Hayley Ballard

Prior to Mindshare I qualified in mentorship schemes and set up and led a “Women in the workplace” group to help support women of all ages and allow them to “buddy” up across teams. I joined Mindshare six months ago and here I have created the Knowledge exchange sessions”; these focus on sharing skills and knowledge across teams to create a sense of community and allow colleagues to network freely. I currently mentor two colleagues and a junior apprentice focusing on their career progression, mental wellbeing, health, and happiness.

For my own team I have introduced a weekly feedback session where we deep dive into diverse topics with no judgement, such as a piece of work that could have gone better, a situation they are proud of and why, advice they would like from the wider team. This creates a free following discussion where the team are in fact coaching and mentoring each other in a non-hierarchal, respectful and friendly way. This process has been adopted by other Account Directors and feedback has been positive and warming from the teams. Leadership is something that I dedicate myself to. I’m always striving to be a better leader, and this has stood my team in good stead as I’ve presided over three promotions, from my team within six months, through coaching and supporting them to reach their true potential. My team are supportive of each other, and I am immensely proud to lead them through their careers as colleagues and friends.