175. Paula Redway on How to lead a strategy day

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In this episode of the How to Lead – 2025 Edition series, Julia speaks with Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager at Oxford City Council, who shares practical, creative, and refreshingly honest advice on running a strategy day.

Drawing on her background in the arts, Paula offers guidance on everything from how to set the tone and read the room, to how to use physical space, body language, and structure to help people open up and contribute. She discusses what makes people switch off in strategy sessions, how to deal with difficult participants, and how to use tools like parking intense conversations for later, movement, and physical prompts to keep energy and focus alive.

She also unpacks how to frame the day with clarity by setting the context, stating the purpose, acknowledging the politics in the room, and always keeping an eye on the outcome.

Listen to this episode to discover practical, people-centered strategies that will help you lead better strategy days.

About the Guest

Paula Redway

Currently the Business Lead for Culture and Community Development at Oxford City Council, Paula Redway has extensive experience as a CEO of arts centres, theatres and festivals in England and Wales. She is also a member of the executive committee of CLOA (the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association) and a trustee for Farnham Youth Choir and the Magna Carta Trust.

Outside of work, Paula loves singing, travelling and exploring the great outdoors with her family.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.