Walking Your Talk | Culture Change & Leadership

We all aspire to be values driven, but we are also driven by other needs: survival needs such as the need for control, to be liked, or for security. Often the two conflict, and this results in a perception that you are not walking your talk. How can you rebalance this and thus become more credible?  Buy the Walking the Talk book: https://amzn.to/3WunDBA Buy Accountability@Work book: https://amzn.t...

What is so important to you that you will hold true to it even if it means some personal, or organisational, sacrifice? At the heart of being values driven is answering this, and then having the courage to stick with it in the face of other temptations.  Buy the Walking the Talk book: https://amzn.to/3WunDBA Buy Accountability@Work book: https://amzn.to/3ZmOSQB Website: www.carolyntaylorculture.co...

Not all values can be treated equally. Changing what you think is most important involves making new trade-offs, different decisions and some sacrifices. This episode makes values very practical, and shows what it takes to demonstrate a change to others, and how this is essential to changing culture.  Buy the Walking the Talk book: https://amzn.to/3WunDBA Buy Accountability@Work book: https://amzn...

What happens when you don’t like what you see, feel you have a valuable point of view to express, or feel wronged in some way? It takes courage to speak up and to take responsibility for being heard. And it usually involves a “difficult conversation”. What are the pay offs, and how can you make it easier to take that step? This episode offers Carolyn's coaching advice on finding the courage you ne...

Sometimes being courageous is not about doing something different, but rather about revealing something about yourself you have previously felt you had to keep hidden. By keeping up appearances, portraying a shinier image of yourself than you feel inside, you gradually close yourself off from others and reduce their trust in you. This episode covers the courage that it takes to show some vulnerabi...

What would represent stepping several steps outside your comfort zone for you? What are the risks you have been unwilling to take? The opportunities you have not yet grabbed? In this episode Carolyn helps you to challenge the stories you tell yourself about risk, and tests whether you can change them so you are able to take more courageous steps than you have before.  Buy the Walking the Talk book...

To act in the face of feeling anxious, or even fearful, is the sign of courage. Anxiety and fear are signals that you are moving outside of your comfort zone and into a zone where your career, your business, and your life can start to accelerate. In this, the first of a four-part series on becoming more courageous, Carolyn defines courage as fear plus action, and challenges you to embrace what tha...

It is easy to blame others when they do not deliver what you expect. But the responsibility also lies with the asker, person who set the expectations in the first place. This final episode in the accountability series covers what you can do to increase the likelihood that someone will deliver to your expectations, and what you need to do if they do not.  Buy the Walking the Talk book: https://amzn...

My word is my bond. I am a man or woman of my word. She is as good as her word. There is so much caught up in the power of giving and keeping our word. This episode throws light on what it takes to be someone whose word can be trusted – and how important is that for customer relationships and colleague relationship. Crucial skills to build an enviable reputation of reliability.  Buy the Walking th...

Those who consistently keep their word learn early that it becomes essential to give your word with care. Many just say yes to everything and then gain a reputation of being unreliable. Make your word count, promise deliberately, learn to negotiate when you think what is being asked of you is not achievable.  Buy the Walking the Talk book: https://amzn.to/3WunDBA Buy Accountability@Work book: http...

If in every accountability ‘contract’ there is an asker and a giver, it is the role of the asker that is often underrated and under-emphasised. Skilful asking, clear negotiation of commitments, and active engagement at the start, dramatically increases the likelihood that what is expected is delivered at the end. This episode describes the role and responsibilities of a skilful asker, the person w...

At its core accountability is a contract between two people, one the asker, one the giver. When both of working in harmony, good accountability produces consistent performance, heightened trust, no unexpected surprises. In this, the first in the series on accountability, Carolyn describes a new and exciting way of thinking about accountability that is empowering and exciting, rather than evoking t...

How to reduce the syndrome of “piling on” and embed a culture of simplicity. Most leaders who lack credibility in espousing aspirations of simplicity and focus hold deeply held beliefs that more is always better. If you tend to say “yes” to more and more, adding workload to yourself and to others, then this episode is for you. The final in the Walking the Talk series on Simplicity, you will learn...

How to increase agility and simplicity by speeding up decisions. Do you procrastinate? Or seek more and more information before making difficult decisions? Your behaviour will be creating workload for others, and making your organisation less agile, less easy to do business with, slower to market. In this third episode in Walking the Talk’s series on Simplicity, Carolyn will show you how to observ...

How to reduce your own perfectionism and create a simpler, agile organisation. Do you struggle to reduce complexity? Are you working for an organisation that is driving to achieve this? In this second episode in Walking your Talk’s series on simplicity, Carolyn will show you how to reduce your own perfectionistic tendencies, and by doing so reduce complexity for yourself and those around you. Lear...

Focus, prioritisation, speed, agility - mastering simplicity makes all of these achievable and transforms your working life. Steve Jobs made it a way of life at Apple, and we have all benefited as a result. Simplicity efforts in organisations tend to focus just on processes. Most leaders do not see how they themselves create a culture of complexity around them, and how their own patterns of thinki...

Use symbols to change your culture. There a hundreds of symbols that you can use to demonstrate that you are a leader who walks your talk. Whichever culture goals and values you and your organisation aspire to, being smart about how you use symbols is the fastest way to signal change. And the great thing, most of these are 100% in your control. Whenever you make choices about how you use your time...

Do you want to be seen as an authentic leader? That means living by the values you and your organisation espouse. “Be the change you want to see in the world”, said Gandhi, and when it comes to changing an organisation’s culture, that means translating aspirational goals like accountability, customer-centricity or one-team into day to day behaviours and actions. Many leaders are criticised for not...