How I help leaders to better understand and inspire their teams

Leadership is defined by effective interactions. Establishing a genuine connection, showing empathy – these are important factors in building successful relationships with your team. So why do we expect people not to be themselves? 

Early on in my career, I was asked to bring ‘less of myself’ to meetings. But my energy and humour are powerful tools that are difficult for me to hide, and I don’t want to. They help me to motivate my colleagues. Bringing less of myself made me feel uncomfortable, and I don’t believe this helps anybody.

My passion for employee and leadership development started when I learned the importance of developing others. At my first full-time job after college, running an educational centre for children, I identified employee pain points and focused on improving them. I spent time understanding what they were struggling with, what developments would be beneficial. By the time I’d spent two and a half years doing this, our retention rate was the best we’d ever had.

I’m currently the Regional Manager of Employee Development, Diversity & Inclusion at Allianz Trade in North America, and also a facilitator for #LEAD, our global leadership initiative. The programme focuses on five key areas: strength-based inclusive leadership, people management, storytelling, personal resilience & wellbeing, and problem solving. I teach the programme to leaders across the organisation globally, but also to board members and executive teams.

We offer a blended learning experience. This means virtual, instructor-led classes, along with online ‘gamified’ modules. This method, and these focuses, develop empowered leaders with the tools to better understand and inspire their teams. It’s a true commitment!

I am so lucky to have the opportunity to use my strengths, energy, and humour to teach and discuss these topics with leaders around the world. Imagine how 16 hours of online training would feel if I brought “less of myself” to this programme?

No, I am not referring to myself! But it is one of my favourite things to teach our leaders. We can teach inclusive leadership by investigating micro behaviours, small actions that can build people up or tear them down. I ask our leaders to recognise their behaviours and make one small change, then see if it makes an impact. We have a great example: one leader noticed that he wasn’t thanking people on his team. So, he started verbally showing recognition for their efforts, and received immediate feedback about how much they appreciated it. 

I love to debate with my classes on this topic—it provides a great opportunity for self-analysis. One participant viewed saying “please” as coddling. That led to an enlightening discussion about how some people perceive behaviours one way, while others could perceive them differently. Not everybody thinks in the same way, or has the same strengths. That can affect how we interpret certain behaviours. 

My energy is overwhelming to some people. It took great managers, mentors, and coaches to learn how to harness and use it in the right places. Creating leadership teams with complementary strengths, and the skillset to manage rapid change and unpredictability, requires a deep understanding of human behaviours. And that has to start with your own. 

Think of it as if you’re on a plane. The safety demonstration tells you to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others. That’s the mindset of a great leader. Once you understand yourself, that’s when you can start to lead in an agile way.