The question is – Details, episodes & analysis

Over the next few months, we will be running a new mini-series within 'The Question Is...' that explores the most common Thinking Errors.  Thinking Errors are cognitive distortions that alter our thinking, distorting the way we see the world and can impact performance and mood.

In this first episode, Ricky talks to Paul about 'All-or-Nothing' thinking.  This way of seeing situations as simple, Black or White, Right or Wrong, Good or Bad.  This tricks our thoughts into seeing situations as absolute, ignoring the complexity and nuance that typically exists.

From ignoring our own success when it does not quite live up to our expectations, to feeling like we are worthless when one part goes wrong, all-or-nothing thinking adds pressure to situations, making anything that is amazing feel like a disaster.  If you have ever felt like that, then this podcast is for you.

Wouldn't it be nice if change just happened, all at once, and then things went back to being stable for a while?  The reality is that change in the workplace is rarely a simple one-off event, more often change is delivered in waves, often iterated to allow the change to best reflect the environment.

It is easy to imagine the worst when change happens, assuming job losses, less rewards and more work, over expansion and growth, and when our teams start to imagine these things, it will quickly start to impact productivity, motivation and sometimes even well-being.

How we communicate change as leaders can either help people navigate the change, keep focused and drive the work forward, or can be the catalyst of rumour, worry and concern.  In this podcast, Graham and Richard explore the techniques that leaders can use to ensure they get the best for their people and from their people when change happens.

In this podcast, Paul and Richard tackle one of the questions we have been asked a lot since the pandemic ended - How do you build trust between team members and teams that don't spend that much time in the office.

Building trust between individuals and groups is far more complex than many of us realise because we do it so easily when we are together.  We build trusting relationships through the micro-moments we spend together: before meetings, over lunch, getting coffee and in quick informal interactions.  We also build trust through working together.  It is the combination of both these types of trust that forms the relationships that we need to work together.

As leaders, we must change how our teams interact to ensure that the trust we need to achieve our goals is actively built so our teams can leverage trust when things get tough.

The coaching question in this podcast might not be as common as others we have covered, but it is one we can personally relate to. Regardless of your role or expertise, there are times when we give it our all, putting everything we have to get something over the line, then we reset to the start and have to go again.

Sales targets reset each year, project manager complete their delivery only to get a new project, software engineers get the release out the door, and then start working on a new feature. 

Paul promised you a quote: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." This quote is by Friedrich Nietzsche and is discussed in Victor Frankl's work. Ricky and Paul explore what it takes to reset, sometimes overnight, and find the energy to go again.

This episode continues our series of common topics from coaching conversations.  In this episode, Paul and Graham consider the idea of 'people pleasing' - being helpful to the point of thier own detriment.  

From understanding the difference between helpfulness and people pleasing, through to how to say no to the boss, Graham and Paul talk about what might be driving some of these behaviours and shat are the simple strategies that you can adopt to ensure you find the balance between helping and supporting the people around you, and ensuring that you protect your own time and wellbeing.

As we continue our mini-series of common topics from coaching conversations, in this podcast, Ricky and Paul explore why sometimes people feel drained at work, leaving them with an overall feeling of being tired.

Clearly, at times, we can all burn the candle at both ends, but in coaching situations, this is often a sign of something deeper going on.  From doing work that is draining to the unintended consequences of the habits we adopt when our workload goes up, Ricky and Paul explore some potential causes and strategies to help maintain us through these peak times.

As part of our series of questions often raised in coaching conversations, in this episode of The Question Is, Paul and Graham explore the often asked, without ever being actually said, question: How do I know if I should change roles?

Being ready to move on from your current role can be challenging. From not feeling like you have finished what you needed to do in the role to not feeling ready for the next role, changing jobs can be difficult and anxiety-inducing. There is rarely a good time to change roles, with opportunities presenting in manual ways at inappropriate times.

Graham and Paul share their experience and pose the questions you need to ask yourself about opportunity, growth, and passion, which will help you understand when it is time to move, even when that might not have been in your plan.

Every leadership role you undertake is slightly different.  Different people, different problems, different cultures, maybe just a different time and place.  Our ability to lead can be as much about the context or situation we find ourselves in as it is the skills we bring to the party!

As part of our series of questions commonly raised in our coaching practice, Ricky and Paul explore the situation that many people find themselves in: doing the things that have always worked for them and finding that, for some reason, this time,, they do not get the outcomes they envisaged.

Feedback has been described as the breakfast of champions, but giving feedback can be one of the toughest things we have to do, with many people avoiding giving feedback if they possibly can.

In this, another podcast in our series of questions from coaching conversations, Ricky and Graham focus on why some people find it so difficult to give good feedback and how developing your technique around feedback is a vital leadership skill.

From why we find feedback so difficult, through to models and structures to make you better at feedback - if you want to help the people around you be better at what they do, then this podcast is for you.

Paul and Graham tackle saying no in this latest episode of the podcast where we look at the questions that are frequently raised in coaching sessions.  Saying no, especially to the boss, is one of the things most of us find hard to do.

From the desire to say yes to the mindset that makes it okay to say no when that is the right thing to do, this episode explores all the aspects of saying no and offers some simple strategies to help you navigate these difficult conversations without ever having to actually say no.