It’s Not Just About Skills—It’s How You Think. #DevelopingLeadershipSkills
Dr. Natalie shares how leaders develop beyond technical skills through listening, empowering others, and learning from mistakes. She recounts firing an employee early in her career and explains how that shaped her approach to stakeholder management, humility, and setting organizational culture.
Chapters
Foreign. Hi, I'm Dr. Natalie and today we're talking about developing your leadership skills. So when you put yourself in the mindset of a business owner, you have to engage with different groups and different stakeholders all the time. And you are the leader as the business owner, so that responsibility falls with you. I think there's a lot about communication and how you interact, how you engage. That's the biggest piece. Because how you give information and how you collect information is what is going to lead the way to how you're able to grow your business, how you're going to interact with your different stakeholders. I think as a leader, one of the most important things I learned early on was firstly leading by example. You can't tell people to do something that you're not willing to do. And I think it's also like how you train children. You can tell them something, but if they see you doing the opposite thing, they're going to do that. So you really have to hold yourself to a good standard. And you can see it across all companies, the culture of like the CEO or the MD or the chairman or the owner of the business, how they are, how they carry themselves, the energy they bring to the workplace, that's what now perpetuates. In Simba Group, we can see over the last 30 years with so many hundreds of people, our company culture still stems from our chairman. His values, his behaviors, the way he interacts. That's still how we carry ourselves in all our different offices, in the different shops, in the different farms, in the different communities. Because that's our company culture. And I think that's set by the leader. If you come to work late every day, you really can't complain when the staff are also not there. If you never send things on time, then that's the culture that's going to be in your company. Yeah, as we do things anyhow, it comes, it goes, there's no real structure or if you're the opposite and you're someone who is very punctual, who believes in deadlines, who has meetings at the same time, at the same. Every Friday at this time, there's a meeting. That's the culture that now everyone will absorb and everyone will get used to. You can see like corporate companies and how on casual Friday, the attitude and the energy changes in the office because now everything is different. So these small things make a difference. And I think as a leader, you have to be intentional about setting that example and setting that standard so that one, your team respects you so that they listen to you. And they are part of the process. And they have buy in, they believe, but also so that that sets the culture, because it might start as just you and one person in the shop and then it's five people, then it's 10 people, and one day you have 20 shops and they're all going to be behaving the way you set the culture. So it's important that you lead by example. I think another thing would also be to speak last. I think I read that in Nelson Mandela's book, Leaders Speak Last, because you want to give your team the opportunity to also grow, to be innovative, to feel comfortable, to speak up to you. And it's how you empower people as well. When you are a leader, and it's clear whenever you walk into a room, whatever you say is going to be the final thing. And you don't want to disempower people where they feel like they come to every meeting with all their ideas. But you're only going to do what you think is best and you're the only dominating the whole conversation. So if there's a challenge, if there's an opportunity, if you're getting feedback, if it's an update, make sure that you give people the opportunity to speak and they feel comfortable and they feel safe. So you're not shutting them down or chastising them or criticizing their ideas. Let them continue to have that flow and then at the end you can come to a conclusion who you agree with or what you support or have your questions. Because I feel like that fosters a better environment. And because as one person, you can't do everything. No matter how small your business is, you still need community, you need your stakeholders, you need your team, you need your customers, you need whoever is giving you a license. You need to know your landlords, you need to be involved with other people. And if you're constantly dominating and pushing your idea and pushing what you want, it's very difficult to make that space for listening, to hear what someone is really saying. And that's a very important skill as a leader, to be able to read people's body language, to understand what's going on, to read between the lines of what they're really saying, to judge and assess what's motivating this person. How much can I push? How much can I negotiate? So I think it's a thing to be intentional about, because leaders and entrepreneurs tend to be very pushy, very ambitious, very driven. So you're used to dominating stuff. You have that type of personality. So I think it takes a bit of effort to sort of rein it in and make sure that you are listening as much as you are speaking. At least, you know, they say we have two ears and one mouth because you're supposed to listen twice as much as you talk. But I think in the leadership field, that's a very big challenge to find people like that. So I think trying to incorporate these principles as you deal with people, because a lot of leadership propositions also, it's not that you're just promoted or you're hired. Sometimes it's your own business, sometimes you're younger than your team, or you speak a different language, or you come from a different background, or you have a different community. And it's important that you are able to collect the energy of the room and set the standard, set the tone. Because at the end of the day, it's your responsibility as a leader. Everything is your fault. And when things go well, you're not supposed to take the credit. You have to say, the team did a fantastic job. So you have to get used to being in that mindset where every problem is your problem. No one is going to come and solve it for you. There's no one to run to about it. And whenever something good happens, you have to acknowledge and praise those who are part of it, because it's true, nothing can be done just by you. And that attitude of humility will take you very far as a leader. So it's important that you learn how to deal with the different groups and the different stakeholders and overcome those obstacles. And it takes time and it takes practice. A lot of these things. It's easy to listen to the theory and understand, but then I hope it comes up in your real life, and those are the moments that you change your patterns, change your behaviors. The first time I had to fire someone, I think I was like 23, and they refused. They just said no and had, like a whole tantrum for me and went straight to the chairman to complain that I've tried to fire them. Of course, I had my reasons. I had gone through the process, HR policies, warning letters, everything. So I had my case. But it was a shock to me. The person was a lot older than me, and I think they were also insulted that this young girl is the one doing this and is the one given this authority. And I think what I learned from that is the way I went about it was wrong. Just because I have a title doesn't make me a leader. Just because I sit in this office or I have this desk or I Have this position doesn't mean people are going to respect what I'm saying or doing or listen to me at all. And it made me realize I have to change my style of what I'm doing. I can't just show up every day and give instructions. That's not leadership. So I think learning these things as you go helps you improve your judgment, but also you can learn these things faster. I'm not the first to do it. You will not be the first to do it. You can read a book, you can watch a video, you can ask a mentor. And then when the thing is happening, instead of going to your normal way of handling things, you pause and say, hmm, this is one of those opportunities. Let me do it in a different way. How can I be more inclusive in this conversation? How can I make sure that I've heard what the person is really trying to tell me? How can I make sure that my message is also being taken seriously on that side? What are my actions and behaviors and the way that I'm carrying myself that is going to make sure that this company moves forward. It's not about you. It's about putting that ego and managing it and putting the company first. What's in the best interest of our organization? Do I need to sit through this four hour meeting with the KCCA guy and smile nicely because he's the one going to give me approval or not? Yes. It's not just about, I want this, I want it now. And I know I'm right and this is how it has to be done. You have to be able to listen, to understand and to hear people out so that your judgment in the situation improves. Once you start to do these small tweaks along the way, then your leadership ability and your skills continue to grow and hopefully that helps your business to grow.
