Really Useful Conversations

Mental Health Awareness Week this year is focussing on the theme of anxiety - especially relevant at the moment as the UK population is currently said to be experiencing widespread levels of stress, anxiety and hopelessness in response to financial concerns, according to a new survey commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation. Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 15th to 21st May and various initiatives and campaigns will help us understand that although anxiety is a very natural and normal human emotion, if it becomes prolonged or chronis, or happens very frequently, it can start to seriously impact on our quality of life. In fact here in the UK anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems we can face and in a recent survey a quarter of adults said they felt so anxious that it stopped them from doing the things they want to do some or all of the time, with 60% agreeing that anxiety was an issue for them at least some of the time. Anxiety can be caused by external circumstances such as the cost of living crisis, but can also be caused by an internal shift in the all important hormone balance and in this week's episode I explore both causes and offer some possible solutions.

If you are a leader responsible for managing a team, and you are keen to do a good job of that, then this week's episode will be useful for you and offer a fantastic mirror moment to consider your own leadership style too. Using the recent news reports of Dominic Raab, our now ex deputy Prime Minister, we can see how one person's perception is definitely not the other person's experience. Mr Raab says he was simply encouraging high standards and being clear with his communication style, whilst a member of the team describes him as "100% a bully" and "He genuinely thinks he is just being a tough taskmaster, but doesn't get that this behaviour is not acceptable in the modern workplace". Was he being a bully or did the team simply not appreciate constructive criticism and being held accountable? Was his intention to simply raise the bar and motivate, yet their experience was "you can have high expectations and not be a bully" What you do and the way that you do it, combined, is what gets results, right? Tune in and take a moment to reflect and consider, what you intend, is that what people are experiencing and are YOU choosing and using the right leadership style to get the job done whilst maintaining effective relationships? Ay there's the Raab!

This year the Stress Management Society are asking us to step beyond simple awareness and take deliberate action to change things. They have been using #ACT to encourage people to act - reminding us that awareness only goes so far and ACTION is where it is at. But what action can you take? Why does it matter? In this week's episode we briefly explore why stress is an issue but more importantly we focus on strategies that we can choose to use to change things for us. Ranging from Steven Covey and his sharpening of the saw to the simple ABCDE model for managing priorities, and of course, not forgetting the importance of Really Useful Confident Conversations, done assertively and respectfully, to make sure we are managing workloads and boundaries. Tune in and then let me know what your commitment for the next 7 days will be?

We are often told that sleep is such an important thing, which sometimes is much easier said than done! If you are feeling stressed, anxious, even menopausal, sleep can be the much desired state that frustratingly we can't seem to achieve. What is it about sleep that makes it so important and how do we get a good quantity and quality of it so that we wake feel refreshed? This week's episode is a Really Useful Conversation with Sleep Expert Frances Taylor, who has been working in the wellbeing arena for over 15 years, and she realised that sleep was the missing piece in the health and wellbeing agenda and embarked on her mission to provide practical sleep support that actually worked. In this episode we talk about what we can do to enable a better night's sleep, along with things to avoid doing that might have the opposite effect and Frances offers a free opportunity for people to Regain Control of Sleep by completing a sleep questionnaire, receive personalised feedback together with practical actions to bring better sleep. You can find it on her website along with other useful information to help you sleep well, today!

April is Stress Awareness Month – and that’s not just younger folk climbing the career ladder, or working parents with childcare demands and lots to juggle BUT stress is also something that can affect us at all times in our working lives. I want to focus specifically on the impact that stress can have on the menopause AND vice versa and am presenting TWO free online webinars this month as my contribution for the call to take ACTION over simple awareness. April has been stress awareness month since 1992 and this year the Stress Management Society are extending an invitation to go beyond talking and are campaigning for taking action and personal responsibility in creating a positive change. They aim to create an opportunity for all of us to consider how we are going to do something to make things better, so please join me for my offer in support of their efforts.

Following the tragic story of the death by suicide of a 56 year old lady which reported how menopause is not routinely considered a contributing factor among women with low mood who need help, this week’s episode is recorded to raise awareness about such risks and encourage everyone, whether employer, HR Manager, mate, partner or spouse, male or female, to better understand the significant impact that menopause can have. As we head into Stress Awareness Month it is a good time to reflect on the stress/estrogen/menopause cycle and understand more about why stress management is so important and what this might mean to a business or employer as well as to women ourselves, and if you want to find out more and deepen your understanding, please visit our website where you will find more opportunities for FREE learning. Hope you find this useful.

In the month of International Women's Day and Mothering Sunday here in the UK, I read some shocking statistics suggesting that women are more at risk of burnout than men, more likely to step down, go part time or leave jobs completely, and are STILL more often the primary carers for families. So it was a real opportunity to speak to Vicky Harrison this week as to why that might be AND more importantly how to overcome it. As a busy Mum herself, a transformational coach helping driven women achieve professional success with confidence, and founder of The Driven Women's Club online community, Vicky is an excellent person to hear from. In her online community of ambitious women who dream big, and are achieving incredible things, but know the challenge of balancing this alongside family and personal commitments you can find out more about her and the work she does, but for now, settle in and listen to our Really Useful Conversation.

If you have been rewriting policies, updating procedures, rolling out communications but STILL not getting the conversations happening that NEED to be happening in your business, this week's podcast episode might help you to understand why. Many clients come to me after they have invested effort and energy into educating and teaching their management population around matters such as managing attendance, tackling poor performance, having sensitive conversations with a bereaved employee about leave, but are frustrated because despite all their best efforts, conversations are still not happening in the way they need to, and HR are still being asked to deal with the difficult stuff rather than the manager feeling confident to do so themselves. Join me for this brisk and pacey episode which may just help you appreciate their reluctance and offer you an answer to your concerns. Really Useful Conversations matter!

Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences, aiming to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual. To mark the Celebration Week, my conversation with James Eves, Captain of Strategy for Work Pirates, Gallup Strengths Coach and recently diagnosed himself with ADHD, explores why we might avoid conversations, how fear around language can be an issue and we conclude that above all, sitting down with someone to have a Really Useful Conversation is probably the answer! We really do need to encourage more Really Useful Conversations you know!

For International Women's Day THIS YEAR and beyond, we are being encouraged to #EmbraceEquity and in this week's podcast I take a quick look at equity versus equality and why this matters, as well as touching on some significant reasons why we need to be pushing for equity in the workplace, and some examples of issues that demonstrate the importance of this. Join me and let me know what you think too?

For the last three decades I have had the opportunity to work across a vast range of industry sectors, from television through to the NHS, from the Fire Service to High Street Retailers and my experience over that time reinforces just how much leadership approach influences climate, some research says it is the SINGLE BIGGEST INFLUENCE – and I have to say, I am inclined to agree! So it makes sense that as we know positive team climate is the biggest driver of psychological safety, we have to track back to look at how leadership behaviours create psychological safety and allow team members to be genuine and authentic, for the good of the team AND the business. In this second part, we look specifically at the essential leadership behaviours for that to happen.

Following the report of McDonald's signing up to a commitment to deal with claims of sexual harassment in the workplace, this week we take a look at what needs to be present for people to feel safe to speak out and challenge where appropriate. This question takes us along the route of exploring leadership contributions, creating the right climate and having a strong foundation of psychological safety present. But what exactly is psychological safety? What difference does it make? How does it affect the climate or culture of a business, and indeed, the performance and attitude of the people within the business? Let's take a look together.

I am a BIG fan of open, honest, frank dialogue and so initiatives such as Time to Talk Day - which is the nation’s biggest mental health conversation run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness – is something I would naturally support. If you are not familiar with Time to Talk Day,  it’s described as a day for friends, families, communities, and workplaces to come together to talk, listen and change lives. However, what if someone chooses YOU to talk to? Sometimes we struggle hearing tough stuff. We worry about saying the “wrong” thing. We just don’t have all the answers! What if we really fluff it up and make matters worse? In this episode I talk about how to be amazing in situations like that and how good old fashioned listening to understand might be all the help that person needs. In fact, even with people like the Samaritans who are professionally trained, are providing an emotional support listening service – such is the power of feeling heard. Grab a brew, pull up a pew and LISTEN to this week’s episode!

For the last 23 years my purpose has been to help people have conversations in the workplace that matter. Whether dealing with a performance issue or supporting a colleague in distress, conversations really do matter and I have found that people are often reluctant to have conversations where there are more “sensitive topics” and so to stay safe, shy away. One such conversation that people often find awkward, due to fear of offending or not using the “right” words, is the topic of neurodiversity and so ignorance prevails as we are frightened to ask questions to learn more. In this episode I am delighted to interview Charlotte Valeur, who is driven to play her part in creating an inclusive society; being diagnosed as autistic at 52, she began advocating around Neurodiversity equality and inclusion, working at the intersection of Government, Industry and the Third Sector, as well as public speaking. She founded the global Institute of Neurodiversity in 2021 and as a woman with an incredible background in the corporate and not for profit world, offers a really useful insight.   To find out more visit

Often when we want to make things better, be that our mental health, our physical health or even our financial health, we look for big shiny, sexy, hairy audacious goals to aim for. In this week's episode I am encouraging you to do yourself a favour and concentrate on the tiny little things, done consistently and well, that will make a longer lasting difference. Often when I run workshops on mental health and talk about, for example, the importance of getting rest and quality sleep, people want me to suggest something more exciting, more extreme, more sexy - when actually sleep is the Swiss Army Knife to so many of our healthy systems! If you are drawn to the excitement of a cold water swim every morning or feel like climbing a mountain is the way to get that real feel good flow, please tune into this episode first and just make sure you are not overlooking the important stuff and perhaps even setting yourself up to fail! All resources referred to can be found at - enjoy!

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussion around the subject of suicide and suicidal thoughts, please skip this episode if this topic is likely to cause uncomfortable emotions for you. Please DO talk to a professional if suicide is a topic currently on your mind - there is always someone prepared to listen. Samaritans provide an excellent listening service 24/7 and you can contact them on 116 123, in confidence. This week's episode is an in-depth conversation with David Muir who talks openly about his poor mental health and suicidal thoughts. David works in the construction industry, and although not as big as he used to be, he is a big, confident Scottish man working in an industry known to have a greater risk of poor mental health and deaths by suicide amongst the workforce. In this episode he talks very candidly and honestly about his experience of "blue every day" and not just Blue Monday - and what that actually felt like for him. He talks about issues that he has carried with him since childhood and even how as an adult, he found it so very difficult to talk about how he was feeling. Thankfully a conversation with a work colleague was the first step towards dealing with his demons and today David talks openly, and will talk to ANYONE, about his mental and emotional health, in fact he is a big believer that talking about these things is absolutely crucial to survival and he is a big advocate of Really Useful Conversations that matter. If you work in the construction industry too and would like to encourage your business to do more to support mental health in the workplace, to perhaps even be the difference to someone like David, please do get in touch via

In this week's Really Useful Conversations podcast, my own experiences over the Christmas break remind me of a very important part of conversations - the language that we choose and use and the way in which we deliver them. I often joke with people about "not what you do but the way that you do it" when it comes to excellent communication, but this is a really poignant reminder of the power of language. Often we may have conversations or interactions that we move on from, gone from our mind, but maybe not for the other person. Maybe the words we used cause more impact than we realised? Maybe our attitude, state of mind or mood caused us to speak in a way that we might come to regret? Tune in to this week's episode and the opportunity to ponder and reflect and recognise that words can both harm and heal - depending on those you choose to use.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, according to the song that keeps getting played - but actually what if, for you, it really is not? Lots of people are telling me that the Christmas spirit has not caught up with them yet and others are sharing stories of challenging situations that mean this really is NOT the most wonderful time at all. Following a tough year with a cost of living crisis, fuel and energy costs, people striking and struggling to feed their families, this episode is about encouraging Really Useful Conversations at a time when not everyone will be decking the halls or indeed looking forward to festive cheer. Every single one of us has the capacity to make a difference - just by being a decent human being, and I hope this week's brief episode will encourage you to look out for those who might just need a damn good dose of listening to right now!

In this episode we recognise the importance of having conversations that matter, whether with colleagues, clients, suppliers or the boss. So often we are our own worst enemy and fail to speak up and not only does this impact on our career but also our well-being and mental health. Whether exploring perception v reality, transactional analysis or the wonderful Bananarama - there’s an offer here for everyone!

Join me for a Really Useful Conversation this week with Anna Meller, who, following an early corporate career in HR Anna has spent the past 25 years working as a consultant, researcher and writer. Her specialist focus is on flexible, remote and new ways of working and the future of work. Anna works with employers to create new working cultures and practices that support wellbeing, inclusion and women's progression into senior roles. She is also the UK's leading work-life balance expert and a founder member of the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology's working group on work-life balance. Her second book: Upcycle Your Job: the smart way to balance family life and career was published in 2019. It offers readers an evidence based six step process to identifying the work life balance arrangements that suit them best.