Want To Be A Great Leader? Know Thyself

02/10/23 • 34 min

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One of the Delphic maxims (engraved on the sacred temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece), and probably the most well know is "Know Thyself". There are many interpretations, but you could say in a nutshell that it is about reflecting and developing a greater understanding/awareness of who you are, could be and/or who you ought to be, and in turn an awareness of others and your relationship towards them and they to you. Throughout her career, Dr Nia Thomas, has been interested in the working relationship: the dynamics between people and the impact both good and bad relationships have on individuals and their ability to effectively deliver their work. This led her to develop an interest in self-awareness, leader effectiveness and leadership at all levels which became the focus of her doctoral research. In this episode she discusses the experiences which led to her interest in self-awareness, leader effectiveness and leadership at all levels. She further talks about the 3 layers she sees as embodying self-awareness - reflection, recognition and regulation and touches on the difference between someone who just manages (the focus is on their technical skills) and others who manage but have self-awareness (whether it is inherent or one of the skills they have developed).

About Dr Nia D Thomas

Nia spent over 20 years working in the public sector across local government, the NHS and civil service, predominantly in Wales and in the last few years, moving to England. Her passion is for children and family support: ensuring that babies and children have the opportunity to thrive and flourish, supported by adults who care for, nurture and love them. She currently works as an Assistant Director in a children’s charity.

Throughout her career, Nia has been interested in the working relationship: the dynamics between people and the impact both good and bad relationships have on individuals and their ability to effectively deliver their work. This led her to develop an interest in self-awareness, leader effectiveness and leadership at all levels which became the focus of her doctoral research.

Her website (Knowing Self Knowing Others) was launched in 2018 and was accelerated by a need to keep the little grey cells active during the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 and the desire to share her research finding alongside her experience of the world of work, with others.

Nia launched her 'The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast' in September 2022 to take her research from academia to the office. It also establishes a body of exploration into self-aware leadership.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nia-d-thomas/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-knowing-self-knowing-others-podcast/id1640336716

https://knowingselfknowingothers.co.uk

About Dr Nia D Thomas

Nia launched her 'The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast' in September 2022 to take her research from academia to the office. It also establishes a body of exploration into self-aware leadership.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nia-d-thomas/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-knowing-self-knowing-others-podcast/id1640336716

https://knowingselfknowingothers.co.uk

Previous Episode

Make ADHD Work For You

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was first identified in 1902 by British pediatrician Sir George Still, but yet it was not until 2000 (according to the Learning Assessment and Neurocare Centre Limited trading as LANCUK) that it was recognised as a valid condition! LANCUK state on their website that "prior to that time and throughout the 1990s there was an enormous amount of skepticism about the existence of the condition and virtually no recognition of its importance in children education and mental health services, let alone that the condition could progress into adulthood".

In this episode introvert, ADHD coach, author and activist, Leanne Maskell, talks about her troubled life experiences including some of the issues she has had to overcome, and her eventual diagnosis at the age of 25. Following diagnosis, Leanne has subsequently published 3 books, previously worked as a mental health and disability legal policy adviser at the Law Society and has also trained companies such as Microsoft on ADHD.

ADHD coaching helped Leanne to start working with her brain, instead of against it. Determined to help others in the same way, she founded ADHD Works to smash stigma and raise awareness of the exceptional benefits that harnessing ADHD can bring and has been named ‘the Neurodivergent People’s Hero’.

About Leanne Maskell

Leanne is an ADHD coach, author, and activist, having presented to the World Health Organisation on improving global access to support for ADHD. Previously she worked as a mental health and disability legal policy advisor with the Law Society.

ADHD Works exists to empower as many people as possible to learn about how to make ADHD work for them through courses and a range of tailored packages, talks, and coaching. Leanne is also the author of 3 books including 'ADHD: An A-Z', as featured on SKY News.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leannemaskell/

https://www.adhdworks.info

Next Episode

Shyness Can Be Changed - Your Voice Is Valued

Lola Garay Abad has been a teacher for over 20 years, a teacher coach/trainer for over 10, and a team leader for most of her education career. In all these years she has worked with thousands of people including educators, who have struggled with expressing themselves, due to the stigma attached to introversion. As an introverted woman herself, and having such stigma very present in her mind, has, at times, made her feel that her voice was not as valid as the voice of an outspoken extroverted person. Lola also sees it in the many classes she observes and coaches, in which extroversion is praised but introversion is diminished.

In this episode, Lola shares her thoughts and her own personal experience of how introversion, unfortunately, is seen as a negative aspect of our personality, and it is often looked down upon and confused with shyness and the inability to be entrepreneurial. She feels that, in general, leadership is not associated with introversion, as it is believed that introversion means shyness. But, shyness is a behaviour that can be coached and we can build consciousness around it to be able to make our voices heard. As a team lead, being in a management position and being introverted, Lola believes that one of the main things she has to thank her introversion for, is the ability to LISTEN actively, to pause and actually LISTEN to the needs of the people she works with.

About Lola Garay Abad

Lola is a teacher at heart, an educational psychologist, a teacher trainer/mentor and a specialist in SLA, SLDs, CLIL and metacognition. She has been in education for the last 20 years, and isthe team lead for author development at Eduki. Lola has managed academic programs, published academic material and create and deliver teaching training programs, conferences and workshops for educators in main stream education and language teaching in Spain, Portugal, the UK, the US, Latin America, among others. She is also involved in research, and work as an educational consultant and mentor/coach in various public and private schools across the country, for the MECD, for regional governments and private foundations.

Academically Lola's principal areas of interest are STEAM, PBL, skills development and formative assessment, curriculum and syllabus design/evaluation, literacy , educational psychology (specific learning differences), and research in education.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lolagarayabad/