My Pocket Psych

After quite a few weeks focusing on self-care and coping - as topics for leaders - I realised I was at risk of neglecting my own self-care and planned holiday. So this short episode constitutes a bit of a reflection of sorts, as I consider how I can best disconnect from work while in Japan.  Resources for this episode To find out more about 'Sustainable Leadership', you can visit the resources pag...

In this episode, I take a look at some of the ways leaders' wellbeing is challenged. Stressors from the role of leadership, the culture of the organisation and from within the leader him/herself can combine to make the job much more difficult than it needs to be.  I look at some of the sources of these difficulties and explore one in particular: the various ways that business travel can erode lead...

In this episode, as part of our Sustainable Leadership series, Richard explores some of the many ways that leadership development activities can fail to deliver.  While it's often one of the most important people development investments an organisation can make, the results can fall of short of expectations for a variety of reasons. From a lack of evidence, over-reliance on fads, and use of 'motiv...

This is the second part of Richard's two-part interview with Dr. Richard Duggins, all about his work in treating burnout. You can find the first part of this interview here .  In this episode, Dr. Richard Duggins explains the role of the workplace and workplace culture in employees' experiene of burnout. Why 'keeping calm and carrying on' is precisely what not to do in the face of overwhelming dem...

In this episode of our 'Sustainable Leadership' series, we explore the antithesis of sustainable work: professional burnout.  Richard is joined by Dr. Richard Duggins, consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, who is known as the 'Doctor's Doctor' due to his work with physicians experiencing burnout in the NHS. His recent book 'Burnout-free working' explores the topic in detail, demystifying bu...

This episode of the podcast is based on a webinar we recently ran on the topic of emotional literacy. In this session, Dr. Richard MacKinnon and Ross McIntosh explain what sustainable leadership is, the role of emotional literacy in leadership, the risks of neglecting it and some simple ways to develop it.  This is part of our 'Sustainable Leadership' series and you can find out more and access ou...

Welcome to another episode of My Pocket Psych, which is part of our ongoing 'Sustainable Leadership' series. In this episode, Richard is joined by clinical and coaching psychologist Dr. Petra Gwilliam, to discuss the importance of mental health when it comes to leadership. We've previously looked at some of the challenges leaders can face at work, and the benefits of cultivating psychological flex...

Continuing our theme of the importance of Sustainable Leadership, this episode is a little bit different.  Earlier this month, I facilitated a webinar with my good friend and collaborator Dr. Rachael Skews.   It was the first of our new series of free monthly webinars on the topic of Sustainable leadership - and I'll put a link to the booking site so you can see the details of the remaining sessio...

This episode is the first in a new series where we'll unpack all aspects of leadership, leadership development and the wellbeing and performance of leaders.  In this episode, Richard is joined by Dr. Wayne Mullen , an experienced leadership development expert, to set the scene, outline our rationale for focusing on leadership, and explore some of the ways leadership can go wrong.  In the coming ep...

In this episode, we wrap up our 'Thriving at Work' focus on wellbeing by asking a simple question: when it comes to improving your health and wellbeing, have you considered actually doing less?  So much of the advice we get about our wellbeing implies the need to do more of something: new foods, new diets, new exercises, new methods and approaches. But if we look at the root causes of so much of o...

In episode 181, I explained how getting clear on what matters - our values - can be a great place to start when we want to improve our wellbeing.  This time round, I look at the benefits of putting these values into action and being more intentional about our actions. Instead of framing our attempts at change as 'pass' or 'fail', we can frame our options as either moving towards what matters to us...

I recently spoke at the Health and Wellbeing at Work conference in Birmingham on supporting employees to overcome challenges and setbacks. On the back of lots of positive feedback, I decided to record an episode outlining the main points I shared with delegates on the day, to share with a wider audience. And hopefully improve on my delivery! In this episode, I explain what Psychological Flexibilit...

In this episode, we look at why it's so important to be clear on our values when making changes to improve our wellbeing.  Values help us make authentic changes, help us persist when we don't feel like it, and give us an opportunity to take values-based action on a daily basis. Values remind us of the person we want to be, an incredibly useful touchstone as we progress on our change journey.  Don'...

Change is at the very heart of the work that I do with my clients. Changing behaviour, changing attitudes. Changing in response to changes in the environment. In this episode, I take a look at some of the different levels at which change can take place - from daily habits all the way through to identity. This enables us to get nice and specific about what it is we actually want to change, and do s...

And now for something completely different! Richard is joined by coach and actor, Lena Kaur for a discussion about coaching actors.  We try to keep our definition of work and the workplace as broad as possible and in this episode, Richard and Lena explore the particular challenges faced by actors and how increasing their psychological flexibility can make all the difference.  Lena explains how bei...

In another of our 'Thriving at Work' episodes, Richard is joined by fellow workplace psychologist  Jane Stewart. They look at some of the challenges with addressing workplace wellbeing and the common traps organisations can fall into.  While it's so easy to get caught up with new wellbeing fads and fashions, these are often disruptive and fail to deliver results. Simiarly, even evidence-based appr...

In this episode in our 'Thriving at Work' series, Richard is joined by Hazel Anderson-Turner for a discussion all about burnout. Hazel describes what prompted her to write a book on the topic, as well as her significant experience coaching and training professionals on how to avoid burnout in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). Richard and Hazel discuss the benefits of using Acceptance and Com...

What does it mean to be evidence-based when it comes to wellbeing at work? How do we know what works when it comes to wellbeing interventions? And does doing 'something' always beat doing nothing? In this episode, Richard is joined by James Carrier for a chat about the benefits of being more evidence-based when it comes to wellbeing and the importance of asking difficult questions.  Full show note...

We continue our 'Thriving at Work' series with a look at leadership and leaders. Richard is joined by Leadership Development expert and executive coach, Dr. Wayne Mullen. They have a look at what it means to be a leader, why it's beneficial to challenge leadership stereotypes and explore some of the many challenges contemporary organisational leaders face. You can find full show notes for this epi...

In this episode, another in the Thriving at Work series, we take a look at how sleep contibutes to our wellbeing and performance at work and ask: can you really thrive when you haven't had enough sleep?  Full show notes for this episode can be found at https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/174   Thanks for listening!

After a few 'heavy' episodes, it's time to turn to the lighter side of the workplace. Richard is joined by Dr. Mike Rucker for a discussion all about how to have more fun, inside and outside of work. Mike discusses his book about fun, the relationship between run, wellbeing and performance, the downsides of putting too much emphasis on 'future happiness'.  You can find the full show notes for this...

In this latest episode of our 'Thriving at Work' series, Richard takes a fresh look at the concept of self-care. While it may conjure up images of bubble baths and cups or tea, there's a lot more to it than that. Richard outlines some quality markers to bear in mind when selecting self-care activities and flags some common pitfalls to avoid.  Full show notes for this episode can be found at workli...

In this episode, which is part of our Thriving at Work series, Richard is joined by two experts in ostracism at work, to discuss what it is, how it impacts employees and what we can do about it. Dr. Ian Tyndall and Dr. Daniel Waldeck discuss their research and why they got involved in this specific topic. Unlike the loneliness experience we discussed back in Ep 135 with Dr. Sarah Wright, where peo...

In this episode, Richard is joined once again by Ross McIntosh for a discussion about how increasing our psychological flexibility can improve our wellbeing.  This episode is part of our 'Thriving at Work' series, which focuses on wellbeing at work and what individuals and organisations can do to improve it. Richard and Ross look at what we mean by wellbeing, and explore how increasing psychologic...

In this episode, part of our Thriving at Work initiative, Richard is joined by Dr. Rachael Skews for a discussion about employees with chronic health conditions. They look at what constitutes a chronic health condition, while employees may be reticent to speak up about their condition or ask for assistance, and the ways that organisations can unintentionally exclude people from the workplace due t...