Katrina asks 3 Questions to Chris Barrett

Chris is an experienced Transformation Director and by that we mean he has the battle scars earned in delivering change in multiple sectors and multiple countries.?He currently heads up Transformation and Technology at Jensten Group, a rapidly growing PE back Insurance firm in the UK.

?1.?????If you were starting out as a leader today, what would you NOT do this time?

?This is one question I really struggle with. What would I not do?

I think you've got to make mistakes. That’s how you learn and so you shouldn’t really look back on your mistakes with too much regret.

One thing I might not do is question myself as much. ?I think I've done better since I embraced mentoring a while back and specifically with people who can see what I can do and who believe in me. ?That’s helped me to relax into being myself.?There came a point when, faced with another wave of uncertainty, someone said with some conviction that; “You're just going to back yourself, Chris”. ?And knowing that I was coming across like that meant I'd reached a level of confidence that perhaps I should have had a while back. It was a personal milestone I didn’t know I had.

It's a knowing and a belief in yourself.

It's accepting that mistakes will happen, but they don't impact your ability, or the long-term realisation of your goals.

I think I better understand where my weaknesses are now, so I know when I'm winging it. ?And to be honest I enjoy that!

?2.?????Is there anything you do in your personal time that helps you be a leader in your career?

?I think it’s important that we remember that there's life outside of work - and some people do forget that. ?Nothing wrong with being driven, but sometimes a change is as good as a rest. ?It's good for you to do something that's not at all work related.

As an example, I'm a rugby coach for an Under 9s team, which is just fantastically rewarding. Bizarrely, you often apply the same principles. You stick to your values, you paint a picture about what you want to do. You're positive. You're encouraging. You speak to people on the right level. You're respectful, even though they're eight years old. You set examples. You make memories and celebrate successes.

I could do a case study of an Under 9s team development and how the principles are very similar to handling change in an IT organization. Really.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) in England has core values that are applied from grass roots level up: Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline, (professionalism), and Sportsmanship. T.R.E.D.S. ?Now, if those values don't apply to organisational change, then we are missing a trick.

There’s also a balance.?People that go all out, guns blazing in their career are going to miss out on stuff. Nobody lies on their death bed and wishes they’d put in more hours in work.?Equally we can’t all sit on a beach in Goa playing the banjo.?Mind you, the successful leaders out there would soon get bored, organise a banjo convention and open a banjo shop… and then a banjo franchise. I know I would.

?3.?????What's one question nobody's ever asked you about being a leader? / What's something you wish people knew about being a leader?

?That's a tricky one. People sometimes expect leaders to be unapproachable and old school. Dull. Hopefully that’s not the case with me – but only a couple of people have asked what really makes me tick, what really drives me in work.?So, me being me I’m wondering what kind of environment needs to be in place where that kind of question is OK – and it is OK.?Bloody interesting in many cases and often based on personal experiences, certainly for me. ?Out of work I think I’m different. I find it easy to switch off.

?Katrina asks (just one more question): ?So you don't go around acting like the 'big boss'?

?There may be elements of that on occasions! ?But I don’t believe in the cult of the personality.?Yes, I have a strong personality, I have strong opinions and I’m outgoing but that doesn’t mean I need to hold court or be in people’s faces. I don’t think the world needs more tub-thumping and loud leaders. I just don’t see them getting results.?People do not follow tub thumpers anymore.?Leaders need to listen and understand what motivates people, not what makes them appear strong.

I'm better with one-to-one or one-to-few set pieces than I am with one-to-many or conference style events. And yeah, I enjoy it all in the right place, but I do like to watch the room, learn how people want to be communicated to and especially the different generation traits. The one dimensional approach is a turn off for me, so called leaders who don't work out what motivates individuals or understand how they want to be spoken to. Or worse – think people are there just to stoke their ego. ?I mean, the nineties called, they want their management style back.

And good ideas can genuinely come from anywhere. If you've shut down any part of your organization to the point where they don't come up with good ideas, you've missed out on something. Anyone with a fresh pair of eyes, regardless of who they are, where they come from, what their background is, can come up with the best idea. ?Just have a conversation.

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