Emma Crowley’s Post

Congratulations Sarah Brewer FCIPD. You came highly recommended by the person who nominated you. I know, like most of the Mastering Diversity Conference and Awards nominees, you do not realise all you do.🎉 Wishing you the very best results! #Awards ##masteringdiversity2024 #masteringdiversityconferenceandawards #wegotogetherornotatall #DiversityIsStrength #ChangeThroughInclusion #DiversityLeadership #InspireToEmpower #DiversityMatters #EmpowermentThroughInclusion #IntersectionalityMatters #InclusiveConversations #DiversityInclusion

🌟 The University of Manchester Making a Difference Awards 🌟 Know someone who is making a difference to the world through their research? Or are you? Why not help us recognise that great work by nominating them/yourself for a Making a Difference Award? Open to entries open 15 Nov-15 Jan. Get nominating⤵️🤩🌟  https://lnkd.in/eyJA2PaQ  #MaDAwards  I’m honoured be coordinating the ‘Outstanding benefit to society through research’ category again this year. This award recognises effort, innovation and success in collaborative working, partnerships and knowledge exchange activities that have enabled University of Manchester research to achieve positive impacts in terms of improvements to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life. The award is open to (staff only or a combination of staff and students): * Academic staff and researchers, including PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and early career researchers. * Individuals or small teams. 👉 Information session 12pm Thursday 28 November (online) If you’re thinking of entering or making a nomination, there’s an information session where I’ll be joining colleagues to share insights and top tips. More details here: https://lnkd.in/e6kBmV2V #researchimpact

As a leader in business, your focus is almost entirely on what is wrong or what can be improved. Nights like last night help you take a step back and appreciate everything that is right and goes well.

I wrote a post recently about being brave enough to stop self-victimising yourself and your situation and be brave enough to change it. Such insightful comments from Prateek Sanjay and Bree Rockwell highlighted the thought that happiness (or sadness) is a self-built construct; it’s a state of mind or being that leads to the self-realisation that only you can change that construct (or environment). One of my most memorable mentors and friends, Don Cope helped me through a difficult time I was having as an introvert, trying so desperately to climb the greasy leadership pole at Johnson & Johnson. His sapient advice was, an organisation is nothing more than an entity that will continue to survive under the momentum of size and scale, absolutely irrespective of your individual input. The entity does not care whether you’re here or not - there’s always a willing and congenial “empty suit” to step right in to take your place. So, as an individual, you have 2 choices - you can choose to “change yourself” or you can choose to “change your environment”. At that time, I chose to change myself - that involved the necessity to carefully and humbly rebuild relationships to show that I can be what they want me to be for the sole purpose of reaching the Top 200 executives in a 140,000 strong company - I didn’t want to be beaten so, needed to show capability and congeniality that would have made Sandra Bullock proud! However, a personality and style transplant can only hold an independent thinker for so long - within my next company, after the first 3 years of toeing the line, I chose to challenge my environment to drive my leaders to think beyond their current narrow field of self-preservation. The eventual realisation that they were never going to change from good to great, led to to difficult decision to change my environment to one where lateral thinking was acknowledged and, for the most part, encouraged. Back to Pratek & Bree’s insight - imagine being on Hollywood’s “A” list as the most magnificent “Superman” that ever took on the role, Mr. Christopher Reeve - had he decided against horse riding on that fateful day, he would never have had to survive for the remainder of his existence, trapped within his own body, through Tetraplegia. How would any of us honestly cope with a severed spinal cord at the C1 vertebrae if it were to happen, without notice, this afternoon? How would every goal and everything we thought so important to us just 5 seconds before, be less than insignificant now? Why are we so adamant that our problems are insurmountable - the ignorant boss, the report that we didn’t finish, the meeting where we know we have to completely “wing it”, the customer meeting we don’t want to do since it’s raining… aren’t our bubbles so pathetic? So what did Christopher Reeve do? The man in the cape was simply an actor playing a role - the man in the chair IS the real Superman.

Why you should enter awards! Up until last year, I had never entered awards (it's just not my thing and so many awards seemed to be popularity contests...). But last year, I finally decided to enter an award. And guess what? That was by far THE best thing I had done all year. Wanna know what made me enter? Check out my latest blog post on my website. ps: if you're thinking of entering an award, stop holding yourself back and JUST DO IT! #enterawards #letsgetvisible #personalbrandingphotographer

Coming April 1st: Octavia Goredema on Doing Work that Matters on Living a Life in Full with Dr. Chris Stout How do you get the job, or position, or career, where the work that you do matters - and not just to your employer - but to you? Few experiences in life are as awful as the feeling of being trapped in the wrong career. But how do you find a job that truly resonates with you? And once you’ve found it, how do you develop the confidence to take the necessary steps to arrive at the career of your dreams? Or how do you recover from a career setback and seize new opportunities? Or, what if you are returning after a time away from being in the workforce? How do you deal with the uncertainty behind a career change and what gives you the confidence to hit a reset-switch on your professional life?   These are the questions, areas and issues in which Octavia Goredema thrives, as she works to help others navigate their own personal career success.   Octavia is the host of the Audible Original series, How to Change Careers with Octavia Goredema and the author of PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women, published by Wiley.   Octavia founded Twenty Ten Agency, a career coaching practice, where she has coached leaders at Google, American Airlines, Tinder, General Motors, Nike, and Dow Jones, to name but just a few. Her insights have been featured in leading media outlets including Fortune, CNN, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Black Enterprise, among others. During the pandemic she co-hosted “HBR Now,” the Harvard Business Review’s weekly show on leadership, and this year she contributed a chapter to the Harvard Business Review’s new book, Navigating the Toxic Workplace.   I see her work as a gift shared with her readers, her listeners, and her clients. Her wisdom, her transparency in the sharing of her experiences, and what she does, all demonstrate how she lives her life in full, and in the service of others.   Octavia Goredema #leadership #career #pivot #coach #work #ambition

I recently made a mistake when celebrating a great month in our company.  We blew away our goal and I wanted to recognize our team. Instead of just congratulating our team for their great accomplishment, I threw in the dreaded "but" at the end of it. "but, next month will most likely be much different." There was no need for me to do this.  I intended to shield them from a possible letdown the following month since we always have a strong January. The "but" was not necessary at that time (and probably not at all). Celebrate your wins.  Recognize the success of your team - the other stuff can wait. A well-informed team already knows of the challenges that may lie ahead and is prepared to handle them. Let celebrating your wins stand on its own.  Do not dilute what your team accomplished. Interestingly, February came and they beat our target for that month as well.....and did it again in March.

I hope everyone (at least my Northern Hemisphere friends) had a great summer. Taking a break from social media was just what I needed! But, now we're back with the Nice Guy/Gal Awards. For those of you who aren't familiar with the awards, we are looking to celebrate those people in our lives who are good people. Every Friday, I’ll share nominations for people who have been identified as nice guys (and gals). If you want to nominate someone, just shoot me a private message by 5:00 EST on Thursday. There are only 3 requirements: 1) you have to be connected to the person you nominate 2) you can only nominate one person per week 3) you can’t nominate yourself 😀   If you want to provide a brief reason for your selection, that’s great, but it’s not a requirement. Let’s recognize people who make a difference simply by being nice. Have a great week, everyone.   https://lnkd.in/efTdSmWY #network #sportsbiz #people #niceguy #networking #sportsmarketing

How did your 2024 go? Reach your goals? Are you ready for an amazing 2025? The Advantage Coach is ready for an incredible 2025 🚀

GreenSquareAccord has announced receiving 254 nominations for their Gold Star Awards, describing this as an impressive 42% increase over last year’s entries. However, this claim seems somewhat underwhelming, especially considering their workforce size and the upcoming expenditure for the awards ceremony. To put this in perspective, with an employee base ranging between 1,000 and 5,000, the 254 nominations represent only about 5.08% to 25.4% of their total staff. Last year’s nominations, calculated to be around 179, indicate a low participation rate. Moreover, it is important to note that these nominations are solely from staff members, with no input from customers or residents. This exclusion is disheartening, particularly considering the crucial role that customers and residents play in the organisation’s operations. Their feedback and recognition would provide a more comprehensive and authentic measure of performance and service quality. When considering the costs associated with organising and hosting an awards ceremony, including logistics, venue, awards, and lost productivity, one must question the efficiency and impact of this exercise. The expenditure seems extravagant and not necessarily reflective of broad recognition across the organisation. Given these figures and the lack of customer/resident involvement, it's crucial to consider whether the awards genuinely enhance morale and recognition or if they simply serve as a costly tradition with limited reach. In light of these numbers, the resources allocated to the Gold Star Awards might be better invested in more impactful employee and customer engagement initiatives, or better yet spent making the homes of their residents safe, warm and dry.