Building Better Cultures

"Sometimes, your job as a leader is to illuminate corners that people aren't looking in"

​Two years ago Jeff, and his wife Mindi, co-founded Caselden Consulting to focus on the people side of the business, something they're both passionate about. Today they work with companies large and small, in Ireland and further afield, to coach leaders and help teams to be the best they can be. ​

Prior to this, Jeff spent 18 years in Amazon where he worked in a number of different divisions before coming to Ireland in 2008. In the years since then, he worked in a number of roles, most recently as General Manager where he grew the business from 300 to 1,300 employees.

Key Points:

* Trust, Openness, Honesty

* It's not about having all the answers

* Vulnerability, failure and taking risks

* Nurturing culture during growth

Show Notes:

50s – A bit about Jeff and his career – 6.20 – Trust, Openness, Honesty are central to great leaders – 8.10 – Being great isn't about having all the answers – 9.00 – Diversity is key and the challenge is GOOD – 9.50 – Vulnerability, failure and taking risks - 12.30 – Protecting culture during growth – Amazon Leadership principles – 16.40 – Baking values, principles, purpose and vision into everything is key – 17.30 – Five things leaders need to do during change – 21.50 – Importance of communications and listening – 22.40 – Thoughts on Leaders' role in engagement – 24.30 – Big surveys with no actions just piss people off – 25.50 – Is too much dialogue a risk? – 28.10 – Jeff's leadership role models – 32.50 – Jeff's Leadership advice for himself

​Paul has worked in internal communications for over 20 years - by his own admission, "that was back when internal communications was still a new thing". ​

He started his career in Barclays where he worked in a number of roles before continuing his career in the Insurance sector with the Prudential, and in mobile telecoms with T-Mobil / EE. He then returned to financial services with RBS to work for the general insurance business before it was floated on the stock market as Direct Line Insurance.

Most recently he was with Rolls-Royce, with a brief to unify people under a new narrative, vision and strategy.

Show Notes:

Sean held a number of positions at Smurfitt Graduate School of business over his 20-year career there. Most recently he was Director of Marketing, a role he held for 11 years until he retired in 2015. Prior to joining Smurfitt he was Director of Marketing at BUPA Ireland where he was involved in its launch in 1996. He also had significant experience in the food sector having served as a GM and Marketing Director in Waterford Foods (now Glanbia).

When it comes to leadership, he saw the good, the bad and the ugly through his 50-year career.

Show Notes:

1.02 – Sean and his career journey – 1.56 – Good and great leaders – 2.41 – Clarity of purpose is critical – 4.36 – Education is creating better (but perhaps inexperienced) leaders – 5.31 – Leaders sometimes have to make tough calls – 8.41 – Your people know more about customers than you do – 10.01 - Connection to strategy and strategic planning – 12.16 – Creating engaging teams – 13.22 – Management by walking about – 15.41 – Don't tell lies! – 18.11 – Avoiding reputational impact – 20.11 – Leading through change –23.31 – Sean's leadership role models – 26.46 –Sean's advice for his 20-year-old self – know what you don't know.

​Tom has worked in communications for over 20 years. He started his career in PR working with brands like Microsoft, Intel and Gateway before, in the late 1990s with the advent of the Irish tech boom, turning his attention to tech startups, working in Iona, Marrakech and Cape Clear.

In 2005 he joined Microsoft Ireland before moving to HQ in Seattle in 2009. He's worked in a number of roles in PR and CSR and, more recently, in internal communications, where he's played a key role in driving global change for 15,000 staff across 140 countries in Microsoft Services.

For more on Tom's career, see his LinkedIn profile here.

Show Notes:

58s – A bit about Tom and his career journey – 3.33 – Getting people involved in change – 4.35 – We will use AI but there's always a role for people – 6.00 – Managing change for 15,000 people – 7.35 – Case for change, over-communicating and vision – 9.40 – Getting your people on board – 10.50 Change is a journey, not a straight A to B – 12.50 – Handling uncertainty – 13.30 – The role of leaders – 15.15 – Upskilling leaders in communications – 16.30 – Being a people manager is hard work! – 17.50 – Planning comms during long term change – 19.00 – Involving people shows they have a voice – 20.00 – The power of storytelling during change – 24.00 – Tom's leadership role models – 26.35 –Tom's advice for his 20-year-old self – keep learning and look at things differently

Orlagh has worked in HR and organisational change for more years than she cared to admit to in this week's interview :-). She started her career in Retail and FMCG before moving into Financial Services as Group HRD in RSA. She then returned to Ireland to become Chief People Officer in AIB and, more recently, interim HRD in Virgin Media Ireland.

She set up Human Leadership in 2018 to help organisations thrive in the changing world of work by focusing on leadership and the role of human qualities in the digital era.

For more on Orlagh and on Human Leadership see her website - www.human-leadership.com

Show Notes:

58s – A bit about Orlagh her work, clients, kids and a crazy dog! – 2.20 – Human Leadership – 5.52 –Everybody in business wants to feel as though they're playing a part – 3.57 – There are opportunities for human characteristics in the digital age – 5.50 – The changing nature of the world of work – 6.20 – What makes a leader a great leader – 12.00 – The education system needs to support a new way of learning – 13.15 – How does a leader create an engaging workplace? – 17.30 – The role of leader as a communicator during change – 19.40 – The power of connection and purpose – 21.30 – Helping leaders to translate strategy – 23.50 – Unearthing compelling stories in RSA – 24.50 – An Post getting stories to postal staff – 26.00 – Stories build pride – 26.30 – Orlagh's leadership role models – 28.00 – We're all works in progress and just need to be the best version of ourselves. – 29.50 – Orlagh's advice for her 20-year-old self – You don't need to do it all.

15 years ago, around her kitchen table, Alison co-founded The Storytellers with a plan to help organisations communicate their strategy and vision in a more emotionally compelling way. Since then, they've applied their storytelling framework to over 170 multi-nationals across the globe. Alison and her team have seen the power of a great story and, when it's supported by emotionally engaging leaders and continuous reinforcement through real-life stories, the positive impact it can have on business performance.

To find out more about Alison you can view her profile on LinkedIn.

Show Notes:

1.07s – The Storytellers, Cromwell Place, Lavery, Collins, Churchill and the Anglo-Irish Agreement – 3.12 – A bit about The Storytellers and bringing strategy to life emotionally – 5.52 –Everybody in business wants to feel as though they're playing a part – 8.02 – Leaders struggle to understand why and how strategy is relevant to them – 9.22 – Stories and strong leadership are key drivers of engagement – 9.57 – Building authenticity and credibility – 11.07 – Bringing your whole self to work and hiding behind language – 12.42 – Storytelling takes courage and guidance but it's in us – 13.52 – How do you create a narrative - 16.22 – Structure is key – beginning, middle and end; how what and why – 18.52 – It shouldn't be pages and pages of content – 19.57 – How do you bring it to life through an organisation. Leaders are key – 22.02 – Using champions to get the story out – 23.32 – The comms team has an important part to play – 24.22 – Stories help to identify unsung heroes – 26.12 – Kerry Foods – keeping the story alive – 30.52 – To be credible, processes need to be aligned to your story.

Show Notes:

0.00 – Strong parallels between leadership in sport and business – 50s – A bit about Mike over 20 years – 1.50 – Coaching, winning and Welsh Valleys – 3.05 –A career-changing injury and a move into coaching – 4.05 – A course doesn't mean you know everything – 4.20 – Vision is fine but alignment and communication is key to success – 6.30 – A focus on what to maintain and what to work on – 6.59 – "I'm going to coach Wales", declare your intentions to the universe – 9.50 – Looking to your team for answers – 11.00 – Sometimes the answers come from the least expected places – 16.35 – Formal vs informal leaders – 17.35 – Recognising talent in your team – 18.20 – Respect, recognition and unity – 21.20 – The tiny things make a difference – 22.40 – Creating team vision and aligning practices to it W.A.L.E.S – 27.40 - Attitude. What are your trademarks? - 30.00 – Mike's advice for his 20-year-old self – Just be you and 'bouncebackability'!

Harry has worked with words for many years. He started life as an editor before joining the London-based agency 'The Writer' in response to an advert that called out their mission 'to stop the tyranny of linguistic mediocrity'. Six months ago he became Monzo Bank's writer though, as he says himself, "Everyone here is a writer, I've just got the job title".

To find out more about Harry you can view his profile on Linkedin. To have a look at Monzo's tone of voice and to read more about 'active language monkeys', see www.monzo.com/toneofvoice.

Show Notes:

1.07 – A bit about Harry – 3.30 – Monzo – the digital bank that lives in your phone – 5.00 – Why does a company need to define the tone of voice – 8.30 –Tone of voice isn't about turning the staff into automatons – 10.18 – Tone of voice guidelines vs rules – 11.43 – Creating Monzo's tone of voice - 15.40 – Monkeys and avoiding the passive voice – 18.35 – The 'read aloud and listen' test – 19.35 – We should write as we speak – 20.50 – The problem with 'professional' writing - 21.55 – Building trust through human writing – 22.55 – Embedding tone of voice across your business – 24.17 – Giving people skills and confidence – 26.37 – Making it real through examples – 27.50 – Prove it works – 28.40 - Going public with the tone of voice – 29.45 – The benefits (and pitfalls) of lifting another's the tone of voice

Tara has over 25 years of experience in tech marketing, Today, at Skillsoft, the world's largest e-learning company, she has a diverse portfolio including branding, corporate marketing, communications and product marketing.

She's also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

For more on Tara's experience click here to view her profile on Linkedin. Tara also talked about Google's 'Just not Sorry' plugin for Chrome - there's a bit more on that here.

Key Points:

* Leaders with authenticity and focus

* What you love doing maybe it isn't here.

* Gender imbalance, Starbucks and conscious bias

* Cementing recall with stories

* Sponsors vs mentors

* Cheryl Sandberg, Plan B and pivoting in life

Show Notes:

1.15 – A bit of background on Skillsoft – 2.35 – Internal communications to enable sales– 4.00 – Authenticity, focus and knowing when to offer support – 6.07 – The problem with office politics – 7.50 People should love what they do – maybe it isn't here. – 9.10 – A leader's role is to clear a path - 10.40 – addressing gender imbalance, Starbucks and conscious bias – 17.30 – The changing role of learning in business to increase learning and recall – 13.45 – Cementing recall with stories – 17.40 – Providing specific learning for female High Potentials - 22.50 – Personal development, your interests and a focus on 'making you a better you' – 24.38 – Democratisation of leadership and training at the moment of need – 27.30 – Sponsors vs mentors – 28.50 – Cheryl Sandberg, Plan B and pivoting in life – 30.50 – Jack Welsh and efficiency - 31.14 - 'You are enough' – confidence and doing it your own way.

By his own admission, Pedro's purpose throughout his career- or his 'set of experiences' as he describes them - has been to help people to grow, develop and become the very best that they can be.

In his role in AIB, Pedro is responsible for Leadership Development, something he says companies aren't just talking about now, but are actually focused on. Outside of AIB, he is President of the Irish Chapter of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council).

Click here for more on Pedro's career and experience or read his Irresistible Leaders post.

Show Notes:

1.30 – Pedro on his purpose and career – 3.00 – There's a clear trend towards a focus on developing leaders – 4.28 – Focusing on staff to get the most for customers – 5.15 – 'Irresistible Leaders', emotional bonds and empowerment – 8.45 – 'Inspirare' – breathing life into teams – 10.30 – Leadership is easy, the 'practice' of leadership is the hard bit – 12.20 – Being happy failing and failing quickly - 16.30 – Don't just look for process followers, look for problem solvers – 17.45 – Bring customer experience to life in the day-to-day - 18.30 – Leader's role in creating an engaging workplace – 23.00 – Stories, culture and purpose – 24.15 – Staff bringing purpose to life in Disney – 26.10 – Great leaders are great storytellers – 26.40 – Change, Rosabeth Moss Kanter and communication – 28.40 – The 4P's of change – 30.00 – Lack of clarity impacts performance – 31.08 – Pedro's advice for his 20-year-old self.