The challenges and opportunities of leadership

Can you identify any early challenges that you came across when you were moving into a leadership role? 

Sarah Joyce (SJ): I have been in a leadership role for eight or nine years – before my Specsavers role, I was head of optical at Asda Opticians, which involved leading optical both in-store and online. That involved commercial, central operations, training, extended services, professional development, and governance.  

I had had leadership experience within store, supporting store teams and from a management perspective, but one of the biggest challenges when you’ve been in a testing room is moving into more strategic thinking, and trying to think about it more broadly and from an industry and organisational perspective. 

There’s so much variance across the nations, and even regionally within England. Originally, I was very much caught in my own little bubble of what was going on in the area I was working in. A challenge that first came up was the sheer variance of how optical services can be delivered across all those different areas, and trying to understand the different challenges for optometrists in those areas. What I was facing might not be the same for someone in a Scottish practice, or a London practice, or practice in Cornwall. It was interesting to broaden my horizons. 

Since moving to Specsavers, I’ve worked with practices in the Republic of Ireland, which I hadn't done before. Learning about the practices and the regulation over there has been really interesting, too. 

Suzanne Wadsworth (SW): Within optometry training , at university  there is not much opportunity given for leadership training, so it’s learning on the job a lot of the time. If this is what you aspire to do, you have to go out and seek that. It’s not for everybody, but these days, there is an aspiration for a lot of people to go into owning their own business or running their own practice. 

SJ: Leadership requires a slightly different skill set, so it was a good professional development opportunity. The benefit of the new continuing professional development (CPD) system means that you can tailor your development around lots of different leadership skills, as well as being an optometrist in clinical skills, whereas historically a lot of my skills have been around clinical and clinical leadership, and not necessarily the people leadership or strategic management side. That was probably one of the biggest learning curves for me, and where I had to try and increase my development the most, to be able to step into my first role outside the testing room. 

SW: Also, I was doing all of this in the midst of bringing up three children. The kids were school age when I became a director at BBR Optometry in 2016, but my children still very much needed their mother, I like to think that I have got the work-life blend to an achievable level but there are always challenges 

One thing I love about optometry, and also about leadership, is that you can very much work around family. It’s quite flexible. If I did need to have time off with the children, I could run a clinic or take on the management side at a particular time that worked.  

You have to think about the needs of your children, but also, you’ve got to think about the needs of the business. It is trying to juggle all of that. But within an optometric practice, I think you can get that mix quite easily. That balance can be achieved – it’s not insurmountable. 

Do you have any tips for managing individuals or teams?

SJ: For me, it’s all about understanding your team: knowing them well, understanding what makes them click, and looking after them. I find the best way to get the most out of your team is if you know what they want and what they need, what they’re looking to do, and what their aspirations are.  

Some of my proudest moments are seeing members of my team develop and move into other roles outside of my sphere or my organisation, and seeing them go on be successful, and knowing that I’ve had a tiny little piece in that development. That’s amazing. If you know what makes them click, you can support them with that. You focus on that element, and the rest just feeds into place. 

It’s always a challenge – there are always going to be people who think differently to you, and people who have got different ways of working. It’s key to sit back and understand what those are, and try and work out how you adapt, the same way you would do with a patient in a testing room. You adapt your style, your communication, and your ways of working, to be able to get the best out of people, and bring the best out yourself as well. 

SW: Communication, feedback, and improving your listening skills. I’ve done some work recently, about intergenerational workplaces and what different people want. The keys are empathy and communication: being there, asking what can be done to bring people on and move them up, and finding out what people’s skills and values are.  

I’m always trying to develop, too. I don’t think you're ever the finished article. I do a leadership course each month, looking at things like presenting skills and the integrated team, which has been really useful. 

How has been in a leadership role impacted your day-to-day work? 

SW: I’ve got the two hats that I wear: I’m still the clinician, I’m still a trainer, and I’m still looking after students. But also, there’s the management side. I split my time, and have ring-fenced admin time outside of clinic. 

A lot of the time, it’s juggling both on the same day, because your business doesn’t wait for you to have an admin day. It often means multi-tasking on the day. It makes it much more varied, which I really enjoy. It has given me something else to focus on. I really enjoy the clinical side, but I also really enjoy my development as a leader, hopefully inspiring the next generation of female optometrists coming up that they can do it too. 

Your business doesn’t wait for you to have an admin day. It often means multi-tasking

SJ: The thing I love about the job that I do and the roles that I’ve had in leadership, is that I’m still absolutely surrounded by optical and everything that I’ve grown up and developed in.  

Now, it is nice to be able take the skills, knowledge and experience that I’ve got, and be able to help create the tools and the environments that people need to be able to develop themselves or develop their teams. It’s really nice to take the skills I had, and then be able to gain new skills around strategic ways of thinking and communications and engagement and influencing, to be able to hopefully make a difference to more people and be able to support them in the way that people have supported me through my career.  

My job is very much about trying to make sure we have the right things in place to be able to support people to be the best that they can be, either as a clinical team or as a clinician. That’s a bit different than delivering it, as I used to do. It’s nice to be able to work on a bigger scale. 

What would you say to someone who is thinking of taking on a more leadership focused role, whether in practice or in a head office position, and is nervous about taking that step? 

SJ: Just throw yourself into it. We all struggle with imposter syndrome and worry about whether we know enough, or whether we are the best person for it. Actually, the answer is that none of us are perfect, and we’re never always going to know the right answers. But the key to being a good leader is to be willing to go out there and learn more, and to understand who can support you for that information. You don’t have to do it single handedly. 

Also, recognise that everybody’s voice is important. Don’t be scared to share your opinion. You’ve got a right to be at that table as much as anybody else. It’s really important to get a wealth of views, and to be challenged, and to get people to come in with constructive criticism and to look at things differently, because that’s how you get the best end result. The more you get involved in those conversations, the easier it gets. 

The key to being a good leader is to be willing to go out there and learn more, and to understand who can support you for that information. You don’t have to do it single handedly

SW: Embrace it. It’s difficult, and it’s out of your comfort zone. But try it, because it’s really rewarding. It gives you something slightly different to your clinical role. There are lots of people who will be there to support you. We learn from making mistakes, and you need to make a few before you actually learn.  

Also, you need to find out how you want to lead. Working within a leadership team of three, everybody needs to have slightly different skills. From a female point of view, you can offer a slightly different perspective, in terms of problem solving, and multi-tasking. Everybody has something to give.  

For me, a lot of it was learning on the job, in terms of development and finding out where my strengths lay. I like working within a leadership team where we can all bounce off each other and use our different skills to move the business on. 

I think having both women and men within leadership roles is really useful. Optometry is a very female profession, but in terms of leadership roles, it has been much more male dominated. I think that’s changing. I think that people are now aspiring to further their careers, whether that is purely along the clinician route, or both aspects.  

I’ve got a daughter, a step-daughter, and a daughter-in-law, all of whom are very strong female characters. I want to feel I’ve given them the inspiration to go out and do their thing in the world, and become leaders too. 

What extra career opportunities has being in a leadership position given you? 

SJ: My leadership roles within organisations have enabled me to increase my network, and to have opportunities within sector bodies. I’m a non-executive director of the Federation of Dispensing Opticians (FODO), I’m currently the FODO chair, and I sit on the Local Optical Committee Support Unit board, and the General Optical Council’s Companies Committee.  

As I gain more experience through my roles in my day-to-day job, I’ve had opportunities to get involved with committees and working groups, which has then given me the stepping stone to be able to join board roles.  

For me, it’s always about saying yes and just giving it a go. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve had opportunities come along. I’ve said yes to them, and that has led to the next thing, and it has developed my skills and helped me hopefully become a better leader because of it. 

SW: There was a financial gain. But it’s more about job satisfaction, and having another string to your bow – having something else that you want to do. I love the clinical side of the job, but also, I like looking at the other aspects of the how the practice runs and how we can make it better.  

It’s been a great development opportunity for my skills. Communication is so important in the consulting room, and these skills are all interchangeable. You have to communicate to a patient, and you will also have to communicate to a team member. The skills are there, but they are developed by interactions with team members and peers. 

We learn from making mistakes, and you need to make a few before you actually learn

What benefit has mentorship had in your career? 

SW: Coming into a well-established leadership team in 2016 with the BBR Optometry directors at that time, Nick Rumney and Nick Black, really helped in my development in terms of leadership, as we had the opportunity to learn from one another.  

The practice was started by Angela and Peter Bishop. Angela was a great leader in terms of starting up the business, which she did alongside her husband, and pushing women forward in optometry. I built on from where she left – when she retired, I came in initially as maternity cover and built from there. 

SJ: Certain people have either officially or unofficially been mentors in my life, and they’ve given me confidence and championed me, and given me that sounding board and that extra nudge when I’ve needed it, to let me believe that I should go after that, or that I do have a right to be at that table.  

For me, mentorship is about having that champion behind you to have a chat with, to bounce ideas off, to talk about things that are making you concerned, and to be able to see a different viewpoint and let someone support you through it. The biggest bit is having that cheerleader: someone to give you that extra little bit of a boost, who is maybe outside of your normal line management or your initial circle of people.   

SW: From a female point of view, I hope that younger optometrists coming into the profession really want to aspire to move their career on, and that they never find any barriers to that – gender being one of those. You would hope, these days, that they can have the career that they want, without barriers getting in their way.