Psychological Safety Speaker Archives

Anatomy of a brilliant workplace mental health event

“Hearing our leaders and people so openly share their story is such a powerful encouragement for other leaders to do the same – and create this safe environment that everyone can strive and perform in! THANK YOU.” Last week I was privileged to be part of a wonderful 90-minute workplace mental health event put […]

Resilience grows as connection grows

When I feel isolated and lonely it is when I am most vulnerable in my personal life and career. I have learnt that just pursuing personal resilience is a flawed strategy. I’m not the only one. The US military were genuinely concerned about the declining wellbeing of service people after they became civilians again. Many […]

Today is World Mental Health Day. Why it matters

Employees now consider mental health the #1 issue they care about (pwc/Atlassian). No one is immune with Deloitte recently finding that one in three employees and c-suite are “Always” or “Often” struggling with fatigue or poor mental health. Reducing stigma at work is reported to be a top 3 priority by 80% of us (McKinsey), […]

3 caring CEOs personify qualities that promote mental health

Let’s face it, work has been very challenging for many of us in the last year. Recent research by SuperFriend of 10000+ employees, shows that 42% of us have had mental health issue in the last year. Successful leaders recognise that having a mentally healthy culture is the #1 priority for employees when evaluating a […]

What holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl can teach us about lockdown uncertainty

Uncertainty can cause more stress than actual pain. Science tells us that we humans are not hard wired to be very good at uncertainty. University College of London research tells us that we will be less anxious knowing that we will DEFINITELY be getting an electric shock, than if we COULD be. During the Nazi […]

5 evidence based ways that managers can prevent employee burnout

These are the top 5 things leaders should focus on to prevent employee burnout (Gallup 2018): 1. Listen to work related problems 2. Encourage teamwork 3. Make everyone’s opinion count 4. Make work purposeful 5. Focus on strengths-based feedback and development. Everyone deserves to work for a leader who cares about them and their growth. […]

Crimes of stupid Covid bosses

In 1976, Professor Carlo Cipolla, an economics professor at the University of California published an essay about what he perceived as humanity’s greatest threat: Stupidity. His 5 universal laws of stupidity are: Everyone underestimates the number of stupid people Stupid people can be found anywhere Stupid people cause losses to others with no gain to […]

Overcoming Toxic Cultures: Powerful lessons from caring CEOs

Our Federal Parliament has been inundated with graphic accounts of misogyny, sexual assault, rape allegations, and toxic departments. Our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison recently claimed it was a triumph for the protesters that they weren’t “met with bullets” during the March 4 Justice rallies. Morrison says ‘the house’ is just like any workplace. Politicians with broader career […]

Male mental ill-health – how to remove the workplace stigma

I recently visited beautiful Forster, on the NSW mid-north coast. Having grown up in Taree it is an area I am quite familiar with. I caught up with a friend who shared that he had lost 2 friends to suicide in the last month. This is a town of just 14,000. It is tragic that […]

10 Commandments for truly caring leaders

Do you consider yourself to be a caring leader? Self-care and caring for others in your team is the foundation of highly effective, sustainable and innovative teams. It comes down to what leaders do each day. Here are my top 10 “commandments” for truly caring leaders.