Developing your leadership style for the future of work.
The Make it Work podcast is all about the future of work and how leaders need to adapt. Karen Kirton and Lachy Gray are lending their leadership expertise to tackle some of the biggest questions in the workplace right now.
In Series 3, we’re focusing on growth: growth of ourselves as leaders, growth of our teams, and growth of our business.
Through our conversations (and guest stars!), we aim to give you some thought-provoking ideas and practical takeaways that you can use to future-proof your organisation.
Episode 1: Should your workplace be your 'family'?
We spend a lot of time at work with our colleagues. It’s not uncommon to hear a workplace referred to as a family - but how does this impact the culture of the workplace?
Episode 2: What does kindness look like in the workplace?
Generally, workplace cultures are described as ‘fast-paced’, or ‘fun’. But, what about ‘kind’? Kindness in the workplace can be difficult to pin down, but Lachy and Karen are up for the challenge! Looking at how we define workplace kindness and whether it's overrated, they bring their leadership experience to dive deep on whether kindness is a necessity or a distraction at work.
Episode 3: How do I set new starters up for success?
You’ve invested so much in the hiring process, yet simply showing a new employee their workspace (or in today’s world, sending them their new laptop) and wishing them well on day one isn’t going to set them up for success.
What does a successful onboarding process look like? How do I ensure new starters feel welcomed and enthusiastic?
**This is a recording of the live webinar event ‘Set new starters up for success: what to do in the first 30 days’**
Episode 4: Building a sustainable sales process for your business
Special guest Peter Solway is put in the hot-seat in this week’s episode.
An expert in solving B2B sales challenges, Peter is an entrepreneurial sales leader for small businesses. Karen and Lachy discuss with Peter the best ways business owners can build sustainable sales processes and grow their businesses.
Episode 5: How do you set goals in your organisation?
Goals are easy to set but difficult to follow. It’s one thing to set up a goal framework, but then you have to track how you’re going and measure against it - it’s easy to lose track pretty quickly!
A major part of setting goals effectively is making sure they are achievable and measurable. Karen and Lachy explore different goal-setting frameworks, why some goals are more effective than others, and how you can use goal-setting to measure performance, motivate your team, and celebrate wins.
Episode 6: How can I use scorecards to measure workplace KPIs and performance?
The biggest challenge to setting goals is keeping track of them, and staying accountable. Scorecards are a great way of measuring your company’s goals at a high level.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy discuss the balanced scorecard, and how you can use it to set simple and achievable goals, and to stay on top of key performance indicators.
Episode 7: How can we best design offices to cater for hybrid work and wellbeing?
As flexible and hybrid work becomes the new normal, businesses are faced with the new challenge of how to design spaces and offices that cater to this.
In this episode, we chat with Christina Kim, who specialises in designing human-centric spaces, about the role of workplace design in today's hybrid, flexible environment.
Episode 8: How can we be vulnerable at work?
Vulnerability at work seems to be a hot topic at the moment. The image of the emotionless work persona is thawing, and leaders are being encouraged to bring their whole selves to work – but showing vulnerability is daunting!
In this episode, Karen and Lachy look at what vulnerability looks like in a work context, and the role it plays in effective leadership.
Episode 9: Do financial rewards work to motivate staff?
Humans respond strongly to rewards - and financial incentives seem to be the most popular in business settings. Yet, research shows they’re not the most effective form of motivation in the long run.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy are looking at financial rewards: what works about them, what doesn’t, and do they actually encourage behaviour change?
Episode 10: How can you leverage technology to scale and grow your business?
This week, Karen and Lachy look at the role and importance of technology in business with special guest Maria Padisetti. Leveraging technology has become vital to business growth, but it can be an expensive investment if it’s done ad-hoc and without purpose.
CEO of Digital Armour, Maria is an expert in implementing IT solutions and transforming businesses through the use of technology.
Episode 11: How can I deliver effective and valuable feedback?
Feedback is critical for effective communication at work, to help us learn and development. However, it’s not always delivered well, if at all.
Karen and Lachy delve into the hot topic of feedback: why it’s important, how to give it, and, maybe most importantly, how to receive it.
Episode 12: How can we level up recruitment processes? with special guest Nathan Soti
It’s a tough time for recruiting at the moment. Australia’s skills shortages have only been exacerbated by border closure and other pandemic-related factors. Many businesses are struggling to recruit and retain key roles, leading to outsourcing overseas.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy, with special guest Nathan Sobi, MD of Ethos360, unpack and analyse current challenges in recruitment, and talk about what businesses need to do to find (and keep!) new talent.
Episode 13: If it’s Not Money, then What Motivates Us at Work?
Financial rewards are one way of motivating staff, but research suggests they’re not the most effective. Factors like work-life balance and pleasant work atmospheres are becoming much more popular in someone’s motivation to work somewhere.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy discuss the question, if it’s not cold hard cash, then what does motivate us at work?
Episode 14: Why is Being a Compassionate Leader Important? with Special Guest Jenny Steadman
How is compassionate leadership different from empathetic leadership?
Difficult workplace conversations require a mindful touch, and while wisdom without compassion can be ruthless, compassion without wisdom is naive.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy are in conversation with Jenny Steadman about the role of compassion in being a leader, and how this intersects with wisdom.
Jenny Steadman is the Acting National Director for Potential Project, a global leadership training, consulting, and research firm. She is also a highly qualified mindfulness trainer and corporate facilitator.
Episode 15: Why does change in the workplace fail?
Did you know that 70% of change programs fail? This is often due to employee resistance and lack of support from management.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy talk about implementing change in the workplace, why it is not always handled skilfully, and what businesses can do to manage change successfully.
Episode 16: The Challenges of Growing a Business
As business owners we generally have a goal of growing our business and making it scalable. But growth isn’t always linear and it isn’t always what the business needs.
In this episode, we discuss business growth and its challenges with Darrell King, founder and CE of PolarSeven, a consulting and managed services organisation.
Episode 17: Keeping Connections in Remote and Hybrid Workplaces
The 9-5, in the office, working week has changed dramatically in the last few years, thanks to Covid-19. Whilst many are enjoying the flexibility offered by remote and hybrid working are we starting to see a downside to the situation?
We have less in-person connection with our colleagues and friends at work, which can result in loneliness, difficulty building rapport and a feeling of being disconnected from our workmates. In this episode, Karen and Lachy discuss whether remote and hybrid workplaces are making us feel lonelier.
Episode 18: Fostering Psychological Safety at Work with Special Guest Linda Murray
Organisations talk about their culture in glowing terms, saying it’s healthy, inclusive, and transformative. Yet what does that actually mean? One aspect is psychological safety, which is the idea that people feel comfortable showing up and speaking up at work.
In this episode, Karen and Lachy discuss psychological safety at work with Linda Murray, founder and Executive Coach and Leadership Development Expert at Athena Leadership Academy. Linda shares what a psychologically safe workplace looks like, the role a leader plays in creating a safe environment and some activities we can all incorporate into our day to day.
Episode 19: Is Diversity of Thinking Part of Your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy?
Diversity is a hot topic. Yet one aspect of diversity that’s less commonly talked about is diversity of thought and perspective. In this episode, Karen and Lachy explore thinking diversity with Michael Morgan, the CEO of Herrmann Asia. Herrmann are the organisation behind the globally recognised Whole Brain Thinking model.
Together they discuss how our thinking preferences influence our behaviour, how to foster a culture of thinking diversity, and what leaders can do to recognise and accommodate different perspectives across individuals in their teams using Whole Brain Thinking.
Learn more about bringing Whole Brain Thinking to your organisation.
Episode 20: 2022 Round Up
The Make it Work podcast has covered a range of interesting and important topics this year, including insightful guest interviews.
The first episode aired after Russia invaded Ukraine, Australia elected a new Prime Minister, and the economy saw a rise in inflation.
There were a lot of changes! This episode shares some of Lachy and Karen’s highlights of 2022.
