By Dan Hammond & Pia Lee
5
66 ratings
The podcast currently has 110 episodes available.
Effective leadership in tech means crafting a collaborative culture where growth happens through real-world challenges and strong interpersonal connections – not individual technical accomplishments.
Rob Dinsmore has an extensive background in leadership and team development, particularly in technical organisations like Cisco. He built a highly regarded programme for top engineering talent, helping these specialists expand their leadership skills and integrate them across the company to produce meaningful, business-driven outcomes.
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Effective teaming requires intentional design and can’t be achieved simply by putting people together on a project.
Teaming by Design emphasises the importance of embedding team effectiveness skills within the context of real work, rather than teaching it as a separate subject.
This approach recognises that valuable teaming skills are often developed through practical experience and reflection, rather than through theoretical instruction alone.
For this episode, Dan and Pia are joined in-person by Sara Beckman, who developed the concept of "teaming by design" while teaching MBA students. Sara works on integrating team effectiveness training into various courses, particularly in innovation, design, and new product development, and has conducted research on team dynamics, including studies at Hewlett Packard.
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Agile isn’t just for software teams – its principles can be effectively applied to HR and other business teams, offering a pragmatic approach to improving workflow and efficiency.
It goes beyond flexible working or nimble decision-making, representing a philosophy and set of principles for getting work done more effectively.
Nebel Crowhurst is the Chief People Officer at Reward Gateway, and has extensive experience in HR. She’s worked across a variety of industries, helping teams understand and transition to Agile.
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International assignments in business require careful preparation, adaptability, and a focus on making a positive impact rather than just “making your mark”.
Success in foreign assignments often comes from reinforcing and amplifying existing strengths within an organisation, rather than attempting to overhaul everything.
Kevin Asher is a leader, strategist, and innovator in healthcare. He’s worked primarily in the pharmaceutical industry, including medical communications, data generation, and patient group support. He’s a self-described problem-solver, and he joins Dan and Pia to discuss his recent assignment in Italy.
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Employee engagement is in crisis, with staggeringly low levels of engagement across the workforce, particularly among younger employees.
This lack of engagement is not only affecting workers' wellbeing, but also has significant economic impact, with an estimated $8.9 trillion lost annually in global GDP due to low engagement.
This week's guest is Juliet Owen, business analyst at Squadify. Juliet has a background in economics and works with a database of 2.5 million data points, analysing engagement and team dynamics.
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It’s time for a new approach to teamwork: one that minimises distractions, reduces time-blocking communication, prioritises mental health, and promotes independent and efficient work.
This management style can lead to more productive teams, with fewer managers and more individual contributors, with everyone focused on their core competencies.
Liam Martin is the author of a bestselling book and the founder of a conference focused on remote working, which he believes is crucial for scaling organisations. He advocates for a new management style for remote teams, emphasising the importance of communicating effectively without unnecessary interaction.
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To bring specialists into teams with different skill sets takes good communication and a knowledge of the history of the team you’re integrating. Doing this well means everyone can point their skills at solving problems.
Ash Winter is an experienced software tester who has a particular interest in how teams and organisations work. Ash has been a software tester for over 15 years, and has experience as a consultant, helping organisations improve their testing processes.
In his role he’s seen a wide range of team structures and sizes, and he’s particularly focused on the challenges and opportunities of being a specialist within a team.
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Workplaces need to provide better support and flexibility to parents coming back from having a child. And more needs to be done to redress the imbalance of working mums vs working dads.
Jessica Heagren is the founder of Careers After Babies, and an advocate for gender equality in the workplace, particularly for women coming back after maternity leave. Jess has conducted extensive research on the career impacts of having children and has published a report uncovering some surprising statistics that don’t all make for happy reading.
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Effective leadership means understanding the needs of all stakeholders, not just your team members. When teams broaden their thinking to their customer base, to the wider ecology, and even to future generations, they make more effective decisions.
Professor Peter Hawkins has a lifetime of experience working on systemic team coaching, leadership development, and organisational change. He’s a pioneer in integrating strategic and culture change along with leadership development, and he emphasises the importance of connecting personal, team, organisational, and ecological levels of change.
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Life-altering events can reveal the strength and resilience of the human spirit, highlight the value of a supportive network, and reveal the power of compassion and understanding.
Both of this episode’s guests have had first-hand experience in this area. Returning to the podcast is Gillian Coutts, who suffered a stroke in 2022 and has been on a long road to recovery. By her side, along with Gillian’s husband Steve and her family, has been Gillian’s business partner, Jenny Steadman, who has dealt with her own serious health concerns.
This 100th episode is a testament to the power of the We Not Me spirit, and demonstrates what the combination of grit and grace can achieve.
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The podcast currently has 110 episodes available.
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