Alex Firmin

There are few initiatives that get the pulse racing, and stress levels rising, more than 360 feedback.  Managed carefully, it can be an extremely valuable process that will lead to greater self-awareness, improved management, and better relationships.  Managed poorly it can be quite destructive; it can reduce self-confidence, and damage relationships in the organisation.  This […]

A Mentor was described by David Clutterbuck in 1991 as ‘a more experienced individual willing to share their knowledge with someone less experienced in a relationship of mutual trust…the mentor’s primary function is to be a transitional figure in an individual’s development.’ Although mentoring is interpreted differently depending on the context, the role of experience, and

As organizations grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly challenging to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and priorities. That’s where OKRs come in. OKRs provide a powerful framework for managing performance and achieving strategic goals that align with the overall mission and vision of the organization. Objectives: Objectives are goals that an

Advances is cognitive neuroscience progressed significantly in 1990s, to the extent that George H.W. Bush titled it ‘The Decade of the Brain’.  The emerging pattern suggested that there appear to be two sides of the brain that, for those with good mental health, exist in a healthy tension. The Task Positive Network (TPN) has been

In October, I decided to conduct an experiment which pushed me out of my comfort zone. In light of current political tensions, I have been thinking about my own observations regarding how much more productive and successful positive people seem to be than people who tend to be negative in their approach to working with

In 2001, some of the best minds in the American tech industry convened in the mountains of Utah to solve the problem of having a methodology that could no longer keep pace with the incredible speed of technological innovation that was occurring around the world.  Traditional ‘waterfall’ project management involved leaders coming up with ‘perfect’

In a fascinating experiment, Haxby and colleagues (2011) wired up a cinema audience to fMRI brain scanning equipment, and showed them Raiders of the Lost Ark.  What they observed was a gradual alignment of brain activity; at the outset individuals’ brains were behaving quite differently, but as the film progressed, people’s neurological activity began to

In their book ‘Stealing Fire’, the founders of the Flow Genome Project, Stephen Kotler and Jamie Wheal, discuss a phenomenon known as shared or collective consciousness.  People who have worked together over time can develop extraordinary collaborative abilities; the authors consider how teams of special forces soldiers can operate on a seemingly telepathic level of

“You’re always excited to get the job, so it starts there with blind optimism and enthusiasm. Then… when I got into it, I remember at certain moments thinking ‘oh my God, what have I gotten into? This is a lot worse than I ever thought’”. (Jen, promoted to President of speciality foods company) Executive coaching

Those of us who have worked for Toxic Leaders; individuals in senior positions who demonstrate self-serving behaviours, attitudes and motivations, will know how damaging they are to the wellbeing and performance of their colleagues, and ultimately the businesses they work for.  Toxic leadership certainly damages organisations; Rosen and colleagues (2016) identified that the bullying behaviours