Building Better Cultures

Compared to many, Denis's career has been wide-ranging. It started in London in 1994 where he worked in tech PR before "falling into event management" for the Sydney Olympics. Returning to Ireland in 2001, he continued in that vein before setting up his own consultancy, running strategic planning, project management and leadership development programmes for a range of commercial and non-profit clients. When Denis was offered the chance to become interim MD of the Special Olympics Europe-Eurasia region in 2011, he seized the opportunity.

​​He has since gone on to take a global role with responsibility for operational and leadership development. The Leadership Academy he and his team set up has been recognized by a number of bodies and his current focus is looking at the role leadership plays in sustainability, inclusion and driving change.

Show Notes:

2.30 - A bit about Denis and his career – 5.35 – Creating a focus on Leadership development - 9.50 –What makes a leader a great leader? – 14.30 – The importance of humility – 16.30 – Inclusive leadership and creating more diverse leaders - 22.25 – Organisations can benefit significantly from more inclusive environments – 25.10 – The role of leaders during change, listening and the power of visibility - 28.14 – Consistent leadership in tough times is key – 30.00 – Being clear during change – Mandela and Trump – 33.00 - Are you a hub or a bridge? Hermione Ibarra – 34.55 – Dan Pink and the power of 'endings' – 36.30 – More inclusion and sustainable leadership is the future - 39.50 - Denis's Leadership role models – 42.10 – Denis's advice for himself – focus on personal styles

Born in County Down, Julie's career in business started early in life. Her father was a poultry farmer and retailer and, in many ways, that started to shape her views of business from an early age. She studied business in Ulster University before moving to Dublin in the late seventies, a time when things in Northern Ireland were pretty lean but foreign direct investment in the Republic was beginning to build. ​

Since then, she has spent 30 years in the Irish Development Authority and Enterprise Ireland, both semi-state government agencies. She has been CEO at the latter since 2013 during which time the agency has supported hundreds of indigenous Irish companies, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Julie is a strong supporter of initiatives that drive diversity and is a champion for women engaging at all levels in the public and private sectors.

Show Notes:

1.50 – Julie's start in life, the family business and supporting Irish business – 4.40 – What does Enterprise Ireland's support look like? – 5.13 – Supporting clients through leadership development – 6.30 – The challenges of Brexit for business – 8.30 – What makes a great leader - vision, ambition, energy, passion and purpose– 11.35 – Irish companies are coming out of the shadow of multinationals – 15.30 – A leader's role during change – 17.55 – Milestones during change are key - We need to rethink the purpose and HOW of virtual meetings

A lecturer in his early career, Nick's first foray into 'practical communications' was as a speechwriter for the Governor of Virginia. In 1997 he went on to found Public Words, a consultancy with a mission to improve the world of professional communication in which he has worked with CEOs from most of the Fortune Top 50, a number of Heads of State and a US President or two (he wouldn't tell us who!) ​

I met Nick at the launch of his newest book 'Can you hear me? : How to connect with people in a virtual world'. As the use of smartphones, teleconference, video conference and email continues to explode in business, Nick explores the impact that's having on the quality and impact of our communications. He shares the top five challenges he identified in his research and offers some ideas on how to mitigate them.

Show Notes:

2.24 – Nick's background – 4.40 – …and his commercial experience – 5.40 – Why he wrote the book – 7.35 – Challenge 1 – lack of feedback in digital communication – 10.05 – Not noticing a Brazilian earthquake! – 12.05 – The brain processes Why before How/What – 12.35 – Recipients need to provide feedback, but it's tough at first – 14.00 – We need to rethink purpose and HOW of virtual meetings – 15.40 – Challenge 2 – lack of feedback = lack of empathy - 18.20 – actively increasing feedback can help to avoid hostility – 20.24 – Trust is very fragile in the virtual world, we're quick to judge – 25.30 – Challenge 3 – lack of control over your persona – 29.10 - Challenge 4 – Lack of emotion (which makes it hard to make good decisions) – 35.00 - We have to get better at expressing intent to be better understood – 36.24 - Challenge 5 – Lack of connection – means relationships are more fragile – 37.25 - How do we address these issues? - 37.45 – Get better at storytelling, be authentic and vulnerable – 40.30 – Find out how people feel - 43.10 – Use emojis and emoticons to introduce 'body language'! – 46.00 – Nick's advice to himself – 'find your own way'

Having started her career at Dermot Desmond's NCB stockbrokers, Carmel very quickly moved through the ranks before moving out of research and into PR. Over the next 12 years, she worked her way through the Irish PR scene with stints in Edelman, Text 100 and Keatings. In 2001 she set up her own consultancy - Gemini Consulting.

It was then that she met Jonathan Irwin, founder of the Jack and Jill Foundation. The foundation supports families who have children with suffer severe intellectual and physical disability to be able to keep their children at home. Today they support 350 families across Ireland. Following a period as interim CEO, Carmel took up the role on a permanent basis in January 2019. You can find out more at www.jackandjill.ie

Show Notes:

0.00 – Charity in the Irish context - 2.10 – Carmel and NCB stockbrokers – 4.30 – From research to PR – 10.51 – Gemini Consulting and work-life blend – 13.15 – An intro to Jonathan Irwin and Jack & Jill – 16.15 – Having a strong purpose and making a difference – 22.30 – Balancing fundraising with nursing – 26.50 – The impact of emotional stories – 33.00 – Humility and vulnerability in leaders - 34.30 – Carmel's role models – 31.55 – Carmel's advice to herself

By her own admission, Jeni's career journey has been a meandering one. Following an Arts degree from University College Dublin she completed a Masters in European Studies. Her career started in the voluntary sector before a move into IBEC - Ireland's largest business lobby group - a role "that was a real apprenticeship". It was in that role that she started to think about HR and how businesses can drive success through their people.

She held a number of HR positions before joining Openet in 2015 where she is responsible for looking at how structures, systems and people can support and deliver on the company's overall vision and purpose.

Show Notes:

2.35 – Jeni, her career and Openet – 7.30 – Bringing culture to life through change – 11.20 – Values, behaviours and culture – 14.15 – Leading change – behaviours vs tasks – 13.50 – Carrots or sticks to motivate change– 18.00 – Leadership's contextual - not everyone is a leader all the time – 23.18 – the purpose of leadership is to grow leaders – 24.00 – Leaders must have opinion and conviction - 24.30 – Forging leaders – 25.00 – it's easy to overthink 'leading' – 26.54 – A leader's role during change – 31.55 – Jeni's advice to herself

Helen started her career as a primary school teacher. However, with a class of 43 four-year-old boys, she realized pretty quickly that perhaps that wasn't the career for her! So, she went back to college to study computer science before going on to work in a number of software firms. And it was there that she found HR, "before there were really careers in HR".

Helen has now worked in HR for over 20 years with brands including GE, Andal Fujitsu, Dell and Oracle before she joined Google in 2010. As Director of People Operations, Helen is responsible for both Dublin's 8,000 employees and the Finance team across all of EMEA, roles she moves between on a daily basis.

Show Notes:

1.45 – Helen's Career and a bit about Google – 4.00 – 15 years of Google in Ireland – 4.50 – The cultural melting pot – 9.40 – What make a leader in Google – 13.50 – Individual contributors vs people leaders – 16.00 – Engaging staff and providing feedback is key – 19.15 – Thoughts on millennials – 23.30 – A leader's role during change – 26.53 – Helen's leadership role models – 34.45 – Advice Helen would give herself.

Over his 30 year career in consumer marketing, Colin worked across a range of sectors from alcohol and tobacco to healthcare and soft drinks. He is a Board member of Bord Bia's (The Irish Food Board) Consumer Foods Board.

For the past 13 years, he has been CEO of Glanbia Consumer Foods, Ireland's largest food producer. The company boasts some of Ireland's best-known food brands including Avonmore and Kilmeaden cheese and sells close to 2.5m items per day. He lives for marketing and sales and is a strong believer in the power of storytelling and aligning staff with the overall strategy. I spoke to him just before Christmas, a busy time for cream it appeared!

Show Notes:

3.20s – Colin's background, marketing and Glanbia – 10.00 – What makes a Glanbia Leader great – 11.35 – Define your strategy and stick to it – 14.30 – The role of leaders in communicating strategy – 18.40 – Engagement and celebration are key – 20.15 – Ensuring all staff are aligned is key – regardless of their location – 22.00 – The importance of the ACTUAL customer – 25.40 – Staff or customer first? – 27.15 – The importance of trust – 29.00 - Colin's role models – 34.45 – Colin's advice to his 20-year-old self – 'spend more time educating yourself'

Des has worked in financial services for over 30 years, "both as a banker and leader" as he puts it. Having spent most of his career working in Ireland, his more recent experience is in the UK, as MD of First Trust Bank (AIB's Northern Irish subsidiary) and, more recently, as CEO of Cumberland Building Society in NW England.​

He is someone that relishes the challenge of change and, in this episode, we spoke to Des at the start of Cumberland's change journey - a journey made somewhat trickier by the fact that there was no obvious 'burning platform'. We'll talk to Des again later in 2019 to see how his change plan is progressing and what he's learned along the way.

Show Notes:

2.00s – Des's background and a bit on Cumberland – 3.22 – Purpose and values matter – 5.00 – Listening to Cumberland's people – 7.10 – Where's the business today? – 11.30 – What does the change journey look like? – 14.20 – Creating a case for change in a healthy company – 19.00 – Communicating to get people comfortable with change – 20.40 – Being transparent – literally! – 22.30 – Looking at leadership outside the office – 24.30 – The role of people leaders during change – 23.00 – the roles of leaders during change is fundamental – 29.00 – What's gone wrong so far? – 31.30 –Des' role models – 34.45 – Des' advice to his 20-year-old self – 'nobody gives you self-confidence'

Over a 25 year career in PermanentTSB, Ger worked his way from bank teller to the role of HR Director. This was the first time in its 200 year history that the bank appointed an HR Director from a non-HR background.

His commercial background allowed him to open doors to parts of the organisation that, previously, HR hadn't felt equipped or confident to approach. And it gave him an understanding of the business that allows the HR team to connect enable and build capability that connects with people across the organisation in a much more meaningful way.

Show Notes:

1.20s – Ger's career history – 2.40 – Bringing the voice of the customer inside – 5.00 – developing a strong leadership culture through the business – 6.28 – Line managers' role in Big HR – 8.40 – Character, Competence and Connection make a great leader - 11.50 – Some thoughts on listening – 14.10 – Balancing the past, with today and the future – 15.00 – Customers don't and shouldn't care about siloes – 18.00 – Fear and being inquisitive – 20.00 – Cognitive diversity and creating psychological safety – 23.00 – the roles of leaders during change is fundamental – 25.50 – Permanent TBS's changing model – 27.20 – Responsibility for culture sits with Executive and Leadership Teams – 28.50 – Ger's role models – 30.10 – Ger's advice to his 20-year-old self – 'understand yourself'

Between them, Anth and Ollie have over 30 years of experience helping large organisations to create more compelling and human cultures by focusing on internal communications, employee engagement and leadership.

They met when both were working for RSA and, in late 2015, founded Intelligent Emotion to help organisations humanize workplaces for the digital age. They fundamentally believe that tapping into people's emotions at work, providing purpose and supporting that with great leaders, increases pride, drives innovation and, in turn, generates better and more sustainable business results.

Show Notes:

1.35s – A bit of career history and Intelligent Emotion – 3.50 – Bringing human to a digital world – 6.15 – Leaders need to ask for help – 7.30 – Vulnerable leadership – 9.00 – Great leaders - 10.35 – Balancing directive and inclusive leadership – 11.38 – Jazz hands and connecting people to strategy – 13.40 – Start with people's current reality – 14.40 – Great leaders are curious and open to learning – 16.25 – Defining 'leader' and their role in engagement – 17.30 – The Leadership Pie – 19.00 – Is 'leadership' noticed as a deliverable? – 19.30 – Engagement isn't about pizzas, parties and mars bars – 21.05 – The power of objective setting – 21.40 – Shifting from 'engagement' being a thing – 24.00 – Using storytelling to show what good looks like - 26.17 – Internal Comms isn't just for Internal Comms teams! – 31.40 – Leadership role models - 35.50 – 'Chief Good News Officer' syndrome – 37.10 – Advice for your 20-year-old selves.