Feedback is one of the most critical tools and skills of any manager’s skillset.
In this video, Ricky explores five top tips for managers and leaders and includes a personal example.
What do you think?
In this webinar, Ricky Muddimer and Graham Field discuss how trust is the invisible engine that drives high-performing teams. Without it, communication breaks down, innovation stalls, and performance falters. But with it? Teams collaborate seamlessly, make faster decisions, and achieve extraordinary results.
As a leader, how do you build and sustain trust in your team—especially in today’s fast-paced and often disconnected workplace? Watch ‘Trust: The Secret to High-Performing Teams,’ our final webinar of 2024, and discover why trust is the most critical factor in unlocking your team’s full potential.
This isn’t just another webinar—it’s your opportunity to gain actionable insights to set you and your team up for success.
Low trust doesn’t just create tension—it impacts results. In this highly practical session, we’ll explore:
If you’re ready to tackle the barriers holding your team back and learn proven techniques to unlock their potential, this webinar is for you.
These slides accompany the webinar and include the content on trust.
Here is the Trust Toolkit that accompanies the webinar and provides practical tools to help build individual, team, and organisational trust.
In this webinar, Ricky Muddimer and Graham Field discussed how trust is the invisible engine that drives high-performing teams. Without it, communication breaks down, innovation stalls, and performance falters. But with it? Teams collaborate seamlessly, make faster decisions, and achieve extraordinary results.
As a leader, how do you build and sustain trust in your team—especially in today’s fast-paced and often disconnected workplace? Watch ‘Trust: The Secret to High-Performing Teams,’ our final webinar of 2024, and discover why trust is the most critical factor in unlocking your team’s full potential.
This isn’t just another webinar—it’s your opportunity to gain actionable insights to set you and your team up for success.
Low trust doesn’t just create tension—it impacts results. In this highly practical session, we’ll explore:
If you’re ready to tackle the barriers holding your team back and learn proven techniques to unlock their potential, this webinar is for you.
This webinar explored how to get unstuck; this toolkit accompanies the webinar and provides a practical three-step process that any individual or team can use to turn unhelpful rumination, or as we call it, problem-focused thinking, into solution-focused thinking. By clearing away the limiting beliefs and assumptions holding you back, you can make giant leaps forward and deliver the success you desire. Look out for a couple of bonus tools, too!
Join Ricky Muddimer in our latest video, which explores the crucial question that every business leader should ask: “Is your company culture working for you or against you?” With alarming statistics from Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report, we uncover the financial and people impact of poor employee engagement and what it means for your organization.
Nobody wants an out-of-sync team or company culture. This video offers actionable insights and strategies to help you identify and address cultural issues before they derail your business.
Use Cialdini’s six weapons of Influence for the B2B arena to supercharge your sales skills and close deals like never before. Ricky Muddimer dives into Dr. Robert Cialdini’s six weapons of influence, tailored specifically for the B2B arena. Discover how understanding human psychology and building genuine trust can transform your sales strategy.
Have you just landed your first managerial role, or are you looking to refresh your leadership skills?
Our “New Manager Playbook” is your ultimate guide to starting strong and steering your team to success! Ricky Muddimer shares our expert strategies, which cover everything from setting the right tone and fostering collaboration to unlocking your team’s full potential.
Essential skills for new managers Strategies for building trust and respect Tips for evaluating and adjusting team dynamics Techniques for enhancing team performance Whether you’re navigating your first managerial role or managing a new team, our playbook provides actionable insights and practical tools to make your leadership journey a triumph. Download now and transform your managerial challenges into opportunities for growth and success!
Organisations often view training programs as quick fixes for performance issues, expecting immediate returns on investment. However, this perspective overlooks the complexities of learning and development. Training alone cannot address multifaceted organisational challenges without alignment with the organisation’s culture, systems, and leadership practices.
This article explores the limitations of relying solely on training as a solution and emphasises the need for a comprehensive approach that includes leadership involvement, ongoing support, and a culture that fosters continuous learning.
When we engage with learning and development teams in organisations, the most common question is, “How will you measure the impact of the intervention? To which we reply, “How do you measure it now?”
Learning & Development Teams are typically deferential to the major operational business units; they serve the company by understanding and closing the capability gap. The problem is that businesses like to measure impact, but measuring learning impact is far from easy.
Measuring ROI is understandable; of course, everyone wants to see their investment pay off, but the issue is when only Learning and Development are accountable, you leave the outcome to chance. Why? Because the puzzle is more complex.
When managers and leaders position training as the panacea for organisational challenges yet point fingers at these programs when performance falls short, they overlook a critical piece of the puzzle: their role in the learning transfer process.
This contradiction underscores a broader corporate culture issue, revealing misplaced expectations and a misunderstanding of how learning effectively translates into improved job performance.
Firstly, there’s an overarching tendency to overestimate what training can achieve in isolation. This optimism, while initially seeming beneficial, sets the stage for disappointment.
No matter how comprehensive, training can only singularly address multifaceted organisational issues by reinforcing post-training support. This support includes coaching and mentorship, opportunities for practical application, and a culture that encourages reflection and continuous learning.
I have been on many courses in my corporate life, and rarely, if ever, have I been sat down with before or after any intervention to ensure that the thousands invested in me will pay off.
When my manager didn’t take the time or, at its worst, even talk about the intervention, the message I got was that it wasn’t important and any post-learning activity was down to me. The manager effectively says it is unimportant or they don’t care. That is leaving the outcome to chance!
Moreover, the alignment—or lack thereof—between training programs and an organisation’s strategic goals can significantly impact their effectiveness.
Training initiatives not tailored to an organisation’s specific needs and culture are less likely to yield meaningful outcomes. Leaders play a crucial role in ensuring that training is not just a box-ticking exercise but is genuinely relevant and integrated into the organisational strategy.
The environment where employees apply their new skills also plays a crucial role. A supportive work climate and a clear understanding of the training’s relevance to their positions can significantly enhance the transfer of learning. Conversely, an environment that lacks these elements can stifle the application of new skills, no matter how excellent the training intervention.
Accountability and measurement are also often needed in the equation. With clear mechanisms to track the application of learning and its impact on performance, it’s easier to blame the training when expectations are unmet. This approach overlooks the necessity of a supportive infrastructure that facilitates the transfer of learning.
Lastly, the psychological aspect of cognitive dissonance, where leaders believe in the power of training but find it easier to blame it for failures, highlights a disconnect and, for me, deflection away from them. They absolve themselves and their crucial role in the learning transfer. It points to a need for a more nuanced understanding of how training, organisational culture, and leadership practices intersect to impact learning and performance.
The solution lies not in devaluing training but in recognising its place within a broader system of continuous learning and support. Leaders must shift their mindset from viewing training as a standalone solution to seeing it as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes their active involvement.
Leaders and learners need a shift in mindset; move away from viewing training as a one-off event, a tickbox. Everyone needs to see it as part of a continuous learning journey.
Learning is not or ever will be a silver bullet; it cannot be effective without alignment with the organisation’s culture, systems, and leadership practices.
Leaders and learners need to establish clear objectives for their training, understand how training aligns with organisational goals, provide ongoing support for learners, and implement mechanisms to measure and reinforce the application of new skills in the workplace.
Line managers should spend time with their people ahead of any development intervention to articulate:
Arguably, post-intervention clarity and support are most vital. Line managers should ask their people to reflect with purpose; this means reviewing to identify areas that might still need attention and having a call to action for how they will apply their learning. After all, if my boss is interested, this must be important!
I can hear managers and leaders raising their eyebrows as they read, shouting, “Does this guy not realise how much we have to do?” They will argue they don’t have the time to spend this time with their people. What they fail to realise is that they are already spending that time addressing the shortcomings and issues that arise from a lack of confidence or competence due to poor follow-through, practice, reflection and application.
Training ROI only comes if the employee, managers and learning teams combine with a unified approach.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com on 25th March 2024
Ricky has been a regular contributor to the Forbes Councils since 2023, where he shares his perspectives on all things leadership, change, culture and productivity, all with Thinking Focus’ unique perspective on metacognition, or as we prefer to say, thinking about thinking.
Psychological safety is the cornerstone of high-performing teams and thriving workplaces, enabling open communication, creativity, and innovation. However, even well-intentioned leaders can unknowingly erode this environment through specific actions or habits. Whether dismissing feedback, micromanaging, or prioritising results over relationships, these behaviours can stifle collaboration and suppress team morale. The resulting impact isn’t just limited to strained relationships—companies face diminished learning, reduced creativity, and a decline in overall productivity. This article dives into the subtle ways leaders may undermine psychological safety and provides actionable insights to help leaders foster an atmosphere of trust and openness where employees feel empowered to contribute and take risks without fear of judgment.
The concept of psychological safety is pivotal in today’s corporate environment, as highlighted by Amy Edmondson’s influential work The Fearless Organization. While its benefits are clear—fostering innovation, engagement and a no-blame culture—leaders often hinder the implementation.
Psychological safety creates a corporate culture that values transparency and sees mistakes as learning opportunities. It encourages individuals to voice concerns and share ideas freely, which is crucial for driving forward-thinking and innovation.
Consider the alternative: a culture of fear and shame that drives problems underground, misses learning opportunities and increases the risk of systemic issues. It is human nature to avoid looking foolish and being shunned. So mistakes are hidden and we let things slide.
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the global aviation industry faced substantial safety issues, declining consumer confidence and air travel numbers. They had little choice but to tackle their safety issues head-on. This required airlines to come together with a common goal to make everyone who flies as safe as possible.
Introducing a nonpunitive reporting policy required pilots to share incidents and near misses within an agreed timeframe. This policy was pivotal to improving standards, making air travel one of the safest forms of travel.
Businesses now see psychological safety as a beacon for high engagement and empowerment, unlocking hidden potential while making an environment less risky. This pursuit is admirable and noble, but it needs the courage and conviction of leaders to see it through. It is also a journey, not a destination.
Teams constantly change, and therefore, dynamics shift. Our primal responses see new people as threats, unknown entities that cause uncertainty and anxiety. Much of this is subconscious, so we might not even realise it’s happening. When you add in internal competition, ego and misaligned goals, the cracks soon appear, and performance levels drop.
Egotistical leaders who place their needs above the group destroy psychological safety. Their obsession with winning causes people to feel unsafe. A more selfless leadership focused on performance—that faces the facts, sharing thoughts, good and bad—can lead to a better future.
How leaders react is crucial, too. When things happen, is their response disproportionate? Or are they balanced, calm and methodical? The personal pressure level will determine a leader’s response, and their feelings can influence whether it’s in proportion.
The leader’s intent may be to tackle the challenge a-on, embrace the learning opportunity and come together to work through it. However, add in the complexity and demands from boardrooms, stock markets, media and the workforce, and that intent may waver. The scale and nature of these pressures can easily bias any leader’s decision-making.
How leaders intellectually spar with their people can be dangerous. It can be healthy to stretch, test and explore with their people, but if they have to “win” the argument, they will likely intimidate their people, who will probably then stay in their lane and play it safe.
I sympathise with those in public roles who are particularly susceptible to this; the risk of failure is so high personally and professionally that adopting a psychological safety culture, while intellectually sensible, can be risky as mistakes and failure are spun in the public eye by the press with a witch hunt as they demand someone to be held accountable—that’s not conducive to psychological safety and definitely a need for strong leadership.
The absence of psychological safety causes decline, whether it be an existential problem that causes the leader’s downfall or a slow decline.
Without learning and growth, people don’t innovate, take risks or be creative. People who previously felt safe can now feel exposed and seek new opportunities elsewhere, which means losing talent and recruiting becoming harder.
Employees can become less engaged and feel undervalued, marginalized and underappreciated, so delivering organizational goals becomes much more challenging.
Increased stress and anxiety directly impact decision-making. People play it safe, looking for ways not to lose instead of playing to win. Playing to win means being prepared to lose, but knowing failure means learning and growth. In other words, you either win or learn.
The irony is that a psychologically safe culture surfaces issues and allows for debate, discussion, shared learning and more collaborative problem-solving. All of which raise standards across an organization, decreasing risk and driving up performance.
The alternative to psychological safety doesn’t bear thinking about; a false harmony pervades, and blind spots grow. It makes no sense only to hear what you want to hear; the reality is that bear traps are lying in wait!
Psychological safety doesn’t guarantee a worry-free journey, but the issues can be in plain sight, and your people will be more likely to want to be a part of the solution.
It takes real effort to remain rational and calm when things around you are failing. However, we can train ourselves to look for the learning in the chaos over time. But you must fight your body’s natural fight or flight response, develop strong self-talk and create a narrative that finds the learning once you let the emotions dissipate.
As Kipling said, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting.”
Being human means making mistakes. Being superhuman might just mean having the courage to embrace and learn from them.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com on 27th February 2024
Ricky has been a regular contributor to the Forbes Councils since 2023, where he shares his perspectives on all things leadership, change, culture and productivity, all with Thinking Focus’ unique perspective on metacognition, or as we prefer to say, thinking about thinking.
Purpose: why your success depends on it dives into the concept of purpose and its critical role in driving success both personally and professionally.
Discover how understanding and aligning with your purpose can transform your approach to work, motivate teams, and lead to remarkable achievements.
Have you ever wondered if there’s more to your job than just tasks and deadlines?
Uncover the power of purpose and how it can turn routine into passion, driving you and your team towards success.
Journey to Success: Follow my journey as a Manager, where starting from scratch with a new team, we achieved our annual goal in just ten months. Learn how a clear purpose and a compelling vision inspired my team to overcome challenges and exceed expectations.
Purpose is our driving force; it’s why we do what we do. From global charities like Oxfam to iconic brands like Coca-Cola, we explore how purpose fuels dedication and inspires contributions beyond the ordinary. Discover why purpose is a frontline manager’s secret weapon for motivating teams, making strategic decisions, and fostering a culture of resilience and productivity.
You will gain practical tips and strategies for embedding purpose in your leadership style. Learn how to articulate a vision that resonates, recruit team members aligned with your mission, and continually reinforce the importance of purpose in achieving organizational goals.
