Andrea Featherstone
Andrea joined Leading Teams after a decade working as an unconventional mental health facilitator, training high performing leaders and teams across Australia, NZ and the UK in emotional intelligence and stress management. Andrea believes that humour and relatable storytelling are the key to building trust and engagement as a facilitator.
With an architecture degree, ten years as a small business owner with a team of six, five years facilitating for Australia’s leading preventative mental health not-for-profit, and a two year stint working on a superyacht for a Russian billionaire, Andrea has a diverse range of leadership experience to share, and loves creating environments where people feel safe to share their stories, with a few laughs along the way.
How would you like to be described by your family, friends, and clients?
Honest, kind, genuine, curious, high integrity, and fun to laugh with/at.
What is your favourite piece of leadership advice, or quote?
“The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off” – Gloria Steinem
“Be truthful, fearless and gentle” – Mahatma Ghandi
I thought I’d let Gloria and Mahatma bring it home together. I believe that honesty and kindness are the key to building strong relationships based on trust and respect, and that strong relationships are key to high performance as a team.
What does success look like with a client?
Success looks like team members building genuine and respectful relationships where they’re able to have honest conversations about whether each other’s behaviours are in line with the team’s values and purpose. Not just in our sessions, but long after we finish working with the team.
Tell us about your culture and leadership experience?
From 2 years grumpily vacuuming my way around the Mediterranean on a Russian billionaire’s superyacht under a high-pressure military-style hierarchy of leadership to 10 years leading a small business facilitating emotional intelligence & mental health workshops across trade, not-for-profit, government, corporate, and education sectors (and a lot of blokes in high-vis)…
I’ve experienced both brilliant and unfathomably bad workplace culture and leadership – and everything in between. I’m passionate about helping teams get clear on their values and agreed behaviours, build strong relationships, and facilitating genuine conversations that help high performing teams operate at their best.