How to become a better leader with Moyra Mackie

Do you wish that your team could become more accountable, more creative, more trustworthy? Do you wish that your team could produce high quality results in less time and with less drama or less reliance on you?

The answer lies in a simple, yet much neglected leadership habit: the habit of high-quality one to one meetings that focus on developing a trustful relationship that nurtures the confidence, critical thinking, creativity and attention to detail that every manager wants.

Most one to ones are pretty poor quality – rushed affairs focusing on fire fighting and driven by a manager who wants results. Instead, a real mindset shift is needed to slow down, offer the gift of attention and listening in order to get the results and relationship you really want.

How do you feel about conflict? Do you welcome “tricky” moments as opportunities for differences to be aired and for creative solutions to emerge? Or do you do anything to avoid discussions that might get heated, focussing on pouring oil on troubled waters? Or maybe you’re the boss and you feel it’s perfectly fine to tell people in no uncertain terms what should be done?

Most people admit to finding conflict and disagreement hard to handle. And it is because our fight or flight responses are triggered in these moments. Except, as the experienced CEO and leadership thinker, Margaret Heffernan says, “conflict equals real thinking”. So many organisations, teams and managers try to avoid conflict, preferring avoidance to transparency, thus losing valuable opportunities for real thinking.

This episode is for you if you are a perennial People Pleaser or you are the kind of person who describes yourself as “a wear your heart on your sleeve, say it as it is” kind of person. If you’ve ever uttered the words “bloody millennials” this is especially for you.

Is your company able to attract and retain millennial staff?

What if you know your company is not purpose driven?

In the 80s and 90s financial services and the City of London found it easy to hire and retain the brightest and best graduates. This is changing because millennials are looking for companies who have a purpose beyond profit and stakeholder returns. This episode shows you how to identify what your purpose is and how to align that with the purpose of your staff and your organisation.

Are you struggling to get your team to produce the quality work that you expect? Do you wish that millennials, in particular, would just learn to do as they are told?

Expectations of what a manager should and shouldn’t do have changed. Managers cannot expect to treat their people like robots (that’s what AI will be for!) Instead, if you want to get the best out of your humans, you’ll need to strengthen your coaching skills.

One of the biggest demands from millennials is they want a coach and not a boss. The challenge is do you know what coaching really is?

Do you know what really motivates the millennials who work for you?

Are you struggling to understand why the quality of the work you get doesn’t match what you think the person’s potential is?

If your company is struggling to improve engagement scores, this is a sign of an inability to see beyond the external motivating factors of money and status. If you cannot seem to bring the best out of your team or that they lack energy or sustained focus, this episode will explain the four key internal drivers that motivate each of us along with tips to inspire and engage millennials (and it works with teens too!).