McBryde was guest speaker at the awards ceremony at Cardiff Hilton, and represented the Welsh Rugby Union as sponsors of the Team Leader award.
He said, “It’s important to recognise leadership in this way and it’s been encouraging to see all sectors of Welsh business life represented, from the public and private sector to volunteers, and it’s especially positive that young Welsh leaders are coming through.
“From a rugby background, I feel the most important thing a team leader can do is to ensure each member of the team feels they can contribute towards the team and feels he or she is a significant team member.
“It’s crucial to the success of any team that members feel valued and feel good about themselves. If you’ve got a team of confident people, that’s most of the work done.”
The Team Leader award was won by Myfanwy Maguire, Team Coach at Black Horse Finance, who was herself applauded by the judges for demonstrating a real commitment to support people to do well in their jobs.
Myfanwy was one of three finalists in the category, which was a new category for the awards, now in their seventh year.
Jason Lewis, WRU National Development Manager, and one of the award’s panel of judges said; “Myfanwy demonstrated fantastic leadership qualities. Her enthusiasm is infectious and the positivity she has created in her team has been a significant component to her success. She has demonstrated a real commitment to support people to do well in their jobs. This is the essence of good leadership in my mind.
“The WRU has been very pleased to be associated with this award as it represents what the WRU is trying to achieve through rugby. Our focus is for all those involved in the game to grow as people and we see it as our role to support the thousands of players, coaches, match officials and volunteers to be as effective as they can and keep the game in Wales so vibrant.”
The awards are made up of eight different categories spanning public, private, not-for-profit, social responsibility and the social enterprise sectors as well as recognising individual leadership under the Team Leader and Young Leader (14 – 25 year olds) categories. Former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, also received an honorary award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and for his contribution to the development of leadership in others.
The Leading Wales Awards www.leadingwalesawards.com is driven forward by a consortium of organisations that passionately believe that good leadership is the key driver to economic success in Wales. The members are: ACCA Wales, Cardiff Business School, CBI Wales, CMI Cymru, Common Purpose, Harding Evans Solicitors, Hilton Cardiff, Learning Pathways Cymru and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
The two other finalists in the Team Leader category were Sue Roberts, Team Manager, Legal & General and Martyn Llewellyn, Operational Manager, Assisted Recovery in the Community (ARC), a service provided in partnership with Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) and the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMUHB).
