Self-leadership

I was in the garage the other day when I spotted this hanging on the wall. It’s been in the family for years. In fact, I remember my mum giving it to my dad sometime in the 1980s. You can probably hazard a guess as to why. It always makes me smile, but this week it also made me think. Within the space of a few days, I had two coaching conversations that were almost mirror images of each other. The first was with a leader who was reflecting on their constant busy-ness and realising that they hadn’t been holding regular 1:1s with their team. Not because they didn’t care. They genuinely wanted to do them. But something always seemed … Read more

Humans are messy. Relationships don’t have to be. The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life. At home. At work. Everywhere. Because the moment another human is involved, there will be differences. Different views. Different instincts. Different priorities. And if you can’t disagree well? Those differences become fractures. You can be brilliant at your job. You can operate a supermarket checkout with Olympic-level efficiency. You can build rockets. You can run a P&L, lead a team, write policy, close deals. But if you can’t disagree well? You will come unstuck. Not because you’re not smart. Not because you’re not capable. But because life isn’t a solo sport. And humans are messy, opinionated and gloriously different. My husband … 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