In our last podcast, we introduced you to the idea of team-based planning and its many benefits. To recap, it’s an activity most commonly carried out at the beginning of the year (or whenever a refresh is required), and it’s guaranteed to bring clarity, focus and direction to your team. Team-based planning gets everyone on board, aligned and invested not only in the outcome, but the journey too. Episode Highlights: 10 key steps to help you with this valuable planning process Step One - Situation...
Jan 18, 2018•15 min•Ep. 43
Team-based planning is something we work on with our clients at the beginning and end ofthe year as a top and tail activity. But what exactly is team-based planning? Who’s involved? And what are the benefits? Episode Highlights: What is team-based planning? What are the benefits of team-based planning? How long should planning take? Who's involved in team-based planning? When do you carry out team-based planning? What do you need to start planning? What’s the difference between team building and...
Jan 12, 2018•10 min•Ep. 42
‘Executive presence’. We hear the term a lot, particularly in leadership circles. But what exactly is executive presence? And how does one develop it? At People Leaders, we refer to those with executive presence as having an authentic, confident and poised sense of self that makes a positive impression. In this podcast we've boiled down the concept into three key areas of expression: How you look, How you speak and How you act. Episode Highlights: 3 Keys to Master the Simple But Elusive Art of E...
Dec 14, 2017•14 min•Ep. 41
Working well in a team can often be the difference between project failure and success. One way to increase team cohesion is to develop a team charter that details how the team will work together to get the best result. This simple yet instrumental document encourages members to discuss and agree on how best to coordinate efforts towards their shared goal. It sets out expectations for behaviour and provides a framework for how the team will operate. To get your new team off on the right foot, or...
Dec 08, 2017•10 min•Ep. 40
It’s fair to say that most organisations have a Purpose Statement, Mission Statement or something that determines the company's’ scope of operations and direction. However, though they need just as much clarity and direction (or perhaps more!), it’s rare that individual teams within organisations have their own distinct Purpose Statements. In this episode, we explain why Team Purpose Statements are such a great idea for your team and organisation as a whole. And, we reveal three simple steps for...
Nov 29, 2017•10 min•Ep. 39
It’s important for managers to check in on their staff in regular one on one catch ups. But without a process or structure, these conversations can be quite transactional. In this post, we explain how we help managers pave the way to far more valuable and effective catch ups using 4 steps and 5 tips. Episode Highlights: Step 1 - Follow up Step 2 - Share information Step 3 - Provide feedback Step 4 – Delegate and develop Tip #1 – Stick to a regular schedule Tip #2 – Keep it private Tip #3 – Take ...
Nov 23, 2017•10 min•Ep. 38
Influencing is an important skill for anyone, especially people leaders. In this post, we continue our discussion on Influencing, focusing our attention on how best to address those with the personality style of ‘Feeler’. Let’s be clear again - this isn’t about manipulation. It’s about how delivery of a message is integral to how it’s received. To influence someone with a predominant decision-making style, we can message our communication in a certain way to influence the outcome for a win win. ...
Nov 16, 2017•12 min•Ep. 37
Today we’re sharing insights about the benefits of preparing tangible takeaways before heading into an exchange with a team member (or a colleague for that matter). We’ve recently come across several situations where we’ve helped leaders prepare for a variety of responses heading into a conversation. Invariably we’ve found that presenting visual materials or specific evidence to back up points or demonstrate intent has successfully influenced outcomes. Here’s how. Episode Highlights: Facts clear...
Nov 08, 2017•8 min•Ep. 36
For teams to work well collaboratively, every member must be crystal clear on roles and responsibilities. The RASCI matrix (pronounced ‘racey’) is a simple ‘quick view’ tool that defines who’s involved at what stage and in what capacity. In this way, it helps managers keep everyone on the same page. RASCI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Supported, Consulted, Informed. It’s an incredibly straightforward and useful model that managers can implement on joining an existing team or starting up a...
Nov 01, 2017•10 min•Ep. 35
Understanding how team members operate is the key to high-performance teamwork. But it can take some time (and painful trial and error) before you really know what makes each person tick. Through the work we do with managers and teams, we’ve developed a practical shortcut that helps people get to know each other quickly. It’s a simple and highly effective exercise we call, ‘This is me’. This exercise gives you valuable personal insights in a safe, deep and structured way. And by sharing it with ...
Oct 19, 2017•15 min•Ep. 34
The end of the fiscal year can often be a time when people begin examining their careers. They may be reflecting on what has been accomplished and how their current role in their organization fits who they are -- their aspirations and goals.As such you may be thinking it’s time to do some career planning. In order to be thorough, career planning doesn’t have to be complicated but it does take a good amount of analysis and thought. Here is a simple five-step process that helps you identify a) the...
Oct 12, 2017•15 min•Ep. 33
A big part of any leadership role is knowing how to influence others. Not to manipulate or cajole but to influence so your team can work more cohesively. Because we all see the world differently, not everyone has the same ‘influence buttons’ but the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) gives us clues how to frame an argument based on style or ’preferences.’We covered preferences in more detail in this post on How to use the MBTI In Your Professional Development but today we’re going to focus on Th...
Oct 04, 2017•14 min•Ep. 32
Meditation is a subject full of misconceptions and misunderstandings, yet those of us who do it regularly can’t imagine life without it. It’s one of the best kept secrets around but fortunately it’s becoming more and more mainstream.In fact at the leadership level it’s becoming an essential skill. Mark Bunn, author of Ancient Wisdom for Modern Health sums it up nicely when he says, “Twenty years ago meditation was seen in the business world as something for weirdos. Ten years ago people started ...
Sep 21, 2017•11 min•Ep. 31
As you move up the leadership chain, your role steadily changes from supervisor to manager to leader. Supervisors are very task oriented and the focus of their work is ensuring that outputs are met in a particular timeframe. Managers and leaders however are more focused on empowering their team members to take responsibility for their own outputs. In the modern work environment, this requires managers and leaders to be coaches and mentors, usually to their team members but also occasionally to t...
Sep 07, 2017•10 min•Ep. 30
Feedback for team members in the work environment is a double edged sword. On one hand it can be constructive and useful, while on the other hand it can also cause stress and discomfort.The stress and discomfort usually comes about because of the top-down aspect of feedback. Usually it’s a manager or leader providing feedback to a team member for the purposes of ‘course correction.' Episode Highlights: How to flip the top-down feedback culture to a bottom-up feedback culture How constructive fee...
Aug 30, 2017•13 min•Ep. 29
We’ve previously covered our top 10 tips for communicating with extroverts on our podcast and blog. Today it’s the introvert’s turn*. It may well be that you think you don’t have many introverts on your team or in your workplace but that could be because introversion is often misunderstood. Some think of introverts as shy and/or quiet. This is often the case but these are definitely not universal attributes. See if the tips below help serve as clues for who on your team might be introverted and ...
Aug 15, 2017•8 min•Ep. 28
Depending on the nature of your workplace, chances are that half your team (give or take) is likely to be extroverted. Probably less than half if you are running a library and more than half if you are running a sales team. Either way, knowing how to communicate effectively with extroverts is a skill worth having, especially if you are more introverted yourself. That’s not to say that extroverts have special needs as such but if you want to bring out their best, communicating effectively is key....
Aug 09, 2017•8 min•Ep. 27
As a leader or manager you are in a position where you have more impact than most. While your intention will always be for that impact to be positive, sometimes it’s affected by factors you may not be aware of. Your reputation for example. If you have a reputation for being strong or principled, then chances are your words and your directions will have more impact than someone with a reputation for not walking the talk. Where there’s a misalignment, problems will arise. They may be small or they...
Aug 03, 2017•18 min•Ep. 26
As a leader or manager you are in a position where you have more impact than most. While your intention will always be for that impact to be positive, sometimes it’s affected by factors you may not be aware of. Your reputation for example. If you have a reputation for being strong or principled, then chances are your words and your directions will have more impact than someone with a reputation for not walking the talk. Where there’s a misalignment, problems will arise. They may be small or they...
Jul 25, 2017•11 min•Ep. 25
Though all of us have the same amount of time each day, it seems that some folks use that time more effectively than others. While we might like to think it’s because they don’t have as much on their plate as we do, that’s often not the case. Often they actually have more to do but they have just set themselves up to be extremely effective. While this may take a little effort to set up, you don’t have to be superhuman to do this yourself. If you follow hacks below you should be able to get an ex...
Jul 12, 2017•13 min•Ep. 24
Workplace diversity has been a pretty hot topic in recent years. Most people think of diversity in terms such as gender, age, race or physical or intellectual ability. And rightly so, as diversity based on these characteristics add tremendous value to a workplace. However, there is a less talked about form of diversity that has a huge impact on how teams and businesses operate. Cognitive diversity refers to the differing perspectives or information processing styles that we have. The ways in whi...
Jul 04, 2017•18 min•Ep. 23
We’ve been long time fans of profiling tools and use them almost every day in our business. Our primary tool is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), but we’re always keen to learn about other tools that can be of value to our clients. We recently became accredited in Clarity 4D and want to share some of what we learned here (you can also listen to us talk about it in this podcast episode).Like the MBTI, Clarity 4D is partly based on Carl Jung’s psychological preferences around the dynamics of...
Jun 15, 2017•10 min•Ep. 22
In a recent post we covered 4 Simple Steps to Create a High Performing Career. Today we’re upping the ante with 10 more, but these are focussed specifically on ramping things up within the organisation that you are currently in. Episode Highlights: You may have or have had a coach or mentor from within the organisation already but we’d invite you to think outside the box with this one.Y ou aren’t just looking for support, you are looking for someone to challenge you Have you considered upskillin...
Jun 06, 2017•11 min•Ep. 21
If you’re an introverted manager, chances are that you will occasionally find your preference for introversion is challenged by your role as a people leader. That’s not to say that introverts don’t make good managers or leaders. It just means that sometimes there’s a need to take on extroverted behaviour in order to be effective. To clarify. That doesn’t mean you have to ‘be’ an extrovert, just that it helps to take on extroverted behaviours. Episode Highlights: 3 important tips for introverted ...
May 24, 2017•7 min•Ep. 18
Extroverted managers are in their element when it comes to management and leadership. Not necessarily because they are better at it than introverts but because extroverts are people people. They are energised by the group dynamic and develop their ideas by bouncing them off others. In an earlier podcast episode we shared our 3 top tips for introverted leaders. The blog post included a ‘primer’ on introversion, to clarify what we meant by the term. This was necessary because introversion is often...
May 24, 2017•6 min•Ep. 19
People leaders are no stranger to 'mind fullness'. Not only do they have their head crowded with their own issues, but usually there are a dozen or more team issues keeping their mind full also. We've got five tips to share that can help you be more mindful. You can hear them on our podcast or you can read them below. Or you can do both. You are, after all, a ninja leader! In this episode: How a full mind can lead to many forms of stresses Why you are always on the lookout for what’s next? The d...
May 18, 2017•12 min•Ep. 20
Leading people creates stress and puts pressure on your health and well-being. But as a leader, it's important for you to set a standard that not only keeps you in top shape, but sets an example for your team to follow.And while you no doubt know what you need to be doing to take care of yourself, chances are you may not be. We covered our five top tips for self care in this week's podcast episode. Episode Highlights: Meditate - This is one of the most powerful things we can do for our health ye...
May 09, 2017•8 min•Ep. 17
As a manager or people leader, you have several conversations with team members each day. These will often have a coaching or advisory element to them. Some may even be about performance management. And some conversations may in the form of emails or written memos.In any of these cases, using a model or framework for the conversation will help you cover all the bases and influence the outcome. Our favourite model for this the GROW Model. Not only is it simple but it's easy to make it a habit. We...
May 02, 2017•7 min•Ep. 16
In the work we do with leadership teams we often come across teams who are overworked. The impact of this is more than tiredness and inefficiency. It actually affects the character and personality of those in the workplace. People who might usually be optimistic become pessimistic.We've even heard leaders talk about 'racing to average.' This describes the treadmill effect of working hard to only move forward slowly. It's a downward spiral that has a massive cost to business. A recent study by Me...
Apr 25, 2017•17 min•Ep. 15
Habits are fundamental to performance, not only in the workplace but in life in general. Anytime you create a habit, you free up valuable brain space for more important tasks. You also free up vital energy that you can use better elsewhere. But creating new habits, or getting rid of old habits, is easier said than done. Some say it takes 30 days while other say it takes longer. We don't know for sure what that magic number is but here are 5 simple steps that we know make it a whole lot easier. E...
Apr 18, 2017•7 min•Ep. 14
