Claim OwnershipBig Dreams Great Teams® with Paula Maidens
Subscribed: 3Played: 27
Subscribe
© 2025 Paula Maidens
Description
THE podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders of small growing businesses who want to grow and lead a team of high performers. We cover all things hiring, team, people and leadership development through a mix of solo and guest episodes. You'll hear highly practical information and real behind-the-scenes stories to support you to grow the business and life of your dreams.
177 Episodes
Reverse
In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens is joined by messaging strategist, copywriter, and ChatGPT trainer Tahnée Sanders, founder of The Strategy Studio. Together, they explore the common frustrations that come with outsourcing marketing, particularly when the results don’t quite “sound like you.” Tahnée shares why so many small business owners end up rewriting the content they outsource, and reveals the real issue behind most marketing challenges: messaging. She explains wh...
In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens shares practical hiring tips for small businesses, unpacking the five key shifts that are shaping how small business owners need to approach hiring in 2025 and what to do to make your next hire the right one. If you're a business owner planning to hire this year (or even thinking about it), this episode is your heads-up on the new realities in today’s hiring market. From the rise of AI-polished CVs to shifting salary expectations a...
In this practical and eye-opening episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens dives into the hidden fears that hold many small business owners back from making their next hire. If you've ever delayed writing a job ad, second-guessed your interview process, or wondered if you're really ready to bring someone on board, this one’s for you. Paula shares real, actionable hiring tips for small businesses, pulling back the curtain on what’s really going on beneath the surface of “I’m just too b...
In this much-needed episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens dives into a growing issue that’s costing business owners serious time, money and peace of mind. It is the difference between advice and opinion. Paula unpacks how well-meaning but misinformed recommendations can derail your decision-making and explains how to safeguard yourself and your business by learning to tell the difference. Drawing on her own 20+ years in HR, recruitment and business ownership, she shares practical g...
In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens dives deep into one of the most pivotal elements of team performance: trust. If you’ve ever felt like your team isn’t quite stepping up, you’re constantly being pulled into decisions, or you’re stuck re-doing tasks instead of driving strategy, this episode is for you. Paula shares real-life stories from her clients (and her own consulting experience) to show how misplaced or mismanaged trust can become a massive bottleneck to your ...
In this powerful episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens is joined by Shelly Horton – journalist, TV presenter, women’s health advocate, and founder of ShellShocked Media. Shelly brings her trademark humour, candour, and energy as they dive into an essential and often overlooked topic: navigating perimenopause whilst running a business and leading a team. Shelly shares her deeply personal journey through perimenopause, including the hidden challenges she faced with brain fog, anxiety...
In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens walks through a simple but powerful assessment to evaluate your team's performance and how it may be helping or hindering your business growth. With over 70% of her clients expressing frustration around their team’s output, Paula unpacks the most common performance concerns and explains how to identify the exact areas where your team might be falling short and what to do about it. If you've ever found yourself wondering if it's oka...
Growing pains aren't just for growing teenagers… your business experiences them too! In this value packed episode, Paula Maidens dives into a challenge that catches many successful business owners by surprise: why your once-perfect team dynamics often struggle as you approach that exciting $1M revenue milestone. With 15+ years of hands-on experience guiding businesses through team transformations, Paula breaks down the three predictable breakdown points that emerge during growth phases....
In this essential episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m interviewing Lisa Turner, founder of Accounted For You, a specialised Zero-only bookkeeping practice helping female-led businesses understand their numbers with clarity and confidence. With 20 years of experience in finance and accounting and 8 years running her own business, Lisa is passionate about making numbers feel simple. In this super practical and easy to digest episode, Lisa reveals why many business owners fe...
In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula shares a powerful framework to transform your team meetings from energy-draining obligations into the strategic engine of your business. Discover the three specific questions that create accountability, reveal obstacles, and develop proactive thinking in your team - ultimately allowing meetings to run effectively even without you present. What You'll Learn: Why most team meetings accidentally create dependency on you as the leader and how to sh...
Are you exhausted from being the only person in your business who can solve problems? Tired of explaining the same things over and over to your team? In this powerful episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens reveals why "telling" might actually be your biggest leadership blindspot. Discover the simple shift in approach that has helped Paula's clients for over 15 years cut problem-solving time in half and dramatically reduce those frustrating "why are we dealing with this again?" momen...
Here's the truth - working harder isn't the answer to scaling your business. After 14 years of helping business owners build high-performing teams, I've discovered exactly what it takes to break free from operational overwhelm and step into true strategic leadership. In this episode, I'm sharing the framework that will transform how you lead your business. In This Episode, I Share The three distinct phases every business owner goes through (and how to identify where you are)Why your excell...
Are your business values secretly working against your team's performance? In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I'm sharing a practical framework for using values-based communication to transform your team culture. Whether you have formal company values or not, this episode will show you how to tap into the values already driving your business and use them to create the culture you actually want in 2025. What You'll Learn: - Why your business values exist and shape your culture (even ...
In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m pulling back the curtain on how AI tools are helping and hindering hiring, recruitment, leadership, and productivity for small business owners. From streamlining operations to optimising team performance, I’m sharing practical ways I use AI daily—and where it can fall short. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by AI options or looking to maximise efficiency, this episode will give you insights and actionable tips to leverage AI strategically in yo...
As a small business owner, your leadership style directly impacts your team—and ultimately, your business success. In this episode, we dive into three common leadership habits that could be holding you back in 2025. Discover practical strategies to shift from frustration to freedom and create a high-performing team that thrives without your constant oversight. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why most business owners unknowing hold onto habits that stunt their team’s growthThe #...
We're pulling back the curtain on what 2024 really looked like - beyond the glossy social media highlights and into the reality of running a business! In this special end-of-year episode, I'm sharing MY full picture of running a successful business - from the moments that had me pouring a glass of bubbly to the days that had me questioning everything. Because real business growth isn't just about the victories we post online - it's about how we handle the difficult days, what we learn from ou...
What if the secret to scaling your business wasn't about rigid systems, but about leading with your values? In this inspiring episode, Helen Wait shares how she transformed her solo occupational therapy practice into ActivOT, Australia's first OT franchise business with over 65 franchisees across five states. From unconventional hiring practices to creating a culture that truly puts people first, Helen reveals how she built a multi-million dollar healthcare empire without compromi...
Have you ever wondered why some tasks energise you while others leave you drained? Or why certain people’s problem-solving approaches make perfect sense to you, while others leave you feeling baffled? In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, Paula Maidens explores the fascinating world of thinking preferences and how understanding them can transform your leadership style and team dynamics. Paula shares her journey with the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), a powe...
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Allana Ford, the founder and CEO of Muse Pilates, who has built an incredible fitness empire across Australia in just five years. Since opening her first studio in December 2019, Allana has grown Muse Pilates to 13 locations with nearly 100 team members - and she's just getting started. In this conversation with Paula, Allana openly shares her leadership journey and the essential business insights that drove her successful scaling story - from buildi...
In this episode, Paula shares her thoughts on the debate between time management and energy management. Paula reflects on a recent discussion she heard about the shift from time management being the gold standard to energy management taking the lead and explores how both concepts are crucial for productivity and well-being, ultimately arguing that they complement each other rather than compete. Highlights Effectively managing time creates the space needed for energy management practic...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States