8 Leadership Lessons Learnt from the ESCP LGBT+ Leadership Programme

In May I was fortunate enough to have taken part in Europe’s leading LGBT+ Leadership Programme run by ESCP Business School in Berlin!?

I had the best time during the week learning from world class trainers and an amazing cohort of LGBT+ leaders and allies. I have put together a LinkedIn article summarising some of the key leadership lessons that I learnt from the programme in case this is of interest and use to anyone in my network.

1) Knowing yourself and understanding personality differences

One of the most game changing things that I learnt from the ESCP LGBT+ Leadership Programme was around the importance of personality differences. We explored this topic through a number of ways.

We spent a number of sessions going through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The cohort had to do the official test online before the programme started and we got our results during the program.?

The four categories of the MBTI are:

1. Introversion/extraversion
2. Sensing/intuition
3. Thinking/feeling
4. Judging/perceiving.

During the sessions on MBTI we learnt a lot about each component and then went into breakout groups for every personality trait that we exhibited where we discussed in groups 1) strengths about this trait 2) weaknesses about this trait 3) what we like in people with the opposite trait 4) what we don’t like about people with the opposite trait.

We did this for each 4 personality traits and were then asked to write down what we think our MBTI is on the back of our reflections and discussions. We were then given our results from the test we did before the programme stared, but told that actually it is the MBTI that we came up with which we feel we are which is probably the most accurate and relevant one for us to use, as we know ourselves better than a test does.?

I found it fascinating to see how much in common I had with cohort members in my different breakout groups and how much different I was from others in the opposite breakout rooms. The exercise and discussions humbled me to how everyone is so different, in terms of how they get energy, their priorities, their goals etc. and how all of this is valid and legitimate to each person and one’s personality type isn’t better or more aspirational than another. In every breakout session we had there was always a long list of challenges with our own traits and also lots of items about what we admired from other people with different traits.?

Here is a shorter and free version of the MBTI in case you want to check it out.

During the programme there were quite a few exercises where we had to give feedback in small groups or as a wider cohort on each other for example highlighting what we like and admire about one another, or giving feedback on what we think others strengths, values and key attributes are. This was a really eye opening, positive and useful exercise where got to learn more about how others see us and think more about the strengths and qualities that other people admire us for, which we can leverage using in the future.?

2 other important personality traits we all have in different quantities are:

• Low curiosity / high curiosity?
• Low want of power / high want of power?

For example one person may be highly curious and want to really get their teeth into the research, reading, writing etc. before they implement a plan, whilst someone with low curiosity may want to specialise in 1 topic and focus more on implementing the plan. Each approach is valid and legitimate and can land well however it’s useful to realise how these 2 different styles could, if not interrogated, lead to frustration and conflict if these 2 individuals were working together in a pair or team.

2) The importance of relatedness and creating personas for your stakeholders

During the programme, we spoke about the importance of relatedness i.e. when it comes to people and things, we tend to remember the personal stuff and similar stuff between us and in a business context this is how we often make decisions.

One challenge many of us mentioned about being LGBT+ leaders and driving LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace is having to convince the decision makers in our workplace why this is important or significant. This can be challenging if we don’t have much in common with them in terms of lived experiences and interests. Research shows it takes around 1/10th of a second to make an impression of someone. When meeting someone the first things we notice about them and judge them are on their external visibility and then what we can find out abut them easily. ?

One of the exercises and sessions I found most helpful was around stakeholder management. As a cohort we discussed putting together personas for the different stakeholders we interact with and want to win over for our work and initiatives. Personas include things like: name, age, gender, their situation, goals, and for the purpose of our course, their views and thoughts on LGBT+ inclusion. I found this exercise helpful and humbling to realise how much work everyone has going on for them and it helped me to start seeing my specific stakeholders as fully fleshed human beings with wants, desired, loyalties and fears and was useful in helping me think about how to build relationships with them more successfully and work better with them. We spoke a lot about empathy and understanding your stakeholders, people you don’t always get along with in the workplace etc and try to put yourselves in their shoes, in order to have better working relationships and outcomes in the workplace.?

3) General leadership good practice

We spoke about in order to be a leader you need to have followers. There is a joke that you are a lone nut before you have any followers but then when you do have followers you are then a leader. The purpose of leadership is to inspire, motivate and make things happen. We used the metaphor of a guide escorting a group of travellers and said that a leader is responsible for guiding and making plans and being part of the journey.

Research shows that the best way to advance your career is through being given and doing stretch assignments. This is where existing managers give high potential managers a job in which they are a maximum of 60-70% qualified for.

There is a strong link between leadership and entrepreneurship i.e. leaders, like entrepreneurs, identify peoples’ needs and find a way to give them a solution they will like and engage with. Henry Ford famously said if you asked someone in the past what invention would they want to go faster they would say a faster horse not a car which they wouldn't have thought of by then. It’s up to the leader and entrepreneur to come up with an innovative solution that will be popular and land well. In addition to this, entrepreneurship and leadership both rely heavily on courage i..e dealing with uncertainty.?

We spoke about 2 types of courage

1. Careful courage e.g. not sending an email to someone when you’re angry, but calming down and dealing with the situation more appropriately afterwards
2. Bold courage e.g. speaking to HR managers to flag up a challenge and complain about something

Everyone is different and some people in our group preferred and leveraged careful courage, whilst others preferred and displayed bold courage. It was useful for me personally to see the 2 types of courage since it allowed me to reflect on my own style (careful courage) and work on getting more comfortable showing bold courage in situations moving forward.

4) LGBT+ specific leadership good practice

Traditional diversity management stems from the conflict management field and tries to manage the question of what happens when different people come together and how do you manage this conflict, so interestingly this approach already starts from and leads from a negative viewing, as opposed to a more positive empowering view.?

We learnt about how LGBT+ Leadership is a really new topic to be studied. For example, there was a big focus on women leadership in business from the 1970s but for LGBT+ leadership this only started being looked at from 2010, meaning there is a lot we are still learning and exciting opportunities to grow this field.

When it comes to being an LGBT+ leader we discussed how there are different types of LGBT+ leaders; this includes:

1. LGBT+ leaders who appeal directly to the LGBT+ community, for example, Marsha P Johnson.?
2. LGBT+ leaders who appeal to everybody and focus on inclusion beyond the LGBT+ community, for example, Megan Rapinoe.?

Even within LGBT+ leadership we discussed how there is not just 1 homogeneous style of LGBT+ leadership but we broke this down into 2 main approaches.

1. LGBT+ traditional leadership whereby LGBT+ professionals become business leaders in a traditional sense within a traditional workplace / organisation structure.
2. More radical queer community activism which operates outside traditional approaches where queer leaders want to radically change the system.?

What research is showing us at the moment is that if you look at the top 15 most popular occupations that LGBT+ people work in these all tend to be characterised by high degrees of task independence and social receptiveness or both.?

We spoke about as LGBT+ leaders we are often juggling our day jobs and our gay jobs (i.e. our side hustle, LGBT+ initiative etc.) and often dealing with lots of workload, push back and sometimes prejudice and discrimination. This can take a toll on our mental health. As a result we spoke about how important it is to focus on our self care, for example, taking time out over the weekend to do a bike ride, long walk, photography etc. or whatever makes us relax, switch off and feel good. Other approaches including writing about your experiences and forming groups and communities.?

5) Acknowledging challenges with other LGBT+ people?

As a group we also spoke about how one of the biggest barriers and challenges when being an LGBT+ leader can be other LGBT+ people.?

An example of this is the Queen Bee syndrome where high ranking LGBT+ employees and leaders intimidates and excludes their LGBT+ subordinates, often leading to a hostile and uncomfortable work environment. In an entrepreneurial context there are lots of LGBT+ diversity and inclusion organisations doing admirable but similar work who rarely even collaborate for the greater good of the community, but instead focus on their personal and business brands, organisational success and actively disregard or step on each other’s toes. In the context of Race rights in America, when Martin Luther King Junior was fighting for Black rights in America, there were other black organisations and causes who were criticising him and his movement, and in doing so not helping the big picture of race equality in America.?

One thing we discussed as a cohort is that there is no real thing as an LGBT+ community, especially as of late. The term LGBT+ community encapsulates millions of people from all genders, races, classes, ways of thinking etc. and it’s too big of a term to refer to a community who think the same and want the same things. This makes it difficult and frustrating when you have visible LGBT+ leaders who claim to speak for the LGBT+ community, when then don’t really support some of the most marginalised LGBT+ folks, such as those from lower socio economic backgrounds, who are trans and non-binary etc

?6) Putting together action plans

During the course we learnt about good practice when it came to action planning. This included the following:

• Identifying our leadership challenge and opportunity?
• Asking ourself how will our current network help us achieve our goal - who and how??
• What help is missing in our current network?
• What specific actions will we take to get started in our initiative, e.g. initiate contact / enhance 2 relationships?
• What is our call of action for our stakeholders??
• When is the deadline we need to and want to get this done by?

7) Developing your personal brand?

During the course we spoke a lot about personal branding and why this matters. For example, the more coherent your image is, the less questions will get asked. In addition, consistency and clarity also breeds trust in other people about you. We explored famous examples of people with very strong and successful personal brands, such as Karl Lagerfeld, Angela Merkel, the Queen etc.?

During the sessions on this topic, we had to think about and seek feedback about 3 key parts of personal branding; these were

1. What am I good at e.g. communication skills, relationship budding skills, innovation?
2. What are my values e.g. happiness, helping others, achievement orientation?
3. How can I be recognised e.g smartly dressed, smiley, British accent ?

First we did this exercise individually and then we discussed our reflections with the wider cohort where they provided feedback on what we wrote and contributed their thought. I personally found the feedback extremely helpful at fleshing out other and alternative strengths, values and ways I show up in the world and how people see me.?

8) The importance of storytelling and how to do it well ?

During our last day we worked a lot on learning about the importance of storytelling and how to do this well.

Storytelling is important because even in a business context you are telling a story to win the case. We discussed how good storytelling uses our emotions and makes the audience care what we have to say.

Some bits of good practice we learnt about good storytelling includes:

• Having a single unifying thread going through our talk (a golden thread) so that our core message is consistent and memorable, for example, Make America great again, Yes we can, I have a dream etc.?
• Good talks should provide new and relevant content for audiences.
• A common mistake is when speakers provide too much info so as a rule of thumb less information is better.
• Having strong body language, such as showing your open hands when talking and not keeping these closed.
• Slowing down and being clear.
• Pausing during your talks, especially when talking about important things.?
• Moving consciously on the stage.
• Refer to other peoples talks during your talk to acknowledge what else has been said, credit others work and make it clear how your talk will be different.?
• Bring in the audience at the end of your talk to make them feel involved and have a call of action.
• Highlight the villain and worst case scenarios if your proposal / idea doesn’t go ahead to create contrast and drama and anticipation.