I thought it was inspirational when CEO Chamil Fernando of the leading Accounts Payable Solutions Software company, Alii, handed over the reins to Ellen Gauld (Marketing Manager of Alii) as Acting CEO for a week in recognition of International Women’s Day.
In chatting to Ellen she told me that part of this initiative was to grow leadership skills within the Alii team and expose the individual to areas of the business they would not normally experience.
Ellen knowing in January she was going to take on the role of Acting CEO did some prep work by reading Julia Gillard’s and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s book, Women and Leadership. Although she was inspired and found this helpful in her mental preparation I wonder how she found the reality of the week.
Ellen appreciated that the CEO’s schedule was always very full although surprised by its breadth. Being able to jump quickly between different topics and functional areas from a product development workshop to a commercial meeting without skipping a beat, while leading and contributing, was something she did not anticipate.
“The day started with a 15-minute catch-up over coffee with the CEO of what activities were planned for the day ahead with a quick brief of what was to be covered. Throughout the day, it was filled with sessions both internally with teams I don’t often overlap with as well as external strategic, commercial and client meetings around partnerships and implementations. During the week, I also lead our operational meetings. Being usually quite reserved, at first, I felt like an imposter but by the end of the week I felt a lot more comfortable leading the discussions.”
Ellen had many insights from that week but her golden nugget is the importance of great communication in a leader – including being able to listen well and learn fast. She accepted that one communication style and tone does not always fit or achieve the desired outcome. She recognised her growth is to develop her adaptability (engage in a growth mindset), be open to constant learning and lean-on the subject matter experts. These experts will share their knowledge, perspectives and insights to create a flourishing organisation. My own thought is that no new CEO comes perfectly formed to do the job and a good transition or onboarding program, possibly coupled with coaching or mentoring, is essential, especially when some of the functional responsibilities are completely new to that individual.
It was great to hear that the success of the week has meant this will be a regular experience at Alii!
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