How Might We...?

My guests this episode are Geoff Hudson Searle, Douglas Lines and Oakland McCulloch. During the podcast we discuss focus in leadership, trust, psychological safety amongst other topics. Corporate leaders today are measured by a new yardstick. The supreme test of a CEO and board of directors is now the value they create not just for shareholders, but for all stakeholders. The shift to stakeholder capitalism creates pressure for corporate leaders to try to satisfy a wide range of constituencies with different, sometimes conflicting interests and perspectives. Earning their trust is key to navigating this tricky terrain. Research shows that trust is the key to success. Yet growing distrust, cynicism and misinformation are eroding confidence in corporate impact and Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) claims. To prosper in the age of stakeholder capitalism, companies must actively cultivate the trust of employees, investors, customers, regulators and corporate partners: developing strategies to understand these stakeholders more intimately, implementing deliberate trust-building actions, tracking their efforts over time, and communicating openly and effectively with key stakeholder groups. We have entered the trust era: a time where (mis)information is omnipresent, individual perceptions reign supreme, and digital security and data privacy are constantly threatened. Now more than ever, stakeholders expect organizations to do the right things and do them well. These expectations range from entrusting an organization to safeguard one’s private data to requiring a company to have a strong stance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Trust also drives performance. When stakeholders trust an organization, their behaviors will reflect that trust can affect more traditional key performance indicators that directly affect financial performance. Trust elevates customer and brand loyalty, which can lead to revenue. It enhances levels of workforce engagement, which can result in increased productivity and retention. And the data confirms it. Trustworthy companies outperform nontrustworthy companies by 2.5 times, and 88% of customers who highly trust a brand will buy again from that brand. Furthermore, employees’ Trust in their leaders improves job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the organization and its mission. Despite the data, however, many leaders and organizations still view trust as an abstract concept. Trust should be managed proactively because, when trust is prioritized and acted upon, it can become a competitive advantage. An organization that positions trust as a strategic priority—managing, measuring, investing in, and acting upon it can ultimately build a critical asset. No heroic leader can resolve the complex challenges we face today. To address the important issues of our time we need a fundamental change of perspective. We need to start questioning many of our taken-for-granted assumptions about our business and social environments. Leaders serve as role models for their followers and demonstrate the behavioral boundaries set within an organization. The appropriate and desired behavior is enhanced through the culture and socialization process of the newcomers. Employees learn about values from watching leaders in action. The more the leader “walks the talk”, by translating internalized values into action, the higher level of trust and respect he generates from followers. To help bridge the trust gap we recognise that organizations need to work with each other and with wider society to identify practicable, actionable steps that businesses can take to shape a new relationship with wider society: a new ‘settlement’ based on mutual understanding and a shared recognition of the positive role that business plays in people’s lives. To create such a settlement, businesses need to see themselves as part of a diverse, interconnected, and interdependent ecosystem – one that...

The latest edition of How Might We is out. In this edition Alexis Kingsbury talks to me about releasing time in business so you can go on a 6 week road trip. And this is not just theory, Alexis was talking to me whilst he was on his trip. He shares insights and ideas on how to document processes and be able to delegate them confidently to others. How this documentation accelerates onboarding, increases performance and engages and empowers team members. Alexis is an award-winning entrepreneur, with over 10 years of experience, currently running two SaaS businesses (AirManual and Spidergap) with a remote and global team. I also support others as a board member and consultant/coach (e.g. Sony Interactive Entertainment). He is an enthusiastic public speaker, podcast interviewee & facilitator, providing practical guidance to help business leaders to onboard and develop amazing teams — getting employees up to speed, reducing mistakes, and freeing up time. Alexis LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkingsbury/ Alexis Website: https://www.airmanual.co/

My guest is Adelaide Goodeve. Adelaide is an elite performance coach, who, within 10 years, went from nearly bedridden to Ironman athlete and go-to performance coach for some of the world’s best companies, leaders, teams and athletes. In this episode Adelaide talks about her journey and how brain training helped her, and how it helps people change mindsets to become elite performers. Adelaide's linkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelaide-goodeve/ Adelaides's website: https://www.adelaidegoodeve.com/ ----more---- Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Might We, and we're gonna do something slightly different today. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a conversation and based on where we go with the conversation is how we going to. So we are going to name this show at the end of the recording. So my guest on this episode, it's Adelaide Goodeve. So Adelaide, welcome. Adelaide: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Scott: You're welcome. So we'd like to introduce yourself to the audience. Yes. Adelaide: My name is Adelaide and I'm an elite performance coach. I teach people how to reprogram their brains to tech the, to take their mindset to the next level and achieve their desired results, whether it's increased performance or enhanced happiness. Scott: Okay. So, Helping people think differently is, is and sort of reprogramming that, that aspect of the brain. So do you wanna talk me through that a little bit, what that means? [00:01:00] Adelaide: Yes. So our brain is plastic. So they used to think our brain was hardwired like an electric circuit. So once those pathways were laid down, they didn't think that they could change. So you're kind of stuck with the results you got, whether they were great or not so great, but they now know that it's actually very far from the truth and the brain is plastic. You wanna think about your brain like a muscle. The more you train one neuro pathway, the stronger and better and faster it is at its job, the less you train another neuro pathway. The weaker and weaker it becomes and the slur it is at its job. So if you're at the gym and you just worked out one arm, that one arm is gonna get super strong and then that other arm is gonna look like a noodle in comparison. And this is a bit like how your brain works. Cause if you were to train your left arm and it would, so it could catch up with your right arm. And this is how the brain works, is, is always strengthening the neuro pathways that you use the most, not necessarily the ones which get you the results you want, but it's saying, [00:02:00] okay, they're using, for example, energy and. In the morning the most. So this is the pathways that are gonna make really strong. We're gonna bring them closer together and it's gonna become easier for them to activate those feelings when thinking about the morning. And so it'll enhance those ones. But if we think of the morning and we're thinking dread the most, then it's going to strengthen and bring close together the neuro pathways for the morning and dread. So when we think about the morning, we're like, Ugh, my gosh, I have to get up so early. And we're kind of already in that. State, It's a bit like sheep in the field. You have this chief sheep and every single day he takes his team to the same patch of grass. And over time that pathway is eroded and it's more and more visible. It's deeper, and it's stronger in that ground. You can see it from space cause the grass is just not there anymore. And that path is very deep. It's a dirt path deep in the ground. Cause they're traveling it every single. But then one day that chief sheet kind of looks across the field and he goes, Wow, the grass of [00:03:00] there is so much greener. Like, I bet my sheep could thrive if I took them to that area. So in that moment, in less than a split second, he change, He changes the path that they follow, and now that new neuro...

In this Episode my guest is Brad Borkan. Brad has a great interest in how people and businesses build resilience. In this episode Brad shares his thoughts on how lessons from leaders of the past can help us make better decisions today. Brad's first book was the award-winning book: WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic. This book puts the reader right into the action of the life-and-death decisions made by early explorers. In it, we reveal unparalleled lessons in leadership, teamwork, and the sheer determination that can help all of us make better decisions in life. It won 1st Place in the Chanticleer International Book Awards for Insightful Non-fiction. Brad's second book, AUDACIOUS GOALS, REMARKABLE RESULTS: How an Explorer, an Engineer and a Statesman Shaped our Modern World, focuses on six epic achievements made by three extraordinary people, one of whom is Theodore Roosevelt and another is the great Victorian-era engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The book explains the mindset they each developed to make monumental impacts in their fields. Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of How Mike We, And on this episode, I'm pleased to welcome Brad Balkin and we are gonna be talking about how might we learn from history, make better decisions. So, Brad, welcome. Would you like to introduce yourself Brad: please? Hi, Scott. Great to be here. Thanks for having me on your show. I'm Brad Borkin, as you said, and I've written two books that have to deal with history in terms of looking at great explorers and great people in history and great endeavors that were occurred in history and ask what can we learn from this? Focusing on the decision making side of these people and these endeavors. Scott: And I think, I mean, I like decisions cuz I think we've mentioned before when we're off air is decisions are basically the precursor to every action we. Brad: Yes, they're at the heart of, of everything. And one of the things when it came to the early [00:01:00] Antarctic explorers was there's lots of books written about them as people, about the expeditions, like what they ate and how, where they traveled and the challenges they faced. But actually up until the, the book that my coauthor and I wrote, no one ever looked at the decisions. And we looked at the life and death decisions, which were actually the most exciting ones because they all, they all came near death all the time, but they actually very rarely ever died. Scott: Well, I can't, I suppose dying only happens once, so Yeah, that's it. Brad: That's that's true. But, but they, but they came, they came, they faced all sorts of commodities and, and challenges and, and you know, these, these, you know, everything from frostbite, curvy to, to flowing, harasses and, and all sorts of things and that, but somehow they, they were sort of at one level sort of indestructible. Yeah. Scott: I think the interesting thing is, as I say, you make a, you make a decision. I think we've talked about this as well before, is, and basically you're trying to predict the future with a decision. Cause when [00:02:00] we don't know the outcome, until we actually make that decision and enact it. Brad: That's right. Yeah. And, and, and actually a good, good point is, is I retired from my main job in 2021 in, in July, 2021, which coincide with to launch my second book. And inflation was 2% and the stock market was slowly growing and the world was at peace. And a year later, you know, it seemed like a sane. Normal rational decision. Inflations at 10%, the stock market is down 25%, and the war, you know, at least Ukraine and, and Russia at war. And it's, it's just a complete un perhaps not predictable, but it's, it's the, the outcome of a decision that you, you don't know until you look back many years later on. What's that? A good decision or a bad decision? Scott: Well see, I, my view on decisions is I think the...

In this episode my guest is Melissa Boggs. Melissa helps leaders and employees design an intentional employee experience that bridges the cultural and generational gap between them, increasing engagement and inviting joy for all. The key to engagement is not “fixing” employees or leaders, but enriching the relationship between them. I help design organizational structures and cultures that amplify the strengths of everyone, changing hearts and minds about what is possible at work. Melissa shares her experiences and thoughts on creating mutually, trusting relationships that bridge the gap between leaders and employees. Melissas website: http://melissaboggs.com/ ----more---- Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of how might we, and in this episode, Mike guest is Melissa and we will be talking about how might we create mutually beneficial relationships. So welcome, Melissa, would you like to introduce your. Melissa: Hello, thank you for having me. Sure. My name is Melissa Boggs. I'm a keynote speaker and a leadership coach. I focus on employee experience design, and I work with leaders and their teams to bridge the gap between them. And like you said, build mutually beneficial relationships at work. Scott: Okay. So, I mean, I, I like playing around with the trust and I think that's sort of the. And a big thing about leadership is having those relationships with people that are, that are two way rather than just a one way. Whereas you think this staff have to do stuff for us to trust them, but it's much more, the other way is as important the other way around as well. Melissa: Absolutely. And I think this is one of the things [00:01:00] that we can miss sometimes as leaders is we have to show up first in fact, because we have. The, you know, greater power in the power dynamic, we must take the first step toward trust. We must be the first ones to live our values and, you know, show up and be transparent as much as we can. When we do that as leaders, then it opens the door and allows, you know, our, our teams and our teammates to do Scott: the same. Okay. So is that like us being role models, leadership, as in the, with role models, this is what we would like people to do. And this is how we are going to act, demonstrate what it's like Melissa: in a way. I mean, that's part of it, but I would say also, it's just simply that when, when you have the power in a dynamic, you know, then you have to open the door first. [00:02:00] If. If you don't humanize yourself, , you know, and become approachable, then you can't have an expectation that someone who is. You know, watching you is going to make themselves, I guess that's what it's about. It's about vulnerability, right? If you don't make yourself vulnerable as the one who has more power in a relationship, you cannot possibly expect someone else to make themselves vulnerable either. One of my favorite stories when I was the co CEO of scrum Alliance, I was quite new in that role. And. Consider myself to be a humble leader and a leader who listens, et cetera, et cetera. And so I kept using this phrase. So my title was actually chief scrum master, and I kept saying to people, okay, I'm gonna take off my chief hat. and my intention was like, Hey, like we're just two people. I just wanna listen, you know, tell me what you're thinking, et cetera, et cetera. And [00:03:00] I remember so clearly sitting down with this in a one-on-one with this dear woman, and she was maybe a bit older than me, more experienced and. But yet she was my employee. And so we're having this conversation and I used that phrase. I said, okay, I'm gonna take my chief hat off. And I want you to, you know, be honest, like tell me, et cetera, et cetera. And she goes, she puts her hand on my arm. Like it was so gentle and kind, but she was like, honey, I need you to understand that. No matter how many times you say that you cannot take off your chief hat, no matter...

This episode is 'How Might We Become Excellent' and my guest is Joe Templin. Joe, has led an eclectic life. As one of six kids (the only normal one, he insists) growing up in a small town and spending time on the family farm, Joe’s parents (John and Barb) instilled a love of learning, the outdoors, and a healthy disrespect for authority while still simultaneously embracing traditional values of hard work and “love thy neighbour but mind your own dang business.” This is Joe’s foundation. He was severely asthmatic but through his work ethic and love of challenge has become a martial artist and ultradistance runner. He had a speech impediment but has built a career around communicating. This habit of overcoming limitations is a theme in his life and his writings. Joe shares his tips and thoughts on everyday excellence. Joes LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-templin/ Joes Website - https://everyday-excellence.com Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of how might we and today's Mike guest is Joe Templin all the way from over the pond in the us of a, and we are gonna be talking about how might we become excellent. So, Joe, would you like to introduce yourself to the guests please? Joe: Sure. So I'm Joe Templin. I am a self-taught polymath in a lot of ways. I say polymath as opposed to Renaissance man, simply because I can't draw a straight line even with a ruler. As you notice, I've got a little bit of an attitude and self deprecating humor. Everything's funny. I'm half Irish. So that's the way it is. And I am a human Swiss army. I am an ultra-marathoner a special needs parent, a martial arts champion and [00:01:00] author of the book every day excellence. Scott: Okay. So quite a mixed bag of stuff in there and lots of experiences. Joe: Yeah. You know, I have stuff to be able to pull out of the cabinet for almost any conversation I had with. Scott: Okay, so that sort of flexibility is, is held you in good stead, like the experiences you've had. Joe: Yeah. And also as some of my friends in used to say, I'm the most interesting man in financial services. Scott: Okay. And not, not renowned for an in full of interesting people. I must admit financial services. No, not written out for you. Okay. So you wanna talk about how might we become. What do you mean by those? Joe: So the first thing is that excellence is like happiness in that it is individually defined, but there are some consistencies across individuals about what it [00:02:00] constitutes happiness or excellence in a lot of ways. So for example, Excellence is partially about, is the process of improvement because we all start off life as babies. Okay. We can't take care of ourselves. We cry, you know, we eat, we poop. That's about all that we do when we sleep, hopefully, and that is literally how every single human being on the planet has started. Whether they become, you know, the most renowned martial artist on the planet, the greatest writer, you know, captains of industry, queen of England, they all started from the exact same position. So how do they determine where they wanna be, what they wanna become and go about the process of doing. That is the first critical component in discovering your own internal excellence, because we all have tremendous capacity that few of us even tap. In fact, no matter [00:03:00] what I've accomplished, there's still so much more that within me that I could unlock if I truly invested the time to do so. And every single human being's like that. So first we need to start figuring out, okay, what does excellence mean to. And for the person who is sitting there trying to get their degree while raising three kids, it is being able to pass the exams while at uni and then be able to get that degree so they can build a better life to them. That is the next step of excellence. And that is a very critical thing for other people. It might be, you know, winning that gold medal at...

My guest on this episode is Karol Papa, he is a certified Scaling Up coach and I uses Scaling Up Methodology™ to help entrepreneurs create mechanics for predictable growth in their business. If you grew your business vastly over the past few years, added new clients and employees, but you began to realize that current management methods are no longer sufficient, the chances are your company's reached the next level of growth and needs new mechanisms to fight barriers to scale. The Scaling Up system was created for mid-market companies to overcome these challenges and set the basis for sustainable business growth. Thus you need to attract and keep the right PEOPLE, create a truly differentiated STRATEGY, drive flawless EXECUTION and have plenty of CASH to weather the storms. Karol helps companies answer the following questions - Do I have the right people in the company and would I enthusiastically rehire them all? - Is our strategy driving results and would anyone care if our business ceased to exist tomorrow? - How many months in a row have we reached or exceeded our monthly business goals? - Do we have consistent sources of cash to fuel the growth of our business? Karol can help you double your cash flow rate, boost your profitability, increase the valuation of your company relative to the competitors and help you climb to the top in a joyful and meaningful way. Karol's Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolpopa/ Karol's Website: https://karolpopa.com Transcript: Scott: Hello and welcome to the latest edition of how might we, and this episode is called, how might we convert strategy into action? Now, my guest is Karol Popa, who I met about 3, 4, years ago now. So Carol, would you like to introduce yourself, please? Karol: Good to see you, Scott. Good to be here. Thank you for the invitation. Yes, my name is Karol Popa I'm. I'm here right now in Warsaw speaking. You di directly from sunny city. I'm a scaling up coach. I'm a certified gallops trans coach. This is where we've met with Scott. And what I do is I help entrepreneurs to build mechanics for predictable growth in their business. So you can, you can learn more about that on, you know, look for scaling up, scaling up certified coaches, scaling up community on the internet. You can find a [00:01:00] framework there. It's designed at the MIT university for. Midmarket companies to be able to just grow faster, really how, how to scale. Scott: Okay. And I think that's obviously a question that's quite at the forefront of most people when their business starts moving is how, how does this get better and bigger? And I think we were before we came online, it's one of the things, isn't it? That is something to consider at certain points, the way you work, isn't going to work because your company's growing. Karol: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like Marsha Goldsman said, what, what got you here? Won't get you there. Yeah. So depending on your growth stage of, of the, how big your company is you need to do things differently. Like the old ways doesn't open that does not open the new doors. Yeah. So we really need to change and adapt to the new situation inside as well as outside of your organization. Scott: Okay. And then we are [00:02:00] talking about how we convert strategy into actions, a conversation we had, obviously, before we came online, we deciding what we were gonna talk about. So why did you sort of want to hone in on that aspect of it? Karol: I think it's one of the biggest challenges out there when you wanna, you know, grow your company, go grow your company, or, or even achieve your personal goals. So you might know what you want. And then you might think you you've got a plan, but when it comes to the reality it'll oh, you know, always, oh, maybe not always, but very often happens that the reality takes all everything, and, and you actually are not able to achieve your goals. At least as much as you would like to. So what's the what, what's the...

Welcome to the latest edition of How Might We. On this episode my guest is Phil Coley and I discuss how to build better relationships on LinkedIn. Phil shares his thoughts and experiences and some analogies with dating. He provides some great tips and advice on using LinkedIn to develop relationships that can help grow your business. Phil has over 30 years experience in direct sales both B2B and B2C Phil works with a number of different business sizes from solopreneurs to multi-million pound enterprises advising on the SIMPLE principles. SIMPLE Sales Information Money People Leadership Energy His business portfolio includes a sales & marketing agency, accounting practice, digital publishers and a number of website businesses. Phil has strived for a work life balance and now run my businesses from here in France thanks to my amazing team based in the UK and our dedication to process and people. Phil's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-coley-business-plus/ Website : https://iplussales.co.uk Transcript Scott: Hello and welcome to the latest edition of how might we, and this edition, we're going to be talking about how might we improve relationships on LinkedIn and my guest this week, or this episode is Phil Coley. So Phil, would you like to introduce yourself? Phil: Yeah, no lovely to be here today, Scott, thank you for inviting me yet. So I'm Phil Coley from business plus group of companies. So we have a number of companies in our portfolio, but it's one of my key interests is sales and marketing. So we have a company called hopeless sales marketing, and we help our B2B clients get more engagement on LinkedIn, get more leads and help to grow their business. Scott: Okay, so you are you as a field that you're very familiar. Phil: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. No inside that. And I, I suppose I've been linked on, been on LinkedIn for many years now when I first started and stayed on it. Scott: Oh, I I'm a [00:01:00] veteran no less. Phil: Yeah, it makes me sound a little bit old, but yes, I would say I'm a LinkedIn, the Scott: guy. Okay. So it's interesting. You talked about the relationships with LinkedIn and I think when a lot of times you talk about people, we talk about engagement. We talk about the importance of relationships in business. So why do you want specifically want to talk about that in relation to LinkedIn? Phil: So I think. Maybe I'll just take it back a step. I think it's, it's, let's look at sales, but even before that is on my professional background, sports psychology has played a huge part of my life from university all the way through. So I've taken an active interest in people and I've certainly taken active interest in people in sales. And there is that age old thing that, you know, people buy people and yes, I understand that. And I think that's, there's an element. And when I look at LinkedIn, I look at what LinkedIn is. LinkedIn is a networking tool. Is it a social media tool? I don't think so, [00:02:00] but I do think it's about people and it's about. Probably people apart from a profile picture, that's very faceless. And to be able to make that work, then you've got to work on the relationship online and using LinkedIn in a way that's probably different. And you would know, you know, we've got those, those three key things of making that first impression, which is the visual or. You got the auditory, how you sound, and then you've got the words, the words that you used and people then build a picture of it and that way, and actually that's probably how I relate it to link to. Scott: Okay. So how important you think it is for that first impression that we have. Phil: Oh, I think it's hugely important. And I think what I can probably look at is I can look at those mistakes on LinkedIn and I can look at suddenly. Now there are LinkedIn gurus everywhere, LinkedIn, this and LinkedIn that, and the majority of those people are talking [00:03:00] about. Posts. They're talking...

On this episode we discuss How Might We Increase Trust In What Businesses Say About Sustainability. My guest is Hannah Keartland, Hannah helps bold purpose-led leaders build a sustainable business by showing where to start and what steps to take. In this episode we discuss the rise of the sustainability agenda and the current lack of transparency and trust. Hannah brings some great thoughts and insights into focus and tips on how organisations can increase trust in their sustainability claims. We’re at an exciting point in history. Some people are calling this ‘the sustainability revolution’. Markets are being shaken up – these are the times when great innovation happens! That can be scary. It’s also exciting. Your business needs to be resilient to the risks and grab hold of opportunities. I'll help you do that. I can help you go faster than you can on your own. Hannah's LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahkeartland/ Hannah's Website : https://keartland.co/ B Corp Website : https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/ ORB Website : https://www.orbuk.org.uk/ Transcript----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scott: Hello, welcome to the latest edition of how might we, and on this episode, my guest is Anna Kirtland and we were talking about how might we increase trust in what businesses are saying about sustainability, which is an interesting subject and quite a topical because of what's happened recently. So, Hannah, would you like to introduce yourself, please? Hannah: My Scott. Thank you. So I'm Hannah Kirtland. I help professional services, businesses know what steps to take to become more sustainable. Scott: Okay. Hannah: Short and concise. That's enough. That's enough Scott: for an intro. This is me. That's it. Okay, so you talk about sustainability quite a lot and helping businesses be sustainable. So why is it important to think that we, that, that the topic you talked about is about how do we trust them? What businesses say about sustainability? Hannah: I think that there has been so much greenwashing that I think [00:01:00] we know that the public want to make sustainable choices. We're seeing increasing evidence of that. But the moment it can be really hard for them to make those choices because without a huge amount of research, because there's so many businesses have been saying, here's my green, this my eco that we're going to be net zero by this stage, or this is a net zero product. And actually, if you start scratching beneath the surface, you can discover that there were loads of caveats. And that makes it really hard to know which products and services out there genuinely. Helping the planet. There's also, there's a big difference between a product that's less bad than the competitors and one that's genuinely good. And there are very few products out there, but a genuine Nygard. And just because something is a little bit less bad than the competitor doesn't mean that it's the right thing that you should be buying. So we need to be able to trust businesses because we can't. There are people out there who will do lots [00:02:00] of research into everything that they're buying, but most people don't have the time or the inclination or the knowledge to be able to keep doing research. You can't be walking down the supermarket with your phone out, checking every single claim and every single brand and every single product. So we need to be able to trust what businesses are saying to us. Imagine if we, we knew were going around Tesco and we know that Tesco is screened all of its suppliers and is only stocking products that are. Created sustainably packaged sort of sustainably not causing deforestation et cetera, et cetera. If we knew that we could walk around the supermarket trusting Tesco, knowing that we don't have to then think about that, but we are making sustainable consumption choices. But at the moment, we're in a stage where there are, there are...

In the latest episode of How Might We, I am joined by Mark Hammond. Mark is the owner of Connectivity Consulting, and he specialises in enabling highly effective teams by transforming how those teams behave. His passion is for enabling a team and their leader. His experience is that by transforming the behaviour of teams, shifting the entire dynamic, I can embed a change in culture and performance. He achieve this by doing things differently. His approach is powerful, as are your outcomes. Mark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hammond-a0103714/ Marks Website: https://connectivityconsulting.co.uk Transcription: Scott: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of how might we, we're going to be unusual this time. We, we're not going to decide on the title until the end. So it's going to be quite an unstructured chat around things of purpose, vulnerability, and leadership. So on this episode, my guest is mark hammer. Good morning, mark, would you like to introduce Mark: yourself by Scorpio? Mark Hammons and I am. This podcast with Scott after having met him. And we just connected and had a really good conversation share quite a bit have a lot in common and I agreed to come on and talk a little bit more. Me I'm I run my own business it's called connectivity consulting and I focus on helping people change. Pretty much similar to what Scott does. I work with teams mostly in that evolved after 25 years in corporate. But I, I tend to [00:01:00] focus on really helping people to shift their awareness within a team and then help that team to shift. And that includes the leader. And I linked that to sorta things like sustainability purpose And innovation, it's sort of a process, so it's not very linear. And I've I've had to learn, be open to a whole lot of learning in that process. So yeah, Scott and I got talking about some stuff and so here I am. So it's been It's been interesting just to come out, come on and just find something to talk about. And but it makes sure it has meaning and purpose and some focus. So that's a little bit about nameless. You feel you'd like a little bit more Scott, but this there's plenty of me on, on my website and LinkedIn, and I thought maybe could use this time to talk about some good stuff. Scott: Okay. We could, obviously we can we'll put your your links to your website and stuff on the, on the page. So people are more than welcome to do so. Yeah. So you talked about change, changing and working predominantly with teams, but obviously the important thing is you said it's about the leaders to change within that team as well. So and the adaptability before we came online use the word vulnerability, [00:02:00] which has definitely been sort of gaining a lot of traction sort of on things on LinkedIn and sort of people talking in, in the sort of personal development, leadership field about talking about vulnerability. So what do you think vulnerability is? Mark: So, this is just my personal view. I think it's, it's many things. And when you, when you start looking at something like vulnerability, it would be easy and comfortable to categorize it as, as a thing. But if there's anything that I've learned in working with different teams and different people, it's many different things for many different people. But broadly, I mean, probably the best. The best sort of approach I've heard or unread of is, is that by Brandon Brown and a couple of other people that she's spoken to. So for me, you know, for me personally, I think vulnerability is, is when you're willing to take a risk with something that you, you have that that's going to make you feel. But you [00:03:00] that as you put yourself out in that space, you can notice a physical reaction. You may notice a cognitive or mental reaction to that. But it it's something that might make you feel a little uncomfortable in whatever your comfort zone. I, I'm not going to curve from. You know, putting your trust in somebody that...

TRUST is the genesis of economic prosperity. A lively debate today with Oakland McCulloch, Douglas Lines and Geoff Hudson-Searle, discussing the role of leadership in creating trust. Douglas Lines: Douglas is a senior business leader, executive committee member with substantial global commercial experience, operating principally in financial services. Geoffrey M.J Hudson-Searle: Geoff is a serial business advisor, CSuite Executive and Non-Executive Director to Private and Publicly listed growth-phase tech companies. An author of 5 books including the best seller Purposeful Discussions and rated by Agilience as a Top 250 Harvard Business School authority covering; ‘Strategic Management’ and ‘Management Consulting’ Oakland McCulloch: Oak is aRetired Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch is the author of the 2021 release, Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be. Based on 40+ years of leadership in the U.S. Army and subsequent civilian positions, Oak highlights principles that will benefit today’s leaders and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Oak is also well-known speaker who gives presentations on a variety of topics including leadership, success, military history, college preparation and others. Trust directly influences the actions and outcomes of business every day. By embedding trust in a company’s business, leaders generate value for their stakeholders and society more broadly now and in the future. Trust between employer and employee and among employees enhances human capital investment. Trust influences the behaviours of both employers and employees. Deloitte research suggests that employees who highly trust their employer are about half as likely to seek new job opportunities as those who don’t. At the same time, workers are more likely to invest in their own skill building if they trust that their employer will reward them for their efforts. This is especially true regarding non-transferable or firm-specific skills, which suggests that trust can raise the level of institutional knowledge that can lead to more productive work. Geoff and Douglas: https://ib-em.com/ Oakland: https://www.ltcoakmcculloch.com Scott: https://theinnovatecrowd.com Blog site, books, news and resources: https://freedomafterthesharks.com/ Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of how might we, and I've got a first, I have three guests with me this time. So it'll be interesting how this pans out the title for this podcast is how might we go back to the future with leadership? So with me today is Oakland McCulloch, Jeff Hudson, cell, and Douglas lines. So gentlemen, in no particular order who would like to go first and introduce themselves to the lovely listeners? Oakland: Well, I'm a retired Lieutenant Colonel McCall on. Yeah, over here in America. So across the pond there, as you guys would say did 23 years in the army retired, a Lieutenant Colonel had got about 40 years of leadership experience one way or another. And recently wrote a book your leadership legacy becoming the leader you were meant to be. And and I'm out on the speaking and speaking tours doing some [00:01:00] speaking, but but excited to be here with, with all three of you and looking forward to talking about. Scott: Okay. Lovely. Thank you very much. And I will go international then. So Douglas, you want to go next is our next, Douglas: thank you. Scott says you can hear my accent clearly, south African living in the UK educated in the us. And actually I have a German driver's license. I think that confuses most, really great to be here with you guys today, a conversation and a topic that I'm enormously passionate about. Equally like Oak. I have in excess of 20 years experience leading businesses and teams have learned to the good, the bad and the ugly along the way. But I really believe that with great leadership there's great opportunities for, for the world that we live in and...

My Guest this episode in Marie-Louise O'neil and she discussed how she used her experience and knowledge to create online learning and build a community. Marie-Louise is equipped with a breadth of design knowledge and more than 16 years’ industry experience. I studiedpackaging and branding at university. Since then I've created everything from logo design, social mediatemplates and website design in the digital space, to printed brochures, adverts, banners and packaging. Marie-Louise LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/marielouiseoneill/ Marie-Louise Website - lovelyevolution.co.uk Transcript Scott: [00:00:00] hello and welcome to the latest edition of how might we on this episode, my guest is. Marie Louise. And we're going to be talking today about how might we convert our knowledge into online learning. So welcome hello and welcome to the latest edition of how might we would you like to Marie Louis? . Would you like to introduce yourself? Marie-Louise: Yeah. Hi, thank you. So yeah, I'm Marie-Louise from lovely Evolution and I specialize in branding, design and CANVA so a little bit about my business. I do design one to one's branding, so creating logos in layman's terms, and also I train people on how to learn, how to [00:01:00] design and create within Canva. And I have a sort of working strap line that I sometimes use from crap creations to competent in CANVA so that that's me in a nutshell, Scott: I quite liked that strap line and it's also, I spent hours working and then just got nowhere very fast. So so it's interesting to say, so you start helping people to do it. So it'd be interesting to talk about your journey from obviously working one-to-one with people to realizing that or identifying that you can actually generate some learning content to help people become better at it themselves rather than you being doing it. Marie-Louise: Yeah, well, it was a bit of a happy accident because I discovered CAMBA back in 2017 another client of mine said, have you heard about this thing? And I had to look at it and thought it would work really well as part of my workflow, how I worked with my clients because it's all very well good [00:02:00] creating a fancy pants logo, and then what do they do with it? And I work with a lot of small businesses and I want to rather than be like, oh, well you have to come to me for every single little tiny change. Where possible. I like to enable my clients to be able to either do it themselves or work with the VA. You know, certainly in the context of say social media where things are very fast paced. So I don't have the time to sort of do it in Photoshop and change it every time they want. And you and you post and certainly Photoshop and you know, whether this, or. Yeah, professional design programs can be a bit clunky and a bit difficult and overwhelming to learn for, you know, the average person. So I was using it as part of working with my clients. And I was having more and more people going, well, I want to learn how to do it, you know, can you, can you teach me? So I did a couple of free CANVA workshops for my local library in north Hampton. As part of being a [00:03:00] guest expert at the business and IP center North Hampton share. And and I was like, oh, well, there's something in there. So then I ran my first paid for workshop two years ago, it came up on Timehop quite nicely Facebook, yesterday, or the day before I was like, oh wow. I hired a buffet as well. You know, it was like real people. And I thought that was great, but running an in-person event, you know, and one-off workshops are their own special beast. And I thought, well, you know, we're, we're already living in this sort of more global, international way. I was already doing a few bits and bobs on zoom. And I really wanted to move my training online. So in January of 2020, I set up an online monthly membership where reserving training you know, like a 13, 30 to 40 minute training on a particular...

In this episode, my guest is Simon Payne. Simon is a tattooed, creative, commercial, and highly focused individual who has been working in learning and people development since 2004. He ran an innovative team-building company for 9 years before fully focusing on training, capability, and performance consulting, and people strategy. He’s proud to have worked with hundreds of organisations and thousands of people, across multiple business sectors, worldwide. He’s got my own attitude, style, and very forward-thinking. He thinks it’s vitally important to challenge and not settle for OK. His approach is simple, be human. His special power (I don’t say shazam though – well not often) is getting inside the head and heart of the problem – understanding what makes people and businesses tick – and this means challenging the status quo sometimes. In this episode Simon and I discuss the concept of being oneself in the workplace, not having one persona for work and one for home. We meander through the concepts of growth mindset, leadership, learning, and psychological safety. And maybe it all boils down to being more human in business. 03:19 I employ you and not your family 04:29 COVID may well help us look at how we work together 08:05 How do you be more human in business 09:26 It is the system that is broken, not the people 10:46 We can’t grow in fear 12:37 What is the role of trust? 14:51 All the stuff about being human we are good at; so why can’t we do it? 16:18 Team charters 18:04 We all want to have a social connection and a positive environment 21:00 Helping employees set their own objectives 22:57 Peer to peer feedback 27:47 The role L&D can play 35:50 Organisations being brave, and try something different 40:18 Start with yourself and learn from other departments 44:38 Be careful what we define as success 46:01 Businesses are not around forever 49:18 How we can adapt to the new normal of work 57:24 The role of leadership Simon’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjpaynegotskills/ Simon’s Website: https://www.punkincorporated.com/ Scott’s Website: https://theinnovatecrowd.com

My guest this episode is Adrian Waite, Adrian is a Strategic HR & Talent Leader, Executive Coach, Consultant, Writer, and Speaker. Currently Head of Talent for Boehringer Ingelheim in META, specializing in “Purpose Driven Performance” through bespoke Talent, OE, OD, Leadership & Management support systems, which produce learning as a by-product of optimal performance experience. We discuss the role of L&D in delivering ‘Purpose Driven Performance.’ How we should be careful of ‘Best Practice’ and be aware of cultural, people and landscape differences. The need for organisations to embrace experiments and learning from outcomes. Let us focus on the purpose of what we are trying to do, and we touch on principled negotiation. Adrian shares some thoughts on leadership development. Asking questions to get clarity on what the leaders need to be able to do to fit in their space in the organisation. Do we need to extract leaders from the real world for five days to talk about the theory of what is being done in the real world? To be honest, who in your organisation cares about learning outcomes? In the leadership space, we tend to be happy with generic approaches that would not be tolerated in a technical environment. Should we look at leadership development in the same way as technical development, what specific things do your leaders need to be able to do? Adrian explains his principle of developing leaders to perform first and learn through performance. This approach goes against the grain of a lot of leadership development that exists. We need to be working with leaders on the challenges they are facing tomorrow. We can use employees' roles and life cycles to narrow the focus of development. Can we develop an approach that lets leaders drop in and out as they decide? Letting leaders engage when they have the need to do so, rather than one size fits all and waiting for a space to be available. Covid has given us the opportunity to work in a test environment and question what is essential and what adds value. And we can now move to work on the future and what that might look like. That enables L&D to look at how to develop and support people to be effective and efficient within that. Kids ask ‘What is the point of you?’ it is a profound question and we should explore it on a regular basis. If we want the performance, we need the purpose underneath. ‘We are in the performance business – that is my point’ Do you know the purpose of your role, department, function, or project? Knowing this can help cut out some of the noise and help you prioritise the important stuff. We are often talking about inputs and not the purpose, however, the purpose is what underpins everything. There is a need to provide the support that is linked to operational needs and landscape changes. We need a different mindset, moving away from generic and topic-led solutions. We can learn from other specialists, such as marketing to help make the shift and rethink how we do things. Working in partnership with senior leaders, working towards high purpose outcomes that are critical to the survivability of the organisation you can get a pass on the metrics. Don’t wait to be asked for a seat at the table, go around and get to understand what are the pain points. Work with them to see how you can support them to deliver on their objectives. What metrics are important, it may not be what you expect. Elevating L&D professionals to trusted advisors. It is not about proposing programmes, but supporting and helping, that approach can quickly elevate your role within the organisation. ‘You may not get to play with everybody with the current plan, but you’re a lot more likely to get to play in the future plans because there is no threat in that.’ Be selfless, L&D serves to enable others to achieve their goals, we are there to help performance to be achieved. The role you played will become evident and your reputation will grow, there...

In this episode my guest is John Hinchcliffe; John is an internationally recognised award-winning digital learning expert with over 12 years in the field. He is Head of Talent at Jam Pan, The #1 On-Demand Digital Learning Marketplace, which connects the right expert freelancers and agencies with your digital learning needs. He also is the founder of the Global Learning and Development Community and was shortlisted for Covid Champion at the LPI Learning Awards 2021 in recognition of his efforts to helping others in the industry during Covid. We discuss the bad rep L&D has had for a long time, especially in the digital learning space. However, a lot of this was well deserved. John talks about his journey and how discovered how not to design. We then discuss how it can and has evolved and can continue to do so. We touch on creating agile organisations, solving actual problems, and adaptive learning. What can L&D also learn from other disciplines to create better solutions that deliver? The Global Learning and Development Network: GLDC https://www.mygldc.org John’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hinchliffe-yourskillshub/ Jam Pan: https://www.jam-pan.com Scott’s Website: https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com If you have stories, insights, and thoughts you would like to share, and be a guest on the podcast; drop me an email at scott@theinnovatecrowd.com to arrange a chat.

In this episode, my guest is Paul Matthews. 20 years after moving into L&D, Paul is a sought-after speaker on the international stage – not only for his undoubted knowledge but also for his engaging, story-led approach and his desire to make L&D ideas easy to understand. He also runs workshops and does consultancy for many blue-chip clients in the UK and beyond. He’s a regular speaker in L&D events in the UK and around the world, as well as writing for leading industry magazines and blogs. He is also a member of the CIPD’s L&D advisory board. Paul and I talk about the importance of thinking about delivering behavioural change. And how this can be the golden thread through design that makes measurement of output easier. Paul talks about the levers to pull for learning transfer to happen and how we can design a learning workflow that creates the behavioural changes required. Paul’s Website: https://paul-matthews.com/ Paul’s Workflow platform: https://peoplealchemy.com/ Scott’s Website: https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com/ If you have ideas, thoughts or insights that can help change the perception of learning. Please drop me an email to chat about being a guest on the podcast scott@theinnovatecrowd.com

In this episode, my guest is Krystyna Gadd. Krystyna Gadd has been in the field of learning and development for over 30 years. She is a consummate professional with a passion for helping people perform better through learning. She is a member of the CIPD and has delivered professional CIPD L&D qualifications. She is also a fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute. She is also the author of 'How not to Waste Your Money on Training' - a practical and graphic 'how-to' guide with useful activities to complete. A move into soft skills training in 2003 led Krystyna to research accelerated learning. She was particularly drawn to how learning could become more engaging as well as impactful. A frustration with the many models and theories within accelerated learning prompted her to create a signature system ‘Five Secrets of Accelerated Learning’, which simplifies all relevant theories and models for those curious about accelerating learning through their organisations. Krystyna’s focus is always on achieving business results in a creative and inspiring way. Through Five Secrets, she helps people make this structured and simple. A curious mind drives her to seek new innovations and consider how the latest research can be applied. She is a pragmatist with a thirst for learning and sharing with others, with the ultimate aim to elevate the L&D profession. Finding the right data to inform good decision-making is a must in her eyes. Krystyna and I talk about learning aligning training interventions to the organisational needs. We explore some ideas from Krystina’s experience. We identify how this can be an opportunity for L&D to help the organisation to develop strategy and facilitate these discussions. We also cover the importance of analysis and being curious and collaborative to elevate L&D influence within the organisation. Krystyna’s Website www.howtoacceleratelearning.co.uk Scott’ Website https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com If you have any thoughts, insights, and ideas about changing the perception of learning. Then ping me an email to discuss being a guest at scott@theinnovatecrowd.com

In this episode my guest is Kate Udilova, Kate is marketer turned L&D expert, business owner, and microlearning addict. Founder, CPO at 7taps.com We discuss what is micro-learning and how it is everywhere. It is not a fad it is as old as the hills. We look at the application of micro-learning in the world of work and cooking etc and how it can be effective in delivering just-in-time solutions Kate talks about the science and thinking behind the development of her micro-learning platform 7taps and how reducing barriers to learning was a big driver in the thinking behind it. Kate’s Website: https://www.7taps.com/ Connect with Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/udalova/ Scott’ Website : https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com If you have thoughts, ideas or insights that can help transform the perception of learning and would like to be a guest on the podcast, please get in touch to have a chat. scott@theinnovatecrowd.com

My guest is Mark Williams, Mark is the founder of GiraffePad, the learning platform designed to make it easy to transform any learning intervention into a full and impactful learning journey. Mark has worked in L&D for over 20 years, the last 18 running his own training and coaching consultancy and is driven by a passion for learning that sticks. This is why he has spent the last 3 years developing GiraffePad to be the solution he wished he had for the previous 20. We discuss the move from seeing learning as a discreet activity to seeing it as a journey. Mark shares thoughts and ideas on how to help get participants buzzing when they arrive at your session Creating an environment where they are excited and ready to learn. How to maximise the impact of the time you have to create the most powerful outcomes. One of the simplest, and powerful tips from Mark is to think about reimaging the concept of pre-work. By simply renaming it as module 1, and making it part of the learning programme will boost the chances of your participants turning up ready to learn. Mark’s website: https://www.giraffepad.com/ Follow mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwilliamsgiraffepad Scott’s website: https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com/ If you have ideas, thoughts, insights or a story that can help change the perception of learning I would love to hear from me. Email me at scott@theinnovate crowd to discuss being a future guest

My guest on this episode is Mo Ash, With a 6-year background experience in the BPO industry, business development, a managerial post in the UN, and finally a 14 years’ experience in the training field. Mohamed has come to condense and formulate all of his efforts and knowledge acquired to dedicate it to the field of empowerment and development in the form of training programs & applied workshops to further enhance the youth who are facing today's dynamic global race. Being a human development consultant has given Mohamed the chance to conduct sessions, workshops & seminars to over 50,000 trainees from different walks of life & business; starting from university students, juniors, seniors, middle management and even top management of governmental institutions and corporate. The ray of diversity has helped tremendously with further career excavation in the field of human development along with learning & development. As he is looking into starting a master's degree in business psychology to be able to profoundly blend between L&D, gamification & performance management in a tight cohesive productive meld. Mohamed currently is the founder of The Catalyst, an instructional design consultancy focused on the sole purpose of creating impeccable learning experience. Visit Mo’s website: www.thecatalystexprience.com Visit Scott’s website: https://www.theinnovatecrowd.com If you have ideas, insights or thoughts on an subjects related to changing the perception of learning; and would like to be a guest, drop me an email to have a chat scott@theinnovatecrowd.com