Leadership advice from Care Show Birmingham speakers

Hannah Montgomery's tips for leadership:

• Align Passion with Purpose. What are you wanting to achieve and why? This is a fundamental of business planning and is often referred to as your mission and values. I always want to work with honest people that align to the same dream, why would you want to force a square peg into a round hole? That’s no good for ANYONE, we all need to find our own clan. The best way to do this is by also being honest and letting everyone know what’s happening regularly. Good, bad or ugly – you’re all in it together, communication is key. Also, what I’ve found is that when the whole clan know how we are looking to expand and believe in the mission they actively take ‘work’ in their social life without even knowing, as it doesn’t feel like work. One of our best clients came from part of our clan having a chat at the pub on their holiday. Team work truly does make the dream work.
• Work for the Collective Good. Think back to when you first started out in the world of work. Picture having a boss that didn’t speak to you as you were too far down the food chain, rarely came into the offices and never for more than a few rushed hours and would often be seen spending vast amounts of money of bucket list holidays and many sporty cars. Would this leadership inspire you to push yourself to achieve? I see good leadership as supporting all members of your clan to grow, succeed and achieve not just their work goals, but personal dreams too. Be the change you want to see. Offer companywide incentives to achieving, be there at the same time (if not earlier than your clan) and book in regular time throughout the year to work within each department of your organisation. Just like the care delivery adage, is this what I would want for my Mom… review if your leadership style is what you would want for a younger you, your children or your family. If not, it might be worth checking yourself and giving your head a wobble!
• Show Gratitude and Celebrate Success. Never underestimate the importance of the magic words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Why do we impress this learning on children… as it’s a big deal! Being polite and using this language demonstrates a level of respect that people desire and appreciate, which helps build trust. Never use it flippantly though, as that just shows you as disingenuous and insincere. Taking gratitude one step further is then celebrating success. If you are genuinely thankful to the clan for their input and results do something to celebrate – but in a person or team centred way. So if someone has achieved a goal and they love watching films why not get them an annual cinema pass? If the company has achieved something worth celebrating instead of your standard ‘office party’ gathering why not ask the clan what they would prefer and have a company wide poll to chose between the top three suggestions? In my experience, for people to truly flourish they need to go where they are safe, appreciated and understood.