"It's about having the conviction to make tough decisions"

HP What have been your major leadership challenges throughout the pandemic and how have you overcome these?

MB Joining IAPCO in 2019, the industry was booming and then Covid hit, and everything was flipped on its head. Taking a leadership role at IAPCO was really to build a strong relationship with our council which is our board and understanding their vision for IAPCO and understanding our members’ vision over the next five years.

We mapped out our five-year strategic plan and delivered this in February 2020, just as Covid arrived and from that point on, it has been about steering that strategic plan. We had to take a real second look at that when the pandemic hit.

There were some activities in the plan that we thought, ‘we cannot deliver on those,’ but most of the activities we were still able to deliver because they had a much bigger strategy in mind. But we had to be as agile as possible.

HP When were you at your lowest during the pandemic and what were your daily coping mechanisms?

MB From a personal perspective, there were a lot of people close to me that contracted Covid quite early doors and because it was such a new situation and there was so much uncertainty, that was an extremely nervous time for many people, including myself.

I had to take a step and ask, ‘What is important in life and what’s important to the people around us?’ I then also thought about this professionally.

I’ve had deep and meaningful conversations with plenty of our members over the last 18 months and it was very personal for some of them as well, I had to understand that and respect that.

HP Do you think your leadership style has changed throughout the pandemic?

MB A few years ago, I took what was called a Leadership Circle Profile Programme. It looked at four characteristics, creative, reactive, task and relationship. I review myself within those four as an individual, but also from an external perspective and hearing from others what they think of me within each of those four pillars as well.

For me, trying to get us all through Covid together, was in part reactive, and my reactive skill came out a little bit more than if we weren’t faced with such trying times. But I think as well, it came down to building relationships and solidifying relationships with other bodies and other professionals that are out there, for the greater good.

It was especially important to acknowledge that we were speaking up on behalf of PCOs, that’s our voice, but it was also important that we were coming together and speaking with a unified voice on behalf of our industry.

Again, back to that word ‘agile,’ my leadership had to be as agile as possible.

HP Looking back across the last 20 months, is there something you’re particularly proud of?

MB There’s a couple, but one thing I’m particularly proud of is our members and the way our members have adapted and adjusted quite quickly to working with their clients and getting their clients through what has been a challenging time for all of them. We have of course, supported them in any way we can with education, access to technologies, and open conversations with all of them to help them through. 

From a personal perspective, professionally speaking, I am immensely proud of what we’re accomplishing at IAPCO, putting a team together was something new for us and we’ve got some great skill sets around the table and there are some exciting times ahead for IAPCO.

I think if you can take a step back and lift your head up from all the craziness that has been going on around us and really look forward to the future and see what’s coming up, there are exciting opportunities for all of us.

So, I’m enormously proud of being able to get all of us through that together and get us to a point where we can look to moving forward.

It has been challenging, absolutely, but I’m proud of getting through it.

HP What do you think it takes to be a good leader?

MB For me, leadership is about having the conviction to make tough decisions, the strength to support and encourage other people, it’s about having the humility to take advice, be proud but also be humble at the same time, and it’s about having the vision to create. 

All of that mixed up together, with the flexibility to be as proactive as possible, and to adapt to the changing situations are what I think about every day.