Have you ever found out that something you were doing to help was actually getting in the way? You had good intent, and knew exactly what you were trying to do for your team. Then someone told you, in much kinder words, to get out of the way.

This episode is about the gap between what you intend and what people actually experience (and, what to do when you find one of those gaps in your own leadership). Celena Harry and I get into how to go looking for that feedback without making a production of it, why the best work a leader does is often the work nobody sees, and what it takes to stop telling yourself the worst version of the story.

You’ll learn:

• Why your intent matters far less than your impact, and how to tell the difference
• Three questions that close the gap between the impact you want and the impact you are actually having
• How to ask for feedback in a way that gets you something useful back
• Why the best work a leader does is often invisible, and how to get comfortable with that
• How perfectionism shows up as an inner critic, and what it costs the people around you
• How to work out whose opinion genuinely matters to you

Celena Harry is Chief People Officer at Ando Insurance and previously held the same role at Mitre 10. She has spent more than two decades helping organisations grow through great leadership, strong culture, and a healthy dose of pragmatism.

Away from work, Celena is a mum of two and stepmum of three talented young adults, and cat mum to a feline who has very clear views on household leadership. Proud to hail from West Auckland, she’s built her career on keeping things practical, people-focused, and refreshingly free of corporate jargon.

Whether she’s talking leadership, culture transformation, or what it takes to create a fantastic workplace, Celena believes the best conversations are honest, human and grounded in real life. And if those conversations happen to be accompanied by a 90s rock soundtrack, even better.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:22) - The feedback that changed how she leads

(03:48) - What getting in the way actually looked like

(05:17) - Handing over the stage, and what happened next

(07:00) - Wind beneath my wings: the work nobody needs to know you did

(09:34) - Why people are led by their leader, not by HR

(11:59) - Getting braver, and what changed when she went contracting

(15:38) - What Playcentre taught her about the human condition

(17:57) - Separation, redundancy and Dare to Lead in 2020

(20:37) - How to catch the story you are telling yourself

(22:57) - Dual awareness, and finding language for your own state

(28:25) - Perfectionism, and who is actually in your arena

(33:53) - Leading for impact when your impact is indirect

(36:54) - The three questions that close the intent and impact gap

(38:48) - A practical way to find out how you are landing

(42:13) - Gloriously, beautifully messy humans

(45:21) - Reflections

You can find Celena at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celenaharry/

Check out my services and offerings https://www.digbyscott.com/

Subscribe to my newsletter https://www.digbyscott.com/subscribe

Follow me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/digbyscott/