Leading Through Uncertainty

Donna Warr is Head of Colleague Experience at Curo Housing Group, a Sunday Times Top 100 organisation based in Bath who provides housing in the Southwest of England. Donna talks about her experience of going through a restructuring programme in her previous company and how difficult it was due to the lack of communication throughout the process at a time of personal uncertainty shortly before going off on maternity leave. She used that experience to ensure that when she had to lead her own team through a similar process sometime later, she handled it very differently.

Laura Shuckburgh is the Associate Director of Ricketts Architects in Leamington Spa. Laura embraces uncertainty with ease. Knowing little about architecture when she joined the business, Laura has used her creativity in other ways and developed her role to include business development as well as the development of the people in the business. She admits to being an ideas person and recognises that most people are not keen on change. She talks about productivity, the need to slow down to be more effective and the value of coaching to align the team.

There is no interview this week. Instead, I share my experience of leading through uncertainty at my book launch, as well as explaining the background to the book that was published in May 2018.

In the last 6 years working with horses, I’ve become comfortable with high levels of uncertainty. In parallel, as the pace of change has been accelerating, my clients have been learning to be more resilient in uncertainty, as well as becoming more comfortable and confident leading through it. That’s down to the work with horses so it was fitting that they would be at the book launch, sharing the experience with me. Have a listen and reflect on how uncertainty shows up for you and how you find support through it.

 

Elinor Perry-Hall is the MD of Pentlands Accountants and Advisors. Elinor turns accountancy on its head by putting people at the heart of everything they do. She talks about the uncertainty created by a substantial brand development that her business has recently gone through and how it affected everything they do in the business.

Colin D. Smith is known as The Listener and specialises in teaching people to listen. Colin explains how we are taught to communicate through the forms of reading, writing and speaking which are ways that allow us to express ourselves. However, we are rarely taught to listen which is an essential skill for understanding and relating to the person doing the expressing! Learning to listen shifts the communication from self-expression to a two-way dialogue. I’d never thought of it in that way before.

Will Deane is a highly successful entrepreneur and the founder of a digital marketing agency called Unstoppable. The name says all you need to know about Will. It was wonderful to talk to him and experience his unstoppable energy. He is an entrepreneur through and through. His passion shines through for his customers and his work and he really understands the value of a team – not just his own internal team but also his ability to collaborate with other partners as well.

Vicki Wentworth is the Chief Customer Officer at Wesleyan Assurance. She’s had an outstanding career so far. Having started in the military, she developed her leadership skills early on in critical war situations and has brought all of those leadership skills into the financial services industry. It gives her a true, grounded self-confidence that you rarely see. In this interview, she shares some amazing stories of leadership – both in the military and at Wesleyan.

Mark Underwood is the MD of Staffline Recruitment, the largest recruiter in the UK with an employee base of 50,000 people. In this interview, we covered just about everything – from entrepreneurialism, innovation and creativity, to LEAN and process and procedures to psychological safety, communication, resilience and everything in between. Mark’s not just smart, he’s genuine, humble, honest and likeable.

Stephen Maddock OBE is the CEO of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. After 19 years as the CEO, you’d think there’s not much Stephen hasn’t seen but he explains the uncertainty of leading a world-class orchestra that relies on a mix of government funding (which has been slashed in the last few years), charitable donations and commercial income.

Kevin Watson is the MD of Amadeus, a catering company providing food to venues throughout the UK, with a strong base in the West Midlands, including the NEC and other arenas. Kevin was pushed into the deep end of uncertainty when only 3 weeks into joining Amadeus as the MD, he found himself leading through a crisis management situation. It probably helped him get off to a fast start in terms of getting to know the team but I’m sure he wouldn’t recommend such an experience. Every time I interview someone, I think what a fantastic person they would be to work for and Kevin was no exception. I do love a fast-paced challenging business and Kevin seems to thrive on the uncertainty Amadeus’ business. I hope you are inspired to explore how you can lead differently this week as a result of hearing Kevin speak. I certainly am.