Frances Fiel at Harvard Business School says, “Leadership is about making others better as a result of our presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”

As a 22-year-old I had the privilege to leave university on a Friday, take the weekend and walk into my first job on the Monday.

I started my career in PR and communications surrounded by mentors and coaches. I worked at Dungeness B power station in Kent. It was led by an inspirational station director called Dr Andy Spurr and my boss on site Stuart Crooks. Andy’s leadership team took a risk on a 22 year-old who was recruited to set up the station’s communications and PR activity working locally and reporting into a HQ.

What I learnt from the leaders I was surrounded by and the two mentors, who supported me, saw the seeds set for the leadership style I later developed as I grew through my career.

Consider the qualities below.

This is what I learnt that supported my leadership journey.

Compassion and empathy

As leader you’re as successful as your team and the company. Get to know your team. What are their strengths and what affects them day to day. Understand your CEO what makes them tick. What are their strengths and what are their fears. Support them to be the best they can be.

Confidence in themselves and your team

Know no matter, what you’ll succeed. Adopt a ‘we’ rather than an ‘I’ approach – is something I still hold strong. We are stronger together than we are as individuals. If one of the team falls it affects everyone and if one person succeeds, it is the same. Celebrate the wins and learn from the things that don’t go as planned.

Ability to make to tough decisions

Redundancies, losing good people, restructures and shifts in focus due to changes in a business direction. All of these aren’t easy and need leaders to make decisions that are the best for the business while managing the emotions and impact on its people.

The ability to delegate

The ability to trust your team, know their strengths and also where their development needs are was a default setting for the leaders I was surrounded by. There was a genuine, no blame culture and very much a safety first principle due to the environment in which we were working. Colleagues were encouraged to grow, be supported and learn.

Intuition

Follow your gut instinct and your intuition. When you know something isn’t quite right – it is usually true that it isn’t! Also see the potential and be prepared to take responsibility and own success and learning.

Clear vision and purpose

At the time I joined the company, the station was embarking on a culture change programme to instil a clear vision and steps to achieve it. Dr Spurr was clear, passionate and had a purpose greater than himself to ensure all 500+ employees were bought in and could see how the impact of their actions were building a community and company.

Self-awareness

Understand yourself.
How do you react under pressure?
What triggers you?
When are you at your best?
What do you hide from doing?

Manage your emotions

Leaders are human too! Emotions can run high when there are pressures, differing viewpoints and politics at play. What I saw was a leadership team that despite some personality differences, they used humour and a common purpose to work through their personal differences. In this way they built a team that worked together, supported each other, were open to challenge and open to learning from each other – with a huge dollop of fun thrown in!

Lead by example

Although a cliché, it is true! If you want your team to be inclusive, supportive and encouraging – be that. If there is a say do gap – it shows. There will be times, when as a leader, you don’t get it right. That’s ok. Own it. Reflect. Make the change.

Mentor, coach and nurture

Great leaders work with mentors and coaches to help them grow, become aware of their blind spots and help them to shift their mindsets. Great leaders also coach, mentor and nurture talent, looking for those graduating university, on apprenticeships and entering into their first role. Working with their team to grow, adjust and invest in them for where they want to be. As the famous book and quote by Marshall Goldsmith says, “What got you here won’t get you there.”

Change is constant, adapting, adjusting and reflecting will keep you moving towards where you want to be.

Trust

Your team needs to be able to trust you. This is a core ingredient for high performing teams and provides psychological safety. Despite difficult decisions needing to be made at times – this becomes easier if you have a culture of trust.

Be you

Find your authentic leadership style. Take what inspires you from leaders you want to emulate, give it a go, see what works, face what you find difficult and lean into the discomfort. Love your quirks and seek advice on how to keep working on yourself.

What are you learning as you grow as a leader? Let me know at hello@seabreezecoaching.co.uk