Kathrina Nhan began her career in human relations within the federal government, where she was exposed to a range of opportunities that expanded her skills from a young age.
“Anything from staffing to classification to remuneration and benefits and learning and development, I was given a lot of opportunity to learn and grow,” says Nhan.
“And from there that’s where I started to explore all of the different facets of HR, see what I enjoyed the most, and what I enjoyed the least.”
Nhan found new challenges at every turn and navigating them with support from mentors and colleagues helped her to understand that anyone can become a good leader.
Now the People Lead for Business Partnering at WPP, she says leadership is a culmination of many skills, including communication, adaptability,emotional intelligence, as well as simply how you show up to your role.
Nahn says that all of this takes practice and can be in many different forms.
“There’s a lot of different ways that you can show up as a leader, and it doesn’t have to be in that hierarchical sense,” she says.
When Nahn thinks back to her very first experience of being a leader, she considers her childhood role of big sister to a younger brother to be a particularly transformative part of her identity as a leader.
“I was always who my younger brother looked up to when it came to direction or what to do and what actions to take,” she says.
Now that she’s added to this leadership experience with her professional career, Nahn has learned that self-reflection is a key part of being able to successfully guide other people.
“Asking yourselves questions like, ‘what are my values?’, ‘What are my personality traits?’ and ‘how do I want others to perceive me?’, is a really good place to start,” she says.
“When you’re done kind of looking at yourself internally, I would say you’re looking externally, right, and seeking feedback from others, not only those that are your promoters, but also those that can be your detractors.”
She describes the ‘promoters’ as being essentially “your North Star”, meaning “these are the people you want to either emulate or how you want others to perceive you”. The opposite is true of your ‘detractors’.
It’s also important to understand “who your audience is” when it comes to developing a leadership style, Nahn says.
“Knowing your audience means getting to understand what motivates them and who they are as individuals and as a group. And also having a common goal in mind.”
When you understand your audience, it allows you as an individual to better understand how to adapt your approach,” noting that this is particularly important if you want your team to understand your point of view as a leader and take it into consideration.
Nahn shared this advice during her keynote session for Women’s Agenda’s new video app series, The Keynotes.
The Keynotes app shares “Mini Keynote” sessions and insights on leadership, equity, current affairs, climate and so much more. To watch Kathrina Nahn’s keynote as well as other sessions, sign up to the app here.