Kate Davis is a leadership coach for business founders. She believes passionately that everyone should be able to do work that makes them happy, in an environment that makes them feel valued and heard. Happy people are motivated, energised, more efficient, and more profitable. Happy people make for better, more sustainable businesses. Kate is an ICF accredited and giant certified coach. She has 20+ years experience in growing, developing and mentoring teams in high pressure operational businesses. And as an experienced corporate Change Manager. Kate, welcome to where ideas lunch.
Katherine Ann Byam
Kate, welcome to where ideas lunch.
Kate Davis 1:02
Thank you so much for having me.
Katherine Ann Byam 1:04
It's such a pleasure to host you. So Kate, I'd like to start with how did you get into leadership coaching in the first place?
Kate Davis 1:12
So I'm going to give you the abridged version because it's a bit of a long story. Apparently everybody has at least three careers in them. And I'm definitely like that cat. I'm on my ninth life, I think. So I started out as a solicitor I worked in the city and property litigation, I hated it. I love working with people. I hated being the bad guy. I hated working with people when they didn't want this thing to be happening to them. They didn't want to be changing, they didn't want to change. And so I rebelled.
I worked in live events management for nearly 20 years. I was the director of operations. And I loved being able to work in environments with people, where the idea was to actually go out there to inspire, innovate, amaze and, wow, people. And seeing teams that were under enormous pressure, a lot of the time event management, one of the most stressful jobs along with being an ambulance driver, But because people loved what they did, and because they were, they were energised and motivated by what they did. Then it was very easy to put teams together and keep them motivated, then I had two wonderful children and flying off all over the place wasn't wasn't sustainable with mum-life. So I moved into transformational change management and business architecture, again, helping people to navigate change, helping people to understand themselves and the processes that they work under better.
But I came to the conclusion that I'm not very good at working for anybody else. And I wanted to really develop this side of the mentoring and the coaching. So hence where I am now. And having seen leadership at its best and its worst over the last 30 years, it's really important for me to be able to develop people into being great leaders. So you know, as you said in the intro, enabling leaders to create environments where people feel valued and heard, and that their work is important, is really important to me.
Katherine Ann Byam 3:13
I hear that. What do you see as the biggest challenges for startups today, when it comes to moving from early stage to maturity, so I'm talking about, stepping into the shoes of the CEO,
Kate Davis 3:25
The challenges that are normally brought to people are obviously heightened at the moment, because hopefully post coming out post pandemic, the same problems are still there, but they're just, you know, the data has been turned up. So in terms of competition, especially with business founders, there are an awful lot of people who started their own business over the last couple of years. And you know, the online space is a very noisy place. There. Obviously, the global challenges, pandemics, Brexit, climate change, you know, all of those different global issues, national and global, global issues. But I also see in all of this and trying to grow a business, especially one that has grown well, where I can see people struggling is where their businesses almost outgrown them, and they're finding themselves overwhelmed. They want to be a good leader, they want to be able to grow their business, they want to be the boss that they never had, perhaps, but they find it very overwhelming. And that's where I think people like you and I are best able to step in and say, right, let's take a breath. Let's see what's important. Let's see, do we need to move things around? But also understanding that idea of self leadership and self management, so that you can be the leader that you need to be as well as the needs of everybody else needs you to be? And I'm always going to go back to how to fix it by being clear about your mission and your vision. You know, you and I are big Simon Sinek fans, understanding why you do what you do, keeping that at the core of everything you do and how you're doing what you do around that, but really staying true to the mission. And the vision, the purpose behind your businesses is definitely the way to help people to move from startup to CEO, should we say,
Katherine Ann Byam 5:09
Yeah, my podcast addresses sustainable businesses. And I think that we have an additional challenge to the normal business. And I say this in quotations, because we have three bottom lines to take care of. So we constantly have to be thinking about what we are doing to take care of the business and the people in it. So making sure that it's sustainable for us, making sure that we're relevant to the people around us in our communities, and making sure that we're fit for the planet? And what are your thoughts on ways that sustainable businesses can sort of enhance their reach and impact while balancing the sort of three things that they're juggling? It's a complicated question, I guess, but
Kate Davis 5:57
Well, it's, it's not a complicated question, your questions, there are many possible answers. I think in terms of trying to elevate your reach on your impact. Networking is incredibly important in business anyway. But I think it's even more important when you have when you are able to find people or other businesses who share common values, being able to network so that you can actually help it to support one another, you can collaborate together, that actually anything where we are effectively fighting against a common enemy at you know, we're trying to educate and, and inform, we're trying to spread that, that that wider message, whilst also running, running a business that supports that having people around you who who get that and where you can help them. And they can help you as I say, collaborations, or whether it's simply another, you know, another sounding board to go, you know, am I on the right track, am I banging my head against a brick wall, that's really important from from the business perspective, but also the business owners perspective, because it can feel very lonely doing it on your own.
The other really important thing is to get really clear on your message, being able to translate something that you feel really passionately about into language that the people you're trying to impact will understand, being able to have that, that that line of communication, where, you know, you may be talking about concepts they don't understand, but you really want them to be able to understand and you need them to buy into that message, getting that line of communication and getting that message really clear, I think is paramount
And get used to banging that drum, you know, the online and even bricks and mortar business everywhere is very busy. And we often think well, I can't keep talking about that same thing again, surely everybody's bored. No, most people are not hearing things. You know, how many times have we said that in terms of social media posts, how many times you have to post for somebody to actually be able to see it get used to banging the drum get used to keep saying the same message over and over again, you may be bored hearing yourself, but other people need to hear what you have to say.
Yeah, and I think that the same that I would say with any business customer service, making sure that the customers that you that you're bringing in feel in the same way that I'd like your employees to fill this out in the same way of being feeling valued and heard and that they understand you and you understand them. If you are delivering exceptional customer service, they will bang your drum for you, they will help to spread your message, they will help to elevate your impact.
Katherine Ann Byam 8:28
What are your top tips for growing and shaping great teams?
Kate Davis 8:32
That's a good one. Um, I think first of all, I'm going to get back to mission and mission and purpose. If your values and your mission are clear, and people are on board with that, then you are a long way down the line to building a great team. If you're operating in different directions, it doesn't matter how good everybody is at their job, if everybody is working towards the same aim that's really important. And being able to paint that picture for people. You know, as I was saying before, getting really clear on your message outwardly, it's just as important to have that message clear inward as well.
And then get really clear on what you need. We all have strengths and weaknesses. We all have natural talents and the things that are learned behaviours that do not sit very well with us. And that's absolutely fine. really understanding where you have gaps. I, for example, are not very good at being in the here and now. Give me a spreadsheet with lots of data on it and I'm really falling asleep but I know it's important so I know I need somebody on my team you can do that. Whilst I go, hey, let's go and create some stuff. Understanding where your skills and talents are, where other people's skills and talents are and so so that you're matching each other's gaps so that you've got a really strong foundation on which to build.
And being able to communicate properly with them. If you're bringing different people who have different skills and qualifications, different natural talents, they will communicate in different ways to you. Understanding yourself and how you communicate what it's like to be on the other side of you is really important. So that you can communicate properly making people feel, as I say, valued and heard, and people will therefore be able to work better with you, and be able to pull better together to be able to form a great team and a great business.
Katherine Ann Byam 10:21
Yeah, absolutely. great tips. What are the mindset shifts that a new leader of teams needs to make in order to make that transition? And that leap? Let's call it the up-level?
Kate Davis 10:33
A really good question. And again, I could go on forever, but I'm not going to, I think the key thing is, it is about self-leadership is understanding yourself, being able to see how you are as I was just saying about being able to hear what other people hear from you, being able to check in with yourself, seeing your limits, but just seeing them as not as you know, I'm failing at this. But actually, okay, that's something I need to work on. Or that's something that I'm never going to be great at, can I get somebody else to come in to support me in that area,
Understanding that you are actually a piece in the puzzle rather than it being all on you owning those feelings as well, allowing yourself to say, you know what, I've got a bit of imposter syndrome here, I can't believe I'm in this situation. And these people are now listening to me and, and looking to me for answers, call yourself up on things. Don't call yourself out. This isn't it isn't a blame thing. But call yourself up on things and recognise things, own that reaction, own the way that you're behaving. And therefore, you'll know how to respond, bringing the support in when you need to.
And making sure that you're looking at after your mental and physical health, you will be going through all sorts of changes, you'll be working hours or working in different ways that you're not expecting to making sure that you those old adages about how you can't pour from an empty cup, empty jug, and all those things are more or more important than ever, making sure that you are fit and healthy mind and body is really important to be able to lead people because they need you to be helpful and healthy,
Katherine Ann Byam 12:04
Absolutely could not agree more. What role would you hire first?
Kate Davis 12:08
Oh, that's a really good one that depends on what you need.
So you need to do that skills gap, you need to work out where your skills and strengths are.
And where you know that you're not very good at. So say, Don't ask me to look at numbers because I can't do them. And I'm totally cool with that. The first person that I would always bring in is somebody who's comfortable with the numbers because I'm not, you need to do that skills analysis, which sounds very formal, but it's basically what am I not very good at? But what do I know I need? That's where I would go first?
Katherine Ann Byam 12:43
Yeah. What about the things that you can't outsource?
Kate Davis 12:47
What are your thoughts on what those are the things that you can't outsource? I would always say, just go easy on yourself. If you know that you need to do them and you know that they're not within your zone of genius. You know, they're YouTube has an answer for everything Google has an answer for you know that there aren't the answers out there. Take it easy on yourself. If you're learning something that is not something that is in you know, within your within your natural talents, but you know, you need to do it. Just be kind to yourself, because you'll do it, you'll manage to do it. But you'll it'll take you twice as long as if you're telling yourself off about it as well.
Kate Davis 13:21
Absolutely. Kate, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your advice with us. And thanks for joining the show.
Unknown Speaker 13:29
Thanks so much. It's been lovely to talk to you.
Kate Davis 13:33
This episode was brought to you today by the Eco business growth Club by Katherine Ann Byam and by the space where ideas launch, the Eco business growth club supports positive impact SMEs with coaching new health, and community support toward achieving the impact and reach they set out to meet. You can find out more by connecting with where ideas launch on Instagram or following the hashtag where it is launched across all of your social media.