inspired energy

By Murray GuestSociety & Culture

inspired energy episodes

October 04, 2020IE73 - Paul Dunlop | Lean, Leadership and LEGO!
In this episode I chat with Paul Dunlop, who works with organizations to implement change and improvement through lean thinking and methodologies.

Paul brings with him over 20 years of management and manufacturing experience in a broad range of industries, and provides a holistic approach with the pillars of People, Process, Play and Profit. He’s passionate about the importance of engaging people at the frontlines of organizations and developing servant leaders to facilitate cultures of learning and improvement (i.e. nice places to come to work!).

We discuss the three L’s - Lean, Leadership and LEGO! Paul talks us through why he’s the 'chaos to calm’ guy in the eyes of his clients, how implementing change is always incremental, and why decluttering your business allows you to see where improvements need to be made.

Key highlights include:
Where can you tighten up your processes so you have time and space to think above the day-to-day processes.

Lean is a way of thinking. It’s about ownership and empowerment.

Culture and performance is always a reflection of leadership.

Implementing change (that sticks!) in organisations is a lot like losing weight. You need to build the structure, the habits and the daily routines, to see the long term changes.
To connect further with Paul, you can find him on LinkedIn.
#lean #leadership #culture #lego #legoseriousplay #lsp #business
55 min
August 30, 2020IE72 - Christopher Miller | Strengths Coach, Consultant, Facilitator
In this episode I chat with Chris Miller, an experienced business, executive and personal coach, based in Wellington NZ, who consistently inspires exceptional results.

Chris’ services include business and personal coaching for small business leaders and high performing individuals seeking success, happiness and fulfilment in their business and their lives. We discuss Strengths and how he has turned the Name It Claim It Aim It model on its head, plus how Strengths play out differently if you’re an employee versus business owner.

Chris has also developed the Love Most Matrix and the Greatest Imaginable Challenge, plus many other original resources that he uses with clients - you can view them here.

Key highlights include:
How does our strengths profile allow us to express our values and our purpose

How do we make organisational purpose YOUR reason for being here

When learning about strengths, find what challenges or situations you’d like to apply them to before figuring out how they can help you

You already know what your purpose or legacy is, but you may not have asked yourself the explorative questions in a way that resonates with you or picked the right moment or mindset to ask yourself in.
To connect further with Chris and his work, hop on over to his website.
53 min
August 17, 2020IE71 - Brigette Landy | Recruitment & Strengths
In this episode I chat with Brigette Landy, a passionate recruiter who loves helping businesses solve their people needs.

Celebrating 16 years with Forsythes Recruitment & HR this month, she is passionate about all things recruitment, people, leadership, CX and 90's grunge music. Born and bred in Newcastle, Brig leads a team of niche consultants across the Hunter and Central Coast, specialising in the recruitment of CX, Marketing and Sales professionals. When she's not recruiting, you can usually find Brig hanging out in her backyard with her partner Zac and fur child Evie, listening to music or playing guitar.

We delve into the recruitment world and how that has been affected over the last 6 months, why video is playing a vital role in the recruitment process right now, and how she has developed ways to ‘evidence’ the gut feelings that she gets about placing people into positions.
We also discuss Strengths and why she happily describes herself as an adaptable, positive achiever (can you guess what some of her Top 5 are?!). Knowing her Strengths has enabled Brig to know herself and her team better, and we touch on how they also flow across into dealing with clients and placing candidates in roles.

Key highlights on this episode include:
Whilst it’s a priority for me, it may not be someone else’s priority

Expect people to display their emotions (especially in these times) and accept the person where they’re at

Recruiting in the CX space is not about technical skillset, it’s about behaviour, personality and culture fit.
If you want to connect further with Brigette, you can find her on LinkedIn. And if you’re interested in attending the online CX networking session you can find the details below.
Forsythes CX Network event - 10am Friday 4 September 2020 via Zoom. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from the awesome Luke Jamieson – CX and EX Thought Leader – ask questions, and share your own ideas and challenges in this new world of employee engagement we’re living in. To register email Brig @ [email protected]
#leadership #culture #strengths #cliftonstrengths #hr #recruitment #covid19 #cx #customerservice #callcentre #newcastle
50 min
August 03, 2020IE70 - Kirsty McCulloch | Sleep, Fatigue & Human Factors
In this episode I chat with Kirsty McCulloch all about sleep, fatigue and human factors. She literally wakes companies up, and helps employees get enough sleep and arrive at work full of energy to start the day.

Kirsty is a world expert in fatigue risk management. She has worked as an academic, written regulation in several industries, danced through industrial work hour negotiations. She has history with all modes of transportation, oil and gas, mining, military, energy, construction, IT and public service sectors. Kirsty excels at applying scientific methods to develop practical solutions to improve safety, productivity & overall employee wellness.

We discuss sleep and the impact of not getting enough of it - both personally and from a company standpoint.
Sleep has a huge impact on company revenue, safety, and on overall health.
Human factors is another area we delve into - understanding that we all make mistakes and we’re all programmed to be lazy, to conserve energy and do things in the easiest way possible.

Key highlights from this episode include:
Managing fatigue is about engaging your workforce about what it means to be 'fit for work'

It’s not just about telling people to sleep, it’s about relearning how to sleep

How do we create a system that makes it easy to succeed?

When you’ve been awake for 18 hours, your performance is comparable to having a BAC of 0.05, whereas being awake for 24 hours is comparable to a 0.1 BAC.

We aren’t taught about the importance of sleep in our overall health picture - we learn about movement and food pyramids but miss that key piece of our wellbeing
And we’ll finish up by including some top sleep tips:
Sleep in a dark, quiet room

Remove all technology - turn off your phone at least half an hour before going to bed, don’t fall asleep in front of the tv

Avoid caffeine within 4 hours of bed

Avoid alcohol and sleeping tablets

Train your brain to fall asleep by using ambient music.
If you’d like to connect further with Kirsty you can find her on LinkedIn, and also make sure to check out her app, Awaken Fatigue.

#leadership #fatigue #humanfactors #safety #culture #health #resilience #wellbeing #covid19 #sleep
35 min
July 30, 2020IE69 - Lockdown Leadership | Self-care
Across this 5-part podcast series, I chat with Becky Hammond from Isogo Strong and unpack some common leadership themes that we have seen stand out during this crisis. As we've coached and worked with leaders over the past several months, themes have emerged where the best leaders are thriving and implementing changes to successfully take their team and organisation forward. These themes include Grace & Kindness, Communication, Individualization, Clarity, and Self-care.
In this episode, we focus on SELF-CARE. The need for prioritization of self to show up better for others and yourself, and how it is often the first thing to go when things get busy.
We also discuss how self-care is beyond just the physical and how it includes mental, emotional and the spiritual. Importantly it's also about self-reflection, and giving yourself that time to unplug and process - or your health can suffer later.
Key highlights include:
Self-care doesn’t change the busyness, but it changes your perspective and outlook so you can show up better for yourself and your team.

Self-care isn’t selfish. It gives you time to process, self-reflect and regenerate.

No-one wants the burnt-out version of you.
Actionable steps to take from this episode:
Where is your third space? Take the time to reinvest in this.

Make your self-care time non-negotiable - schedule it in, create boundaries and show up for yourself.

Give yourself a mental break - you can only control what you can control.

Ask your team, how are they investing in their own self-care this week?
These conversations with Becky are always valuable, she brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the other side of the world. I hope you follow along with this series here on the podcast as we get into 4 more themes that have shined through the best leaders in this time of lockdown.
If you gained inspiration from this episode and the rest of this special podcast series then you will love our program, Leaders Who Give a Damn, where we take these concepts even further.
#leadership #leaderswhogiveadamn #coaching #culture #health #resilience #thirdspace #wellbeing #covid19
32 min
July 22, 2020Episode 68 - Lockdown Leadership | Clarity
Across this 5-part podcast series, I chat with Becky Hammond from Isogo Strong and unpack some common leadership themes that we have seen stand out during this crisis. As we've coached and worked with leaders over the past several months, themes have emerged where the best leaders are thriving and implementing changes to successfully take their team and organisation forward. These themes include Grace & Kindness, Communication, Individualization, Clarity, and Selfcare.

In this episode, we focus on CLARITY. The need for clear conversations to reduce anxiety, stress and clear those murky waters that can often come in times of unpredictability.
Prioritising clarity brings calmness, expectations, more security and safety about what’s ahead. It allows the opportunity for honesty from both a leadership and a team perspective and reduces the element of surprise.

Key highlights include:
By communicating clearly and with clarity when it’s business-as-usual, it enhances the team’s communication, productivity and responsiveness when things get murky

Sometimes clarity needs to come from the bottom up, not just the top down.

Teams who focus on clarity are often happier and more engaged

Even if you have no answers to a certain event/situation/project, be open about that. Otherwise people start to create assumptions and stories as to what might happen.
Actionable steps to take from this episode:
Where can you provide more clarity in ONE space?

Challenge: at your next team meeting, ask everyone where they need more clarity right now.

Review: Are the cycle of your meetings matching the rhythms of your work?

Use a traffic light system for flagging what tasks need more clarity - green is good to go, amber/yellow needs more clarity, and red is something that won’t progress without further conversation.
These conversations with Becky are always valuable, she brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the other side of the world. I hope you follow along with this series here on the podcast as we get into 4 more themes that have shined through the best leaders in this time of lockdown.

If you gained inspiration from this episode then you will love our program, Leaders Who Give a Damn, where we take these concepts even further.

In the next conversation of this series, we will be delving into Self Care and how it is vital for you and your team.
Also don't forget to checkout www.leaderswhogiveadamn.com for more ways to truly show you give a damn about your people.
#podcast #leadership #leaderswhogiveadamn #covid19 #business #professionaldevelopment #strengths #health #wellbeing #communication #culture #clarity #teamdevelopment #entrepreneur
42 min
July 19, 2020Episode 67 - Lockdown Leadership | Individualization
Across this 5-part podcast series, I chat with Becky Hammond from Isogo Strong and unpack some common leadership themes that we have seen stand out during this crisis. As we've coached and worked with leaders over the past several months, themes have emerged where the best leaders are thriving and implementing changes to successfully take their team and organisation forward. These themes include Grace & Kindness, Communication, Individualization, Clarity, and Selfcare.
In this episode, we focus on INDIVIDUALIZATION. The need for tailoring the way we show up for different people, how we communicate with them, and how we can adjust their working life during these times.
Gallup states that the best managers are those who individualize, and during this conversation, Becky and I unpack just how to do that effectively.
Key highlights include:
People aren’t assets, they’re humans.

Know your people, but have boundaries - leaders aren’t counselors.

Be prepared to adjust your direction once you know where people are at.

If we consider that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, consider that the way your team is currently working - their new habits - have been in place for over 90 days.
Actionable steps to take from this episode:
Ask yourself, are you managing people to a job description?

When deciding which of your workforce works from home and which come to the facility, switch your thinking from ‘who do we need at work’ to ‘who needs to be at home right now’.

If short on time, can you do one-word check ins at the beginning of a meeting? This will give insight into the team member’s headspace, but without them having to go into detail.

Ask your team members, what parts of this new way of working do they want to continue in the future?
These conversations with Becky are always valuable, she brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the other side of the world. I hope you follow along with this series here on the podcast as we get into the themes that have shined through the best leaders in this time of lockdown.
If you gained inspiration from this episode then you will love our program, Leaders Who Give a Damn, where we take these concepts even further.
In the next conversation of this series, we will be delving into Clarity and how it positively impacts Leadership.
#podcast #leadership #leaderswhogiveadamn #covid19 #business #professionaldevelopment #strengths #health #wellbeing #communication #culture #teamdevelopment #entrepreneur
37 min
July 09, 2020 Episode 66 - Lockdown Leadership | Communication
Lockdown Leadership | Communication
Across this 5-part podcast series, I chat with Becky Hammond from Isogo Strong and unpack some common leadership themes that we have seen stand out during this crisis. As we've coached and worked with leaders over the past several months, themes have emerged where the best leaders are thriving and implementing changes to successfully take their team and organisation forward. These themes include Grace & Kindness, Communication, Individualization, Clarity, and Selfcare.
In this episode, we focus on COMMUNICATION. The need for effective, timely and succinct communication has been highlighted through this crisis. The words we use, what we say and how we say it, how we listen, our energy, body language, gestures, all contribute to the messages we provide people.
We delve into individualization of communication and discuss examples of what some of the best leaders are doing. We share actionable steps that leaders can take to use communication to influence the culture and impact their team positively, especially in a crisis.
Key highlights include:
· When we talk more frequently, for a shorter period of time, it builds alignment, understanding and speed of decision making. Do less, more frequently.
· If you own your own stuff, it opens up the space for others to own theirs.
· Great managers have the conversation sooner.
· Focus on the facts – “In crisis management, be quick with the facts and slow with the blame” – Leonard Saffir
Actionable steps to take from this episode:
· Individualize your communication with your team. How do they like being communicated with? Do they like recognition and praise? Start each conversation with genuine recognition for how they show up. If they need time to think about things, then give them a heads up about what the future meeting will be about. If they’re detail-oriented and need context, give them the background info the need on the topic.
· Don’t rush - allow yourself the time to have the conversation.
· Implement 'team meetings' at home with your family, especially if you are solely working from home.
· Don’t schedule your meeting for 30 or 60 minutes; try 20 minutes, or 50. Give yourself time and allow some mental space between back-to-back meetings.
· What is the best platform for the conversation you need to have? Email, phone, Zoom, text, something else?
These conversations with Becky are always valuable, she brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the other side of the world. I hope you follow along with this series here on the podcast as we get into 4 more themes that have shined through the best leaders in this time of lockdown.
If you gained inspiration from this episode then you will love our program, Leaders Who Give a Damn, where we take these concepts even further.
In the next conversation of this series, we will be delving into the Individualization of Leadership.
#podcast #leadership #leaderswhogiveadamn #covid19 #business #professionaldevelopment #strengths #health #wellbeing #communication #culture #teamdevelopment #entrepreneur
34 min
July 03, 2020 Episode 65 - Lockdown Leadership | Grace & Kindness
Lockdown Leadership | Grace & Kindness
Across this 5-part podcast series, I chat with Becky Hammond from Isogo Strong and unpack some common leadership themes that we have seen stand out during this crisis. As we've coached and worked with leaders over the past several months, themes have emerged that are making the best thrive, and even make changes that they are keeping into the future. These themes include Grace & Kindness, Communication, Individualisation & Flexibility, Clarity, and Taking Care of Self.

In this episode, we zone in on GRACE & KINDNESS, and provide some examples and actionable steps that leaders can take to really ramp this up. We speak about assumptions and how to modify these, kindness towards self first, and how creating flexibility encourages grace and kindness.

Key highlights include:
- How one leader pivoted his business during COVID-19 which was driven by the need to keep his employees engaged and at work, rather than to just keep the business afloat.
- No leader should be assuming that their team members can deliver on the exact same work that they were doing before working from home.
- How little acts of kindness is grace in action, surprise and delight.
- How we get there matters - focus on the way we work and interact.
Actionable steps to take from this episode:
- Rather than asking for a task to be done by close of business, change it to being due at the start of the next day.
- Pause at the beginning of a meeting and check-in with the team’s energy. The team’s wellbeing comes before projects and deadlines, and in turn it boosts productivity
- Breathe. Inhaling is the act of receiving grace, and then exhaling - letting it out to others.
These conversations with Becky are always valuable, she brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from the other side of the world. I hope you follow along with this series here on the podcast as we get into 4 more themes that have shined through the best leaders in this time of lockdown.
If you gained inspiration from this episode then you will love our program, Leaders Who Give a Damn, where we take these concepts even further.
In the next conversation of this series, we will be delving into communication.
#podcast #leadership #leaderswhogiveadamn #covid19 #business #professionaldevelopment #strengths #health #wellbeing #grace #kindness #entrepreneur
36 min
June 22, 2020Episode 64 - Michael Fearne | Expert in LEGO Serious Play (Pivotal Play)
In this episode I chat with Michael Fearne, who is the founder of Pivotal Play, a facilitation consultancy in Melbourne, Australia.
Michael specialises in the LEGO® Serious Play® method. He’s worked with companies big and small to tackle business problems and make change happen using a playful approach. He is also a big believer in empowering others and so trains people to run their own playful workshops using the LEGO® Serious Play® Method. When he’s not making people play with LEGO, he enjoys time at home in Australia with his wife Lily and daughter Maya.

During our conversation we unpack what LEGO® Serious Play® actually is and how it helps organisations and its people to open up. We touch on vulnerability, on judgement, and on how to bring the essence of playfulness to everyday tasks through using it as a lens to work through.

Key episode highlights include:
Playfulness in an organisation opens up whole new ways of thinking.

When you play, business ego moves to the side and you show up as who you really are.

Right now we need to build something new, not rebuild what we had.
You can connect further with Michael and his playfulness over at his website, Pivotal Play, and on LinkedIn.
#facilitator #LEGO #legoseriousplay #LSP #coach #consultant #business #leadership #fun #play #podcast #culture
39 min

About inspired energy

From the publisher's feed

Connecting and chatting with inspiring people as we explore topics such as strengths, leadership, culture, personal growth, health, mindset and living an inspired life. Each episode includes insights,…

Share inspired energy

Sign up to save your podcasts

inspired energy

inspired energy episodes

About inspired energy