Picture this. You have your weekly one on one. Your team member promises to complete the inventory report for the project by next week. Next week arrives and it’s not done. What do you say? Is it, ‘Why didn’t you complete the report?’ If you’re like most leaders, that’s exactly what you’d say. Or at least, it’s what you want to say.
We won!
I saw the call for the awards email and deleted it… Three times.
Then I had a conversation with my client about how well the current Coaching skills program was going. I was feeling quite chuffed!
Then I saw the award email again, and this time I read it.
We know that diverse teams deliver the goods. Science knows it. Academia knows it. And anyone who’s worked on a diverse team knows it. But what we don't’ talk enough about, is how it feels to be a part of this diversity. If we are doing our job, showing up with ideas, challenging other team members, and generally pushing ourselves and each other to be brilliant, then diversity feels difficult. There is push back. There is scepticism. There is discomfort. BUT...if we can just hang in there long enough, trust our colleagues enough, and have faith that we all want to make a positive difference, then we can reap the rewards that diversity offers.
Today I turn 48 (and mark 18 years as an independent consultant in communication dynamics – Wahoo!). Feeling nostalgic about my life, my mind has wandered to my early jobs, and how they shaped my work today. I figured you might get a laugh out of these early jobs so I’m sharing some here. (I guarantee you’ll be surprised by some!)
Picture this. You have your weekly one on one. Your team member promises to complete the inventory report for the project by next week. Next week arrives and it’s not done. What do you say? Is it, ‘Why didn’t you complete the report?’ If you’re like most leaders, that’s exactly what you’d say. Or at least, it’s what you want to say.
We know that diverse teams deliver the goods. Science knows it. Academia knows it. And anyone who’s worked on a diverse team knows it. But what we don't’ talk enough about, is how it feels to be a part of this diversity. If we are doing our job, showing up with ideas, challenging other team members, and generally pushing ourselves and each other to be brilliant, then diversity feels difficult. There is push back. There is scepticism. There is discomfort. BUT...if we can just hang in there long enough, trust our colleagues enough, and have faith that we all want to make a positive difference, then we can reap the rewards that diversity offers.
When it comes to gender equity, the most elusive part of the problem is the invisibility of the real problem – the second-generation bias that pushes implicit bias underground. This kind of bias is the policy and procedure and the ‘way we do things around here’ that gets woven into the fabric of the organisational culture.
Implicit bias however remains in the shadows. Hard to spot until someone deliberately shines a torch on it. It’s time to get our torches out and shine a spotlight on the hidden obstacles for women. Those that are stuck in the systems, ingrained in our cultures and waiting to create confusion about what’s really going on for women at work.
𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!
I am so thrilled to share my latest book with you 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲: 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.
Do you...
🔹 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬?
🔹 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥?
🔹 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 is a playbook for navigating career success in a male-dominated environment. If you want to stand out without stepping on toes, get what you want without compromising who you are, and make your mark without becoming someone you’re not, this book is for you. (Plus you can take men with you on the journey. Hooray!)
Packed with easy-to-follow practical strategies, insights, case studies and stories, (and a bunch of bonus resources) this book will help you not only overcome the gender penalties on the field, but also change the game of work for good – for yourself and other women.
𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞?
I recently walked around with a bunch of bananas on my head in the supermarket (as you do). I did this as part of a challenge issued at the last Professional Speakers Australia event. We were challenged to walk around the supermarket with bananas on our head and take a picture of it. Why? I hear you ask. To show how little others care about or take notice of what we are actually doing. To face into our fears of judgement and to know that they are usually unfounded. This is about freeing us up to be perfectly imperfect humans… and embrace it.
There is much being written right now about employee burnout. And for good reason. Employees are burning out. There’s been a lot going on. A pandemic. A shift to remote work. The flu season. A shift back to the office. Travel back on. More pandemic. Travel off. A shift back to remote work… oh, and the great resignation, which means new jobs, new expectations, new workloads or (for those left behind) shrinking teams doing expanding work, and less people delivering more projects. And so on it goes.
All the while, dedicated and committed employees have been working their butts off to keep up. People are trying to stay on top of the rising pressures of ‘just getting on with it’. But they are struggling.
Don’t let the experience of burnout be your teacher. Let the idea of burnout be your preacher. Let it be the motivational speech that spurs you into action, before it’s too late.
Now we are back in the office (in some way, shape or form) we need to decide what comes back with us, and what stays on line. This is particularly important for training and development and team building. Over the last few years, we have proven that not only can we work remotely, we can also learn remotely.
So, should we go back to doing these things in person now that we can?
Read the full article to know more.
The secret to getting people back to the office, is not to get them back to the office. Yep. You read that right. It might not be the answer you want to hear, but it’s the reality.
Of course, there’s a little more to the story but let’s start by ripping the band aid right off. Blanket mandates forcing people to come back to the office, will have dire consequences. Not only will your people resist coming back, they are likely to leave altogether.
Thankfully, over 15 years of studying human behaviour and obsessing about why people do what they do, has shown me that there are other options.
𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ‘𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛’, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦'? Do you believe in the power of diversity to deliver results? Do you believe in a champion team, or a team of champions? Do you pick the best person for the job even if they are not the best person for the team? Maybe ‘best person’ for the job, isn’t the best person for the team. And maybe that's an equally important measurement. Food for thought. Perhaps we need to broaden our definition of best person for the job, to account for the actual impacts we have on one another – it's how we work together; how we deliver results together; it's how we are made better together that will get real results.
