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Imagine if Leader's had a toolkit they could carry around? I know what mine would have. o A reminder of WHY I do what I do o A Vision that is my Lighthouse o My top 5 Strengths & Values that are my sails o Loads of Empathy o Skills to navigate storms of uncertainty and bring certainty to the team o An entrepreneurial spirit to innovate o Skills to foster connections between team members and the organisation - a matrix maker o Customers and their stories so we remember who we are doing it for o Patience, as nothing ever happened fast o A Trust Maker o ESP to see & appreciate differing perspectives, thoughts and stories people bring o A Gratitude planner to focus on celebrating along the way o A Growth Mindset to foster a continuous learning environment o Loads of Emotional Intelligence and Conversational Intelligence o Resilience to overcome adversity o Optimism to drive solutions o Foresight As a Leader in the 4th Industrial revolution, it will be important to build diverse capability and a toolkit of skills you can reach for based on the situation, people and environment. What do you want in your toolkit? With PQfactor, our engagement tool, we help you build that thriving culture. To find out more contact us on 0498 800 008 I melina@peopleq.com.au #leadershipnow #leadership #highperformanceteams #eq #leadershipjourney #leadershipcoach

I was relishing in joy after receiving an email from a client a little while back. With her permission, this is part of a poem she wrote reflecting after her coaching program. "....... You unknowingly pointed me in the right direction of my path. Without the messes I would not have a message, Without the pain I would not have a purpose. All of the struggles helped me realise how strong I really am. You taught me much more than you could ever have taken. Moving on doesn’t mean forgetting, Moving on means happiness over hurt, forgiveness over resentment ......" (writer anonymous) As a leader in a remote location, sometimes what we think we dont need, becomes a journey for the remainder of our lives. Remote coaching with today's technology can be just as powerful. #emotionalintelligence #coahing #performanceuplift #trust #conversationalintelligence #growthmindset #leadwithpurpose #findyourwhy #resilientleadership #authenticleadership

I was reading about the science behind the most successful teams, and it seems that a key ingredient is communication. These are the characteristics that define how well they communicate; 1. Everyone talks and listens in equal measure. I like to call this shared airspace. 2. Members face one another. There's that empathy piece. I see you. I hear you. Communicated through our actions. 3. All members are connected. All of them. It's a web of connections. I'm going to extend this to say if you're in a project management or agile environment, this web of connections extends outside the formal team. All members formal, informal, direct or indirect are connected. 4. Members have side conversations within the team. In other words, all team members talk to each other. 5. Members explore outside the team, and bring back information to share with other team members. They grow their knowledge in unison. #teamwork #highperformingteams #secretstogreatteams #tips #leading #coaching

Recently I found myself in quite the conundrum. An urge to question the process, and by questioning I was signalling apprehension, a distrust, so I had to dig deep, to challenge my perspective, that it wasn’t bias loaded and using my very own one-way mirror. My fear of speaking up held me back, my internal self-talk focused on multiple scenarios that where personally risky and damaging. I over thought it trying to strategise an approach that would welcome an open honest and robust two-way dialogue. Akin a tug-of-war on steroids, the friction between courage and fear turned to internal turmoil. But this was an important issue, the stakes high, I couldn’t ignore it. After much reflection, I took an approach where I sought permission to speak up! Still filled with doubt, I let courage take the wheel. What happened next shocked me, amygdala hijack kind of shock, I froze. I tugged on my breathing to stay present, to listen, stay curious, be respectful and take it in. Knowing our brain loves to add "assumptions and biases" as if they are facts, I took careful note to not misinterpret what I heard. The dialogue ignited a train of grief, self-doubt, more questions then answers, and self-blame. I catastrophised, I felt powerless. I couldn’t derail the train of negative thinking. I berated myself for not staying quiet; it was stupid to think I had a voice. I had all the best mindset tools at my disposal, and I couldn’t access any of them. It was surreal moving from the anguish of the repercussions to observing my inability to access productive thinking. I went into overdrive, over analysing, looking for what I couldn’t see, wondering why the outcome was more severe than I had expected, why I didn’t see it coming. Why I thought it was ok to voice my perspective, wondering if I jeopardized important relationships. All the while trying to navigate my emotional skydive so that people couldn’t see, didn’t ask. I wanted to not be seen, and the best way to do that was to stay quiet. I wanted to apologise for asking my question. Mostly, I blamed and beat myself up for weeks. I accessed every tool at my disposal to navigate the situation and discover what I couldn't see, didn't know I didn't know. Even though I couldn’t see a way forward, there was opportunity in this dark place, I just needed a torch. In a more productive thinking space, I asked myself better questions. Although I was in a storm right now, eventually it would pass, and the blue skies that followed would bring clarity, and I would reflect back on the resilience I mustered to sail through it and the new found skills I’d have for the next part of my journey. A psychologically safe culture is a necessary foundation if you desire to create a workplace where people thrive. Signs it’s not safe? When leaders struggle to explain their decisions with facts; explanations that leave you wondering what's not being said; when staff are quiet and turnover high; When people question themselves more than necessary; When you ask for feedback, and are met with crickets! When people feel left out, on the outer, excluded. When there is a theme of apologising for questions! When performance drops. When people overthink how to communicate/respond, to the detriment of productivity! When people are finding ways to avoid leaders, including more WFH. In part 2, we continue the story by talking about how to activate safety in your workplace!

In the context of modern leadership, which is not defined by title, status, and authority but by influence and empowerment, coaching has emerged as a critical skill. So much so that it’s become part of the contemporary leaders’ outfit or collection of hats! Leaders wear many hats, one of the most effective is their coaching hat. This hat empowers team members to find the answers within, growing confidence, igniting autonomy, setting intrinsic motivation on fire. As one leader put it, it gives team members the confidence to see what they already know, to use what they’ve learnt and explore a world of possibilities. It makes for better decision making, and when we feel better about our choices, naturally we become more reliant on ourselves than others, and this feeling cascades into feeling good about our achievements and life. Coaching is not an easy skill to master. At the core of mastering your coaching skills is patience, safety, trust, comfort with silence and sensing energy. And well, leaders, humans, are not so skilled in sensing energy, emotions, waiting and staying silent! Let’s expand on the skills needed to master coaching. Silence. Space for others to consider, process, think and ponder, to shift out of doing mode and auto pilot and be, because when we are being, we are also becoming. Leaders often tell us about their discomfort with silence. Silence is an invitation to listen, actively, beyond the words, listening for language, energy shifts, markers, stories and what isn’t being said. Safety + Trust. This level of safety requires connection and for leaders to sit in curiosity, throwing out judgement, assumptions, and biases. It’s in this space that the people you are coaching feel comfortable opening up, being vulnerable, which gets them (not you) to the heart of their story. It’s this deep level of trust that provides people with scaffolding to experiment, get creative, express and be comfortable having their perspectives and assumptions challenged. Tip: Ring fence your coaching conversations as being different to other conversations, verbalise they are confidential and when you catch yourself assuming and believing you have the answer, ask a question instead. Be clear about the objective of these conversations, they are to explore and grow your team members skills. Sensing energy. This isn’t easy and takes effort to lean into. Start with you, sensing your own energy shifts, be present to sense the subtle shifts in others. It takes practice, when you sense right, it's powerful for the person in front of you and makes for a productive coaching conversation. Tip: Practise mindfulness breathing before a coaching conversation and notice any subtle shifts in voice. Offer what you notice as an observation not a question. Questions. I was taught early the importance of powerful questions. Yes, questions are critical and it’s a skill. But this perspective has you in your head, focused on what to ask next rather than present to the story that’s unfolding in front of you. Anchor to the three skills above, keep questions short, simple, using similar language to the person you’re coaching. Tip: We find it useful to remember inside/out/around - what’s happening inside, what does that have them doing, what around them is being/creating impact. Start with a point of focus, explore inside/out/around, end with a what now to activate agency. Tension. The right amount of challenging. This for me is akin to dancing, knowing your partner's next step to stay in rhythm, yet pushing them beyond their limits when you sense confidence rising. And to do this well takes a level of EQ or self-other awareness. Tip: Ask before the conversation starts how they want to be challenged and wait for trust and safety to be established before you do. Timing. Knowing when coaching is needed. Leaders tell us that recognising the moments that call them to wear their coaching hat can be tricky. When team members face unfamiliar challenges, coaching can provide guidance while nurturing their problem-solving skills. It's a chance to foster growth and build confidence in uncharted territories. During projects or initiatives that encourage learning, coaching shines. It encourages self-discovery and helps team members derive meaningful lessons from their experiences. Tip: When you notice a team member paining over a choice, offer them space to self-reflect. PeopleQ are executive coaches, skilled in 1-2-1 and team coaching. And we bring this expertise into our leadership programs. We love getting to know people over coffee, f2f or virtually, connect with us today to decide if we’re the right fit for you and your organisation.

I wanted to take you on a journey to consider what #new ways of leading are needed today and what is driving the need for us to lead differently, to inspire leaders to write their own leadership playbook. from global crisis to high trust cultures The Eldeman Trust Barometer indicates trust has been declining for the last few decades, as a result we may be breeding generations filled with cynicism. Their most recent report (2023) highlights a continued lack of faith in our institutions triggered by economic disruption, disinformation, mass-class divide and the undoing of our global leaders. There is a shining light. Most say business is the only institution left that they have faith in, and they want CEOs who are accountable for doing something about our social and environmental issues. People are looking inwards more than ever before for that trusted guidance. We believe this is moulding workplace culture. We are seeing TRUST and concepts like psychological safety becoming more visible and critical to optimising performance, and expected from Leaders today. Then there are all the workplace performance and culture studies trying to decipher what inhibits or promotes it. A BCG study of 110 eco-systems found that on the surface, trust was a major cause of failure in projects and ideas that failed, digging deeper they discovered 94% of them failed due to some sort of trust-related issues. Trust is the glue that binds teams. It's fragile; it can be the main cause of failure, it's needed for agile decision making. When trust falls, or is low, people are less likely to cooperate and work with each other, they are more likely to do so when they trust what is being said. Trust also results in much more agile decision making. TRUST is the foundation for optimizing performance, for collaboration and communication, for safety. The TRUST crisis is one element that is changing our expectations of workplace leaders. workplace TRUST is a lever for accelerating performance. You may have noticed more discussion with purpose as a theme. the demand for MEANING We are recognising that continuing to live the way we have is unsustainable. The mass disturbances to our classes is making inequity obvious. Digitization is changing not just the pace of what we do, but also how we do it. As economies merge, the chances are if one fails, we are all impacted in some way. This places pressure on organisations to be more purposeful in their endeavours, we not only look to our workplaces as a source of truth, we also expect them to contribute to the greater good. The pressure to be more purposeful comes with benefits which Leaders are slowly starting to get a handle on. I’ve coined a phrase to describe the benefits. P2 or PP2? P2 is when leaders focus on profits for pockets, which let's be honest is not going to ignite high performance. Leaders who see PP2 understand PURPOSE and PEOPLE drive profits for pockets Ernst and Young in their paper, The Business case for purpose. found a strong shared sense of purpose helped leaders meet new challenges and transform their organisations. And whilst the obvious upside to purpose is this the greater good, the commercial upsides of living an organisational purpose are an increase in business legitimacy, ability to better attract, retain and motivate your talent, ability to foster stronger customer and stakeholder relationships, improved employee wellbeing and an increase in performance. The TRUST crisis, coupled with the need to be more PURPOSEFUL, sustainable and equitable are working together to change what we expect, and need, from our workplace leaders. Let’s add another shift witnessed in the last few decades. In 1998, Dr Martin Seligman introduced the world to Positive Psychology and around the same time (1995), Daniel Goleman wrote and published why EQ matters more than IQ. Over the decades, research continues to weigh in on the benefits of emotional intelligence and positive psychology. concepts, frameworks, ideas and theories have been infiltrating our workplaces shifting HOW leaders lead. And influencing the definition of high performing, an ideal organisation's have been chasing for decades, more so today than ever before. High performance is subtly shifting to thriving workplace. Leaders are expected to manage performance with strengths, which influences how they are having performance discussions, and get a grasp on how to positively influence employee wellbeing. Now we have, the TRUST crisis, coupled with the need to be more PURPOSEFUL, sustainable and equitable, overlayed with ASPIRATIONS to cultivate a thriving workplace culture and positively influence employee wellbeing and our emotional intelligence. Accelerate this because digitization is speeding up everything – from expectations, to output, to the what how when and where. I hope you’re beginning to appreciate how this is working together to completely change what we expect, need, and WANT from workplace leaders. Workplace culture is also changing what we expect from leaders. We've been shouting this for years, and research backs this. Your brand is based on the experience of your customers. Which is based on the experience of your people. Which is based on the quality of your leadership. This idea that people drive customer experience is not new. What is new is that culture is gaining more and more attention and today is being prioritized over strategy, because culture will determine your customer’s experience, which determines your brand reputation, growth and returns. How does this shape organisational behaviour? Most businesses today measure and report on culture at a team, leader, executive and board level. CUTURE is at the core of strategy and fast becoming best practice. Now we have, the TRUST crisis, coupled with the need to be more PURPOSEFUL, sustainable and equitable, overlayed with ASPIRATIONS to cultivate a workplace culture that is thriving, accelerated due to digitization and a deeper understanding of the connection between Leaders-workplace culture- customer experience-growth. We are changing what we expect, need, want and DESIRE from workplace leaders. It’s why we believe leaders need to write their own leadership playbook. You may be wondering if the attention on leadership is warranted, do leaders impact organisational outcomes that significantly? The answer is YES leaders can. McKinsey found in a 2017 survey of high performing teams that investors felt a high performing management team was the single most important nonfinancial factor when listing a company. And amongst all the research on workplace culture, leaders are the most consistent element and vital to driving culture. The emotional intelligence consortium found when looking at leadership, two-thirds of their success was based on emotional intelligence, with The World Economic Forum listing emotional intelligence as one of the top 10 skills needed in the 4th industrial revolution. A study of partners in a consulting firm assessed for emotional intelligence competencies and found that those who scored above the median for 9 or more of the 20 competencies delivered $1.2 million more profit than other partners – a 139% incremental gain (Boyatzis, 1999). In another case study where emotional intelligence was used for hiring, they found those most successful in their roles scored significantly higher in emotional intelligence. By using emotional intelligence in their hiring, they realized a saving of $3 million annually and productivity gains. Leaders play a key role in optimising organisational performance, and emotional intelligence is a critical capability. When we ask teams today to define what great leadership looks like and what high performing teams do, you can imagine the kind of responses we receive. We see a desire for leaders who are accountable for culture AND engagement, and purposeful, bringing the values to life for everyone, and showing others how their purpose and values link. Leaders need to be a beacon, a guiding light for the team We desire leaders who cultivate trust, not diminish it and are therefore authentic and vulnerable, appropriate and balanced. Leaders that understand and build psychological safety and play to team strengths, Leaders who are highly self aware and empathetic, and well connected, and are across wellbeing, balance and burnout. Leaders who can keep up with the pace of change, driving more agile, resilient team cultures. And leaders who understand their own biases and promote diversity, equity and fairness. The list continues. We desire leaders who set standards for themselves and everyone else in the organisation and maintain positive environments, addressing tension quickly and effectively. They need to have courageous conversations addressing under performance, respecting there is a human at the centre of that conversation. Leaders who are super communicators leading teams that are digitally, geographically and expertly spread. It’s why we are writing a new leadership playbook for leaders and we are driven to continue playing a thought-provoking role in addressing what is expected of leaders today. PeopleQ works with individuals teams and organisations to cultivate leadership skills needed for the future of work, and support organisations to build thriving workplace cultures. Find out more about us here .

A leader's guide to elevating psychological safety in teams. There’s a lot of noise surrounding psychological safety in teams, particularly high performing teams. And we can tell you from experience, there is good reason for it! We thought we’d take the opportunity to dispel a few myths on what psychological safety is and isn’t and share some of our thoughts on what this means to leaders. Psychological safety is a team construct and shared belief. When teams share psychological safety, according to both Timothy Clark and Amy Edmondson, four things happen. People feel a sense of inclusion. Belonging opens up space for teams to feel safe failing and learning together. As personal risk minimises, we share more of our thinking with the team, contributing to the team, and reaching the point where people feel they can open up discussion to challenge each other’s thinking. Timothy Clark’s research tells us that whilst people do not move linearly through these stages, we do move through different degrees of psychological safety in different teams, contexts, times of day, and as our attitude to risk shifts. Psychological safety is not the same as trust. And what of the relationship between psychological safety and TRUST? Amy Edmondson tells us trust is important to psychological safety and a study of a global automobile company found that a culture of trust had a significantly positive effect on the psychological safety of its people. Trust and psychological safety are closely related. Psychological safety is the belief that you can take risks and speak up without fear of repercussions. When we feel safe, we are more likely to express ourselves freely, ask questions, and share opinions. Trust is the confidence we have in each other. It comes when team members feel they can rely on each other and keep their promises to each other, and when others have our best interest at heart. I often say it’s about having good intentions at the core of it! When there is trust between individuals and within teams, it instils a sense of safety that allows people to feel comfortable expressing themselves and take risks. For us, trust and psychological safety are mutually reinforcing concepts that are vital for teams and workplace cultures to thrive. Psychological safety is not a new concept or idea. The concept was introduced in the early work of Kurt Lewin (1940s) as part of organisational change literature and remained in this domain until Kahn (1990s) introduced it as a domain of organisational behaviour. We could reason that there was a time when change was intentional and planned; that luxury is gone in a VUCA world that invites 24x7 agility and this may be the basis for today's intense focus on psychological safety and its relationship to high performing teams. Regardless of how we arrived, we now know a high performance workplace requires team safety. So we created a few thoughts on how leaders can elevate their teams safety; Cultivate social sensitivity and empathy for others, get curious, listen, ask questions Express appreciation when team members contribute, build those positive vibes Endorse a learning culture and that takes a growth mindset Find opportunities to include all voices, remembering share of voice is also important Acknowledge your own fallibility, all humans make mistakes, you don’t always need to have the answers or get it right. Ask for help, other humans love it when you ask them to give you a hand up. Humanise your workplace. When mistakes occur, try the approach of supporting your people to quickly recover People appreciate the space to do things their way, for leaders this means giving them space to fail forward Whilst these are great tips to get you started, we recognise it's not as simple as 1,2,3 and things can get in our way of building psychologically safe cultures. Our own experiences bring a few things to mind! Shining a light on what’s at risk may destabilise the team/division/organisation and we fear people may panic. But there is much more to lose when we don’t. To take our teams on this journey is an art form in language and conversational intelligence. It’s linking emotional intelligence, trust and psychological safety, requiring effort, energy and time. Our world moves so fast moving that leaders are often operating in the here, now and urgent. The pause is the greatest gift leaders can give themselves and their teams. We fail to truly appreciate the value of co-creating and problem solving together, the collective wisdom, often weighing up time, resources and money. But experience the benefits once and you'll soon be shifting your perspective! Our brains are designed to naturally move us away from uncertainty, high stakes and a lot of risk. We can’t be operating like this when we are on autopilot, and yet we are often in autopilot mode. Again, the PAUSE is the greatest gift to leaders! It may feel easier to cultivate psychological safety in a smaller more intimate team environment. Larger teams take effort, we may feel the effort outweighs the value of getting things done. And the more complex, broader, higher stakes the business, the more we focus on payoffs for today. And in a highly political and scrutinised environment, where the risk and stakes are extremely high, all the time, there is more complexity to navigate. At an individual level, my level of accountability (and optimism) may have an impact as does the distribution of power in an organisation. Our environment, the system in which we operate, board governance, the industry, they may act in a way that promotes behaviours opposite to psychological safety. And so whilst leaders have a desire to promote psychological safety, they are stifled by the system within which they operate. It takes more than changing behaviours, it requires system changes as well. When mistakes are expensive does that shift psychological safety? Are we naturally more risk averse? And so, does the value of psychological safety diminish as the value of risk increases? To sincerely address psychological safety in teams, leaders and organisation need to also understand and consider how the system within which they work either promotes or inhibits interpersonal risk taking. Psychological safety alone does not translate into a high performance culture. A high performance culture requires more. To learn more about Psychological Safety and the Fearless Organization Scan or to discover how our high performance frameworks support your teams to thrive, get in touch with us today. melina@peopleq.com.au I suria@peopleq.com.au

Trust is foundational to strong relationships and impactful collaboration. As leaders, the ability to inspire trust among team members is paramount to a thriving and high-performing workplace culture. But can leaders actively prime for trust? Yes, they can. Be everyone's role model: When leaders consistently demonstrate integrity, transparency, and ethical behaviour, and align their words with actions, they set the tone establishing credibility and trust with everyone in the organisation. Open Door as a metaphor for Open Communication: Encourage an environment of open dialogue, active listening, and honest feedback to promote transparency and provide opportunities for team members to express their thoughts and concerns. Delegate and Empower: When leaders allow the team to take ownership of their work and make decisions, they show confidence in their abilities. This trust in their team members not only builds self-esteem it also fosters accountability. Support them to Grow: Offering support and guidance to grow shows a leader’s commitment to their people, a willingness to invest them, a belief in what's possible. With a little faith, when your people are given the opportunity to step up, they repay this by rising up, trusting in themselves as much as trusting in their leaders. Be Transparent to create Accountability: Share information openly, foster a learning culture and involve the team in decision-making when you can so that they take responsibility for actions. It undoubtedly builds trust. While trust is not something that can be forced, leaders can prime for trust. And trust is a powerful currency that fuels collaboration, engagement, and success, and leaders who prioritize trust-building are rewarded with a loyal, motivated, and high-performing workforce. Discover how our Conversational Intelligence (C-IQ) programs foster trust-based leadership.

In the pursuit of building a thriving workplace culture, leaders often strive for a sense of connection and belonging. While the terms are used interchangeably, they represent distinct facets of human relationships. Let's delve in and explore their significance to workplace culture. Connection is the relationships we form with other teammates. It requires us to build rapport and be empathetic and is characterized by the quality of interactions, the level of trust, and our ability to relate to one another on a personal and professional level. It contributes to a positive workplace culture. The power of Belonging delves deeper into this sense of being an integral part of a community or group or team. It encompasses the feeling of acceptance, inclusion, and genuine affiliation. When teammates feel they belong, they experience deeper connections with their colleagues and the organisation, and belonging also fosters psychological safety. Interchangeable, both important. Here are a few tips to nurture Connection: 👉Encourage open and honest communication and teammates to actively listen, share ideas, and provide feedback. Make it safe for expression, so connection can thrive. 👉Trust is a fundamental building block of connection. Lead by example, demonstrate integrity, and be transparent in your actions and decisions. 👉Promote teamwork and create opportunities for people to work together on projects and initiatives, to enhance their sense of connection and create a culture of shared achievements. To nurture Belonging: 👉 Start with creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates diversity. Make sure everyone feels welcomed, respected, and valued for their contributions. This is foundational to belonging. 👉 Establish rituals that bring the team together. It could be team-building, social events, celebrations, team check-ins; these rituals strengthen everyone's sense of community. 👉 Prioritize employee well-being and consider resources and programs that support their physical, mental, and emotional health. This sincere display of CARE for our people fosters belonging. Both connection and belonging are essential to a thriving workplace. Connection focuses on rapport and trust between individuals, belonging goes deeper to foster a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and community. It's important to nurture both. Discover here how our programs support leaders to cultivate a thriving workplace culture.

No matter the industry you serve, we operate in a competitive landscape where providing exceptional customer experiences is vital to long-term survival! Many organisations fail to recognize the direct correlation between employee experience and customer experience. So. let's take a moment to explore how investing in employee experience can domino and positively impact your customer's experience, driving business growth. Engaged and Motivated Employees: When your people have a great experience at work, feel engaged, and are motivated, they are more likely to deliver exceptional customer experiences, with less errors, and more solutions. They become brand ambassadors as they go above and beyond to meet customer needs. It makes sense to us that if you invest in initiatives that elevate employee engagement you end up with a workforce delivering outstanding customer service. Values Alignment: When people are aligned with an organisation's core values, they connect with their leaders, teams and the organisation, and naturally embody those values in how they show up for your customers, and their teammates. A culture that promotes shared values equates to a consistent and positive brand experience. Continuous Learning: Investing in your people improves skills and knowledge, and that means an enhanced customer experience! When your people are offered development opportunities, they stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices and develop competence, which fosters confidence and credibility in the eyes of your customers. It's also a ✔️ for job satisfaction. Recognise the good stuff people do: Regular feedback and recognition reinforces the good, resulting in a desire to want to excel. Think of it this way, it's like a sugar hit to the brain, once we experience it, we want more of it! Recognised and appreciated employees are more likely to display more☝️ customer-centric behaviours. Its a win, win, win win for all. By investing in employee experience initiatives such as engagement, alignment, development, and recognition, organisations create a positive cycle of employee satisfaction, leading to improved customer experiences and ultimately, 🪴growth. Your people are the backbone of your organisation. We could go on, instead we'll leave it here - the connection between employee experience and customer experience is undeniable! Happy, engaged, and motivated employees deliver exceptional customer experiences that drives loyalty and advocacy. To discover how we support you to lift engagement, download more information here.

What if we shift our perspective and envision leaders as conductors of an orchestra, guiding and harmonizing the team's efforts? I've been thinking about this after a client helped bring this vision to life for me, and it resonated more deeply after seeing Kate Ceberano perform with the ASO. The conductor, Vanessa, ensured flow, that the orchestra beat as one, with everyone contributing and playing a critical role. Every instrument, every person was important in achieving harmony. And whilst she played a key role, the contribution of every musician was visible and celebrated by all, with Vanessa's role being a vessel for the bigger picture at play. That night I started toying with the metaphor "Leader's as Conductor's" and how this approach could genuinely foster collaborative leadership, inspire creativity, and drive collective success. So here goes C.O.A.T. Turn up Collaboration to Unite A conductor knows that the magic of music lies in the seamless collaboration of every instrument, practised, and timed to perfection. Similarly, leaders who encourage unity with open communication, trust, and teamwork synthesize flow. An environment where ideas get shared, diverse perspectives are welcomed, and co-creation is nurtured, promoting a sense of synergy. The result? A team that collaboratively achieves remarkable outcomes. Infuse Creativity Conductors infuse creativity into their musical interpretations, bringing out the unique expression of each instrument. Similarly, leaders can inspire creativity within their teams by encouraging innovation, valuing that diversity we've already mentioned above, and creating an environment where team members are comfortable expressing ideas, and bring their best self to the team. Creativity unleashes the full potential of the team's imagination and that delivers momentum! Orchestrating Talent Great conductors recognize the unique talents of each musician and bring them together to create a harmonious symphony. Similarly, leaders have the opportunity orchestrate the teams' talents to ensure everyone contributes their best to achieve collective success. Know each team member's strengths, skills, and see their potential to leverage the team's diverse abilities and foster an inclusive culture. Embrace Adaptability A conductor will adapt their approach to the style, tempo, and dynamics of the music being played, and the people behind the instruments. Leaders, too, need that same agility in their leadership style so that they can be responsive to their ever-evolving landscapes, adapt to the needs of their team, remain open to new ways of thinking, and be willing to adjust their strategies to achieve optimal results. Set the Tempo Just as a conductor sets the tempo for a musical piece, leaders establish the pace and rhythm of the team. By co-creating a clear purpose, vision, values and goals, leaders set the tone for their team to work together towards a shared purpose. Like a conductor, leaders who do this inspire a harmonious flow that energizes and motivates the entire team. Embracing the metaphor "Leaders as Conductors" means shifting our focus from control to collaboration, from hierarchy to harmony, and that amplifies the power of the collective. We hope our version of COAT is a style you'll want to try on! A thank you to those that inspired this thinking. To find out more about our leadership programs, download our brochure here.

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, leadership plays a crucial role in driving growth, fostering innovation, and contributing to a workplace culture that is thriving. Leaders have the ability to create significant impact! We share a few thoughts on where leaders might place their energy and focus. Lead with purpose and a clear vision. Painting a compelling picture of the future and setting ambitious yet achievable goals inspires others and in a VUCA world, creates a level of certainty about the future. A sense of direction also aligns the teams' efforts and creates shared purpose that fuels motivation and commitment. Leaders who do this, understand the power of aligning actions with values. They are role models, demonstrating resilience and a steadfast focus. When leaders embody the team's values, they inspire trust and a positive workplace culture where leading authentically is amplified Leading with purpose also means empowering team members to take ownership and foster an environment of continuous improvement. Embrace collaboration to demonstrate a workplace culture that appreciates diverse perspectives. By fostering a culture of collaboration, leaders harness the collective intelligence of their teams, leading to innovation, better decision-making, and enhanced problem-solving capabilities. These leaders are seen communicating openly, actively listening, and participating in constructive dialogue. They provide their teams with the tools, resources, and scaffolding needed to excel. They encourage growth and celebrate both team and individual achievements. Amplify emotionally intelligent behaviours and trust. Leaders that do this are attuned to the emotions and needs of their team members, creating a supportive and inclusive work environment. When are empathetic, transparent and trusting, which fosters strong connections, enabling team members to experience a sense of belonging. They show adaptability and navigate challenges and changes with a growth mindset, challenging their teams to take the same approach. Acknowledge the importance of continuous improvement. These leaders seek feedback, and strive for excellence. They encourage teams to embrace a culture of learning, experimentation, and continuous innovation. Which translates to creative thinking and adaptive strategies to meet evolving circumstances. At PeopleQ, we embrace these aspects of leadership as the basis for growth, collaboration and success, driving not jut organisational performance but also creating fulfilling work where team members thrive. It's your turn now to embrace your role as catalysts for change, inspiring your teams to reach new heights and making a meaningful difference in the world in which we work. Leadership is not a destination; it's a lifelong journey of growth, learning, and purpose. Is this resonating with you? Let's have a coffee catch up either f2f, zoom or via teams. Get in touch melina@peopleq.com.au or suria@peopleq.com.au. Download details about our culture frameworks here.