At the beginning of this journey, I struggled to identify my leadership challenge. This was partly due to the fact that perhaps I was in a transition period within my role moving from a subject matter expert to a position of visibility and leadership; and partly due to the fact that I hadn’t experienced challenges that I could distill into a leadership framework.
However, within months, my challenge was quite clear. How could be seen as not just the ‘sustainability’ expert in the board room and seen as a leader? Both by my peers and by the C-suite.
This was quite important to me as it was critical to the profile of the work we do that we are seen as contributors to our business. Contributors who can address, remediate and collaborate towards creating value and mitigating risk. This has resonated with me over the last 18 months and I have integrated such aims into both my personal and professional goal setting. I think often we believe that leadership evolves slowly and happens by chance. However, I don’t see it in that way.
Like most other things in life, leadership has to methodically approached; strategically nurtured and constantly at the forefront of the decisions you make.
During our last peer coaching workshop, a wise colleague mentioned that it was key to identify whether or not my organization wanted to invest in the ‘horse or the jockey’. In laymen terms, referring to whether or not it is my profile which is on the rise – or the increased visibility of the function and the work we do. This deeply insightful question had me reflecting on whether or not there is a separation and if the characteristics of a leader can be separated from the work done in a sustainability context. We espouse ethics, are seen as the independent moral compass of our organization and thus it can be difficult to separate the two.
The evolution of my leadership style and in fact the progress I have been able to make has been through two main elements:
1. The insights and constant questioning learnt through my time at Cambridge
2. The courage to ask for more (both professionally and personally)
By doing this, not only has this given my team higher visibility, but it has opened the door for more strategic collaborations internally and externally. By exhibiting courage, respect towards the work of my colleagues and a genuine desire to learn more about how decisions are made – I have not only been able to personally grow, but am seen as a trusted advisor for many arms of the business. For the first time, we have more requests for collaboration, advice and input than we can manage.
I am so grateful for the journey which has just begun, one of the most exciting chapters of my life is just beginning.
sabspeaksblog 