In the model of engagement that my clients and I work on, there is a lot to do. We must inspire, support, and track our own and others’ growth.

My experience is that people think they are having development conversations all the time with their team, but 60% of employees say they have not received any useful feedback in the past six months*.

I think trust is a key to understanding so many missed opportunities for growth and engagement. It needs to be measured, constantly.

If you want to multiply the engagement and sense of achievement for your colleagues, we need to increase their potential for growth and connection. Honest conversations are the tool with which we can do this.

What fears and limits have you placed around your day today? What fears are inhibiting your achievements, your productivity, your goal attainment, your personal change? But much more importantly - what hacks have you got to step around them?

Our face-to-face communication is also surrounded by an increase in impatience. We try our best to fight the urge to dismiss too quickly, to give people time to explain themselves, to show their true character, but how good are we? Indications suggest, not so good.

Wherever we are positioned in the corporate hierarchy, we all have more power than we think. We should all be working to maximise our personal power whether for internal or external influence and impact. We need to Power Up.

Knowledge should be gained, experiences should be given, but true growth requires self-efficacy. Are you focused on fostering your own self-efficacy and that of your colleagues?

The goal is to see yourself as if you are examining another person, so you get the distance required to dispassionately assess yourself.

Without this clarity of purpose, the obvious goal becomes to feel better, to cope. It’s not good enough.

We must force ourselves to challenge our dichotomous thinking. It is one of the thinking errors that cause us wasted potential, wasted emotion and wasted time.

Working with people with depression for many years, I understand that two very important factors contribute to the practical movement of mood in a positive direction.

Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is your choice to put that fear to one side while you get on with the action…the action that gets you to your goal.

Fear is such a big part of big decisions and fear is such an immense part of us, whether we have learnt to control it and appreciate, whether it guides us helpfully or unhelpfully.

Before you invest in skill development, check your rudder, make sure you understand the self-efficacy, authenticity and bravery levels you are working with and which direction they are pointing you/your team/organisation in. Otherwise you are in for a choppy ride (…I couldn’t help myself).

If you open a leadership textbook or read post on leadership and look at the qualities discussed, I can see these same qualities applying to the role of the mother. Of course the corporate environment is different from the family home. But in relation to the skills, there is huge crossover