Andrea Colianni on the importance of diversified thought and capabilities-based work

Andrea Colianni is a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Human Capital practice for Organization Transformation. She has more than 15 years of consulting experience and serves clients across the energy, resources, and industrials (ER&I) industry. Andrea’s client service is focused on helping with global organizational transformations—strategy, organizational design, workforce transformation, and organizational change management. Andrea currently serves as the lead consulting partner in the power, utilities, and renewables sector.

Equipping a service leadership mentality

Andrea chooses to lead in a way that people will follow. As the lead consulting principal serving a large energy corporation, Andrea emphasizes that she’s not only a leader but also a team member. She believes that it’s important to treat others the way you want to be treated and for leaders to be respectful of their role as a team member. “You are a leader only if you are a member of the team.” Andrea uses this guiding professional philosophy in her leadership roles. Additionally, knowing that she has a full team behind her—not just a project team but supporters and a network to give her perspective—has been an important resource.

“Sometimes you hit a stumbling block because you do not have the right perspective. Strong networks and advocates help you realize and maintain perspective”

Andrea notes that sometimes the reasons a project went wrong might be external circumstances, and it can take an outside viewpoint to realize that. Throughout her career, she has maintained perspective through the support of her colleagues and clients.

Transition into the energy industry

Andrea stumbled into the energy industry after 11 years of working with consumer products clients. She was placed on an ER&I client project because the team needed a local senior manager. This led Andrea to discover new opportunities and spaces for the type of work she was passionate about. Andrea describes her route to the energy industry as “serendipitous” as she found her own space within.

Fascinating, real-time relevant, and exciting is how Andrea describes the energy industry. She explains how the industry is becoming more focused on the consumer and consumerism of energy. “This creates new opportunities because energy companies are doing things that they were not historically capable of doing.” Andrea emphasizes how this transformed the way energy companies approach talent pools, where to work, whom to engage with, and how to work with respect to sustainability and diversity. 

For those eager to enter the energy industry, Andrea encourages searching for opportunities and projects that match your interests. “It’s important to have conversations with your peers, leaders, and clients about how you can bring your skills to the industry,” she adds.

Leveraging diversity of thought

Andrea has noticed a shift toward prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and increasing representation across the energy industry. “Firms are prioritizing diversity and women and reinforcing how to be successful, so capabilities and hard work are not going by the wayside,” she shares.
 
Andrea advises women and diverse practitioners to continue to seek out leaders who will provide exposure opportunities to demonstrate their capabilities. Andrea assures, “I was given opportunities due to my ability, and it was because of key leaders who believed in me. And if I can continue to pass on that philosophy and practice of spotlighting, I consider it to be my greatest purpose as a leader.”
 
Andrea emphasizes that with DEI “we aren’t just making sure that we have women who are leaders but making sure that all types of people are doing all types of work, in all areas of the ecosystem.” She adds, “Organizations should be representative internally of what their clients look like externally.” Andrea explains that diversification of thought and people can provide the best thought leadership and service for clients. “You can’t possibly have the best ideas if you have only one opinion or perspective. By diversifying the ways in which we think about our services and solutions, our teams can achieve better results.”

Nurturing exposure and experiences for women in energy

When asked about the highlights of her career, Andrea jumps back to her experiences as a junior consultant. She’s proud of the nontypical experiences she had very early in her career, such as leading the restructure of an IT organization. Andrea had these opportunities based on the relationships she built with account leadership and client relationships. Andrea’s mentor relationships with senior leaders and the investment she received solidified how that experience was imperative to her growth and development in the organization, in addition to providing opportunities for her to do different types of work regardless of her level.
 
Taking ownership of larger projects as a more junior professional changed her perspective and showed her the importance of assigning work based on skill and capability rather than level. She adds that she continues to carry that philosophy forward in her teams today—opportunities and experiences should be based on capability of the person, not their level, gender, age, or race. And to empower our diverse professionals, we need to continue to elevate our most capable leaders to provide that representation and leadership.

If you have the capability, the passion, the interest, then the level shouldn’t matter. Opportunities should be based on your ability to execute and be successful.

Now, as a leader and mentor, Andrea provides the same opportunities for her team. She’s intentional about assigning work to her team based on their unique capabilities and interests.