How do we join with others to achieve, belong and connect more with less friction? Humans aren't the strongest or the fastest. Our superpower is working together. We are a social creature. We need to belong and be valued within our tribe. But we hit 3 main friction points in teams: 1. We lack trust because of a lack of integrity, suspicion and past resentments. 2. We don't communicate well because of fear, insecurity and feeling unsafe. 3. We have divided goals because of politics, power str ...
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Whenever we introduce change we meet resistance. Every change involves loss of some sort for someone. That person is likely to be the person who most resists the change. How well we address their concerns determines the smoothness of change. We can push past resistance, but when we don't address these concerns we suffer. Either we get silent confli…
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Why do we do this? Whenever we join together, there's a sacrifice. We give up time, resources or autonomy. So why would we join? Humans have always joined together because some goals we can only achieve in numbers. Once that was to succeed in the hunt or to stay safe. Now it is to achieve increasingly complex goals. Or even to have a stable wage. W…
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How do I get people to do what I want? Change is notoriously difficult. So is leadership. But why? Because often the change we seek to make isn't for the greater good. It's for what I want. For my personal agenda. And that's why we can't get people on board with it. Leadership isn't about how good you are. It's about how good you can make others. I…
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Making Sense of The UK Riots: The Danger of Division
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Everyone wants to feel good about themself. Our inner narrative is driven by this imperative. No-one wants to hate. We hate when we're empty. We need to find a scapegoat that explains why we're not doing as well as we wish we were. In the UK this week there have been shocking scenes of anti-immigration riots. On the surface it looks like racism. Ac…
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Outliers: Identifying The Ingredients For Success
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Why are some people so much better than everyone else in a given field? What makes a Usain Bolt or Steve Jobs so successful? Is it nature or nurture? Outliers by Malcom Gladwell seeks to answer these question. An Outlier is an anomoly. Most people think of the average as the mean. But most science (at least social science) tracks the mid point. Oth…
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The world is changed by those who can inspire and unite. Whether it's Martin Luther King giving a dream for the civil rights movement. Nelson Mandela uniting South Africans as a new nation. Or a team unifying around a shared goal. We achieve by working together as one. While this is magical when it works, it more often than not doesn't work. It doe…
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Business wants to be scientific. Managers want to see data, facts and evidence to base decisions on. The last thing anyone wants to do is to put the company at risk. No-one wants to be blamed for being reckless. So we buy based on logic. But when we sell logic to people they resist. We buy proven tech and initiatives, but employees don't use it. Be…
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Every life has value and lessons. Hollywood and the mainstream media look for the blockbusters. But often the insights and lessons we need come from people like us. People living everyday lives who have seen something that we haven't. A book has a life's experiences encoded into a few hours read. Those few hours can let us vicariously experience a …
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When we gather together, there's pressure to agree. Groups create norms. And belonging often means we have to conform. Challenging those norms threatens the group. And so it can put our belonging at risk. As a result there is a dynamic to agree. To choose people like us. To conform to the pack for safety and harmony. But we become blinded to danger…
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If you had one shot... One opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted... Would you capture it or let it slip? We never know when an opportunity will fall to us. And often they fall when we're not prepared. We kick ourselves for not having the presence to say what we later think of. That moment slips because we weren't ready. Mastery means trai…
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Where does power come from? Does our authority come from our position? Or from our presence? Our belief will affect how we show up. People who see their power as their position will seek to build their status. People who see their presence as power, will seek to engage to develop their influence. We aren't always in control of, if and when, we get …
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Smashing Middle Eastern Stereotypes With Corina Goetz
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250 years ago the founding fathers drew up the U.S constitution. They had been able to learn lessons from older nations and avoid some of their mistakes. This disparate union of states grew to become the world superpower. Today, there is a new and ambitious union that is looking to launch itself as a global player. As a region it is having to unify…
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Do you like to read? I've always loved to read. It's the possibility of finding new ideas. Ideas are the building blocks I play with. When I read books I want new ideas. Ideas that change my thinking. Ideas reimagined. Or ideas refuted. I love to read, but now it's something I don't always find the time to do. When I realised some of my friends rea…
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Most leadership is remedial. For me, a Leader has three key roles... 1. To articulate the vision of what the collective is going to achieve. 2. Agreeing the strategic direction that everyone's going to follow. 3. Carrying the group along and ensuring the values of the beliefs of what it means to be part of the group are upheld. The problem is that …
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If you failed at your job more than 50% of the time would you still have a job? Imagine a Surgeon who failed half the time. Or a pilot. Or a production line. Now look at the divorce statistics. More than half of our most commited relationships, marriages, end in divorce. Ok divorce isn't necessarily failure. But we bond together to have something t…
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What does it take to lead? To lead others we have to be able to tap into something in them. We have to have the empathy and sensitivity to see how what we do impacts them. We have to have the self awareness to adapt and adjust what we do, based on the feedback we get. Our ability to lead others comes from our awareness of who we are. There are lots…
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How do we inspire others to achieve great things? Saurabh Debnath was on course to achieve his lifelong goal of representing India at cricket. That is to be one of 11 in a country with a 1.4bn population. That is a 1 in 127 million chance. Yet Saurabh was on course to hit it. By 18 he'd played for three years in the Ranji trophy as a fast bowler. H…
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Building Strong Emotional Foundations
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Do you remember the story of the three little pigs? They each built a house. But only one built one that was strong enough to withstand the big, bad wolf. That saved the day. When you build a house, you dig down to lay strong foundations. These are what give a house its strength. And so when gale force winds and even hurricanes come, the house can …
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The problem with men is... As a relationship coach I heard the problems of trying to date and relate to men. Sit in a coffee shop or a bar and you'll often hear women talking about men and their shortcomings. The media tells us about toxic masculinity. What's clear is men are struggling. With relationships. Depression. And suicide. The world has ch…
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How do you answer what do you do? It's a question that many of us hate because we often don't have a concise answer. It might involve a label that limits us. And it doesn't cover the range of how we do, what we do and makes us special. At best, it's limiting and at worst it's confusing. Today is a special episode of The Unified Team Podcast. It's a…
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How Do We Emotionally Connect Everyone To The Mission?
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I have a dream... With those four words Martin Luther King focused a movement on a dream they could all commit to. Campaigners could unite around the idea of all being equal. It was the core premise they all agreed and identified with. Whether our team is a sports team, social movement or corporate team we need a vision. It is the vision that frame…
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Engage, empower and educate! That's Chris Cotter's strategy for getting teams to work together. Chris visited Japan as a Graduate and never returned. Working as a language teacher he ended up running a language school. Then he moved to a tech startup building a language learning app. This was where he developed his thinking about developing teams. …
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How can you support your team through change? Change is the norm now. Organisations are almost permanently making some change or another. It's an upheaval while still trying to keep business as normal. How can you get your team through the process? I asked two Change Management Experts for their tips. Listen in to today's Unified Team Podcast to se…
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All of us have been sold a lie! Be a good boy or girl and do well at school. Put your head down at work. And then you'll get your reward and be happy. It isn't what happens. It's why we have mid-life crises. It's why people are turning their back on corporate life to brunch out for themselves. The default model doesn't work out. It was a lie to mak…
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Managing The Tension Between Safety And Performance
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Life exists in tension. Everything we do, is done along a spectrum of tension. Conflicting goals create tension. Leadership is about managing those tensions. Managers want to create a psychologically safe environment. Yet, there is a natural tension with the fear of failure and not performing. When you give a speech, prepare a bid or create somethi…
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Optimising The Health and Wellbeing Of Teams
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Before teams can perform people have to be capable of performing. Burning out staff through stress or overload of work means the team will crash. Each individual is also facing personal challenges. Now they might not be strictly work related, they impact their ability to focus and contribute. I gathered an expert on mindfulness and neuroscience, an…
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Be The Leader You Dreamed Of With Signe Korjus
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Leave your emotions at the door! Your personal life is your problem. Be Professional. Just get on with it. Theses are statements that we've probably all heard In the old factories they made sense. We could press buttons as we stifled sobs and anxieties. Today though, they don't work. When we separate who we are from what we do, we have a soulless, …
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Mastering Meeting Dynamics For Results - Lessons From Football
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Imagine your job rested on how your team performed in the next 45 minutes... how would you get your message across in 5 minutes? As we come to the end of the football season and games that decide who wins titles and promotions. And who loses and gets relegated. This is the situation football managers are facing. The very same lessons apply in every…
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Is AI to be our Saviour or Enslaver? Every great story is a battle of good vs evil. The question of what role AI plays out in our future is yet to be answered. What is critical is who gets to teach AI. Will it exaggerate the flaws within our own systems or will it bring more humanity? I gathered together a group of people brighter than me to think …
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Bartholomew Sharpe stole something that made him a fortune. In 1680, he and his men sailed out to central America where they stole a Spanish ship. They discovered an atlas of Spanish sailing charts. They used it to find and raid Spanish ships. On his return to England he was arrested for piracy and brought before the King. The Spanish Ambassador in…
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Adapting Organisations For A Post-Industrial Age With Adaptologist Neil Harrison
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What's the most adaptive species on the planet? Some say rats or cockroaches. Despite being low in the food chain, they adapt to their surroundings. Many stronger and more powerful species have been wiped out long before them. Some that argue that humans are the most adaptive. Our intelligence and co-operation has enabled us to live in every climat…
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Upgrade Your Energy and Vitality With Priyamvada
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Do you want a first class or economy class life? When we travel we have a choice. We can be herded like cattle in economy. Or we can pay a lot more to be treated better. In life we also have the choice. We can have a vibrant and full experience. Or we can be sluggish and have a dull experience. But this time we pay with our effort and discipline. T…
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Clear Your Mental Clutter and Upgrade Your Mental RAM with Niki Vinogradoff
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How much do you spend on a computer? You can buy a Chromebook new for £179. But most of us spend a lot more. Why? Because we've experienced the frustration of rebooting and waiting after crashing. We pay more for more a better processor and higher RAM. Because it means we can do more. And we have to deal with less frustration. How about your capaci…
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Leading and Influencing Change with Daniel Lock
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Which makes more impact... changing technology or people? Of course the best answer is to make both change in harmony. When companies make a big change in how they work, there's two key factors: 1. Making the technological/organisational/process change. 2. Getting people to adopt and adapt to the change. Project Management developed in the first ha…
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The Power of Positivity and Humility with Akanksha Adivarekar
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What would you do if you were cut off from the profession you trained for years to do? In a new continent. In a new culture. Without a network. With the one thing you've dedicated your life to be good at, cut off from you. This is Akanksha Adivarekar story. It's a story about the power of positivity and humility. Of making the best of your situatio…
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Becoming a leader is a journey of managing fear. Am I enough? Will I be accepted as an authority? Who am I to lead this group? These fears are at the core of the challenge of leading. In these three mini clips three successful leaders: Clark Ray Thomas Courts Tony Walmsley talk about the challenge of becoming comfortable leading and the skills need…
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Integrating Gen Z Into The Workplace
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Let's talk about Gen Z... They're lazy! They're entitled! They want everything yesterday! Or are they the force that is going to change organisations? Is the problem that we've built structures where people are expected to sell their souls for a job? Are we demanding too much and giving too little to employees? Is it time the work-life balance was …
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Making Change Happen Without Force With Paula Anastasiade
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When you want to make a change what do you do? You can force people with a stick. You can entice them with a carrot. Or you can talk it through and agree how to work together. Today Paula Anastasiade goes into organisations and works to make changes happen. Without bribery or force. But through dialogue and listening Change happened through force a…
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What Every Leader Should (But Often Don't) Know About Managing Change
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Careers are made and broken on getting things done... or not. You can devise the most brilliant strategy in the boardroom, but if you can't get people to execute it... you fail. When your success relies on hundreds or thousands of employees, how do you get people on board? How do you ensure projects get people adopting changes to processes or techn…
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Sharpening The Next Generation Of Leaders With Waldemar Zimmer
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If you want to sharpen a knife what do you do? You use a sharpening steel. In the right hands the knife becomes sharper. And then it cuts through with more ease. The world of work is changing. What worked once isn't anymore. We need to cut to the heart of the matter. They say steel sharpens steel. Enter Waldemar Zimmer the steel to sharpen the next…
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Lead With Purpose, Serve With Humility And Inspire Through Actions With Muhammad Mehmood
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They say when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. My guest on today's episode is the living embodiment of that motto. He has been challenged in every way and still found a way to succeed. Today he's helping others to lead more successfully. Muhammad Mehmood crossed continents to take up a job in the UK National Health Service. When he g…
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What do you get if you combine data science, coaching and a team? A happy team coached by Giannis Chatzidis. Giannis is a Data Scientist. Team Leader. And a Coach. He found purpose and joy in merging tech and coaching to help people reach their full potential. He shares his journey and process in our conversation.…
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Lessons From Pro Football Managers's On Managing Teams
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What if everything you did at work was being reported and analysed... in public! Every decision was pulled apart in the media. Every failure was booed by tens of thousands of people. There was a running critique on social media. When feedback is this immediate there is no hiding. Two Football Managers shared how they manage pressure, ego's and extr…
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In one moment, everything in your life can change! Three months ago Clark lived that moment. A careless SUV driver smashed into his motorbike. Breaking 5 ribs, his sternum, right shoulder, collarbone and two vertebrae. An event like this changes everything. But Clark is not your average guy. He already operated from the 10th Man. The principle that…
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You're in charge of a team... How do you spend your time? Are you a Leader or a Manager? What's your key responsibilities? How do you create a culture that performs? These were some of the topics we discussed. The panel was... Matthew Ward Muhammad Mehmood Johan Meyer and me, Rob McPhillips.By Rob McPhillips
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Getting People Unstuck At Work With Johan Meyer
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When we're stuck in our careers, how do we get unstuck? How do we get recognition and value for our efforts? How do we avoid being misunderstood in our communications? This was what Johan Meyer and I discussed in this podcast episode.By Rob McPhillips
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What Gen Z Want From Life And Work with Sandy De Jesus
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If life is a river, Sandy De Jesus is diving right in! He's an experiencer of life. A Seeker of truth. And a Creator of the future. From class clown to entertaining, engaging and educating on social media. Sandy is about the same age as my eldest daughter. He told me about his journey and how he sees life. We talked a lot about the generation diffe…
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Getting Smart People To Soar with Sarah Grunieson
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Imagine we could take x-rays and see people’s emotions You could see the layers of hurt and pain. You could see the fears and insecurities. You could see a tiny seed of potential. You could soothe the pain and reassure the fears. Then you could take that seed and bring it into a safe incubator. You’d water it. And nurture it until it sprouts. The s…
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When everything changes what stays constant? We live in a world where the world is rapidly changing. Technology becomes obselete. We are continually changing. Lisa Cunningham Delauney has been exploring change for decades. An early proponent of Change Management professionally. She has also experienced change personally. Living in nine countries an…
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Leadership Lessons From Leading Hybrid Teams with Paul Chen
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How do you lead a remote or hybrid team? The world has changed after Covid and the genie isn't going back in the box. We have to get used to a world where we work with people we don't regularly see. We have to become more flexible and face new challenges. Curious about what leading a tech team in a modern world I spoke to Paul Chen about the work h…
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