Unlocking Potential

From Forming to Performing: Leading yourself through change and challenge This is the first of four episodes where we will look at how we lead ourselves through change and challenge. This episode is for you if you have.. Just stepped up or into a role where the team has grown or is newly established Led your team through change and you've got your team in place but they are not yet performing You'...

Are you in the right PLACE to find joy? This is the final component of the Thinking Environment: Place - producing a physical environment, the room, the listener, your body that says you matter. Where do you work? Where do you meet? Does the environment say you matter for you or for your team? What can you change or control about your working and meeting environment that will help make everyb...

Finding Joy in Asking Questions to Unblock Thinking Time to Think call the core question the Incisive Question ™ Freeing the human mind of untrue assumptions lives as true. Think of an outcome you or your team would like to work towards. Then answer What are you assuming that is stopping you... (insert outcome)? What are you assuming that is most stopping you... (insert outcome)? Is it true that.....

The Joy of Information It may feel like information is a pretty dry and boring subject. But when we don't have the information we need we are not able to make decisions or think for ourselves. A lack of information excludes, reinforces hierarchy, causes frustration and anxiety. When we have the information we need we can feel more at ease. There is equality. Our ideas can flow. Yet in our workplac...

Joy is a Feeling - so let's get comfortable with feelings Feelings - welcoming the release of emotion. Unexpressed feelings can inhibit good thinking. Thinking stops when we are upset. But if we express feelings just enough thinking restarts. > Which emotions are safe to express at work? > How might you talk more about how you feel and help your team to put a path forward.   Highly reco...

The Joy of Appreciation Noticing what is good and saying it. The human mind works best in the presence of appreciation. In this episode we talk about the small moments of connection where we can appreciate not only the work someone has done or outputs but to appreciate a quality in them, or something that they did that we appreciated. That could be Helping get the room ready for the meeting. Askin...

The Joy of Difference "Committing to freedom from untrue assumptions driving prejudice." How can we find joy through challenging the assumptions that keep us blocked, limited, fixed and set against anything or anyone who is different. When we challenge these assumptions we can explore and be open to new possibilities and opportunities. New ideas emerge,  It starts with us and our personal com...

The Joy of Equality Ok I am going to be honest. If you are serious about creating equality there will be some discomfort first. In facing up to the fact that your meetings may not be places where there is equality. You will be able to take authentic and impactful action. Once we have faced the discomfort deep joy and connection can be found from creating spaces where everyone is equal. Spaces wher...

Finding Joy through Encouragement The third component of a Thinking Environment talks about - giving courage to go to the unexplored edge of thinking by ceasing competition as thinkers. Where there is competition, judgement or fear of speaking up there will be no joy. There will be performance, conformity and a lack of creativity. The questions I want to leave you with are.. How can you find coura...

Welcome to the second episode of the Finding Joy Mini series. Finding Joy with Ease Ease is disregarding internal urgency. How can we find ease and what impact will that have on our team finding ease? When we are at ease we will be more present, be creative, notice what is good, connect powerfully. Ease is destroyed by our digital distraction - emails, slack, WhatsApp, social media, notifications,...

I'm delighted to start this mini series on Finding Joy. First up ATTENTION How we give ourselves attention How we find those who will give us attention How we give others attention This is your leadership super power. A skill that we are loosing in the age of distraction, productivity and overwhelm. Even taking 90 seconds to pause will help you unlock joy for yourself and others.   "The quali...

If the gold standard for leadership is to be inspiring how can we do that when we are feeling uninspired and unmotivated ourselves. We need to find joy, our spark, our motivation. When we find this joy will be infectious. Trying to change others behaviour alone won't get us very far. In fact often it leads to frustration. Taking time to think and pause will change how you feel. Taking time to thin...

In this episode of the Unlocking Potential podcast we look at How to Manage Your Workload Effectively. We start by considering our pace and perspective. If we are going too fast and are not looking up and out we will not be doing the work that will have the most impact. This exercise will also help you uncover the impact of staying at your pace and perspective. We then look at the Eisenhower Matri...

90 Day Goal Setting to help you make progress. This episode if for you if you find yourself Procrastinating putting off actions or activities. Unclear of where you are heading. Overly focused on reacting to urgent needs with no clear picture of what activities are helping you to get you to where you need to be. 90 Day Goal Setting is a simple, but powerful, process that will help you set the direc...

In this episode we look at how to be less lonely at work and how to help your team feel less lonely. We look at The evidence for loneliness at work and the impact. What a connected team could look like. I share 9 ways you can create more connection at work. How we show up and connect with our team sets the tone for everyone. It does require us to put connexion and relationship building on our to d...

How to find your support network. In this episode we look at why it is so important to find your support network and to be really intentional about building connections that will help you thrive in 2025. Who to look for in your support network. What roles do you need most. How to build your support network. Some ideas for action to help you get started. I will be holding a Find your Network Event...

Approach the end of the year with clarity and confidence. Wrap Up 2024 by looking back so you can find clarity to move forward. This podcast will help you identify what might stop you and your team from reflecting and learning from the past and why will be so impactful in helping your team build trust, grow, thrive and have effective conversations in 2025. Join me on Thursday 19 December from 12.3...

Why Your Team Matters Most In this podcast I make the case for why focusing on your people, bing kind, compassionate and caring is the most effective way to lead a high performing team. I share two businesses who are thriving by putting people first. Timpson  Barry Wehmiller The challenge if you believe the case I put forward is to make three mindset shifts and uncover many more that might be...

In this episode we look at how to motivate your team and lets face it ourselves. When we are energised and motivated we will energise and motivate others. There will always be times of low motivation and low energy. The key is to be able to notice this, identify what causes the low motivation and find ways to move through it. I also look at how we can harness the opportunity that hybrid working br...

In this episode of Unlocking Potential I look at how you can think and act strategically. There are three steps that I've adapted from William Ury's book Possible. He shares these steps in relation to managing conflict but I think they also apply to strategic thinking. This podcast can apply to you personally and how you lead others strategically. I am not going to give you a formula for leading a...

In this episode of Unlocking Potential we will be looking at how to switch off completely and why it matters so much. We cover > What might be holding us back from switching off and resting? > Why rest is so important and why it is so hard? > The 7 types of rest and how we can be intentional about focusing on them. > Top tips for switching off completely while on holiday.   Furthe...

How to overcome the fear of feedback. We struggle to ask for feedback and we struggle to give feedback not because we don't know how to do it. There are 100's of tools online to help you to give feedback effectively. But because either there is a lack of trust and psychological safety or we are letting our own fear and fixed mindset stop us from asking for or giving feedback. Fear can be personal...

Change is hard - but in this podcast I offer a reframe to change. To start to see change as a journey, an evolution an opportunity for growth and transformation. This episode is for you if... >> You are leading organisational change >> You are experiencing organisational or cultural change >> You are moving through personal or professional change >> You know you need to mak...

Meetings are broken. Meetings are not great for anyone let alone everyone. In this podcast I set some context for the problem we face with meetings. I share 4 key problems we are facing and offer reflections questions and ideas for action. These questions will help you shift your beliefs about meetings and give you some actionable ideas to try straight away that will help make meetings better for...

In this episode we explore What values are How they help us as leaders and in our careers How to find your values How to live in your values Knowing your values and living in them will help you lead more effectively and with authenticity and they will guide you in your career growth. Helping you to make values led decisions not comparison led decisions. Useful resources Find Your Values  work...