On the blog

There are so many sayings about change. How it’s inevitable. That change is the only constant in life. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. Etc etc etc.
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When will we get the message? It's not the clothes that our (mainly) women and girls are wearing that causes sexual harassment and sexual abuse and sexual assault.
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We know that the calendar new year starts on the 1st January each year. But for most of us, we are mid way through a holiday of some description and the new year feels more like a celebratory party date than anything else.
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The big takeaway from 2020 is that what was thought to be too hard to do, ended up being very easy when push came to shove. The trick now will be to consolidate that, and then see what other benefits are relatively easily available.
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It's been a year when pretty much everything has felt completely out of control. In fact, that is probably one of the big lessons we have all learnt, is how little we actually do control. 
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As long as we make leadership something bigger than us, as long as we keep leadership beyond us and make it about changing the world, we give ourselves an excuse not to expect it every day, from ourselves and from each other. 
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A contract protects both you as the employer, and the employee. It allows you to be specific about what you expect of your employee and what happens if it all goes wrong. It is a safety net for you both. It's different to an award which is the minimum; you need to comply whether you want to or not.
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Whilst the issue of what is a "casual" and how do employers balance the need for flexibility with fairness and equity to their employees continues to be debated in the courts and within politics, employers continue to get frustrated.
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The first question after the initial navel gazing is whether an organisation has the appetite for embarking upon such a journey. If there's a sufficiently compelling "why". And if not, how much of the impact of the current culture is the organisation prepared to tolerate?
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Then there re are power differentials, emotions, egos and other reasons which also get in the way of being a good listener. And perhaps, a thought that to listen makes you more vulnerable. Less in control?
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Perhaps it is understanding that employees have a need to be safe and comfortable. By safe I mean that your boss doesn't try to lure you into bed against your wishes. And by comfortable I mean that you're able to access the most basic of human biological needs as needed.
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If being on repeat sounds like you. Or you feel as though your head is filled with unfinished or unresolved thoughts, coaching may be a process that helps you sort through those thoughts to move forward. 
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Following on from Chris' advice on how to be a better negotiator - it starts with being a better listener. Which means listening, not fixing..  Which is somewhat aligned to last week's post on listening too...
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If you're hearing this in your personal life from a significant other, it's possible that it's a more prevalent habit than just in the home. It's worth taking some time to get to grips with it. It's one of those habits than eventually ends up tripping you up in one or other parts of your life. 
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If you believe the culture of your organisation isn't working for you - it isn't necessarily that the culture is bad. Simply that it doesn't serve the needs of the organisation.
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Yes. It's the year 2020, and yes, you read the title correctly. According to a recent report by Slater & Gordon, this is perhaps one of the more unexpected aspects of remote working. A whooping 35% of women interviewed claimed to have been subjected to sexist workplace demands whilst working from home. 
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Being asked for advice can be flattering. But it can also mean we are constantly in rescue mode. And we're not really doing the other person any favours. The other person has limited buy in to our solution and very little growth or learning.  Note though.. Listening, asking questions, being curious.. It's hard.. much much harder than saying our piece.
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Understanding the composition and chemistry of your team and why people react the way that they do, is a first great step to understanding team dynamics, and why some people do, in the context of a specific team, give their team member(s) the hooby doobies.
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It’s about raising awareness - which in turn allows people to see their team mate’s attributes that are different to their own as something that is potentially positive, rather than just irritating. That can, in and of itself reduce conflict that teams experience. 
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Many organisations have worked very hard over recent years to have excellent family friendly policies that are available to both partners. There are excellent examples of organisations that are progressive and flexible. Those same employers have sophisticated comms programmes to ensure that they are well known throughout their organisations. And yet.
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The trick now will be to learn the lessons from the trial by fire, and work out the bits that don't work for each organisation. This may mean going backwards to go forwards - to introduce the new normal slowly. To ask what worked, and importantly, why? And what didn't?
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It's a fine line between being a sticky beak and sticking our nose into unwanted territory - and looking after the welfare of our employees;  but as we talked about last week, increasingly work and home are colliding. 
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