The Thoughtful Leader Podcast with Ben Brearley

As leaders we need to be reinforcing the right behaviours in our teams. We do this by praising or rewarding people for good behaviour and making sure there are consequences for bad behaviours. Likewise, we need to be doing this for performance, too. This means it is really important for us to be aware of what good performance is, and what it isn't. Too often people are rewarded for showing superfi...

Middle Managers sometimes have a pretty tough role. They need to ensure their teams are performing well, while also pleasing their senior management and carrying out their direction. This can be really hard if you disagree with the direction coming from the top, because you need to balance "following orders" with maintaining respect and credibility in front of your team. In this episode, I discuss...

Planning is an often underrated skill. The reason many people don't care about planning is because when you spend time planning, you don't feel like you're doing anything. When you've got a big project to do, it feels like you should be getting on and delivering things, rather than wasting time planning. However, there is a reason why people say "Measure twice, cut once" and "Failing to plan is pl...

It's clear that there has been an increase in employee wellbeing programs in our workplaces in recent years. This is a positive step, because a focus on mental health is definitely required, especially where we spend much of our time - at work! However, I've also noticed that these programs will be introduced without the necessarily changes in behaviour that need to go with them. Everything else s...

I believe that Thoughtful Leaders (the ones who lead intentionally and think about the impact of their behaviour on their people) actually need to focus more on building confidence than other leaders. Why? Because Thoughtful Leaders like you have greater empathy for and awareness of the people around them, so they tend to notice the signs if things aren't quite right. And when your team is going t...

In this episode, I talk about the importance of consequences in the workplace. Sounds scary? It isn't really. Consequences don't have to be all bad, and it's not always about firing people or yelling at them. Sometimes all you need is to show the people in your team that you care, and you're watching. Listen to find out more about how positive and negative consequences can push and pull your peopl...

In this episode, I look at some situations where leaders are actually hurting their teams... when they might actually think they are helping . Sometimes it can be a fine line between being a valuable leader who helps your team achieve better levels of performance, and just being overhead, actually causing greater problems for your team than you solve. Don't let this happen to you! Come and listen...

Trust is a huge factor in improving engagement and motivation in your teams. Imagine, your team members feeling like you believe in them ... wouldn't that be nice? In this episode, I talk about why trusting your people is not only a nice thing to do, it also gets better results and builds better relationships with your team members. In other words, you can't afford not to be doing it! And below is...

I'm a big believer that effective time management and productivity is one of the foundations of good leadership. Leaders who manage their time poorly have less time for their teams and are not able to focus effectively, resorting to constant fire-fighting. A lot of good productivity comes down to mindset and what you will accept. In this episode, I look at 4 common symptoms which may indicate you...

In this episode, I share 5 leadership lessons from my career, with the hope that you can use some of them to help you in 2020 (or any year really...). But the new year is always a good time to take stock, give ourselves a kick and do things differently! Leave a comment below about the lessons, or simply comment on my new podcast graphic or the new intro music! Links: eBook:  Difficult Conversation...

Difficult conversations are unavoidable in leadership if you want to be effective. These conversations could be about performance, behaviour or many other subjects. Without being able to have these conversations, you'll be stuck with conflicts and unmanaged expectations. In this episode, I introduce 3 questions that can help you to spur yourself into action to tackle that hard conversation. Let's...

When it comes to retaining people, all you need to do is to stop them from leaving, right? No, not really. If all you do is try to keep people from leaving, it's not that hard. But then you run the risk of leading a team of people who are unhappy and unmotivated... but not unhappy enough to leave. I call this the motivation dead zone - you can see the zones pictured below. In this episode, we look...

Passive leadership happens when leaders fail to take action, and it can be a huge problem for teams and workplaces. In this episode, I look at some key examples of passive leadership as well as ways that you can start taking action to avoid them. Passive leaders will make their teams feel like their situation is hopeless, so don't let this happen in your team! Resource: If you feel like you could...

Leading a confident team has several important benefits. In this episode, I talk about these benefits and some of the simple things you can do to help grow the confidence of your team members and put your team in a better place. If you feel like you could benefit from greater leadership confidence or you are leading other managers who could use a boost, be sure to sign up for the Leadership Confid...

In this episode I talk about a question I received from someone asking advice about having an insecure boss. Many of us have bad bosses at one time or another, so it's an important question for both leaders and team members alike! I give my thoughts on what to do in this situation and how you can try to make a shift in your manager's behaviour by putting on your "scientist hat" and experimenting w...

When I have been the most stressed in my career, it was because I felt like I wasn't supported by my manager. We want to avoid this happening in your team, so in this episode, I cover 6 good ways that you can support your team to stop them from feeling exposed. Listen now and see whether you can do more to support your team, or whether you're on the right track. And leave a comment below with the...

Directive leadership is not as common as it used to be. In many work environments, you don't get very far if you run your team as a dictatorship. However, this leadership style still has a purpose and can be very effective when used in the right situation. In this episode, Ben talks about what Directive Leadership is and when you might need to use it to get the best results. Links: Article:  Direc...

Fear does bad things to people in our workplaces. Fearful leaders might stay silent when they would normally speak out. They may fail to make a decision when normally they would act. There are many reasons why leaders feel uncomfortable and afraid to leave their jobs - are any of these reasons holding you back? The point is not that we should always be thinking about leaving our jobs. It's that wh...

Motivation at work is tough - most of us need to work, and we spend more time with the people at work than we often do with our friends and families! Everyone is motivated by different things, and we have a whole range of people from those who love their jobs, to those who'd rather be doing something else that they're passionate about outside of work. Work does play an important part in people's l...

A challenge for every leader is to overcome limiting beliefs that we have developed over time. Productivity and effectiveness is one area where limiting beliefs can really damage performance as well as the motivation of your team. In this episode, Ben discusses 3 limiting beliefs that might be holding you back and how you can eliminate them. Links: Online Course:  Time Management For Leaders Onlin...

Supportive leaders are great - but problems can occur when leaders step over the line from being supportive leaders to protective leaders. In this episode, Ben talks about some of the traps that supportive leaders can fall into and some ways to avoid them in your team. Links: Online Course:  Time Management For Leaders Online Course . Article:  3 Traps Supportive Leaders Must Avoid . Article:  10...

Time-wasters at work can really have a big impact on your team's productivity. But that's not all, time-wasters also have the potential to damage team motivation if your people realise that they're not working on tasks that really add value. In this episode, Ben looks at three common time-wasters and how you can avoid introducing them to your team! And don't forget to check out the Time Management...

It's easy for leaders to make assumptions about their teams when things get busy. But there are some assumptions that can really damage motivation in a team.  In this episode, Ben talks about these assumptions and how they can damage motivation in your team, as well as how to avoid making them in the first place! Don't forget to check out the new Leadership Confidence Online Course , which is open...

Communication is a critical leadership skill, but it's often a part of leadership that we get wrong.  If you're unable to communicate effectively, you run the risk of demotivating and frustrating your team and the people around you. In this episode, Ben looks at some common communication mistakes, and how we can avoid making them in our teams. As mentioned in this episode, don't forget to check ou...

Confident leadership is not only useful for a leader's wellbeing - it's also great for their team too. In this episode, I look at some ways that confident leadership can help to improve motivation and trust within a team. There are also some tips to help you show confident leadership in your team... even if sometimes, you don't feel like it! Also, don't forget to check out the new Leadership Confi...