Oakleaf were delighted to welcome Deborah Lee, the highly impressive Chief HR Officer at Yoox Net-a-Porter, to our offices last night for the first Oakleaf Academy event of our new “Future Leaders Programme”, with a key topic of relationship and stakeholder management.
With over 40 attendees last night, our “Future Leaders” community is made up of HR professionals at their career mid-point, making the transition into leadership roles. In Deb’s own words: ‘it’s one of the biggest transitions to make a critical transition from being an operator to becoming a leader’. With her signature energetic, open and engaging style, Deb had some excellent words of wisdom for the group, all backed up with some highly poignant career anecdotes. She also shared a personal insight into how and why she believes she has been successful in her career to date.
Key learning points were:
1. AUTHENTICITY
Deb is a great example of a truly authentic leader: she’s unapologetic about being nothing but herself, emphasising time and again the importance of really understanding yourself, finding your own identity, what you love and hate and staying absolutely true to yourself and your values. Be bold – stand up for what you know to be right and you’ll always be able to look yourself in the mirror no matter the outcome.
2. TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WANT TO BE TREATED
Value people, value all relationships and be kind to people on your way up (and when you get there!). You never know who you are going to work for and who is going to work for you in the future or when those relationships will be needed. Treat people right and you’ll always have a network that will support and enable you. The biggest transition is from being an operator to becoming a leader – it is a critical transition.
3. PUT YOURSELF IN OTHER PEOPLES SHOES
This was one of Deb’s most important tips, this is absolutely how she’s got under the skin of her team, managers, bosses, key stakeholders and created change and success. Deb shared a model that:
HOPES: what do you want to achieve?
FEARS: what will happen if you don’t, what might go wrong? How will you overcome these?
LEGACY: what do you want to be remembered for?
Knowing the above about yourself is important, understanding the above of the stakeholders that you want to influence from your team members to your boss will give you the information you need to build a narrative and engage them with your idea.
Each person is an individual human being, treating them as such will take you a long way!
4. THE NARRATIVE & COMMUNICATION
Deb is a great raconteur and she absolutely believes that building the right narrative is absolutely critical to being able to successfully influence people. Her key tips were to be clear on the story and what you want them to remember. Find some memorable phrases/examples and use language evokes emotions.
Always have a consistent core pitch but tailor the parts to the audience (we’re back to treating people as individual drivers here). Be clear about the impact of the intervention; what do you want them to think, feel and do as a result of your conversation? Get people committed to your cause – they will be more effective in the long run than those who feel compelled.
Finally keep things simple, use straight talking language, be credible – understand and speak the language of the business.
5. NETWORKING & MENTORSHIP
Throughout her talk Deb referred to mentors and professional networks she has relied on to bounce off ideas, challenge her thinking, helping her land things, acting as her champions, keeping her informed. An avid social media user, Deb has both built her profile, but also uses this to help her to learn – reading voraciously.
6. ON BALANCING PARENTHOOD & AMBITION
As a highly successful leader and mother of two girls, many of the audience were keen to understand her tips for balancing such a successful career with motherhood:
- BE RUTHLESS: assess your time, it’s the only thing you can’t buy. Outsource everything you can!
- COME BACK (from maternity leave) WITH A BANG: you are so much more capable than you know, everyone will tell you to take a back step, take it easy etc. The best thing she ever did was get promoted on returning from maternity leave, if you come back softly you won’t know what you’re capable of.
- LOSE THE GUILT: give yourself a break!
- BE BOLD: fear holds us back
From the early feedback, it seems that everyone came away really energised, with at least one thing that resonated personally with them.
At Oakleaf, we’re passionate about supporting the development and emergence of exceptional talent in the industry and continuing to raise the bar in the profession. The Academy has four modules, each with a key developmental theme. Delegates will get the opportunity to network with talented peers as well as senior HR professionals – expanding their personal network of like-minded, ambitious HR professionals and sharing knowledge, learning and best practice across industry. Click here to find out more about future Academy events
We’re delighted to be able to announce that our next Future Leaders event will be lead by Ollie Roberts – HR Director at AB Inbev on the 12th July. It’s a hard act to follow – but we know he’ll be up for the challenge, and he is the perfect person to share some ideas on how to master Organisational DNA and complexity.
For more information, please contact naomibarton@oakleafpartnership.com