set of opinions and experiences is something which can set the company apart. We are a phenomenal team with strong complementary expertise and we endeavour to embody the culture that we are building together: A true services culture that’s restless, continuously anticipating and learning and innovating. One which is empathetic, serving with trust and transparency and devoted to our customers. It’s also a growth-oriented culture where each of us feels accountable and responsible for driving growth.

The team has been built with employee experience and culture at its heart and all board members are aligned with this vision.

The outcome

Kyndryl is making progress as an independent company. Creativity, productivity and an employee-first mentality run through the core of the business. Its communities are passionate, empathetic, inclusive and resilient. They are listening and reacting to employees to co-create the inclusion, diversity and equity experience together.

Customers can sense a positive culture among employees, which is often linked to business success. It is early days but, in the first month as an independent company, we announced our team led a collaboration with British company, RSA Insurance, one of the world’s oldest general insurers, to accelerate its digital transformation. This involved an enormous data migration that has already seen 85,000 gigabytes of information moved to the cloud. In addition, the wider global team will support on providing the hybrid cloud data infrastructure foundation for all of BMW Group’s data center operations across 17 countries on five continents.

We are still learning, and it won’t always be plain-sailing, but if we act as a cohesive team around our core cultural pillars, we have the opportunity to do something amazing together.

Tosca Colangeli, UK and Ireland President, Kyndryl

https://www.kyndryl.com/us/en/about-us/leadership