Siobhan Patten

General manager, health sector

Whilst sharing a lift to a meeting with a trusted colleague recently, we were discussing the concept of good leadership. ‘I consider you to be the Ronseal Woman’, he said to me.

I should have asked him what he meant by that but instead, in odd moments over the forthcoming weeks, spent quite an amount of time cogitating, ruminating and generally over-thinking the meaning of his comment.

My inner-neurotic, generally well-managed, ran free, and when my colleague and I met again a couple of weeks later, I was compelled to ask him what he meant. Ronseal Woman….Boring? Mass-produced? Conformist?

His response was none of those. It was, he said, a compliment. It meant for him, that I was clear in my business interactions, and that I always delivered exactly what I had said I would. Phew! That’s ok then.

My inner-neurotic can sleep peacefully. But that’s the thing about feedback – you have to be able to take the salient messages out of it and not second guess everything.

And there is a lot of feedback in the Potentialife programme. With the VIA test, a rating of 24 personal characteristics, my eye was immediately drawn to the end of the list, to the things I am less good at.

Is this an Irish thing, a gender thing or simply a human nature thing? Because this is a programme based on positive psychology, I don’t feel the need to share my ‘less strong characteristics’ with the world, though in the same vein, it doesn’t come naturally to share my ‘top 5’. Suffice to say, there were no surprises there.

Bravery

I was glad to see bravery as an item on the list, but challenged to see my rating as thirteenth out of twenty four. When I look at the leaders in my organisation that inspire me, bravery is a characteristic that they possess in abundance.

They ask difficult questions, they are not afraid to have difficult conversations and they challenge the status quo. So even though it’s not in my ‘Top 5’ it’s one that I plan on doing more of.

Due to the nature of my job, I have audited, participated in and developed leadership programmes at all levels, from supervisory management to executive leadership programmes. So I consider myself to be a reasonable judge of quality in this arena.

And I must say that I’m really enjoying the on-line modules. There’s a good blend of theoretical input, personalised feedback and practical exercises. I also like the research references and mini-case studies.

The beauty of this programme is that it comes in discrete but inter-linked one-hour modules, manageable for most, even those with hectic schedules. Because of the on-line delivery, it is flexible enough that even those who travel frequently with their jobs can still stick with the programme.

But as with all leadership development programmes, it’s the implementation of learning that is paramount – what changes does one make given the significant feedback one receives?

My current challenge it to operate more in my Peak Performance Zone, and I am beginning two significant change projects that will provide ample opportunity to practice working strategically and building capacity in others. Oh yes, and be braver. Watch out world.