The business case for joy
Every week in this newsletter, I share a little thing that has made me smile over the past few days. I call them joy-giving things. My joys of the week spark more comments from happy readers than anything else I share. I usually choose something I've seen so
Leadership in the grey area
Many things at the moment seem to be presented as a choice between two extremes and it's exhausting. You're either this or that. You support this camp or that one. Black or white. Right or wrong. 100% or 0%. What I've learned over the
Keeping it simple
Does anyone else think there's a lot of mystique around the word "strategy"? I've just been hired to develop a new strategy for Advance, a women's charity, and we've been agreeing that the end product should be simple and it
Bring the outside in
Yesterday, someone asked my advice about ice breakers for an away day she's running. Many people's hearts sink at the idea of an ice breaker but there does need to be some activity or conversation that brings the participants together into the room, mentally as well
Trust your people and they will reward you
A recent CIPD report has found that 80,000 employees or 3% of the workforce have left jobs in Scotland because of return to office policies. I simply don't understand why creating a vacancy and recruiting and onboarding a brand new member is staff is preferable to supporting
Keeping it local
Since I've been back in charity world, one of the pieces of work I've been commissioned to do is delivering training to campaigners on how to engage with local politicians and Metro Mayors. Many campaigns only focus on Westminster and some are limiting themselves to blanket
Friends you haven't met yet
The Prime Minister’s remarks about this country becoming an island of strangers have been rightly discredited, including by the man who made them. It’s been such a joy moving city after thirty years in London. We’re gradually getting to know more of our neighbours but since the
"If I was getting it for nothing, I wouldn't mind"
I watched the harrowing Netflix documentary about the Grenfell tragedy this week, Grenfell Uncovered. It is exceptionally difficult to watch, as it splices heart-wrenching memories and testimony from survivors and firefighters with the piecing together of the many elements of negligence and incompetence that came together to create the circumstances
Team culture in a hybrid world
Some reflections on how hybrid working makes work better for everyone. In my mind, we talk about hybrid working as if it's something new but, to me, the word might be new but the activity isn't. I've always worked in teams that are all
Vision-free leadership
Sometimes it feels hopeless to write this newsletter. I started it just before the pandemic as my way of making sense of what I see around me. Lots of things that I simply can't make sense of have happened since then, including within the last 24 hours. I