Building Better Cultures

Welcome back to the Building Better Cultures Podcast with Scott McInnes!

We are kicking this season off with a bang, with two podcast episodes live from our Dublin offices.

In this first episode, Scott was joined by Cleo McCormack, Director, Future of Work Institute at Cpl Group. Cleo traces her path from the beauty industry into tech, and argues that the biggest challenge in work today is a lack of human connection, and AI risks widening that gap.

Together, they explore what leaders need to do differently, why people need to know they matter, how to use AI to challenge your thinking rather than echo it, and what the future of work could look like.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why change management for AI is really about people's identity, not just technology

• How the "mirror and multiplier" idea shows how a leader's behaviour spreads through an organisation

• Why leaders are shifting from being the all-knowing expert to being a way-finder and sense-maker

• How to be vulnerable without losing credibility

• What "mattering" means, and a simple way to help people feel seen: "I see you, I see what you bring, and I can't do it without you"

• How to set up your AI to give you different perspectives and challenge your thinking, rather than reinforcing what you already believe

• Why subtraction, knowing what to stop doing, may be the number one skill of the future

Timestamps

• 00:00 Introduction to the live recordings

• 00:47 Welcome to Cleo and the live audience

• 01:13 Cleo's career, from beauty to tech

• 04:55 What's happening in the world of work: the loneliness epidemic

• 09:27 What leaders need to do: the mirror and the multiplier

• 14:38 What is mattering?

• 16:36 The funeral speech exercise and reverse-engineering your legacy

• 17:42 Cleo's purpose: creating multiple versions of the future

• 22:06 Can mattering survive AI? Using AI to challenge your thinking

• 25:43 What does the future of work look like?

• 28:26 Psychological safety and building high-performing teams

• 29:19 Does AI give us time back to connect?

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We keep throwing people into leadership roles and hoping they figure it out. Unfortunately, they often don't.

In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures we look back to Episodes 48 and 49. We hear from Jamie Heaslip about the leadership gap, and how we still promote people without equipping them. And we hear from Zoe Routh about the craft of asking versus commanding.

Jamie Heaslip starts with the unglamorous fundamentals: what actually forms a team is trust, accountability, healthy conflict and a shared view of results, and none of it works without psychological safety. His point is that safety and accountability aren't opposites. You need people safe enough to try things and fall short, and then honest enough to own the outcome on Monday morning. He's good on the contrast between sport and business too. In rugby the scoreboard arrives every weekend and the review follows immediately, while in business the equivalent feedback can be a quarter away, which is precisely why the best leaders don't wait for it. They're checking in weekly, agreeing what the shared goal is, and making it safe to say something didn't work. He finishes with a story about an injection moulding company making parts for defibrillators, and the question that reframes an ordinary job: think about the lives potentially saved because you did your work well, or the lives lost if you hadn't.

Zoe Routh picks up what happens to people at the moment of promotion. You go from autonomy and expertise, where you knew exactly what good looked like, to a role where people start knocking on your door, and the sheer volume of interruption feels like it's getting in the way of the job. So people retreat to the tools, back to the craft they're good at. Her correction is the heart of the episode: the people stuff isn't what's stopping you doing the real work, it is the real work. Coaching people to higher levels and helping them become leaders themselves is the job description now. And she names the structural problem behind all of it, that we hand out leadership roles on the basis of seniority and years served rather than fit, because most organisations still don't offer a credible specialist track alongside a people-leader track. She closes on the consequence: a genuine crisis of trust in leadership, where institutions are rarely seen as both competent and ethical at the same time.

The common thread? Being brilliant at the job is not the same as being ready to lead people doing it, and nobody is served by pretending otherwise.

• Trust, accountability, healthy conflict and results are the fundamentals. They sound obvious, which is exactly why they get skipped.

• Psychological safety and accountability go together. People need to feel safe enough to try something and get it wrong, and grown-up enough to own the outcome afterwards.

• Sport gets a scoreboard every week, business often doesn't. That's an argument for checking in more often, not for waiting until the quarter closes.

• Good leaders agree the shared goal out loud. If everyone can name what we're going after together, challenging each other stops feeling personal.

• Pace matters across a season. You can't have your foot to the floor all year, so decide deliberately where the peaks are.

• Twenty or thirty goals means no goals. Direction comes from a small number of things and a clear sense of purpose behind them.

• Purpose is usually hiding in plain sight. Even a component in a factory can be the difference between a life saved and a life lost, if someone connects the work to the outcome.

• The interruptions are the job now. The instinct to retreat to the tools you're expert in is understandable, and it's the thing that stops people becoming leaders.

• The real work of leadership is growing other people. Coaching your team to higher levels, and to lead themselves, is the priority, not the thing you fit around the priority.

• We promote on seniority and service, not readiness. People end up in leadership roles because they've been there longest, rather than because it suits them or they've been equipped for it.

• Organisations need two credible career tracks. Without a specialist route that's genuinely recognised and rewarded, becoming a people leader is the only way to progress, and that serves nobody.

• Trust in leadership is the thing actually in crisis. Being seen as competent and being seen as ethical are different tests, and institutions rarely pass both.

00:00 – Introduction: we throw people into leadership roles and hope 00:29 – Jamie Heaslip: the fundamentals of what forms a team 01:15 – Accountability when the scoreboard arrives every weekend 01:35 – Psychological safety, and making it safe to try things 01:55 – Pacing a season, and choosing where the peaks are 02:55 – Why the best business leaders don't wait for quarterly results 03:15 – Shared goals, challenging each other, and learning when it doesn't work 04:35 – Why thirty goals means no goals 05:29 – Defibrillator parts, and finding the purpose in the work 06:04 – Zoe Routh: when the people stuff feels like it's getting in the way 06:24 – The shock of the door starting to knock 06:44 – Retreating to the tools you're good at 07:04 – The people stuff is the real work of leadership 09:16 – Why we throw people into leadership roles 09:36 – The missing specialist career track 11:12 – The crisis of trust in leadership 12:14 – Competent or ethical, and why institutions rarely manage both 12:49 – Wrap-up

EP048 – Jamie Heaslip: 48 | Tips on leadership and purpose from an Irish rugby legend | Podcasts EP049 – Zoe Routh: 49 | How to help your teams work better together | Podcasts

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leadership, leadership development, first time managers, promotion, career paths, coaching, psychological safety, accountability, trust, high performance, teams, workplace culture, sport and business, purpose, employee engagement, internal communications, Jamie Heaslip, Zoe Routh, Scott McInnes, Building Better Cultures, Inspiring Change, best bits, podcast compilation

Diversity gets measured. Belonging gets felt. What actually creates it in an organisation?

In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures, we delve back into Episodes 72 and 77 to hear about structural DEI accountability from Wema Hoover, and belonging as a fundamental human need in teams from Peter Docker. Both have operated at real scale, so this is practice rather than theory.

Wema Hoover is direct about where most organisations get stuck. The barrier isn't a lack of good intentions, it's that the good intentions stop at communication. Saying what you stand for feels like progress, and a statement posted in a moment of public attention feels like action, but neither survives contact with the following quarter. What actually moves things is a diagnostic: what do our hiring numbers look like, what do our leadership teams look like, can we measure impact rather than activity? Then expectations set explicitly with leadership groups, and consequences when those expectations aren't met, repeated until the work is simply how the organisation operates rather than a programme with a start and end date. Asked what leaders should do, her answer starts closer to home: look in the mirror. Educate yourself, understand where your own gaps are, create the space for dialogue, and pay attention to the people who don't have the networks or the sponsorship, because talent doesn't surface on its own in systems that were never designed to surface it.

Peter Docker builds belonging from the ground up, starting with a child who wants to be part of a group of friends and a street where neighbours look out for each other's kids. That gets him to a distinction worth borrowing: taking responsibility is not the same as being held accountable. One is chosen, the other is imposed, and people choose it when they feel they belong. He takes it to the Iraq deployment in 2003, where what mattered wasn't checking in on the task but checking in on the person, and then to the very ordinary version of the same thing for teams working apart: a postcard, a bar of chocolate, a call that isn't about work. He finishes on the strongest version of the argument. In genuinely extreme situations, people put themselves on the line for each other, and they don't do it because of rules or standards. They do it because they belong, and what works there works everywhere else too.

The common thread? Belonging isn't a programme or a policy. It's built in the small, deliberate things leaders do, and measured in what people choose to do when nobody is making them.

• Good intentions are not the problem, stopping at them is. Most organisations know what they want to say. Far fewer check whether anything changed.

• A statement is not a strategy. It's naive to think a post in a moment of public attention sustains anything on its own.

• Start with the diagnostic. Hiring data, the make-up of leadership teams, and honest measurement of impact tell you where you actually are, which is where the work starts.

• Expectations need consequences attached. Set them with leadership groups, be clear about what happens when they're not met, or you're describing an aspiration rather than running a business.

• The goal is for it to stop being a programme. When it's embedded in how the organisation works, it no longer needs a banner.

• Leaders look in the mirror first. Educating yourself and understanding your own gaps comes before trying to change anyone else.

• Notice who doesn't have the network. Sponsorship and visibility are how talent gets discovered, and the systems were never built to do that evenly, so it has to be deliberate.

• Taking responsibility is different from being held accountable. One is chosen and one is imposed, and people choose it when they feel part of something.

• Check in on the person, not the task. In a war zone or on a Tuesday, the question that matters is how are you, not where are we on the deliverable.

• Distance makes the small things bigger. A postcard, a chocolate bar or a call that isn't about work does more for connection than another meeting.

• In extreme situations people put themselves on the line for each other, and not because of the rules. They do it because they belong, and what works there works in business too.

00:00 – Introduction: diversity gets measured, belonging gets felt 00:28 – Wema Hoover: what are the real barriers to equitable and inclusive cultures? 01:10 – Why a statement in the moment doesn't sustain change 01:30 – The diagnostic: hiring data, leadership teams, and measuring impact 02:30 – Setting expectations with leaders, and what happens when they're not met 03:10 – Embedding it so it stops being a programme 03:30 – What role do leaders play? 04:10 – Looking in the mirror first 04:50 – Creating the space for dialogue 05:30 – Seeing the people without the networks or the sponsorship 06:09 – Peter Docker: belonging as a fundamental human need 07:32 – Taking responsibility vs being held accountable 07:50 – The street, the neighbours, and looking out for each other's kids 08:44 – Iraq, 2003: checking in on the person rather than the task 09:38 – The small things that travel: a postcard, a chocolate bar, a phone call 10:26 – Why hybrid makes human connection matter more, not less 12:32 – People who put themselves on the line, and why they do it 13:05 – Wrap-up

EP072 – Wema Hoover: https://www.inspiringchange.ie/podcast/episode/1fb175bb/80-unlocking-the-power-of-diversity-building-a-culture-of-inclusion-and-equity-wema-hoover

EP077 – Peter Docker: https://www.inspiringchange.ie/podcast/episode/fa7c2f53/87-lead-from-behind-how-to-cultivate-healthy-cultures-and-empower-teams-peter-docker

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belonging, diversity equity and inclusion, DEI, inclusion, workplace culture, leadership, accountability, sponsorship, psychological safety, hybrid working, human connection, teams, employee engagement, internal communications, military leadership, Wema Hoover, Peter Docker, Scott McInnes, Building Better Cultures, Inspiring Change, best bits, podcast compilation

Resilience gets thrown around a lot at work these days, but it's more than a buzzword.

In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures, taken from Episodes 39 and 84, we hear an incredible story of resilience from Ryan Campbell, and the psychology that explains it from psychologist Niamh Fitzpatrick.

Ryan Campbell was a kid who wanted to fly before he could really explain why, and who went solo on his fifteenth birthday. A few years later he was in a heavily modified light aircraft, alone, crossing oceans on a round-the-world flight. Then, aged 21, on an ordinary day at work in an ordinary aircraft, the engine failed at low level and he went into the trees. He woke up in hospital rebuilt with titanium and was told he had a complete spinal cord injury. In a split second, as he puts it, the very thing that made him him was gone.

What happens next is the part worth staying for. Stuck halfway through learning to roll over on a rehab mat, twisted up and looking out through a gap under his own elbow, he sees Ben: a quadriplegic who had slipped while mopping a floor, with no feeling below the chest and barely any hand movement. Ryan had been feeling sorry for himself. He realised he was lucky to be a paraplegic. That was the first lesson, and it became the first item on a checklist he built for adversity, borrowed from the way pilots handle an emergency: gratitude, confidence, resilience.

Niamh Fitzpatrick brings the psychology. She is practical about what leaders can actually do, starting with the uncomfortable truth that you cannot read a room over video, so you have to know people's baseline well enough to notice when it shifts. She is also firm about something most of us get wrong: measuring your own hardship against someone who has it worse doesn't make you feel better, it just makes your feelings inadmissible. And she closes on Viktor Frankl.

The common thread? Resilience isn't a personality you either have or you don't. Both guests describe it as something you build, deliberately, usually while you're in the middle of the thing.

• Adversity deserves a checklist. Pilots don't improvise in an emergency, they work a drill: aviate, navigate, communicate. Ryan built the same thing for setbacks so he wasn't deciding how to cope while coping.

• Start with gratitude, because it changes the size of the problem. Finding something to be thankful for, however small, shrinks the challenge and gives you perspective before you begin.

• Perspective usually arrives through other people. Ben didn't say anything profound to Ryan. He was simply there, and that was enough to reframe everything.

• Confidence doesn't require the whole plan. You need to believe you can take the next step, not that you can see the entire route. That is a much smaller thing to ask of yourself.

• Expect obstacles and you'll adapt faster. Resilience, in Ryan's version, is anticipating the need to change course rather than being surprised by it.

• Leaders can't read a room over video, so learn the baseline. Know how someone usually sounds, looks and turns up, and you'll notice the change that matters.

• You don't need to be a therapist to notice. Use your senses, trust what you're seeing, and know enough about people's lives to put it in context.

• Don't hold your feelings to someone else's account. Someone always has it objectively worse. That doesn't make what you're carrying any lighter, and comparison mostly just adds guilt.

• An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour. Feeling anxious or low when something difficult has happened isn't a malfunction, it's a normal response to something that isn't okay.

• Allowing the feelings is what lets you move. Naming what you feel is what gets you to the point of asking what needs to change, internally or externally.

00:00 – Introduction: resilience is more than a buzzword 00:25 – Ryan Campbell: a kid obsessed with aviation, and flying solo at fifteen 01:45 – The modified aircraft, and the round-the-world flight 02:25 – One ordinary day at work, aged 21 03:26 – Hospital, titanium, and the news of a spinal cord injury 04:05 – The rehab gym, and meeting Ben 05:51 – Why he decided he was lucky, and what Ben taught him about gratitude 06:33 – Building the checklist: step one, gratitude 07:17 – Step two, confidence, and only needing to see the next step 08:39 – Step three, resilience, and anticipating the need to adapt 09:02 – Niamh Fitzpatrick: what leaders should be watching for 09:52 – Learning someone's baseline, even over video 10:37 – Why comparing your hardship to someone else's doesn't help 12:18 – One piece of advice: an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour 13:22 – Wrap-up

EP Ryan Campbell: 39 | How to successfully navigate change | Podcasts

EP Niamh Fitzpatrick: 99 | The Pandemic Pushed Mental Health Out of the Workplace Shadows | Niamh Fitzpatrick | Podcasts

Download your free copy of Bridging the Connection Gap Report: Bridging The Connection Gap | Inspiring Change

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resilience, adversity, mental health at work, wellbeing, psychology, gratitude, mindset, leadership, psychological safety, emotional awareness, aviation, spinal cord injury, recovery, perspective, Viktor Frankl, Ryan Campbell, Niamh Fitzpatrick, Scott McInnes, Building Better Cultures, Inspiring Change, best bits, podcast compilation

Office, home, hybrid. Are we any clearer on how it actually works?

In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott McInnes goes back to Episodes 71 and 37 with Chris Dyer and Jane Sparrow to hear how organisational culture is evolving as we work out how we'll probably be working for the next century. And that comes down to finding a happy balance between what employers need and what employees want.

Chris Dyer starts with a definition worth stealing: culture is the norms. It is the way we work, the things people pick up in their first week, seen and unseen. From there he walks through the seven pillars he found repeated across the best organisations, from transparency and positive leadership to celebrating what makes people different rather than what makes them the same. He is especially good on mistakes, using the Post-it note, which began life as a failed glue, to make the point that how you respond to a mistake tells people whether it is safe to try anything. Then he gets specific about transparency: sharing goals across teams so people aren't unknowingly competing with each other, and sharing the numbers every month, good news or bad, including how long the company could keep going before layoffs.

Jane Sparrow picks up the space in between. The third culture is neither home nor office but a new place that leaders have to shape deliberately, and she is clear that scrambling for the right tech and tools is the easy part. What takes work is the conversations, because everyone's situation is different. She closes on something worth sitting with: information from the centre, the comms team or HR, only really lands when a leader translates it into what it means for us.

The common thread? This is less about where we work and more about whether culture survives the shift. Neither guest thinks it happens on its own.

• Culture is the norms, not the posters. It is what people learn in their first week about how things actually get done, including the unwritten bits.

• Great cultures are consistent, not identical. The same pillars show up across very different organisations, each expressed in its own way.

• Celebrate what makes people unique, not what makes them the same. Organisations put real effort into differentiating themselves to customers, then ask their people to blend in.

• How you handle mistakes sets the ceiling on ambition. Punish them and people stop trying things. The Post-it note exists because someone documented a glue that failed.

• A mistake and an error are not the same thing. Getting something consistently wrong that training should have covered points at bad process, stress or multitasking. Trying something new and misjudging it is worth talking about, not punishing.

• Transparency starts with goals. If teams cannot see each other's objectives, organisations end up creating competition nobody intended.

• Share the numbers, including the bad ones. Telling people how long the company can keep going is uncomfortable, and it is also what trust looks like under pressure.

• The third culture has to be built on purpose. The space between home and office is new, and leaders shaping it deliberately is the difference between a culture and a vacuum.

• Tools are the easy part. Getting the right tech was the scramble. The harder, more valuable work is the conversations around it, because every person's situation is different.

• Information needs a translator. A message from HR or the comms team becomes real when a line leader explains what it means for this team, and asks what we start, stop and continue doing.

00:00 – Introduction: less about where we work, more about how culture survives the shift 00:31 – Chris Dyer: culture is the norms, seen and unseen 01:41 – The seven pillars found across great company cultures 02:23 – Transparency, positive leadership, listening and celebrating what makes people unique 02:51 – Recognition that actually works 03:19 – What you do when someone makes a mistake 03:47 – The Post-it note, and the failure it came from 04:30 – Transparency in practice: shared goals, and why teams end up competing by accident 05:33 – Sharing the numbers every month, good news or bad 05:51 – Jane Sparrow: the third culture, and why tools alone won't build it 08:23 – Managing vs leading, and the leader's role when people are under strain 09:56 – Building connection deliberately, and mixing up how you do it 10:56 – Why information only lands when a leader translates it 11:20 – Wrap-up

EP071 – Chris Dyer: Listen here

EP037 – Jane Sparrow: Listen Here

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When did you last ask someone how they actually were, and really listen?

Everyone says empathy matters. Nobody actually teaches it. In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott McInnes goes back to two conversations about why that needs to change: Rob Volpe (EP092) on empathy as a practical leadership tool, and Niamh Fitzpatrick (EP084) on the emotional aftermath of the pandemic.

Rob Volpe starts by taking apart the definition most of us use. Walking in someone else's shoes is only half the job, and the half everyone skips is taking your own shoes off first, setting down your judgement and your own perspective before you step into theirs. He makes the business case without flinching: empathy is the secret ingredient in communication, decisions, problem solving and trust, and the organisations that have it see more loyalty, more innovation and a stronger sense of belonging. He also names the trap leaders fall into, worrying that being empathetic will cost them respect, and the stereotype of the strong leader that keeps the whole thing stuck. Niamh Fitzpatrick comes at it from psychology. She talks about tribe, why belonging is something you find rather than something you are assigned, and the people she deliberately gravitates towards: the ones who acknowledge how they feel. Then she answers the question of why it took a global pandemic to put mental health into everyday conversation.

The common thread? Empathy is a skill, not a personality trait. It can be learned, and it is doing real work whether or not anyone names it.

• Take your own shoes off first. Empathy is not just imagining someone else's position, it is setting down your own judgement and perspective long enough to understand theirs properly.

• There is more than one kind of empathy. Cognitive empathy is perspective taking, not emotion, and it is the one most of us need at work. Confusing it with feeling other people's feelings is why so many leaders back away from it.

• Empathy is a data point, not a distraction. If you are making decisions without understanding how they land on people, you are working with incomplete information.

• Self-awareness is the missing ingredient, and calendars have squeezed it out. Back-to-back calls removed the breathing space between stimulus and response, and scrolling in the two minutes you do get is not a reset.

• Leaders are stuck between knowing and fearing. Most accept that building empathy is part of their job, most find it hard, and many quietly worry that showing it will cost them respect. The opposite is true.

• Empathy is not new, it just stopped being championed. Henry Ford wrote in 1918 that the secret of success lies in seeing the other person's point of view as well as your own. It got squashed out of us since, and it is time to bring it back.

• Your tribe is more dispersed than you think. Family, friends, colleagues, even people you have never met online. Knowing what you value is what lets you find them.

• Work can absolutely be a tribe, and there is nothing wrong with that. Belonging at work is not a lesser form of belonging.

• We lost the things that were quietly holding us up. When life changed overnight, the props that kept people's mental health going, sport, gatherings, a walk somewhere further than two kilometres away, were taken away.

00:00 – Introduction: empathy keeps coming up, but nobody teaches it 00:28 – Rob Volpe: what empathy actually is, and why "walking in their shoes" is only half of it 02:35 – Self-awareness, and the breathing space we lost between meetings 04:12 – Why empathy is the secret ingredient at work 05:02 – The business case: loyalty, innovation, belonging and the empathy gap 06:45 – Cognitive vs emotional empathy, the strong-leader stereotype, and Henry Ford in 1918 07:55 – Niamh Fitzpatrick: tribe, belonging and finding your people 12:32 – Why it took a global pandemic to put mental health on the table 13:20 – Wrap-up

EP092 Rob Volpe: https://inspiringchange.libsyn.com/107-empathy-compassion-in-organisational-culture-rob-volpe

EP084 Niamh Fitzpatrick: https://inspiringchange.libsyn.com/99-the-pandemic-pushed-mental-health-out-of-the-workplace-shadows-niamh-fitzpatrick

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empathy, empathetic leadership, leadership, workplace culture, psychological safety, belonging, tribe, mental health at work, wellbeing, emotional intelligence, cognitive empathy, self-awareness, employee retention, employee engagement, internal communications, pandemic recovery, Rob Volpe, Niamh Fitzpatrick, Scott McInnes, Building Better Cultures, Inspiring Change, best bits, podcast compilation

Data convinces. Stories move people. So why do we still lead with the spreadsheet?

In this best-bits episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott McInnes goes back to two conversations about the power of narrative at work: Richard Newman (EP108) on the neuroscience of emotional engagement, and Alison Esse (EP012) on purpose-led storytelling at scale.

Richard Newman explains what actually happens in the brain when you open with a chart instead of a story. Spreadsheets speak to the logical mind, but the emotional brain decides first and it decides whether anything gets through at all. He walks through the leadership retreat where nobody could remember a single decision three months later, why "cognitive fatigue" is a better diagnosis than screen fatigue, and the line that sums up the whole problem: we treat people like human doings rather than human beings. Alison Esse picks up the organisational side: the corporate narrative, the red thread that has to run from the frontline to the CEO, and why leaders are so often the worst people at telling their own stories.

The common thread? Engage people emotionally first, logically second. Do it the other way round and nothing sticks.

• The emotional brain gets there first. Every input passes through it before the logical mind sees it, so if you open with data you have already lost the room.
• Data convinces, stories move. Being right is not the same as being understood, and it is definitely not the same as being acted on.
• If nobody can repeat it, it did not land. People remember stories and quote lines from them. Nobody quotes a slide.
• It is cognitive fatigue, not screen fatigue. People will happily binge four hours of Netflix after a long week, so the screen is not the problem, being engaged logically all day with no emotional connection is.
• Storytelling is misunderstood, not soft. It is not anecdotes about your weekend, and it does not need the hero's journey. It is sharing information in the way the brain wants to receive it.
• Every organisation needs a red thread. A narrative that connects the frontline to the CEO gives people something to believe in and repeat.
• Leaders are often worst at telling their own story. The people with the most to share are usually the most reluctant, which is why story champions matter.

00:00 – Introduction: why we still lead with the spreadsheet 00:30 – Richard Newman: how stories help leaders influence, and the retreat nobody remembered 04:00 – Inception, and why a story goes deeper than a slide 05:00 – Cognitive fatigue vs screen fatigue 05:38 – "Human doings, not human beings": engage emotionally first, logically second 05:47 – Alison Esse: corporate narrative, purpose and the red thread from frontline to CEO 10:16 – Wrap-up: what story is your organisation telling right now?

EP108 – Richard Newman: https://inspiringchange.libsyn.com/108-the-science-of-storytelling-how-it-works-richard-newman

EP012 – Alison Esse: https://inspiringchange.libsyn.com/ep12-alison-esse-co-founder-the-storytellers

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storytelling, business storytelling, communication, leadership communication, neuroscience, emotional engagement, cognitive fatigue, corporate narrative, purpose, internal communications, employee engagement, workplace culture, influence, presentation skills, Richard Newman, Alison Esse, Scott McInnes, Building Better Cultures, Inspiring Change, best bits, podcast compilation

What do a rugby coach, a rugby captain and an RAF pilot have in common? Turns out, they all know quite a lot about leadership.

In our first 'Best Bits' episode, Scott McInnes revisits three standout conversations with leaders who've performed under real pressure: Stuart Lancaster, Jamie Heaslip and Peter Docker.

Stuart Lancaster explains why psychological safety and mutual trust sit at the heart of every high-performance culture, and why great leadership is built on relationships, not titles. Jamie Heaslip takes on vulnerability, the most talked-about leadership trait of all, and makes the case that purpose, psychological safety and the freedom to fail are what actually unlock performance. And Peter Docker shares the story of a 2002 mid-air emergency, and what the most experienced pilot on board did in those first two critical seconds: absolutely nothing.

The common thread running through it all? Great leaders know when not to act.

• Psychological safety isn't a nice-to-have. If people can't challenge their leaders honestly, you don't have a high-performance culture, you have compliance.
• Great leadership is built on relationships. Trust between people, built deliberately over time, is the foundation everything else stands on.
• Vulnerability is a strength. Leaders who are open about what they don't know give their teams permission to do the same.
• People need purpose and the freedom to fail. When teams connect to why they do what they do, and aren't afraid to get things wrong, performance follows.
• Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do is nothing. Calm is contagious, and preparing your people so well that you don't need to step in is the real mark of leadership.

00:00 – Introduction 00:31 – Stuart Lancaster: psychological safety, trust and relationships 04:41 – Jamie Heaslip: vulnerability, purpose and the freedom to fail 09:32 – Peter Docker: the 2002 cockpit emergency and the power of doing nothing 13:36 – Wrap-up

EP072 – Stuart Lancaster: Click Here EP048 – Jamie Heaslip: Click Here EP087 – Peter Docker: Click Here

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In this episode, Scott McInnes is joined once again by Inspiring Change's Sadhbh O'Flaherty to dig into their latest research, Bridging the Connection Gap. Building on last year's Mind the Gap study, where CPOs and CEOs identified disconnection as one of the top barriers to a strong, aligned culture, Scott and Sadhbh went deeper, speaking one-on-one with senior leaders to understand what's really getting in the way of human connection at work today.

Six clear themes emerged from those conversations: busyness, hybrid working, silos, leadership influence, digital overload, and generational differences. Throughout the episode, Scott and Sadhbh unpack each theme with real examples, personal experience, and practical suggestions for how organisations, leaders, and individuals can respond.

The common thread running through it all? Intentionality.

Connection at work doesn't happen by accident, it has to be actively and deliberately built.

Key Takeaways

• Culture is infrastructure, not decoration. Connection underpins trust, performance, wellbeing, innovation, and resilience, and its absence is felt even if it can't always be measured.

• Busyness has become a badge of honour. Many people feel they need to appear constantly busy to seem productive, which squeezes out time for genuine connection.

• Hybrid isn't broken, it's just not intentional. The real issue isn't where people work, but whether teams are deliberate about how, when, and why they connect.

• Team commitments matter more than blanket policies. A one-size-fits-all approach to hybrid rarely works; teams need the flexibility to define what connection looks like for them.

• Silos aren't inherently bad, deep expertise is valuable, but they need active bridges (empathy, communication, shared touchpoints) to avoid isolation and misalignment.

• Leaders have an outsized influence on connection. Connection across a team or organisation is often only as strong as its leadership, but leaders also need empathy, support, and realistic expectations, since they're stretched thin too.

• Digital tools haven't delivered better connection, just more channels. Increased digital connectivity often comes at the cost of the human cues (tone, body language, energy) that build real understanding between people.

• Generational differences mean different connection needs. With up to five generations now in the workplace, a single approach to connection won't resonate with everyone, open conversations about what people actually want are essential.

• Small, consistent steps beat big overnight change. Building connection back into work doesn't require a complete overhaul, just intentional, incremental shifts in how teams already operate.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction and episode overview 00:47 – Backstory: the Mind the Gap research and why Inspiring Change revisited disconnection 03:45 – Why culture is "the infrastructure that holds an organization together" 05:17 – How the Bridging the Connection Gap research was conducted and the six themes uncovered 06:41 – Challenge 1: Busyness, the "busy badge of honour" and its impact on connection 12:02 – Challenge 2: Hybrid working, why hybrid isn't the problem, intentionality is 17:43 – The power of team commitments and team-level flexibility 19:20 – Challenge 3: Silos, the value of expertise vs. the need to bridge across teams 24:58 – Challenge 4: Leadership influence, why connection is only as strong as your leaders 28:02 – Clarifying "leaders" as people managers, not just the executive team 31:11 – Challenge 5: Digital, being more "connected" but less genuinely close 37:52 – Challenge 6: Generational differences, five generations, different connection needs 44:11 – Closing thoughts and where to find the full Bridging the Connections Gap report

Resources & Links:

Bridging the Connections Gap Report

Mind the Gap Report

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Connect with Scott McInnes:

LinkedIn

Connect with Sadhbh O'Flaherty:

LinkedIn

In this week's episode, Scott McInnes sits down with Christine Armstrong, to dive deep into the critical importance of connection in the workplace. Together they explore how workplace trends have eroded relationships and the role of intentionality in creating a thriving organisational culture.

Christine offers practical strategies to rebuild trust at work and really nurture those vital human connections.

Key Takeaways:

• Connection is a deliberate act, not a happy accident

• Hierarchical and operational policies inadvertently undermine trust

• Connection thrives on small, frequent interactions, not grand initiatives

• Trust is the foundation for difficult conversations and authentic connection

• The middle layer of work relationships has been lost to societal and organisational shifts

• Organisations should design work around human needs, not assumptions of tradition

• Simple listening and positive reinforcement are the most cost-effective trust builders

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Connection in the Workplace

02:20 The Importance of Connection

05:20 Impact of COVID on Workplace Connections

08:09 Rebuilding Connections: Strategies and Initiatives

11:39 Creating Learning Moments and Engagement

14:12 Responsibility for Connection in the Workplace

19:50 Navigating Difficult Conversations

23:46 Assuming Positive Intent in Communication

27:02 Meeting Diverse Needs in the Workplace

30:40 Consequences of Weak Connections

35:06 The Power of Listening to Rebuild Connections

Connect with us:

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Connect with Christine:

LinkedIn | Website