In the week that followed International Women’s Day, Olympic gold and bronze medallist Kate Richardson-Walsh OBE came to Winnersh Triangle to share some of her experiences of leadership, team building, goal setting and high performance.
As captain of the England and GB women’s hockey teams for 13 years and an international player for 17 years Kate was an integral part of the squad, unanimously voted in by her teammates for her ability to lead by example, nurture talent and bring the best out of people. Her career started in 1999 and she reached the pinnacle of the game, amassing three Commonwealth Games medals as well as bronze at London 2012 and Olympic gold in Rio.
During her visit, Kate spoke candidly about some of the more challenging times in her sporting career and how some of those setbacks helped to shape her future success. In London 2012 Kate’s jaw was broken in the first match, but she returned after only two games to play with a plate in her jaw and a facial mask. In 2014 the team hit a low with a 10th place finish at the Hockey World Cup when they had arrived as favourites. This started an intense period of introspection within the GB camp, during which their structure, team work and culture was laid bare and rebuilt from the bottom up. The result was a new vision ‘Be the difference, create history, inspire the future’, and a new culture and set of behaviours that each player was to live and breathe.
Katharine Westcar, Head of Marketing at Winnersh Triangle said: “We were really pleased to welcome Kate to Winnersh Triangle and to put on an event that was truly inspirational for our Winnersh community.
“It was apt that Kate’s visit came shortly after International Women’s Day, as a female leader who reached the pinnacle of her career, Kate also spoke passionately about equal opportunity for women and the need for flexibility in perceptions of what a leader should look and sound like. Kate explained that she had to find her own leadership style, which was not a kind that she had seen before and she believes that encouraging more diversity in leadership will give more women the confidence to take on leadership roles themselves.
“At Winnersh Triangle, we have created a space where successful people in all their diversity want to work and grow and we’re pleased that our business community thrives in a positive atmosphere, surrounded by a like-minded people in a business-friendly environment.”
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About Winnersh Triangle
Winnersh Triangle is an office and technology park located close to junction 10 of the M4, near Reading. Owned by Frasers Property UK, the 90-acre business park totals 1.5 million square feet and is occupied by over 60 companies employing more than 5,500 people. Visit winnershtriangle.co.uk for further information.
About Frasers Property UK
Frasers Property UK is a leading developer in London, and also owns and manages business parks in Thames Valley and Glasgow. The company’s development business has delivered more than 700 homes in London to date and is currently developing a 300,000 sq ft office scheme on the site of Central House in Aldgate East on the edge of the City of London. The company’s commercial/business parks business owns four business parks – Winnersh Triangle, Chineham Park, Watchmoor Park and Farnborough Business Park, in Thames Valley west of London – as well as Hillington Park, a business park in Glasgow.
For more information on Frasers Property UK, please visit https://www.frasersproperty.com/uk.
