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I needed a break and thought: they say go outside, they say exercise more, and they even say just looking at nature is good.   “Just do it”, I told myself. It was an effort to get going. The fridge is closer. Still, I put on my Nike’s and out I went. I was doing well on the first two as I walked the neighbourhood – outside and exercise. Then I found it. You wouldn’t expect to find a Reserve half-way down a squashy, inner-Melbourne street. But there it was. Small, with a tree I found particularly beautiful and a park bench. Nature.     Turns out, according to attention restoration theory, you don’t need a big break to get your focus back and reduce stress. Small can be beautiful. A 5-minute walk every hour (even around the office if you can’t get outside). 40-seconds just looking at nature (think screen saver if not the real thing). A friendly micro-exchange with a colleague about anything positive (to boost your mood).   Just like the Reserve that does the nature trick when there’s barely room for it, there’s evidence that short breaks work too. Short break. Small Reserve. Big results. Carpe diem!

Don’t be fooled by appearances. As you may recall, I enjoy a front garden. Today I stumbled upon this one, along with its letterbox. It stood out because it wasn’t up to the neighbourhood standard.     Yet this rusty letterbox is doing its job as well as any other. Possibly better than some of those newer designs where it’s harder to get those bigger letters into the slot. It reminds me of when I was heading up the Research & Evaluation Department at Museums Victoria. I had a tricky project to outsource and briefed some smart suppliers. The smartest of all looked like the letterbox. Faded black t-shirt with an oil stain centre front, along with what I thought were old track pants to match. I was shocked. This wasn’t the corporate standard. And yet she was brilliant. She knew exactly how to handle this tricky project. Her thinking was sophisticated and her approach professional. She got the gig. I bet you’d be just like me. You’d hire her any day, stains and all, over an empty suit.

As a leader, you set the emotional tone at your workplace. I saw that so clearly today at my new favourite cafe: They’re coffee purists (it’s excellent). They serve it in lovely cups (exquisite and, as it turns out, handmade by the cousin of one of the owners. That makes them feel extra special and homey all at once). I especially like that they love flowers (and when I said: “nice flower arrangement” (below), the owner excitedly said go check out our florist, handed me their card and described last week’s arrangement that he thought was the best ever). And the customers. Mostly the customers. They streamed in ordering ‘the usual’. When they left they’d smile and say, “see you tomorrow”.   It was a pleasure being there. These cafe owners (there’s two of them) sure know how to create a positive emotional climate. I think the lesson for leaders is to find something you love about your work, if you don’t already. It can be small. After all, these guys are passionate about their flowers and cups. It’s because emotions are contagious. And these cafe owners clearly love their work. And their customers, including me, love seeing them love their

Last week we learned that gladiolus do it differently. In their budding hierarchy, the Gen Z buds are at the top and the older Traditionalists blooms are at the bottom. Fine for a flower. What about when it’s your workplace? To learn more about working cross-generationally in organisations today, I spoke with cross-generation expert, Jocelyn Greenky. Here she shares her top tips… including what to do when you’re more like a gladiolus and younger than your direct reports. Hope you find it helpful.

There are 5 generations in the workplace today: Traditionalists—born before 1946 Baby Boomers—born between 1946 and 1964 Generation X—born between 1965 and 1976 Generation Y or Millennials—born between 1977 and 1997 Generation Z—born after 1997   Do ‘the 5’ work side by side at your workplace as naturally as the blooms grow on this gladiolus? Unlike most organisational hierarchies, the gladiolus do it differently. The Gen Z buds are at the top and the older Traditionalists blooms are at the bottom. Interesting. Perhaps there’s something in that. At the very least, it reminds us to be mindful of one of the greatest sources of intergenerational conflict…unconscious intergenerational biases.

Every Sunday morning we’d visit Gerry. My Grandfather. In the kitchen, always waiting for my brother and me
was a chocolate Freddo Frog and a little lemonade glass turned upside down over a 5c piece. It was for us to spend on whatever we liked at Aunty Elsie’s Milk Bar. As much as I loved the weekly 2-finger KitKat and my brother the Superman Supacomic, it is what we learned along the way that stays with me.

You arrive at the meeting looking forward to contributing to some key decisions… Only to find yourself sitting there and thinking, ‘am I missing something?’ Because it feels like there’s a whole lot going on that’s not being said. And it dawns on you that once again, you weren’t privy to the meeting before the meeting. In today’s episode of the Lead Better Show, Belinda and I discuss two smart steps you can take to get into the inner sanctum at your work where the key decisions are being made.   This is where you need to be if you want to fast track your success.. and it’s yours for the taking! These two smart steps will help you get there.   Photo by Lisett Kruusimäe

If you’ve lost that holiday feeling already, why not start planning your next one now? In today’s episode of the Lead Better Show, Belinda and I discuss three reasons why it makes good business sense to have a holiday. With holidays, the cherry on top is in the planning. It’s so much fun. And when you have something to look forward to…have you noticed how that always helps make today an even better day? Photo by JESHOOTS.com

Do you remember your first day on the job? What was it like? How did you feel? Did they roll out the proverbial red carpet? Or was it like they almost forgot you? These first impressions matter. It’s because they predict final impressions.   Onboarding is the topic of today’s episode of the Lead Better Show. Click here to watch our top tips on how to start off on the right foot with your employees.   Still not convinced? Here are four key reasons to get your onboarding right: It helps set your new starters for success. It makes them want to bring more of themselves to your workplace. It makes for a better boss-employee relationship. And all that makes your job so much easier and enjoyable moving forward.   It doesn’t matter if you’re not the boss. You can still make a huge difference.   The Warm Welcome. Debbie showed me how it’s done. She was a co-worker who simply asked me on the first day of a job: “what are you doing for lunch?” I’ll never forget how relieved I felt to not be the person who, as they say, ‘didn’t have anyone to play with at break

Interestingly, in the past couple of weeks I’ve been asked by two very different people: “how do you work with someone you dislike”? One is a private client running a small and successful manufacturing business. The other is a member of the Boss Better 4-week Course and works in a very large health facility. Different countries, different organisations, even different gender… same issue.   You can choose your friends, not your colleagues. Sometimes a client may not be your favourite person to spend time with either. If you want some strategies for working with people you dislike, click here or the image below. This is the very first episode of The Lead Better Show. It’s Belinda and me having a conversation on what to do. Let us know what you think! Belinda, by the way is working with me behind the scenes and on my coaching team. In a previous life, she worked as a senior leader internationally for a large multinational. You’ll see how much we like working together…