Flourishing at work? Free tool
How safe do you feel at work? A trio of happenings has prompted me to ask, one of which was a thoughtful chap (who looked disconcertingly like Derren Brown) thanking me for creating a ‘very safe learning environment’ last week. Although we were 16 storeys up in a room with floor to ceiling glass overlooking the City, he was of course talking about psychological safety. I’d enabled him to talk out ideas among peers. Six flourishing feelings at work Feeling... Read More
Personality at Work
Nicky Dulieu (CEO of Hobbs) has called on women to be more authentic at work. Market research by her business found that one in three women prefer a male to a female boss because women ‘lack personality.’ I read it with a balanced view of humanity and thought ‘yes, yes, we must let our personality shine’ on the one hand and on the other, ‘oh no, that’ll be some poor so and so’s downfall!’ No matter how ballsy you are I expect there have been times you’ve stuffed... Read More
Flexing Your Assertiveness
Had it not been for commitments in both our diairies last Friday afternoon, the impromptu call I had with a radio producer on the psychology of failure could have been a pleasingly long and philosophical one. (My musing this month isn’t on the well-trodden path of fear of failure though). She’d been talking to a marine who’s bemused by civvy street’s emotional response to failure because in his world you make plans that you expect to fail. In the marines... Read More
Do you feel like an imposter?
The average senior professional woman experiences 19 episodes of imposter syndrome in the first two years following a promotion and 4.2 per year in a role she’s acclimatized to. Actually, I made that up but it sounds reassuring, doesn’t it? Have you ever felt like an imposter? Believed you’re not really up to the role you’re in or the task that’s in front of you; that you’ve somehow bluffed your way so far or got lucky and then been wondering how you’ll cope when... Read More
Women and The Vision Thing
The old proverb about there being more than one way to skin a cat came into sharp focus recently as I observed my three year old daughter’s response to a hungry, bad-tempered troll lurking under a climbing frame at the park. The troll was me. I yelled that I wasn’t going to let her cross my bridge and if she did, I’d eat her up if one big gollop. Clever little Artemis decided to offer me some chicken and strawberries which I accepted and then couldn’t be nearly so grumpy.... Read More
As Good as You Ever Were
Last month I took part in a seminar Credit Suisse hosted which asked the question: What factors help and hinder the recruitment and retention of talented women? Sitting next me to was a lady older than me who hadn’t had children. We got talking about why a friend of hers (a talented marketer) who’d taken eight years out to have and raise children kept turning down job offers she made. I talked about confidence, she nodded and listened intently and was astounded how quickly... Read More
More Job Love
If you can’t be in the job you love; love the one you’re in so the song goes. Or something like that. I met a waitress in Belfast last week whose attitude to her work blew me away because she really wasn’t in the job she’d love but you’d never have known it. I was dining alone on an overnight stop for the second part of a behaviour change programme I’m delivering in a bank and watched her wait tables as though there was nowhere else she’d... Read More
