Trusting your curiosity

""Listen more than you talk, be curious, be humble and be comfortable with discomfort because that's where the learning happens.” – Kat Hartmann

 “I remember thinking as a child it was a very interesting life they led,” Kat says. “Her stories fired my imagination and inspired me towards a love of the written word.”

This mix of curiosity and asking 'why' led Kat to study journalism. But with her eye on the evolving nature of media, she could see change coming.

She realised: “You could leverage technology to reach customers in more rapid, dynamic and engaging ways than print.”

In her early career she wrote for digital publications at Ninemsn, The Australian and Time Out Sydney where she combined her love of journalism and interest in technology.

But it was Kat’s passion for understanding and elevating the customer experience using data and digital tools that led her into the evolving online world.

Fast forward to today and Kat has helped some of the country’s top organisations, like the Woolworths, Qantas and CHOICE champion the customer using digital technologies.

It’s a career that spans media, retail, airlines and now the banking industry and Kat has learnt many valuable lessons — including what it takes to be a good leader.

She is now applying this knowledge at ANZ, where she heads up the teams responsible for adapting and innovating the bank’s digital offering to service the changing needs of small-to-medium business customers.

How to listen

While Kat has worked across a variety of industries, she thinks there are more similarities than differences in how they operate.

This, she says, has allowed her to adapt quickly to changing environments, industries and customer expectations. It has also sharpened her ability to listen.

“When I joined ANZ earlier this year, I took an approach I have refined over many years and across many different industries: start with customer and go from there,” Kat says. “I also find it helps to listen more than you talk, be curious, be humble and be comfortable with discomfort because that's where the learning happens.”

But she says to truly listen you must maintain curiosity and ask follow-up questions.

“Listening actively to customers is a starting point, but not an endpoint.” She says it must be a “continuous cycle of listening” where you actively question what you are hearing.

“Why are we hearing what we're hearing and what we can do to help improve the customer experience?”

Kat says business customers want integrated, convenient and easy to use banking services. This insight is driving ANZ Commercial’s multi-year digital transformation which will rely on the exchange of knowledge and technology from across the organisation to improve the customer and employee experience.

“Ultimately, we’ll use ANZ Plus, (ANZ’s digital retail banking platform) to provide business owners with more connected, faster and simpler banking experiences,” she says.

“As we move towards this goal, we’ll continue to enhance and integrate our digital platforms such as GoBiz (which provides fast unsecured online business loans) and the Commercial Broker Portal — as well as develop new digital solutions to make it simpler for our customers and brokers to interact with us.”

COVID lessons

Kat also learned the importance of responding quickly to customers through her time at Woolworths. As General Manager, Experience and Content, Kat was a critical part of the team helping to keep customers connected using technology.

She’s proud of her role which helped keep households stocked with food (and toilet paper) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kat credits retired United States Navy Captain David Marquet’s talk on greatness for influencing her leadership style.

“My favourite quote from Marquet is, 'if you want your people to think, don't give instructions give intent'. It talks not only to the importance of purpose to guide teams but also the value of a learning mindset and knowing when to lead from behind.”

Kat says a key part of building any career is a strong network to guide you, but also keep you accountable as you develop.

Several leaders she has worked with inspired her to think beyond her current role and gave her the confidence she needed to progress.

Another principle she lives by is to seek feedback actively and consistently as part of your learning journey. “Take that feedback and include it in with other opportunities to learn such as listening to podcasts, reading and observing.”

Learning to speak last

While asking the right questions can help solve business problems more quickly, Kat is also mindful about the timing of those questions. She points to a story by anti-apartheid activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela

“By observing Jongintaba, a tribal leader, who when gathering his people together would wait until all had spoken before adding his own voice to the discussion.”

“Put simply, Mandela equates one thing to his success as a leader, ‘I learned to speak last’,” Kat says.

It’s a valuable lesson as she listens to ANZ customers – and the staff who are building solutions for them.

Jeff Whalley is a journalist with bluenotes