The question is

We have two primal fears: shame and death!  Evolutionary strong feelings that were designed to keep us alive, but not really designed for the modern workplace, yet these fears play out strongly in our day-to-day lives. In this episode of our mini-series on getting out of your own way, Richard and Ricky discuss how fear of failure might drive our behaviour, and not always in ways that make us more...

We want people to be authentic in the workplace, to show up as they are, and to be their best selves.  Not only do we want to be authentic because it helps us build trust and better relationships, but it is easier - it takes less work just to be you. At the same time, we all want to fit it, show off our best bits and look good, so from time to time, we put effort into ensuring that others see us i...

Rob and Paul continue this mini-series within The Question Is podcast about some of the different ways that people 'get in their own way'.  This time we consider perfectionism.  Could perfectionism be an advantage, or are we confusing high standards, with nothing ever being quite good enough? Like most traits that get in our way, these habits were once useful, which is why they have become a habit...

The feeling that you are an imposter, doing something you feel unqualified for or that you have no right to do.  Going to work every day with the feeling that this is the day when everyone will realise that you are there by mistake, and it is time for you to go.  Surprisingly, it is a very common feeling, one that most of us will experience at some point in our working life.  In this episode of th...

Can you have a goal that is too big?  Or too small? In this episode of the podcast, Ricky and Rob explore how we can get in our own way when we pick goals that are either too easy or too hard.    They discuss how our belief in our ability to achieve the goal dramatically impacts how we approach it, so the best goals always fall within a 'goldilocks' zone of not too hard and not too easy; falling i...

Confidence is an integral part of our own personal success.  With it we make bolder decisions, try and little harder and frame difficulties as obstacles, without it we become more cautious and only see barriers.  Not having confidence, in ourselves, the people around us or the situations we find ourselves in is one of the most common ways we get in our own way. In this podcast, Rob and Paul explor...

Ever wondered why you can find so many things to do when you have something important to get done or why social media seems more interesting than the piece of work in front of you?    Most of us procrastinate from time to time, some of us more than others.  In this podcast, Paul and Ricky explore why we do and how it is often misunderstood (especially by those that don't do it as much). Importantl...

When asked, 'what gets in your way?', most of us have the same answer.  Me! However hard we try, we cannot get out of our own way.  We spend our life erecting barriers for us to them climb over, acting like a critic and sometimes even being a bully to ourselves. This is the first of several podcasts exploring the different ways we get in our own way and looking at some simple things that any of us...

The idea that we think fast and slow (Daniel Kahneman) or like a chimp and a human (Steve Peters) has moved from the world of psychology and now is part of everyday understandings of human behaviour.  So, what is the impact of these two different ways of thinking have on leadership in organisations, and which one should leaders be using? Ricky and Rich discuss their observation of working with lea...

Why is it that some people thrive when change happens, and others seem to do so badly?  Change at work is almost the only constant left, yet many of us are really bad at handling it; missing the opportunities that change often presents.   In this podcast, Richard and Ricky explore what we can learn from the people who have handled change well.  What can all learn from their behaviours to ensure th...

Dealing with unexpected change, especially when working with or in large organisations, has become a core skill every employee must master. Yet, many people find themselves unprepared for change when it happens and can find themselves struggling to cope. In this podcast, Paul and Rich explore why some people are good at dealing with change and others struggle. What makes some people resilient and...

Change at work often takes us by surprise, appearing out of nowhere.  This makes sense when you think about it.  Organising and getting ready to announce change, big or small, takes a lot of work, with many moving factors.  When we are on the receiving end of change, we crave clarity - we probably don't want to be involved in the early changes when there are more questions than answers. Organisati...

Talent conversations come in many shapes and sizes.  Talent is more than just how good you are today; it also encompasses how well you fit into the plans for tomorrow.  Your plans, the organisation's plans, and their plans....    What could possibly go wrong? Ricky and Paul tackle the conversations that leaders need to have to help the people around them understand where they are right now, what i...

Working out who the talented people are sounds easy, but it turns out to be quite complex for many leaders.  Loyalty and liking get in the way of tough decisions, and potentially get confused with performance.  We also ignore issues when they are small, making them really difficult to deal with once they become a problem. In this podcast, Paul and Ricky explore a model used by a lot of organisatio...

Developing the skills and growing the people around us is, all too often, perceived as something that HR or L&D own.  The perception is that this has very little to do with day-to-day activities, maybe even getting in the way of doing the work.  Yet, without building the skills to do what is needed now and what will be needed next, it is impossible to achieve our goals. In this episode, Ricky and...

Who is responsible for developing you so that your career progresses?    It used to be something that employers took responsible for; however, that may not be the case anymore.  In this podcast, Paul and Ricky explore the way that career development changes over your career and how modern careers may have to have quite different expectations around learning and development. So, ask yourself, who o...

So what are the important things that leaders need to focus on to ensure that they are leading for success?  Does that change in a year like 2023, when, yet again, everything is up in the air? In this podcast Paul and Ricky consider what would be the five most important areas that a leader should focus on when leading in such uncertain in times.  They consider how this might be different from othe...

In this special edition, one-hundredth episode of the podcast we explore the four key topics, Productivity, Change, Culture and Leadership to see if we can get each of them down to one piece of wisdom, well one piece each from Ricky, Rob, Rich and Paul.    Without creating any spoilers, you may have guessed that we did not get it down to one, or one per topic!    However, we did come up with some...

Every day in every workplace there are important conversations that just don't happen.  Conversations around performance, disagreements around strategy, information that may stop a mistake about to happen.  Important and beneficial conversations that don't happen. These are difficult conversations.  An exchange that may go wrong, get emotional or have future consequences.  In that moment, the cost...

In the last of our short series of podcasts on questions, Rob and Ricky tackle the role of questions in critical thinking.  From exploring the advantages or disadvantages of different options to making decisions, asking the right questions allows us to cut through and get the best answers.  Great outcomes start with great questions.

Another short podcast in our mini-series on questions, this time Rob and Ricky look at the role of questions in making us think creatively.   Questions have the magical property of making you think, even when you don't want to, so with small shifts in the structure of the question, you can use questions to make anyone think more creatively.  

Continuing our short series on the power of questions, in this podcast, Rob and Ricky explore the role of questions in creating clarity. Questions are one of the easiest ways of engaging our minds.  In fact, they are sneaky, as it is almost impossible not to think about a question when asked, even if you don't want to answer it.   Questions can help us sort through the noise to discover exactly wh...

As part of a mini-series on the power of questions, Ricky and Rob look at the role of questions, why they are an important tool for leaders and managers and discuss why they work. From the way we ask questions, to using questions to helping others think, this podcasts asks questions about questions.

So, you have spent hours working out how best to run your meeting or workshop, you have a plan, you have the timing perfect...  then the workshop starts, and you watch as your plan gets up and leaves the building! In this podcast, Paul gets experienced facilitators Richard and Rob to share some of their secrets so that you look like everything is running to plan; you end up exactly where you said...

Often to get to the heart of a problem or strategy, you need to create an honest and open exchange of views, yet you don't want it to tip over into an argument or the participants becoming overly emotional. In this podcast, Paul explores this with experienced facilitators Richard and Rob to find out how they find the balance, getting everything on the table, even surfacing controversial opinions,...