Product or Service?
Imagine you’re working on two automotive parts projects. On one, you’ve got a critical technical issue that must be solved before shipping it for the OEM vehicle build the next day. On the other, for a different customer, you have a meeting to finalise the agreement before they sign the purchase order for the next […]
Teacher
What do you feel when you read the word “Teacher”? How does your body respond? I ask these questions because we very quickly respond with our thoughts when a question is asked — automatically, logically, and habitually. But for some questions, it’s worth pausing and noticing our somatic response. Where does your body reply? What […]
Partnering
Is there a bigger choice in life than choosing your partner(s)?Or indeed, choosing to have a partner at all? We choose partners in life — or not.And we choose partners at work — or not. The Latin root of the word is partitio / pars / partem — meaning “a part” or “portion.”So, at its […]
Practicing Dialogue
I was recently listening to a great podcast called Practical Wisdom for Leaders, presented by Scott J. Allen. He was in conversation with Theo Dawson, and they were talking about how leaders can develop skills. Theo has a beautiful definition of skills: “A skill is essentially something you can practice.” This resonates deeply with my […]
Feeling Heard
How many conversations have you had like this? Person A: “I think we should do X, and here are ten thousand reasons (that I’m right).”Person B: “Oh, I think we should do Y, and here are ten thousand reasons (that I’m right).”Person A: “Okay, but I still think we should do X, and here are […]
Straight Talk
In the autumn of 2008, there was a global financial crisis. At that time, I was working in the Engineering Management team of a global first-tier automotive company. We developed and manufactured roof systems for many of the major car companies around the world. Almost overnight, our business went from booming to crisis. Production orders […]
Brilliant Meetings
When is the last time that you left a meeting and felt, really FELT that was a BRILLIANT meeting? It had been brilliantly designed, everybody there knew what was expected of them, everybody who was needed was there (and on time,) everybody was prepared, the agenda points were clear and aligned to the top priorities, […]
Noticing
What are you noticing? I’ve heard this question a couple of times in the last few weeks, and I’m noticing that it may well be one of the most powerful and important questions… For me, for teams, for us all. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you may be noticing that the leaves are […]
The Gift of Connecting
Connection is a basic human need, closely linked to our sense of belonging. There’s plenty of research showing that living without connection isn’t just unpleasant — it’s damaging. Studies in psychology and neuroscience show that isolation affects our brain and body chemistry (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Cacioppo, 2008), and that loneliness can shorten our lifespan […]
Perfomance
Many teams and organizations that we work with are very successful and highly focused on performance, tasks, and objectives — they deliver! However, they can become so successful that they grow almost blind to the need to improve how they work together as a team, and to the importance of learning and developing as individuals. […]