Working with purpose

Our Retail Banking Chief Digital Information Officer, Wendy Redshaw is responsible for digital and technology platforms ranging from systems underpinning homebuying and ownership, everyday banking and short-term borrowing, to our award-winning mobile banking app and Cora our AI virtual assistant.

Having recently been named both as everyWoman's CTO/CIO of the Year 2021 and as one of the 10 Best Industry Leaders by Technology magazine, IndustryEra, she shares her thoughts on leadership and how we can encourage more girls to become technologists.

"There are too few senior female Technologists at executive level in our industry," Wendy said. "The number of times in my career when I've been the only female in the room is enormous. This is now starting to change as digital skillsets come to the fore. The legacy model of recruiting exclusively system-focussed technologists, evidenced by the similarity of those male leaders in senior technology positions is evolving."

Bucking trends

"My father was very engineering-focused, and my mother was creative," Wendy reflects. As the first girl to be born into the family for years, she bonded with her father by showing an interest in maths and engineering.

"When I went to an engineering university, it was 85% male. Software Engineering as a career was in its early days, and it was clear that there were few role models for girls in this path. I became the first Women's Officer at the College and have been interested in improving diversity ever since. I strongly believe that girls and women can bring something special to a sector that desperately needs diversity, and that too many girls nowadays are put off careers in technology from very early on."

Getting girls interested in technology

"I have five children, yet despite my best efforts all of my daughters turned away from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects," Wendy said. She believes the term STEM may actually be part of the problem, as girls who are heavily motivated to fit in socially in their first years at senior school see STEM as the 'nerdy' option.

"This binary choice results in a teenage girl electing to drop subjects that are STEM-based because of the label that comes with it, and this early choice closes avenues that may lead to a technology/digital career later on. Many girls are good at Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths as well as other subjects."

If a grouping is needed at all, Wendy suggests broadening it to STEAM - where the 'A' stands for Anything e.g. art, dance, psychology or any humanities subject, as she believes more girls would be happy to be categorised in this way. "A career in technology/digital is all about creativity – so actually STEAM would represent and foster that broader mindset from the get-go."

She also advocates making space for digital, design thinking and other 'taught creativity' alongside formal school curriculums to help spark interest in a career in this field. 

Forging a digital career path

"I’m often asked about my career journey, though there really is no single way or route to take," Wendy reflects. "Everyone's path is different, and often non-linear. In every situation – good or bad – there are opportunities to learn and grow."

Wendy graduated with a degree in Mathematics from Imperial College and began her career as a Software Engineer, majoring in Knowledge Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction.

"Many of the Maths grads at that time went on to have a career in accountancy," she recalls. "I couldn’t have felt less suited to that. A career adviser told me that it was as important to think about the culture and ethos of the company that I would work in rather than the specific role necessarily. He said that I would flourish if I worked for an employer who shared my values, who would encourage me to be creative and innovative, and who would help me to grow and learn."

Taking this advice, she began her career at a software firm called Logica. "They were working on interesting technology solutions and their tagline to their clients was 'be brilliant - together.' I really enjoyed that first job, which taught me so much about technology, people, and business."

If you have resonance between your purpose and your company's purpose, then it really doesn't feel like work.

Wendy's entrepreneurial spirit led her to create a start-up, developing and distributing a derivatives trading system, before becoming part of the team that created egg bank - one of the UK's first telephone and internet-only banks. She went on to run her own companies offering a way of working that was akin to being a start-up within a company.

"We would be embedded in the work, creating strategic delivery with incremental value, 'working out loud' to engage others, pathologically collaborating, and leading by example to support, nurture and grow talent," Wendy recalls. She won a Silver Stevie award for Leadership in Financial Services Transformation for this technique, described as 'positively disrupting and changing from within'. Wendy worked independently for 18 years before being approached by Deutsche Bank to work with them on a digital transformation, later moving into a permanent MD role. 

"When the opportunity at NatWest Group appeared, one of the things that attracted me was that the people I met really wanted that digital/technical/cultural change. It resonated with the tagline from back at the start of my career: 'be brilliant - together.' My time here so far has been hugely challenging, dynamic, and fun. The fact we’re now officially 'purpose-led' really resonates with my values."

Setting the tone

The IndustryEra list notes Wendy's innovative approach to leadership. "When I first joined NatWest Group, it was clear that many of the leadership teams were established and static, and that the same faces would move from one senior role to another," Wendy said. "This does not make space for junior or diverse talent, which is a shame as I’ve been really impressed with the talent that exists here already." Wendy has led the way in opening up opportunities by removing management layers within her team structure and masking names and locations on CVs submitted so leadership team vacancies could be filled without bias. "My leadership team are lively and diverse. The removal of layers let new multi-skilled engineering talent come through and helped to set the tone for Retail Banking DigiTech. Our teams, even the traditionally waterfall ones, embraced an agile way of working and an increased cadence of customer delivery. I am so proud of them all."

The digital world needs leaders who have technical skillsets plus cognitive flexibility, emotional and social intelligence, and a creative and innovative mindset.

"Being Chief Digital Information Officer means I get to help businesses and people to thrive. I'm doing my job in a way that is authentically me, so work-life balance is a bit like just life. If you define a hobby as something you love doing and you do in your spare time, then my work is also my hobby. It's intellectually stimulating and interesting now, and the future is incredibly exciting."