Looking in, acting out When issues arise asking ourselves if we’re the problem can be useful. After giving it due thought we might be shocked with the answer – discovering we’re the blockage. Not by design, of course. But whether inadvertent or not a blockage is a blockage and something we must clear. How did...
For many people, the word leadership brings up resistance or even rebellion. Too often, what we see publicly is leadership driven by ego, control, narcissism, and hunger for power. Who can blame anyone for becoming disillusioned? These are the beastly models on display. But leadership is more than the person temporarily holding authority. It is...
Our conditioning dictates that the goal is the thing, not the process of getting there. I’m as caught in this groove as the next person. So, we might just pause (even though there’s stuff to do) and think about what we’re missing out on in this goal rush. And the impact of that. In being...
I’m deeply grateful that I get to not only talk about building a culture of psychological safety within leadership teams but also help them to build it. And that usually entails some exploration of vulnerability. It’s funny really because working on resilience from the perspective of ‘being strong’ feels like safer territory for many in...
Usually in the workplace the conversations that don’t happen, or tend to be put off for too long, are the difficult/more challenging ones…giving constructive feedback, calling out poor behaviour, introducing a change that’s unlikely to be popular. Each of these, and other personal examples you’ll undoubtedly have, are important. Leaving them to drift can cause...
Our very literal interpretation of the word ‘hierarchy’, and within that the function of leadership, that we see deployed in most organisations misses the true essence of hierarchical responsibility which is much more profound than status, authority over, personal power or control. One of these more profound aspects is the responsibility a leader has to...
I’ve attended a few online sessions in the past couple of weeks. All of them promised learning (even in the fine print) yet turned out to be sales webinars aimed at getting people signed up for a range of support services or development programmes. Scanning the meeting Chat showed others were also feeling less than...
Choosing to step up and take responsibility is a powerful thing and something which, when done consciously and from a pure heart, brings forth great inner power which can also be very magnetic. If we consider the word responsibility itself, it is describing the ability to respond. At its highest level, to have the ability...
Curiosity doesn’t tend to be top of the competence pile when it comes to leaders or employees but perhaps it should be for it is a quality that drives the best possible outcomes and fuels progress. Of course, curiosity is a mind-set and it often gets parked in the interests of speed, efficiency and meeting...
Tenacity, resilience, powering on and through are qualities long admired in the workplace. The challenge we face is to be clear to what end and with what effect. If it’s just about staying upright and moving forward on what can feel like a treadmill of relentlessness we may be wasting these qualities, and energy, on...