Leadership and Mentoring at Zipform Digital 

Leadership today extends beyond financial performance, requiring the skills to manage intergenerational teams, remote workforces and rising expectations of accountability and trust. In this interview, Richard Vaughan, CEO, and Andrea Candy, Head of Growth and Customer Relationships, share their leadership styles and how mentoring at Zipform Digital is developing future leaders.

With a collective 30 years at Zipform Digital between them, Richard Vaughan and Andrea Candy continue to be leaders at the forefront of the digital revolution that hit the customer communications and print industry. The continued relevancy and growth of Zipform Digital speaks to their success in leading the organisation through this monumental industry change to become more relevant than ever.  

So, what are the characteristics that make a good leader? Richard Vaughan offers his perspective,

“It’s those people who are willing to learn; admit they don’t have all the answers and are authentic in who they are. Leadership is almost like being a parent – there’s no upfront instruction manual as much as many have tried. We don’t always get it right, but if we can be honest and own mistakes when we do get it wrong, it goes a long way to creating trust with our people.”   

Mentoring and leadership at Zipform Digital

It’s generally known that the majority of successful leaders have mentors – Bill Gates counts Warren Buffet as his most influential mentor. So what does a mentor do? A quick poll around the office identified a few common elements:

• Identify career goals (beyond the current organisation)
• Encourage personal development and skills
• Someone to share business problems with for a different perspective
• Development of a broader view on career options and opportunities – sometimes equating to a career change
• Identify skills and knowledge gaps for potential promotions/new roles
• Broaden your professional network  

For those of us who aren’t billionaires or have Warren Buffet on their speed dial, here is an idea of what mentoring at Zipform Digital looks like, and the benefits that both Richard and Andrea have gained from the opportunity.

What does mentoring look like at Zipform Digital?

Richard shared that both he and Andrea were members of The Executive Connection (TEC) which is an international organisation dedicated to developing leaders in Australia and New Zealand for more than 35 years.

“Andrea and I both get peer group learning through this membership – we also both have a business coaching/mentoring session with our respective TEC chairperson every month. In addition to this is a full day every month out of office with our respective TEC peer groups, where we learn and share ideas.

The entire leadership team at Zipform Digital also have an AIMWA (Australian Institute of Management, Western Australia) professional membership, which is most often used for professional development seminar, and all staff have access to Go1 which is an online training platform.”

Andrea added, “Consultants from Scalabl – our agile delivery partner – have provided coaching and mentoring to Zipform Digital staff who have had a key part in our new delivery model. It has been incredibly rewarding to see some staff step out of their comfort zone and take on challenges that they may have previously shied away from.”

What exactly is TEC?

Richard

The Executive Connection (TEC) is a dedicated community of leaders across Australian and New Zealand providing one-to-one mentoring and peer group learning. I’ve been a TEC member for over five years now.

Professionally, it has given me a much more well-rounded leadership style through peer group learning, coaching and professional development. I believe that there is always room for improvement and TEC gives me the opportunity to continue learning in my professional capacity.

On a personal level, it has also brought me some valued friendships which was completely unexpected.

Andrea

I’ve been a member of TEC for almost two years. The peer group learning sessions have been incredibly valuable to me, as they demonstrate that many business leaders face the same challenges despite being in very different industries. We all have different strengths so it is a great opportunity to hear how others would handle certain situations in the context of a safe environment – as no one in your peer group is in the same industry.

Do you think that everyone should have a mentor?

Richard

Everyone should have a mentor, if not professionally then personally. Someone who can provide support and give sound advice is always important in many aspects of life. At Zipform Digital we try to provide a culture of respect where staff get to know one another, and highly value this in helping to build a supportive and inclusive culture.

Andrea

Absolutely – I think that everyone should have a mentor – whether officially or unofficially.  I know that I’ve had people who I look up to and admire throughout my career and can say with complete honesty that they have helped shape and influence who I am today.  Outside of TEC, I also have an amazing mentor who challenges me constantly.

How would you describe the leadership style at Zipform Digital?

Richard

I think the amount of work that we have undertaken to develop and grow as leaders, has changed our leadership style to become one which has a coaching focus. We want to pass on our knowledge and the benefits of our own experience to our people.

We also offer a significant amount of training – both on the job and formal. Our partners Scalabl have spent many months and more than 60% of their contribution both coaching and mentoring Zipform Digital staff in our new agile ways of working. This has created a new knowledge base whether in the form of product ownership, or by creating new scrum masters and agile practitioners.

The feedback from our staff has been phenomenal.  

What kind of leaders do you think the industry needs for the future?

Richard

Those that are willing to learn, listen and who admit that they don’t have all the answers, and are authentic in who they are. Leadership is just like being a parent, there’s no upfront instruction manual.

Sometimes we don’t always get it right, but if we can be honest and own mistakes when we do get it wrong, it goes a long way towards being a relatable and respected leader.

Andrea

A leader doesn’t have to manage staff, but to have the ability to think broadly at the bigger picture and challenge the status quo. Authenticity is a word that is used commonly to describe a good leader – to be an authentic leader you need to know yourself, your guiding principles and treat others in this manner.