Performance Coach Rachel Ivers on Her Top Tips on Effective Leadership for Women
For International Women’s Day 2024, Kaitlin Zhang, CEO of Oval Branding interviews performance coach and leadership expert Rachel Ivers about women leadership, imposter syndrome, setting boundaries and leadership coaching.
Rachel Ivers is a performance coach and Partner at GiANT London with a background of 18 years experience consulting for or working with organisations including British Airways, Balfour Beatty, International Power, Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Westminster City Council.
She has a family and loves the art of juggling (not balancing) and she loves to apprentice and collaborate with other consultants in the GiANT community of coaches worldwide.
Kaitlin: How did you get started with performance coaching and teaching leadership skills?
Rachel: I’m a performance coach with a background in Business Psychology. I was inspired to start my own coaching business when I realised that so much time is mis-spent in meetings where people’s unique and necessary contributions are not being heard. This leads to the underperformance of most teams. I have the honour to help leaders in tech, local government and entrepreneurs to unlock team performance and get to the next level in collaboration, creativity and decision-making. When I’m not working with teams, I coach leaders at pivotal moments of their career – they’ve sold a business or they don’t know what the next 10 years holds.
As a Partner at GiANT London I collaborate on projects with an incredible team here in the UK and get involved in teaching groups of leaders. I’ve also delivered on global projects in the tech sector.
Kaitlin: What are some leadership challenges that keep coming up for women and your advice on them?
Rachel: Frequent ones include the underrepresentation of women on leadership teams, their contributions being heard, taking critique personally, bringing effective challenge, ‘I’m not progressing as fast as I’d like’. Also, going it alone and feeling overwhelmed or being burnt out.
A few thoughts on some of these:
Some leaders struggle to bring real or effective challenge (not wanting to jeopardise the relationship, or rock the boat). If this is you, hear this: often when you think you've brought massive challenge, you haven't. You just hinted at it! Affirm the person first but practise speaking the truth until it becomes more natural - it can save you (and others) from resentment later down the line. If delayed resentment is not enough to persuade you. How about the idea that you are denying the other person the opportunity to grow?
If on the other hand you find challenge comes easily, remember that some people pin their ideas to their heart so affirm first and speak the truth thoughtfully. Don’t hold back bringing challenge, it can be a gift to others if done well. But in order for others to experience you as empowering, ensure that high challenge is commensurate with high levels of support.
When someone challenges your idea, remember it's not personal, they are helping you to refine your idea by testing it. It is not personal. Many women tend to pin their ideas to their heart which is why it can hurt when critiqued. Pinning ideas/strategies to the wall and inviting critique can help. This intentional objectivity can be physical or metaphorical.
And last for now, something I learned from a client that stuck with me and it's this: “no slow no’s .” Sometimes it is the kindest thing we can do.
Kaitlin: Have you ever had imposter syndrome and how do you deal with it?
Rachel: The potential is always there as I'm coaching leaders in positions of influence but it's helpful to know that some of them struggle with it too, male and female.
Imposter syndrome is the feeling that one's achievements are undeserved and that one is likely to be exposed as a fraud. It can affect anyone, regardless of job or social status, but it may be more common among high achievers. As high as over 70% of people are affected by workplace imposter thoughts at some point (International Journal of Behavioral Science 2011).
There is no one magic pill on this, but asking for feedback from those you trust is a must.
Keep a post-it wall of affirmations.
Invest in a few life-giving relationships - reach out, don’t wait.
Partner with others, don't go it alone.
Don’t assume that others are better than you at the things you have been uniquely gifted with – I’ve often made the mistake of thinking that most people think, feel, communicate like I do and therefore I’ve downplayed it but it’s simply not true.
Don’t try and lead as someone else, lead out of who you are (even if that means being brave with the thorn in the side of imposter syndrome – believing that people are not inviting you to the table out of pity but because of your competence). In the words of St Catherine of Siena, be who you are meant to be and you will set the world on fire. I spend time with leaders helping them to understand who they truly are – not how the world has told them they ‘ought’ to behave, decide and to think.
In the words of St Catherine of Siena,
Be who you are meant to be and you will set the world on fire.
Kaitlin: How do you balance career, personal life and passions?
Rachel: It's taken me years to learn the art of boundaries and even longer to realise that engaging in restorative activities is not only life-giving to me but life-saving for others around me! This is why I have learned to have some non-negotiables during the weekly quiet time, an early dog walk and savoury breakfast. I try to unplug for the last hour of the day. Pilates over zoom is the hardest slot in the calendar to protect, but protect it I do! As a natural connector, I don’t easily separate work and the rest of life so I try to work with people where there’s some kind of alignment. I’m grateful to work with people who started as clients and became friends, or vice versa.
As a family, we’ve frequently had to pivot and carve out new rhythms in each season but they are at the age now where we can share passions – a game of tennis or competitive board games or friends around for a meal. I’d love to climb more mountains, that’s a passion I’m missing these days so I still need to solve for that.
Kaitlin: In your opinion, is it better to focus on your strengths or to improve your weaknesses?
Rachel: I realise that it's common to focus on your strengths and outsource your weaknesses, but the reality is that our weaknesses will always cause us to undermine our influence (as does overusing our strengths!) I would say that spending time understanding our tendencies, and how they have consequences for us and others is time well spent. Having identified our tendencies, putting the hard work into choosing instead to be intentional with words and actions gives us the greatest opportunity for strengthening relationships with those we lead and live with.
Kaitlin: How can a Leadership Coach help?
Rachel: Based on my Linked-In recommendations, a coach is an invaluable thought partner and sounding board; they’ve found clarity around their priorities, natural skills and gifts. The greatest benefit of coaching is accountability for taking the next natural steps towards incremental (and sometimes paradigm-shift) change.
I’ve witnessed female clients making liberating career changes upon discovering who they truly are, and founders deciding to step away from day-to-day operations to grow new businesses.
I’ve also seen impact from coaching in small groups, effective in providing safe space, accountability and collective wisdom.
Kaitlin: Lastly, how can we learn more from you?
Rachel: I’m starting a new coaching group for IWD with 6 leaders who want to refine their purpose, deep dive into influence and communication and define their unique giftedness.
Try a workshop for free on 22 April 2024 (DM on Linked-In to sign up or ask questions): linkedin.com/in/rachel-ivers-2291847/
You can also follow me on Linked-In for topics such as relational intelligence, communication and team leadership.
Kaitlin: Thank you, Rachel, for this insightful interview. Happy International Women’s Day!
