Listening – really listening – to people who work at the ‘chalk face’ is the most powerful way to build trust and achieve positive outcomes for an organisation. Nadine Anderson’s story is a brilliant illustration of this. As an expert in organisational development, and the People, Culture and Engagement Lead at Westminster City Council, she has applied a people-first approach to shape a values-driven strategy grounded in what staff actually think and need.

In this episode, Nadine shares how she created a meaningful employee listening exercise within Westminster’s Housing service, and how she used this to make a real difference. Westminster is a diverse borough with complex needs – affluence alongside deprivation – and with housing officers who care deeply about their work. By enabling employees to share ideas, reflect on how organisational values could best be realised, and be properly involved in shaping future strategy, Nadine has built a more trusting culture and achieved better outcomes for residents of the borough.

Sarah and Nadine discuss:

• How Nadine developed an employee listening exercise.
• How to align organisational values with real lived experiences.
• Why apparently small or simple changes – such as replacing carpets, or having cover on reception desks – can make a huge difference.
• How Nadine used Copilot to process a huge volume of feedback, identifying themes, grouping comments, and supporting prioritisation of action points.
• Nadine’s next steps – how she’s running colleague-led ‘activation workshops’ to connect people across functions and improve collaboration and outcomes.

Since the podcast was recorded, new research shows that life expectancy differs by 15 years - not 18 - in some Westminster neighbourhoods.  

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon, a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

Working in frontline bomb disposal and special operations in the British Army for nearly two decades has given Ben Sawyer a vivid, profound perspective on how to face and manage fear, and what risk really means. 

Having moved into the corporate world, now Head of Continuous Improvement at British Gas, Ben brings a blend of insights into operational strategy, empowerment and leadership.

In this conversation, we explore what fear looks like in real life, from extreme sports to bomb disposal, and how our brains interpret risk depending on whether we feel in control. Ben shares experiences from bomb disposal and army training that shed light on human responses to fear and risk.

We discuss;

• What fear is (both physiological and emotional). 
• Why perceived risk can feel as powerful as actual risk, and the role of control.
• How exposure and training can help build confidence over time, including the concept of ‘fear inoculation’.
• The sense of belonging, identity and culture that exists in a military environment, and the experience of transitioning to a civilian, corporate role.
• Building a culture of continuous improvement through mindset and empowerment.
• A brief foray into the concept of ‘moral injury’ – what it is and how people experience it.

We refer to a chapter by Ben Sawyer and Liz Sawyer in the book Paradox and Power in Caring Leadership.

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon, a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

How do decisions get made in organisations? And what does it look like to support the decision-making process really effectively? And how might human behaviour be accounted for?

Clym Stock-Williams is Head of Operational Excellence in the Offshore Wind Division at the renewable energy company Vattenfall. In this episode, Clym explains how effective decision systems align people, data, processes and technology with organisational strategy. And we explore how to design for human thinking and behaviour. 

Sarah and Clym discuss:

• How Clym’s background gives him a way to combine different approaches in supporting decision-making: thinking about human behaviour alongside data, technology and engineering processes. 
• What operational excellence means – delivering outcomes by aligning resources, people, processes, incentives and technology with the organisational strategy.
• Designing systems by starting from the value you’re trying to create, then mapping backwards to consider what needs to happen for that value to be realised.
• How to provide decision-makers with the appropriate level of detail for different types of decisions.
• The concept of ‘black box’ services – how much do people actually need to know?
• The role of trust and transparency in building systems that work.
• How behavioural science is shaping Clym’s approach to systems design and operational excellence.

Clym is expressing his own views, rather than representing the position of Vattenfall.

Episode Resources

Find Clym at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clym-stock-williams-68007212/ 

During the discussion, we refer to the following:

Joseph Paris / Operational Excellence:

Joseph Paris, State of Readiness

Operational Excellence Collection

David Rock / SCARF:

Rock, David (2008) "SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others", NeuroLeadership Journal, 1

Rock, David and Cox, Christine (2012) "SCARF® in 2012: updating the social neuroscience of collaborating with others", NeuroLeadership Journal, 4

Scarf Model Motivate Your Employees

Scarf Assessment

Susan Michie, UCL / The Behaviour Change Wheel:

The Behaviour Change Wheel

UCL Behaviour Change/ Training

Human Behaviour Change Project / Webinars

Progressive Disclosure / Design Principles:

Progressive Disclosure

User Centred Design

Nonviolent communication:

What is NVC

Paul Gibbons:

The Science of Organizational Change

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon, a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

What if preconceptions about disability could be turned upside down… to create much better ways to enable inclusion, tap into people’s talents, and open up opportunities? 

Martyn Sibley is an entrepreneur, activist, and founder of Purple Goat marketing agency, and The Purple Collective. He is a brilliant thinker, who prompts interesting questions about what we might all be overlooking by not enabling genuine inclusion.

Purple Goat is uniquely a disability-led, disability-focused marketing agency, with a mission to represent and empower the disabled community, and to drive innovative, inclusive marketing. It supports companies in opening up commercial opportunities with a market in front of them that is often overlooked – with the ‘Purple Pound’ potentially worth up to £300 billion.

Martyn’s perspective is incredibly thought-provoking. Sarah and Martyn discuss:

• The personal story behind Martyn’s work.
• Understanding the social model of disability – that it’s about barriers which create exclusion: Environmental barriers (such as steps for a wheelchair user); Attitudinal barriers (bias, assumptions, etc); and Procedural barriers (such as inaccessible recruitment processes).
• Challenging the stereotypes of disability – from pity to ‘superhero’ narratives – instead advocating for person-centred thinking.
• Inclusion as a commercial opportunity – not just being the ‘right thing’ to do but also with market growth among a huge potential consumer base.
• Innovative approaches such as Martyn’s plans for Inclusion Solution Labs through The Purple Collective, bringing together brands and innovators too co-create new solutions.

Episode Resources:

• https://martynsibley.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyn-sibley-1227b411/ 
• https://www.purplegoatagency.com/ 
• https://purplecollectiveglobal.com/about 

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

How do you help people navigate change at work? The success of any change – large or small – comes down to what people feel, think and do. So, understanding and responding to those human needs and voices is indispensable.

In this episode, our host Sarah Abramson talks to Charlotte Bolton, a learning, development and culture consultant and coach, about the human side of transformative change. Charlotte shares insights from her experience leading global L&D initiatives and supporting organisations through mergers and change projects.

Charlotte explores practical ways leaders and teams can create space to listen to perspectives, build trust, and influence decision makers. If you’re managing change in your organisation, or helping others through it, this conversation is all about how to make the journey more human.

We cover:

• Creating psychological safety: Why consistency, honesty, and listening matter. 
• Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn? Understanding emotional responses to change and how they show up at work. 
• The leader’s role: Building habits for self-awareness and regulation to lead others effectively. 
• Influencing at the top: How to speak the language of decision makers and align with strategic priorities. 
• Culture and transformation: How to engage people during mergers and big shifts, and why clarity and role modelling are key. 
• L&D’s contribution: Shifting behaviours and creating space for unlearning and new habits.

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

Why does the drive for productivity so often miss the point? The relentless focus on rules, compliance and systems risks a disconnect from the experience of real people.

In this episode, Sarah is joined by Christine Armstrong of Armstrong and Partners. Christine works with business leaders to help them understand trends in the world of work, within their organisations and beyond, through research and practical strategies.

We explore why strategies fail when organisations don’t put people at the heart of them. Christine shares research and stories about hybrid working, burnout, and the surprising ways AI is reshaping confidence and power inside organisations.

It’s a conversation about finding joy, rediscovering human connection and making work better.

We cover…

• Why productivity initiatives often crush the human energy they’re meant to harness.
• Why joy and human connection aren’t ‘nice-to-haves’ but the real engine of better work.
• Attitudes and trends around hybrid working, and why ‘flexibility’ and ‘predictability’ both matter to people.
• How AI is shifting traditional power structures inside organisations.
• The surprising value of deep listening, and how three minutes of attention can transform relationships.

Episode resources:

• Armstrong and Partners https://www.armstrongpartners.co.uk/ 
• Find Christine on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/thechristinearmstrong/ 

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

AI is changing work fast, but the story is still about people. So what are the opportunities for everyone, from personal development to boardroom strategy? And why does imagination, curiosity and play matter more than ever? 

Sarah is joined by Jeremy (Jez) Bassinder, Partner and GenAI Consulting Lead for UK and Ireland at IBM. Jez is excited by the opportunities that GenAI is opening up, but he’s also clear that the very things that make us human matter more than ever. 

He shares why and how organisations need to bring together different people with experience across technology, strategy, learning and more to develop cross-functional ways of thinking about AI-enabled organisational change.

Together we explore:

• The story of the Luddites and what it reveals about human attitudes and fear of change.
• How imagination, play and inclusivity can help us weave AI into the fabric of work – without losing what makes us human.
• How organisational strategy needs cross-functional teams, from the top level down, to bring together technical insight with strategic thinking.
• Why confidence and culture are so critical.
• Helping people become more confident in their own use of the tools and technologies.
• Implications of AI for inclusivity and democratisation of technology.
• What learning and development teams can do to help people experiment safely.
• What education might look like in an AI-enabled world.

Resources:

• Jez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybassinder/ 
• Jez’s TedX talk on ‘Weaving people and digital minds’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWGAx-YKPOo 
• The Cook Book Shelves blog:
  • thecookbookshelves.food.blog/blog
  • https://www.instagram.com/thecookbookshelves 

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

What are the implications of GenAI for learning and development? What’s really happening at the moment… and how do we make sense of it, while staying grounded in something that feels like human reality?

In this episode, Sarah talks with Ross Stevenson, founder and Chief Learning Strategist of Steal These Thoughts. Ross has spent nearly 20 years in L&D, and helps organisations bridge future skills and new technology adoption. He’s known for his no-nonsense approach, sharp insights and regular newsletter that unpicks technology trends in the L&D space.

Ross combines a reassuring understanding of the tech itself alongside pragmatic, human-centred thinking. Together we explore:

• How the role of L&D is evolving – and doing so differently in different contexts.
• Why most teams are still experimenting rather than embedding AI.
• How psychology, confidence and culture shape adoption of GenAI.
• Why we need to start with business problems which GenAI can help us solve, rather than starting with solutions in search of problems.
• Keeping - and elevating - human creativity and critical thinking as we develop better ways to use GenAI.

Resources:

Steal These Thoughts https://stealthesethoughts.com/ 

Find Ross on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rstevensonuk/ 

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

How do we find and tell stories that capture imagination and shape how we share ideas? And what happens when you try using storytelling in unexpected areas – like academic science? Anna Ploszajski, founder of Storyology, is challenging conventions and helping people communicate with miles more impact.

Anna Ploszajski is a materials scientist. She’s also a storyteller, author, podcaster, business founder, stand-up comedian, trumpeter, channel swimmer and more. 

She’s clearly willing to think differently, and to resist confining herself (or anything else) into a single neat box. She makes connections. And she has a sort of infectious curiosity. As a result, she’s a compelling communicator, with a talent for catching the imagination and making sense of complicated ideas.

Through her own experiences as a researcher, Anna realised how much opportunity there is for improving communication in academic science, including through storytelling techniques, and has founded ‘Storyology’ to help upskill scientists in communication and storytelling. She’s breaking down unhelpful conventions, and helping people to benefit from the impact of communicating much more effectively – which has massive potential within academia, and is something we can all learn from, whatever sphere we’re working in.

Anna’s a really fun, eloquent and thought-provoking interviewee, with (as you’d expect) loads of stories and insights to share. 

In this conversation, we explore:

• What led Anna to think differently about science communication, including her journey through stand-up comedy.
• What the barriers can be for ‘experts’ – whether in academic or business – to improve their communication, and how to start to challenge those barriers. 
• How storytelling can help us rethink and share ideas.
• Examples of how Anna uses stories in materials science, including drawing on her own experiences to bring things to life.
• How to develop a ‘story’ – including exploring structure, story arcs, characters and more.
• How to get started with using stories in any form of communication 

Resources

• Storyology website - https://www.storyology.co.uk/
• Storyology podcast - https://www.storyology.co.uk/podcast
• Anna’s book ‘Handmade’ - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Scientists-Search-Meaning-through/dp/1472971086/

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com. 

In pressured situations, human connection is more needed than ever. Military leader and media strategist Lesley Woods excels at forging those connections. In this episode, she shares her experiences of reaching across divides to build bonds, crafting communications to tell the stories of her military colleagues, and how she has learned the leadership skill of lifting up those around her.

Lesley Woods is a military leader and media strategist, leading communications for the MoD, as well as a serving senior officer in the Royal Air Force reserves.

As you’ll hear, her career has taken her around the world, and into situations which range from the life threatening to the life affirming, from hostile to humanitarian. She has seen and experienced first-hand how humans respond under extreme pressure.

In this conversation Lesley shares:

• Her insights into how to build bridges across cultures and language differences, how to comfort people when they fear for their lives, how to encourage personal messages from people who might not want to let their guard down, and how to help yourself and others get their emotional reactions under control.
• Different ways to tell stories, including combining words and images, and how stories and messages are formulated and crafted.
• Learning to tell your own story, including Lesley’s practice of keeping a notebook to jot down thoughts and reflections as they happen.
• Growing as a leader, to gain the confidence to lift up those around you and spot those times when you can support less experienced colleagues or people to take an opportunity.

This is a window into a world most of us haven’t experienced, but which sheds light on the same human connections that we’re all familiar with.

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com.