Enterprise Solutions
Director, Denise Cullen continues her road to leadership with AIB’s Women in
Enterprise ‘Growth Academy’.
As I woke up in the
morning to the most amazing sunrise, I acknowledged to myself the mix of emotions
that ran through me. There was a sense of excitement to see my fellow leaders as
well as the sense of apprehension; did I do my ‘Homework’ right? For me, this
was a big step back in time.
Our first homework task
had consisted of reading six chapters of “The
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C Maxwell. I love this book and
my only regret is that I didn’t read it 20 years ago. Another requirement was
to complete a ‘Leadership Journal’. Unsure about the task, I found it really
made me think and help me prioritise my thoughts. The final step was the ‘Leadership
Tracker’ which helped capture what we learnt in our first session.
As I walked into the
room, Joanne, Sarah-Lynn and Lorraine were there with big smiles greeting each of
us by name. The top table had a selection of fun looking things on it. A beach
ball, a game of Jenga, a few books, brightly coloured pens and post cards with
a selection of extremely inspirational quotes. Breakfast was served, and the
buzz of excitement increased as each person arrived. As we divided into groups,
Joanna kicked off our session with group discussions about our completed
Leadership Trackers.
Perception – the way in which something is regarded, understood and interpreted.
Joanna skilfully used several
props to help us all understand how we need to consider other people’s view.
People can look at the same thing and see something completely different. When
I was a child my mother often said to totally understand somebody we need to
“Walk a mile in their shoes to completely understand them and their point of view”.
For me, I found the
exercise fantastic. It clearly showed me how I need to step back and consider
the other members of my Management Teams points of view. I need to take time to
walk around the problem, view it from all the different angles, value the view
everyone has and remember how everyone see something different.
Then we moved into
understanding ourselves better. For us to be good leaders, we need to
understand ourselves first; knowing the type of person we are will help us
understand our team better. This was extremely interesting and I found myself
putting all my colleagues into the Disc Profile, it made for some interesting
reading ……..
As I left the meeting,
my mind spinning with all that I had learnt, I realised that if I could
introduce one element of what I learned at each meeting of the Growth Academy,
then Enterprise Solutions as a company would benefit hugely with a new and
improved Leader, equipped with the tools to support our team and help each of
them on their journey of personal growth.
Once again, I would
like to expend my gratitude to AIB for their amazing support and for giving
this opportunity an amazing group of ladies from all different industries
across Ireland, all with one common goal to become the best Leaders we can be.
“Great Leaders don’t set out to be a Leader …. They set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role-always about the GOAL”
