Meet the Major Programmes team

Has your childhood inspired you to make an impact through your role?

Absolutely. My dad was in the army and my mum was a teacher, and I think that inspired me to be very mission-driven and focus on trying to make a difference in the world. As a military family we moved around a lot which gave me an appreciation of different cultures and contexts as I got to experience a diverse range of environments, all of which gave me a real interest in the wider world, my place in it, and what I could contribute to it. 

When I was 18, before university, I did a gap year and went to Cambodia to work as a teacher in an orphanage which was really inspiring. It was the first time I interacted with charities and NGOs and was what sent me down a career in the international development sector. 

Thinking of your career before Deloitte, what were the key lessons you learned from it?

I spent over 12 years working in the international development sector with governments and charities around the world. I lived and worked in India for three years which was fascinating, and for a lot of my career I was managing complex multi-million-pound programmes and supporting national governments to deliver public services across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It was really diverse and gave me an appreciation of what can be achieved, as well as an understanding of the challenges of working in volatile environments whilst making sure the impact we were having was really what communities needed. There was a lot of learning around working in partnership with end users and working closely with government personnel in each of those different contexts. 

I was working in some of the highest VUCA environments, in conflict zones and really challenging parts of the world where people are doing amazing things – it taught me the importance of being adaptable in delivery, considering and calculating risk, and accepting a level of risk in order to reach the most vulnerable people. 

One of the things that excited me about Deloitte was the range and breadth of work that we do; I was excited to be in the room where really important conversations are happening, and decisions are being taken, and being able to support our public sector counterparts to do that. 

Since joining Major Programmes I’ve been able to reflect on how much our work links in with what I learned about adaptive delivery including agile risk management, scenario planning and horizon scanning, and focussing on critical success factors. These all resonated with the experiences I’ve had operating in highly volatile and challenging environments. 

One of the main differences I’ve noticed in transitioning from international delivery to a domestic focus is the breadth of digital opportunities. In the international contexts I was working in the opportunities for technological innovation were more limited.  Whilst there was grassroots innovation happening if you don’t have electricity and infrastructure high-tech solutions are rarely the best option. But in the UK context there are more opportunities to use really exciting and new technologies, like AI, digital twin and real-time data analysis, which can help us do more with public sector resources. 

There’s a perception that large-scale public sector programmes struggle to achieve that adaptability needed in complex operations – have you seen a positive approach to adaptive delivery in your time working for the public sector at Deloitte?

I think it can be challenging to be innovative and adaptive in the public sector because we have such a strong duty of care – we cannot fail. The work we’re doing is so important, and government is often delivering the most challenging programmes which otherwise wouldn’t exist. 

I think adaptable delivery and risk management in those contexts is interesting because we do need flexibility, agility and adaptation, but we also have to get it right. We’re working with public money and have a public duty of care, which can make it very difficult to then take those high-stakes, high-impact calculated risks.  

In large-scale programmes this can be even more challenging; how do you ensure the people on the ground are empowered to make timely decisions in complex contexts? How do we support them in those decisions? I do think, though, our clients are hugely interested in agile methodologies, and how we might use these to deliver more proportional governance and adaptive risk management. 

So how are you helping governments to deliver major programmes more effectively? How are you moving them from tradition to NextGeneration delivery?

I'm really interested in how we can support our clients to use AI responsibly to improve efficiency and effectiveness at an organizational level. One of the areas I’m looking at currently is how to move from AI pilots to deploying AI at scale - assessing the opportunities, risks, challenges and mitigations.  I think the challenge of scaling AI is so important because we’ve seen a lot of pilots which are successful but struggle to scale into enterprise-wide solutions which is where you get the greatest efficiencies and return on investment. 

Scaling AI isn’t just about digital transformation but also organisational transformation which is needed to leverage the power of AI and drive usage and adoption. I’m excited by how we can use AI to do more with the limited resources we have in the public sector whilst recognising and balancing the potential risks and challenges. 

Do you have an example of work you have done which used digital technology to drive an impactful outcome?

Actually the first project I joined at Deloitte was supporting the Police Digital Service (PDS) in their successful delivery of training and digital forensics equipment for police forces across England and Wales to improve judicial outcomes for victims of Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO). 

Most criminal cases involve digital evidence, and the amount of digital evidence is becoming overwhelming. Supporting the police to deal with this evidence quickly and effectively helps both the impact of their response and the experience of the victim.  

This project was really meaningful for me as it touched on a lot of things I really care about: supporting public sector clients as they use digital technology as an enabler; improving services which help victims of gender-based violence and making a positive impact on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

What would you like to say about your career upon retirement?

I would really like to say that, in the way I was able to, I contributed to improving the society and world we live in. In my spheres of influence I progressed things positively wherever I could. That thought really motivates me. 

The other thing that really inspires me to continue making a difference is seeing how hard our public sector clients work – many of them have committed their entire careers to jobs which are difficult and not fully recognised for the value they deliver. So if I’ve been able to support others to deliver and make an impact, I’ll be happy.