What kind of leader are you?
Jo Hands asks the question: What kind of leader are you? Leadership is a gift. It's not easy. It's not a popularity contest. It's about setting up your team for success. Sometimes as leaders we get lost. Meetings, emails, approvals and pressure and we lose sight of what is important - taking people on the journey. We've all worked for good leaders and not great leaders and therefore know what good leadership is ...I think I've learnt the most from the bad leaders that I've worked with.
Leadership is a gift. It's not easy. It's not a popularity contest. It's about setting up your team for success.
Sometimes as leaders we get lost. Meetings, emails, approvals and pressure and we lose sight of what is important - taking people on the journey.
We've all worked for good leaders and not great leaders and therefore know what good leadership is ...I think I've learnt the most from the bad leaders that I've worked with.
Three key considerations for leadership;
Lead from the heart
Consistency is key
Understand your why
Leadership evolves over time. Everyone has their own style and styles are adapted for different people but leaders that lead from the heart is critical to success.
Leading from the heart is not weak but connecting with people and driving and pulling people with a clear vision. A leader that takes this approach will get a better outcome than a stick approach.
Consistency is critical. Having a consistent style and consider how this impacts your team etc. Have you ever worked for a leader who was chaotic and you didn't know what you would get on each and every day? It creates an unproductive and toxic work environment.
Everyone has become a leader for their own reason. Know your why. Be deliberate in understanding the why and deliberate driving the outcome you want. Being passionate and deliberate will drive the best outcome for your team.
At Whiteark we are passionate about leadership and working with leadership teams to get the best out of their people. Reach out to us for a no obligation conversation and advice around managing talent.
The Chiefs Podcast | Tune in to more leadership lessons
Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark
Looking to hone your leadership skills? Let us help.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business.
Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
Perspective...
Jo Hands is talking perspective. She explains “There are things in life that result in an increase in perspective. It's normally something unpleasant. So it takes some unpleasant to happen to you or someone you love to create perspective. The perspective needs to be strong enough to drive a change in behaviour. The perspective needs to be consistent / enduring enough to make long term sustainable change.”
There are certain things in life that result in an increase in perspective. It's normally something unpleasant.
So does it take something unpleasant to happen to you or someone you love in order to create perspective? Perhaps.
The reality is, your newfound perspective needs to be strong enough to drive a change in behaviour. And this newfound behaviour must be consistent and enduring in order to make long term sustainable change.
Ask yourself:
What things in your life have given you perspective?
Has it resulted in a behaviour change, and if yes, for how long?
Our recent shared experience of Covid19 has given everyone perspective (in differing degrees) which has resulted in behavioural changes throughout society.
These ideas have been taken from our podcast episode with Bernard Salt about Building A Better Australia (EP016). 🎧 Tune in to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 🎧
Let’s explore some emerging thoughts as a result of altered perspectives:
People are considering career changes
People are thinking differently about work - and what flexibility means to them
People are reconsidering overseas trips and business trips
People are considering where they live
People are considering how they spend there money
These ideas have been taken from our podcast episode with Bernard Salt about Building A Better Australia (EP016). 🎧 Tune in to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 🎧
This disruption has triggered major changes in the way people think and operate, and has resulted in a number of trends:
A push for flexibility or people are changing jobs
Remote working: Living regionally, working CBD
People changing jobs with a major challenge around War On Talent
These ideas have been taken from our podcast episode with Bernard Salt about Building A Better Australia (EP016). 🎧 Tune in to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 🎧
So, what does this mean for organisations and leaders?
Acquiring and retaining talent is more difficult
Policies around flexibility are critical
Building connection with team members will result in better retention
Leaders need to tweak their style as a result of hybrid working and find something that works for teams and organisation
Executives need to proactively manage their people - creating a great place to work, with flexibility and opportunity and ensure attract and retain top talent . Having a clear people plan and communications will be critical
Building a way to measure productive work is really important that moves from hours to time to be productive
Leaders need to pivot to be relevant, right now. How are you pivoting your style to be relevant?
Need some inspiration? Reach out to us for a no obligation conversation today.
Browse more articles about change and transformation.
Need support in your organisation? Reach out.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.
We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark
Leadership – your legacy
Jo Hands writes about leadership - and creating your legacy. It doesn’t mean you are old – legacy. What leadership legacy do you want to leave? What kind of leader you do want to be? What do you want to be remembered for? When I think about Legacy I think about leaders that I have had in my career. Which ones have inspired me and which one disappointed me.
It doesn’t mean you are old – legacy. What leadership legacy do you want to leave? What kind of leader you do want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?
When I think about Legacy I think about leaders that I have had in my career. Which ones have inspired me and which one disappointed me. I use this to work out what kind of leader I want to be. How about you?
Words that I want around my leadership:
Strong
Decisive
Quick to respond
Caring
Challenging
Outside comfort zone
I want to be a strong decisive leader that is focusing on the greater good of the organisation and team. Sometimes this requires you to make hard decisions but you do it for the greater good. I want to encourage, challenge my people and get them outside their comfort zone to do bigger things and know that I have there back. My role is to bring out the best in people, team and organisation and this is about finding the people to invest in and the people to manage out/exit.
Great leadership will not make you popular but it will make you respected. No one wants to be unpopular but as a leaders if you are too focused on making people like you and not upsetting people you will likely be an average leader at best. You have to make the hard decisions – you need to take people on the journey. Change management is not a person/role it’s the way leaders take the team on the journey.
Leadership is a journey – you need to fail to learn and be the best leader you can be. It’s a decision every day, it’s being honest when you get it wrong and it’s having another go the next day – it’s being resilient.
There have been a number of leaders that I have admired in my career – David McGregor from EY, David Thodey from Telstra. These leaders taught me about finding your way, being your authentic self, there is no perfect way but find your way. It is such good advice.
I have learnt just as much from the leaders I haven’t respected and it’s made me realise on the leader I don’t want to be – selfish, focused on individual gain and not taking a strong stance on unacceptable performance.
I love to learn from leaders; what works for them, what doesn’t and what they have learnt on their journey. The highlight of my week to do the Chiefs podcast focused on getting lessons and learnings from a range of different leaders. Tune in …we should add in link.
At Whiteark we are lucky to work with so many amazing leaders, to get leaders to connect and to provide thought leadership and other insights to leaders on key topics that are important to them.
If you want to know more about us, reach out for a no obligation chat.
Want to talk about building your leadership team? Reach out.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.
We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our founder has a combined experience of over 20 years’ working as Executive in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
Article by Jo Hands, Founder Whiteark
8 Key lessons we have learnt from launching our own podcast
Jo Hands unpacks the lessons learnt from starting the Whiteark Podcast - The Chiefs. We have interviewed a range of leaders; young, older, CEO, Executive, owning and running their own business. Each leaders provided so many great tips and lessons around their leadership journey. It’s very inspiring.
We launched Whiteark - The Chiefs Podcast in October 2020. We have loved every minute of it.
What makes leaders tick? The Chiefs gives you insight into what makes our great leaders so great. With organisation’s top chiefs in the hot seat each week, we chat about the highs – and lows – and lessons along the way; tackling the biggest issues people are facing today. We know that leading can be a lonely role and we believe that learning from other great people is one of the best resources we have. So join us on our journey, and enjoy the stories behind some of the greats…
At the end of May here are the key statistics for our podcast:
Number of Episodes: 32
Key Topics covered (maybe some groupings) – People and Leadership, Impacts of Covid, Post Covid Recovery, Data, Transformation, Innovation, Sales and Service.
We have interviewed a range of leaders; young, older, CEO, Executive, owning and running their own business. Each leaders provided so many great tips and lessons around their leadership journey. It’s very inspiring. In 30 mins it’s amazing what you can learn about someone.
We feel privileged to have some amazing leaders that have shared their stories with us and our leaders and we are also privileged to have so many loyal followers.
When I reflect at the end of the week; on my highlight it’s likely that that the podcast will be my highlight – I’ve met someone new, I’ve learnt something new and it’s given me some inspiration / perspective. I feel very honoured and privileged to be able to take their precious time to share their journey and wisdom with our Whiteark family.
There are 8 key lessons we have learnt from interviewing 35+ leaders on The Chiefs Podcast:
1. Everyone has a story – regardless of age/role etc everyone has a story to tell. Tell your story so your business understands how you got here and what this role means to you. People want to know your story.
2. People learn most from their mistakes – failure is ok -it’s how you respond that is important. Everyone makes mistakes, yep it’s true but it’s how you respond that separates people. Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
3. Your job is to make hard decisions. It’s not all about consensus, you need to make the right decision for the organisation. Listen, understand and make a decision – your people will respect you for it.
4. Sometimes your job is lonely so finding like-minded professionals for connection is important. For me business chicks business club has been a God send but find your mentor, your support network.
5. Trusting your employees and giving them he environment to flourish is critical. Trust is easy to say but actions speak louder than words.
6. Being able to navigate ambiguity is critical – make decisions, pivot and dealing with ambiguity and moving forward will be critical.
7. Being a leader requires you to be at your best – look after yourself – put your oxygen mask on first and ensure you look after yourself so you can come back tomorrow for another day.
8. Be authentic – authentic leadership – be yourself and your people will respect you and follow you. While it’s talked about a lot really being true to you and being your own leader is critical.
While there are other lessons that we have learnt these would be have been the top 8.
We continue every week to bring you leaders that inspire, challenge and give you a different perspective. For an investment of 30 mins of your time – please tune into The Chiefs each week on Wednesday to ensure you don’t miss a beat.
If you would love to be on our podcast – please click the button below and we will be in contact.
Want to talk about building your business? Reach out.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.
We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark