Season 3 Episode 35: The 4MAT Model with Amanda Gilbert Have you ever sent an email so polished it could double as a mirror—only for no one to act on it? Or delivered a change initiative so inspiring it left your team staring blankly at their screens? This week, Amanda Gilbert joins Jimmy and James to discuss the 4MAT model, a framework that might save your next communication from the recycling bin of irrelevance. This isn’t about prettier PowerPoints or fancier fonts. It’s about why your message should matter to anyone but you, what you’re actually trying to say, how people might—might—do something differently, and what if they actually applied it. James, who is midway through writing … [Read more...]
Why Most Leadership Development Doesn’t Work
Season 2 – Episode 32: The Cathedral Model, With Frank Devine In this episode, James Lawther and Jimmy Barber are joined by leadership development guru Frank Devine. Frank shares insights about which methods of leadership development work and which don't. After a long and varied career within HR working with some of the best organisations, people and academic research, Frank shares what he has learnt testing different "best practices". His research led him to develop the Cathedral Model (check out this link or click on the further information tab to see a diagram). It emphasises skills like recognition, coaching, and constructive feedback. We also discuss the pitfalls of … [Read more...]
Developing Capable People
Season 2 – Episode 11: It Is So Much More Than Training This week, Amanda Gilbert joins us to share insights into how you can build people's capability - yours, your teams, or your organisation. Avoid some common pitfalls and follow critical steps to improve capability and results. This podcast follows the recent episode where James shared a magic bullet for improving performance: building your systems' capability. People are critical to any system, so check out Amanda's advice. We also discuss the challenges of buying and maintaining cars, and James improves his productivity by listening to podcasts on double speed—perfect if you're a fan of the Smurfs! To find out more, … [Read more...]
The Simple Habits That Make Managers More Effective (With Hugh Alley)
Season 1 – Episode 26: Things You Wished You'd Known Were you taught how to manage the work? We are all trained on the technical aspects of a job and the leadership of a team, but we are rarely taught how to manage the actual work. Managing work is vital whether you're a first-line manager or running the country! To provide valuable insights on the best way to manage and improve your teams and their work, we are lucky to have Hugh Alley, a successful author who has trained over 1,000 supervisors in his time, as this week's guest.Hugh shares the background and structure of 'Training Within Industry', which has the potential to dramatically improve team performance.Enjoy this … [Read more...]
The Post Office Scandal
Season 1 – Episode 13: It Could Never Happen Here... The Post Office Scandal is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice the UK has seen. It has had tragic consequences for its many victims, and the fight for compensation is ongoing. Could it have happened where you work? Jimmy and James discuss what caused the scandal and what should happen next. The incident highlights the importance of understanding what's happening around us. So join us and reassure yourself that your management team would never create such a dire situation, would they? Here's an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. For any questions or if you need help ensuring you're not repeating the mistakes of … [Read more...]