Clare Gerada: Tips for surviving leadership

My New Year’s resolution was to declutter paper and create order among my bookshelves and cupboards. As I did so I came across a sheet of paper given to me in 2010, when I became the Royal College of General Practitioners’ first female chair for 50 years.

The sheet was entitled Surviving. The advice helped me immensely, and these are the points I would like to pass on:

• Find like minded people from within your organisation. Ask them for feedback and early warning if there are any problems.

• Create a support group of trusted friends or colleagues, or find a mentor, or even a therapist. A problem shared often really is a problem halved.

• Be a role model who others can follow, and make sure that you don’t pull up the ladder after you.

• Before any significant meeting, think about what you want to achieve. Write down your aims at the top of your papers for the meeting.

• Have your own red lines that you won’t cross, based on your values.

• When you’re trying to convey really important messages ensure that they’re properly recorded.

• Recognise that some discussions will take place in spaces you can’t access—pubs, clubs, social events. It’s important that you have sufficient informal one-to-one meetings with people of influence.

• Deal with overt discrimination. A good technique is successive questioning: “Could you clarify what exactly you mean?” And keep your cool.

• After a difficult meeting or media appearance, especially in the public domain, it’s normal to feel upset. Try to give yourself some downtime to recover.

• There will be times when you haven’t handled yourself well. Reflect and learn from them, but don’t beat yourself up. Be open about your failings.

• If something has gone badly, ask others close to you not to comment immediately. You know that it didn’t go well; what you want from them is support.

• When speaking publicly try not to speak too quickly, don’t raise your voice, prepare in your head what you want to say, and be aware of your body language.

• If you’re being bullied, step back, recognise the tactic, and devise ways of countering it—as you would in a difficult consultation.

• Be prepared to be a (subtle) self-publicist.

• Keep personal issues to yourself. Don’t indulge in gossip.

• Keep a diary: it helps you afterwards to reflect, learn, and understand what really went on.

I do hope that this list helps. Good luck with your leadership journey. You will not only survive but thrive.