Exploring the professional and personal faces of leadership
Welcome back to another instalment of our blog series “Leadership Stories” where we explore the professional and personal faces of leadership and embrace the inspirational power of storytelling.
In this episode, we are delighted to have Anna Mishcon, Whole Picture Toolkit Executive at the Film and TV Charity, share her invaluable insights on the importance of authenticity and vulnerability in leadership.
Professional
What are or have been the greatest challenges as a leader for you?
I have a lot of leadership and production experience in television (I spent 24 years at the BBC) and have managed and led a myriad of different production departments each with hundreds of people. I have mentored dozens of individuals at both senior and junior levels and have been a mental first aider and trauma advisor. Through these experiences, I have found that there is a real intersection between business leadership and strong people management.
For me, the greatest challenge has been upholding the vision and strategy of the business, while also retaining a personal connection with the people working with me at the heart of that mission. Human connection is incredibly important to me as a leader. We work in a culture now that can often communicate in very generic ways to people en masse and I try whenever I can to think about how I can communicate with individuals too.
What do you believe will be the most effective leadership style in coming years?
For me great leaders don’t hide their true identity, but instead show up with honesty and integrity about both their failures and successes. Often this requires them to show some vulnerability, as well as encouraging others to do the same, so people can bring their authentic selves to work. I see showing vulnerability as a very positive trait. Talking about personal experiences with your team can be very powerful, if you feel comfortable doing that. I’ve built trust and given others confidence to do the same when I’ve shared things I’ve found challenging at work. This can sometimes be perceived as a weakness, but I see it very much as a strength.
What is the key to encouraging diversity of thought when building teams?
This has been a real journey for me, and I have learnt what may be an obvious thing for many people; to not recruit in my own image and to not be scared of the unknown. Encouraging diversity of thought when building teams means not being afraid to use the wrong language around race, disability, or gender identity, for example. It’s important to make sure you’re recruiting people from all walks of life, because being challenged and being uncomfortable is almost certainly going to lead to better outcomes and outputs.
Personal
Is there a moment that you feel changed the course of your career?
At the BBC, I set up a disability scheme which hired 30 individuals into BBC News, with a range of both hidden and visible disabilities. The aim of the scheme was to tell different stories from different perspectives for the audience whilst also creating opportunities for disabled staff to further their careers in the newsroom. Seeing the obstacles and challenges that this group of hugely talented people encountered coming into the organisation was very sobering for me. I couldn’t just be a by-stander, I wanted to be an advocate and an ally. It has truly changed the way I work and the way I now see the world – I’m very grateful to the BBC for that experience.
Can you tell us about something that happened at work that made you feel included or excluded?
When a new employee joins the Film and Television Charity, they use a really interesting voluntary process called ‘working well with me’. It’s an opportunity to share with your line manager some of the things that can help you thrive in the workplace as well as share things that may bring anxiety or stress. Your line manager can also choose to share theirs directly with you during that process. Recently our new CEO started at the charity, and he sent his ‘working well with me’ form to the whole organisation, which I found inspiring. It spoke to the authentic leadership qualities I referred to earlier. I found it be an incredibly inclusive process when I took part and shared some personal information that I have never done in a workplace previously. It can work in any organisation or any industry, it’s such a brilliant and interesting thing to do.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Always trust your judgement, but also use people around you to mentor, guide and support you.
Don’t be afraid of moving side-ways in your career.
Enrich yourself with different people and environments.
Don’t take constructive feedback personally.