Employee engagement is in crisis, with staggeringly low levels of engagement across the workforce, particularly among younger employees.

This lack of engagement is not only affecting workers' wellbeing, but also has significant economic impact, with an estimated $8.9 trillion lost annually in global GDP due to low engagement.

This week's guest is Juliet Hammond, business analyst at Squadify. Juliet has a background in economics and works with a database of 2.5 million data points, analysing engagement and team dynamics.

Three reasons to listen

• Discover alarming statistics about the current state of employee engagement, including how it has stalled and declined in recent years.
• Learn about the significant financial impact of low engagement on global GDP and various business performance metrics.
• Explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected leadership styles and workplace dynamics, leading to shifts in employee engagement.

Episode highlights

• [00:08:48] What is an engagement survey?
• [00:15:43] The desire for engagement vs its presence
• [00:21:14] Some good news on engagement
• [00:27:20] Moving from distressed to flourishing
• [00:32:50] Juliet's media recommendation
• [00:35:01] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Juliet via LinkedIn
• Pivot, with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
• Burn Book, by Kara Swisher
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

It’s time for a new approach to teamwork: one that minimises distractions, reduces time-blocking communication, prioritises mental health, and promotes independent and efficient work.

This management style can lead to more productive teams, with fewer managers and more individual contributors, with everyone focused on their core competencies.

Liam Martin is the author of a bestselling book and the founder of a conference focused on remote working, which he believes is crucial for scaling organisations. He advocates for a new management style for remote teams, emphasising the importance of communicating effectively without unnecessary interaction.

Three reasons to listen

• Explore asynchronous management and its potential to revolutionise remote work practices
• Discover the challenges organisations face when implementing asynchronous management and how to overcome them
• Learn about the importance of documentation and effective information sharing in scaling remote teams

Episode highlights

• [00:11:55] What is asynchronous management?
• [00:17:51] Where companies fail to implement asynchronous management
• [00:22:15] Case Study: GitLab
• [00:23:30] Entrepreneur operating system
• [00:27:53] Be an of your organisation
• [00:29:20] Getting the information flowing
• [00:32:44] Remote work in 2024
• [00:37:43] Try an asynchronous week
• [00:39:16] Liam's book recommendation
• [00:43:18] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers – Liam’s book
• Running Remote on YouTube
• The Entrepreneurial Operating System
• Slite
• Notion AI
• Flex Index
• Flow: The Psychology of Happiness, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• Leave us a voice note

To bring specialists into teams with different skill sets takes good communication and a knowledge of the history of the team you’re integrating. Doing this well means everyone can point their skills at solving problems.

Ash Winter is an experienced software tester who has a particular interest in how teams and organisations work. Ash has been a software tester for over 15 years, and has experience as a consultant, helping organisations improve their testing processes.

In his role he’s seen a wide range of team structures and sizes, and he’s particularly focused on the challenges and opportunities of being a specialist within a team.

Three reasons to listen

• Understand the unique challenges and opportunities of being a specialist in a cross-functional team
• Explore the impact of team history and dynamics on integrating new specialists
• Learn about the evolving role of software testers and their influence in modern development teams

Episode highlights

• [00:09:14] Testing teams
• [00:14:29] The problem with "embedding" into a team
• [00:16:30] The Spotify model
• [00:19:48] Communities of practice
• [00:22:57] Agile methodologies with multidisciplinary teams
• [00:28:05] The benefits of a coaching qualification
• [00:30:19] Ash's book recommendation
• [00:31:42] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Ash via LinkedIn
• Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow, by Matthew Skelton & Pais Manuel
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni
• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, by Eliyahu Goldratt
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, by Gene Kim
• Leave us a voice note

Workplaces need to provide better support and flexibility to parents coming back from having a child. And more needs to be done to redress the imbalance of working mums vs working dads.

Jessica Heagren is the founder of Careers After Babies, and an advocate for gender equality in the workplace, particularly for women coming back after maternity leave. Jess has conducted extensive research on the career impacts of having children and has published a report uncovering some surprising statistics that don’t all make for happy reading.

Three reasons to listen

• Explore the challenges and solutions for women returning to work after maternity leave
• Understand the impact of traditional gender roles on shared parental leave and workplace dynamics
• Learn the importance of empathetic and inclusive line management in supporting working parents

Episode highlights

• [00:10:54] The Careers After Babies report
• [00:12:07] Gender pay gap
• [00:13:57] Why only 15% of couples talk about who works
• [00:16:25] The 7 themes from the report
• [00:21:57] "Everyone's replaceable"
• [00:25:51] What the next generation of parents holds for the worwkplace
• [00:27:48] The need for more empathy
• [00:33:34] Have the conversation
• [00:34:48] Jess' media recommendation
• [00:36:15] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Jessica via LinkedIn
• The Equal Parent: Why Sharing the Load Matters, by Paul Morgan-Bentley
• The Careers After Babies report
• Leave us a voice note

Effective leadership means understanding the needs of all stakeholders, not just your team members. When teams broaden their thinking to their customer base, to the wider ecology, and even to future generations, they make more effective decisions.

Professor Peter Hawkins has a lifetime of experience working on systemic team coaching, leadership development, and organisational change. He’s a pioneer in integrating strategic and culture change along with leadership development, and he emphasises the importance of connecting personal, team, organisational, and ecological levels of change.

Three reasons to listen

• Learn about systemic team coaching and how to effectively integrate stakeholder perspectives into team dynamics
• Understand the importance of collective purpose in team development and how it drives effective collaboration and learning
• Explore the concept of the pracademic, and the value they bring to team coaching environments

Episode highlights

• [00:07:26] Finding the learning edge
• [00:09:42] As practical as a good theory
• [00:11:04] Minimum stakeholder map
• [00:14:32] Leadership is a team sport
• [00:16:21] The 5 disciplines of highly effective teams
• [00:19:29] Where does psychological safety fit in?
• [00:22:12] What can you uniquely do that the world of tomorrow needs?
• [00:24:13] Reframing how we tackle problems and people
• [00:25:41] Peter's media recommendation
• [00:27:17] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Professor Peter Hawkins via LinkedIn
• Systemic Coaching: Delivering Value Beyond the Individual, by Peter Hawkins and Eve Turner
• 5 disciplines of high performance teams
• Leave us a voice note

Life-altering events can reveal the strength and resilience of the human spirit, highlight the value of a supportive network, and reveal the power of compassion and understanding.

Both of this episode’s guests have had first-hand experience in this area. Returning to the podcast is Gillian Coutts, who suffered a stroke in 2022 and has been on a long road to recovery. By her side, along with Gillian’s husband Steve and her family, has been Gillian’s business partner, Jenny Steadman, who has dealt with her own serious health concerns.

This 100th episode is a testament to the power of the We Not Me spirit, and demonstrates what the combination of grit and grace can achieve.

Three reasons to listen

• Hear a powerful story of resilience and recovery
• Learn about the importance of teamwork and support networks during difficult times
• Understand the impact of life-altering events on personal and professional relationships

Episode highlights

• [00:10:37] Gill's life-changing moment
• [00:18:08] What Gill experienced while in a coma
• [00:20:20] Gill's journey of recovery
• [00:27:03] The role of mindfulness in Gill's recovery
• [00:30:07] Strengthening relationships
• [00:39:06] A hopeful future
• [00:43:47] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Support Gill’s GoFundMe campaign
• Leave us a voice note

Sport is more than just a game. It serves as a unifying force, bringing people together across generations and cultures. It teaches us valuable lessons about leadership, teamwork, and resilience, and it helps build a sense of community and belonging.

Patrick Skene is the Chief Creative Officer at Culture Pulse, where he engages multicultural communities across various sporting events. He’s also a storyteller, writing about sport, exploring its deeper meaning and significance beyond just being a game.

Three reasons to listen

• Discover how sport serves as a unifying force, engendering a sense of community, and teaching valuable lessons about leadership and teamwork.
• Understand how sport can replace traditional forms of conflict and build positive relationships among diverse communities.
• Explore how sport instils respect for elders and promotes intergenerational bonding.

Links

• Connect with Patrick via LinkedIn
• Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, by Adam Grant
• Leave us a voice note

Episode highlights

• [00:08:04] Sport as a microcosm of human society
• [00:11:37] Why leadership matters
• [00:14:54] Why sport matters at a deep cultural level
• [00:20:38] The consequences of lack of teamwork
• [00:24:59] Engaging different cultures from our own
• [00:27:34] One size does not fit all
• [00:30:01] Patrick's media recommendation
• [00:32:07] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

There’s a wealth of untapped wisdom and information within our teams, but too much goes unspoken. By choosing curiosity, making it safe for others to share, and creating opportunities to ask and listen, we can access these insights, enrich our understanding, and improve our decision-making.

Jeff Wetzler is a human potential and learning expert with a background in business and education. His new book discusses how to tap into the expertise of those around us, and he joins Dan and Pia to share some of the key insights raised through his extensive research into team communication.

Three reasons to listen

• Understand how the quality of your questions can impact the effectiveness of problem-solving within a group
• Learn about ways to enhance communication and connection within teams
• Discover how to tap into the hidden wisdom and expertise of people around you for unexpected breakthroughs

Episode highlights

• [00:05:09] What are we thinking but not saying?
• [00:08:50] What are people not telling us?
• [00:10:25] What holds us back?
• [00:14:35] The "Ask" approach
• [00:26:36] Shut the heck up
• [00:27:34] Three impacts of asking
• [00:30:17] Paraphrase and test
• [00:32:11] Jeff's book recommendation
• [00:33:16] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life – Jeff’s book
• Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future for All, by Diana McLain-Smith
• Discover what Squadify can do for your team
• Leave us a voice note