Welcome to the first of our newsletters for 2022. 

As for so many of us, January has been a busy start for the REAL. leadership team and with COVID rules relaxing this month, many of our conversations have been about a return to a physical work space and what that means to you as a leader. If you are finding this time challenging then head straight to our section called REAL. Life which provides some guidance and top tips on how to lead during this new change to the working environment.

What’s included in Talking REAL. this month?

We hear from the inspiring Maria Bettencourt Tavares, CEO of LOONAWELL on her leadership experiences of moving from a large corporation to founding a startup in an industry that she’s passionate about.

Have you read all those Christmas books yet? Then we suggest a new one to add to the reading list.

We share what we have learnt from recent conversations with our clients and share the findings from our lockdown learnings survey.

Finally the challenges of COVID continue and we’re here to help.

REAL. Inspiring Leaders

Maria grew up in Estoril, Portugal, by the vast Atlantic ocean, which taught her one important lesson: to put things into perspective. Here she shares how this helped her change her direction in business and what she has learnt about her leadership style moving from working in a large corporation to founding a startup in an industry that she’s passionate about.

This Christmas Steve was aiming to switch off as he’d recommended to so many of our clients but the first present he opened from his wife was another leadership book!

However once he had read the introduction he was intrigued and ended up reading it within a few hours.

Find out more about this book: Leadership – Being, Knowing, Doing by Stephen Tierney

What Steve thought: The author’s background in education and academia provides an alternative and frankly refreshing change to the many leadership books written by business people. He believes in helping leaders explore their own capabilities and potential rather than trying to shoehorn them into the traditional leadership blueprint. Covering three “Ways” of leadership – The Ways of Being (Purpose and Introspection), The Ways of Knowing (Specialism and Strategy), The Ways of Doing (Implementation, Networking, Guardianship and Expertise) the book neatly bridges the gap between theory and practice with many real-life examples.

REAL. Leadership Challenge and Solution.

When we asked our community last year how much coaching or mentoring they had received in the last 12 months only 20% said “enough”, and 40% had received nothing at all!

Based on our current conversations with clients it’s clear that 2022 will be a year of continuous learning as we all learn to live with the ongoing effects of the pandemic. One way to deal with uncertainty and change is to have an external sounding board or viewpoint to discuss how you react and move forwards. That’s in addition to the proven benefits of coaching such as clearer direction and purpose, greater self-awareness, improved business performance and better life experience.

So if you’re looking to change something in 2022, develop yourself or others, achieve more by doing less or improve your work/life experience then get in touch for a chat.

To find out more about how the REAL. leadership community responded to our latest survey click here.

REAL. Life

This month the #COVID rules changed again with the Government no longer asking people to work from home. As a leader your thoughts and focus may now be turning to what’s next for your company as this inevitably means more change.

Have you taken the time to ask your team members what are their biggest concerns about returning to the office? What if some people are genuinely scared about another change, not just for health reasons but also the overwhelming feeling of being in close proximity to everyone again?

Find out more from our blog post on how to make this new transition and how to keep everyone motivated in your teams.

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