When leaders make decisions that cut across your values, you are likely to have reactive emotional responses; anger, disbelief, disappointment, sorrow, outrage. If you value social unity, inclusion, and transparency and a leader’s actions generate divisiveness, exclusion and the thinking behind their decisions appears absent, you are likely to react with the flight, fight or freeze response. When this occurs, curiosity and engagement are lost. A division between you and the leader is created. When this occurs, being critical is...

Being direct, challenging others, and saying what you think is only part of the equation. How you do this is another aspect. I want to focus on the specific area of candour in leadership teams. My view is candor amongst leaders is the litmus test in discerning transparency, openness, and collaboration in an organisation’s culture.  What is candour? Candour constitutes the capacity to speak up collegiality, plainly, respectfully and relevantly. It is being able to express your original thinking within...

What is organisation culture? What is the role of leadership teams in influencing culture?   I am often asked about organisation culture and what leadership teams can do to establish the culture they want in their organisation. Google tosses up more than a million articles on organisation culture in less than a second. So, you may understand my trepidation as I add one more. The definition that makes sense to me, is “the way we do things around here.” In...

Effective leaders are trusted. Being trusted gives you influence with your peers, managers and staff. It also makes you someone who is listened to, who others turn to, and it enables you to have the tough conversations and push back when you need to. But trust is a two-way thing. Trusting takes courage and wisdom to create the relationships that will support you as an effective leader. What Is Trust? Trust is generated at an emotional level. A relationship is...

The links amongst organisational culture, leadership and success continue to capture the attention of organisational leaders. Providing illustrations from her work as an organisational leadership coach and drawing on J.L. Moreno’s concept of social and cultural atom, Diana Jones proposes that leaders can shape positive change in their organisation’s culture by enacting and modelling progressive behaviours in their relationships with one another and their staff. Read more in this complimentary, downloadable PDF: The Way We Do Things Around Here The...

I am back from three weeks in Italy. Half of this time was in Rome and the other half in Tuscany. Being on holiday is a chance to walk out of my everyday life and have completely new experiences alongside some familiar ones. Taking time out from my own life enables me to reflect and refresh, and to see things from other perspectives. Four impressions have stood out on this holiday: Firstly, every cup of coffee I had in Rome...

Leaders, it’s your job to help your people get: A sense of achievement A future in the organisation A sense of belonging to your company How do you do that? And why would you do that? Because people: Thrive at work when they have good relationships with those around them Know who to go to for what Can solve customer problems quickly Given this is so important, how do you do this? First, accept that formal organisation relationships are not...