IWD 2021: Meg Gibson-Jones - Empowering Women in Innovation

As part of International Women’s Day, we interview Meg Gibson-Jones, on her role as Founder of Seed to Oak, her views on women in business and what a more gender-balanced world-view means to her.

Tell us about your role. 

I’m the Founder and CEO of Seed to Oak, a management consultancy business working with leadership teams across the mid-market. I also work part-time at Business West as part of the Innovation Team supporting high-potential businesses to develop and grow.

Seed to Oak’s purpose is to “enable leaders to see the wood from the trees” and we mix together coaching, consultancy and real-world experience to deliver a pragmatic, action-orientated service which ultimately results in meaningful change (increased growth, profitability or performance) for our clients.

As Founder of the business, my role encompasses approximately 50% client delivery (creating and delivering workshops, coaching, reviewing, and writing documents) and 50% everything else (marketing, website development, networking, accounting, invoicing, managing our contractors, and checking to see if I have forgotten to pay HMRC).

What do you enjoy most about your job?  

The long term relationships we build with clients. It allows our service to adapt and grow as the client’s business and our external environment changes.

Getting to flip between consultant (e.g. working on something specific in the business) to coach (working on a longer term upskilling of people) is a really unique position which means we can both quickly add significant value through a project whilst also challenging long-held beliefs about what is possible in a way that is difficult without the trust and rapport that develops over time.

Being there consistently, month-on-month also means we get to see and hear about the impact of our support in real-time, when someone tells you they have had their “best January ever” or they’ve been able to think differently and unlock new ideas as a result of our work together, it’s difficult not to feel a bit fuzzy inside. 

And what are the most challenging aspects? 

The single most challenging aspect has been separating “my business” from “me”, setting boundaries and switching off. When you are the driving force behind something it can be difficult to step away for a break for fear that everything may suddenly stop. Spoiler: it doesn’t. 

What 3 things do you think you need to progress as a woman in business?

Ultimately, there are systemic issues and biases in our organisational (and societal) cultures that need to be challenged and changed for progress to be made. These lie outside of individual traits and experience, however as individuals we do have a role to play. We need:

1. Advocates. We need more people with the confidence to recommend or promote people who are not like themselves, or to whom they cannot directly relate. Strong advocates in decision making positions are vital to progression. 
2. To be an advocate for others. As we climb and become the decision makers, we need to be the advocates for the next wave of changemakers. This involves challenging our own biases, being vulnerable and may involve passing over opportunities to others who are better qualified but less privileged than ourselves. We can also do our bit to recognise and reward wider skills that benefit our businesses but have been historically overlooked (e.g. compassion, ability to anticipate others needs etc.).
3. To be an advocate for yourself. We need to unapologetically self-promote. To have and hold a strong sense of purpose, knowing our worth, and asking to be rewarded (financially and via opportunities) for what we bring. Tied into this is the resilience to continue to back ourselves even if others don’t immediately see our worth (although a form of backing ourselves may also be walking away from places and situations that fail to value your contribution).

What are the biggest challenges the future generation of women in business face?

Because systemic change is slow, the challenges future generations will face will be the same underlying challenges those who identify as women or any marginalized group face today (e.g. access to funding, networks and advocates, to name a few). The scale of the opportunity from mobilising talent and removing gender as an influencing factor in how we spend our time and energy brings huge benefits overall, however in reality it will take a huge change in our collective thinking to get there. 

What can the next generation bring to business that previous generations may not have?

A more holistic approach to growth that recognises costs and benefits outside of the direct financial impact. There are companies already doing this with integrity (and I’m proud to work with some of them), however in the future I think a focus on people, planet and profit as equal contributors to success, rather than purely shareholder value, will be the norm. 

What does a more gender-balanced world-view mean for you?

It means real inclusion for all gender identities rather than just a surface-level “balance” of numbers. It’s giving equal space and weighting to all voices, really listening to diverse viewpoints and allowing them to contribute to decision making. “Balance” will be meaningful when all voices in, and outside of the room are considered and have meaningful opportunity to drive positive change. 

How can we enable more women to take a place at the board-room table?

As a society, we need to nurture a wider, more diverse candidate pool from the bottom up. This will involve questioning gender roles at home (e.g. caregiving), reviewing our subconscious bias around part-time and flexible working, questioning our education system and reframing what we think a leader “is” or “should” be. At an organizational level, the people who have influence over decision making need to feel more able to challenge and ask difficult questions without negative repercussions.

If we can get to a place where we view constructive challenge as a positive act in helping us develop our thinking - a compliment from the challenger who trusts us/ cares enough to ask us to do better - that would be a positive step.  

How can businesses evolve to be more gender-balanced?

As business leaders, we need to take responsibility for affecting change within our own businesses. There are many ways to inject diversity of thinking including considering our advisers, mentors, the books we read and of course, where we spend our money. We also need to not only consider who is in the room or meeting, but who is not (e.g. flexible/ part-time workers) and how we can ensure we benefit from their intellectual horsepower too.

If we can value and financially reward contribution above presenteeism then this may enable our businesses to become more flexible, accessible, and inclusive for more people, improving performance as a result. 

What advice would you give to young women and men starting out in business today in context of promoting a more diverse world-view?

Talk, be prepared to make mistakes, be called-out on them, learn and change. Ultimately, don’t shrink yourself to fit into a space that doesn’t value you and the abundance of things you bring to the world. And if you can’t find the space for you, create it, and invite others in too. 

What women inspire you and why?

The people who inspire me most are those who navigate the world whilst being authentically themselves. They have influenced my leadership style and demonstrated that it is possible to be respected, successful and remain true to your values all at the same time.