Season: Leadership Impact Scorecard Series | Host: Barbra Carlisle FCIPD, MCiOH | Duration: approx. 8 minutes

There is a conversation happening in your organisation right now that somebody needs to have and nobody is having. In this episode, Barbra tackles why leaders in the built environment avoid difficult conversations, why this is a capability gap rather than a courage gap, and what authority actually looks like in practice. Drawing on VitalSmarts research showing seven working days wasted for every crucial conversation avoided, and Google’s Project Aristotle findings on psychological safety, this episode lays out what needs to change and how.

• The three conversations leaders avoid most: performance, upward challenge, and team dynamics
• VitalSmarts research: the average employee wastes seven working days per avoided crucial conversation
• Why avoidance is a capability problem, not a courage problem
• What authority actually looks like: consistency, clarity, and fairness
• Google’s Project Aristotle finding on psychological safety and what it actually means (it is not being soft)
• How holding people accountable makes people want to stay, not leave
• CIPD research linking clear expectations and honest feedback to higher retention

Leadership authority, difficult conversations at work, accountability in management, psychological safety, performance management, construction sector leadership, housing management, team accountability, manager confidence, workplace conflict resolution

Find out where you stand across all four pillars of leadership impact. Take the free Leadership Impact Scorecard: Leadership Impact

• Website: www.gleecoaching.co.uk
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: Barbra Carlisle
• Book a 30-minute conversation: https://zcal.co/barbracarlisle/30min

In this episode of The Unlikely Executive, Barbra Carlisle speaks with strategic construction leader and entrepreneur Sarah Thorne.

With more than 20 years in construction and project delivery, Sarah explains why project management is about far more than processes and timelines.

She reveals how stakeholder relationships, listening skills and strategic thinking create successful outcomes across industries.

Sarah also shares the personal journey that led her to discover her true purpose. Through her work with Thorne Solutions, Engage to Action, Women Leaders UK and MumPod, she is helping people thrive at every stage of life, from inspiring primary school children to consider STEM careers through to supporting mothers returning to work.

The conversation explores imposter syndrome, hidden disabilities, mentoring, leadership styles and why honesty, collaboration and trust remain at the heart of effective leadership.

• Project management is fundamentally about people, not paperwork.
• Transferable skills can unlock opportunities across multiple industries.
• Purpose often emerges when seemingly unrelated activities are viewed together.
• Early exposure to STEM careers can transform aspirations for young people.
• Organisations must do more to support women returning from maternity leave.
• Good mentors challenge thinking rather than simply provide reassurance.
• Leaders can be both compassionate and accountable.
• Visionary leaders need to balance creativity with clarity and structure.
• Honesty and psychological safety are critical for high-performing teams.
• Inclusion starts with practical action rather than policy statements.

Sarah Thorne is a strategic leader in construction and the founder of Thorne Solutions. Alongside her project delivery work, she is co-founder of MumPod, an organisation creating dedicated spaces for breastfeeding and expressing mothers.

She also supports young people through Engage to Action, serves as a trustee with Women Leaders UK and champions inclusion, resilience and people-centred leadership across multiple sectors.

Follow Sarah Thorne on LinkedIn to learn more about project management, leadership, inclusion and MumPod.Sarah Thorne | LinkedIn

Barbra Carlisle is an executive coach, leadership trainer and host of The Unlikely Executive podcast.

Through coaching, leadership development programmes and practical training, Barbra helps leaders strengthen their leadership identity, improve communication and create cultures where people can thrive.

Whether you're:

• Stepping into a leadership role for the first time
• Leading organisational change
• Developing your senior leadership team
• Looking for executive coaching support
• Building leadership capability across your organisation

🌐 Website: www.gleecoaching.co.uk

💼 LinkedIn: Barbra Carlisle

🎙️ Podcast: The Unlikely Executive

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Season: Leadership Impact Scorecard Series | Host: Barbra Carlisle FCIPD, MCiOH | Duration: approx. 8 minutes

 Summary

Promoting your best technical performer into a management role and expecting them to lead effectively is one of the most common and costly mistakes in housing, construction and engineering. In this episode, Barbra examines why the expert-to-leader transition fails so often, what the Centre for Creative Leadership's research tells us about the 40% failure rate for new leaders, and the three fundamental shifts that nobody prepares promoted managers for: from doing to enabling, from answering to asking, and from being respected for knowledge to being respected for judgement.

 What You Will Learn

- Why the skills that earn a promotion are not the skills the management role demands
- The Centre for Creative Leadership finding that 40% of new leaders fail within 18 months
- CIPD data showing only 27% of UK managers receive formal training before or shortly after appointment
- The three shifts every new leader must make: doing to enabling, answering to asking, knowledge to judgement
- How a contracts manager in construction transformed his team's performance by changing one question
- What organisations that handle this transition well actually do differently

 Key Topics

Leadership transition, expert to leader, new manager development, technical to management, first-time manager, construction leadership, housing sector management, people leadership, CIPD management training, leadership development

 Take the Free Assessment

Find out where you stand across all four pillars of leadership impact. Take the free Leadership Impact Scorecard:Leadership Impact

 Connect with Barbra

- Website: www.gleecoaching.co.uk
- Email: [email protected]
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbra-carlisle-gleecoaching/
- Book a 30-minute conversation: https://zcal.co/barbracarlisle/30min

Please like, share and subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes

In this episode of The Unlikely Executive Podcast, Barbra Carlisle speaks with Claire Brown, Senior Sustainability Consultant at Turner & Townsend, about what it really takes to lead sustainability in construction, housing and the built environment.

From net zero housing targets to retrofit strategy in UK homes, Claire shares practical insights on how to influence stakeholders, communicate complex sustainability issues, and drive change across large organisations.

If you’re a leader in construction, engineering, housing, or sustainability, this episode is packed with real-world strategies you can start using immediately.

• What sustainability leadership actually looks like inside global construction firms
• How to influence senior stakeholders who don’t care about “carbon”
• Why language and communication are critical in driving change
• The real meaning of retrofit in UK housing and why it matters
• Tackling energy efficiency, heating systems and net zero targets
• How to handle resistance, conflict and pushback in complex organisations
• Leadership lessons from working in the public sector and large estates (including policing)
• Why listening is your most powerful leadership skill
• Balancing ambition, career growth and personal wellbeing
• Practical advice for anyone starting a career in sustainability or the built environment

Claire Brown is a Senior Sustainability Consultant at Turner & Townsend, working across major UK retrofit and housing projects.

Her work spans:

• Delivering sustainability in the built environment
• Advising on energy efficiency and carbon reduction
• Supporting housing providers with retrofit programmes
• Leadership in professional sustainability networks

She also sits on boards, contributes to industry groups, and has recently submitted her PhD focused on heating and cooling demand in UK social housing.

• Lead sustainability initiatives with more confidence
• Influence difficult stakeholders without conflict
• Improve energy efficiency in housing or construction
• Build a more resilient, forward-thinking organisation
• Develop your leadership style in complex environments

If you’re a business leader in construction, engineering or housing and want to:

• Lead decisively under pressure
• Build a team that takes ownership and initiative
• Handle difficult conversations and challenges with confidence

👉 Join my programme: www.gleecoaching.co.uk
👉 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbracarlisle
📩 Or message me directly to explore coaching and leadership development

If you found this episode valuable:

• ✅ Follow / Subscribe to The Unlikely Executive Podcast
• 👍 Like and Share with your network
• 💬 Leave a review — it helps more leaders find this content

Learie Gonsalves, the Director of Blackbird Property Surveyors, shares his journey armed with his one CSE in art to owning a successful property surveying firm for over 10 years. He shares the challenges of not seeing people like him in work, but talks about the role of great managers in helping you dream big. Hear about why running is so important to him now and why he runs to support Prostrate Cancer. Learie's story is one of resilience, determination, and the pursuit of balance in work and life.

  Are you truly in control of your career — or letting others define your path? This episode of The Unlikely Executive explores what it means to take ownership of your destiny as a leader.

  🔑 In this episode, you'll learn:

  • How to take deliberate control of your career direction

  • The mindset needed to lead your own journey

  • Overcoming fear and self-doubt in leadership decisions

  • Why the best leaders are intentional about their growth

  📌 About The Unlikely Executive:

  Hosted by Barbra Carlisle, executive coach and founder of Glee Coaching.

  🔗 Work with Barbra: https://www.gleecoaching.co.uk

  #LeadershipMindset #CareerDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #TheUnlikelyExecutive

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