The question is

Leaders want their followers to take accountability for their deliverables.  Most leaders think about what they can do to get more accountability, yet rarely consider what they might be doing that is destroying the very accountability that they are looking for. Paul, Ricky and Rob explore what accountability means, and how leaders can create a culture where people own things, or how they might be accidentally driving a culture where people avoid being accountable because it is seen as too risky.   This podcast is part of a series about the role of leaders, exploring the nuts and bolts of what leaders need to do. It is based on a model (we created) to help aspiring leaders work out what it means to be a leader. You can find the model, and details of all the areas at www.thinkingfocus.com/what-is-leadership

Once upon a time running a business was all about having the right resources or equipment, yet for most 21st-century organisations it is the people that make all the difference.   In this podcast Ricky, Rob and Rich explore the leader's responsibility to ensuring that they have the right people to deliver their vision.  From attracting the right people in the first place to developing the skills and experience required to deliver tomorrow, leaders have to invest in their talent, because talent is the only thing we have to make our businesses unique.   This podcast is part of a series about the role of leaders, exploring the nuts and bolts of what leaders need to do. It is based on a model (we created) to help aspiring leaders work out what it means to be a leader. You can find the model, and details of all the areas at www.thinkingfocus.com/what-is-leadership

Part of a leader's role is to share the purpose or vision with others - to turn them into followers who can help achieve the vision.  This is much easier to do when your leadership goal is to try and change the world, but what if you just want to be the best at whatever it is you do - why, and how, do these leaders build their tribe? Rob, Ricky and Paul explore the idea of building a tribe; a group of followers who range from active participants to supporters engaged in their own projects, supporting you from the sidelines.   This podcast is part of a series about the role of leaders, exploring the nuts and bolts of what leaders need to do.  It is based on a model (we created) to help aspiring leaders work out what it means to be a leader.  You can find the model, and details of all the areas at www.thinkingfocus.com/what-is-leadership

Senior people need high levels of awareness to be able to do their jobs effectively, but what exactly does it mean to be more aware.  In this podcast, Richard and Paul discuss how awareness of self, others, their organisation and the market place is different as people rise in organisations, and for those wishing to do so how they might start developing that awareness. This podcast is the first of four podcasts considering what is required of anyone who wants to take a senior role or highly demanding job in an organisation. You can find out more about the four areas and how we use them at HTTP://www.thinkingfocus.com/pillars-of-leadership 

As we continue our series of podcasts on common thinking errors, in this podcast, Ricky and Richard make up stuff.  Well, to be honest, I just made that up because this is a great podcast and I was not part of it!  This is emotional reasoning, and if you listen to this podcast, they will introduce you to this common thinking error that we can all make from time to time. Emotional Reasoning is where our mind mixes up who we feel about something (or someone) and the supporting facts about that situation or person.  If you have ever had a bad meeting and started to think that represents the capability of your team, or decided that a new project that is all new and sexy, but has very little detail, is bound to be better than the current project, where you understand all of the complexity and issues, you have fallen prey to emotional reasoning.  Listen in while Ricky and Rich help you take back control and see things as they are, not how they feel...  

As we continue our series on common Thinking Errors, this episode considers the way that sometimes we jump to conclusions with minimal evidence and no facts. Ricky and Paul explore the different ways we see this playing out, taking examples from sport where commentators take stats from 20 years ago to tell us who is going to win, without anyone pointing out that there are very few sportspeople who were playing 20 years ago playing today, so it is not the same team! If you are prone to making leaps in your logic, jumping to conclusions that don't help you or move you forward, ask yourself when you do have a conclusion; Where is the Evidence?  What Alternative explanations might there be? What are the Implications of this? How Useful is this line of thinking? These four vowels (E A I U) prevent you from getting to Ohh, I got that wrong.

If you have ever had one bad thing happen, and suddenly cannot remember everything good that happened before, then this podcast is for you.  In this episode, Graham asks Paul about he common thinking error, Mental Filtering.    Our brains are designed to sort through all of the information presented to us quickly and then focus on the areas that present danger or risk.  It is doing its primary job of keeping us alive long enough to pass on our genes!  Yet, in a modern world, we are not really at risk, so occasionally this amazing trick backfires and makes us hyper-focused on the challenge as if it is life and death, without adding the context of everything else that is going on. Paul and Graham discuss why this happens, and most importantly, how you can bring balance and perspective back into your thoughts, to allow you to see problems and challenges for what they are, and remember all of the experience you are bringing to them.

In our series on thinking errors, this podcast explores catastrophising, with Richard and Graham sharing their own personal experience of this cognitive trick our mind can play, as well as examining why it happens and how to deal with it. If you have ever turned a paper cut into a medical emergency, or a problem at work starts to feel like the first step toward unemployability, then this podcast will help you understand how this simple mental defensive mechanism can easily shift from our best friend to an unhelpful foe.

Now, I don't know about you, but based just on the first 30 seconds of this podcast, this is going to be the best podcast you have ever heard...   As we continue our series on Thinking Errors, this episode explores overgeneralisation.  Richard talks Ricky through the risks associated with over-generalising, making broad-brush connections about events, people and situations based on the specifics of a single or a small number of instances. What happens to our performance when we overgeneralise, making assumptions and decisions based on flawed information?  

Over the next few months, we will be running a new mini-series within 'The Question Is...' that explores the most common Thinking Errors.  Thinking Errors are cognitive distortions that alter our thinking, distorting the way we see the world and can impact performance and mood. In this first episode, Ricky talks to Paul about 'All-or-Nothing' thinking.  This way of seeing situations as simple, Black or White, Right or Wrong, Good or Bad.  This tricks our thoughts into seeing situations as absolute, ignoring the complexity and nuance that typically exists. From ignoring our own success when it does not quite live up to our expectations, to feeling like we are worthless when one part goes wrong, all-or-nothing thinking adds pressure to situations, making anything that is amazing feel like a disaster.  If you have ever felt like that, then this podcast is for you.

Wouldn't it be nice if change just happened, all at once, and then things went back to being stable for a while?  The reality is that change in the workplace is rarely a simple one-off event, more often change is delivered in waves, often iterated to allow the change to best reflect the environment. It is easy to imagine the worst when change happens, assuming job losses, less rewards and more work, over expansion and growth, and when our teams start to imagine these things, it will quickly start to impact productivity, motivation and sometimes even well-being. How we communicate change as leaders can either help people navigate the change, keep focused and drive the work forward, or can be the catalyst of rumour, worry and concern.  In this podcast, Graham and Richard explore the techniques that leaders can use to ensure they get the best for their people and from their people when change happens.

When we change how we work, however much planning and training we put in place up front, we still need to allow a period when things will get worse before they get better.  We may need time to adapt to new processes, systems, or unlearn old ways of doing things. Who wants to get worse at their job?  Instead of embracing the discomfort of change, most of us cling to the old ways we understand, hoping to stay within our comfort zone. In this podcast, Richard and Graham explore why this happens, and what leaders and managers can do to help people through this transition, live with the discomfort long enough to embed the new skills, processes and approaches that will allow them to benefit from the improved productivity that was always envisaged when the new way of working was first dreamed up.

In this episode of The Question, Ricky and Graham continue from episode 147, exploring the impact of constant change on teams. The modern world of work is one of constant evolution, which, for some, can be a great opportunity.  Still, for many, it feels relentless, risking creating change fatigue in the people you rely on to make the change work. Change is a mixture of practical and people outcomes, and leaders can easily focus on the practical deliverables, leaving the people to transition to the change on their own.  Graham and Ricky explore the practical things that managers and leaders can do that will help people move from surviving change to embracing the opportunities that change presents.

Sometimes, it feels like the workplace has become a place of constant change, with technology, economics and societal changes driving the need for teams to adapt how they work to meet changing needs constantly.  Leaders who can help their teams embrace new ideas and working practices can drive the performance of their teams while at the same time protecting those they work with from the stress we feel when change is imposed on us. In this episode of The Question Is, Ricky and Graham explore the leader's role in preparing their team in advance, creating a culture where change is embraced, not fought.  They offer simple, practical steps, from explaining the change's purpose to creating a clear vision of how the new ways of working will actually work.  If you have teams that are experiencing change, this podcast will help you help them.

In this podcast, Richard and Ricky explore some practical things you can do to build the culture in your organisation. Org Culture is a big topic, and often you can get lost in the plethora of models and ideas.  Culture feels big and something the most senior people have to take action on.  Yet there are some simple, practical steps that any of us can take to improve the culture, even if it is just for our team. From establishing the group's purpose, discovering the values, and aligning the business practices around measurement, reward and processes, manager have much more control over the culture of their team than they might believe.  

What can I do to build rapport quickly? Rapport is a key skill when building relationships, when influencing others, and when collaborating, in fact, any time you want or need to engage with someone.  Ricky asks our resident psychologist, Paul, about practical ways to instantly build rapport. Together, they explore crucial elements to make rapport-building easy and impactful and get your connection off on the right foot.   If you want to avoid friction and get stuff done more easily, you almost always need to form a connection with your team, coworkers, suppliers and customers. Tune in for practical takeaways you can put into action immediately.

We like to think that all the teams in our organisation are aligned, collaborating effectively, and working in harmony. In an ideal world, all of our teams' passion and energy would be combined against the external world, beating competitors and solving problems that get in the way. In reality, under pressure, we often turn on the groups closest to us.  Not because they are the problem but because they are visible and identifiable.  It is hard to blame people we can't identify, so we find an 'enemy' we can name, which can be as simple as the team down the corridor.  Sales get frustrated with Service, Manufacturing with Supply Chain, and the front line with Leadership. When the in-fighting bubbles over from noise to frustration, you need to deal with it before all the energy (time and talent) of your team is focused on internal battles and not directed towards delivering the outcomes you require.  In this podcast, Ricky and Paul explore how teams get themselves into this position, and when you find yourself dealing with this, what steps bring alignment and harmony back to your world?     Frances Frei - How to build (and rebuild) trust.    TED.com https://www.ted.com/talks/frances_frei_how_to_build_and_rebuild_trust     

When different opinions appear in the decision, the easy answer is to push the decision up. Let the boss decide. There are two issues with this strategy.  Firstly, while the boss will probably engage with the process, they will also hate it.  They have enough to do without having to make decisions for warring teams. Plus, it never reflects well on those asking.  The bigger issue is when the team is in a matrix, and there is no obvious boss to pass the buck to.  Then, the team has to find a way or risk the consequences of no (or late) decision! In this episode of the podcast, Richard and Paul explore strategies that will help teams that disagree find solutions. From agreeing on where you agree to reciprocal behaviours, this podcast outlines strategies that you can use to create consensus and momentum.

Here is another podcast that examines the questions that regularly arise in our work. This time, Richard and Ricky consider why managers might avoid some of the more big (difficult) conversations that are needed between manager and team members. Often, senior managers assume that these conversations are happening, only to find out as issues escalate that a culture of over-politeness or hoping things will sort themselves out if we ignore them for long enough has sowed ambiguity and misunderstanding. Why do these conversations feel so difficult for managers, and what can we do to ensure that they happen early, ensuring small problems never get to become critical issues?         Richard and Ricky mention a great book on structuring these challenging conversations: Grenny J., Patterson K., McMillan R., Switzler A. and Gregory E.  (2021) Crucial Conversations (Third Edition): Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.   McGraw Hill

In this podcast, Paul and Richard tackle one of the questions we have been asked a lot since the pandemic ended - How do you build trust between team members and teams that don't spend that much time in the office. Building trust between individuals and groups is far more complex than many of us realise because we do it so easily when we are together.  We build trusting relationships through the micro-moments we spend together: before meetings, over lunch, getting coffee and in quick informal interactions.  We also build trust through working together.  It is the combination of both these types of trust that forms the relationships that we need to work together. As leaders, we must change how our teams interact to ensure that the trust we need to achieve our goals is actively built so our teams can leverage trust when things get tough.