I'm Your Host

I'm a huge fan of comedy and laughter, but I'm dead serious about workplace environments and whether they are good for us.

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This space is evolving to shed light on people-first leadership. When I found out that only an estimated 30% of organisations across the world believe that culture is their defining edge; I knew that my own struggles with painful structure or office-politics could actually become my purpose. And...

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I was part of a magical team turnaround !

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Like any good work story, to get here today, mine had a beginning, a weird middle (during COVID) and I'm still working on the ending 😏

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I needed tools quickly to work out what was happening in a team without knowing them, their work or the business.

 

I didn't have a degree, a mentor, a pathway. I had experience, a passion for people and an instruction...

 

'See what you can do'.

'What's that mean?'

'Just do something'.

'Like what?'

'Like. You'll work it out'.

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I had just accepted a permanent position, and a Senior colleague and our Manager resigned within two weeks of each other. Can you imagine the impact? I had no idea if I wanted to stay, what was I missing? How could the current management team allow that to happen?  I had fallen for the team, the way they rallied and got the work done.

 

A serious committed group of women who just wanted to have a good day at work. I wanted to hear from everyone.

 

​I gathered what I could, put myself out there and began a journey to my best workdays ever, with team members I'll never forget and that I'll always be grateful for. 

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My ideas and methods were different. But I was given grace and the results I felt were extraordinary.

 

A team that needed to be heard. Were critical to business functionality. Had ideas, opinions, who knew their work inside and out. A workload unmeasured and not knowing how good they were actually doing (the business was booming). Operationally, it was impressive how they were coping with old-school manual processes. 

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Around six months later, a team united. Clear values, a shared vision and energy pointing in the right direction. We got ahead of the business and started to be prepared and proactive. It was ridiculous how much we achieved in all the best ways 🥳

 

People were recommending family and friends. Salespeople and contractors emailing to ask if we had vacancies. 

 

At our first review meetings with our senior, every single team member said they had never experienced a team vibe like it. The respect, the co-operation and the acceptance of people as individuals was inspiring.

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Not to mention the productivity gains, the resilience to change, the ability to pivot quickly, the creativity, increased engagement and solutions.

 

The turnaround kings. In this case, queens.

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Change happened quickly. It wasn't perfect. I definitely wasn't perfect and made mistakes. But it was evidence in my mind -  YES! absolutely people-first.

 

Simple concepts that seemed outside-the-box made a real difference. To us, as people. 

 

I have refined and replicated the system and offer it as:

The Olive Tree Method™.  

 

It will continue to evolve but right now it's all here, ready to be picked up, adjusted to your environment and implemented. Step by step. It is practitioner-built, not academic. It came from inside a real team, under real pressure and it works.

 

You will end up somewhere different. And it will be good.

​​​​I'm so excited to offer this up. And on a journey myself of continued learning, in a new online world. So I understand the nerves embarking on change.​

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Jump to the podcast to start hearing me talk (talk talk) about how to bring your workplace to life. It's designed to accompany The Olive Tree Method, which is digging in to reveal the conditions around your team.  The podcast is there to support you observe and strengthen behaviours around your team that could be pulling you all down.

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Get in touch if you have any feedback or have questions.

 

I'm so passionate about this topic. About people connecting and living well in the place they work 9, 10, 12 hours a day. People spending hours in a place that drains them, that's not inevitable. It's fixable.

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And it starts with one leader deciding it matters. That might be you. 

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​​​​It's so important as a leader to frame your responsibility well, and focus in a way that brings out the best in who you look after.

 

You can't get there on your own. People-first allows everyone to evolve and rise in their own ways.

 

You learn together how to look after yourself and each other in a way that feels truly magical and... ​

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...the way it should be.​​

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If any of this sounds familiar, you're in the right place. Start with the Leadership Self-Assessment and see what's possible.

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To your best workday ever. Ciao.