Hello everyone, Quick question: How much of your work depends on people you don't actually manage? 🤔 If you're like most managers I work with, the answer is probably "most of it." You need input from R&D. Sign-off from finance. Delivery from operations. And none of those people report to you. This is where influence becomes everything. Early in your career, being good at your job is enough. You execute well, you deliver results, you get promoted. But the higher you go, the less that matters...
10 days ago • 1 min read
Hello everyone, The other day, I opened a newsletter from a friend. He’s a business coach who focuses on marketing systems and AI automation. Halfway through, there was this line that stopped me mid-sentence. "You can't read the label from inside the bottle." I'd heard the phrase before. But this time it really got me thinking. Because if ever there was a phrase that captures what my clients repeatedly tell me, it's this. You're so busy in the day-to-day. You're so close to the action. It...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Hi there, I've been running coaching sprint workshops with managers over the past few months, and there's one pattern I keep seeing that honestly breaks my heart a little. When we start, everyone shares their goals. They want to be a confident, respected leader. They want their team to step up. They want to stop drowning in the day-to-day and actually do the strategic work that matters. But then when we talk about coaching, about asking questions instead of giving answers, the same objection...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi there, Happy New Year! If you're like most managers right now, you're setting goals for your team. You're being intentional. You're thinking strategically. You're making them SMART. But here's what I've noticed after working with hundreds of managers: most of us are actually setting SMT goals. Specific? ✓ Measurable? ✓ Timed? ✓ But the Achievable and Realistic parts? They kind of... slip through the cracks. And I get it. You've got that can-do attitude. Deep down, your instinct might be...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi there, This year has been a tough one. At the moment I feel like I am crawling into the Christmas period. I’ve nearly done everything I set out to do for the year, but not quite. I have a to-do list as long as my arm and I’m feeling that low-level anxiety that you get when there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. Having talked with friends, I know I’m not alone. One big event has been the hardest. My mum has dementia. This year it has progressed significantly. Dementia is truly...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Hi there, This week I’ve been thinking about the mindset needed for managers to thrive as leaders. To be honest this is something that I think a lot of leadership development misses, but if not considered can be the real reason people feel stuck in their role I see this pattern often with the managers I work with: You're great at what you do. You deliver results. You genuinely care about your team. But somehow, you're stuck. Maybe you're not getting that promotion you deserve. Or maybe you're...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi there, Early in my management career, a mentor said something that became one of the best leadership lessons I've ever learned: "Helen, you have to plan time to lead. Otherwise, you'll never get out of the work." At the time, I thought I was planning. I had my task list. I had my calendar. I was managing my time... or so I thought. But here's what I didn't realise at the time: I was planning to DO the work, not to LEAD the work. And that's the mistake most managers make. The Real Problem...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hi there, Performance review season is coming up, and if you're already feeling that familiar sense of dread. I'm with you as I remember that feeling so well. There's something uniquely exhausting about performance reviews. You're trying to remember an entire year's worth of performance, summarise it fairly, give meaningful feedback, and do it all while staring at a blank document at not long before the meeting when your brain has completely checked out. But what if I told you there's a way...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hi there, I've just published a video that might be one of the most important ones I've made for this channel - and I really hope you'll watch it. It's called "The EXACT System That Turns Managers Into Leaders" and it's about something I've been thinking about for years. Why am I so excited about this one? Because it brings together everything I learned the hard way in my corporate career, and everything I've seen coaching hundreds of managers since. There's a pattern to leadership success -...
4 months ago • 1 min read