Think about the worst possible workplace. Not just bad. Hellishly bad. What does it look like? How would people feel? And how productive would they be? I imagine people who’re bullied, harassed, stressed, overloaded, underequipped, in ill-suited roles, navigating ambiguous and changing priorities, underpaid, in…
Some organisations seem to forget why they exist. If you tried to work out what they were all about by observing what they spend their time, money and executive attention on, you might think they were there to: And managing risk, having smart procurement and…
Anyone who’s recruited more than a few roles and thinks they’ve nailed it every time either has low standards or is lying. Because recruitment is risky and impossible to get right 100% of the time. But there are things we can do to stack the…
I know I should meditate more. And that doing it – even for five minutes – would benefit me. But, I say to myself… I don’t have the time. It seems too hard. I can always start tomorrow. This is all a fairly accurate –…
Ever find yourself frustrated with your boss? Here’s a twist: use their failings to become a better leader yourself. It’s always been easy for me to spot the things my boss gets wrong. Strangely, though, I’ve not always been so sharp at spotting my own…
As managers, particularly as we become more senior and accumulate more responsibility, it’s tempting to get lost in our own growing sense of self-importance and start to believe that we are the ones that add the real value. The reality though is quite different. As…
Have you ever found yourself managing week to week (or even day to day), running on the treadmill of business as usual to meet pressing deadlines and support your team, but with that sinking feeling that you should be stepping back to survey what lies…
In France, you always have to prepay for petrol. In Australia, you never do. It got me thinking: what does this say about trust – and how often are we sending mixed signals about it in the workplace? I was thinking about this when travelling…
Managers often label departing employees as “disloyal”. But here’s the thing: loyalty is overrated. Loyalty is too easily used to coerce people into abandoning their interests. As if it’s used in the sense of “you should show loyalty, no matter what”. The “no matter what”…
Arrogance is insecurity masquerading as confidence. The recent US election reminded me of this thought I wrote down years ago. Whether someone sees Donald Trump as arrogant or confident often depends on their political perspective. But what really separates confidence from arrogance? I like Harry…
A consultant really upset me once when they told our senior team that we had a bunch of sh!t people. I remember feeling viscerally upset by the comment. Because – and I said (although perhaps only less eloquently) – there’s no such thing as sh!t…
What’s a mission? What’s a vision? And how do they differ? This a common source of confusion for people starting out in strategy and more broadly amongst members of organisations. I vividly recall a workshop we were facilitating with an executive team where we’d gone…
Organisations often talk about and focus on strategy. And rightly so: having organisational clarity on strategy improves organisational health and performance [link to the six questions]. Strategy essentially involves determining: These three elements correspond to Simon Sinek’s why – how – what model that he…
Steven Bartlett – from Diary of a CEO – says that “every company is a recruitment company”, because few things affect success more than having the right people on a team. Why then are many organisations so casual about recruitment? And why aren’t hiring managers…
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. That’s one of the central points of Simon Sinek’s golden circle model which he presents in his book, Start With Why (you can read a summary of the book here). The golden circle…
As a leader, are you a chess master or a gardener? I want to be a gardener. Here’s why. Leaders today are overwhelmed. It’s hard to keep up with all the decisions, reviews and plans. As the world speeds up and grows more complex, leading…
You’ve just stepped into a new management role. The urge to reshape everything is irresistible. But here’s the catch: rushing in might do more harm than good. As managers, our egos often hijack us when taking over new teams or organisations. We want to make…
Dreading sharing some bad news with a team member? Here’s 3 steps to approach it 👇. If you have bad news to share with someone, the kind and effective way to do it is directly and with compassion. Don’t beat around the bush or procrastinate.…
Management and leadership tasks can be hard. But there’s a bunch of easy stuff too. So get that right. I was listening to Scott Galloway talk the other day and his advice to young people included “get the easy stuff right”. It occurred to me…
What do Alice in Wonderland and Roman philosophy have in common? They both share at least one important lesson on the importance of a clear vision for high performing teams and organisations. Vision statements are common, but they often exist in a going-through-the-motions, tick-the-box-of-a-strategic-planning-checklist kind…