23 min

Kelly Taggart, CEO of Roses Only Group on leading with creativity and intuition Leading Women

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Join Rebekah Campbell as she chats with Kelly Taggart, CEO of Roses Only Group.  Kelly leads with creativity and intuition and uses data to back her decisions. With a burning desire to grow a business, Kelly boldly stepped beyond the finance role and into the CEO seat. Today, we talk about leading teams with a focus on results and outputs, the importance of a considered hiring process and onboarding experience, and how instilling an owner's mindset encourages the team to thrive. 
 
Key Insights 
(01:32) How does Kelly describe her leadership journey? 
Kelly recalled a conversation with her father who said “you never know who your next boss will be and you never know who will end up working for you”. This sparked the idea that she could lead anyone, not just someone younger or less experienced than her. Kelly began her journey at Roses Only Group as an accountant, and quickly moved to managing the finance and contact centre teams. She then became COO, before rising to CEO.  
 
(13:52) What are Kelly’s thoughts on onboarding and how the process can establish culture?  
For Kelly, the onboarding experience is just as important as the hiring process. A great deal of time is spent hiring the right person, a leader should onboard them into the company culture. This, for Kelly and the Roses Only Group, includes meeting the team and helping them to understand how different teams impact their roll. Kelly encourages a thorough onboarding process to help new employees feel comfortable to speak up with new ideas and fresh perspectives.  
 
(21:44) What has Kelly learnt from managing a team of 300 people?  
Communication is everything. For Kelly, it is so important to communicate in many ways to ensure everyone hears your message and that communication is to be done with positivity.  
 
Important Resources and Links  
If you’d like to learn more about how CommBank is supporting the growth of women in business visit https://www.commbank.com.au/women-in-focus.html   
 
Host of the Leading Women podcast, Rebekah Campbell is a high-profile entrepreneur and public speaker who spoke at TEDx Sydney (2012). Rebekah is co-founder of payments app Hey You and author of the book ‘138 Dates’ published by Allen & Unwin in 2021. Rebekah was named a Woman of Influence in 2015 and APEC Young Woman Innovator. She was the host and curator of the City of Sydney's virtual event series 'Reboot', supporting 18,000 Sydney business owners to recover from the impact of COVID in 2020 / ‘21. If you’re interested in learning more about Rebekah visit her website: www.rebekahcampbell.com 
 
The Leading Women podcast is proudly brought to you by Commonwealth Bank.  The series is produced by Nicole Hatherly, recorded at RadioHub Studios with post production by Cooper Silk and Iain Wilson. 
 
Things you should know: Guests featured in the podcast are speaking from their personal experiences only. As this podcast has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on the content consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. CommBank does not necessarily endorse the views of a particular individual or guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. 

Join Rebekah Campbell as she chats with Kelly Taggart, CEO of Roses Only Group.  Kelly leads with creativity and intuition and uses data to back her decisions. With a burning desire to grow a business, Kelly boldly stepped beyond the finance role and into the CEO seat. Today, we talk about leading teams with a focus on results and outputs, the importance of a considered hiring process and onboarding experience, and how instilling an owner's mindset encourages the team to thrive. 
 
Key Insights 
(01:32) How does Kelly describe her leadership journey? 
Kelly recalled a conversation with her father who said “you never know who your next boss will be and you never know who will end up working for you”. This sparked the idea that she could lead anyone, not just someone younger or less experienced than her. Kelly began her journey at Roses Only Group as an accountant, and quickly moved to managing the finance and contact centre teams. She then became COO, before rising to CEO.  
 
(13:52) What are Kelly’s thoughts on onboarding and how the process can establish culture?  
For Kelly, the onboarding experience is just as important as the hiring process. A great deal of time is spent hiring the right person, a leader should onboard them into the company culture. This, for Kelly and the Roses Only Group, includes meeting the team and helping them to understand how different teams impact their roll. Kelly encourages a thorough onboarding process to help new employees feel comfortable to speak up with new ideas and fresh perspectives.  
 
(21:44) What has Kelly learnt from managing a team of 300 people?  
Communication is everything. For Kelly, it is so important to communicate in many ways to ensure everyone hears your message and that communication is to be done with positivity.  
 
Important Resources and Links  
If you’d like to learn more about how CommBank is supporting the growth of women in business visit https://www.commbank.com.au/women-in-focus.html   
 
Host of the Leading Women podcast, Rebekah Campbell is a high-profile entrepreneur and public speaker who spoke at TEDx Sydney (2012). Rebekah is co-founder of payments app Hey You and author of the book ‘138 Dates’ published by Allen & Unwin in 2021. Rebekah was named a Woman of Influence in 2015 and APEC Young Woman Innovator. She was the host and curator of the City of Sydney's virtual event series 'Reboot', supporting 18,000 Sydney business owners to recover from the impact of COVID in 2020 / ‘21. If you’re interested in learning more about Rebekah visit her website: www.rebekahcampbell.com 
 
The Leading Women podcast is proudly brought to you by Commonwealth Bank.  The series is produced by Nicole Hatherly, recorded at RadioHub Studios with post production by Cooper Silk and Iain Wilson. 
 
Things you should know: Guests featured in the podcast are speaking from their personal experiences only. As this podcast has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on the content consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. CommBank does not necessarily endorse the views of a particular individual or guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. 

23 min