Team Guru Podcast

BURNOUT! Sadly, the beast of burnout is one of the most relevant topics of our time. If you are not feeling the effects of burnout yourself, chances are you know someone who is. It’s important we are able to recognise the signs and understand what we can do to prevent it reaching a crisis point in our life. In this crazy modern world we’ve created for ourselves - lightening paced work environments, increasingly complex social obligations and our ubiquitous consumption of information - the old homo sapiens brain often struggles to find balance. We need to stay vigilant. We must be aware of the signs and understand the potential impacts. Most importantly, we need to know what steps we can take to ensure we beat the beast of burnout.

This episode is right in the sweet spot for the Team Guru Podcast. Moving into a management - or leadership - role is a significant step in your career. It requires a whole bunch of new skills, new things to focus on, relationships to be formed. Managing someone is a big deal - and you want to do it well. So - you’ll love my guest in this show. Dominic McLoughlin has just written a book called - Be a better manager in 5 minutes a day. Dominic is full of wonderful, clear, practical advice for those of us who are stepping up into a management role - and for people who just want to be better at. Dominic is a serious guy - he has a PHD in building trust within organisations, he’s a lecturer at UNSW and has done a bunch of research into what really makes an effective leader.

Part-time work is an essential ingredient for the modern workplace. Why has it suffered such a jarring reputation in the workplace? And most importantly - how can we design part-time roles so they are a valuable experience for employees and organisations.

After more than 7 years of podcasting, this might be the most important episode Team Guru has ever produced. Raising tech healthy humans is the biggest challenge parents face today. Technology is an unavoidable part of life. It’s difficult to raise kids who experience humanity in its fullness - because the online world has a gravitational pull. It’s like being caught in a riptide. "The pull of culture is to draw us into being constantly online - particularly our kids. If we don’t do anything our kids will be sucked out to sea." Our challenge is to raise humans who have a love of life - a life that includes the tech world - but goes beyond the tech world. It’s hard for parents to find that balance. That’s the grand challenge.

How do you tell your life story in a way your family can keep forever? If your family is anything like mine - the older generations share stories and experiences to the kids, who barely seem interested. By the time we're mature enough to develop a keen interest in our family's past, it can be too late. The older generations have passed and family stories fade and eventually evaporate with the years. I want to do something about that. I've created Your Story Pod to help people tell their life story. We record it in quality audio and create a sound package they can share and keep in their family - forever. In this special episode of the Team Guru Podcast I want to tell you all about it and share some snippets from the first few interviews I've done. Real people. Real stories. For families to keep forever. Check it out: https://yourstorypod.com.au

How can reading fiction make you a better leader? This is a topic we have never covered before on the Team Guru Podcast - how reading fiction can contribute to our development as a leader. Not only is it a convincing thesis - reading great stories really can help our personal development - but it was also a wonderful opportunity for me to geek out with a fellow lover of reading. Melanie Bell is indeed a lover of literature. She is also a leadership expert who has honed in on this powerful concept. We had a fabulous chat.

How to reclaim your life from the hysterical demands of the modern workplace. If you feel like your job is grinding you into dust - you are not lone. An alarming percentage of us feel like our work is keeping our anxiety levels disturbingly high, keeping us from doing the things we love and spending quality time with the people we care about. Our work is knocking our lives out of shape. Sometimes it feels like we humans have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way and we’re following a path where priorities are completely out of whack - the important things are pushed to the side for the hysterical demands of the modern workplace. And often - and this is the worst bit - we accept it as just the way things are. And we struggle on. It’s wrong and know it. My guest in this episode is Mel Kettle. Mel knows about a life knocked into the wrong shape as well as anyone. But she’s done something about it. Her brand new book is called Fully Connected - How great leaders prioritise themselves, reclaim their energy and find joy.

Scott Stein joins us in this episode to discuss his newly updated book, Leadership Hacks, which now includes a comprehensive section on leading hybrid teams —something that has become a fresh challenge for a lot of organisations since the pandemic forced many of us to work remotely. Nuggets of gold: 1. Always remember the three types of activity (i.e. work activity, recharge activity, relax activity), this ensures productivity and avoids burnout. 2. Be clear about how you want to lead 3. Anywhere you go, anyone you meet, increase the use of visuals to help others easily understand your message Read the complete show notes here: http://www.teams.guru/podcast/episode-186-scott-stein/

For Rowena Millward, growth is an outcome. It’s an outcome of going through a series of challenges, despite the fear, as an attempt to better and “reinvent” ourselves — not only for us, but for people we care about. Rowena shares the formula on how to move past the fear and own your growth through her book, Uncomfortable Growth. Nuggets of gold: 1. You own your growth 2. Don’t let fear hold you back! 3. Always be kind to yourself Read the complete show notes here: http://www.teams.guru/podcast/episode-165-rowena-millward/

How do you make it work long term, both for your team and your business? In the new book, Homeforce (Publish Central, $29.95), employment law specialist Jo Alilovic has written a practical guide to building a connected, engaged home-based team.