In the early days of lock down we conducted some wellbeing calls for one of our clients to check that all really was well.
Sharpstone SkinnerJuly 15, 2020
It looks like we might be seeing less of each other for a little while. We didn’t need a virus to tell us that remote teams are a thing – many of us have been part of remote teams for years. But for the immediate future, we may all be part of a remote team. Time is short and you…
Sharpstone SkinnerMarch 16, 2020
…because they fail. In fact by the time this read this, you’re probably on the downward slide with some of your best intentions. Instead, an article about new beginnings. January is a great month for a do-over. You get a chance to do better at things that didn’t go quite to plan the previous year and to make a start…
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 17, 2020
Many years ago, I applied for the HR Director job at the charity I worked for. In the lead up to it I would pass other Directors in the corridor and panic – they were proper grown-ups and I was a mere child who couldn’t possibly sit at the same table as them because I had no idea what I…
Sharpstone SkinnerJune 20, 2019
(or how to think big even if your team, department or organisation is small) If you are a leader in a smallish organisation you know you need to be a master of many trades. You are expected to handle high level strategic and low level operational tasks with equal flair. You may burn the midnight oil preparing a pitch that…
Sharpstone SkinnerFebruary 25, 2019
here are many myths around motivation and many misuses of the term, which can be very confusing when we feel we’re a bit lacking in that area and would like to give ourselves a boost.
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 17, 2019
We all know that group work starts with an ice breaker, expectations and ground rules. It is an important section to warm everyone up and get us all agreeing to how we will work together. On the ground rules someone will often mention putting phones and laptops away. For us this is common courtesy yet for some teams we work…
Sharpstone SkinnerMarch 19, 2018
Part of being a great team is the ability to have a good old argument. Except that arguing is not everyone’s cup of tea, even the word sends shivers down some people’s spines whilst others rub their hands together with glee. Yet teams that don’t have a constructive level of conflict are boring to be in, keep doing the same…
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 8, 2018
Volatile times are creating an environment where organisations are constantly confronting new business challenges, undergoing profound change, and being asked to pivot to meet new and tougher expectations. Like many buzzwords before it, ‘pivot’, is gaining traction and likely to be the most overused word in the workplace for 2017. When people use the word pivot what they really mean…
Sharpstone SkinnerOctober 16, 2017
This month we spoke at a conference on one of our favourite subjects – getting relationships right. Better than right – getting them excellent. Whether you’re aware of it or not, when you show up in a communication, whether it is at a meeting, within a group, in a one to one conversation, even on an email – you bring…
Sharpstone SkinnerJuly 17, 2017