[8] The most important hour in your day

[8] The most important hour in your day


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Do you wish that your team could become more accountable, more creative, more trustworthy?  Do you wish that your team could produce high quality results in less time and with less drama or less reliance on you?

The answer lies in a simple, yet much neglected leadership habit:  the habit of high-quality one to one meetings that focus on developing a trustful relationship that nurtures the confidence, critical thinking, creativity and attention to detail that every manager wants.
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[7] How to have difficult conversations

[7] How to have difficult conversations


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How do you feel about conflict?  Do you welcome “tricky” moments as opportunities for differences to be aired and for creative solutions to emerge?  Or do you do anything to avoid discussions that might get heated, focussing on pouring oil on troubled waters?  Or maybe you’re the boss and you feel it’s perfectly fine to tell people in no uncertain terms what should be done?

Most people admit to finding conflict and disagreement hard to handle.  And it is because our fight or flight responses are triggered in these moments.  Except, as the experienced CEO and leadership thinker, Margaret Heffernan says, “conflict equals real thinking”.  So many organisations, teams and managers try to avoid conflict, preferring avoidance to transparency, thus losing valuable opportunities for real thinking.

This episode is for you if you are a perennial People Pleaser or you are the kind of person who describes yourself as “a wear your heart on your sleeve, say it as it is” kind of person.  If you’ve ever uttered the words “bloody millennials” this is especially for you.

In this episode you will learn:

  • What is your natural response to something you are unhappy with?  (03.55)
  • The Emotional Thermostat – a model for understanding conflict (5.39)
  • What happens in our bodies during conflict (07.23)
  • What excessive collaboration looks like (09.30)
  • Why excessive collaboration is toxic (10.24)
  • What excessive conviction looks like (12.15)
  • Our parents provide our conflict template (15.05)
  • What the constructive zone looks and feels like (16.30)
  • The special triggers for conflict between managers and millennials (20.44)
  • The impact of lack of constructive conflict in organisations (22.42)
  • An example of managing conflict with a millennial (23.47)
  • How to welcome difference in a meeting (27.47)

[6] From paycheck to purpose

[6] From paycheck to purpose


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Is your company able to attract and retain millennial staff? What if you know your company is not purpose driven?

In the 80s and 90s financial services and the City of London found it easy to hire and retain the brightest and best graduates. This is changing because millennials are looking for companies who have a purpose beyond profit and stakeholder returns.   This episode shows you how to identify what your purpose is and how to align that with the purpose of your staff and your organisation.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

  • How purpose will give meaning to what you do (1.06)
  • What a purpose-led organisation is not (4.08)
  • What a purpose-led organisation is (4.52)
  • How purpose-led organisations are retaining millennial staff (6.13)
  • What if you’re a manager in an organisation that is not purpose driven (6.49)
  • How to define metrics and goals to purpose (8.18)
  • How to develop your empathy and emotional intelligence (10.25)
  • How to bring ‘purpose’ to your next team meeting (12.40)

[5] How to be a coaching manager

[5] How to be a coaching manager


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Are you struggling to get your team to produce the quality work that you expect?  Do you wish that millennials, in particular, would just learn to do as they are told?

Expectations of what a manager should and shouldn’t do have changed.  Managers cannot expect to treat their people like robots (that’s what AI will be for!)  Instead, if you want to get the best out of your humans, you’ll need to strengthen your coaching skills.

One of the biggest demands from millennials is they want a coach and not a boss. The challenge is do you know what coaching really is? 

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

  • How coaching is a key part of leadership (1.25)
  • The difference between coaching and mentoring (3.06)
  • My personal definition of coaching (4.30)
  • The GROW Model (5.30)
  • Why coaching isn’t giving advice (7.15)
  • Why you should never say “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions” (8.25)
  • How coaching is not on a line between control and autonomy (9.25)
  • What a coaching culture does for your organisation (11.30)
  • Why you need to start with really listening (13.10)
  • How coaching is like Danish minimalism (14.10)
  • Coaching traps (14.50)
  • Why it’s better NOT to be a subject matter expert if you want to coach well (15.50)
  • What you are NOT responsible for as a coach (18.30)
  • Powerful coaching questions that work (18.55)

[4] The greatest gift you can give a millennial

[4] The greatest gift you can give a millennial


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Do you know what the greatest gift you can give a millennial is? Resilience.

In this episode, I’m going to focus on the biggest gift you can give millennials whether you are a manager or parent. Two large scale studies in 2018 by Deloitte and Gallup both highlighted the need to build resilience to counter evidence of increased anxiety and perfectionism. Resilience is a key skill underpinning high individual and team performance and is something that can be developed by caring parents and managers

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

  • The definition of resilience (2.30)
  • What leaders can learn from gardeners (3.20)
  • The two questions to ask to avoid shame and blame (5.30)
  • What resilience looks like in a millennial (6.00)
  • The stages of resilience (9.15)
  • The connection between happiness and resilience (11.55)
  • What we can learn from those who thrive after difficult life events (12.40)
  • The Resilience Manifesto (13.15)
  • How working out loud builds resilience (15.30)
  • What doesn’t work if you are a parent or leader (16.48)
  • The language of fear (18.36)
  • Six practical tips (20.00)

[3] How to motivate millennials

[3] How to motivate millennials


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Do you know what really motivates the millennials who work for you?

Are you struggling to understand why the quality of the work you get doesn’t match what you think the person’s potential is?

If your company is struggling to improve engagement scores, this is a sign of an inability to see beyond the external motivating factors of money and status. If you cannot seem to bring the best out of your team or that they lack energy or sustained focus, this episode will explain the four key internal drivers that motivate each of us along with tips to inspire and engage millennials (and it works with teens too!).

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

  • The importance of psychological safety in teams (01.45)
  • The downside of money and status as motivators (04.48)
  • The reasons millennials leave (06.55)
  • Why you need to spend more time face to face with millennials (08.52)
  • Why you need to be less controlling (12.34)
  • How to slow down millennials (15.27)
  • Why you need to provide boundaries (17.33)
  • The biggest driver for millennials (19.12)