IWD 2024 - Rachel Deans

A little about your career journey leading to where you are now.

I left school with poor GCSEs but with a strong determination to earn money and gain practical skills in the world of work. An apprenticeship quickly gave me skills and training that accelerated me into customer service and sales roles in a variety of industries (motor; hospitality; finance).  Although naturally introverted, I look back at my younger years and can see I had a knack of entertaining and performing and getting to the root cause of a problem and finding a way to fix it. It’s no surprise that I fell into the world of learning and development over 17 years ago, which gave me the perfect platform to combine those talents. I progressed through various positions of Trainer, L&D project manager; Designer; Leadership coach, Manager and Head of L&D. I’ve also embraced opportunities outside of the “9-5” and have been actively involved in coaching and mentoring young leaders on a number of initiatives. After being made redundant in 2016, I got propelled into the social care sector and haven’t looked back since. It’s a sector I’m proud to contribute to, and there’s no better place to make a real difference to the lives of others.   

What inspired you to pursue a leadership role? 

I’ve never actually ‘pursued’ a leadership role; you could say they found me! All of my managerial positions have been the result of wanting to make a difference, seeking improvement, and having an innate passion for continuous learning. I feel blessed that people have seen my leadership potential and offered me positions where I can apply those values.  What I love about being in a position of leadership is being able to support others on their journey

What is or are your biggest career achievements? 

There’s few that spring to mind; Having a course I developed featured in a national training magazine back in the early days of my L&D career; seeing people I’ve coached or managed who feel empowered to break the personal barriers and fears they’ve built up and being promoted onto Salutem’s senior leadership team.  

How did you develop your leadership skills? 

I had an amazing opportunity in my early 20s to understand more about leadership though the RAF reserves, and an intensive outward bound youth leadership programme. Both pushed me to my limits but gave me lifelong leadership lessons, skills, and resilience. They gave me permission to be myself and the understanding that leadership isn’t about being the loudest person.  That led me to develop my understanding the psychology of people and teams, which in turn connected me to coaching. I’m a huge advocate of coaching and believe it’s a fundamental skill for successful leadership. Having used coaching myself, and trained as an accredited Coach, I apply the approaches and skills to almost every leadership situation I encounter, whether it be talking to a colleague about a difficult topic or managing a project, the skills are versatile. I also love the fact it’s not just about coaching others but coaching yourself too – self management is critical! 

How do you define your leadership style? 

I’d like to say ‘empowering’.  I asked some of my team and their responses were ‘pacesetter, motivational and delegative’. I’ll take that!

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned? 

To believe in myself and be true to my values. 

Have you achieved everything you wanted in your career so far? 

Not yet, but there’s time! 

How important is personal development to your success, and how do you approach it? 

It’s critical. You have to approach leadership with a growth mindset because everything is an opportunity to learn from others, and from the situation. 

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority? 

Firstly, I step back and remind myself that the pressure is a temporary state, and I can and will overcome it, then it’s straight into practical action mode. I’m a big fan of the Eisenhower important and urgent model so that’s my first go to so I can challenge the demands and work out my options. I then use my outlook diary to block time out so energy can be focused to the right tasks, and I avoid switching my mind to too many things. I also believe in small incremental steps to move things forward. Never underestimate the power of small!

What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader? 

The hardest, yet also the simplest in hindsight, was when I worked in an environment where my values didn’t align to theirs. It was an unhealthy culture with a revolving door of people coming in and suddenly going. A distinct lack of trust and psychological safety was having a huge impact on colleagues, and I knew I couldn’t do anything to change it. I couldn’t be part of a culture I so strongly disagreed with, so I called my husband on a lunch break and told him I had to leave regardless of not having another job to go to. It was a decision I’ll never forget, and whilst a frightening prospect at the time, it taught me to trust my instinct and be courageous. Sometimes the right path to take, isn’t the easiest and we have to take a leap into the unknown.

What steps do you take to measure your own performance? 

I look outwardly to the organisation and what my dept. are delivering such as retention; compliance; engagement; competence levels etc. I then look internally at my own team and are they fulfilled in work and productive. Happy team = happy workforce. 

What does success mean for you as a business leader?

Ultimately, it’s seeing the smiles on the faces of the people we support in our services and knowing that they are living a meaningful life. If we’re not making a difference to the quality of people’s lives, then something is going wrong, and we have a duty to fix it. 

What advice would you give to someone starting off their career as a future business leader? 

You will only be successful if you invest time in you! Reflect upon who you are now and how you want to be known as a leader. Seek to bridge the gaps one by one and enjoy the journey, because it’s never ending! One piece of advice someone gave to me was “Rach, what do you want people to say about you as a leader when you leave the room?”. I’ll always remember that.