The Thoughtful Leader Podcast with Ben Brearley

Ever felt like you're constantly dealing with people problems and team issues, rather than doing actual work ? You're not alone. Dealing with people problems is a natural part of leadership. However, if it is consuming your working day so much that you can't actually focus on doing real work that moves your team or business forwards, then you have a problem. You're not alone. Dealing with people p...

Doing meaningful work is one of the greatest motivational factors that drives team member performance. When people feel as if they are taking on worthwhile tasks that matter, they're more likely to feel engaged and put in the effort. Unfortunately, there are many people who aren't doing meaningful work. There is a lot of wasted time and effort in our workplaces which can destroy motivation. In thi...

As humans, we are constantly experiencing emotions and the workplace is no exception. Leaders often need to deal with deadlines, team problems and other situations, so it's inevitable to feel stressed, upset or anxious from time to time. Even positive emotions can get us in trouble in the wrong context. The most important part of dealing with emotions is making sure that we can respond to them in...

When I hear the words "Performance Management" these days I tend to cringe a little. Why? Because over the years, Performance Management seems to have become more about following arduous Human Resources (HR) processes and pushing people out of the organisation than actually improving performance. In this episode, I run through the 5Cs of Performance Management, to actually help you get better resu...

Setting a direction is an extremely powerful action that leaders can take to reduce conflict, improve productivity and make sure everyone is on the same page. Setting a clear direction seems obvious, but I've seen many cases where conflicting priorities still unravel teams and cause dysfunction. In this episode, I look at some of the reasons why setting a direction is so important, how it will hel...

Many organisations seem to be trying to do too much, with too little. The list of "critical" initiatives and projects seems to keep getting bigger.  Committing to lots of priorities seems like a good idea. It looks good to say you'll complete 100 initiatives this year. The problem is that in reality, it looks more like you'll complete 20 of those initiatives. Often the pressure flows down hill. Th...

Self-serving leaders put themselves ahead of other people in their organisation, including their teams. Most of us have a tendency to believe that some leaders are selfish and out for themselves, while others aren't. I believe that our self-serving tendencies lie on a spectrum, it's not black or white. Yes, there will always be the political animals and the power players, but everyone else sits on...

Leadership can be stressful. Sometimes we feel like we want to have all the answers, when the reality is that our workplaces can be full of ambiguity and uncertainty. In an effort to gain control of their team and guide them in the right direction, some leaders will try to grip on tighter. They feel like if they don't, they'll lose control and everything will go wrong. Well... what if I told you t...

Most of us have been conditioned to believe that hard work is a good thing. Working long hours, being exhausted every day - it's all part of the general grind of work. While hard work was certainly needed in the "olden days", our working lives have changed. Instead of going down a mine or lifting heavy things, many of us spend a lot of time doing "knowledge work" which involves writing documents o...

I've worked in many organisations where leaders are still running on the hamster wheel of work. These leaders treat themselves poorly, without taking breaks or doing anything else to support their wellbeing at work. There are a few problems here - perception is one of them. Some leaders think that if they are perceived as hard-working or never taking a break, people will think they are better lead...

Many organisations spend an enormous amount of time focusing on small, trivial issues and working around problems instead of tackling them head on. Focusing on the small issues is a great way to procrastinate and make yourself feel like you're doing something. In this episode I talk about why this happens, how you can tell if it's happening to you and then, of course, some ways to help you change...

Are you a leader who would love your team to be more proactive? I'm sure you're not alone! Having proactive team members is great because it reduces the "fire-fighting" reactive mentality that often builds up in our teams and workplaces. In this episode, I share some of my tips for cultivating a more proactive team, that you can try for yourself. They aren't rocket science, but you do need to be c...

Stress is a common part of every workplace, and leaders experience it more than most. In one particularly stressful part of my leadership career, I started to notice myself getting more frustrated and upset at situations in my workplace. I decided that I wanted to make sure I was calm and composed and able to take on stressful work environments without flying off the handle. After receiving some a...

Thoughtful leaders show empathy, are introspective, perceptive but they also push back when they need to. Contrary to popular belief, being a thoughtful leader is not all about being soft and fluffy when leading your team. Being a thoughtful leader doesn't mean you're a pushover or you don't stand up for yourself.  Thoughtful leadership is all about intention. Thoughtful leaders (like you) think a...

Team Motivation is an ongoing challenge for many leaders, because work isn't the only thing many team members want to be doing. Some team members are very motivated and career-focused, but I've found this isn't necessarily the norm. That doesn't mean we give up on the other team members. Leaders have a responsibility to try to bring out the best in their teams, and we can do this by working with o...

If you feel like your team isn't operating as well as it could be, it might be that you aren't all pulling in the same direction. Confusion, frustration and conflict are often symptoms that people aren't on the same page.  In other words, you need to get your team aligned so you're all speaking the same language. In this episode, I talk about some simple ways to make sure you and your team members...

When you're trying to implement a change in your team, it can be tempting to just push it through. After all, you're the boss, right? Unfortunately this is the attitude taken by many organisations who fail to plan changes adequately and consider the different aspects of change. However, taking a "It's my way or the highway" approach can lead to long-term damage to your team and organisation as res...

In this episode, I answer some reader and listener questions that recently came through regarding how to manage a micromanaging boss and what happens when you fail to delegate. I'm sure these are applicable to many of you leaders out there so I thought this would be a good opportunity to give my guidance on these often trick situations! If you'd like to have the chance to have a question addressed...

Effective leadership is all about getting your important work done while being able to support and improve your team at the same time. I have seen so many examples of wasted effort in my career and I feel that a focus on greater effectiveness is the solution. It's not all about money - when people are working on things that don't matter or doing boring manual work that could be done more easily, i...

Leadership can be uncomfortable, especially when you're worried that your team might not be able to deliver what you need. Unfortunately, some leaders start to resort to controlling leadership, where they get deep into the detail of every aspect and start to want to know everything that's happening, all of the time. Leaders in this situation might not delegate, instead trying to keep hold of the k...

Working "In the Grey" is a term used to describe a situation where we don't have all the answers. We might be embarking on a project that we've never tried before or trying to solve a problem we're just not that familiar with. This is a fairly common situation as the business landscape is changing rapidly, with technology advances giving rise to new forms of competition and disruption. The recent...

It's easy for leaders and their teams to become consumed with the day to day work, never finding the time to take a breath. There also seems to be a desire to fill up our entire schedule with work, leaving no room for downtime or working on other activities that will help our teams improve.  However, when our teams are working flat out for 100% of the day, they are more likely to experience burnou...

We are all busy and have constraints on our time, but that doesn't mean that we need to be a victim of our circumstances.  I hear it often - "I don't have time". What we're really saying is "That's not important right now". I'm asking all the leaders out there to change the narrative. We need to start taking back control and being intentional about where our focus lies, instead of hiding behind th...

Often we dream of being "the boss" and having the authority to make any changes we like. The reality of our workplaces is much different. So much of leadership is about influencing and building rapport with your team and other managers, and formal authority really only gets you part of the way. Being the boss gets your team to listen to you, but they won't willingly follow your lead unless you bui...

The working world has been changing over recent years, with more flexible working arrangements and the ability to work remotely. Some online software businesses already operate with an entirely remote workforce and without a head office! With the rise of the Coronavirus pandemic this year, we're now seeing a shift to remote working at a rapid rate. So in this episode, I talk about some of my tips...