I started my leadership career in my mid-twenties – I got this amazing opportunity but I didn’t receive any coaching or mentoring on how to be an effective leader. It was more like you’ve secured the role, ‘there you go!’. I then begun by doing my own research in development by reading books and articles on how to be an effective leader.
At that time, even more so now, I didn’t connect with what I was reading, so I started demonstrating traits, strengths and qualities that weren’t me. I didn’t realise this at the time: and during that period, I felt like I had to be somebody that I wasn’t! Even though it felt uncomfortable, I still tried to portray those certain traits of being more assertive, influential, and speaking the loudest. And that was because of what I was reading and what I saw around me.
As my career progressed, I got my first head of department role in my late twenties. This started to change things in terms of trying to identify who I was and what my unique strengths and qualities were. It was through this self-awareness on the way I worked and positioned myself, that I realised that the way I was communicating with the people wasn’t being received the way I thought it would be.
Further down the line, I started to explore my qualities which included learning how to build effective relationships by adapting my communication style – for example, being aware of who were the recipients of my message. It started me on my journey of being my authentic self and with that came the understanding that I don’t have to be somebody that didn’t align with who I really was. I am, who I am, I have my own qualities, and I’m aware that everybody is individual and unique; and we need to learn to be aware of ourselves and be aware of others; and adapt our communication style to get the best out of every situation. This has developed over time through the leadership roles that I’ve had – you must be continuously learning in every new situation.
Self-awareness is massively important in terms of great leadership attributes. It’s something I champion when I deliver the Confidence Collective programme. I suppose through my career and how I present myself now is based on things that I have learnt and how I’ve developed an understanding on how I need to adapt to different people. Don’t get me wrong, I still get those instances where I think “oh I shouldn’t have said that” or “I shouldn’t have acted in a particular way”. Fundamentally, it’s about being aware and learning from it and how you can do things more effectively next time. I think when you’re more your authentic self then your confidence increases in your abilities and skillsets. As my career has progressed from Head of HR to HR Director, and now CEO of our organisation. I recognise that I still have areas that I can improve upon, and I’ve come a long way in now knowing it’s how you deliver the message more so than the message itself.