Trusted Leader Blog

We are at a critical inflection point in workplaces today.

Over the last two years, the pandemic has been a catalyst to reevaluate our lives and work.

According to Gartner research, 65% of employees believe that the pandemic has made them rethink the place that work should have in their life. 

Cast your mind back to when you last had a face-to-face meeting in your leadership or management team. What did you talk about?

Typically, most leadership teams get together online and the focus is on individual reporting. People go around the room and talk about what results they have achieved. Every week, these weekly meetings focus on information sharing with little decision making, exchanging of ideas or big picture discussions.

The world mourns the passing of the beloved Queen Elizabeth. Not just because of her title, her wealth, or even her fame. We mourn because of the great loss we feel from a remarkable woman who lived in service and duty to her nation and the Commonwealth.

Consider an organisation that has had some sort of major public relations disaster such as bullying or sexual harassment allegations, CEO or executive misbehaviours, regulatory breaches or even, fraud. For years, toxic behaviours have been tolerated, even rewarded. Exclusion, unethical decisions, disrespect and selfish actions have flourished. People behaving in these ways were almost never fired. Even worse, they were often promoted.

One of the common traps leaders make is falling into the belief that they need to prove they can do the work required, so they focus on the work to be done. This means they bury themselves in delivery, under-manage their team, promote their personal achievements and defer to managing up rather than managing their team. 

One of the lowest points in my life was when my market research career ended abruptly because of sociopaths who destroyed my reputation. I've never shared this publicly because I have been too ashamed to talk about it.

One of the issues I always consider when CEOs come to me about improving trust in their leadership team is whether they have a sociopath in their midst. Over the years I've seen countless leadership teams have difficulties because either one or more team members is a sociopath. This even can include the CEO themselves.

I have moved house four times in just over three years. You think that my family and I would be really good at moving, but there is always something that trips us up every time.