Coaching, Leadership
Coaching is an antidote to the pressure of leading. It: slows down the pace; helps you delegate and trust more; enables your team to do more, better; is inspiring and energising. Coaching is such an important part of leadership but so many leaders don’t take the time...
Culture, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Leadership, Unconscious bias
Sarah is approached by a senior leader in her organisation (not her boss). He tells her that if she doesn’t provide certain sexual favours then life is going to be very uncomfortable for her.She feels threatened, afraid. She feels unsafe. She is concerned about her...
Coaching, Culture, Leadership, Motivation, Performance
Ever feel impatient that the conversation is missing the point?In a recent coaching circle, the group was keen to stop having the same conversations at the surface, and increase the development gain for each other. They needed to shift from constantly seeking to move...
Coaching, Culture, Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Performance
One of the common goals in coaching is to increase influence and be more influential. Just how do you increase your influence? In a world full of clamour and noise, what can you do to rise above that and be noticed? To be more influential, start with warmth. Leaders...
Career Acceleration, Culture, Gender diversity, Leadership, Unconscious bias
The BBC increased its representation of women in front of the camera by 74% between 2017 and 2019.It began with the nightly ‘Outside Source’ program anchored by Ros Atkins, which went from 39% on-air female contributors to 50% in four months.In April 2019 there were...
Culture, Ideal Learning State, Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Motivation
Why does collaboration matter? Collaboration seems so simple, after all, we are hard-wired for it. Yet it is too often elusive. Too many peers don’t collaborate, they compete, they reinforce their silos and protect their turf. And everyone else ends up feeling...
Culture, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Leadership, Unconscious bias
The Male Champions Of Change movement is helping to share the responsibility for gender-balance between women and men. This represents a fundamental and welcome progression in promoting inclusive leadership.The promise of the male allies movement can be amplified if...
Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Motivation, Performance
What do you do when you realise that you are behaving in a way that is the opposite to the values you hold? When you believe you are fair, but others don’t? Just how can you increase your leadership reputation?I charted this bumpy course in a recent coaching...
Culture, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Leadership
I’ll never forget the conversation I had a couple of years ago with the head of HR at a large retailer. We were reviewing the agenda for a gender diversity workshop with the organisation’s Leadership Team and he shared a concern that he and some of his male colleagues...
Culture, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Leadership, Unconscious bias
Fireworks on International Women’s Day are more usually celebratory. Scott Morrison’s International Women’s Day remarks instead created an incendiary reaction with a quite different result. His remarks show a shameful misunderstanding of the significant economic...
Career acceleration, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Motivation, Unconscious bias
It’s a bit of a Catch-22. To be prepared to be visible, to feel authentic and to advance your career is so much easier when you can follow women who’ve already blazed the trail. It’s so much easier to follow a path that someone has created than to forge your own. And...
Culture, Gender diversity, Unconscious bias
The recent Gillette ad caused a massive response for a 1:47 minute film.Is it the close shave we had to have, or one that’s just too close for comfort?The ad actively highlights the importance of rejecting toxic behaviour, showing men intervening when others are...
Coaching, Culture, Ideal Learning State, Leadership, Motivation
‘Jasmine’ is an early-career scientist in a large pharmaceutical company. When she listens to the team’s conversation, she’s concerned. She’s sensing what she believes are significant problems with a batch in production. She’s the only woman working in a team of more...
Coaching, Culture, Leadership
I was recently in a meeting with a very good client; we have an open, trusting relationship. Things got a little sticky though when, without thinking about it, my client disclosed what was a confidential piece of information about a mutual colleague. It was just a...
Culture, Gender diversity, Inclusion, Leadership, Unconscious bias
Small acts of advocacy are all it takes to make a social movement. The #metoo movement was for the 12 years prior to last year’s Harvey Weinstein scandal a very small force for change. It wasn’t one single event that caused the social explosion. But it was when...
Culture, Leadership, Motivation
Powerful people aren’t the best leaders, yet often end up in leadership roles.When powerful people work on their own, they tend to process information more effectively, have more creative ideas, and concentrate for longer. Therefore, they are often identified as...
Coaching, Culture, Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Motivation
The demands of leadership continue to increase in pace and complexity. Leaders have to care about more things than ever before. Why should caring about people be elevated to leaders’ number one concern?Under the pressure of escalating demands, most leaders adopt...
Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Motivation, Performance
Much of how we see our success as individuals is tied to our everyday experiences of our work. On a daily basis, we make judgments about how important our work is, and how much effort we will put in to it. We decide whether we like the people we work with and whether...
Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Performance
When leaders coach, they create a culture that is empowering and energising. When coached, people develop, their motivation elevates, and they engage more deeply. Organisations with excellent cultural support for coaching experience 13% better business results and 39%...
Career Acceleration, Increasing effectiveness, Leadership, Motivation
Have you ever struggled to get your voice heard in work meetings? Do people talk over you or constantly interrupt you, causing you to shrink into a corner?Learn how to be more influential at work.Most of us can identify with the feeling of not being heard when there...