In today's evolving work landscape, building a high-performing hybrid team has become crucial for organisational success. As we navigate the complexities of remote and in-office work, leaders must adapt their strategies to ensure team cohesion, productivity, and...
Strong leadership communication skills are the foundation of effective leadership. They empower leaders to inspire, motivate, and guide their teams towards success. At Zestfor, we have seen how mastering these skills can transform both teams and organisations. Here...
In today's rapidly evolving technical and scientific landscape, the traditional top-down leadership model is no longer sufficient. Modern leaders are discovering that empathy is the key to unlocking the full potential of their teams and driving exceptional...
International Leadership Week (18 – 24 Nov) is an important time to reflect on the evolving nature of leadership and what it takes to thrive in today’s dynamic landscape. For leaders in the pharma, IT, and other rapidly transforming industries, resilience and...
Every November 5th, Bonfire Night lights up the skies across the UK, marking the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This historical event, led by Guy Fawkes and a group of conspirators, was a dramatic attempt to overthrow King James I by blowing up the...
Leadership development is a journey defined by continuous learning, self-awareness, and the ability to navigate complexity. Yet, while some leadership skills might come more naturally or can be honed through experience, others can remain elusive, requiring deep...
Effective communication is at the heart of great leadership. For managers aiming to lead their teams to success, understanding how to communicate with clarity, purpose, and impact will be an essential leadership tool. Whether you're managing a fast-paced department or...
Leadership is often hailed as the cornerstone of organisational success, but does your specific style really impact outcomes? In today’s complex business environment, where different leadership models compete for attention, the question of whether your approach truly...
The different scenarios that you may have to manage in your leadership career will be wide-ranging. Many people go into leadership thinking that their focus will be on addressing technical issues, problem-solving and managing people, and for the most part this will be...
It’s easy to forget just how much the world of work has shifted in the last few years. The work-from-home culture has introduced new dimensions, and challenges, to the way we work. Yet, as it became the norm so quickly, and on a global scale, it can be easy to...
In leadership, management of behaviours is often only reviewed at the point where something has gone wrong. Managing, and even considering, the behaviours of a team can be an overlooked element of leadership – but one where so much value can be gained when it is given...
As a leader, you may have spent some time already in your career focusing on your personal brand. You might have dedicated time trying to define, or even cultivate a certain reputation which matches your values. What kind of leader do you want others to perceive you...
Delegation is a natural part of any leadership role, but there is a difference between leaders who delegate as a tick box exercise and those who use it as an opportunity to get the most out of their team, maximise their own time and make effective prioritisation...
It can be lonely at the top – as a leader, there is often combined pressures when it comes to managing your team effectively, making strategic decisions all while driving for the overarching growth and success of your team. Where do your own professional goals come...
When you think about what separates confidence from arrogance, there can be a fine line between the two. Most people have opinions on what constitutes arrogance from personal experience; we’ve all come across people who we perceive to be arrogant, but where does the...
Increasingly, teams in the modern workplace are made up of people from diverse educational backgrounds and spanning multiple generations. The introduction of the terms we use to categorise people from these different generations; Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and...
Despite easier access to resources and increasingly advanced technology to help make our working lives easier, workplace burnout is at an all time high. When stress levels become and remain high within your team, it is only a matter of time before you will begin to...
The path to leadership can take many forms, and each individual in a position of leadership, even within the same team or business, will have individual drives, ambitions and outlooks. As someone who works regularly with leaders across different sectors, I recognise...
Do you know someone like this; the person who is self-aware and who always seems to be able strike a chord with those around them, who is able to navigate their relationships – both business and personal – with clarity and sensitivity, while maintaining boundaries and...
Having difficult conversations is an inevitability of any leadership role - so why do so many leaders find it so challenging? Having explored this more deeply, there are actually many reasons why leaders of all levels find it such an uncomfortable part of their...
Change is a constant in business, and there may be points in your leadership career where you find yourself with the task of managing a team who have been through or are currently going through a significant change. Periods of change can be unsettling for any team. It...
2024 marks four years since the pandemic changed the world’s way of working. Working from home became the norm for many sectors which had previously been 100% office based, with employees and organisations having to adapt quickly. Since this enormous shift, some...
We’re already two months into 2024, would now be a good time to reflect on those leadership skills you want to develop this year? No leader can sail their ship alone. You need to be able to truly rely on the rest of your team; to trust that they are not only happy in...
In my experience, from working with a myriad of teams throughout my career, there are certain markers that I have come to recognise as the foundation of an excellent team. Trust is one of them. I have witnessed the transformative power of cohesive trust-filled teams;...
In an era dominated by rapid technological advancements and shifting societal norms, recognising the potential of Generation Z has become a focused concern for organisations worldwide. As the first generation to grow up in a digital age, Gen Z brings unique...
A new year is an opportunity to take your leadership to a new level. It’s a chance to reflect on the challenges you’ve overcome in the previous year and consider how you can evolve in the months ahead. The last year certainly hasn’t been as easy to manage as most...
Change is an unavoidable concept in any business. That's particularly true in the current global landscape, where countless external factors exist. In the last year alone, companies have had to navigate supply chain shortages, economic turmoil, socio-political...
Recently, on the Zestfor blog, I posted a series of articles intended to support leaders in improving their impact on their organisations. We've looked at developing leadership skills, handling imposter syndrome, and building resilience. However, even with these...
In today's ever-changing business landscape, every leader needs to evaluate their effectiveness in delivering what the senior leadership team and their organisation want to improve their performance. The truth is that more is expected from us than ever in a workplace...
Over the last few months, we have written several posts on the Zestfor blog on developing as a new leader. We have covered a range of the key skills required, including how to become self-aware and manage your mindset, mastering difficult conversations, understanding...
As we continue our series on how to develop as a leader, let’s talk about one of the most challenging aspects of your role, especially when you are new, navigating difficult conversations. Whether it's addressing poor performance issues, delivering bad news, or...
Becoming a leader that inspires a team and who delivers results for an organisation requires more than just technical skills and experience. They require one of the most critical traits for success, and that is self-awareness. Becoming self-aware is an ongoing process...
Over the next few posts across the summer, we will focus on how new leaders can succeed. We will look at the knowledge, skills, and attitude required to be successful in a changing leadership landscape. The role of a leader has evolved significantly as our teams...
Today we are talking about the key enablers of resilience. Over the past few blogs, we have shared a deep dive into this area and how being resilient can completely change our lives; read our previous posts here. Last time we looked at two challenging barriers to...
Resilience is all about change and how we manage its presence, and it's critical to remember that change can cause stress in our lives too. Therefore resilience and stress naturally share an interconnected relationship. Resilience can be defined as the ability to...
As a leader or manager, one of the most important responsibilities is to support your team. This can include providing; direction, guidance, coaching, training, feedback, and access to resources to help them perform in their role. However, sometimes your team may feel...
It's been another one of those years. On the upside, some level of normality has landed; however, political uncertainty and rising inflation costs have created a group of unsettled people. From a work perspective, we continue to experience the biggest skill shortage...
Last week I was chatting with a girlfriend who was incredibly frustrated about a particular team member she managed. According to my friend's view of the situation, the story transpired that the individual in question had zero initiative. Various 'things' required...
In our current socially driven world, you would not think humans have an issue speaking up and sharing their opinions. Though being a 'keyboard' anonymous warrior is vastly different from an employee in a large organisation feeling uncertain and potentially...
Employee engagement has always been a popular topic in most HR and training circles and even more so in the current environment we are experiencing, which I shared on our leadership blog. In today's highly competitive talent market, to keep your employees, they need...
The world is changing; though it would be easy to 'blame' the pandemic for why leaders might need to add to their capability levels, the need to shift our skills has been coming for some time. What people want from work and what they are willing to sacrifice for a...
Continuing from our last post about why we now need new rules of engagement as we manage our teams, let's talk about the most critical place to start when it comes to managing change. No, it's not with your employee; it starts with our team managers and leaders and,...
If you head over to Google and search for key leadership skills needed now, it might surprise you how different the search results you receive today are from five years ago. Leadership is now much more than motivating, delegating and directing. It's about handling...
I have written about heart-centred leadership before. It is a favourite topic of mine because it produces such surprising results. Who knew that being heart centred as a leader can produce exceptional financial gains for many organisations? Leaders are fascinated by...
Last time we talked about conflict as we cover the various behaviours of a dysfunctional team. Todays, dysfunction is linked to groups where conflict hasn't happened, and the corresponding result is a lack of commitment. A team starts to perform as they become...
Our most recent post about leading virtual teams in our remote-first world was a precursor to a series of posts I am keen to write to help leaders manage and lead ineffective, disordered, and downright dysfunctional teams. Patrick Lencioni penned a New York Times...
Last time we talked about hiring a coach to improve performance. One critical skill of a coach is that they can help you develop your self-awareness and your ability to self-coach in any given situation. Let's explore this more today as we talk about handling a...
A good leader has many traits, and I have written about this many times before, which you can find here. Yet, the one key skill that many people forget to develop is the ability to influence. As a leader, you can't fulfil your role if you cannot inspire action or...
It is a fact; leaders are tasked to develop a high performing team and in today's workplace, all while being inclusive and rightly so. Last year saw the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign ignited, then #metoo increased this year with...
The last twelve months have seen huge shifts in the workplace from work from home (WFH) becoming the norm, hybrid working making an impact, and an economic recovery unimagined a year ago. These separate yet connected events have created movement in the workplace,...
