The Connection Between Personal Growth and Leadership in Transforming Organizations

Welcome to the Vantage Influencers podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Vantage Circle, the simple and effective recognition platform for employee engagement.

Riha Jaishi: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Vantage HR Influencers podcast. I'm your host, Riha, and today we are exploring a topic that sits at the heart of sustainable change: the connection between personal growth and leadership in transforming organizations. So when organizations talk about transformation, the conversation often stays at the surface, like new structures, new tools, new ways of working, but the real shift happens deeper. It happens when leaders grow, because people do not follow a change plan, they follow the person leading it. And to help us unpack this, I'm joined by Aline Khoury, HR senior business partner for the Middle East and Africa at AVEVA. With 20 plus years across industries and markets in MEA and Turkey, Aline has seen firsthand that the most sustainable change starts with self-aware leaders who can stay steady in uncertainty. She's also CIPD certified and a certified co-active coach, and she is passionate about building inclusive cultures and helping leaders thrive in dynamic environments. So welcome to the show, Aline. It's a pleasure to have you with us today.

Aline Khoury: Thank you. Thank you, Riha, for the introduction. It's really inspiring because this is what I'm going to talk about. I'm so excited to share my thoughts on personal growth and leadership.

Riha Jaishi: We are equally excited, Aline. So to kick things off, can you briefly take us through your professional journey so far? We are eager to learn about your journey.

Aline Khoury: Sure. So yeah, definitely. My name is Aline Khoury and I'm Lebanese, living in Dubai. I started my career after graduating from college in Lebanon, and I've been in Dubai for more than 17 years. I have extensive experience in HR. HR, for me, is very close to my heart. I love it, it's my passion. I've worked in many sectors, for example, retail, FMCG, hospitality, engineering, construction, oil and gas, and ended up in a software company. And as you know, Riha, HR is about you, it's about the organization. No matter what sector you are working in, you are still doing your HR job, and you will find some differences and some challenges in every sector, which makes you a better and more experienced leader in HR. So throughout my career, now at AVEVA, and I've worked with six companies so far, I always invested in myself, Riha, and this is what you are talking about in this session. As you mentioned, I completed my CIPD, which is a very well-known HR certification, and then coaching, which added value to our portfolio as HR professionals. Coaching as well was a trend, and it was something everybody should be doing, coaching and being coached. So other than that, I continued investing in myself, to be honest, through different coaching certifications, positive intelligence, strengths-based coaching, and StrengthsFinder among others, and this added a lot to how important self-growth is for me.

Riha Jaishi: That's such an inspiring venture, Aline. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

Aline Khoury: Welcome. I'm excited to be here, actually, Riha.

Riha Jaishi: Oh, great, that's great, we are excited too. Okay, so now with your permission, Aline, I would like to delve into our topic further, shall we?

Aline Khoury: Of course. Let's go ahead.

Riha Jaishi: Okay. So Aline, in your experience, how has personal growth shaped your approach to leadership? Can you share a moment when you realized that growing as a person directly impacted your leadership style?

Aline Khoury: Yeah. When I look back, Riha, I realized that my leadership style has evolved over the years as I have grown personally. Early in my career, I used to focus on HR practices, procedures, outcomes, which are mainly the typical HR metrics. But as I invested in my own development, through coaching certifications and through self-reflection, I realized that leadership is really about people. One turning point was when I completed my co-active coaching certification. It was back in 2019, by the way. It taught me how important self-awareness is. It taught me how important it is to listen deeply to people and to ask powerful questions, which can transform relationships. That shift from managing to partnering has impacted me a lot. I started to lead with presence, to lead with influence, to deeply listen, and to explore new perspectives. This co-active coaching certification was really a journey of self-discovery. It impacted me a lot in the sense of how we can learn about different perspectives and how this can be translated in the workplace while communicating with others. This was my journey, my turning point.

Riha Jaishi: Aline, I really liked how you framed your idea around leadership, that it's more about people, about self-discovery, self-awareness, deep listening, and asking powerful questions. These are some important pointers that every other leader out there should really get into, reflect on, and start working on. When there is personal growth, your explanation shows how personal growth is aligned with growth as a leader.

Aline Khoury: Definitely, Riha, because over the years, I have learned that how we are as individuals shapes the way we lead, and this will never stop. We evolve, and the business evolves with us.

Riha Jaishi: Yes, definitely. Aline, moving ahead, how do you think personal growth can influence a leader's ability to drive transformation within an organization? Can you cite any examples from your career that have stood out in this?

Aline Khoury: Yeah, you won't believe it, but it's probably a coincidence. In every organization I have worked in, and I've worked with a total of six companies, there was a transformation phase, and from an HR perspective, I was the change agent lead of that transformation. I don't want to go into detail for every experience I had, but transformation is not really about systems. This is what I have learned. Transformation is about mindset, how we see the transformation. What I learned from the transformation phases is that resilience and empathy matter, because transformation, Riha, can be so challenging. I had an experience of a transformation phase when I joined AVEVA, in fact. It can be very challenging, but at the same time, that's why I'm referring to the mindset, because it can be very positive as well. Transformation isn't only there to disrupt the lives of employees. No, it can be very positive. What I can say is that it's positive because, for example, one of the companies I was working for got acquired by another company. As the change agent lead from an HR perspective for that transformation, it ended up with a promotion for myself. That's how I'm saying it can be positive in all aspects. One thing is that instead of pushing change, it was more about focusing on creating dialogue and trust. This is what's important. While in the transformation process, it's not that we impose the change. No, we don't impose the change. We have to create dialogue between us and the employees, and create trust, so that we can ease the transformation process and the implementation as well. This is what I think about my experience with transformation and what my learning is, and how we can implement it.

Riha Jaishi: Aline, what you explained just now really shows, like you mentioned earlier, that transformation is about mindset and not systems. This really shows that transformation isn't spread through presentations. It's more about behavior, like you mentioned, about resilience and empathy, about exchanging dialogue and building trust. Everything is about behavior, that kind of exchange between people, that dialogue, that trust-building, and not only relying on systems. And getting people to adapt to this transformation phase, how can you do that without trust, without empathy?

Aline Khoury: Yes, yes, absolutely.

Riha Jaishi: Well said, Aline. Okay, so now moving ahead, Aline, personal growth is often seen as a lifelong journey. How do you make sure that your growth stays in line with the changing needs of your organization?

Aline Khoury: For me, it's about staying curious and connected. What's happening within the organization, connection with people, engaging with people is very important, and I do believe highly in communication. As well as on a personal level, I really like to read books. I read from time to time, usually before I sleep at night, because otherwise there's no other time. Currently, I'm reading a book that captured my attention on social media, so I ordered it from Amazon and I'm currently reading it halfway through. It's called "Let Them" by Mel Robbins. It's really powerful and spot-on information that I can learn from. This is an example, because I'm currently reading it now. I love to read at night, it keeps my mind engaged. Also, I use coaching as a tool, not only for others, I use it for myself. It really helps me to reflect and adapt. For me, I see growth as a partnership. As the business evolves, I have to evolve with it, so I need to stay connected and see what's happening and what's new, and how I can learn from it.

Riha Jaishi: Absolutely. Well said, Aline. Two major things I really liked, that leaders should take into consideration, are staying curious and connected. I guess these are the most important points as leaders. With the coming changes and evolution that is happening, that simultaneous evolution of the leader is also a must, right? A major consideration?

Aline Khoury: Correct. Yes.

Riha Jaishi: Aline, moving ahead, how do you balance your personal development with your leadership responsibilities? What are some of the practices you've adopted to integrate growth into your daily routine as a leader?

Aline Khoury: Sometimes it can be very simple, and I see it as going hand in hand. For example, personally, what I do, and it's really very simple, I hope you'll agree with me, is I reflect and analyze a lot. I communicate with people I trust and learn from their perspective. I also seek feedback from the people I trust. They give me ideas to implement at the workplace. These people in my life, I truly appreciate, and they really matter. These are a few things, and as I told you, they are very simple ones that we can maintain. What else? I like to share my journey. I like to influence people and let them know that working on ourselves is really very important, because sometimes you get influenced by the stories of people. You don't have to attend a professional training or something. Really simple things can let you learn as much as you engage with people. You learn about them and you learn from them. This is important. Whatever happens to me personally, any situation, I share it with my daughter because I want her to learn from it. Maybe it won't happen to her, or it's not happening now with her, but to help her avoid it, I'm sure she will learn from the story I'm sharing, and what's good and what's incorrect in our lives. In this way, we are creating a culture where development is being valued and appreciated, not expected. It's not that the company has to let me attend a training. No, I don't want to wait for the company to let me go attend a professional training. I have to work on myself, and these things that I told you, they are very simple things that I rely on day-to-day, and they really help me. I learn a lot from them as well.

Riha Jaishi: Aline, you have given such a practical take on balancing personal development with leadership responsibilities. The pointers you mentioned, reflecting and analyzing, communicating and learning, sharing experiences, seeking feedback, and acknowledging development, these are some very important pointers that you have cultivated in yourself, and I'm sure leaders out there are going to learn from this and implement it themselves as well, right?

Aline Khoury: Yeah, I'm sure. And again, the pool of people around you that you trust isn't a big number, but there will be some people who can influence you positively and whose perspectives you can learn from, which is very important.

Riha Jaishi: Yes, absolutely. Okay, so moving ahead, Aline, can you recall a situation where a personal challenge you faced helped you become a more effective leader in your organization, and how did that experience help you transform your leadership approach?

Aline Khoury: A personal challenge situation, I can tell you about a combination of personal situations that happened to me at once. I recall a couple of years back, I was still new at AVEVA, and that year was really a trial year for me, in all aspects, because so many things happened on different levels. Without going into details, I was thinking, you know, sometimes you don't have answers to all the questions, and sometimes so many things happen that you don't understand what's going on. So really, it's not one situation, it's a combination of situations. Let me tell you what I learned from this challenge. I definitely learned resilience. I also learned authenticity, and how to stay true to myself. If I felt something, whether I should say it or not, I was able to communicate it. So this is part of my authenticity. I was free like a bird, so I said everything I should say and didn't say what I shouldn't. I learned that authenticity is very important, whether the outcome of that authenticity is positive or negative. It didn't matter to me. I wanted to be true to myself. This led to my persistence. So again, I learned how persistent I am. If I want something, I want it to happen, as much as possible, of course. So again, resilience, authenticity, and persistence. In my life, these are very important. To be honest with you, I maintain these three values. And this ended up affecting my trust in people, but it also ended up with my self-love, because this is how I valued myself at the end. So the impact of these three on me was to give myself priority. When I say self-love, I mean valuing myself and putting myself in front, as a priority. So this is what it led to, from everything that happened to me during that year, which was positive. What happened with me was weird, unexpected, painful, and challenging. But this is what it led to. So how did I transform this into my leadership style? It made me more inclusive, I would say, and a more collaborative leader. This is how it impacted me in the workplace.

Riha Jaishi: Aline, first of all, thank you for being open about that. People go through a lot, right? Personally, there are so many challenges, and it really shapes people into who they are becoming. There's so much to learn, and it takes depth to turn a personal challenge into leadership maturity. It's not just about survival, right?

Aline Khoury: Yeah, of course. It was about accepting what's happening with you, and thinking about what matters most.

Riha Jaishi: Thank you once again, Aline, for your experience. Okay, so now moving ahead, before we wrap up our session, is there any advice, Aline, that you would like to give to the emerging leaders out there who are looking to cultivate both their personal and professional growth?

Aline Khoury: My advice will be, invest in yourself. Don't wait for organizations to invest in you. Second, be self-aware. Self-awareness taught me a lot, so be self-aware, it helps you make better decisions. It could also be, be emotionally intelligent. It enables you to handle complexity. Leave your ego at home, so ego management is important for a leader. That's an important point. And what else? Learn how to sit with discomfort. Because sometimes during meetings, we hear a lot about things that don't seem logical or applicable, and then we react and think, "oh no, this couldn't happen." I think sometimes silence is really powerful. So counting to ten, and sometimes you need to count to twenty. This is important for me. It happens a lot. Learning how to sit in silence is very important. Learning to sit with discomfort. So yeah, I would say these five are good advice. At the end of the day, leadership isn't about perfection. It's about authenticity.

Riha Jaishi: Yes, absolutely. That's one of the biggest takeaways you've given here. Leadership is about authenticity, not perfection. And the points you've given are extremely important pointers that leaders should keep in mind and try to cultivate within themselves, right?

Aline Khoury: Yeah, exactly. Because when you grow as a person, you grow as a leader naturally, and I would say personal growth and leadership are inseparable. They are deeply connected. And the more we evolve, the more impact we create, not just in organizations, but in the lives of the people we lead, at home, with your friends, while communicating with people. So you lead everywhere. You don't lead only at work.

Riha Jaishi: Yes. You've beautifully described that connection, that link between personal growth and leadership, and how it positively impacts the organization and the lives of other people as well, right?

Aline Khoury: Connect, connect, 100%. And I believe in this.

Riha Jaishi: Yes, it is, definitely. So, Aline, we have finally come to the end of our podcast session. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing such wonderful insights. It's been more than a pleasure hearing your perspectives on how personal growth and leadership go hand in hand in transforming organizations. We truly appreciate your time and expertise, and I'm sure everyone tuning into the session is inspired and walking away with a wealth of information.

Aline Khoury: I hope so, Riha. Again, thank you, and thank you to Vantage Circle for having me. I hope to keep in touch.

Riha Jaishi: Yes. Thank you once again, Aline. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We hope you found today's conversation as enlightening as we did. So, until next time, take care, and we'll see you soon.

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