Katrina Troughton – Vice President and Managing Director, Adobe Australia and NZ

How do you define effective leadership, and how has your definition evolved over time?

Over time I have developed a strong belief that leadership is about trust, and about creating space and opportunities so people can unlock their full potential. As a leader, my role isn’t telling people how to do something, but coaching and encouraging them to find a path to success. 

For me, an effective leader can create an environment where people understand what’s required of them and the guardrails they need to work within. From there, it is important to provide people with the support and freedom to be successful.

What strategies do you use to build and inspire a high-performing team?

Personally, throughout my career I’ve always felt most engaged when I understood how my work made a difference to our business outcomes and where I felt I had the freedom and support to find a path forward to achieve the best outcomes. This is the environment I try to create for my team. 

It starts with having a shared vision, and clarity around how as a team we’ll work to achieve it. To inspire a team it’s important to help people understand their role in relation to the mission, why that will be valuable and how their contribution will shape the outcome. When it comes to building and encouraging a high-performing team, the key strategies are:  

• Communication: Continuous communication of our shared vision and mission across all levels of our organisation, to ensure that our people understand the value of their work and their contributions to Adobe’s goals. 
• Trust: Having trust in our people and creating a space where our people feel safe and empowered to be more creative, innovative and give feedback on what is and isn’t working.  
• Mentorship and Education: Giving our people access to learning resources and opportunities like CareerFest to help them forge their own aspirations and careers. 
• Recognition and Opportunity: In addition to supporting innovative environments, we recognise our people’s contribution through ANZ quarterly awards, aligned to our company values. We also ensure our people have ongoing opportunities to learn and enhance their skills.

Can you share an example of a leadership challenge you faced and how you overcame it?

I would say now with the economic environment there are a number of significant challenges for leadership. Personally I know it’s been hard on our employees, and it can be challenging to keep people motivated and focused on driving outcomes. 

To overcome it, I focus our people on short-term goals, and be sure to celebrate the wins both big and small. It’s important we are take the time to recognise the difference we are making for our customers and communities, so I’m always looking for ways to call this out in team meetings, town halls and other internal communications.

What role do mentorship and networking play in your approach to leadership?

I’ve been really lucky to have amazing mentors throughout my career who have given me valuable guidance across a wide variety of subjects including culture, technology and business. To be successful in a career in technology you have to continue being curious and learning, the lessons never stop and that’s where mentors are crucial. One thing my mentors have always done is hold me accountable – checking that I’m really challenging myself, identifying new areas for me to grow, and providing me with the confidence to take the next step. They’ve helped to give me a broader view, and that is the approach I try to take with my leadership.

Networking has a similar impact. When I am out networking with peers and customers, they often provide valuable insights into what matters to them and their business, and how they’re approaching leadership challenges. It is an invaluable opportunity to learn, be inspired, and consider things from a different perspective

How do you balance maintaining authority while fostering collaboration and inclusivity?

Collaboration and inclusivity is vital – you need to have an environment where people feel included and respected enough to speak their mind. However, while you are listening to people’s differing opinions, it is your role to make a call at the end of the day, so you must be decisive and take action.

What is the most challenging obstacle you’ve faced in your career, and how did you navigate it?

I’ve learnt over my career that obstacles can often be reframed as opportunities – it’s all down to your mindset. Is this an immovable problem or is this something that just takes us a different way?

Early on in my career, when I was first working overseas and managing people from different cultures, I did find it challenging. However, working across regions and seeing how different teams solved problems was also a fantastic opportunity that shaped my leadership style. For example, I learnt very quickly that there isn’t only one way to do something, and rather than telling people how to do something, I can provide more value by trusting them and enabling them to be able to go and do what they need to do.

How do you maintain resilience and focus during periods of uncertainty or failure?

For me it is all about striking that work-life balance. I’ve learnt that if I don’t make time for sleep, exercise and general downtime, then it starts to negatively impact not only my ability to lead but other parts of my life too. It’s important to protect and prioritise that time, ensuring you maintain your rituals like a morning walk to keep perspective, stay strong and be in a place where you can help the people around you, both personally and professionally.

I also think it is important to take time to learn from setbacks. I often go back and look at data, asking what can I learn from this and what can we change for next time? It’s about sitting down and dissecting what the issue was, what was in our control, what wasn’t and what can we do about it moving forward.

What are your go-to strategies for managing stress and avoiding burnout?

I have a few strategies that help, mainly spending time with my family, getting out in nature and prioritising exercise. If we’re not carving out the time to do things that help us both physically and mentally then the stress and burnout will soon catch up. At Adobe we prioritise carving out that time whether it be through flexible hours or scheduled time off like our Global Days Off which we have six times a year to unplug and decompress. My family also helps keep me on track and offers a great outside perspective. It can be quite humbling but helpful to have your children tell you that your problems aren’t that serious! 

Can you share a time when you turned a significant setback into an opportunity for growth?

Working in this sector for many years, I’ve had to deal with a lot of issues where a technology hasn’t worked in the way a customer expected, and this has put a strain on the relationship. 

One situation that comes to mind is when the CEO of a major customer started my first meeting with her by saying, “Well at least you’re turning up to talk to us.”

The key to us restoring this relationship was strong and direct communication. Communication starts with listening, not telling. That means really listening to their feedback, and then properly investigating the issue, being upfront and honest about what has happened, and shifting the focus to working on a solution that is best for both parties. If this is done right, you can actually build trust and foster a stronger relationship in the end. 

How has your perspective on resilience changed as your career has progressed?

Early in my career I received great advice from a manager who told me the habits you develop in your career are important because regardless of what job level you’re at those habits won’t change. That’s stuck with me because I believe your habits are closely related to resilience, for me being disciplined when it comes to my habits like exercise, spending time with my family or getting enough sleep helps me be more resilient when I face a challenge.

However, I’ve also learnt that you have to balance your habits with the practicalities of life. For example, when I had children, I suddenly had a lot less time for sleep and exercise. This reshaped my view and I realised that resilience is about being able to move forward, even when it feels impossible. 

Being rigid about these rituals and trying to cram everything into the day was impossible and causing me stress. I learnt that resilience required flexibility and compromise to find a way to take that next step. For example, sometimes my exercise is just a ten-minute walk at lunch, but that is enough to help me recharge. 

What habits or routines have been instrumental in your personal and professional growth?

Exercise has been instrumental to my personal and professional growth, whether that be something as simple as getting outside for a quick walk, it ends up being a moment to take a step back, reflect and has resulted in me thinking more creatively about the task at hand. 

A habit that I lost – particularly when I had young children and a busy job – was reading.  I got to a point where I was reading a narrow amount of content focusing on the same topics. I’m working to rebuild this habit and recently committed to read a book a month, mixing fiction and non-fiction to get a range of perspectives and find inspiration in different places

How do you stay motivated and continually strive for improvement in your career?

My constant curiosity has kept me motivated. Solving problems and finding new approaches to issues has kept me moving forward. These don’t always need to be large or complex issues – changing something small that has a big impact is really satisfying for me. I try to look back on occasion and remind myself of all the small changes I’ve made along that way that has contributed to something much larger and made a real difference.

What advice would you give your younger self when you were just starting out?

I used to be very black and white in my approach to work, questioning is this a “good” job or could there be something better, rather than looking at the growth opportunities a role could provide me. 

My advice now would be to ask myself if the opportunity would challenge me, and to consider exactly what I want to get out of it. I’d also tell myself to say yes to everything! While things may seem daunting at first, everything is an opportunity to grow. What I thought would be hard early in my career wasn’t nearly as challenging as I built them up to be. 

Finally, I’d tell my younger self to never stop learning. Curiosity is a great gift, there is a lot of new knowledge coming our way every day.

What role does feedback play in your journey of self-improvement, and how do you approach it?

With feedback, I ask for it often. What I hope from this is that my people know I’m open to it but more importantly as a leader that it’s okay and even encouraged within our organisation to speak up. As I mentioned previously, fostering a culture where everyone has a voice is crucial to building a high-performing team. If leaders never ask for feedback or seem uninterested, this has a significant impact on the culture.

Even when I am receiving feedback that I don’t necessarily agree with, I still welcome it because I understand that it is a different perspective, and that every perspective has value. While I don’t need to take on the feedback as given, I can always take something away and learn from it.