Pre-COVID, I once had a leader who works in a hospital tell me they weren’t investing in the ‘soft skills’ development of staff because their focus was on medical competency training. This article, published in The Guardian yesterday by journalist Amanda Gearing, PhD, highlights why this attitude is not only dangerous but deadly. Research shows […]

Let’s be real. Everyone can improve the way they communicate with others, including you and me. But you can’t change or improve what you don’t acknowledge. That’s why you need honest self-reflection. It takes an inside-out approach. ‘Honest self-reflection’ is my polite way of saying, please don’t bullshit yourself. Because we’re good at that. We […]

Recently, my 10-year-old son was bouncing on a jumping pillow in a park, practising his front flips. The aim was to land on his feet and my son was focussed on nailing it. He missed a few, then started landing them. It was then that a couple of kids of similar age demanded he “stop […]

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I’ve been reflecting on Maya Angelou’s words a lot lately. It doesn’t mean you excuse or accept poor behaviour. Or that people can’t change. But it does mean you don’t let yourself be surprised or disappointed when someone acts as they have always […]

An intense fear of failure stifles many people’s communication. Our fear of saying the wrong thing and offending someone keeps us silent, or our concern about embarrassing ourselves in front of the boss means we don’t put forward a suggestion about a new initiative. So many of us see failure as a bad thing, something […]

No: Two letters, one syllable, a clear meaning. It should be easy to say, but for many of us it’s not. Learning how to say no can be a real challenge, particularly for the people pleasers and high achievers amongst us. It’s something I struggle with myself. Not because I’m passive or intimidated, but because I genuinely […]

We all experience it – the end of year catch up with ‘that’ circle of friends or family group involving a person who will almost certainly create drama by what they say or do to you or others. This Christmas, the potential for conflict is even higher given the range of strong opinions people have […]

Email, phone call, meeting, text message, instant message… With so many modes of communication available to us, sometimes our favoured platform is not the most appropriate for the type of communication we are engaging in. Like the email ping-pong that could have been a five-minute phone call. Or the hour-long meeting that could have been […]

What sort of mindset do you have – closed or curious? In these ever-changing times, we are being continually challenged to consider new ideas, information, and ways of working.  Adopting a curious mindset is key to unlocking effective communication, personal growth and leadership under this pressure. It’s one of the most important ‘soft’ or ‘human’ […]

When Nathan Buckley first started coaching Collingwood 10 years ago, he led his players as he liked to be led. As a player and Brownlow medallist, he was known as a perfectionist with incredible discipline, drive, professionalism and a ‘type A’ personality. He initially took this approach as coach – with a hard command and […]