Culture

State schools break up this week. Across the country, children are celebrating. The exams are over. Six glorious weeks stretch out ahead of them. If you’re eight years old, that’s basically Christmas, your birthday and Disneyland rolled into one. If you’re a working parent, it’s, ahem, a little different. Because while the students are finishing their exams, many employers are just about to sit theirs. If your organisation proudly describes itself as family-friendly then July and August are when that gets tested. I remember those years well. The excitement of the final day of term would barely have faded before Matthew and I were sat at the kitchen table with calendars, trying to work out who was where, when, and … Read more

Whenever I kick off a new cohort of leadership training, I always ask the same question early on. “How would you describe the culture in your organisation?” What I usually get is a variety of thoughtful answers. Different perspectives. Different experiences. Usually with some clear common themes running through them. And when we start discussing those answers in the group, there’s almost always a moment where someone says, “That’s not how it feels in my team.” Which makes sense. Because while there is an organisational culture, there’s also a sub-culture in every team. A slightly different flavour. A different lived experience. And that experience is shaped, day in and day out, by the leader. I lead my team with my … Read more