Zoe Poulton

Lots going on behind the scenes with the Agile O Group and adding value for the Community of Practice. ▪️We have our next VCC on the 8th Aug. CoP members can bring there questions/issues to discuss and gain some clarity on. ▪️We also have our next Guest Session sorted and that will be announced very soon! ▪️There's also Kanban courses coming soon (SLC funds acceptable) - Matt Odell/MilUX If you are still serving, in resettlement or a veteran in the professional world and you're keen to learn more about business agility and delivery practices, then come join in the fun! #agile #kanban #Scrum #military

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Adapting our style to work best with your business. Get in touch 👉 07939426915 We offer a professional facilitation service, adapting our style and method to work best with your business. As effective facilitators, we challenge and probe, relying on skilful questioning and open communication. We encourage behavioural change and changes in perception without offering the solution. We have successfully facilitated Town Halls (all hands), Vision and Value Setting workshops, Issue Management, Focused Conversations, and Continuous Improvement sessions. For more information, give us a call or email [email protected] - - - #AhaMoment #Facilitation #OrganisationalDevelopment #BusinessImprovement #LeadershipPrograms #ResiliencePrograms #BehaviouralChangePrograms

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In this episode of the Focus and Vision podcast, we’re building on our last chat by focusing on one of The Five Leadership Abilities: Structure. We’ll dive into using The Accountability Chart to design the right organisational structure for your business. It’s all about getting organisational clarity by defining accountabilities & putting the right people in the right seats. We’ll also cover the three major functions – sales & marketing, operations, and finance – and why they all need to report to the Integrator. Tune in here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gfvuuAeP

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What ‘operators’ need and what the ‘organisations’ want can be two very different things. This is a testimonial from the 4 hr e-learning programme I run to provide the foundational material relating to #humanfactors in #diving. It costs just $97. While delivering a The Human Diver two-day F2F programme this weekend in Dallas I had some interesting and informative conversations over the weekend with training agency staff and diving instructors which confirmed the challenges of influence (or forcing!) change given the way the sports diving industry is structured. The agency staff personally saw the value of the course having done it, but can’t see an easy way of scaling it because it is an ‘unknown’ or unwanted topic. How do you sell something that people don’t know is beneficial? If they mandate it, it becomes a barrier to adoption of that agency if they are the only ones doing it. Agencies are businesses, and they can’t make the business case for this. The lack of an effective quality management system and the continued normalisation of risk across the industry (from diver level to agency level) means that margins are being eroded and fragility is being increased. However, the agencies are not responsible for what happens outside the training system and there isn’t a strong culture of learning new ‘stuff’ and HF/NTS/PS/JC is certainly new in terms of the paradigm being presented. There is no regulator to force change. The body that produces the standards which agencies follow is made up of the agencies that inherit the standards, and there is a veto capability if one agency sees the change as being ‘wrong’. So there isn’t an easy way to create change that way. The liability insurance companies aren’t too bothered either… How to create change in a complex, messy environment like this? I’m starting with baseline knowledge and changing the language to be more conducive to support the sharing of personal stories of failures and recoveries. It’s not quick, but it is having a positive effect! Essentials of HF in Diving (non-divers would also get something from it) - https://lnkd.in/dGxyY4GM Human in the System - #notjustdiving!

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RANT Warning!! This might be directed at you, please don’t take it as you being a bad person, take it in the spirit intended – to be honest about what’s truly required for success. I’m doing a lot of coaching work this quarter with small groups on multiple leadership programmes. As part of the leadership programme, the participants do a 3600 feedback questionnaire beforehand. They get anonymous feedback (positive and negative) from direct reports, peers, their manager, and other key stakeholders as well as a self-rating. Every leader has development areas – at a minimum how to leverage their strengths more. At worst, some very pointed comments – stop micro-managing, focus on strategy, adapt your communication to the audience, share your opinion more, be less direct, workaholism, be more inspiring etc. And feedback is what a leader needs to increase their effectiveness and hence success. We as humans need to get feedback – and we often do, usually not in the form of a report though 😉 The participants are VERY excited to be on this training and receptive to receiving this feedback, they know that’s a big part of the programme and their development. Here’s the RANT: Participants want to be better leaders AND they want it to be natural. Malarkey Nonsense IMPOSSIBLE Change won’t feel natural. If it does, it’s not a change. Or not big enough change. Try brushing your teeth with your opposite hand. It’s and easy activity and It feels awkward, ineffective, and is so annoying you want to change back to your dominant hand almost immediately. Learning new behaviours – which is the only visible proof of change – will feel unnatural until you’ve practiced it enough for it to feel natural. There is a 4-step journey to learning anything: Unconscious Incompetence – you don’t know what you don’t know (blind spot) Conscious Incompetence – you know what you don’t know Conscious Competence – you know what you know, you have to think through the new action or behaviour Unconscious Competence – you don’t have to think about the ‘new’ way anymore, it becomes “natural”, habitual. Think about driving a car. 🚗 As a child you have no idea what you don’t know about driving a car. When you are taking driving lessons you realize how much you don’t know and need to learn. While driving as a learner, you have to remember to put your signal on, look over your shoulder, and turn the steering wheel to change lanes. After years, you forgot the route or even how you drove to work because it’s so automatic, habitual, or “natural.” What change would be helpful for you to be happier and more successful? What stage of the 4 step learning journey are you on with your leadership? What would you like to feel natural in time? Put your comments of how you felt brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand in the comments below 👇

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This is great news for all the professional teams out there. If you would like to know more about our amazing Team Programne, then contact me for a free Discovery Session #Businessowners #Womeninbusiness #Teamwork

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Based on years of successfully building high performing teams in elite military situations and more recently in business, Dave Dayman BSc (Hons) of Successfactory has crafted a powerful High Performing Team Checker. Based on his book Team Foundations it is a valuable tool for leaders and organisations aiming to evaluate and enhance their team's effectiveness. Here's how using this tool can benefit you: 1. 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 The HPT Checker provides a structured way to assess your team's current strengths and areas for improvement. It identifies blind spots that may not be immediately obvious but impact overall team dynamics. 2. 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 You receive tailored insights and practical recommendations to improve team performance. The results enable you to focus your efforts on what truly matters, avoiding wasted energy on less impactful areas. 3. 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 By measuring key aspects of team performance, the tool helps ensure everyone is on the same page regarding goals, roles, and values. It fosters a shared understanding of what high performance looks like and how to achieve it. 4. 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿-𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 The tool is quick to use, offering immediate feedback without the need for lengthy assessments. Its user-friendly design makes it accessible to leaders at all levels. 5. 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 Results can serve as a baseline for targeted training or coaching programs. It complements leadership and team-building workshops, ensuring efforts are aligned with real needs. 6. 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 Seeing a tangible analysis of performance often inspires teams to take ownership of improvements. It turns abstract concepts like "high performance" into measurable, actionable outcomes. 7. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 The tool is based on established principles of high-performing teams, offering a credible and reliable methodology. It draws from real-world expertise and best practices in leadership and team development. Using the HPT Checker not only helps diagnose performance but also energises teams and leaders with clarity and direction, making it a smart investment for achieving extraordinary results. And the best bit is that it is absolutely FREE!! Check out the link in the comments >>

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I am standing in the dual role of team coaching and advanced facilitation today with a senior leadership team and directors of a large organisation to focus on how their current cadence and synchronisation practices are serving and hindering their performance and commitment for their new financial year. Many organisations are entering into the budget cycles and planning conversations for next year right now, and few leaders understand the nature of how the organisation’s structural design impacts their performance. How are we getting towards an improvement in this workshop series? Well, the primary outcome is to create a shared understanding and awareness that is supported by a hypothesis on what isn’t working, with an informed experiment that can be tested and validated. This is complex. Leaders need to focus on past, present and future, constraints, client rhythms and industry rhythms or seasonal expectations; not to mention planning, execution and feedback across both their individual expertise and common practices like employee appraisals, development and business support, market analysis and strategy adjustment. Then there are strategies, roadmaps, business objectives and sometimes KPIs or OKRs. How do leadership teams deliberately grow from being reactive to creative? From dependent to independent and finally to interdependent? Structure has a lot to give here. Structure informs thinking, communication, direction and pace of flow of information and decision making power. Structure can also influence behaviour and relationships between any part of a system - that is essentially what structure is. Most leaders do not know how to critically assess theirs or how to form hypotheses to run small, safe to fail experiments. This is my work today. Posters made Massive timeline roll ready Facilitation bag with goodies packed Workshop guide printed Twinkle in my eye - check

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Interested in stepping-up your leadership skills? Check out our suite of 5 leadership programmes below! Feel free to reach out if you'd like to learn more. We're here to help accelerate your potential! 🚀 #leadershipdevelopment #talentdevelopment #professionalgrowth #coachingforimpact

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It’s always interesting what comes out of the Listening Partnerships with Rebecca Daniel (ICF PCC, EMCC Snr Practitioner, ESIA) and Sarah Bramall PCC, Senior Prac EMCC, and last week was no different. I posted recently about aligning my services and pricing with my values, but realised I missed out a big one: comfort! Comfort is a massive deal for me - not just in business, but in life. I’m all about pyjama days, fluffy slippers, and prioritising comfort over fashion (though I’m sure I could have both if I dedicated some time to it). I’ve dealt with eczema for years, and leaving clinical nursing where I was often dehydrated, constantly handwashing, and eating erratically, did wonders for my skin. But since the birth of my kids, I’ve developed psoriasis, and that brings a whole new level of discomfort. I’ve thrown emollients, steroids, vitamins and all sorts of weird and wonderful things at it over the past six years and it has been frustrating. But last Friday was the final straw: I realised I needed to change something significantly when showering made me cry. I was in so much pain and I needed to take back some control. I made a drastic decision and decided to reset. I decided to cut out some of the things reported to be linked to flare-ups: caffeine, added sugar, and alcohol. Just for a week. It was harder than I expected. I don’t drink much alcohol, but cutting out 3–4 cups of sweet coffee a day hit me like a tonne of bricks: headaches, muscle pain, exhaustion. My body screamed for caffeine, and I felt ridiculous. How did I let myself get so dependent on something that my body rebelled without it? I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel a bit embarrassed! Here’s the thing though – as you all probably guessed, my psoriasis improved drastically in just five days. So now I need to work out my priorities: keep up the caffeine or slowly reintroduce it and see what happens? I’ll work it out, but what struck me was that constant cycle of frustration and discomfort led me to just keep adding things to my body and lifestyle in a hope that the combination would make things better; sometimes all we need is to just go back to basics. My body craved comfort, fought back when I removed what I thought was comforting it, but is now healing and feeling so much better. What tells you you’re missing something vital? How do you reset to focus on getting to the source of the problem? ________________________________________ 👋 I’m Kat, and I’m here to help. Together, we can use language and communication to cut through the noise and find your voice in a world that looks different after loss. Book a call to find out more: https://lnkd.in/eda4vjhj 🌐 lostwordscoaching.com 📧 [email protected]

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Talking leadership and the employee experience this morning. Leaders are central to EX performance and outcomes. Companies are moving faster on the mission to bring leaders (and their minds and hearts) closer to the EX action. EX isn't a one department programme, it's a company-wide, collective adventure to deliver exceptional business and human results. #employeeexperience #humanexperience HEX Organization®️#HEX Ps. You can book me for a virtual or in person-talk on this and many other EX topics. If EX is on your agenda, let's talk! 😀 Photo: Keynote at HR leaders Conference in France, 2023

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Do you know an organisation that is looking to support and onboard new senior leaders? I’ve been helping first-time execs to: ✅ manage their transition from specialist expert to organisational all-rounder ✅ create a personal vision for their function(s) that aligns with and delivers organisational strategy ✅ get team, Board and system buy-in for their ideas ✅ confidently communicate and engage around their priorities ✅ identify their leadership style and approach to step into the c-suite space without compromising who they are. I love helping people to lead with impact and would be interested in connecting with other organisations who are looking to prioritise this area. If you know someone who is looking to explore this in their organisation then tag or share this post with them 😀

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The forgotten art of MBWA Which we could really use today Management By Walking Around (MBWA) The unstructured and no-agenda approach To checking in on your people And get a feel for what's happening around you No amount of efficient meeting structures Project and task management software Or engagement and pulse survey Will replace the human connection in leadership. And remember, If you are going to do MBWA, The idea is NOT to do the talking or messaging But rather to do the listening And then doing something about it after! ——————————— 🔔 Follow for more. 🚀 Get the best out of your leaders and teams. 💬 Get in touch to find out how.

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If a coaching qualification is part of your professional development plan and you are wanting to get started this year then jump onto our October program. Got questions? Book a time to chat with the Open Door team https://lnkd.in/gRxJprJy #icfaccreditedcourse #coachtraining #leadershipcoaching

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I posted about my recent qualification as a Lumina Learning Spark Practitioner but who doesn't love a badge!! The Qualification covers 5 key competencies: 1. Theory and validity of psychometrics Understand the history and development of psychometrics and become familiar with the key psychological models that underpin the product. 2. Facilitation skills Develop expertise to facilitate individuals and group activities building on the Product. 3.Coaching skills Develop coaching skills including active listening, powerful questioning and goal setting using the Product Portrait. 4.Awareness and growth Enable participants to value diversity, build rapport and co-create results using self awareness and behavioural change. 5.Technological and practical application Understand how to use technological and practical tools to enhance the learning experience.

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📍Professional Development Plans 📍 Does your organisation have a PDP framework to support your continuous learning? It’s critical that PDPs align with a position description, organisation priorities and offer quality outcomes for participants. Finding the right course for your needs can be tricky. How do you choose professional development?

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❓What keeps us from having performance conversations with the people we lead According to research done by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), managers ranked “not knowing how the other person will respond” as the number 1️⃣ main cause of fear 😨 when approaching conversations.1 We all react differently under stressful situations, and often that initial reaction gets in the way of a productive 🗨️ conversation. In Situational Conversations™ we identified 4️⃣ common reaction archetypes. As you read the description for each one, consider if you know anyone who falls into these categories ( 💡 idea is not to typecast, but yet to better understand common behaviors that may help you navigate conversations). The Defender: - Might defend their actions before you finish addressing situation - Likely to be upfront about their opinions & perspective on the issue - May be argumentative about negative feedback & performance conversations will often be a back/forth discussion - Might be more proactive about bringing your attention to situations The Avoider - Strongly averse to perceived conflict or discomfort - Likely to put off discussing issues where they know they are performing poorly - Can be quick to change the topic away from the issue at hand or may simply agree with your feedback & promise to make changes just to end the conversation - Might not divulge any opinions that differ from your own in order to avoid additional conflict The Processor - Will allow you to say everything you need to, but will be unlikely to respond in the moment; can become very flustered if forced to give a response - Prefer to revisit the issue in the future after they’ve had time to think - Can even seem cold, passive or dismissive in the moment due to their lack of response -May look like an Avoider, but the key distinction between the two is that the Processor is willing to have the conversation, they just want to respond at their own pace The People Pleaser - Likely to be very apologetic for any mistakes they have made & they might even attempt to predict your feedback before you give it - Tendency to overpromise in an attempt to compensate for their missteps - Although they might seem easy to have difficult conversations with, they might avoid sharing their true feelings on an issue in order to make the conversation go more smoothly 💡 Of course, recognizing these reactions in the people you lead is only half the battle. Leaders need to know how to respond to these reactions effectively to move the conversation forward productively. Check out Situational Conversations™ if you are interested in learning more & building your communication skills! https://lnkd.in/g2Q6muy8 The Center for Leadership Studies, Sam Shriver, Maureen Shriver, Chris McLean, Sharon Andrews, Julia Tilley Pope #SituationalLeadership #Influence #Conversations

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