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Hands down my favourite subject was economics. I was fascinated by opportunity cost and those unseen yet powerful forces like Adam Smith’s invisible hand; a metaphor describing a free market economy. Later on I noticed unseen forces alive at work, this time in the context of culture. I was part of both dysfunctional and thriving teams and often team members were unchanged. I wanted to understand how this could be? And if we could experience moments of thriving together, how we could find a way to sustain this ideal? Or at least create the momentum needed to move towards it. So as many leaders do, I asked my teams the big sweeping question about how they’re feeling at work and combined this with intuition and productivity to predict where culture might sit on a spectrum of terrible to amazing. But this was always a guess influenced by one’s perspective. And a single perspective is almost always flawed given we see the world as we are and not for what it is, unless you’ve mastered the art of holding many perspectives at once? In more recent times, as the world increasingly digitizes, we’ve asked teams to convert their responses into a rating using anonymous survey tools. How good is that!? Leaders and organisations now have the opportunity to use technology to collect feedback which allows for a more objective and accurate view of team culture rather than rely on intuition alone ! Contemporary leaders will love that those previously elusive elements of culture are finally brought into plain sight and quantified. These tools and their results now even feature more prominently in board reporting as well as elevating employer brand and that’s a positive, given how widely culture is talked about in the public arena without any data to back it up. Now you’ve got the data to back it up! Employee engagement and survey tools have the best of intentions; they simply are not all created equal. Many tools boast multiple functions from allowing you to customise questions and even integrating reward systems. This is great, but make no mistake; the work to achieve and maintain a thriving culture does not come from the tool or a recognition platform, it comes when leaders and teams take shared responsibility and work together to create change. The moral of this story? The tool alone is not the answer, it's how leaders are supported to work with their teams and the tool to enact change. Creating space for team members to have continuous deeper conversations, checking in, sharing new ideas, discussing challenges, celebrating wins and driving actionable change is what will move the dialler on employee engagement and workplace culture. Taking action goes a long way towards the pursuit of a thriving culture. The tool is just that, a tool. And whilst it’s now best practice to have a people measure in place; the real gift is feedback and guidance as to where leaders should focus their energy to achieve a thriving workplace culture. The outcome: a much more inspired workplace. Assess your workplace culture with our complimentary assessment tool or better still check out our culture tool PQfactor, powered by Teamgage and let us support your journey from good to great. Contact us today and let's schedule a coffee meeting. suria@peopleq.com.au

Navigating the feedback jungle. It's not surprising leaders find their authenticity compromised in certain conversations, particularly when they relate to conflict or performance issues. Other types of workplace conversations leaders have parallel struggles with, range from pay rises, scenarios misaligning with their values, senior management behaviour, situations with legal ramifications, personality clashes or managing someone with a fixed mindset. When we discussed this with senior leaders from both the private and public sector, this was what they had to say on the issue. Be present and mindful of how you show up – BE in the moment. Check the environment is right, this not only includes the setting, time needed and time of day, it’s also taking into consideration what else may be happening that could influence the conversation or skew perspectives. Don’t quell your empathy and avoid being caught up in the amiability of the person. Skirting around it wont aid you either, so get to the point. And if you’ve been advised to sandwich a message, now would be a good time to recall that advice! Instead, these senior managers suggest you step into empathy by inviting others to share their thoughts and feelings and consider sharing how you feel about the situation as well. Give feedback that is constructive, also presenting positive news where appropriate. Be mindful of your tone, eye contact and body language, relax your posture and if you’re struggling, we recommend our heart focused breathing technique; slow breath in 1,2,3,4,5, the same rhythm out, and imagine you are breathing in through your heart, and back out through your heart. It’s a scientifically proven technique to activate calm on the go and get coherent. And whilst you're being mindful of how you show up, take the opportunity to listen for the unspoken and exercise EQ! Stay with facts and have the conversations early on if your needing to raise a concern. If your organisation has policies and procedures, use these resources to guide you and at the heart of these conversations, ensure you have good intentions for the person, the team and the organisation. You may get derailed by behaviours that deflect, defend, deny, divert or responses that are aggressive, emotional or nebulous. When this happens, these leaders advise you wait, stay silent if you must, ask again or ask another open question, try rephrasing, reschedule or just listen, and our favourite 3Rs of refocusing to redirect and reframe the moment. Link your feedback to intention – to connect, cultivate cohesion, energise, motivate, share vision, create alignment or have a bit of fun, create reassurance, clarity or accountability. Use feedback to reward effort and as a way to reflect. You can also normalise feedback as a way of building better relationships with each other, so invest the time to get it right. Feedback is an investment in confidence, it builds belief and trust, empowers, supports and aids equality. It sets standards. It’s easier to have these conversations when you are being your authentic self. So anchor to hope and be a role model for your team.

Episode 1 - An introduction to this new Leadership series with Suria and Mel

I would have actioned monthly changes to my leadership style, and perhaps those small steps would have

It’s one of the most human things about leadership. It’s also exactly why leadership coaching exists. What Leadership Coaching Actually Is Leadership coaching isn’t remedial. Why the Current Climate Makes This Urgent Leadership has always been demanding. PeopleQ is an Adelaide-based leadership development and workplace culture consultancy.

A concept was shared in a leadership meeting, it was not a new idea/product/service, but a notable change For us, it's not just a concept, it's a lived experience through the lens of leadership. And whilst psychological safety might feel like a recent trend, the concept is as old as leadership. Our workplace culture tool incorporates psychological safety, as does our approach to leadership programs

I recently delivered a workshop as part of an eight month leadership program on "empowering our teams drives ownership , and is a broad all encompassing concept that acts as a thread across all aspects of leadership You start to appreciate why empowerment is like a thread across all aspects of leadership. exceptional, results, goals and customer stories are regularly shared with everyone and not limited to leadership Empowerment is a leadership thread, requiring leaders to acknowledge their behaviour has the power to

limiting personal growth o   Consider the immediate and longer-term. o   Explore options to transform leadership Legacy and decision making o   Align leadership choices with personal and organizational values. o   Balance goals with self-care o   Identify a leadership legacy that inspires and influences others. o  

Core themes circle around a desire to work on themselves and muscle up their leadership skills and meta Whether you’re wanting to enhance your leadership capabilities, foster personal development or navigate We offer executive coaching, leadership coaching, business coaching and integrated coaching as part of your leadership development programs.

and CEOs want leaders to take charge and bridge the divide between the effectiveness of the senior leadership CEOs and Senior leaders were keen to delve more deeply into enhancing leadership capability and capacity Leadership legacy, values and purpose intertwined and was the next most discussed topic after self-awareness PeopleQ are experts with extensive experience in executive coaching, leadership coaching and business

discussed the importance of emotional literacy in emotional intelligence, exploring the connection to leadership ✔️Emotional literacy is linked to leadership and decision-making. emotions, reflecting on them, and using them as data to make informed decisions, ultimately enhancing leadership To discover how our coaching or leadership programs can help you muscle up on emotional intelligence,

It’s fair to say the quality of your leadership determines the experience of your people, which ultimately When we ask teams to define what great leadership is, essentially their NorthStar, we see a pull towards Don’t see culture as a project, it requires continuous effort and accountability at a leadership level www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/high-performing-teams-a-timeless-leadership-topic