Name: Carol Christine Martin

Title: Owner/CEO

Organisation: Cameron Rees Ltd

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Carol's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

Although it sounds too simplistic, authenticity. No one will get everything right, all of the time, and being able to be your most authentic self through good and bad times leads people to recognise not just what you can do, but how you will do it. It enables trust to be built through consistency and values-based decision making. But this also requires communication!

It is not enough, in my view, to rely solely on digital interaction - unless you are extremely good at getting your whole self into your messaging. Trust requires the key elements of credibility, skill demonstration, knowledge, adaptability, etc, and sometimes this can only be demonstrated in real time.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

Vision, to me, is the aspirational element of why we do what we do. The goals and drives that we retain a focus on as a fixed measure of what we are doing and why we should be doing it.

A Mission, to me, is the how and the why - how are we going to reach and realise our vision, but also why does this matter? What will be the benefit if we reach our goals? Who will be impacted, etc.

I think the only time these words can be used authentically is if they become embedded into everyday reality - eg, are we holding each other to account? Do we increase engagement by referencing why and how we are doing things rather than simply measuring output or arbitrary matrices? However, most businesses see them as purely marketing, on the website and proposal material, but never referenced internally.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

By removing vanity and the belief that I alone am able to make the best decisions! Then they have to ensure that the people they are leading are sharing the same understanding of the desired outcome, have the resources and tools/skills to actually accept the task confidently, and provide support, without instruction, throughout the task. Wider than this, they have to build an environment of trust and accountability, and where there is an understanding of failure and vulnerability rather than blame.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

I have had more 'informal' coaches and mentors than formal ones. I honestly would say that I have probably taken something forward from every interaction I have with people, although not always something I will replicate, as sometimes more something I recognise I want to avoid! I had an extraordinary first Manager in my working life - someone who had personal demons that could have impacted his ability to empathise or lead, but he was someone who created an environment of fun and trust. I watched him interact and was privileged to become part of his inner circle of that trust and support.

He didn't have favourites, he was fair and open, and he supported failure (I made a fairly large error in my first year of working!) by empowering others to understand why something wasn't working and to put it right themselves wherever possible. This was a man who was nowhere near perfect, but I learned so much from him in relation to leadership, and I aspired to be as imperfectly great as I saw him. He continued to support me for many years and formed the basis of my leadership belief system..

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

I think my focus is often driven by my clients; they enable me to justifiably take time to research current trends, gain the knowledge needed to provide them with the expertise they require, etc, so my focus is always on people and why/how they do what they do. But I think it is passion, without sounding like a cliche! It's easy to maintain a focus on role, tasks, doing the right thing, etc, when you love what you do and you believe in the outcome. I'm so privileged to do that every day. Now, my focus on admin ... not so much! There, I have to diarise time and force myself to follow a process - if it's not in the diary, it's not happening!