Manchester/London – November 10th 2020: Informed Solutions Group CEO, Elizabeth Vega OBE today features on the Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland podcast series on leadership.
The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland interviews leaders from across the nations to better understand and profile traditional and novel leadership thinking on the issues affecting society, the environment and the economy today. Through its influential podcast series, the Council charts the challenges, pitfalls and successes of leadership in the twenty-first century.
In this episode and appearing alongside Leaders Council Chairman, Lord David Blunkett, Elizabeth Vega, who leads an international digital transformation practice, gives her thoughts on leadership and describes the role that different styles have played in navigating through stability and through incredibly unsettling times.
It was unimaginable just 12 months ago that leaders would be confronted by the hugely challenging confluence of a global pandemic and associated economic turmoil, as well as the imminent transition from the European Union.
Elizabeth Comments: “As a leader working in the digital services industry, I’ve learnt to adapt my leadership style depending on the particular circumstance I’m faced with. Right now, no one can deny that we are in a really challenging time; not only for our economy and society as a whole, but for the health, wellbeing and development of our people, future leaders and businesses.
“I believe no one single leadership style will be enough to see us through what lies ahead. As a leader, I need to be adaptive and flexible to changing circumstances and therefore, rather like an all-terrain vehicle, I adopt the most appropriate of three different styles:
“Leading from the front – Probably the closest to what is considered a traditional leadership style, I leverage my practical executive experience and skills whilst ensuring that I emphasise a shared sense of purpose and the need to be supportive and compassionate with each other when we all are all doing the best we can under extraordinary circumstances.
“Leading side-by-side – Once the initial shock of the crisis is over and we need to move to executing our response plans, my aim is to harness the power of the collective intelligence of our people and encourage them to be personally invested in our future. I find the best leadership style here is to work beside our people to facilitate and guide collaboration, shared problem solving and shared decision making.
Leading from the back – This style allows me to empower our people, create sustainable change, and create a separate space for our future leaders to step forward. By adopting a leadership style where I step back and adopt a non-intrusive oversight role, I find that future leaders have the space and confidence to step forward and teams develop a greater sense of empowerment, belief, trust and confidence in the impact they can make in their jobs and to our company’s future.
Leaders Council podcast host, Scott Challinor commented: “Hosting a show like this, where you speak to genuine leaders who have been there and done it, either on a national stage or within a crucial industry sector, is an absolute honour.”
Lord Blunkett, chairman of The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland said: ”‘I think the most informative element of each episode is the first part, where Scott Challinor is able to sit down with someone who really gets how their industry works and knows how to make their organisation tick. Someone who’s there day in day out working hard and inspiring others. That’s what leadership is all about.”
You can listen to the podcast in full here: https://youtu.be/awoz0IBbaI4 / https://open.spotify.com/episode/5U5VbtF9eSZAJ75Ya147cE?si=Qzk9QuQgRkCEEEmi9oZ9bQ
You can also discover more about Elizabeth Vega here: http://www.leaderscouncil.co.uk/members/elizabeth-vega
