The Thoughtful Leader Podcast

We often talk about the actions that leaders should take to get the best out of their teams. But it’s worth thinking about the things we choose *not* to do which can make a real difference. In this episode, I take a look at why leaders sometimes struggle to restrain themselves from taking instinctive actions, and take a look at some ways you might be able to add a little restraint into your leadership. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Autonomy is a key factor when it comes to team member motivation at work.  But unfortunately, it can feel daunting to let go and provide your people with the autonomy they want.  In this episode, I take a look at some simple options for providing greater autonomy to your people, without necessarily saying “Go do whatever you want!” Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Trust is important in leadership. After all, it’s tiring and stressful when people are questioning our motives all the time.  But we can’t just ask people to trust us. We need to show up as being trustworthy. Otherwise, we’re just the person who says “trust me”, with nothing to back it up. And you don’t trust people like that, do you? Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

I’ve noticed that leaders in many organisations like to send people on training without too much thought.  Unfortunately, usually this results in a lot of wasted time and money, even though it may seem like a good idea at the time. To help with this, in this episode I take a look at 3 simple questions to answer to improve the chances of the training being useful and worth the expense! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Managing by exception is a style of management that emphasises escalation of only significant issues to leaders in an organisation. It is often seen as a way to free up a leader’s capacity, because they are only involved when there is a challenge to be overcome or a significant decision to be made.  I’m naturally skeptical about “silver bullet” leadership approaches, so in this episode, I take a look at this style of leading, along with the benefits and potential pitfalls, so you can see how this might suit your situation. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Working for an insecure manager is no picnic.  Many people react to this situation by fighting. Trying to prove to their insecure boss that they are superior and capable and don’t need to be controlled.     Unfortunately, I’ve never seen this work. It usually results in a worse situation as the feeling of insecurity grows even further! I suggest you try the strategies in this episode instead. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Empowering leadership is all about getting out of your team’s way, so they can do their thing.  However, this deceptively simple idea can be daunting for leaders who aren’t used to letting go of the reins so much.  In this episode, I take a look at empowering leadership, why it can be a great thing for your team, and give you some ideas of empowering actions you can take. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Being able to show empathy is a great skill for leaders to better understand and engage with their people.  One tool I’ve found really useful in helping to keep an open mind and show empathy is the iceberg model.  In this episode, I introduce this simple model and how you can use it to think differently about the various behaviours you might be seeing in your workplace.  Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

One of the common complaints levelled at leaders (especially in the middle-management layer) is that they are “useless” and “don’t do anything”.  And sometimes, when you’ve gone from being a valuable “doer” to a leader, it can certainly feel that way! In this episode, I take a look at some ways to help yourself (and your team) feel like you’re making a positive difference in your leadership role.  Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

In the book “Legacy” about the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team, the concept of “sweeping the sheds” is raised.  That is – even leaders should pitch in and do the small things, rather than considering them to be beneath their station.  So is sweeping the sheds good leadership? When should you do it, and when should you avoid it? I discuss these questions in this podcast episode.  Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

One way that we can help to set a good foundation for our leadership is to understand our core values.  Our core values help us to understand what drives us, what we stand for and what we won’t. They can also help us to identify the situations and environments where we are more likely to feel satisfied, content and motivated. In this episode, I take a look at why our values are so important, what we can use them for and how to figure out what yours are. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

You might not feel confident all the time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask confident questions! In this episode, I take a look at some good questions that you can ask to help build trust and rapport with the people around you.  Many leaders don’t ask these questions, because they don’t want to hear the answers.  Don’t be like them – ask away! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Most leaders have parts of their leadership they’d like to improve.  One way to improve is to create good leadership habits, to help you show up consistently and reliably for your team.  In this episode, I take a look at 3 key ingredients I believe are important for making a change to your leadership habits.  Apply For Your Complimentary Coaching Session I invite you to a complimentary Discovery Coaching Session, where we will: Get clear on your most important goals and what is most important to you Identify blockers and limiting beliefs that are holding you back; and Develop key actions you can take to move forward and make progress. You will leave the Discovery Coaching Session with a sense of clarity, purpose and practical steps to move you forward. There is no obligation to pursue further coaching after this session - but many people do!  >>> Click here to apply for your complimentary coaching session.  Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take

I sometimes work with leaders who pretty much need a complete confidence rebuild because of their experiences in crappy workplaces.  Damaged confidence can take years to recover (if it does at all), so we need to be able to guard against this problem. Over time, I’ve come to realise that self-acceptance is a big piece of the puzzle, and I think it plays a foundational role in our leadership.  In this episode, I take a look at why it matters, and some ways to help you find it.  Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

It seems to be fairly common knowledge that delegation is a valuable leadership skill.  But in my experience coaching and talking to my training attendees, there is not enough of it happening in our workplaces.  Many leaders want to be able to delegate more, but there are things getting in the way that seem to prevent it.  So in this episode, I take a look at some of the common reasons why leaders fail to delegate, and some potential solutions to that problem! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Recent research shows that honesty is one of the most highly sought-after leadership characteristics.  However, there are many situations in which we sometimes feel like we can’t be as honest as we’d like to be.  So in this episode, I take a look at some of the ways you can bring honesty to the table more often, because it’s what people are looking for in their leaders! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Workplaces can often be busy and overwhelming places, convincing us that our situation is all doom and gloom. People like to focus on negativity and this can make the situation even worse! Instead, wouldn’t it be nice to feel more positive about your work situation? In this episode, I look at 3 factors that help leaders feel more positive at work, based on the trends that I notice speaking with my coaching clients.  You’ll still have challenges and tricky problems to solve, but hopefully you can approach them with greater enthusiasm and positive energy! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

It’s time to get started with 2023! In this episode, I take a look at my 5 key leadership focus areas which I think are important. These include being aware of global trends (and matching them in your team), watching out for poor time management, being a leadership scientist, cultivating a curious mindset and being able to restrain ourselves in the face of our tricky emotions! Listen to the episode to find out more about them! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Most leaders don’t go straight into a leadership position. They start by doing the technical work, and then progress to leadership positions afterwards when they show the potential. This transition can be a huge challenge for many leaders, especially those who actually quite liked doing the technical work! In this episode, I take a look at some of the top challenges of moving from doer to leader, and some ways you can hopefully overcome these to be as good a leader as you were a team member. Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!

Stress is common in busy workplaces, and we might think that it usually occurs because the workload is too high.  However, there can be many sources of stress that don’t necessarily involve the amount of work on our plate.  In this episode, I take a look at some of the common signs of stress that you might see, and then look at the common causes that may be behind them.  If you can remain aware of the signs and causes, you might be able to stop them becoming an issue for you and your team! Like the Show? Please Leave a Review! ✅ If you like this episode or the show in general, please take a few minutes to leave a review by clicking one of the links below. Your review really helps me to reach a wider audience of thoughtful leaders, so we can improve workplaces around the world. I appreciate you taking the time!