As we approach the Christmas break and another year starts to wrap up, many people are starting to feel the effects of burnout at work. But what is burnout? From Mental Health UK, burnout is defined as a ‘state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress and feel…
November 16th marks the International Day for Tolerance, a day dedicated to recognising the importance of tolerance in building harmonious and inclusive societies and workplaces. This serves as a reminder that tolerance is not just about acceptance, but about celebrating our differences and building bridges between people and cultures. Why tolerance matters Tolerance, according to…
Summer has come to an end, and with it, the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics have drawn to a close. This season of sport has been marked by an extraordinary showcase of performance and dedication. The Olympics and Paralympics represent the pinnacle of an athlete’s career, and for many, it is the culmination of a…
Compared to the workplace of 50 years ago, today’s work environment is characterised by rapid technological advancements and a heightened awareness of emotional well-being. Employees have become increasingly vocal about their emotional needs, and as a result, work-life balance and an engaging workplace culture have emerged as critical components of people management strategies. However, modern…
The work of an Organisation Design (OD) practitioner involves the use of planned interventions to improve organisational effectiveness. OD’s ideas and practices mainly derive from the disciplines of psychology, sociology and business theory but OD practitioners can also look elsewhere for inspiration – sport and politics for example. This month of winning and losing on…
A world without workers may not be lightyears away with the rapid evolution of technology and artificial intelligence supercharging globalisation. Commentators differ on how they see the digital revolution playing out – ‘it could be utopia, or it could be hell.’ Despite the reality of this being perhaps beyond our lifetime, the digitalisation and automation…
‘Inspire Inclusion’ is the theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024. It is important for individuals to hold themselves accountable and understand how we can all inspire inclusion, and to not sideline this responsibility just for those in leadership positions. Especially when, as reported in the latest Women in the Workplace report of 2023, only…
It appears that we are lifting rocks in almost every avenue of society and discovering how prevalent toxic culture has become, whether it be in political parties, religious organisations, sports organisations or even amongst celebrities and their teams. Working in reverse from this discovery, can we unpack why these cultures occur? It is important to…
By Emma du Parcq and George Barnes. To be agile, in any sense, is to be able to move quickly and easily and adapt to a current situation. In organisational terms, it is about responding to a sometimes complex, uncertain and ever-changing business environment. It is also the ability to predict the near future, and…
Historically, patriarchal and colonial influences have heavily contributed to the exclusion of women and other minority groups from the professional sphere. It is enticing, and to a certain extent still appropriate, to attribute the view that women are the ‘forgotten voices’ of OD to such influences. This was certainly my own opinion before my research…
Over a year on from the highly controversial partygate scandal and subsequent Sue Gray report, it seems reasonable to comment again on the declining lack of trust the people of the UK has in its leading public bodies, including the Met Police. Before, I drew upon the statistics of the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Global…
On Tuesday I attended the Inclusive Leadership Navigator virtual event at Roffey Park Institute, led by the expert Sile Walsh, to explore how inclusive leadership contributes to psychological safety, organisational performance and employee engagement. The discussion began by asking the listeners to answer some questions about their experiences with inclusion and exclusion. The responses were…
