Seven things women in business can learn from Cat Smith’s election campaign

I’ve got to be honest I have absolutely no idea what is going on with UK politics right now, it all looks like madness to me, but a little while ago we had a General Election and our MP, Cat Smith, was re-elected.

Cat had a marginal seat and having only been an MP for two years she had a heck of a battle on her hands.

All of which made her majority of 6,661,  increasing her vote by over 12%, pretty darn impressive. If that was a business I would expect her to win business growth of the year hands down!

Cat took time to come and talk to the women of The Growing Club in May and shared some of the things she has learnt as she had to hit the ground running. So I thought I would continue with that theme and share what I think are some good lessons for women in business.

Like many people I paid better attention to the General Election this year and I watched how Cat’s campaign was run.

Here are some of the things I noticed…

1. Cat didn’t think she should do it all herself. So many women think that they do have to, but Cat knew this required a monumental team  effort. As it turned out there was a record number of volunteers offering their time and services.
2. Cat communicated her story, her intentions and  her values so those people were clear about what they were buying into.
3. Her team were not about ego, they were about the shared mission whether they were stuffing envelopes, door knocking, or planning.
4. Cat remained very visible, on social media, printed media and face to face.
5. She kept asking, she didn’t slip into the trap of worrying that she was being a pest!
6. She pays attention. She asks and then listens to what people have to say.
7. She builds relationships. She is generous with her time, open and friendly and on election day she delivered cakes to all the campaign office volunteers.

Now in my opinion being an MP is crazy job and I certainly would not want to put in the hours that Cat does, but there are things that we can take from this if we want growth.  Many of the things Cat does, I see women in business backing off from. So many of us don’t ask for help, don’t communicate our story and don’t build teams – because we are too busy!

What about you? Are you a busy fool, or are you building a solid sustainable organisation for growth?

If you are a woman in business and would like to know more about The Growing Club click HERE or drop Jane an email at Jane@janebinnion.com The next group starts on October 10th.