Hello KSKOers
NEWS!!
This is the penultimate podcast episode! Episode 100 will be the final one - for now! I’ve decided to hang up my mic as I concentrate on my new job, new colleagues and get back to blogging!
In this episode, I’m joined by the lovely Ruth Wells, CEO of Headway Devon, a brain injury charity. We talk about leading with kindness, authenticity, and self-awareness. Ruth shares her insights on why kindness is an essential leadership skill, how to live out organisational values every day, and the importance of creating an environment where vulnerability and honest feedback are encouraged. Join us as we talk about balancing empathy with accountability, the real-life tools Ruth uses to support her team, and why true leadership means meeting people where they are.
Looking forward to joining you on your learning journey!
Here are my top takeaways from our conversation:
Lead with Kindness and Empathy: Ruth emphasises that kindness isn't about being a pushover!! It’s about truly hearing where someone is at right now and offering what they need. Practice meeting people where they are, listen deeply, and show you care, even on tough days.
Live Your Values, Don’t Just Speak Them: Values aren’t just words on the wall. Ruth recommends ensuring your organisational and personal values show up in your daily actions. Talk about values openly, reference them in meetings and supervisions, and ask how you and your team are embodying them.
Model and Encourage Vulnerability: Ruth shares openly about her experiences, including struggles with mental health and neurodiversity. By being honest about your own limitations and challenges, you create space for others to drop their guard and be real, too, which is a major driver for building trust.
Cultivate Observational Awareness: Great leaders don’t just listen; they observe. Pay attention to your team’s unspoken cues: their mood, body language, or subtle changes in behaviour. Be curious and, when needed, gently check in without pressuring anyone to share more than they want.
Prioritise Reflection and Continuous Learning: Ruth keeps a reflective journal and creates a culture of learning from challenges, not just successes. After key experiences - good or bad, allow yourself time to process, learn, and improve. Encourage your team to see setbacks as opportunities for growth, not blame.
Here are the top five actions that you can take away from this episode to strengthen your self-aware leadership skills:
1. Living the Values: Define your organisation’s values with input from staff, service users, and stakeholders, then distil each into a single word with a clear definition. Display them in meeting rooms, reference them in decision-making, ask about them in interviews, and include them in supervision conversations so they shape everyday actions.
2. Observing with Intent: Learn the specific signs that indicate when each team member is stressed, tired, or disengaged. Check in using specific, non-judgemental observations like, “I’ve noticed you’ve been quieter this week — what would help you today?” and adapt the setting of the conversation to what works best for them.
3. Modelling Vulnerability: Share appropriate personal challenges in meetings or updates, such as when you’ve made a mistake or reached your limits, and explain how you’re addressing them. Use these moments to set the tone that it’s safe to be honest, and invite others to share their own learning or support needs.
4. Embedding a Learning Mindset: Schedule regular “what did we learn?” reviews after projects, incidents, or major decisions, and document these lessons in a shared space. Hold managers accountable for fostering environments where mistakes are explored constructively, and share your own failures openly to normalise the process.
5. Leading with Humanity in Tough Times: When managing redundancies, restructures, or performance issues, prepare by considering how you’d want to receive such news yourself. Communicate clearly, offer realistic support for next steps, and follow up personally to maintain respect and dignity even after difficult decisions.
What other actions have you taken away from our conversation?
Enjoy this episode! Also available on…
Nia is an expert leader who talks the talk and walks the walk. She is an academically awarded thought leader in self-aware leadership and practices self-aware leadership every single day in her role as a Director in a Children’s Charity.
Find out more about Self-Aware Leadership by getting your very own copy of The Self-Awareness Superhighway! It’s an Amazon Best Seller in.....
🥇Business Management & Leadership
🥇Occupational & Organisational Psychology
🥇Business Careers
Harvard Reference: Thomas, N.D., 2024. The Self-Awareness Superhighway: Charting Your Leadership Journey. Knowing Self Knowing Others.
