As the first woman to lead one of Britain’s major banks, Dame Alison Rose is widely recognised in the finance sector. She is especially known for her team-based leadership at NatWest and has inspired many by sharing leadership guidance on podcasts, shows, and events.
These include a Women on Boards event, the Thinkin podcast, and the TV programme Leaders With Lacqua. Here are some of the leadership insights she has shared with audiences.
Balancing CEO Responsibilities in Challenging Socioeconomic Times
On Leaders With Lacqua, Alison described her biggest challenge as balancing all aspects of leadership. At NatWest, this meant juggling every stakeholder, customer, and community need while crafting a “purpose-led” business strategy and motivating an entire workforce.
Balancing these requirements can be particularly challenging in some socioeconomic conditions, especially those with unknown implications. In Alison’s case, she was running NatWest during Covid-19, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine.
These contexts gave Alison’s CEO role a more “hands-on” approach than was necessary before, which suited her as a leader who loves to get involved. She created a “learning organisation” with her team and prioritised building close customer relationships.
As banking is a service-led industry, Alison recognised the value of providing customers with consistent, long-term support. Offering this support during such upheaval “really centred … the importance of clear leadership, clear direction, [and] the balance that people have in their lives” for her.
Empowering Those Who Aren’t in Leadership Positions
On the Thinkin podcast, Alison explained that strong leadership involves empowering those who aren’t in senior leadership positions.
She “increasingly empower[ed] people in branches to make decisions,” knowing that the “strength” of NatWest’s relationships resides between employees in branches and customers. She knew that these are the people who “really understand what’s going on.”
Managing Stress and Anxiety as a High-Profile Leader
Also on the Thinkin podcast, Alison reflected on managing stress and anxiety in a high-profile leadership position. This stress can be particularly prevalent in the banking sector because banks can cause such a high level of damage if they make a mistake.
To manage this pressure, Alison:
- Grounded herself by focusing on building long term value in the business recognising the roles was “enormous privilege.”, and building strength and depth in the teams around her to ensure strong succession
- Ensured she always followed a purpose-led strategy, which she knew aligned with NatWest being “a force for good.”
- Leaned into her team, considering her leadership part of a “team sport.”
- Accepted that keeping informed and ensuring things were happening as planned and spending time with clients and junior teams to ensure there was a good feel for what was happening and the reality of implementation. In addition, acknowledging in a high paced transformation not everything will go to plan but making sure visibility of the data and knowing that everyone makes mistakes, and only controlling factors she could control.
- Invested time talking to customers and colleagues so she could oversee quick, efficient responses to challenges.
Overall, working closely with her team and being open about all operations made it easier to lead without stress.
The Value of Mentorship for Aspiring Leaders
Speaking at a Women on Boards event, Alison emphasised the value of mentorship for everyone, including leaders.
Although she didn’t have mentors when she started her career at NatWest, she did have the opportunity to try several roles on a graduate programme. This allowed her to enjoy several experiences within the bank where she could learn from a variety of people.
Since then, she’s received mentorship from many individuals within and outside of NatWest. This proved invaluable during her tenure as CEO in times when she wasn’t sure what action to take or whether an idea had merit. As a result, she considers mentorship “vital” and an “escape valve” when you’re facing pressure to “do it all on your own.”
She explained that “you really succeed by being part of a team” and that it isn’t a strength to believe you have to reach your goals alone.
About Alison Rose
Thanks to her industry-defining work in the banking sector, Alison Rose became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2023. Much of her influential work involved supporting vulnerable customers and providing female entrepreneurs with resources to help them start and scale businesses.
She is perhaps most known for her Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship. This government-commissioned report identified the challenges women in business face and detailed comprehensive opportunities to overcome these.
Today, Dame Alison is a Senior Advisor to a number of CEOs and Boards, and advises the law firm Mishcon de Reya and the private equity firm Charterhouse. She is also Vice Chair of Business in the Community and a Trustee for Help for Heroes a leading Veterans Charity