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Our series on facilitation continues with one of the most difficult things that anyone running a meeting or facilitating a session has to deal with, people! There are a number of reasons why someone might not be playing along with the process or playing nice with the group, and as the facilitator, you are the person who is best placed to intervene.  However, this is more than just laying down the...

In the business world, getting people to stop, think and contribute can be a challenge.  Yet, somehow, great facilitators manage to get everyone chatting, contributing and feeling heard.    In this podcast, Richard and Rob explain to Paul all of the tricks that they have picked up in the years that they have been facilitating.  By using some of these tricks, you can get even the quietest person to...

Continuing our series on facilitation, Paul asks Rob and Richard how they create the trust and 'safety' required to get honesty and openness from workshop participants. Creating a safe space is one of the primary responsibilities of a facilitator. If you get the environment and dynamic wrong, it may cause people to close down, limiting the ideas, challenge and acceptance of the group.  Getting it...

The Thinking Focus team have facilitated workshops all over the world.  We facilitate thinking for companies large and small, as well as charities, and government bodies; if you have something that you need the team to think about, then the team can help. In this short series, Paul talks to Richard and Rob to understand how master facilitators work, giving you some inside tips on how to be a bette...

We spend most of the time with our brains on 'autopilot'.  We are thinking at a subconscious level, causing us to act without being truly aware of what we are doing.   This handy little trick helps us get through the day, making the most of the energy available and freeing up our conscious mind to work on the more important stuff, like 'what's for dinner?'. Rob and Ricky explore in this podcast ho...

Every time we learn something new we have to connect that to our world, to understand how that new piece of information or skill will work for us.  Knowing is not enough, we have to integrate the new into our existing understanding of the world.  That takes reflection. In this podcast, Ricky and Rob explore why reflection is so important and offer up different strategies that will help you reflect...

How many goals should you have?   Should you have goals for everything, or just focus on one thing?   Ricky and Rob have one goal in this podcast, to talk about how many goals should have if you want to make sure you achieve all of the goals that you set yourself.

Ricky and Rob get ARCI in this podcast, looking at how (and why) people often confuse accountability and responsibility.   The RACI model is a great tool to help understand different roles and responsibilities, but is Responsible (the R in RACI) really the place to start, or should Accountable go first? 

Someone, probably a past manager, will have talked to you about time management at some point in your working life.  You won't be alone if these conversations have left you feeling that if you could just organise your time a little bit better, you would suddenly become so much more successful. In this podcast, Rob and Paul explore this idea and pull apart the myths behind time management, suggesti...

In this episode of the podcast, we explore motivation.  Ricky and Paul consider why the typical motivational strategy of rewards and consequences (Carrot and Stick) might not be getting the best out of your team.  They consider why this approach is so common when it has such a limited impact, and discuss alternative strategies that will create more engaged and motivated team members.  

Have you ever wondered why sometimes you try and do things and it works, and sometimes you try and things just don't come together for you? In this podcast Ricky and Rob talk about three steps in our thinking that leads to getting stuff done. If you can create Clarity about your outcome, be more Creative in your ideas while using Critcial thinking to ensure you focus your energy on the right areas...

People underperform in sales (and other roles) for several reasons, in this podcast we will explore how mindset can be one of the biggest reasons why people underperform.   Sales can be easier than other roles to spot when people underperform given the metrics available but identifying the factors behind underperformance is not so easy.     What do we mean by mindset?  Our experience of psychology...

People underperform in sales (and other roles) for several reasons, in this podcast we explore the environment we create.    Sales can be easier than other roles to spot when people underperform given the metrics available but identifying the factors behind underperformance is not so easy.     What do we mean by environment?  It may sound obvious; in our experience, it's not, which is why Mark Dav...

People underperform in sales (and other roles) for several reasons, in this podcast we will explore the skills aspect of the role.     Sales can be easier than other roles to spot when people underperform given the metrics available but identifying the factors behind underperformance is not so easy.     What do we mean by skills?  It may sound obvious; in our experience, it's not, which is why Mar...

People underperform in sales (and other roles) for several reasons, in this podcast, we will explore the knowledge aspect of a role.  Sales can be easier than other roles to spot when people underperform given the metrics available but identifying the factors behind underperformance is not so easy.     What do we mean by knowledge?  Mark and Ricky explore what we mean by knowledge, discussing why...

This is the last of our podcasts around our leadership model.  This time we explore the leader's role in process. Leadership creates stability and change, and this dichotomy shines through when it comes to process.  How do leaders deal with the dual roles of creating efficient and consistent approaches, while at the same time continually improving to make them better, or occasionally transforming...

Continuing our series on the day to day leadership, and what is it that leaders do.  This time we consider the balance between being the leader and being a subject matter expert.   Often people are asked to become leaders because of their strong technical skills; then they are expected to step back from the day-to-day and let others do the work.  If they can balance the demands of expert and leade...

Leaders want their followers to take accountability for their deliverables.  Most leaders think about what they can do to get more accountability, yet rarely consider what they might be doing that is destroying the very accountability that they are looking for. Paul, Ricky and Rob explore what accountability means, and how leaders can create a culture where people own things, or how they might be...

Another podcast exploring the role of a leader. This time we dive into engagement.  How do leaders create engage followers? To us, engagement is more than just making sure people like working here.  It is the way that leaders connect people to purpose, the team and the plan.  This is an ongoing role, constantly needing updating and resetting as the team gets buffeted by day-to-day challenges.   Th...

This is another podcast in our series about the actual things that leaders do.  This time Richard, Rob and Ricky talk feelings!  In particular, they discuss the leader's role in managing feelings; dealing with conflict, smoothing over loss when difficult decisions need to be made and most importantly creating a psychologically safe environment where people can flourish. Leaders who ignore the peop...

The last 18 months has radically changed the way that we work.  The old culture no longer applies, but the temporary culture we have been working with cannot move us forward. Now is a time for cultural re-set for many organisations, but how can leaders shape this cultural change, to encompass the best bits from lockdown working; driving automony, collaboration and accountability. Ricky, Rich and P...

This time on the podcast, we ask a very relevant question for the last quarter of 2021, as we work through this strange lull in the pandemic, trying to act like it is over yet without being really sure that it is. This leads to a feeling that we should be getting back to normal, yet for many going back to what they were doing still feels a way off.  As leaders, how do we engage people who have los...

Once upon a time running a business was all about having the right resources or equipment, yet for most 21st-century organisations it is the people that make all the difference.   In this podcast Ricky, Rob and Rich explore the leader's responsibility to ensuring that they have the right people to deliver their vision.  From attracting the right people in the first place to developing the skills a...

Often leaders have more influence over what does not get done than what does.  From creating the boundaries that keep the team focused on the core objectives, to deciding where best to focus resources, the leader needs to help the team focus on the areas that will have the biggest impact on the goal and higher purpose.   In this podcast, Paul, Rob and Ricky explore how leaders manage the Scope, en...

Part of a leader's role is to share the purpose or vision with others - to turn them into followers who can help achieve the vision.  This is much easier to do when your leadership goal is to try and change the world, but what if you just want to be the best at whatever it is you do - why, and how, do these leaders build their tribe? Rob, Ricky and Paul explore the idea of building a tribe; a grou...