Leading Through Uncertainty Jude Jennison

Wendy Dean is the CEO of Strategi Solutions, a business consultancy offering services around people, creative and marketing. She talks about the anxiety that comes when thrust into the uncertainty of major change and how she looks for opportunities and generates new ideas to turn uncertainty into certainty.

Wendy reminds us that excitement and fear are physiologically the same and therefore how we can choose how we consider the uncertainty of change. She’s pragmatic about the fact that some people like the status quo and talks about how important it is to lead change in a way that doesn’t burn people out.

The over-riding word I get from Wendy is “balance”. She seems to balance leading change without burning people out, encouraging young people without overlooking the older workforce as well. She balances growing a business with growing the people in it.

Where do you need to be more in balance, in life, in work and in the way you lead?

Topics covered:

Leading through uncertainty
Transformational change
Role models for women
Different generations in the workforce
Empowering women

Other free resources:

Buy the book Leading through uncertainty
Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up to our Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on Linked In

www.judejennison.com

Graham Todd, Co-founder of Spaghetti Agency, a digital marketing company talks about his transformative journey from struggling with alcohol to adopting a healthier lifestyle. He explains the moment he realised how excessive his drinking habits were and how that realisation led him to quit alcohol.

Todd explains the positive changes he experienced after focusing on his fitness, including improving his health, productivity, and being more present as a parent. He’s an advocate of self-reflection and addressing the root causes of stress rather than resorting to alcohol as a prop.

Todd’s journey is inspiring from the moment he decided to quit and how he kept at it, continually improving his health by adding new habits one at a time. He’s not suggesting it’s for everyone but for anyone wanting to do Dry January, Todd certainly provides lots of good reasons and plenty of inspiration.

What props do you turn to when under pressure? And how might your life and work improve if you made your physical and mental health a priority?

Topics covered:

Quitting alcohol
Healthy living
Transformational change
Better sleep
Hydration
Personal growth
Physical and mental health

Other free resources:

Buy the book Leading through uncertainty
Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up to our Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on Linked In

www.judejennison.com

 

Show Notes
Leading Through Uncertainty podcast celebrates its 100th episode and this time I’m talking about my journey with uncertainty and why we need different skills.

I share stories of how I came to talk about uncertainty, how I have led through uncertainty, some of the challenges I’ve faced and how I’ve overcome them. 

I also share stories of the horses, how working with them has given me the skills to be comfortable with the discomfort of uncertainty and continually ask: “What’s needed now?” so I can respond to the uncertainty of change in service of everyone.

How might you get more comfortable with the discomfort of uncertainty?

Topics covered:

Leading through uncertainty
Leading through fear
Team dynamics
Change 

Other free resources:

Buy the book Leading through uncertainty
Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up to our Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on Linked In

www.judejennison.com

 

Julie Chakraverty is the founder of Runway, a platform that facilitates employee feedback in organisations. Julie explains how Runway allows employees to voice concerns either anonymously or openly, ensuring a safe space for dialogue. She explains that the platform is predominantly used by companies undergoing change, with common themes around organisational and process change.

Julie shares some shocking insights from Runway's data that show that women and people of colour are more likely to use the platform's anonymity feature. Without Runway, many of these people silence themselves and conform.

If organisations really want to lead change, be inclusive and engage their employees, they need to provide an opportunity for people of colour in particular to engage anonymously so their concerns are heard, understood and included. Otherwise, minority groups continue to conform.

I was especially struck by Julie saying “It's one thing to say, my door is always open. It's another to be sure that people have got the personal courage to walk through it.”

How are you creating a safe space for employees to engage fully and honestly without fear of blame or judgment? How do you ensure everyone has the courage to articulate what’s important to them in the workplace?

Topics covered:

HR tech
Employee listening
Engaging employees through change
Inclusive conversations

Other free resources:

Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up to our Weekly Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on LinkedIn

www.judejennison.com

Suzi Archer is the Staff Director at Huler.io, a fast-growing HRtech company. Suzi’s creative approach to HR policies and procedures has resulted in a more human interaction with employees at Huler. By ripping apart the employee handbook, she's created a culture where people can be themselves both inside and outside of work. 

Suzi shows that by prioritizing employee well-being, balancing technology with human touchpoints, and setting clear objectives, Huler has created a culture of engagement, productivity, and profitability.

As always, I love how technology and people come together and Suzi is definitely an advocate for using technology to enhance human connection in the workplace. Suzi talks passionately about Huler and it’s so inspiring to hear someone who clearly has a passion for the business, the people and the role that she has to play in it.

What are you passionate about? How does that influence how and where you work? How might you inspire those around you to work more purposefully? 

Topics covered:

HR tech
People-first culture
authenticity
Work-life integration
Wellbeing
Purpose
Human connection

Other free resources:

Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up for our Weekly Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on Linked In

www.judejennison.com

Anne Shaw is the Executive Director for Transport For West Midlands. She talks about the challenge of managing a variety of stakeholder groups, from users to transport providers, the government, as well as her own team. She explains that change can be positive or negative for people by how well we engage and include them in the process and decisions. Anne recognises the need to balance the needs and desires of everyone, with the primary focus on the end users who rely on the transport services to ensure they are able to access health, jobs, school and other daily activities.

Anne has certainly sold the transport industry to me, making it sound exciting with change, innovation, diversity, technology, people and variety at its core. It’s a reminder that when we are curious and passionate about change, it’s much easier to inspire and be inspired. Anne talks about the need to be clear about the purpose behind change in order to help people navigate the emotions and uncertainty with curiosity. Some of the most uninspiring things we have to do could be more motivating by changing how we approach them.

What’s the purpose of the change you are experiencing? and how do you use that purpose to motivate yourself and others?

Topics covered:

Purpose
Change
Transport industry
Birmingham Commonwealth Games transport
Leading change
Being on the receiving end of change
Engaging stakeholders
Including users in the decisions and process of change

Other free resources:

Take the Team Performance Scorecard and discover the 12 hidden dynamics of your team’s performance
Download White papers
Sign up for our Weekly Leadership Hints and Tips
Connect with Jude Jennison on Linked In

www.judejennison.com