When we receive negative feedback at work the floor can shake beneath our feet and it is very hard not to take it personally. We can feel our job is at risk. We can feel diminished by the person pointing to our flaws. Sometimes we shut down and stop listening.

Most people would agree that giving and receiving feedback can be complex. That is why so many managers feel inhibited around these on-the-spot performance conversations.
However, feedback is a critical ingredient in creating an engaged and high-performing organisation. Therefore building a thriving, performance-based feedback culture needs to priority for every leader.

In this episode of the Leadium podcast, Sharon Longridge chats with Dr Anne Lytle.  Dr Lytle holds a BSc from Cornell University in Neuroscience and her MS and PhD in Organisational Behaviour from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.  Anne has taught, presented, and consulted in organisations and universities across the globe. She served as Director of Leadership at Monash Business School. For 20 years, she has been the Director of Lytle and Associates, providing consulting to public, private and non-profit organisations in leadership, influence and impact.

Anne explains that meaningful performance feedback is one of the main drivers of flourishing organisations. She talks about the ideal ratio of negative and positive feedback and why it is crucial to keep an eye on our emotional state during these workplace conversations.

What we cover

• Corrective feedback - why we ten to take feedback personally
• The S.C.A.R.F model - five hardwired aspects of the human social experience
• The status threat - how feedback can undermine our sense of personal power
• Certainty and feedback - the human habit of catastrophising
• Loss of autonomy - why feedback can trigger a loss of control
• The relatedness principle - how social and physical pain activate the brain
• Fairness at work - our hardwired need for equity
• Being preparation - using framing to build receptivity and minimise threats
• Connection credits - How to balance affirming and corrective feedback

Resources

• Ream more about Anne Lytle: https://www.leadium.com.au/about-us 
• David Rock explaining SCARF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wu33SdjeCs
• Book: Your Brain at Work by David Rock https://davidrock.net/books/ 

Without notice, the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to radically change how their people worked.  Nearly 90% of businesses globally mandated or encouraged their employees to work from home, as the virus spread exponentially (Gartner, 2020).

Twelve months later, with vaccines being rolled out, organisations are developing return-to-work strategies.  Leaders have a unique opportunity to engineer smarter ways of working.  The research indicates that for many organisations working-life will look very different to pre-2020 norms.  A recent Gartner study reports that close to half of all employees will work remotely at least some of the time in the post-pandemic world, compared with 30% before Covid-19.  

A larger remote workforce will force leaders to rethink their approaches to leading teams. Many challenges surfaced last year including trust issues between remote managers and staff working from home. The cost of working in isolation and losing the social aspect of the office also became apparent.  So how can we skilfully redesign post-pandemic work-life?  

In this episode, Sharon Longridge turns to the science of work design in this timely conversation with the Director of the Center for Transformative Work Design at Curtin University, Dr Sharon Parker.  

Dr Parker is an acclaimed expert on organisational behaviour and she has created the ‘SMART' work design model. If you haven’t come across it then you must stay tuned. She explains that this evidence-based model can positively impact wellness, performance and retention levels.  Don't miss this episode if workforce engagement and return-to-work issues are front-of-mind for you. 

What we cover:

• Tethered or Trusted?: Triggering trust issues between managers and teams
• Remote working: What effective remote work looks like for a company
• Return-to-work: How to reintegrate teams back into the office effectively
• SMART model:  ‘SMART' work design and its advantages and benefits
• Offsite disconnection: The risks involved with 100% remote working
• Check-in vs check-up: How leaders can offer skilful support
• Acceleration of AI: The effects on post-pandemic work 
• Recovery activities: Energy management and detaching in downtown

Resources:

• Connect with Sharon Parker at the Center for Transformative Work Design
• Sharon Parker on Linkedin
• Smart Work Design
• The University of Western Australia
• Australian Academy of Science
• Here are the Top Five Leadership Challenges During the Pandemic by Nihar Chhaya
• Sign up for Leadium mailing list and access exclusive offers

'You are what you eat' is a maxim with layered meaning. Having a balanced, healthy diet not only boosts our immune system but also our emotional fortitude. While poor food choices can make us less resistant to life’s inevitable stressors and infections.

Seemingly harmless choices like giving soft drinks to our kids or consuming coffee with sugar on an empty stomach can have negative effects on our health and wellbeing. The good news is that we can bolster our overall resilience with simple changes to our diet and by eating diverse, seasonal foods.

In this episode of the Leadium podcast, Sharon Longridge interviews respected naturopath and clinical nutritionist Tabitha McIntosh. Tabitha is the Founder and Director of complementary medicine and natural health clinic, Awaken Your Health, and co-author of the book 'One Bite At A Time’. She is passionate about integrative health and takes a refreshingly pragmatic approach to sustained wellness.

Eating for resilience is the focus of this conversation and Tabitha explains the importance of eating colourful, well-formulated meals. She also explains why it is crucial to properly nourish the billions of bacteria living in our gut, the microbiome. The impacts of eating processed food and excess sugar are also explored.

What we cover

• Eating for wellness - why well-formulated meals so important
• Iron women - why women should have iron-rich diets 
• The 80/20 rule - giving our souls a treat now and then 
• Bittersweet - added sugar and the tricky fructose 
• Eating the rainbow - the importance of eating colourful foods 
• Stress and digestion - how stress impacts our digestive system 
• The microbiome - why it is vital to nurture friendly bacteria 
• A champion's breakfast - nailing the most important meal of the day 
• Short black - myths vs. facts about coffee 

Resources

• Tabitha McIntosh's Website 
• One Bite At A Time by Tabitha McIntosh  
• IG:@awakenyourhealth
• Sign up for Leadium mailing list and access exclusive offers at http://www.leadium.com.au 

Have you had a day recently where you skipped lunch or forgot to drink enough water? Perhaps you sat at your computer without stretching for far too long. For some of us when we feel under pressure, we ignore the signals from our body. But science tells us that acting on these cues really matters.

For thousands of years, ancient practices like yoga and Tai Chi, have recognised that the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind. These complex systems are profoundly interconnected. By way of contrast, traditional theories in psychology place the responsibility for generating our behaviour in the brain.

Modern science is gradually reconnecting the body-mind. We know that 80% of the fibres in our sensory pathways travel from the body into the brain, while only 20% head the other way. Our experience of these sensations is the little-discussed, yet ever-present sense called interoception. As Sharon’s guest in this episode explains, interoception has vast impacts on our life.

Dr Kelly Mahler is an author, speaker and researcher from Pennsylvania, USA. She has a doctorate in Occupational Therapy. Her publications include Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System, and The Interoception Curriculum: A Step by Step Guide to Developing Mindful Self-Regulation, which is part of a comprehensive online program.

In this conversation, Kelly and Sharon explore the embodied mind, the science behind gut feelings and why being attuned to the ever-changing subtle sensations within your body significantly impacts your ability to skillfully manage yourself and lead others.

What We Cover

• Interoception - encoding and decoding the signals from our body 
• Digital numbing - screen time and the awareness of our bodily sensations 
• Interoception at work - impacts on problem-solving and decision-making 
• Calibrating interoception - reducing reactivity and the negativity bias 
• Interoception and empathy - how body attunement improves connect with others 
• Training in interoception - the path to improving workplace cultures 
• Mindfulness and interoception - practising body awareness 

Resources: 

• Kelly Mahler's Website 
• Twitter: @kmahlerkmahler
• Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System by Kelly Mahler 
• The Interoception Curriculum by Kelly Mahler 
• Sign up for Leadium mailing list and access exclusive offers at 

Do you ever think there is so much to do and so little time? The world we live in is fast-paced; it’s endlessly changing and it compels us to be busy. When you're peddling fast, it's easy to let good habits slip like eating well, sleeping well and doing exercise every day.

Working harder and longer might build your professional reputation in the short term, however, these choices are costly for your brain. Studies show that poor nutrition, lack of sleep and being sedentary dramatically impacts neuron production and degrades our thinking skills.

Thankfully, we have the power to prioritise a better work-life integration and we can harness our brain's plasticity to our cognitive advantage.

In this episode, Sharon Longridge chats with Dr. Jenny Brockis. Jenny is a TEDx speaker, thought leader, and best-selling author specialising in cognitive health and high-performance thinking. She has recently published her new book ‘Thriving Mind.’ Jenny has dedicated her life to others' wellbeing and her vision is to encourage people to live a happy, flourishing life.

Today she talks about brain fitness and the importance of having a rested, refueled, and energised mind. Self-care, mindfulness and self-compassion are also crucial to keep our brain in shape. She also reveals the advantages of being curious and building mental flexibility.   

What we cover

• Mental capital - the magic combo of emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility
• Brain fitness - keeping your brain in great shape
• Survivor mode - the brain looking for the nearest exit
• Brain food - what type of food is the best for a healthy mind
• Gut bacteria - how it influences our brain
• What we eat - links between food, depression, anxiety and mood changes
• Keep moving - exercise is neuroprotective so stand up for your brain
• Mindfulness - how mindfulness reduces stress and enhances wellbeing
• The plasticity of the brain - the crucial role of curiosity and stretching mental muscles

Resources

• Connect with Dr Jenny Brockis 
• Jenny Brockis: Our Brains Need Attention - TEDxUniMelb
• IG: @drjennybrockis
• Twitter: @drjennybrockis

Is there an aspect of your life that you would benefit from changing? For example; watching less Netflix, exercising more, checking your phone less, connecting with nature more.
These changes involve dropping old habits or creating new ones. Unfortunately, our noble goals can be harder to realise than we would like. Many people struggle to covert positive change into lasting behaviours. If you’ve had this experience, you're far from alone.

Setbacks and the need to get back-on-track are part of the change process. However, when we fall back into old habits feelings of failure can arise, triggering self-criticism and self-doubt. Science tells us that this response trips us into a downward spiral of shame, pain or fear. Here’s the rub - when we are upset our brain is not good at making decisions and we seek instant relief, even if it means engaging in the habits we are trying to quit.

But there is hope; you can mentor yourself and re-train your brain so that you back yourself and stay on track.

In this episode of the Leadium podcast, Sharon Longridge interviews Dr Kelly McGonigal, a neuroscience expert, health psychologist, and lecturer at Stanford University. She is the worldwide best-seller The Willpower Instinct, and her TED Talk How to Make Stress Your Friend has garnered almost 25 million views.

Kelly explains how to harness the three aspects of willpower and self-compassion to align our behaviours with our deepest goals and values. A key element to achieve this is to focus on self-compassion in place of shame or guilt. Kelly shares evidence that even small changes can snowball into big victories.

What we cover:

• Willpower and goals - getting clear of what we want and who we are
• The three aspects of willpower - the 'I want, I won't, and I will' powers
• Stress and demotivation - why stress steals our progress
• The cost of self-criticism - how it corrodes motivation
• Harnessing self-compassion - acknowledging what it means to be human
• Letter of self-compassion practice - awakening your compassion instincts
• Making change social - finding bigger-than-self goals and teaming up

Resources:

• Connect with Kelly McGonigal at http://kellymcgonigal.com/  
• Kelly McGonigal: How to Make Stress Your Friend - TEDGlobal 2013
• IG: @kellymariemcgonigal
• Twitter: @kellymcgonical
  
  

If you’re like most of us, your internal panic button can be triggered far too easily, even on those days that are peppered with simple pleasant moments.

When we enter this 'red zone' fear, frustration or feelings of inadequacy can engulf us. This state of mind is exhausting and depleting. As you’ll hear we all have a hardwired negativity bias, largely due to the evolution of our brain. The welcomed news is that we can overwrite this outdated mental habit and the process is really enjoyable.

In this episode of the Leadium podcast, Sharon Longridge interviews Dr Rick Hanson, a psychologist and New York Times best-selling author. His books include Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, Mother Nurture, and the most recently published Neurodharma. He’s been an invited speaker at major universities including Oxford, Stanford and Harvard. His work has been widely featured across global media networks. Rick is a long-term contemplative practitioner and has taught at meditation centres across the world. 

Dr Rick Hanson explains the science of positive neuroplasticity and how we can skillfully use our attention to reshape our brain. The impact of this powerful and accessible practice is growing inner resources such as grit, gratitude, self-confidence and self-worth. These attributes are essential to sustained resilience, performance and peace-of-mind.

What we cover

• Evolution of our brain - the remnants of the lizard, mouse and monkey
• Red and the Green zone - decoding the reactive and responsive modes of the mind
• Meeting our core needs - safety, satisfaction and connection
• The brain’s negativity bias - why tough moments get stuck your head
• Positive neuroplasticity - learn how you can rewire your brain
• The power of attention - turning mind states into brain traits
• Taming the inner critic - the essential skill of growing your inner nurturer
  
  

Resources

• Connect with Dr Rick Hanson https://www.rickhanson.net/  
• Brain Tips for Deep Calm with Rick Hanson 
• Well Being Podcast