Name: Tanya Henshaw

Title: Senior Director

Organisation: Australian Government

Tanya has a wide range of experience in marketing, account management, learning and development, project management, and change management while working in government, private, and educational environments. She has been leading teams for a decade.

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

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

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Leading people with empathy and creating psychological safety is both the best thing and most challenging thing about being a leader. We are all human, we don’t always get along with everyone. However, successful teams are made of diverse characters and viewpoints, and we need to be able to incorporate them as a leader in a way that is good for the whole team as well as the individual.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I said yes to opportunities, and I worked hard!

I tend to be someone who goes 100 percent into a role, so I will study formally or informally to make sure I am good at what I do.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

There is no magic here, and it has varied over the years depending on my life. Right now, I wake at 6 am and take a short amount of time with a cup of tea and the news before heading to work – be that in my home office or in the city – and get on with the work day. I do tend to start with emails, and I aim for inbox zero where possible.

I like to chunk out deep work periods on at least two days per week, and I have meeting-free Fridays (most weeks). Doing this allows me to get my own work done in between meetings. If I’m in the office, I also try to catch up with staff or peers for coffee face-to-face at least semi-regularly.

I have a distinct boundary with work once I’m done. Either it is an hour-long commute through the countryside or it is closing the laptop and shutting the home office door. I avoid working on weekends or days off (this is sometimes flexible but not on annual leave). My brain needs rest, so I head to bed about 9.30 pm but will tend to read for a little bit before lights out.

I think you have to be careful about how you read these ‘how I do my day’ by leaders because they often don’t represent all the support systems that allow people to focus on their role or go for a run before work, practice mindfulness, etc. My support systems and life responsibilities are going to be different to others, so people reading this should critically consider that when looking to emulate a particular executive or leader’s routine.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

I was recently acting in a senior executive role and had responsibility for 70-plus staff and financial and resourcing accountability for 800-plus staff. There were two key lessons that I took away from that time.

Firstly, the more senior you are, the more you need excellent subject matter experts to support you. You really are only as good as your team, so you need to support them to be the best people they can be and nurture those relationships. Secondly, the workload is not what increases with seniority, it’s the decisions that you make that have wider-reaching consequences.

It’s tempting to work longer hours in a higher role, but it’s more about learning to manage your time effectively while still getting what you need to make the right decisions.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

I do love a good book and have been influenced by a few of them. Colin D Ellis's Culture Fix gets right to the heart of the importance of a positive culture in organisations. Most recently, I read ‘Right Kind of Wrong’ by Amy Edmonson, which made me consider failure in a more nuanced way. I worked with my team to look at more accurately defining failures so we could then work on how to avoid them in the future by learning from them now.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

We are all very tempted to jump up levels as quickly as possible to get more money and/or prestige, but there is great value in actual experience, especially when it comes to managing and leading people.

It’s hard to do that properly when you haven’t had any life experience of your own or seen the variations of people and work. That said, a great leader is visible at any age, so take the opportunities as they present themselves!

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

The best thing about being a leader is being able to help people grow and watch them flourish. As a mentor and coach, it is so rewarding to see someone who has worked under you move on to successfully deliver in other areas of the organisation. It is especially rewarding when you maintain that trusted relationship with them and continue to mentor them across their career.

I’m especially proud when they get promotions! My role in their success is small, but creating an environment where people can grow is vital for staff to be able to deliver their best work, spread their wings and achieve their own goals.