When things go wrong it is, perhaps, human nature to seek the source of the fault, to lay blame, to want to know why it happened and who or what was responsible. It’s an all too easy road in organisational life, especially with the pressure to deliver results. Yet, it’s a road that can make...
When things go wrong we can often get caught up in ‘panic mode’ For example, losing a credit card. Clearly a big issue if indeed it has been lost because of all the subsequent implications and risks. The question though is how does panicking help the situation. It clouds clear thinking. It creates stress which,...
Resilience is surely one of the most important qualities for navigating the challenges of our chaotic and unpredictable world. We can see this in nature as the natural world recovers from the battering of climatic events. We can see it in human life as communities repair and rise again after natural or human-made disasters. We...
For most people when they look at nature they can get in touch with a certain quality that emanates, whether that’s the huge landscapes and vistas that absorb all our senses, or the individual flower with its intricate design and radiant colour. We have an inbuilt affinity with the quality inherent in the design of...
We are making choices almost every second of the day even though it doesn’t feel that way because most are unconscious – automatic pilot we might say. Part of our inbuilt efficiency is to be able to operate from a place of habitual actions based on earlier choices made in another time and space. What...
We don’t know what we’re capable of until we have a go either under our own steam or prompted/pushed by events. Too often we ‘stay in our lane’, staying safe, doing what we know and looking to consistently improve in that space. The responsibilities in our life – personal and professional – can keep us...
One of the big steps in personal development and indeed leadership is our ability to access wisdom which the dictionary defines as ‘the ability to make good judgments based on what you have learned from your experience, or the knowledge and understanding that gives you this ability’. This definition though feels somewhat narrow as it...
Most of us will feel we have little time for contemplation or at best it’s done on the run. The dictionary offers several layers of definition of ‘contemplation’ ranging from ‘deep reflective thought’ to ‘seeking to pass beyond mental images and concepts to a direct experience of the divine’. Whilst from a leadership perspective, in...
If we are honest with ourselves, each of us have aspects of our personality that we’d like to ‘soften’, aspects which we know can sometimes bring unhelpful impacts to ourselves and others. One of mine is impatience. This can take many forms from the mundane impatience with inefficiency and ineffectiveness, to the loftier and even...
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” How often do you stop and really express your gratitude? It is so easy to get caught up in the many things that may be creating challenges in your day, your week, your life that the wonderful...