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Thoughts & Insights

Read my latest features and experiences about changing work

Coffee-badging is just the start of the pushback on silly rules

Coffee-badging is just the start of the pushback on silly rules It seems not a week goes by without another fun moniker given to employees rallying against poor workplace practices. And the latest is no exception. Coffee-badging is the term being used to describe employees who sign-in, or ‘badge’ into the physical office, in order [...]

Behind the Scenes: The Companies Hosting Culture Tours

Behind the Scenes: The Companies Hosting Culture Tours Do you ever wonder what it must be like to work somewhere, or how your favourite product is made? - I do, all the time. You see, I’m a curious person, and I find nothing more fascinating than learning about the inner workings of a company. From [...]

An Analysis of Bayer’s Radical Move to Dynamic Shared Ownership

An Analysis of Bayer’s Radical Move to Dynamic Shared Ownership On Friday 10th February, German pharmaceutical goliath Bayer announced to the world that it would be embarking on a radical shift to a flatter structure, and an increase in self-managed ways of working across the organisation. Although Bayer had made announcements prior to this February [...]

Everything to know about meeting check-ins – The what, why and how.

Everything to know about meeting check-ins - The what, why and how. If you keep hearing about a meeting check-in, and wonder why it’s become so popular in progressive organisations, let me share why this simple meeting tool goes beyond just being a fun ice breaker, and how it will help you to build a [...]

How I Would Start 2024 as an Internal Changemaker

How I Would Start 2024 as an Internal Changemaker Tiresome strategy meetings that feel loose and disconnected, gigantic detailed reports with ambiguous metrics, and autocratic new year mandates imposed from above. We’ve fallen into some bad habits at the start of the year, because much of this corporate bureaucracy doesn’t lead to positive results; it [...]

Why Mandating In-Office Days is a Poor Culture Move

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Would you try an Enrichment Week?

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The Whiplash of Change at OpenAI : Lessons From The Sam Altman Saga

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UK Government Backwards Approach to the Four-day Work Week

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Shopify Meetings Calculator | An experiment to end unnecessary meetings

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Would you try a “scare them away” letter?

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What is a Teal Organisation? | The next step in organisational evolution

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How Lazy Girl Jobs are Rewriting Workplace Rules

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Self-Management in the Workplace | Everything You Need to Know

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Innovation Imposters: Why Some Companies Can’t Walk Their Talk

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The Growth Trap: How the Desire for Business Expansion Leads to Corporate Conformity

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Unleashing Collective Wisdom: The Advice Process in Decision-Making

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Superhuman Work: The Real Link between AI and Reshaping Work

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The Silent Threat of Scarcity Mindset In the Workplace

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Dismantling Pyramid Hierarchies: Why we need to choose a better system

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Radical Culture Ideas That Worked – An Exploration into Progressive Organisations

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Wholeness at work – what are we leaving out?

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Is it really so great being a Googler?

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Workplace Rewards for a Well-behaved Culture – it doesn’t work!

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The Spotify Culture Shuffle – A skip through its culture history

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How Resentment Is Intoxicating Your Company Culture

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“If I give more freedom – people will just take advantage!”

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The Outdated Approach to Restructuring

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Musk Begins a Culture of Tyranny at Twitter

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Take a Page from Patagonia’s Handbook – You Could Learn Something

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Adopting Semco Style | My Expert Journey

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How do you make everyone agree? – Consensus vs Consent Decision-making

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How Microsoft’s Company Culture Got a Reboot

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Psychological safety – Does your company culture have it?

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The History of Cadbury’s Company Culture

The History of Cadbury’s Company Culture You might not think that there’s a lot one can learn about company culture from an almost 200-year-old organisation. Yeah, that's right, Cadbury is almost two centuries old. So, of course, you are wondering what could an organisation that has been around for that long, teach about company culture! [...]

Why Most Companies Miss the Mark on Workplace Wellbeing

Why Most Companies Miss the Mark on Workplace Wellbeing What better week to talk about the impact of company culture on wellbeing - than World Wellbeing Week.  You may be quick to think that I’m writing this to jump on the trend, but these ponderings have been in my back pocket since I attended a [...]

How to Create a Culture Deck Worth Sharing

How to Create a Culture Deck Worth Sharing You want a company culture deck that’s going to knock people’s socks off. You’ve seen the likes of Hubspot and Netflix proudly showing off their culture decks, and for one reason or another, you know this is a must have for your own business.  But where to [...]

Behind the Scenes of a B Corp with X+Why

Behind the Scenes of a B Corp with X+Why B Corps are on the rise. You may have spotted them from that minimalist black and white logo on the packaging of products, or proudly displayed on a company's website. But what's it really like being a B Corp? Is it just another marketing trick to [...]

Flexibility Guilt – How to Break the Overwork Conditioning

Flexibility Guilt - How to Break the Overwork Conditioning Do you ever feel a twinge of guilt because you don’t work ‘normal hours’?  Maybe your company has taken on new ways of working, or perhaps you’re self-employed. Either way, you don’t work the usual 9-5, five days a week. Yet it’s harder than you thought [...]

Play Has A Place In Company Culture—How LEGO Fosters Creativity At Work

Play Has A Place In Company Culture—How LEGO Fosters Creativity At Work LEGO surpasses ages and generations, because who can resist creating something when you’re given a collection of those colourful bricks? But how has LEGO been able to keep up with the high tech digital devices children are lured to use in our modern [...]

Emotional intelligence in leadership: how it helps businesses thrive

Emotional intelligence in leadership: how it helps businesses thrive What is emotional intelligence and why is it so important for business leaders to recognise and develop it in themselves? In this guest post, HR consultant Archita Misra (MCIPD) explains the theory behind emotional intelligence in leadership and why business leaders should be using related skills [...]

The Things No-One Tells You About Startup Culture

The Things No-One Tells You About Startup Culture I was inspired to share my thoughts on startup culture when a peer asked me about when a business should start looking at its company culture. Just when is the right time to start? This feature is my explanation and reasoning of why a business should think [...]

Zappos – The Culture Everyone Wants to Copy

Zappos - The Culture Everyone Wants to Copy “WOW” - a simple yet powerful, three-letter word that’s hard to miss as it flashes across the company’s About page. It immediately gives us an indication of how Zappos positions itself on the market: “the brand with the wow factor” And it’s not just wanting to WOW [...]

Unlimited Holiday – Good idea or Gimmick?

Unlimited Holiday - Good idea or gimmick? Unlimited holiday sounds like a dream to most people. Taking advantage of those last minute holiday deals, and getting paid to explore as much of the world as possible, funds depending. I know I could certainly get onboard with sipping mojitos poolside for most of my year. But [...]

The Truth About How to Influence Your Team’s Behaviour

The Truth About How to Influence Your Team's Behaviour You may have come to this blog to discover the tricks and tips to influence, change or even encourage particular behaviours in your team. The unfortunate truth is, it’s not that simple. So if you were looking for a quick tip, this isn’t the place, because [...]

The Global Rise of The Four-Day Work Week

The Global Rise of The Four-Day Work Week If your sanity has ever been questioned by co-workers for signing off your last email of the week with “enjoy your weekend” on Friday, I have great news: you are not alone! Once an interesting idea and a rather utopian concept, the four-day workweek is now slowly [...]

Is Company Culture Dying a Death by Our Data Obsession?

Is Company Culture Dying a Death by Our Data Obsession? I am not here to condemn our use of data. I am here to question our pure reliance on it when it comes to developing company culture, and whether the investments and time we put into this heavy tech is really paying off. Data has [...]

Why You Need to Co-Create If You Want to Build an Authentic Company Culture

Why You Need to Co-Create If You Want to Build an Authentic Company Culture The more ownership we have over something, the greater we value it.  Think of those times you baked a cake for a friend's birthday and felt extreme pride, or assembled that flat pack furniture which despite taking you hours and a [...]

Are We Really Surprised by The Great Resignation?

Are We Really Surprised by The Great Resignation? You can’t deny that 2020 and 2021 have been the hardest years anyone has ever had to work through. Whether you were working full-time while juggling homeschooling, or losing your mind while on Furlough. It’s not been a pleasant experience.  Those who remained working had to take [...]

A Raw Look Inside Apple’s Company Culture

A Raw Look Inside Apple's Company Culture What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Apple Inc.? Macbooks, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, Steve Jobs, black turtlenecks, Silicon Valley - probably in that exact order. When co-founder Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 after losing to the company’s then-CEO John Sculley [...]

The Diploma Fetish Keeping Culture in the Dark Ages

The Diploma Fetish Keeping Culture in the Dark Ages Qualifications are sometimes a necessity. I would hope that my heart surgeon has completed medical school, and I would certainly hope that my solicitor has the appropriate knowledge to help him make sense of all the legal jargon that appears to be a foreign language to [...]

Conditional Kindness – Are we kind to only those we like?

Conditional Kindness - Are we kind to only those we like? Here’s a question, are you kind to everyone in your workplace?  If you’re unclear about what kindness looks like, this definition is one I’m particularly fond of.  “Kindness is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without [...]

Workplace Probation – Is It Really Necessary?

Workplace Probation - Is It Really Necessary? Probation is a word generally used to describe a criminal offender, yet we also use it to describe an employee. Yes, we’re using the same term to assume that our very own team has to earn our trust before they can become a fully committed member of the [...]

Founder Focus: Crushing Outdated Attitudes

Founder Focus: Crushing Outdated Attitudes “The founder focus series is about putting the spotlight on founders who have built their business with real purpose, and are driving positive change. This month I spoke to Sarah Welsh Co-founder of sexual wellness brand, HANX. " Here Sarah shares the story of HANX and why they're on a [...]

What We’re STILL Getting Wrong About Company Culture

What We’re STILL Getting Wrong About Company Culture In June I had the honour of being a judge for the BreatheHR Culture Leaders List 2021.  While it was exciting to see the hundreds of companies who all wanted to be part of the coveted list, when it came down to the judging the stark reality [...]

The Toxic Culture Brewing inside BrewDog

The Toxic Culture Brewing inside BrewDog We are often intrigued when new and interesting companies emerge, especially when they are mixing things up and claiming to change the norm.   Our biggest mission when we set up BrewDog was to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are.  But at what cost? [...]

Founder Focus: A Drive Towards Filmmaking Diversity

Founder Focus: A Drive Towards Filmmaking Diversity "The founder focus series is about putting the spotlight on founders who have built their business with real purpose, and are driving positive change. This month I spoke to Lisa-Marie Tonelli founder of The North East International Film Festival. Here Lisa-Marie shares her story of how the covid-19 [...]

Stop Using Personality Tests in Your Company Culture

Stop Using Personality Tests in Your Company Culture I already know before starting this feature that this is a controversial topic because it seems to me that we all love a personality test.  In fact, personality profiling has grown in popularity over the past decade, becoming a key part of recruitment and onboarding processes in [...]

Implementing Flexible Working: The Culture & People Shift

Implementing Flexible Working: The Culture & People Shift When it comes to flexible working, the first area that often gets touched upon is how it will look practically and operationally. How will work get done?  But the one area I’ve seen most overlooked is our mindset towards flexible working.  Pre-covid, flexible working was still seen [...]

Founder Focus: Feeling Good and Doing Good

Founder Focus: Feeling Good and Doing Good "Each month I'm putting the spotlight on Founders with purpose. A series which shows us all what's possible when we're driving with a purpose at the core of our business.  This month I spoke to Sarah Jordan from Y.O.U Underwear. Sarah's passion for her purpose echoes that of [...]

How to Grow Your Start-Up without Burning Out

How to Grow Your Start-Up without Burning Out Growth can be a curse in disguise as a Founder, and the business you once had a passion for can leave you feeling depleted, and wondering whether it was all worth it?  Was the growth worth your mental and physical health? Was it worth losing friendships and [...]

What We Can All Learn From the Honest Burgers New Employment Contract

What We Can All Learn From the Honest Burgers New Employment Contract Employment contracts, does anyone ever really read them? Be honest. Most of the time we sign our lives away on a black and white piece of paper because we can’t understand a word of the legal jargon that’s being presented to us. At [...]

The Cult of WeWork: A Culture Lesson for Every Visionary Unicorn

The Cult of WeWork: A Culture Lesson for Every Visionary Unicorn On April 1st 2021 Hulu released a documentary on WeWork, detailing it’s catastrophic downfall, from a $47 billion valuation to bankruptcy in just six weeks.  The documentary titled WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, provides an insight into the [...]

13 Ways to Increase Learning & Development in the Workplace

13 Ways to Increase Learning & Development in the Workplace Listen to this feature https://libertymind.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/blog-learn-develop.mp3 When it comes to increasing learning in the workplace many businesses immediately look at the cost and how it’s going to impact productivity. The return on investment seems to be the continuous question on every business owners lips. But this [...]

What Drives Tesla Company Culture To Success? Solution-focussed thinking.

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Teal Around The World 2021 – Three Talks That Inspired My Thinking

Teal Around The World 2021 - Three Talks That Inspired My Thinking On the 4th and 5th of March 2021, I took part in Teal Around The World, the largest global conference for individuals, businesses and thought leaders who believe in building organisations with the Teal model. If you’re unfamiliar with the Teal organisational model, [...]

CEO Activism: Demonstrating the true meaning of leadership

CEO Activism: Demonstrating the true meaning of leadership It’s no secret that there has been a fundamental shift in the role and purpose of individuals in senior management positions. Long gone is the expectation that those in the C-suite, or at the helm of a business must be formal, stuffy – and let’s be honest, [...]

My Experience of Holacracy Practitioner Training

My Experience of Holacracy Practitioner Training In January 2020 I went off to Amsterdam to take part in the Holacracy Practitioner Training. Yes, well before the world closed and we all had to stay at home for the rest of the year.  I never for a moment thought it would be my first and last [...]

Babysitters Club: How to Avoid Nannying Your Team And Create More Autonomy in Your Culture

Babysitters Club: How to Avoid Nannying Your Team And Create More Autonomy in Your Culture As a founder of a small business do you sometimes feel like you’re babysitting your team? That they’re constantly looking to you for answers when in reality, even you don’t have all the answers?  Don’t fear, this is a feeling [...]

Why The Culture Apps Aren’t Working

Why The Culture Apps Aren’t Working Since I started Liberty Mind I have been approached by many ‘employee engagement’ and ‘wellbeing apps’ who all want to offer me a slice of commission to pass on their shiny new app to my clients.  But to this day I still refuse to be incentivised by any app [...]

How to Take Care of Your Own Mental Wellbeing When Running a Team

How to Take Care of Your Own Mental Wellbeing When Running a Team Karen Chung, CEO and Founder of Kossie shares her insights on the Liberty Mind blog about how to maintain your own wellbeing when you're trying to get your own team through a crisis. Karen reveals her own personal struggles, and how she's [...]

How to Make All Your Meetings More Effective & Less of a Time Suck

How to Make All Your Meetings More Effective & Less of a Time Suck It seems in the era of covid we’re living in, zoom meetings have taken the regular office meeting and amplified it by ten times. If the unnecessary and often overly long office meetings weren’t enough, people are now being beckoned every [...]

Should You Promote Your Company Culture On Social Media?

Should You Promote Your Company Culture On Social Media? It's recruitment season, and the first place you're probably going to look to post your new roles is on social media. The fact is, many brands and businesses use their social media profiles to promote their company culture and gain new team members. It's become almost [...]

Our Room 101: Words That Need to Leave the Workplace

Our Room 101: Words That Need to Leave the Workplace Words are powerful. In just one comment or one sentence, you can transform someone's emotions and feelings for better or for worse.  As a society, we are becoming more aware of the power of words and the way they have shaped our environment and our [...]

2021 Company Culture Predictions That Will Challenge You

2021 Company Culture Predictions That Will Challenge You I know, it feels like tempting fate to talk about 2021, when we all had such high expectations for 2020. The campaigns declaring 2020 vision in January, were enough to make anyone believe this would be a successful year. But a global pandemic had other ideas. Change [...]

Working From Home is Not a Privilege

Working From Home is Not a Privilege On Wednesday 11th November Deutsche Bank released a report arguing that staff who work from home should pay more tax, with the proceeds going to ‘lower-paid’ workers who cannot work from home.  The report claims that individuals working from home should be taxed for the ‘privilege’ as they [...]

Bored of Zoom Quizzes – Here’s What to Do to Boost Your Remote Team

Bored of Zoom Quizzes - Here’s What to Do to Boost Your Remote Team Lockdown 2.0 has commenced in the UK, but if you’re anything like us, your team dropped the zoom quizzes months ago.  In the peak of lockdown, it appeared that company cultures hung on to the team building and social element that [...]

What if Your Team Were All Digital Nomads?

What if Your Team Were All Digital Nomads? The ‘great work from home experiment’ - that’s what I keep hearing when it comes to COVID and the disruption of our workplaces.  But let’s take a moment to look back at pre-COVID work life.  Before the outbreak of coronavirus, remote working was for the chosen few, [...]

Creating Company Culture on Zero Budget

Creating Company Culture on Zero Budget We all know by now that company culture really matters in creating a sustainable and profitable business; but what if you just genuinely don’t have the budget right now to spend money on building a company culture?  Putting our current global pandemic aside, I know that for many start-ups [...]

Why Your Team Need to Be Part of Creating Your Company Values

Why Your Team Need to Be Part of Creating Your Company Values Do as I say, not as I do - that’s the old business attitude isn’t it?  Nobody knows as much about the business, the products or services as me - the leader of the business. This also sounds very much like a world-leader [...]

Startup Culture – 9 Founders Share Their Words of Wisdom

Startup Culture - 9 Founders Share Their Words of Wisdom Startup culture has a reputation for being fast-paced, agile, and messy - but highly empowering for those working within. The trouble is, as a founder of a startup, how do you know you’re doing all the ‘right things’? There’s many books out there, TEDTalks and [...]

What is Behind The Magic of Netflix Company Culture?

What is Behind The Magic of Netflix Company Culture? Listen to this feature https://libertymind.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Netflix-Blog-Audio.mp3 Revolutionary video streaming giant, Netflix is ingrained in modern-day society. Stop and think, do you know anyone of your generation or the generation above and below you without Netflix? Probably not.  While we are used to hearing, 'Netflix and chill', what [...]

Toxic Fallout: The Culture Cracks Appearing Post-Covid

Toxic Fallout: The Culture Cracks Appearing Post-Covid It may feel like we’re emerging from the darkness that descended during lockdown here in the UK, but it seems that the ripple effects of covid-19 are now fully taking place. You don’t have to watch the news to know that the pandemic has turned lives and businesses [...]

How to Avoid Falling Back into Bad Culture Practices Post Covid

How to Avoid Falling Back into Bad Culture Practices Post Covid The COVID-19 crisis meant that very quickly, the business landscape changed forever, and many organisations were tested. We saw businesses come under fire for not taking meaningful action to make sure company culture was preserved in these challenging times. For some, all it seemed [...]

Why Working From Home Doesn’t Work For Everyone

Why Working From Home Doesn’t Work For Everyone Despite the rumbling of the second wave of COVID-19, restrictions are still to lift, and some sense of normality has resumed. For some, this means there is potential to return to working from the office. While some businesses have told employees that working from home will continue [...]

New Zealand – Will it Become the Country of the 4-Day Workweek?

New Zealand – Will it Become the Country of the 4-Day Workweek? COVID19 has been one of the most significant tests of political leadership the world has ever faced. It is no secret that it has left many people exasperated when it comes to the way their Government has handled the pandemic, and the strategies [...]

Flexible Working Will Rise After COVID-19 – At Last!

Flexible Working Will Rise After COVID-19 – At Last! It's a concerning fact that even though a large volume of businesses would consider themselves to be 'modern', many still shunned away from flexible or remote working before COVID-19 became the catalyst. There are several justifications put forward when it comes to asking why remote or [...]

Silly Office Perks Won’t Serve You Now

Silly Office Perks Won’t Serve You Now Remember when all it took for a business to be considered a great place to work was a bean bag, a breakout space with an Xbox and a vast selection of drinks and snacks? When companies took stock of the modern employee and broke away from the rigidity [...]

How to Lead a Culture Change When You’re an Employee

How to Lead a Culture Change When You’re an Employee Over the past few months I’ve been hosting a number of webinars on building and creating a strong company culture. The reasons for these webinars was to support businesses going through radical changes to their culture, and how they can thrive during the covid-19 crisis.   [...]

Culture Crash to a Culture King – The Starbucks Company Culture Lessons

Culture Crash to a Culture King - The Starbucks Company Culture Lessons You might not immediately consider Starbucks to have a company culture to follow. After all, most of us simply know it from face-value - that hot cup of coffee when you’re on the road, or that cool but comforting space you visit to [...]

6 Signs Your Company Culture Won’t Survive Coronavirus

6 Signs Your Company Culture Won’t Survive Coronavirus The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has sent a wave of fear, worry and uncertainty across the globe, disrupting our home lives and our workplaces. Which means company culture has never been so important.  Unfortunately, it’s clear to see from the outset those companies who have fared [...]

Health and Safety in the Homeworking Era

Health and Safety in the Homeworking Era Months of enforced homeworking has shown that many employees are able to work productively, and in some cases flourish, when working from home. Assuming that productivity can be maintained (and perhaps even improved) there will be an appetite from both employers and employees to continue homeworking indefinitely. However, [...]

Company Culture: Life After Lockdown

Company Culture: Life After Lockdown From remote working in a crisis, to furlough, our company cultures have seen major disruption and upheaval during the COVID-19 crisis, which has ultimately impacted our business and our people.  Are you wondering how things will be after lockdown?  Are there changes you’re worried to make in your company culture?  [...]

Are We Going to Be More Connected After Covid-19?

Are We Going to Be More Connected After Covid-19? During the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have been working from home, taking zoom calls and video conferences to remain connected.  Aside from the physical space that these meetings are taking place in, there’s another big difference - our personal lives, for we have never been [...]

How COVID-19 Is Challenging Company Culture

How COVID-19 Is Challenging Company Culture It is undeniable that we are all feeling the effects of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic on both a personal level and business level, but how much the crisis has truly impacted our teams, and our company culture has been guesswork until now.  However, a recent survey by the Society [...]

7 Ideas to Support Your People & Company Culture During COVID-19

7 Ideas to Support Your People & Company Culture During COVID-19 For any leader or HR manager, now is a critical time to provide support to your team and continue to nurture your company culture.  With people feeling displaced across the UK, it’s no surprise that a recent survey by the Society for Human Resources has found [...]

Fun Company Culture Activities to Engage Your Remote Team

Fun Company Culture Activities to Engage Your Remote Team With many businesses now working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, keeping morale high and teams engaged has never been so important.  When teams are dispersed, and the head office is no longer the foundation of the company culture, it’s essential you work to continue to [...]

How to Implement Remote Working In 7 Steps

How to Implement Remote Working In 7 Steps As a business, implementing remote working in your company culture can not only help your business to grow but can help your people gain that work-life balance. Reducing presenteeism, absenteeism, and giving your business a competitive advantage. According to the Office of National Statistics, by the end [...]

The Remote Work Teething Issues You Need To Sink Your Teeth Into

The Remote Work Teething Issues You Need To Sink Your Teeth Into Over recent weeks, the remote work revolution has taken over in office and business settings that might not even have considered it an option before. As lockdowns commence, continue, and change, adjusting to this new working model has undoubtedly become an indicator of [...]

3 Steps to Nurture Your Company Culture During a Crisis

3 Steps to Nurture Your Company Culture During a Crisis When a crisis occurs, and it impacts your business, the first thing many leaders do is move into a place of fear and begin locking down the functions and operations of the business. With anxiety high about incoming revenue, a cull begins. First, it starts [...]

Managing Remote Workers in a Crisis

Managing Remote Workers in a Crisis As the UK goes into lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus, many businesses have had to eject their employees from their offices, and set-up an emergency remote working operation. Does this sound familiar?  Recently, we hosted a free webinar to provide advice and guidance to those managing [...]

The Companies Remote Working & Making it Work During COVID-19

The Companies Remote Working & Making it Work During COVID-19 Many organisations have been thrust into a remote working operation while the global lockdown to combat COVID-19 takes place. For organisations and businesses who are new to remote working, this can be a challenging time, and knowing how to manage and support remote workers becomes [...]

Can a Company Culture Be Changed?

Can a Company Culture Be Changed? By far, this has to be one of the biggest questions relating to company culture - can a company culture really be changed? As with any big question, there are reasons it’s difficult to answer with one word.  When you think of company culture, it’s essential you realise that [...]

4 Simple Ways to Include Mindfulness In Business

4 Simple Ways to Include Mindfulness In Business In the last few years, mindfulness and mental health practices have increased substantially in the consciousness of many around the world. With things like social media, work stress and more having a bigger impact on our daily lives than ever before. So, people have flocked to use [...]

How to Meditate at Work

How to Meditate at Work We are only three months into a brand-new decade and have already been bombarded with the realisation of enormous changes to the political landscape, and a global pandemic that has sent the stock markets plummeting.  For many of us, being whipped up into a media frenzy is enough to have [...]

The 10 Best Employee Happiness Questions

The 10 Best Employee Happiness Questions No matter what you like to call them in your organisation, employee happiness surveys, or employee engagement surveys - the fact is, they matter to your people and to how you are going to be able to improve your company culture.  Without a regular survey guiding you on what’s [...]

So You Want A Great Company Culture – Then Build Trust.

So You Want A Great Company Culture - Then Build Trust. A feature in Harvard Business Review was recently brought to my attention. “What the Best Companies to Work For, Do Differently.”  It’s a worthy read if you get a moment or two, but to sum it up for you, Harvard believe that to have [...]

Does Mindfulness Work?

Does Mindfulness Work? Despite the concept of mindfulness being practiced for thousands of years, we have only really seen the spotlight intensify since 2017. Since then, online searches related to mindfulness have remained consistent - apart from annual dips throughout December, the irony here being that this is the most likely month that stress and [...]

11 Ways to Use Mindfulness At Work

11 Ways to Use Mindfulness At Work Adopting mindfulness habits in the workplace can help reduce stress, enhance our communication skills and help us to manage our wellbeing better while at work.  Mindfulness is nothing new. In fact, it’s steeped in ancient eastern teachings, but over the past decade, it’s gradually grown in popularity here [...]

Why Your Team Are Disengaged & How to Fix It

Why Your Team Are Disengaged & How to Fix It ‘Employee engagement’ has become a big buzzword in the world of business; for those of you who are wondering what it means - engagement is when your team are driven, motivated and focussed on the success of the organisation. Engaged employees make better decisions, are [...]

5 Ways to Boost Financial Literacy in the Workplace

5 Ways to Boost Financial Literacy in the Workplace When it comes to valuing your employees and promoting a healthy company culture, one aspect that’s often overlooked is financial literacy. In today’s current crisis, we've described how thinking ahead will help communicate to your employees what you value as a leader. According to a 2019 [...]

How to Be the UK’s Best Place to Work

How to Be the UK’s Best Place to Work We all want to work somewhere that makes us feel great, which means it’s no surprise that any list shouting about the UK’s best places to work, makes waves. Everyone wants to know who is doing company culture ‘right’.  From Glassdoors’ annual Best Places to Work [...]

Introducing the Company Culture Accreditation

Introducing the Company Culture Accreditation I work closely with organisations across the UK to change or improve their company culture. With these organisations putting so much hard work and dedication into their culture, I felt it was about time that companies could be recognised for the culture they are building.  Yes, there are awards out [...]

Work Anywhere – How Chanty Manage Remote Working

Work Anywhere - How Chanty Manage Remote Working Why work from one place, when you can work from anywhere in the world? For Chanty, a software company that has built a simple AI-powered team chat; remote working was the best way to go global. Founder Dmytro Okunyev reveals why they made a choice to introduce [...]

Should An Out of Hours Culture Be Banned?

Should An Out of Hours Culture Be Banned? As we run up to the festive season we’re all looking forward to that much needed break, and some quality time with those we hold nearest and dearest. But while Christmas Day should be a day of celebration, many employees may still find themselves picking up emails [...]

Crush the Workplace Suggestion Box – It’s Doing Nothing for Your Culture

Crush the Workplace Suggestion Box - It’s Doing Nothing for Your Culture You want to improve your company culture, but you want to get your team on board and get their input on the things they love and the things they loathe about the workplace; so you create a workplace suggestion box. Sound familiar?  Right [...]

Are Unspoken Expectations Breaking Your Company Culture?

Are Unspoken Expectations Breaking Your Company Culture? I spoke to a friend last week who went for an interview at a prestigious marketing company. He was offered the job but turned it down. Why? - Because it was clear from the get-go that the expectations of his role between the founder and his line manager [...]

5 Simple Ways to Build a Culture of Engagement

5 Simple Ways to Build a Culture of Engagement Many people feel that with company culture and employee engagement, it’s a bit like the chicken and egg situation. Which comes first?  I'm a firm believer that high employee engagement is driven by strong company cultures. After all, if you haven’t got the right environment in [...]

6 Company Culture Myths Debunked

6 Company Culture Myths Debunked While improving and changing company culture is nothing new, I still get faced with assumptions about what company culture is, and how it impacts the business.  These myths mean that many businesses are afraid to take the steps necessary to create a culture change - which is a shame when [...]

How to Embed Mindfulness in the Workplace?

How to Embed Mindfulness in the Workplace? While mindfulness training in the workplace can teach your team how to manage stressful situations, and support their overall wellbeing; mindfulness can also help you to build a company culture that enhances communication and increases productivity.  The mindfulness workshop I conduct at Liberty Mind is a great way [...]

10 Ways Great Leaders Encourage Company Culture

10 Ways Great Leaders Encourage Company Culture Business leaders play a fundamental role in the success of company culture. In 2016, The Edelman Trust Barometer found that employees who trust their leadership are significantly more likely to advocate for their company, its products and services.  As discussed in the breakdown of the nine core elements [...]

How Mindfulness Improves Company Culture

How Mindfulness Improves Company Culture Mindfulness is the practice of being present and aware. When we embed mindfulness into our company culture and train teams to use mindfulness as part of work and life, we can see dramatic improvements in both employee engagement and the success of the company culture. The mindfulness workshop that I [...]

Why You Need a Company Culture Roadmap

Why You Need a Company Culture Roadmap When you’re looking to improve or change your company culture, there are many elements that need to be considered. As I’ve mentioned many times before, company culture isn’t just about the social events that you host, and the workplace benefits you provide, there are in total nine core [...]

Should You Measure Your Company Culture?

Should You Measure the Impact of Your Company Culture? Two  questions I often get asked is; how should we measure the company culture and should we measure company culture?   And my answer to this is mixed. Measure Culture for People Impact I truly believe the only time you should measure the impact of your company [...]

5 Company Culture Books You Need to Read

5 Company Culture Books You Need to Read When building a company culture, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What direction should you go in? How are the culture and vision going to impact business growth? But as many businesses have been there and done it before, looking at what’s already out there is a great [...]

The Life Cycle of Company Culture – Where Does Your Culture Sit?

The Life Cycle of Company Culture - Where Does Your Culture Sit? A lot of people often ask, “How can businesses know when they need help with their company culture?” And it’s a valid point. To explain how people know that they need company culture help, it’s all about awareness. It’s like anything within our [...]

Make it Thrive Podcast: Can Corporate Company Culture Be Changed?

Can Corporate Company Culture Be Changed? This post is a write-up of my company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Charlotte Farrell, Transformational Consultant. So Charlotte, tell us about your experience working in a [...]

Make it Thrive Podcast: Are Fast Pace Company Cultures Causing Burnout?

Are Fast Pace Company Cultures Causing Burnout? This post is a write-up of our company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Dean Lynn, the Founder of Trusted Media, a digital agency based in Peterborough. [...]

Why Company Culture Is A Journey

Why Company Culture Is A Journey Creating a company culture is a journey, an organic process that will no doubt often change. After all, with it being intrinsically people based, the world and people will change, and therefore the culture may need to change or evolve over time. This is important to remember and not [...]

Make it Thrive Podcast: When Company Culture Impacts Mental Health

When Company Culture Impacts Mental Health This post is a write-up of my company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Soma Ghosh, Career Happiness Mentor, on when company culture impacts mental health. So Soma, [...]

Make it Thrive: Building an Agile Company Culture for Growth

Building an Agile Company Culture for Growth This post is a write-up of my company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Paddy Moogan,  Co-Founder of Digital Marketing Agency, Aira.   So Paddy, give us [...]

The 9 Elements of Company Culture

The 9 Elements of Company Culture Many people assume that company culture are the social activities that happen within an organisation, or the work perks. But the fact is, company culture is essentially made from nine elements that separate your company from others. These elements gives your business its character, and your employees an understanding [...]

Make it Thrive Podcast: Small Stuff Counts

Make it Thrive Podcast: The Small Stuff Counts This post is a write-up of my company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Zoe Whitman, Founder of But The Books. In this feature we discuss [...]

Make it Thrive Podcast: Championing Six Hour Days

Make it Thrive Podcast: Championing Six Hour Days This post is a write-up of my company culture podcast, Make It Thrive. You can listen to this podcast in its full glory here, or on Spotify or Google Podcasts. This week I’m talking to Lee Carnihan, the Marketing Manager of Curveball Media. Curveball Media have adopted [...]

Why Copycat Company Cultures Don’t Work?

Why Copycat Company Cultures Don't Work You can see copycat culture everywhere, from digital marketing agencies, recruitment agencies to big tech firms. No matter your industry or sector, it’s easily done.   In fact, I often like to play a little game called company culture bingo to see just how many similarities I can spot. [...]

5 Ideas to Reinvigorate Your Company Culture

5 Ideas to Reinvigorate Your Company Culture When you’re looking to improve your company culture it can feel like a mountainous task to take on, but company culture is nothing new. By looking around for inspiration it can often help to trigger your own unique ideas. “Where do we start?” - This is often the [...]

9 Company Culture Stats that Will Make Culture A Priority

9 Company Culture Stats that Will Make Culture A Priority Company culture is deemed as the ‘fluffy stuff’ in business, yet time and time again the data reveals how it makes a solid impact not only on profits but also on a business's success in their sector. You need only to look at brands that [...]

What is Company Culture?

What is Company Culture? When you hear people discussing company culture a vague look often comes across their face. People have some ideas about what it is, but there’s no definitive explanation or measurement of what exactly it means or does. Before you can begin evolving or creating culture, you have to understand what it [...]

Making Mental Health Matter – Why Dotty About Paper Took On Mental Health Coaching in the Workplace.

Making Mental Health Matter - Why Dotty About Paper Took On Mental Health Coaching in the Workplace. As an owner of a small business Lisa Forde of Dotty About Paper knew that she needed to stay aware of her team’s mental health. With a few members of staff, working very closely together, Lisa couldn’t ignore [...]

Why Company Culture Is Important For Any Organisation

Why Company Culture Is Important For Any Organisation Company culture is a pivotal part of any business regardless of its size, sector and organisational structure. Company culture has a direct effect on your brand reputation, future business planning but mostly; it effects the employees which are responsible for growing and maintaining the business. Creating a [...]

5 Things Holding Back Workplace Creativity

5 Things Holding Back Workplace Creativity Many of us assume that when it comes to creativity in the workplace it’s only necessary for those in a traditionally creative role such as graphic designers or those in branding, but the fact is creativity is required in every single role in an organisation. Creativity gives us the [...]

Employee Appraisals Suck – Here’s Why

Employee Appraisals Suck - Here's Why If there’s something that’s going to suck the life out of your company culture, it’s employee appraisals. Time and time again I've seen bad practice appraisals simply done because it’s a HR exercise. Not because the business wants to increase engagement and employee happiness, but to control their employees [...]

Work, Rest and Play – Why Curveball threw away the eight-hour day?

Work, Rest and Play - Why Curveball threw away the eight-hour day “Why do we work an eight-hour day anyway?” For Curveball Media, a film and animation production company, asking themselves that question is where it all started. Actually, that’s not entirely true. As Daniel Spencer, Strategic Director and co-founder reveals, “It all started when [...]

Why Company Culture Is Important In A Startup

Why Company Culture Is Important In A Startup When starting a business the one area that gets little time or investment is company culture. You know it’s important, but it’s at the bottom of the ‘to-do-list’. After all, when you’ve got a small team juggling the work, the accounts and trying to secure clients, the [...]

You Are Not Your Job

You Are Not Your Job While I’m a strong believer in finding a passion and purpose in your work, lately I’ve been seeing far too many people attaching their identity to their job role, as if what they do for work, is simply all of who they are and what they do. “But I’m the [...]

Your Employees Are Leaving You – Here’s What To Do

Your Employees Are Leaving You – Here’s What To Do According to research by Glassdoor, 18% of people consider changing jobs in January, and it has nothing to do with the typical January blues. From needing a new challenge, having negative relationships with colleagues, to feeling unfulfilled – the truth is, salary is not the [...]

Why You Should Avoid The Universal F*ck-Up Email

Why You Should Avoid The Universal F*ck-Up Email Emails are well-known to be a burden on our productivity, in 2017 New York University professor Adam Alter discovered that on average we check our emails 6 seconds after they arrive. Inbox always open is a common productivity problem. The truth is we all know we’ve got [...]

10 Simple Ways to Improve Your Focus & Productivity

When we think of productivity we often simply think it’s about getting as much stuff done as possible. Even organisations are consistently seeking more ways for employees to be more productive so that workload can be increased and profits improved. As someone passionate about wellbeing, this is not how I see productivity. Instead, I believe [...]

How Company Culture is Killing Business Growth

How Company Culture is Killing Business Growth Whenever I discuss company culture with people it’s typically seen as the ‘fluffy stuff’ that doesn’t truly make a significant impact on the overall business – there is rarely a connection made between culture and business growth, let alone profit. Instead, many businesses prefer to look outward for [...]

Lack of Flexible Working Leaves Employees Missing Major Life Events

On the 30th June 2014 the Government extended the Flexible Working Policy to all employees under section 47 of the Employment Act 2002. While this adjustment in statutory rights was deemed to many as an evolution in the workplace, there has been little enquiry as to the number of employers which have embraced the policy; [...]

Why Do We Separate Work and Life?

Why Do We Separate Work and Life? The traditional 9-5 that many organisations adhere to is deeply limiting to our human potential. In the Employee Reality Survey I conducted, 67% of employees revealed that they have missed out on major life events due to the lack of flexible working within their organisation. This statistic shows [...]

The Impact of Flexible Working on Employee Wellbeing

The relationships that we have in our lives play a significant part in our mental and emotional wellbeing. Yet, as revealed in The Employee Reality survey I conducted, employees are left feeling guilty about attending major life events that can be critical in building strong, healthy relationships. As humans we have an inherent desire to be [...]

Can We Move Past the 9-5 Work Culture?

Can We Move Past the 9-5 Work Culture? “Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest”. These are the famous words of British factory owner Robert Owen who in 1817 began a 40-hour work week. These words were revolutionary in the 1800’s, yet here we are in the 2018, and still working to hours [...]

Is Your Employer Attitude Becoming A Problem?

Is Your Employer Attitude Becoming A Problem? I recently attended a networking event where the speaker asked how many of the professionals attending had employees. There were some raised hands and with it a few groans – which the speaker then replied with, “Yes, I deal with people too”, in a rather derogatory tone. I [...]

Why Do We Praise Burnout?

Why Do We Praise Burnout? You hear it all the time. “Oh I can’t go on holiday I’m far too busy”….or the classic…“Yeah, I’m so busy I worked from 5 am until midnight the other day.” Well, folks, it’s time to get a grip. Being THIS busy is doing nothing for your health, and you [...]

Why Nobody Gives a T*ss about Your Company Values

Why Nobody Gives a T*ss about Your Company Values One of the biggest groans I hear from business leaders is that nobody follows the company values, or that when asked, employees don’t even know the mission statement. Is this surprising to me? – Not at all. I work alongside businesses on a daily basis helping them to establish [...]

Whatever Happened to Our Imagination?

Whatever Happened to Our Imagination? Creativity is a soft-skill that is now demanded of us. When it drives innovation, today’s workforce is continuously pushed to be more creative, more innovative and strive to problem-solve big business issues. Without really knowing it, we’ve made creativity into such a big deal it overwhelms us. This is why [...]

5 Things Holding You Back From Being Your Most Productive

5 Things Holding You Back From Being Your Most Productive There are many ways you can begin to improve your productivity, but no matter the hacks you find and the playlist you listen to, unfortunately, there can be some really simple reasons why you’re still struggling to get into your productivity zone. 1) Too Many [...]

How Mentoring in the Workplace Can Support Mental Health First Aid

How Mentoring in the Workplace Can Support Mental Health First Aid So you’ve got yourself a papercut at work. Let me guess, you know exactly who the first aider is and what you’ve got to do to get yourself a plaster. But what about if you’re feeling stressed, anxious or going through a trauma at [...]

Do Work Perks Matter?

Do Work Perks Matter? Flexi-time, dress down Fridays, office snacks, the obligatory bean bag room, and maybe a games console or two. This is becoming the status quo for the modern workplace. But while these work perks may make the outdated office cubicles of the 1990’s fall apart at the hinges, the truth is these [...]

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