Ann Blakely, the managing principal of digital solutions at the global firm Baker Tilly, has seen enough tech transformations to know that the biggest hurdle isn't the software—it’s the people.
Companies are racing to roll out new AI tools and cloud systems, but the staff are often left clinging to old habits that no longer make sense. If your office still relies on a manual process just because 'that’s how we’ve always done it,' you might be the reason your team is falling behind.
Baker Tilly focuses on helping businesses modernize their legacy models, a task that often feels like performing surgery on a moving train. The pace of change has shifted from occasional, multi-year projects to a state of constant, weekly updates. This velocity means that the traditional 'command-and-control' style of management is effectively dead. Instead, the most successful leaders today are acting as connectors who help their teams navigate the chaos.
The pace of change has accelerated to a point where traditional management styles are becoming obsolete. The most successful leaders today are able to connect their teams and help them navigate the chaos.
Agility is not just about moving faster; it’s about the ability to change direction, which requires abandoning methods, identities or expertise that once defined success.
This insight comes from Heather McGowan, a future-of-work strategist who has been preaching the gospel of 'learning, unlearning, and adapting.' Unlearning is the gritty, difficult work of looking at your own professional identity and admitting that what made you a rockstar three years ago might be a liability today. It’s not just about learning a new app; it’s about dumping the outdated assumptions that act as an anchor on your productivity. McGowan believes that unlearning is essential to adapting to the rapidly changing workforce.
In Nigeria’s rapidly growing tech sector, this shift is already being felt by developers and project managers who move between global firms and local startups. The ability to pivot is often the difference between a high-paying contract and being replaced by an automated workflow. Leaders who foster a culture where a junior developer can challenge a long-standing tool or process are the ones keeping their teams relevant in an increasingly crowded global market.
Building a culture that embraces change requires a shift in how success is measured. Most organizations reward the final result—the delivery of a product or the closing of a sale—but the future belongs to those who adapt how they get there. Managers need to run agile retrospectives that act as a mirror, forcing teams to ask if their current tools are actually serving the goal or just filling time. Managers need to ask their teams tough questions about their current tools and whether they're genuinely serving their goals.
Discernment is a human skill that AI hasn't quite figured out yet. While a machine can generate code in seconds, it cannot tell you if that code actually solves a real human problem or if it’s just shiny new tech that adds complexity. Leaders are now tasked with acting as the filter for their teams, encouraging thoughtful experimentation rather than the blind adoption of every trending hashtag or framework. Leaders must use their judgment to filter out ineffective or unnecessary technologies.
Ultimately, innovation is not about who has the fastest servers or the most cloud credits. It is about investing in human potential by creating a psychological space where failing, questioning, and experimenting is rewarded. If you can’t drop the manual you wrote five years ago, you aren't scaling; you’re just staying in place while the rest of the industry sprints past you.