Melanie Smith on self-care strategies for corporate and organisational leaders

Show Notes 

 

Keywords

leadership, coaching, strengths, mental health, psychological safety, burnout, authenticity, workplace culture, gender dynamics, career progression

Summary

In this conversation, Melanie Smith discusses her role as a leadership and career coach, focusing on helping mid-level managers identify and optimise their strengths. The discussion delves into the importance of psychological safety in the workplace, the challenges women face in leadership roles, and the rising issue of burnout. Melanie emphasises the need for authenticity and vulnerability in leadership, advocating for supportive work environments that prioritise mental health. The conversation concludes with key takeaways for effective leadership and the importance of creating a positive work culture.

Takeaways

Melanie Smith is a leadership and career coach for mid-level managers.

Identifying strengths can be done through surveys like VIA Strengths.

Character strengths can often be overlooked in leadership.

Women in leadership may face biases for speaking up.

Psychological safety is essential for open discussions about mental health.

Burnout is increasingly common across various industries.

Leaders should model vulnerability to foster trust.

Work-life integration should be celebrated, not martyrdom.

Organisational culture impacts employee mental health significantly.

Regular check-ins can help gauge employee well-being.

Titles

Empowering Leaders Through Self-Awareness

The Importance of Identifying Strengths

Sound bites

"How do people identify their strengths?"

"Character strengths can be overlooked."

"Know your strengths and optimise them."

Chapters

00:00 Understanding Leadership Coaching

01:48 Identifying Strengths in Leadership

03:03 Character Strengths and Their Impact

07:02 Navigating Gender Dynamics in Leadership

13:06 Mental Health in the Workplace

18:55 Psychological Safety and Organisational Culture

25:57 The Importance of Authenticity in Professional Spaces

28:36 Understanding and Recognising Burnout

34:57 Navigating Work Environments and Self-Care

40:42 Shaping Industries for Better Work-Life Balance

44:44 Creating a Supportive Organisational Culture

52:13 Key Lessons for Personal and Professional Growth

 

 

 

Transcript 

 

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:01)

Melanie Smith, welcome to the podcast. We've talked before, and this is our first time recording. My understanding of the context of what you do is that you guide mainly mid-level managers as they look at their career progression. How do you explain what you do in your

 

Mel (00:13)

So the way I would describe myself is a leadership and career coach who also does a little spattering

 

of leadership development work. And I do predominantly work with mid-level leaders across a whole variety of organisational sectors. ⁓ And my focus is really on helping to create leaders who have high levels of self-awareness, who are providing

 

fantastic work environments for the teams that they're working with, also operating from their strengths, essentially. So yeah, that's where I'm focused in my time and attention.

 

Yes.

 

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (01:02)

Awesome. So you're helping people to focus on their strengths. How do people often focus on their strengths? How do people even identify their strengths?

 

Mel (01:08)

Good question. So there's a range of ways that people can identify strengths. There's some very subjective ways that you can kind of

 

call out.

 

the things that you think you're really good at. But I use for the people that I work with, I use a strength survey. ⁓ It's a survey called via strengths. ⁓ And it is a it's a scientifically research survey, there's a lot of research and development that goes into it. But it gives people an anchor point to think about their strengths through. So that's where I work with people just starting with that survey to help people build the strength. lot of people build an understanding of strength,