Practical guidance for tackling common leadership challenges
Over the years, in my businesses, as an executive coach, and in leadership development, I have seen the same challenges recur repeatedly. How do you keep a team engaged? How do you raise performance? How can we help people navigate change? How do you balance results with relationships? and so on.
These questions rarely have a single answer. What matters most is the way a leader chooses to respond. Each choice not only drives performance, it also shapes the climate and culture that others experience.
I aim to offer you practical guidance and a fresh perspective, blending science and stewardship, not as fixed solutions, but as insights and steps you can apply immediately. Think of each post as both reflection and practice: useful now, and part of a longer journey of growth.
You’ll find new questions added regularly. If there’s one you’re wrestling with, I invite you to share it with me.
For those looking to develop a specific capability or competency, the Leadership Library offers one hundred areas for you to develop yourself.
What should I do in the first 60 days of leading leaders?
Stepping into a role leading leaders is one of the toughest transitions in management. This 60-day plan offers research-backed guidance on how to listen, build trust, create alignment, and empower your leadership team, setting a foundation for performance and culture that lasts well beyond the early weeks.
I have just been made a team leader — where do I start? A 60-day plan for new leaders
Just promoted to team leader? Your first 60 days set the tone for trust and performance. This guide offers a practical roadmap in four 15-day phases, balancing early wins with building a culture of belonging and accountability.
How can I handle a toxic but talented employee at work?
What do you do when one of your top performers is also the most toxic presence on your team? This article explores five leadership lenses that reveal the hidden costs, relational fractures, and cultural risks of tolerating toxicity, and offers practical moves to protect trust, balance results, and safeguard the future of your team
What should leaders do when a team member is often absent or quiet quitting?
When a team member is often absent or quietly disengaged, leaders face a tough choice. Should they tighten policies or start with connection? This post explores how to balance compassion with accountability, using coaching stories, practical steps, and HR guidance to help leaders respond with confidence and fairness.
How do I respond when a team member goes to peers first instead of me?
What should you do when a team member goes to peers first instead of you? It can feel like being bypassed, but it is also a signal worth listening to. This article explores what it really means, why people turn sideways before up, and how leaders can respond with trust rather than defensiveness.
How do I deal with a team member who refuses to help others?
What if a colleague’s refusal to help is not the problem, but the signal? Discover three leadership lenses: culture, structure, and systems, that turn frustration into collaboration.
How can I create a positive climate for organisational change?
Organisational climate is the “everyday weather” of work that shapes whether change efforts succeed or fail. Unlike culture, climate can shift quickly and leaders play a decisive role in creating clarity, trust, fairness, and psychological safety. This article explores six facets and five levers leaders can use to build a true climate for change.
How can I deal with inappropriate jokes or humour at work?
When jokes at work cross the line, leaders are often unsure whether to ignore it, enforce policy, or step in directly. This guide offers practical ways to address inappropriate humour, protect trust and build a respectful, inclusive team culture.
How can I deal with a team member who is always complaining?
Complaints are part of every workplace, but when one person constantly complains, it can drain energy, damage trust and undermine performance. This guide explores why people complain and how leaders can respond in ways that build ownership, accountability and engagement rather than defensiveness.
How can I help a team member receive feedback without getting defensive?
Defensiveness can derail feedback conversations. This article explores why people react defensively, what behavioural science reveals, and how leaders can respond. From practical models to self-awareness practices, discover strategies to turn defensiveness into growth, build psychological safety, and create a culture where feedback strengthens rather than divides.
How to handle a team member who dominates meetings?
When one person dominates meetings, valuable ideas are lost, engagement drops and frustration rises. This guide offers practical facilitation strategies to balance participation, engage quieter voices and create meetings that work for everyone.
How can I cultivate strong relationships in a hybrid or remote-team?
Hybrid work has changed how teams connect. Learn how to build trust, create equity, and design simple rituals that foster belonging in remote and hybrid teams.
How do I support mental wellbeing while maintaining performance?
Discover how workplace wellbeing drives sustainable organisational performance. Explore behavioural, systemic, and relational strategies to prevent burnout, boost engagement, and build resilient, human-centred workplaces.
How do I stop my team getting distracted?
A practical guide to reducing distraction at work by redesigning how teams focus. Through four pillars: connection, environment, system, psychology. it shows leaders how to protect attention, cut interruptions, and build shared commitment, with actionable tips, micro‑stories, and reflection questions for sustained team focus and performance.
How do I deal with team members who don’t want to join team events?
When team members regularly avoid team events, it is often a signal that gatherings are not meeting real needs. This guide explores how leaders can redesign team events to rebuild belonging, ownership and genuine commitment.
How do I get my team to turn their cameras on?
Many leaders struggle with cameras staying off in virtual meetings. This guide explores practical ways to build presence, trust and engagement in remote and hybrid teams rather than relying on camera rules.
How do I handle recurring performance issues in my team?
Recurring performance issues in teams can frustrate leaders and lower standards. Learn how to handle recurring problems constructively through the Five Lenses of Performance, giving feedback that builds accountability, strengthens trust, and even works when you lead without formal authority.
How do I lead people from different cultures?
Leading across cultures means adapting to very different expectations about communication, feedback, leadership, and time. Drawing on Erin Meyer’s Culture Map, this article explains the eight dimensions of cultural difference and offers practical tips and reflective questions for managers of global teams. By developing cultural intelligence, leaders can turn diversity into a strength and build more effective, collaborative teams.
How can leaders say no without damaging relationships?
Many leaders struggle to say no without upsetting others. This article explores why saying no feels so hard, how culture shapes our responses, and practical strategies to set boundaries while preserving trust and respect.
How can I make my team more accountable?
Accountability is not about keeping score, it is about connection and choice. In this article, we explore the shift from leader-enforced rules to a culture where the team holds itself accountable. Includes the top barriers, enablers, and five self-coaching questions for leaders.