[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text content_tablet=”
Welcome to the next blog in my series about ‘everyday leaders’.
 |
Olivia is an HR specialist and currently works for Eton Bridge Partners, an international executive search and interim management business based in London.. She has a long history in HR and change management, and has held several senior positions in large corporations, include FTSE100s. |
Hi Olivia, please tell me a bit about yourself and what you do.
Most importantly, I’m a mum of three. I also help businesses hire great people in the HR function at an exec level. Both have been really important parts in my journey.
In and outside of work I try to champion the mental health agenda – for people living with mental health issues, but also the people who care for them. That’s something I feel strongly about.
And how would you define and describe leadership?
For me, leadership is about inspiring others.
I think great leaders understand that leadership is something you can create, build and hone. It’s not about status, position, tenure, pay or years of experience. It’s about care and compassion and understanding the impact you’ll make on those you come into contact with.
Do you think of yourself as a leader?
Yes. From an organisational hierarchy perspective, it would be easy to assume that I’m not, as we operate a fairly flat structure here at Eton Bridge Partners, but the approach I take in my job and the relationships I build are all about leadership.
Also, since having children I see myself in another, different leadership role. I’m influencing and having an impact on my kids, but also I’m showing the world that it’s possible to be a successful, working member of a team and be defined as a parent (and be happy and comfortable with that).
My husband takes on the bulk of the childcare. Recently, my little boy asked me, ‘do some daddies have jobs too?’ I said ‘yes’ and he asked whether it was possible to ‘be a daddy and have a job’ – because that’s what he wanted when he grew up.
I mentally fist pumped the air! I was so happy that firstly, he doesn’t see our family setup as unusual and secondly, that he’s thinking about opportunities for himself in the future. I was so pleased that we’re showing him a different way.
So, I see myself as a leader not in the typical parent-child way, but more in that I’m giving him something to aspire to.
I really love what he said! I know that you champion being a parent as well as an employee and that you’ve had a traumatic childbirth experience.
Can you talk a little about these experiences – how they’ve helped shape what you’re passionate about and how you help raise awareness of these issues?
I have twins as well as an older boy, and I ended up with PTSD after my first birth.
Until that point, I’d assumed that you get pregnant, leave work, have your child and then come back to work the same person you were before. Now I laugh at the naivety of that.
There’s the cliche that having children changes you, but I think it’s not necessarily being a parent that changes you. It’s the birthing process. I also had a miscarriage, so it was that too.
For me, those experiences brought into sharp focus the impact that what happens outside of work has on who you are at work. And what you’re physically and mentally capable of.
Once back at work after my own traumatic experience, I remember being almost paralysed with fear when thinking about others’ birthing experiences. It made me think about our expectations of not only mothers, but also fathers returning to the workplace, something I don’t think many people really consider.
We tend to assume that men just go off, hold their wives’ hands and that they should come back to work as normal. But their whole world has changed, they’ve seen something that’s made them feel completely out of control. Both my husband and I had to have counselling after the first birth.
Dads are often also massively sleep deprived. And sleep deprivation is actually a form of torture. Yet, we still expect them to get back to work.
I try to help people understand that leaving work and becoming a parent is not like going off on holiday and coming back: your life changes overnight. I think we focus on, and ask questions about the baby, and I don’t think we ask the parents enough if they’re ok.
Yes, we’ve all had this set expectation of work which has been: if you’ve got a life outside the office, well that’s your problem and you have to make it work. Although COVID has now changed the agenda slightly.
Exactly. Working from home during lockdown brought it to light. Although, I don’t call it working from home, I call it, ‘parenting at work’.
It was sometimes impossible. My kids would be desperate to get into my office and see me – my son sometimes walking in naked when I was on a client call!
Recently, I overheard the three of them playing ‘the work game’. My daughter said, ‘no, I can’t come and do that now, I’m working!’ and then she did the actions of tapping on a keyboard.
I was horrified! I thought they must always see me as working! But my husband gave me another perspective. He told me that they want to model me because it’s exciting, and he thinks that’s something for me to be proud of.
Admittedly, I’ve swung back and forth in my head about it, but I try to go with his interpretation as much as I can and not give myself a hard time!
Yes, I can imagine that must be really challenging. When it comes to leadership, what’s been your biggest challenge?
Undoubtedly running a 24/7 team of people in a city I didn’t know, doing something I didn’t know anything about.
It was reasonably early in my career and I was asked to turn around an unhappy, disengaged workforce. These people had worked at the site for 30+ years, they’d seen managers come and go and knew everything there was to know about the place.
And here I was, someone who knew absolutely nothing at all. I cried a lot in the year and a half I was there!
What was one of your takeaways from that experience?
That 99% of people who go to work do so because they want to do a good job. Some people might be misguided or not able to do a good job, but it’s rarely deliberate. To help them, they need a strong leader that listens.
I remember it was a lonely place to be. I was a young, fairly diminutive, female manager and most weren’t used to that. It was very isolating.
The most important thing I learned was that you have to figure out who you can ask for help – and ask them!
Who would you hold up as a great everyday leader and why?
Definitely Anna Whitehouse of Mother Pukka.
She’s doing absolutely everything she can to bring flexibility to the workplace in a true and meaningful way. She really pushes organisations to think about the decisions they make and why they make them – and she’s not afraid to make her voice heard.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would it be?
That everyone has the opportunity to be a leader. If I could do one thing it would be to help more people realise that.
Are there any tools or resources that you’d recommend to others?
I wouldn’t want to pull out just one because different programs work for different organisations and people.
But the best programs I’ve seen are the ones where the core elements are around communication: the importance of listening and understanding the impact you have on others.
Also, there are a lot of powerful materials on social media that help people see things differently. I recommend looking at Anna Whitehouse’s Flex Appeal campaign. I also love the video on followership featuring the dancing man!
It is a great video with a hilariously pitched, yet important message! Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share about everyday leadership?
What I came to realise after returning to work is that you can be successful on your own. However – generally – you are a better leader when you have input and you’re able to ask for help from people.
Being able to ask for help is, I think, key – but it’s something I’ve always found difficult because I equated it with failure, as opposed to opportunity and improvement.
You know the phrase, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, well, I’d argue that it takes a network to foster, build and protect a leader.
Thank you to Olivia Sharp for her leadership insights.
” content_phone=”
Welcome to the next blog in my series about ‘everyday leaders’.
Olivia is an HR specialist and currently works for Eton Bridge Partners, an international executive search and interim management business based in London.. She has a long history in HR and change management, and has held several senior positions in large corporations, include FTSE100s.
Hi Olivia, please tell me a bit about yourself and what you do.
Most importantly, I’m a mum of three. I also help businesses hire great people in the HR function at an exec level. Both have been really important parts in my journey.
In and outside of work I try to champion the mental health agenda – for people living with mental health issues, but also the people who care for them. That’s something I feel strongly about.
And how would you define and describe leadership?
For me, leadership is about inspiring others.
I think great leaders understand that leadership is something you can create, build and hone. It’s not about status, position, tenure, pay or years of experience. It’s about care and compassion and understanding the impact you’ll make on those you come into contact with.
Do you think of yourself as a leader?
Yes. From an organisational hierarchy perspective, it would be easy to assume that I’m not, as we operate a fairly flat structure here at Eton Bridge Partners, but the approach I take in my job and the relationships I build are all about leadership.
Also, since having children I see myself in another, different leadership role. I’m influencing and having an impact on my kids, but also I’m showing the world that it’s possible to be a successful, working member of a team and be defined as a parent (and be happy and comfortable with that).
My husband takes on the bulk of the childcare. Recently, my little boy asked me, ‘do some daddies have jobs too?’ I said ‘yes’ and he asked whether it was possible to ‘be a daddy and have a job’ – because that’s what he wanted when he grew up.
I mentally fist pumped the air! I was so happy that firstly, he doesn’t see our family setup as unusual and secondly, that he’s thinking about opportunities for himself in the future. I was so pleased that we’re showing him a different way.
So, I see myself as a leader not in the typical parent-child way, but more in that I’m giving him something to aspire to.
I really love what he said! I know that you champion being a parent as well as an employee and that you’ve had a traumatic childbirth experience.
Can you talk a little about these experiences – how they’ve helped shape what you’re passionate about and how you help raise awareness of these issues?
I have twins as well as an older boy, and I ended up with PTSD after my first birth.
Until that point, I’d assumed that you get pregnant, leave work, have your child and then come back to work the same person you were before. Now I laugh at the naivety of that.
There’s the cliche that having children changes you, but I think it’s not necessarily being a parent that changes you. It’s the birthing process. I also had a miscarriage, so it was that too.
For me, those experiences brought into sharp focus the impact that what happens outside of work has on who you are at work. And what you’re physically and mentally capable of.
Once back at work after my own traumatic experience, I remember being almost paralysed with fear when thinking about others’ birthing experiences. It made me think about our expectations of not only mothers, but also fathers returning to the workplace, something I don’t think many people really consider.
We tend to assume that men just go off, hold their wives’ hands and that they should come back to work as normal. But their whole world has changed, they’ve seen something that’s made them feel completely out of control. Both my husband and I had to have counselling after the first birth.
Dads are often also massively sleep deprived. And sleep deprivation is actually a form of torture. Yet, we still expect them to get back to work.
I try to help people understand that leaving work and becoming a parent is not like going off on holiday and coming back: your life changes overnight. I think we focus on, and ask questions about the baby, and I don’t think we ask the parents enough if they’re ok.
Yes, we’ve all had this set expectation of work which has been: if you’ve got a life outside the office, well that’s your problem and you have to make it work. Although COVID has now changed the agenda slightly.
Exactly. Working from home during lockdown brought it to light. Although, I don’t call it working from home, I call it, ‘parenting at work’.
It was sometimes impossible. My kids would be desperate to get into my office and see me – my son sometimes walking in naked when I was on a client call!
Recently, I overheard the three of them playing ‘the work game’. My daughter said, ‘no, I can’t come and do that now, I’m working!’ and then she did the actions of tapping on a keyboard.
I was horrified! I thought they must always see me as working! But my husband gave me another perspective. He told me that they want to model me because it’s exciting, and he thinks that’s something for me to be proud of.
Admittedly, I’ve swung back and forth in my head about it, but I try to go with his interpretation as much as I can and not give myself a hard time!
Yes, I can imagine that must be really challenging. When it comes to leadership, what’s been your biggest challenge?
Undoubtedly running a 24/7 team of people in a city I didn’t know, doing something I didn’t know anything about.
It was reasonably early in my career and I was asked to turn around an unhappy, disengaged workforce. These people had worked at the site for 30+ years, they’d seen managers come and go and knew everything there was to know about the place.
And here I was, someone who knew absolutely nothing at all. I cried a lot in the year and a half I was there!
What was one of your takeaways from that experience?
That 99% of people who go to work do so because they want to do a good job. Some people might be misguided or not able to do a good job, but it’s rarely deliberate. To help them, they need a strong leader that listens.
I remember it was a lonely place to be. I was a young, fairly diminutive, female manager and most weren’t used to that. It was very isolating.
The most important thing I learned was that you have to figure out who you can ask for help – and ask them!
Who would you hold up as a great everyday leader and why?
Definitely Anna Whitehouse of Mother Pukka.
She’s doing absolutely everything she can to bring flexibility to the workplace in a true and meaningful way. She really pushes organisations to think about the decisions they make and why they make them – and she’s not afraid to make her voice heard.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would it be?
That everyone has the opportunity to be a leader. If I could do one thing it would be to help more people realise that.
Are there any tools or resources that you’d recommend to others?
I wouldn’t want to pull out just one because different programs work for different organisations and people.
But the best programs I’ve seen are the ones where the core elements are around communication: the importance of listening and understanding the impact you have on others.
Also, there are a lot of powerful materials on social media that help people see things differently. I recommend looking at Anna Whitehouse’s Flex Appeal campaign. I also love the video on followership featuring the dancing man!
It is a great video with a hilariously pitched, yet important message! Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share about everyday leadership?
What I came to realise after returning to work is that you can be successful on your own. However – generally – you are a better leader when you have input and you’re able to ask for help from people.
Being able to ask for help is, I think, key – but it’s something I’ve always found difficult because I equated it with failure, as opposed to opportunity and improvement.
You know the phrase, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, well, I’d argue that it takes a network to foster, build and protect a leader.
Thank you to Olivia Sharp for her leadership insights.
” content_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ link_text_color=”#009FE3″ background_color=”#FFFFFF” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]
Welcome to the next blog in my series about ‘everyday leaders’.
Hi Olivia, please tell me a bit about yourself and what you do.
Most importantly, I’m a mum of three. I also help businesses hire great people in the HR function at an exec level. Both have been really important parts in my journey.
In and outside of work I try to champion the mental health agenda – for people living with mental health issues, but also the people who care for them. That’s something I feel strongly about.
And how would you define and describe leadership?
For me, leadership is about inspiring others.
I think great leaders understand that leadership is something you can create, build and hone. It’s not about status, position, tenure, pay or years of experience. It’s about care and compassion and understanding the impact you’ll make on those you come into contact with.
Do you think of yourself as a leader?
Yes. From an organisational hierarchy perspective, it would be easy to assume that I’m not, as we operate a fairly flat structure here at Eton Bridge Partners, but the approach I take in my job and the relationships I build are all about leadership.
Also, since having children I see myself in another, different leadership role. I’m influencing and having an impact on my kids, but also I’m showing the world that it’s possible to be a successful, working member of a team and be defined as a parent (and be happy and comfortable with that).
My husband takes on the bulk of the childcare. Recently, my little boy asked me, ‘do some daddies have jobs too?’ I said ‘yes’ and he asked whether it was possible to ‘be a daddy and have a job’ – because that’s what he wanted when he grew up. I mentally fist pumped the air! I was so happy that firstly, he doesn’t see our family setup as unusual and secondly, that he’s thinking about opportunities for himself in the future. I was so pleased that we’re showing him a different way.
So, I see myself as a leader not in the typical parent-child way, but more in that I’m giving him something to aspire to.
I really love what he said! I know that you champion being a parent as well as an employee and that you’ve had a traumatic childbirth experience. Can you talk a little about these experiences – how they’ve helped shape what you’re passionate about and how you help raise awareness of these issues?
I have twins as well as an older boy, and I ended up with PTSD after my first birth. Until that point, I’d assumed that you get pregnant, leave work, have your child and then come back to work the same person you were before. Now I laugh at the naivety of that.
There’s the cliche that having children changes you, but I think it’s not necessarily being a parent that changes you. It’s the birthing process. I also had a miscarriage, so it was that too. For me, those experiences brought into sharp focus the impact that what happens outside of work has on who you are at work. And what you’re physically and mentally capable of.
Once back at work after my own traumatic experience, I remember being almost paralysed with fear when thinking about others’ birthing experiences. It made me think about our expectations of not only mothers, but also fathers returning to the workplace, something I don’t think many people really consider. We tend to assume that men just go off, hold their wives’ hands and that they should come back to work as normal. But their whole world has changed, they’ve seen something that’s made them feel completely out of control. Both my husband and I had to have counselling after the first birth.
Dads are often also massively sleep deprived. And sleep deprivation is actually a form of torture. Yet, we still expect them to get back to work.
I try to help people understand that leaving work and becoming a parent is not like going off on holiday and coming back: your life changes overnight. I think we focus on, and ask questions about the baby, and I don’t think we ask the parents enough if they’re ok.
Yes, we’ve all had this set expectation of work which has been: if you’ve got a life outside the office, well that’s your problem and you have to make it work. Although COVID has now changed the agenda slightly.
Exactly. Working from home during lockdown brought it to light. Although, I don’t call it working from home, I call it, ‘parenting at work’. It was sometimes impossible. My kids would be desperate to get into my office and see me – my son sometimes walking in naked when I was on a client call!
Recently, I overheard the three of them playing ‘the work game’. My daughter said, ‘no, I can’t come and do that now, I’m working!’ and then she did the actions of tapping on a keyboard. I was horrified! I thought they must always see me as working! But my husband gave me another perspective. He told me that they want to model me because it’s exciting, and he thinks that’s something for me to be proud of.
Admittedly, I’ve swung back and forth in my head about it, but I try to go with his interpretation as much as I can and not give myself a hard time!
Yes, I can imagine that must be really challenging. When it comes to leadership, what’s been your biggest challenge?
Undoubtedly running a 24/7 team of people in a city I didn’t know, doing something I didn’t know anything about.
It was reasonably early in my career and I was asked to turn around an unhappy, disengaged workforce. These people had worked at the site for 30+ years, they’d seen managers come and go and knew everything there was to know about the place.
And here I was, someone who knew absolutely nothing at all. I cried a lot in the year and a half I was there!
What was one of your takeaways from that experience?
That 99% of people who go to work do so because they want to do a good job. Some people might be misguided or not able to do a good job, but it’s rarely deliberate. To help them, they need a strong leader that listens.
I remember it was a lonely place to be. I was a young, fairly diminutive, female manager and most weren’t used to that. It was very isolating.
The most important thing I learned was that you have to figure out who you can ask for help – and ask them!
Who would you hold up as a great everyday leader and why?
Definitely Anna Whitehouse of Mother Pukka.
She’s doing absolutely everything she can to bring flexibility to the workplace in a true and meaningful way. She really pushes organisations to think about the decisions they make and why they make them – and she’s not afraid to make her voice heard.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would it be?
That everyone has the opportunity to be a leader. If I could do one thing it would be to help more people realise that.
Are there any tools or resources that you’d recommend to others?
I wouldn’t want to pull out just one because different programs work for different organisations and people.
But the best programs I’ve seen are the ones where the core elements are around communication: the importance of listening and understanding the impact you have on others.
Also, there are a lot of powerful materials on social media that help people see things differently. I recommend looking at Anna Whitehouse’s Flex Appeal campaign. I also love the video on followership featuring the dancing man!
It is a great video with a hilariously pitched, yet important message! Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share about everyday leadership?
What I came to realise after returning to work is that you can be successful on your own. However – generally – you are a better leader when you have input and you’re able to ask for help from people.
Being able to ask for help is, I think, key – but it’s something I’ve always found difficult because I equated it with failure, as opposed to opportunity and improvement.
You know the phrase, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, well, I’d argue that it takes a network to foster, build and protect a leader.
Thank you to Olivia Sharp for her leadership insights.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]