In my job as MD of The Diversity & Innovation Company I have learned “more in a day” than the rest of my career as I road test Experience Days with our charity suppliers. Here are some great examples of authentic leadership attributes:
Power of storytelling – the kids at a north London school who sat in total silence as LGBT role models told their life stories at a Diversity Role models workshop. Honesty, openness and vulnerability can win people over. This particular session had extra teachers to police, as the class was regarded as disruptive.
Sophisticated team work – I saw the most sophisticated teamwork of my whole career when I observed the team at Autism Care UK caring for residents with Autism and Asperger Syndrome – totally unspoken, but in complete harmony through eye contact, body language etc.
Impactful change management – I was really challenged in my assumptions about how far you should go to implement effective change when I saw how far the care team at Autism Care UK go to prepare individuals with Autism for the simplest of changes in daily life.
Honesty and openness of a Depression Support group discussion at the CornerHouse mental health support charity, and their shocking stories of poor treatment by their employers.
Persistence and resilience at Beds Garden Carers charity, supporting individuals with Learning Disabilities. A breakthrough can take a week or a year but they do not give up, and they tackle a challenge from every conceivable angle, with some completely “wacky and absolutely out of the box” ideas.
Adaptability – again at Beds garden Carers. I had to really think on my feet, and apply judgement whilst dynamically assessing risk – it is really challenging to manage conversations with someone with a Learning Disability who thinks in a very different way to you.
Every situation can be turned around – the stories of pupils who have been excluded from school and then engage 100% in the SATRO charity’s mobile classroom where they learn practical woodwork and plumbing skills, and gain the first qualification of their career.
Everyone has something to offer – the interview practice sessions run by the Working Chance charity for female offenders, where they have to sell themselves as a potential employee whilst disclosing their criminal conviction. They had all turned their lives around, and were able to demonstrate they had learned from their mistakes, and have something useful to offer an employer.
The qualities of a good employee – the CRI charity assists recovering drug addicts. The typical drug addict has to drag themselves out of bed when they feel like death (literally), and then commit crime in a very creative way to earn for their next fix. How useful could these attributes of the former drug addict (persistence, resilience, creativity and innovation) be to an employer when they are re-oriented in the right direction?
These experiences really do make you think about yourself and others!
