Sometimes (at work) we get a little lost. Maybe our actions are not working, our dreams suddenly appear unattainable, or we become disconnected from the purpose. It may happen slowly over time or can be a sudden upheaval when things around us change.
It can be very disconcerting to feel lost, yet many of us experience it at some point. As coaches, we are frequently asked the question, ‘What’s the point?’.
In this podcast Paul and Ricky explore how people may find themselves lost, and what they can do to reconnect with their purpose, or discover a new purpose that will give them the energy and desire to carry on.
New Manager Playbook: Mastering Management Essentials
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.
What’s Inside?
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!
Continuing our series of podcasts that explore the most common questions asked in coaching sessions, Rob and Paul explore the very common topic of time in this podcast. A range of time questions come up, all of which centre around the genuine issue of having more things to do than the time available.
Time management skills are essential to modern working but are only part of the story. Most of us have jobs where the demands outstrip the time available, and in this episode, Paul and Rob explore the different mindset (and skills) required to ensure that the time you have is used in the best possible way.
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.
The problem
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.
The Impact
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.
The Solution
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.
Before Training
Line managers should spend time with their people ahead of any development intervention to articulate:
Why this training is important for them and the business.
Why now is the right time.
How it aligns with the business goals.
What goals for the training
What they expect of them during and after the intervention.
After Training
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!
Reflection – ask learners:
What did they learn?
So What does that mean for them?
Now What will they do differently?
Application – create opportunities for people to put learning into practice.
Coaching & feedback – identify opportunities to provide meaningful feedback and coach where required to raise the bar and embed learning.
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.
Choosing where to focus your time and money is probably the most challenging question to answer. You face many choices every day, but how do you decide which deserves your attention?
Learn how to make better decisions using the Cost vs. Benefit Matrix.
This powerful tool helps you assess your options objectively, visualize your thought process, and weigh the positives and negatives of each choice.
In this video, Graham Field shares the essence of the matrix, its applications, and how to use it in real-life scenarios. You’ll also get a free downloadable template to make better decisions today. Suitable for anyone looking to enhance their decision-making skills.
By the end of this video, you’ll have a robust framework for navigating decisions with greater confidence and precision. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more valuable tools and strategies.
We are back with new podcasts for 2024, and we are starting the year with some of the questions that we get asked as coaches.
In this episode, Ricky and Paul explore the question most new leaders ask themselves: What makes me worthy of being a leader? There are several reasons why people pose this question, from self-doubt, to seeing the capability of others (while not seeing our own strengths) or simply not seeing leadership for what it is.
If this is a question you have asked yourself, then this podcast will help you think through all the reasons why you should be a leader, and come to terms with the fact that leaders are rarely experts, and experts are normally too busy exporting to lead.
Join us as we talk to Ian James, who shares his journey from an insurance claims handler to Head of Global Risk and Control for a major global bank. His progressive attitude to risk management stands him out from the crowd, and his desire to be at the inception of ideas means he can be an enabler rather than the nay-sayer when he’s left on the periphery of thinking.
Ian shares how he channelled his early dislike for formal education into his work life as he hoovered up a wide range of knowledge and skills and developed a passion for developing people. This passion extended beyond work as Ian coached a rugby team, developing them from eight years old through to eighteen. He also led a scout group and volunteered to help many Duke of Edinburgh award groups. He’s even turned his hand to judging for Regional Enterprise awards in Birmingham.
Ian’s passion for developing people with exceptional engagement scores in almost every role he has undertaken. He shares how several people influenced him in his career and how he has paid that forward many times.
How to make better risk-based decisions is a question for anyone who needs to assess risk. Using critical thinking tools is one way to make better choices. The Risk vs. Likelihood Matrix enables you to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Welcome to the Risk vs. Likelihood Matrix, your guide to making informed decisions amid uncertainty.
This matrix helps you categorise risks based on severity and probability, prioritise actions, and allocate resources efficiently. Whether spearheading a project, contemplating investments, or making personal choices, this tool aids in clarifying complex scenarios and guiding your actions with confidence and precision.
Access a complimentary downloadable template to apply the matrix to your personal and professional endeavours. Remember, knowledge is power when it comes to decision-making. Start using the Risk vs. Likelihood Matrix today!
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.
Understanding Psychological Safety
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.
Learning From History
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.
Why Do Businesses Choose To Focus On It?
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.
What Causes Psychological Safety To Fail?
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.
What Happens When Psychological Safety Is Failing?
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.
Why You Need To Hold Your Nerve
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.
