psychological safety

“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient” (Charles M Blow) Don’t we all love ‘position’ – a title, a promotion, status? Yes, even neuroscience affirms that status is a need that we all have, not in the sense of greedy ambition, but…

“I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone” (Robin Williams, 1951-2014) A UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) study by Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman discovered that the part…

Consultants, particularly those who are proficient in their respective disciplines, can be hugely helpful to their clients and business as a whole if they don’t only focus on the one issue that needs fixing, but also apply their minds to all the people factors that influence the effectiveness of the companies for whom they consult….

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it” (Bruce Lee) I don’t like categorising people or their personalities – I find this limiting and potentially derogatory. This is particularly true of the “extrovert” or “introvert” categories that we sometimes use to…

Behind the problems that routinely plague teams and organisations are individuals who either can’t or won’t deal with failed promises, broken rules, missed deadlines or just plain bad behaviour. If anyone addresses the issue, he or she often does a lousy job and creates a whole new set of problems. When problems arise: In the…

“If the deck is stacked against you, reshuffle the cards” (Anon) There’s a part of me that wishes that the above quote could represent life and that managing everything that life throws at you was that easy. It’s not! Life is not a board or card game where, if you are losing, you can just…

Organisational culture is self-reinforcing – it maintains itself by rewarding behaviour which is deemed to be appropriate and censures behaviour which rattles the status quo. In fact, as mentioned by Daniel Goleman in his book, “Primal Leadership”: “Leaders who wish to install widespread change need to first recognise that they’re working against a paradox –…

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart” (Roy T Bennett) Being a leader is stressful – the constant pressure of being in the public eye and the overwhelming need to be successful. Too often, leaders feel unsafe, as if they are under a microscope,…