News
Victoria Woodings on leadership, curiosity and bringing people together
13 Nov 2026
LDC welcomed Victoria Woodings for a Q&A about her career journey, leading through change and the realities of balancing a leadership role with family life. The session was part of a series for LDC’s female employees from across the UK.
For Victoria Woodings, leadership has always been about people. Her path to becoming CEO of LDC-backed Elovate has been shaped by curiosity and a willingness to get involved in every opportunity.
From beginning her career through a modern apprenticeship at the age of 16, entering the finance industry largely by chance, to working across all areas of business, Victoria is driven by a desire to see progress. Early in her career, she helped a business grow from £20m to over £200m by introducing improvements and processes that made its then 20-person team more efficient. For her final seven years with that business, Victoria served as CEO, before joining Elovate. Recently, she was highly commended in the CEO of the year category at the 2026 Private Business Awards.
Reflecting on her journey, Victoria explained that there has never been a grand plan.
I was always curious and interested in what was going on and always eager to get involved in different things."
Leading change
Joining Elovate as CEO meant guiding the business through an important period of transition. Victoria saw an opportunity to strengthen connections across teams and create a clearer shared sense of where the business was heading.
She spent time with people across every part of the business to understand the strengths, identify opportunities and shape the next phase of development. Some decisions were significant, other changes were more practical. For example, refreshing the office (which included repeated trips to buy more paint!) gave employees and customers a visible sign that the business was moving forward.
For Victoria, those visible signs of progress matter. Addressing difficult issues quickly gives people confidence, while small wins, such as an office refresh, create the momentum needed for bigger change. Her leadership approach is grounded in being clear about priorities and bringing people together around a shared direction for the business.
Learning from others
Looking back, Victoria can point to people at every level who have shaped her career and mindset. Most are not formal mentors. Instead, they were trusted colleagues and contacts who shared a different perspective or helped her see what might be possible.
She also reflected on a pattern she has often seen among women at work: getting on with the job but not always pausing to highlight the impact they have made. This, she explained, can make strong contributions easier to overlook and discourages people from putting themselves forward until they feel completely ready.
Being fully present
When the conversation turned to balancing work and family life, Victoria was clear that there is no perfect formula. Priorities sometimes compete and plans can unravel. Her advice is to make a judgement call, communicate it clearly and give your full attention to the decision you have made, rather than feeling guilty about everything else you cannot control.
At home, that means putting her phone away and being present with her daughter. At work, it means giving 100% to whatever the business needs. With colleagues, it means focusing on the impact, reliability and care that someone brings to the business rather than the hours they spend at their desks. Flexibility, she said, works best when there is give and take on both sides.
Be present and accept that some days might be messy, but the world won’t fall over in the space of an afternoon."
Victoria is equally thoughtful about how she talks about her career at home. She wants her daughter to understand that time away from family can still be spent doing something purposeful and enjoyable and so makes sure to only speak positively about her work day. Her daughter now says she cannot wait to grow up and be a boss herself.
From leading change at Elovate to building confidence in others, Victoria’s reflections demonstrate the value of curiosity and being fully present for the task, or the person, in front of you.
Thank you to Victoria for sharing her time and experiences with the team, and to everyone who joined the conversation.