When I am supporting clients with complex & messy problems, one of the things I look how much psychological safety exists. Because without it, people won’t feel safe to name what is happening.    Much has been written about the nation’s mood and an overall dip in psychological safety during the pandemic. So I want to offer some thinking about how we can expand psychological safety for ourselves and our teams.  

I have a guilty confession:  I have stopped watching the news. If you want to know why, read this blog

In a catch up with an HR Director recently, we compared notes on our lockdown experience and learning.  She has a number of challenges to navigate; reopening a venue that has been closed to the public, balancing the books as customer visits are controlled, and answering some big questions that have arisen about purpose. She sat back in her chair, and asked me the question: “If you were me, what would you be thinking about?”

It’s a great question. Read this blog for my answer

Being at home during Lockdown as events have unfolded around the world, has given us time to think. I have noticed in clients and myself that big questions are coming to the forefront.  These questions often relate to complex and messy subjects like climate change, racial bias, and how you want to work going forward.    

Many of these questions have been lurking in our subconscious, and we have been too busy to contemplate them.  The disruption is offering us some wisdom:   invitations to contemplate our work, our lives what we care about and how aligned it all is.

With this in mind, I wanted to share a story from a client, who took a stand for what she believes in & created change as a result.

Does your company culture feel like a playground? Would you like some insight into why this is? Do you want to know how to encourage a more grown up way of working?

A webinar aimed at HR teams, where we explore what it means to lead in these extraordinary times.  Opened and hosted by Richard Goff, the Chair of The People Director Partnership. 

As COVID-19 spreads across the world, I offer some thoughts on internal communications and how to increase employee advocacy during these extraordinary times.

A conversation between Nick Kingma from HG Capital (private equity firm targeting technology buyouts) and myself talking about how HR can partner with a business to add value and what I have learnt about doing this.

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Are you curious about how you can have a greater impact in your role? Are you in a back office team, and want to build more powerful partnerships? Do you feel ‘done to’ and want to understand how you could do something to change this?

When you’ve had a great day and someone asks you: “How was your day?”
Do you answer: “I got a lot done. Lots of stuff sorted and ticked off my list.” If that’s your answer – watch out. Want to know why? Listen to this blog

If you would like some inspiration about stillness and it’s powerful impact on our lives, watch this fascinating 15 minutes TED talk

Are you nervous about how you keep yourself relevant in this changing world? Do you wonder how to tackle the challenges on your horizon? Do you want to find ways to develop new solutions? As I progressed in my HR career, I relished opportunities to deepen my expertise. Always up for learning a new method

An article in People Management arguing that there is a huge opportunity for HR professionals to integrate people and technology

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There’s no such thing as a black and white ethical dilemma. So how can HR practitioners develop their personal ethics so they can help their organisations navigate the grey areas?

Have you faced a change in circumstances and realised you aren’t talking about how this changes your ways of working? Have you started a project, knowing what it would take to succeed, but struggled to share this insight? Have you worked with people where your different approaches are stopping you from working together successfully?

Do you worry about being found out as a fraud? Are you convinced that luck is the only reason you have your job? Has you inner critic been so loud you can’t hear yourself think? Have you felt inadequate when comparing yourself to your colleagues?

Taking a different perspective can lead to stunning breakthroughs in any industry

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If you are an early company employee, it’s not likely that the skills you have on day one are the skills needed as the company scales to the next level.

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A great article that argues that like a CMO, The Chief People Officer (CPO) creates an engaged community of people: people who are all working together toward the common goal of making an organisation the best it can be. Not only is it a critical strategic responsibility of the CPO, it is also essential to the business, customers and investors.

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A short account of what I have noticed about the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship on my journey so far.

The transparency enabled by social media means organisational boundaries are made of glass. Through on-line reviews & ratings, your company culture becomes the brand presented to the talent you want to hire. If you want to know what this means for you, have a look at this article.

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A recent Harvard Business Review report found that executives spend an average of nearly 23 hours a week in meetings, which means they spend over half of their working lives in them.  So we shouldn’t be surprised that when asked about their experience, senior leaders describe feeling “overwhelmed by their meetings”.  Given this, how do we ensure meetings enable meaningful conversations rather than a distraction from ’real work’?

Trust is the foundation for everything we do. But what do we do when it’s broken? In an eye-opening talk, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei gives a crash course in trust: how to build it, maintain it and rebuild it — something she worked on during a recent stint at Uber. “If we can learn to trust one another more, we can have unprecedented human progress,” Frei says

Adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, this short video illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

A copy of my research summary outlining how to prepare, lead and transform from extraordinary events.

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Hubspot CEO Brian Halligan, argues brilliantly why culture powers their recruiting funnel.

Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but Margaret Heffernan shows that good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.

An article exploring how we embrace the age of uncertainty, by creating cultures where employees embrace the unknown. It argues that unless we are nuanced, thoughtful and agile about risk, we will fail to capitalise quickly enough on opportunities (e.g. digitise, emergent business models). It highlights the need to build our capacity to lead through uncertainty. I am privileged to contribute to the piece.

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The top news story today is “deplorable” revelations about a men-only fundraising dinner, as guests rush to distance themselves from the Presidents Club charity, and beneficiaries vow to return sizeable donations. If your business is involved, watch this podcast to help you consider how to lead your business through extraordinary events.

When trying to create change in our organisations, we have to choose who to spend time with, to get the biggest return. Patrick Lencioni argues the value of focusing on the supporters, rather than pleasing the Naysayers.

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It took 20 working days for the ripples from the Harvey Weinstein scandal to reach UK shores, and that is because bullying and harassment is more common in business culture than many would expect.

Yesterday I spoke at London’s Wellbeing at Work conference (https://lnkd.in/dXU5Add) : focused on the latest developments and successes to help individuals thrive in organisations. But how do you create a healthy culture when alcohol is often an intrinsic part of our “work hard, play hard” approach?

A powerful argument that our organisations have moved from being black to glass boxes, which means your culture is your evolving brand, and so it follows that your employees are the marketing department.

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We live in a world of uncertainty and issues can quickly escalate in any business sector. This article gives ideas on how to create a healthy dialogue with your people when difficult things are happening.

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The world continues to experience extraordinary events, so we need to help leaders to manage conversations externally AND with staff. A sustainable reputation has to be lived internally and employee’s can’t advocate their organisation if they feel ignored, embarrassed and angry. Here is an explanation of why I feel passionately about this.

I find it difficult to ask for help, and I know I am not alone.  Because it feels awkward, this article helped me see how imprecise it make me (and hence difficult to help!).   The list included in this article, shows how to be more precise.

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Great data in the Edelman Trust survey: (1) in the UK, only 57% of employees trust their company & only 37% rate their CEO as creditable (2) how leaders treat employees & their ability to take responsible actions to address a crisis are two of attributes where leaders are seen as under performing the most

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In this age of digital, collaboration is the new modus operandi; but in reality it is often the place of collision.

In organisations we don’t talk about the guilt of gaining (or keeping) a job when a colleague loses theirs. Sure the guilt and pain or organisational cuts is much lighter than those of disasters, but the impact is still very real. A great article by Noomi, who describes why survivor guilt happens, what can happen when it does and how you can help your team work through it.

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Sometimes an organisation needs a wake up call to enable it to see what is happening and a crisis helps it to see something previously hidden.

An interesting article explaining how Laurent Potdevin has turned around Lululemon, after they had to withdraw yoga trousers that were sheer and the founder suggested this was a problem with their customer’s large thighs. His methods: starting all meetings with a five minute group meditation, replacement the senior team, rebuilding the systems infrastructure and refocusing on their innovation lab.

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A great article that describes why a leader’s job is mostly people, and how culture contributes to organisational performance (and the ethical crisis that can follow when it isn’t healthy).

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A great article from Harvard Business Review about a roof collapse at B&O Railroad Museum. It reminds us that a disaster plan doesn’t show you how to manage employee’s emotions. In a crisis, employees want to know you are a human being and that they can continue to trust you. A crisis leader must be a storyteller.

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Crisis HR is the art of leading staff through a crisis well internally. The cost of getting it wrong is often invisible but no less dangerous. A crisis is an opportunity for a leadership team to live their vision and values statements and hence increase employee engagement and discretionary effort.

Jill Bolte Taylor tells an astonishing story of her experience of a stroke.  As a brain scientist she uses her understanding of the two hemispheres, to explain what was happening to her.   In this 20 minute talk, she brings a tear to you eye and also tells you how cool it was for her

For me this book, made me really think about the reasons why I say “busy” when someone asks me how I am. It is a sobering read inviting you to consider how our habits get in the way of the work we really want to be doing. With lots of practical advice, I am currently trying to rewire my habits (it hurts!)

So often, we compel our people to behave in a specific way, by talking about ‘what’ and ‘how’. In this compelling video, Simon Sinek describes why needs to change, using Apple & Martin Luther King as examples. He challenges the commonly held belief that companies exist to make a profit, and invites you to talk about your purpose, your cause, your why to inspire action. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”

This is collection of thinking about how coaching can support individuals in crisis. A few themes stand out as chiming with my experience, and are particularly helpful to the work of Crisis HR.

A deep, emotional and thought provoking insight from Brene, on Shame. Our biggest critic is ourself, and the scripts we run about not being good enough hold us back. The shame gremlin (as she calls it) prevents us from daring greatly and truly connecting with each other. She proudly states that vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.

Most Leadership development focuses on how you think differently, this book explores how you “be” different to improve your leadership. Whilst the idea of leading this development with your body seems plain weird to the uninitiated (and certainly made me feel uncomfortable at the start), it has had a wholly positive impact on my leadership. I have worked with Eunice personally so I may be biased, but within the book she brings to life how somatics works.