Engaging People, Powering Companies - The Leadership Podcast

Quiet quitting - a phrase born from Tik Tok, used to describe individuals who are no longer prepared to do more than their job description. But is this a new concept or is it just a re-badging of disengagement? Have poor job descriptions and boring jobs finally led to this concept? Join Amrit as he explores Quiet quitting and considers what employers can do to minimise this.

Where were you when it happened? Will it be etched in your memory? The Lionesses brought football home with an amazing win over Germany to win the Euros 2022. Will this be the defining moment when we start to take women seriously in our society? Will we now open our leadership roles and boardrooms up to women? This has to be a watershed moment that we use to change this mans world that's been holding women back, to propel them to greatness. The topic of this week's podcast with Amrit Sandhar

How often do you create moments of joy at work? You might think this a strange question, after all, could anyone create moments of joy at work? There are times when we manage to immerse ourselves in great work, where we lose track of time, are absorbed in such pleasure, but these moments tend to happen by accident rather than by design. What would work look like if we were to design these moments into our working day? This is the topic of this week's podcast with Amrit Sandhar

Amrit has often spoken about employer engagement - at what point does the employer hold themselves to account for poor engagement rather than focusing on employees. But we cannot just come to work, expecting the employer to keep us engaged each day. What can we do to improve our world of work? The same is true of leadership development programmes - learning how we can improve the way we lead and manage is of no value if we choose not to make changes. Amrit shares an example of how someone decided to make a change with amazing results, which highlights how if we all choose to make changes, we could improve our own personal engagement at work.

This week the Conservative party begins the process of choosing their new leader. Many people will be sitting on the sidelines, thinking why can't we have a say, considering this person will become the next Prime Minister? Whilst this is the leader of the Conservative party, it does raise questions about how we recruit leaders for our organisations. Imagine a world where the employees - ordinary people, had a chance to choose their CEO. CEOs would have to pitch to ordinary employees, allowing them to choose the person they want at the helm of their organisation. Imagine what impact this would have on the culture and environment. The topic of this week's podcast - Time to choose your CEO!

The UK is about to embark upon an experiment to understand the impact of a four-day working week on business productivity, as well as on the wellbeing of employees. Why has the UK historically had such low productivity versus the rest of the G7 countries? Is there a risk that we are just really poor with time management, in which case could a four-day working week cause more damage than good? We complain about the number of meetings, but are these secretly serving a purpose of procrastination? This is the topic of this week's podcast with Amrit Sandhar

This week, Amrit shares insights following discussions that sparked him to think about values alignment and how when we live lives aligned to our values, it makes life easier rather than exhausting. We are all driven by our values, but how much time do we spend understanding what they are, and how to live a life more aligned to them? Are our workplaces aligned to our values? if not, what impact is that having on us? Join Amrit as he explores this topic this week.

There's a huge push for developing leaders and managers with the skills to undertake coaching conversations at work, but can they work in every environment? How can they help and when our biggest enemy is our experience, can we really expect leaders and managers to ignore what they know? Join Amrit as he explores Coaching Conversations in this week's podcast.

Here's a link to the CIPD for Learning at Work week:https://www.cipd.co.uk/learn/events-networks/leaders-learning/learning-at-work-week#gref

Research from the University of Bern on how sleep helps process emotions:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220513113237.htm

Mental Health Charities than can provide extra support:https://mentalhealth-uk.org/https://www.mind.org.uk/https://www.rethink.org/https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

On the 13th April here at The Engagement Coach we celebrated our 7th birthday as an organisation. Amrit set the company up in 2015 and was driven by a deep passion to improve the world of work. If passion is so important to our lives, how do we go about identifying our passion? How could we change the way we work to incorporate some of our passion and how do we make this into something that could generate an income? Join Amrit as he explores this topic in this week's podcast.

In the current climate with household bills going through the roof, what can organisations do to create great work cultures? Anxieties around the cost of living will have an impact on employees, so how can employee benefits really be of benefit? Are we sure the current packages actually add real value to the lives of employees? Join Amrit as he explores this topic in this week's podcast.

Following the dismissal of 800 P&O employees through a video call of a pre-recorded message, this raises questions of how well we look after employees. Employee engagement, employee experiences, people experiences - whatever we call them, are these touch points full of care, compassion and commitment from the organisations? How well do we really look after employees? Join Amrit as he explores this topic in this week's podcast.

Having recently celebrated International Women's Day, it's easy to see these days as marketing events, with companies focusing too much on demonstrating their support, but not doing enough to help drive the change. We all have biases, but this doesn't have to result in discrimination. Acknowledging our biases can help us explore and learn about others who might look different to us. Join Amrit as he explores Biases, Discrimination, Exclusion and Hate, sharing some of his own personal insights.

We explore Imposter Syndrome in the short videos we've created with experts across the UK, in our online tool call Expert Insights, as part of the TEC Academy. Please see www.tec-academy.com for more details.

Despite the huge focus over the years on creating psychologically safe environments where people can speak up and be open and honest, it seems there is still much work to be done. How do you know whether you have an issue of a psychologically unsafe environment? As a leader of an organisation, how do you know whether you're getting the full picture? Join Amrit as he explores this topic further.

Mental health is one of the most important factors impacting on world wide disability. If you would like support, please refer to the following sites:https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/

Dame Cressida Dick resigned as the Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, after the Mayor of London declared he has lost confidence in her plans to improve the culture of the organisation. This followed recent revelations of the conduct of certain police officers who had shared racist, homophobic and misogynistic views through WhatsApp messages. Leaders are critical to an organisational culture and this case highlights the expectation on leaders, and the impact they can have.

Core affect is from the work by James Russell who developed a model of work related wellbeing (called the Taxonomy of Work-related Wellbeing, 1984). More information about this topic can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/core-affect https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/core-affect.

We all want to improve our organisational cultures to create learning organisations but how can we achieve this when on an individual level, we struggle to overcome the anguish of mistakes.

Jamie Christon has a wealth of experience leading at a senior level from sectors as diverse as retail, to airports and now Chester Zoo. Jamie has spent the last 9 months as CEO and shares his experiences of what it's like and some of the challenges that come with the role.

There's a huge focus on workplaces experiences, but we don't often think about how we remind employees of those great experiences. Reminiscing back can allow us to relive some of those shared experiences, reinforcing the culture and reminding us of how nice work can be.

Dr Andrew Marcinko: BiographyDr Marcinko is currently an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department and Director of the Executive MSc in Behavioural Science. He completed his PhD in Work & Organisational Psychology at Aston Business School, supervised by Professors Yves Guillaume and Richard Crisp. He received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in the US in the same field and is an active member of the Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology, and the European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology.Andrew has been involved in research projects with the United Nations, NASA, and the US Navy Submarine School, and has successfully developed and delivered training on diversity and inclusion, teamwork, and leadership at several Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations. His current research is focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, with a particular interest in organisational authenticity and hypocrisy. He is also researching political psychology and consumer behaviour.In Dr Marcinko's consultancy and training work with the Durham Behavioural Science Team, he takes an evidence-based approach drawing on his academic knowledge and experience to develop practical solutions for organisations looking to maximise the potential of their modern workforces.Research interestsBehavioural ScienceWork and Organisational PsychologyDiversity & InclusionUnconscious BiasSocial PsychologyTeamwork and CommunicationLeadershipOrganisational Authenticity

Whilst the dictionary definition of rest is to stop doing a certain activity to relax and get back your strength, it's not so easy to stop the mental activity. The Art of Rest by Claudia Hammond shares insights from 18000 participants in a survey, from 135 countries who share what helps them rest. She then supplements this with scientific evidence of how these activities help. Resting requires thought and planning. Knowing what helps you rest and building this into our working week, allows us to relax and recharge. Having been back at work after the Christmas and New Year break, many of us have found it tiring. As leaders, CEOs and Managers of organisations, how can we ensure we stay recharged and plan in resting? Amrit Sandhar shares his thoughts based on the insights from the book.

Nazia SarkarNazia is the founder of Kadou Learning and mastermind behind the MentorYou (MU) app. She enjoys developing people and teams. She believes in empowering people with the skills and tools to make them successful in their personal and professional lives. She is an experienced Learning & Development professional, with a background in education, hospitality and retail sales sectors.

What does bullying feel like? Has anyone ever belittled you, humiliated you, or made you feel uncomfortable or intimidated? Bullying still goes on and we need to go out of our way to ensure we stamp it out. Bullies need to be confronted but often their behaviours go unchecked. They either intentionally choose to behave as they do, or they are leaders struggling to cope and need help.

Following Brexit and the U.S. elections, we see more nations divided and it's easy to question what the 'other' side must be thinking, when the only rational approach is our way. But how often do we go out of our way to understand that opposing view - when did you last say 'help me understand why you believe what you do'? Instead we surround ourselves by like-minded people, creating echo-chambers in our social media followings.

As the U.S. election results were announced, the world collectively erupted into joy and euphoria giving hope to so many. Hope is an important aspect to life yet where do we get it from? Are external examples the only source of hope or can we develop it? This is what Amrit explores in this week's podcast.

L. David Marquet, AuthorStudent of leadership and organizational design, former nuclear submarine Commander, and named one of the Top 100 Leadership Speakers by Inc. Magazine. David is the Author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller: Turn the Ship Around!, and The Turn the Ship Around Workbook. David’s recently released book, Leadership is Language, is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller. David imagines a workplace where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have more control over their work–a place where everyone is a leader.

Times of extreme stress or change can impact upon our perspective, resulting in us often seeing threats that may or may not be present. We cannot always trust our senses as the amygdala goes into overdrive causing us to emotionally react. Taking time to think allows us to challenge our beliefs and assumptions about what we thought might have happened versus what actually happened. It can reduce our stress levels and allow us to take learning allowing us to make better decisions going forward.

We are all driven by personal values. They dictate how we think and how we behave, but when asked, it's often challenging to articulate our values. We know they exist, and how influential they are, but trying to help others understand them, or more importantly, taking time to better understand them for ourselves can be a struggle. Whilst we don't often think about analysing our music collections, they could tell us a lot about what we value. Those pieces of music that emotionally resonate with us - that have the ability to bring us to tears, might hold a clue into our personal values. Amrit shares how a conversation sparked him to explore what his music was telling him about what he most values.

Stress is a very personal emotion. Leaders, managers and employees are likely to experience stress at some point in their careers, but with the world going through huge change, the chances are high that many people will be experiencing stress now. What is stress and how do leaders and managers help their teams, whilst trying to help themselves? Professor Daryl O'Connor shares his insights about steps we can all take to mitigate the impacts of stress on our lives. Professor Daryl O'ConnorDaryl O'Connor is Professor of Psychology, University of Leeds. He completed his PhD at the Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool and then took up a World Health Organisation funded post-doctoral position at the Department of Endocrinology, Manchester Royal Infirmary (University of Manchester). In September 2000, he joined the School of Psychology, the University of Leeds as a Lecturer, later becoming Senior Lecturer and then Professor of Psychology. Daryl was Deputy Head of the School between 2006 and 2011. Daryl is the Convenor of the European Federation of Psychology Associations (EFPA) Board of Scientific Affairs, Chair of the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Research Board and is a Trustee of the BPS. He is also a past Chair of the BPS Division of Health Psychology and the BPS Psychobiology Section and, together with Mark Conner, he is currently joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychology & Health. He is also on the editorial board of the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Stress and Health and is a member of the editorial committee for Annual Review of Psychology

We all have dreams that can compel us to react - to make them a reality. The emotions that accompany them can be so vivid, that it's hard to deny them. Across organisations and as individuals, how we can utilise the power of our beliefs, to re-frame the current situation, allowing us to create organisations that thrive? Amrit shares his thoughts on how beliefs can help provide clarity, and can be used to involve employees in helping shape a future that works for everyone.

Dr Thomas Rhys Evans is an Associate Professor in Occupational Psychology. Tom is a ambassador for Open Science, with expertise in preregistration, examining research quality, and questionable/transparent research practices. Tom is also passionate about the social and affective components of work, with particular focus on humour, emotional intelligence, and other such affect-related individual differences.His papers include:2020: ‘The Consistency and Value of Humour Style Clusters’. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology.2020: ‘Improving Evidence Quality for Organisational Change Management through Open Science’. Journal of Organizational Change Management.2019: ‘Feedback-seeking culture moderates the relationship between positive feedback and task performance’. Current Psychology.2019: ‘A conceptual replication of emotional intelligence as a second-stratum factor of intelligence’. Emotion.

Almost every large organisation will have a Diversity and Inclusion agenda, to help improve diverse thoughts and creativity, but what good is all this work, when outside of work, in our social lives, we are exposed to division? Social media has allowed us to entrench our views by finding like-minded people, instead of seeking to expand our views through discussion and dialogue. The Social Dilemma on Netflix shows the negative impacts social media is having on tolerance and our willingness to learn and listen to others. Are organisational activities created to improve diversity and inclusion really having an impact, or are we ticking boxes?

Whilst we are all familiar with the work of mindset and the impact it can have, being familiar isn't always enough to know how to apply it, and what we can do with it. What other research is available that might help organisations understand the steps they can take to be more mindful of mindset when communicating with employees? Ali Brown shares her insights on the latest findings in mindset, as well as steps leaders can take to understand their own organisation's mindset and how they can go about changing it.Ali BrownAli Brown (BSc Hons, QTS, MSc, MBPsS) has a strong background in learning and training. She specialises in growth mindset and psychological safety, working as a consultant applying psychological research to management practice and organisational culture. Ali won the 2019 Excellence in Psychometrics Award for her work developing a psychometric test for the Fire Service. She is currently pursuing chartership and developing a project focusing on resilience at work.

Paul ZakPaul is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He has degrees in mathematics and economics from San Diego State University, a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard.Paul’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rain forest of Papua New Guinea. All this in a quest to understand the neuroscience of human connection, human happiness, and effective teamwork. His academic lab and companies he has started develop and deploy neuroscience technologies to solve real problems faced by real people.His latest book, Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies, uses neuroscience to measure and manage organizational cultures to inspire teamwork and accelerate business outcomes. His 2012 book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, recounted his unlikely discovery of the neurochemical oxytocin as the key driver of trust, love, and morality that distinguish our humanity. In another obsession, Paul’s group uses neuroscience to quantify the impact of movies, advertising, stories, and consumer experiences. Along the way, he has helped start several transdisciplinary fields, including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing.

Did you know that we all have a natural 24 hour rhythm that dictates when we should sleep, when we should eat and when we are at our most alert? This changes with age and therefore has natural implications to work, where we are fixed to rigid working times. This concept of chronobiology has brought many insights organisations can learn from to improve engagement and productivity at work and Dr Kat (Dr Katharina Lederle) joins us as a guest to help us understand the topic in greater detail.Dr Kat, a sleep and body clock specialist, is passionate about helping people sleep well and thrive. She sees taking care of your sleep and circadian health as an act of self-care.Dr Kat provides one-to-one sleep therapy to those experiencing insomnia and works with organisations helping them realise the goodness of sleep. She runs sleep hacks and educational talks and workshops. These use a variety of methods, to help workforce teams get to understand more about their own sleep behaviour and then design personal sleep plans that help them make behavioural changes and sleep well.In her work she combines a deep understanding of the biology of sleep and the body clock (she holds a PhD in Human Circadian Physiology & Behaviour and a MSc in Biosciences), with her practical experience in managing fatigue and insomnia, and learnings from Mindfulness, Acceptance Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy.Dr Kat has written a practical guide to getting good sleep called ‘Sleep Sense’ and has appeared in media coverage of sleep and circadian rhythms.

We have a strange relationship with food. We assign labels such as 'good' foods and 'bad' foods, and can feel guilt-ridden but what are the simple steps we could take to improve our diet and nutrition, to help improve our performance? Colette is an expert in her field and she shares simple tips of steps we can all take to improve our nutrition.

When Amrit founded The Engagement Coach, he was determined to focus on Trust, Wisdom and Authenticity to help organisations create great cultures. Whether it was from his own experience in corporate life, or whilst distilling the results of survey results to boardrooms, he noticed how these three areas would always have a role in shaping the culture of that particular organisation.Trust, Wisdom and Authenticity are the pillars The Engagement Coach has been built upon and Amrit shares their importance, now more than ever in this podcast.

How important are ethics in the current climate? With a greater expectation of more authentic places of work, we don't often explore the link between ethics, values and leadership. One could argue that there is a greater need for ethical leadership, in a time of huge uncertainty. But when we think of ethics, we usually think of short cuts to make huge sums of money. How else doe ethics impact work? Barney Rosenberg brings his vast experience on the subject to discuss this with Amrit on the podcast.

We all want to be seen and acknowledged but often we go through life not having a voice and not being visible. Mark Edwards shares how through his passion of photography, he was able to allow people to see themselves in a different light, and appreciate a deeper connection with themselves and others.

We were all amazed at the innovation shown at BrewDog when they suddenly switched from making craft beer to making hand sanitiser. The speed at which they innovated and adapted tells you that this must be a culture where mistakes are welcomed, experimentation is encouraged and the organisation is driven by passion. Amrit explores this and more with the HR Director of BrewDog.

We assume leaders running organisations are fully aware of their own personal values, and by being aware, would act when these values are being violated, in the way in which people are being treated around them. If this is the case, why are scandals such as the bullying that occurred with former British Olympic gymnasts, and the way people were treated in clothing manufacturing in Leicester allowed to carry on? These scandals happen under the watch of leadership. It's not good enough to say you didn't know, people know within organisations, and these issues usually come to light after someone raises the courage to call it out through whistleblowing. How can we change our organisations to be ethically focused never allowing these situations to arise in the first place?

David has spent many years leading organisations from his time in operational management to his roles as COO at Barclays and AXA then COO & UK CEO at Friends Life. In his current role, David is the CEO for Bupa Global and UK, and the Chairman at HomeServe UK. David shares his views on authentic leadership and how it's important for leaders of organisations to stand up for what they believe. David has championed women in leadership, diversity and inclusion for many years and shares why this is important for him to be authentic to himself.

We all have critical moments in our past, which helped shaped our belief in ourselves. Whilst we might look back in nostalgia, we rarely use these past events as ways of supercharging how we feel now. With so many leaders going out of their way to connect with colleagues and employees, we probably have huge levels of empathic leadership. Whilst this sounds like a great thing, there is a risk that leaders become overwhelmed with dealing with their own feelings and emotions, whilst empathising with their teams. How can we use these past moments that have shaped us, to become energy reservoirs to keep our energy levels sustained through challenging times? Amrit shares how through a happy accident, he experienced something we could all do more consciously.

We continue our discussion with our guest from last week, Scott Jarvis. Scott is Head of Talent Development at ISG, a global construction services company based in London. He has worked in HR and Talent for over 20 years in a career that has seen him working in several different industries and for household names such as Barclays, AstraZeneca, Sky and Harrods. With a an academic background in organisational psychology, Scott has a keen interest in all things to do with employee capability, engagement, culture and change, and currently is particularly focused on how organisations can adapt in response to Covid-19 in fostering the growth and connectedness of their workforces. Scott is a proud father of two, lapsed percussionist and keen road cyclist, using his daily exercise allowance to further explore his local countryside around north Hertfordshire.

Our guest this week talking about talent development is Scott Jarvis. Scott is Head of Talent Development at ISG, a global construction services company based in London. He has worked in HR and Talent for over 20 years in a career that has seen him working in several different industries and for household names such as Barclays, AstraZeneca, Sky and Harrods. With a an academic background in organisational psychology, Scott has a keen interest in all things to do with employee capability, engagement, culture and change, and currently is particularly focused on how organisations can adapt in response to Covid-19 in fostering the growth and connectedness of their workforces. Scott is a proud father of two, lapsed percussionist and keen road cyclist, using his daily exercise allowance to further explore his local countryside around north Hertfordshire.

Join Amrit as he explores the impact furloughing employees may have had on their engagement levels. Whilst the option to furlough will have been a difficult decision, those employees furlough were not chosen because they were disengaged or under-performing, but due to workloads. What happened to those furloughed who were highly committed and dedicated to the cause? How will they come back feeling? How do we re-introduce them back to work?