Building Leaders
In the world of ecology people are promoted to become team leaders based on the wealth and breadth of their ecological knowledge and experience. This makes perfect sense. However, all too often, those people are then expected to create and maintain performing teams without any kind of training to do so. We don’t expect ecologists to survey for any species without appropriate training. So why for something as essential as building trusting relationships and ensuring people’s mental health do we expect leaders to just learn on the job?
Director Ben Gardner benefitted from business training through the GoldmanSachs funded 10,000 small businesses, therefore when Principal Ecologist Laura Grant joined the company in spring 2019, he recognised the value in ensuring she had the tools to do the job.
In September 2019 she began the ‘Executive Ready Training Course’, a seven-month programme provided by Women and Leadership International. The course promised that delegates would have the opportunity ‘to deeply explore their own strengths, areas for development and opportunities as they relate to building and maintaining highly effective teams’.
Here Laura reflects on the course and how it has helped her to become a better leader; achieving better outcomes for herself, her team and ultimately our clients.
The Programme
The content of the course was delivered through blended learning based around peer knowledge-sharing, experiential exercises, practical workshops both in person and online, coaching, application and reflection. The seven modules included:
Leadership and authenticity;
Communication, presence and influence;
Team dynamics;
Driving performance;
Leading innovation and change;
Strategic thinking and organisational learning; and
Purpose, priorities and professional development
The modules were each formatted to include:
Videos on the portal introducing new tools, principles or concepts;
Activities for us to reflect on how they influenced us or our teams;
Suggested exercises to work through with our own teams;
Additional reading suggestions and online talks to watch; and
Group discussions within the portal to reflect on our own thoughts, experiences, ideas and values.
The course introduced me to many new concepts, tools and models which I had not encountered previously and challenged me to deeply reflect on the good and bad leaders I’ve had in the past, how I’ve behaved as a leader previously and the type of leader I want to be moving forward. Within weeks of starting the course I was already having ‘lightbulb moments’ where I wished I’d had the skillset available to me previously to achieve the best outcomes in a difficult situation or simply better understand people and team dynamics.
Key take aways / value of the programme for me
There were so many brilliant concepts introduced to me throughout the course, things which I now reflect upon on a daily basis or return to as the need arises. The following were some of my favourite topics:
The ladder of inference: The concept that we live in a world where our self-generated beliefs are largely untested. Our conclusions are inferred from what we observe amalgamated with our past experiences, thoughts and feelings. Rather than jumping to conclusions which may be false and cause us to react to a situation in a negative or inappropriate way, we need to come down the ladder (to where it’s safest) and make sure that we are asking the right questions to get to the bottom of what’s really happening. If I ever feel myself about to give a knee-jerk reaction to something (which I would have almost certainly followed through on previously) I purposefully pause, consider the alternatives and seek more data to test my assumptions.
People styles: Prior to the course I hadn’t given much thought to my personality type, how I like to communicate or the styles of others and how that might influence how we think, like to operate or interact. Gaining an understanding of people styles has given me new insight into how to build and improve relationships with family, friends, colleagues and clients. I’ve also recognised I don’t have a dominant style so I’m able to adapt to situations and flex my style perhaps more easily than most.
The value of trust: Trust has always been incredibly important to me as a personal value and I hadn’t really considered the value of trust in the workplace. Having learned about team dynamics and that trust is the foundation which enables teams to thrive has given me the assurance that time spent on building trust isn’t wasted.
Thinking strategically: Whilst I used to have a somewhat scattergun approach to how I worked rather than being task or response oriented I am now more considered in my approach and my priorities. I use tools to help me and the team check in and ensure our vision is aligned and that we’re acting strategically to deliver our goals.
Adapting to change: There is a continual need to adapt to change, perhaps now more than ever. I really like the four doors of change model to enable the team to work collaboratively to identify (1) Things we used to be able to do and can still do, (2) Things we couldn’t do before and still can’t, (3) Things we used to be able to do but can’t now, and (4) Things we couldn’t do before but can now. We ran a Zoom workshop on this shortly after the coronavirus enforced isolation to identify how we could best adapt to the change and were grateful to discover a lot of our processes enabled an easy transition to working in isolation and maintaining communication.
Giving and asking for feedback: Previously I considered feedback to be needed on no more than an annual basis during a 360 review. I now recognise that we don’t know how to improve unless we give and receive feedback and the best time to do so is in a timely manner, reflecting on situations and/or providing guidance as soon as practicably possible. In doing so we can streamline our processes, sooner meet our personal objectives and avoid risking climbing up that ladder and making false assumptions. I realised how I give feedback also needs to be adaptive, whether it’s a comment in a word document, chat over a coffee or more formal talk using an approach such as MYCORE. I’m conscious of giving good feedback where it’s due and am pleased that the culture in which I work breeds positivity with monthly pat on the backs recognising a member of the team who has gone above and beyond.
The value of coaching: Coaching wasn’t a concept I was even aware of prior to the course. During it we chose a partner to have regular sessions with, taking it in turns to be the coach and coachee using different methods such as GOAL and appreciative enquiry. This opened my eyes to the ways in which you can support team members in achieving their goals and fulfilling their potential.
My Personal Commitments
At the end of each module we were encouraged to identify our personal commitments. I kept a running list which I reviewed each month. Some which felt like priorities at the start of the course became superseded by bigger more meaningful commitments to me at the end. Below is my complete list; something which I intend to keep readily accessible and regularly review to keep me on track in my leadership journey in the years ahead as we grow our team and take on new challenges.
Build trusting relationships
Honour commitments, communicate all the time, listen, ask questions, be approachable. Consider each individual’s personality type and understand and be respectful of how they like to communicate and operate.
Not be afraid of conflict
Be a mirror: reflect on situations as I see them and react in a timely way. Prepare for conversations and implement emotional intelligence when discussing issues.
Improve accountability within the team
Ask for people's perspective, ensure they understand their roles, the goal and are committed to the task (implement 2).
Give and receive feedback
Request and provide feedback regularly both informally at 1-1 meetings and formally at six month and annual reviews.
When giving feedback or coaching consider expectations and intentions, approach conversations positively, consider use of appreciative inquiry.
Before engaging in a feedback or coaching discussions consider which tools would be most appropriate to provide structure and set the right tone.
Build morale and team bonding
Maintain traditions, praise and flatter each other, share rewards and successes, publicise individual and team wins. Set and take team time together.
Delegate freely
Share tasks based on who does what the best and/or has the most availability.
Maintain company values and vision
Work together to define company vision and focus on results.
Don't innovate alone, empower team to change collectively
Use 'keep / chuck / change / add' tool when reviewing and streamlining processes.
Summary
The course has been a long hard slog of learning and self-discovery. There have been many nights staying up late down a rabbit hole watching inspiring Ted Talks, endless lightbulb moments where things have fallen in to place, many times I’ve been excited to get back in the office and share something with the team and countless times I’ve reflected on how very fortunate I am to be in such a thriving, happy, performing team, shaped over the past five years by Ben’s leadership which I now have the opportunity to help grow.