Uncategorized

So, here we are again.

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

I’m sure you’re aware of that (after all, the shops have been filled to the brim with pink and red sentiments of love for weeks now!)

#TheresAlwaysAHolidayInRetail

So before the clock strikes midnight and the world collectively lines the pockets of big corporations with their Hallmark Cards and Champagne truffles, I want to ask you…

Do we have to wait for Valentine’s day to show our nearest and dearest how much we love them?

Personally, no.

Whether you’re a soppy lovebug or stoic romantic, we should be the best we can be for our partners all year round.

Don’t give them the best of you for only one day because a public holiday says so.
Don’t wait for the worst to happen to show someone how much you care.
Don’t only buy flowers because you’re in the dog house!

Love isn’t just about one big day of romance—it’s about consistency, commitment, and care.

And the same applies to leadership.

Great leaders earn that title because they lead well every single day.

IT’S A FULL-TIME JOB, DON’T YA KNOW 😉

They don’t *only* listen to their team when there’s a 360 survey coming up…

Or when they know they’re being watched…

Or when they’re vying for that promotion…

They don’t wait until someone has filed a complaint or threatens to leave before they listen, guide, and support their team members.

No.

If you want to be an exceptional leader, you need to be one no matter what mood you’re in and no matter what your calendar says.

Because, just remember, by midnight tomorrow the shops will eliminate every trace of Valentine’s Day and replace them with a giant Jenga display of eggs and bunnies.

#BringOnEaster

Love will be forgotten.

It’s up to us to keep it alive for the other 364 days of the year.

If you do celebrate tomorrow with your special someone, I hope you enjoy it.

Just remember—real love, like real leadership, is a year round commitment… make sure you carry it on.

Rock on.

I suppose it would be rude of me not to say… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I promise not to bore you with the same ol’ ‘New Year, New Me’ stuff. Would I do that to you?! No.

Instead, I want to share just one of many plans for 2025… to continue living by my values.

One of those is adventure!

And 2024 was one of the most adventurous years for me, by far – both in and out of work.

>> Flying upper class to Miami to deliver training to a beer company?
#IllNeverSayNoToThat

>> Visiting Zim to meet little Agness – the sweet girl I sponsor and am TOTALLY in love with – in the flesh?!
#YesPlease

>> Delivering a Trust Repair Workshop to a team in Macedonia
#SomebodyStopMe

(If you’re a regular reader, you might remember that I’ve now delivered training to almost every continent. Asia, I’m coming for ya!)

So last year, I can confidently say that I lived by the value of adventure.

Wanna know something even more spectacular than that?

That hunger has passed on to my children.

At the time of writing this email to you:

My son is currently in Thailand.
My daughter has just returned from New York (literally one hour ago!)
My other daughter has left corporate, bought a van, and is travelling the world!

I’M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE.
#ProudMumAlert

Yep, they’ve spread their wings and brought that sense of adventure to their own lives.

And I’ve been there every step of the way:

Letting go.
Supporting their choices.
Helping them play to their strengths.
Trusting that they know what they’re doing.
Ready to catch them if anything goes wrong.

And… continuing to lead the way.

We’re an adventure-seeking family, it seems.

You’ve heard me say it before, and the new year is the perfect time to say it again…

Behaviour is contagious.

We always talk about it in the context of ‘toxic’ or ‘negative’ behaviour.

For example, if you chuck a newbie into a dysfunctional team, they’ll inevitably contribute to that dysfunction or say, “Forget it, I’m out of here!”

Add people to chaos and you get more chaos.

#SHOCKHORROR

Let’s not forget about the flip side, though…

There is such a thing as being positively contagious.

As leaders, others follow in your footsteps.

Your behaviour determines their behaviour.

If you want your team to stop competing and start collaborating, it starts with you.
If you want your team to stop barking and start listening, it starts with you.
If you want your team to celebrate ideas and innovation, it starts with you.
If you want your team to see, hear, and value each other, it starts with you.

…and on and on and on until I’m blue in the face!

It. Starts. With. You.

Just as I have influenced my children as a parent, you will influence your team as a leader.

The question is, are you being the positive influence they need?

You tell me 😉

Something to think about…

How do you want your team to behave?

Now look at your behaviour.

Are you being the role model that sets the standards?
Are you leading the way?

If not, and you don’t know where to start, call us in .

We’re particularly good at changing behaviour that positively spreads from person to person within an organisation.

Don’t wait! The Training Rock is already in high demand for 2025 (Woooop!). We’re fully booked until June so the time to talk was, well, 2024… but now will do. Book a call with me here.

To even more adventure this year!

Let’s rock 2025.

3 weeks ago I wrapped up 2 cohorts for the 8-week leadership training.

One gentleman was, how shall we say… resistant.

According to him:

He was ‘not capable of change’.
He ‘didn’t need training anyway’.
He thought, “I am who I am”.

Great.

I love a challenge 😏

**Cracks knuckles**

And you know what – I GOT HIM.

Before the 8 weeks began, his Lion was getting him into trouble.

Even though the Ant is his top animal influencer, it was his Lion vulnerabilities that caused communication problems.

He was a wild Lion.

Loudly asserting with total ‘it’s my way or the highway’ directness.

So you better believe me when I say the entire group had to scoop their jaws off the floor after our last role-play session.

Because something happened that has NEVER happened before…

Not only did he volunteer for the role-play, I also had no suggestions for improvement.

NONE.

Yet the instant I asked the group for feedback on what he’d done well – BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The main feedback was that he was still Lion because he needed to be.

Yet this time he was a Lion working from his strengths.

This time he was a Lion basking in the sun.

Cool, calm, and collected.

Katie – our role play actress – said, “I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t continue being difficult because you were so authoritative but the energy was so calm”.

He wasn’t overly direct, loud, or confrontational…

He just asked the BEST questions and directed her down the path he wanted her to go.

It. Was. Extraordinary.

I’ll often ask how leaders feel after the training and words that usually come up are: transformed, capable, optimistic, inspired, motivated, etc.

This leader, who has become a perfect example of the kind of 180 you can expect from this training simply said… changed.

“I am a changed person because of this”.

Yes, good sir, you are.

>> Proof that this work works for anyone.

>> Proof that the impossible can be possible.

Change is hard. We get that.

Some might resist.

But no one ever regrets doing this work on themselves.

On that note, we are now fully booked until May 2025. If you want us on board in 2025, the time to talk about the Lead Your Culture 8-week training is now.

Rock on.

Yesterday was an emotional day for me.

It was the anniversary of my Mum’s death and her birthday.

That’s right, Mum held out so we’d only have to face one mega-hard day each year instead of two.

She was good like that.

Thanks, Mum.

It’s been 29 years since her battle with cancer. And it’s years like this when I struggle. Years when I have so much to tell her…

Delivered training to a beer company in Miami?!
She would have LOVED that!

Travelled to Zimbabwe to support The Catalyst Foundation?!
She’d have been so proud.

Her grandkids travelling the world becoming all-around brilliant adults?!
She’d be such an adoring Nana.

As always, it had me thinking about a few things…

You wouldn’t believe how many of her friends say to me, “You’re so much like her, you know!”

Of course, I love that.

And recently, thinking of Mum, I swung around to my other half and asked, “Hey! What do you think Mum’s top animal influencers would have been?!”

#LightbulbMoment

Hubby, “OH YEEEEEAH!”

Cheetah, Lion, Dog.

Just. Like. Me!

Driven, says it how it is, and keen to ensure everyone else is ok!

(My Dad is more Honeybee, bit miffed that trait didn’t pass down to be honest)

Mum had such a positive influence on me.

To have her as a role model in those formative years was everything.

And how important is that, right?

That’s when people are most impressionable; it’s the absolute best time to impart wisdom and develop them into confident, competent, and capable individuals.

I realised, in life and work, not everyone has that…

At the moment, neither of my daughters loves their jobs mainly due to poor leadership.

For regular readers *waves* you might remember that my youngest recently came back from travelling.

(It was a bit of a shock to the system to swap the surfs of Bali for an office 😅)

She’s only 19 years old.
This is her first job in corporate.
She’s new to the role.

And no one has owned her onboarding experience.

This bright, enthusiastic, new employee now feels lost and incompetent because there’s no clarity, no support… no leadership.

My daughter and other new starters are in their ‘formative’ years at one of the ‘Big 4’ and, as yet, they have no solid role models.

She has no benchmark for behaviour; what to do and how to do them because no one has been there to lead the way.

Already, her group of new members are thinking about leaving before they’ve even begun, go figure!

Unfortunately, positive role models can be hard to come by.

I feel lucky that I had my Mum (and even though they might not want to admit it out loud because it would be soooooooo uncool, I’m sure my daughters feel lucky to have me!).

As leaders, we owe it to our team members – especially the newbies – to be that role model.

They need guidance.
They need to see effective communication in action.
They need to be shown how to contribute to a safe and healthy environment.

Be that person for them.

We all need someone like that in our lives.

For me, one of the greatest role models I ever had, was my Mum.

Sigh.

What’s that inner critic telling you these days?

Have you stopped to think about it recently?

Well, multiple cohorts have just finished Week 4 of the 8-week Leadership Programme and the inner critic was one of the hot topics of discussion.

BIG TAKEAWAY: Everyone has that little voice that pipes up to tell us we’re ‘not good enough’.

No matter how senior, experienced, or advanced you are in your leadership position… that inner voice can get LOUD.

We have a lovely mix of seniority levels in these latest cohorts.

From fresh-out-of-the-box leaders to those who’ve spent many years, if not decades, moving up the ranks.

And what shocked less experienced leaders most was hearing how senior leaders also struggle with these doubts.

When we’re new to a role, it’s easy to believe that people with more experience are somehow immune to that inner critic.

As if, once you’re senior you know what you’re doing, have your sh*t together, and no longer question yourself.

Not true.

The more senior you are the further you have to fall. So that voice can be deafening!

Making you believe that everyone thinks you should be better than you are.

“You’re winging it and soon you’ll get rumbled! Who even thought to give you this job?!”

Everyone has an inner critic to deal with.

And that’s okay.

Even mine still grabs the megaphone from time to time and barks, “You’re not cut out for this!”

Seriously!

#TheNerve

Only last week I was recommended to a company on the hunt for a Leadership Development Expert.

It was to train a group of established senior leaders.

Leaders at the very top of the proverbial leadership pyramid.

[INSERT INNER CRITIC]

*Gulp*

“You can’t train them! You’re not experienced enough!”

Until I recognised that it’s my inner critic and checked the facts.

I checked the criteria for the role…

>> Needs to understand international audiences. CHECK.
>> Must have worked with senior leaders at all levels. CHECK
>> Must have experience in government-focused work. CHECK.

And on and on and on and on…

Layer and layer of proof that I am, in fact, ideal for this project.

The trick is not to fight that inner critic, that’s never a helpful approach.

Instead, acknowledge it and ask questions that help you uncover the facts.

Detach yourself from the emotion and seek the evidence.

Evidence showing that yes, actually, you CAN do it.

What does your inner critic tell you?

Ask yourself:

Is it true?
(Your inner critic will try and convince you that it is)

What’s the evidence?
(Your inner critic will attempt to make something up!)

Do you know that for a fact?
(Remove yourself from the emotions and assumptions and look for undisputed facts!)

Answer those questions and see what you come up with.

And if you’d like to share any realisations in confidence, let me know. I’d love to hear them.