In our Aegis Leadership series, we highlight the perspectives of our managers across the Aegis organisation and asked them to share their latest tips and lessons learnt. Meet Lisa Creese, our Corporate and Governance Services Manager.
Lisa Creese joined Aegis shortly after its inception in 2001 and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (UK) with a specialised focus in Corporate Law and Governance. With her wealth of experience on immigration in Trinidad and Tobago, compliance with the Companies Registry as well as Tax and VAT registrations, she leads the operations of Aegis Corporate and Governance Services division. Given her years of service at Aegis, Ms Creese delved into her key leadership lessons over the years.
Helping your team build their confidence
Lisa constantly coaches her team in both technical and non-technical skills. Soft skills like directing difficult conversations and managing clients expectations are critical in this field. She further acknowledged that her hands-on approach to coaching has been very demanding but persevered due to the admiration and confidence she holds for her team and Aegis.
‘I enjoy it, I want to do it, I want the Corporate and Governance department to look good and I want Aegis to look good out there’
Lisa feels proud of the work her team produces and stated that excellent client feedback gives her team confidence. She also admitted that the transition to working from home allowed her team to work at a higher level, and growth.
‘Being in a space (home) where you are used to making your own decisions, encourages them to automatically make it”
Leadership Lessons
Lisa Creese is a hands-on leader. Through the evolution of her role at Aegis, Lisa has developed effective leadership system:
- Always be in guidance mode
- Identify informal leaders and encourage them to use their influence for the company
- Develop your soft skills
- Be transparent – when you are given advice or instructions from a high authority tactfully share this ‘inside’ knowledge with your team. It benefits the team as well.
- Ensure that your team is aware of the why, the how and the when as it relates to the strategic goals of the business.
- Build employee buy-in
Lisa stated that she is always amazed when her team takes on a leadership role in supporting and checking in with their co-workers. She explained that it’s because they understand their ‘why’ and purpose that certain activities must be carried out and how other activities affect the company’s bottom line. As a result, employees are self-motivated.
Head of Aegis Corporate & Governance Advisory services, Joanne Webb shared, ‘Lisa is a “people person” and this underpins her style of management. She has worked and continues to work on guiding and encouraging the members of the team and, over the years, has developed unique relationships with each of them. This has created an avenue for open and honest dialogue and, ultimately a more cohesive unit.’
For the future, Lisa sees Aegis being an employer of choice for young intelligent minds. She said that “we need young people to keep us on our toes, to ask new questions and challenge old concepts.”
