Kate Richardson-Walsh: Going for gold through collaborative leadership

One of the undisputed highlights of this year’s SPVS/VMG Congress was the inspirational opening address from Great Britain 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Kate Richardson-Walsh OBE.

Hundreds of delegates sat transfixed by the story of how she led the GB women through a remarkable transformation from also-rans to the best women’s hockey team in the world.

So, how did they do it? According to Kate, a culture of empowerment and collaborative leadership played a big part. “We had success in Rio for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest factors in that was the culture within the group,” she said.

Two-way process

“In the GB hockey team, our coach empowered us; he was absolutely the leader of the group and we knew that, but he empowered us and that is what good leadership is about – empowerment.

“It is also about identifying what the issues are in the group; leadership is a two-way process. It can take a long time.

“We had a leadership group within that GB team, and if myself and my other leadership group members were not prepared to be vulnerable, and if we didn’t show we were not going to be using other people’s vulnerabilities against them, then we couldn’t expect other people to do it.

“Gold was our vision, but I was not thinking about that everyday – I was thinking about making sure I filled in my app on my phone, making sure I was at meetings five minutes early and making sure I had the right kit on.

“It is actually all those things that matter – was I in time for my team mates; was I respecting their time? That was the most important thing feeding into that vision. It is about being a leader and not acting a leader.”

Veterinary results

That approach worked on the sports field and Kate believes it can help deliver results in the world of veterinary practice, too. She added: “It’s harder to do in business, because it has traditionally not been done. I think emotions are more hidden and that has been demanded in business for a long time. So, it is how you break that perception down and change that; it is about creating a space to be vulnerable in a business environment.

“It is about getting to know the team on a different level – sharing a few things with each other that you might not normally talk about. When you get to that level of detail and learning it becomes a more trusting relationship between the team members and the leadership.”

Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes remain a problem when it comes to building successful teams, however.

She added: “The traditional gender roles and stereotypes we put around men and women can be a big part of the problem.

“Traditionally, women share and talk a lot, while the traditional view is men will not do that – they will just have a barney and get it out of their systems. But being around men’s teams, I saw on many occasions that if they had dealt with some of the little nit-picky problems that festered along for a long time, they would have been more successful than they were.

“So giving guys the space and the tools to talk about some of that stuff in their way, and, at the same time, allowing women to be more male in their outlook, it is breaking some of those gender stereotypes down. It is about breaking down social constructs.

“All this helps create a great culture and that culture is something that is noticed and valued by clients, especially in a veterinary practice where there can be a lot of stress or emotions at play.”