leadership

Every Sunday I share a newsletter with my list and amongst other things I share some of the coaching conversations that I have had. It seems that many of the themes are universal so I am going to share those conversations here.

Questioning Assumptions and Back to Basics

I was coaching a Head of Learning Area in a secondary school this week and she described 3 staff with very different personalities and how they were challenging her. Lots of ah-ha moments were shared in this coaching session. T…

Hands up if you are busy and could do with another pair of hands??

I think we all could.

But here's the thing…

You can! Below are some options but I want you to notice what your internal dialogue is telling you when you read them...

• You can ask the people around you for help - your kids, your staff, your partner - and then keep them accountable.
• You can pay people

Curious to know what the voices in your head are saying right now???

Let's pretend you are in a leadership role in a schoo…

Appreciation in the workplace can sometimes be tricky.

Do any of these things go through your head?

• Praise one of them and ya gotta praise them all.
• They get paid, don't they?
• Yeah, but who notices ME??
• I am always giving recognition but no one seems to notice.

NOW is absolutely the time to make sure that your workplace stops and acknowledges, recognises and celebrates individual contributions.

Why? Because everyone is exhausted and starting to feel that no one notices how hard they w…

While we still argue the difference between management and leadership, for me, It's relatively simple. Management is understanding the complexity of any job. It's making things go around, making things work, making sure that things are what they are supposed to be. That we follow certain rules and structures that we are required to, to make the product, to sell the thing, to teach the kids, to serve our clients. And ultimately, to make a profit or to achieve our organisation's goals.

However, l…

Last month, I did a lot of driving which means I did a lot of thinking. And two topics I was musing a lot about were trust and authenticity.

There were a couple of completely unrelated events that got me intrigued, annoyed, and curious. Like all (good) writers, I write much better when I am pissed off than I do when I am positive. So I took these events and the emotions that they stirred up for me and got wondering.

Grab a cuppa and join me as I process this stuff.

Authenticity and Leadership…

My younger self knew everything.
Absolutely everything.
You ask her any question and she had an answer.
She was lashings and lashings of FIG JAM*.

Even when she didn’t know she was never going to admit it. She was the epitome of a fixed mindset, using all her energy to defend her all-knowing reputation.

To be clear she was clever, quick to learn and curious.

But this was her armour and not her gift.
It stopped her and her team being all they could be.
This was not leadership this was fea…