It's easy to assume that as we've been hybrid working since the start of the pandemic, now it's just the norm, but is it? 

In the past couple of years have we just been responding to the restrictions placed upon us by the powers that be?

What we have now is *choice* and that is changing the conversations, creating different challenges and requiring us all to STOP! 🛑 and re-adjust.

We can't use the past two years as a case study for what we do next with hybrid working, we need to adjust to the changing needs of our people, customers and businesses.

All throughout our professional lives we hear people say ‘I’m writing my strategy’ and most of us have probably been told we need to be more strategic, but in business what does it even really mean, why is it so vague and do we even mean it at all? 

It's been a bigger break than intended but Luke & Danny are finally back with another episode of 'Stop! Your people need you' and to kick things back off with a bang, thought they would dive into exactly what do leaders & managers mean by 'strategy' or is it just a fancy name for something more simple? 

This weeks podcast was intended to be called ' Removing the biggest blocker to your success' but as you may notice, it quickly took a slight detour to something Luke & Danny never thought they'd question. 

Having recently started a new business venture together,  Luke & Danny thought they had it all worked out, but as time went on they began to realise that there were problems arising at pace, and they simply couldn't solve them on their own.
As expected in business, they had started the whole process with the 'Why?', but could things have been different and these problems avoided, had they actually started with the 'Who?'❓

'What if the decision making right from the beginning was wrong and fundamentally flawed all because we'd started with the "Why", not "Who" we needed to help us make those decisions?'. 

This weeks podcast is a direct reflection of Luke and Dannys own recent personal experiences that have occured, as they got invited to go back into the classroom, this time as the learners, to take part in a level 7 qualification in leadership. 

Are you struggling with getting your people to be more open to learning and developing? Have you thought about how vulnerable a senior leader may feel going into a classroom realising they don't know the things other people at their level are confident in?

Luke and Danny discuss this, and all the emotions that they're now experiencing as learners and how it's made them re-think their own coaching style. Have they unlocked a new way of communicating and connecting with delegates in the future by being in their shoes?

'Praise isn't just a Leaders & Managers responsibility...how wonderful would it be if you saw people in your team genuinely praising one another?' 
As series 2 of the podcast continues, in this weeks podcast Danny and Luke discuss 'The Power of Praise' within the workplace.
How do you praise your people? Do you miss the chances to? Do they even praise each other and all the deeper thoughts, consequences & results associated with a 'pat on the back'. 

'Have you praised someone at work this week? If not, is it because you just missed the opportunity to do so, or did you actually not see anything worth praising?'

Danny and Luke are back after a summer break and ready to start series 2 ‘Stop! Your People Need You’.

Although the first episode in Series 2 may sound quite negative, the intention is quite the opposite. Having both had some time to Stop! they have been reflecting on bad habits that may have materialised from the effects of the global pandemic. It’s not all bad, in fact in true Danny and Luke style they really start to understand the positive impact of the pandemic on their work/life balance but also the negative impact on their self-management of time, productivity and discipline. 
And finally how much of it comes down to their mindset? Is it self-talk and by telling themselves they are busy, they feel busy or are they actually really busy?

In this week’s episode Danny and Luke are joined by Lisa Whittleton, Founder of Illuminate VR Ltd who are specialists in Mental Health and Wellbeing in the workplace. 
This comes as Pti Worldwide and Illuminate have agreed to come together in partnership enabling them to bring their collective specialisms and support their customers even more. Danny and Luke have prepared a number of questions for Lisa focused on how organisations can support their colleagues mental health and wellbeing, the current challenges Lisa and her team are seeing in businesses right now, what role Leaders and Managers play in helping their teams and finally how culture is the starting point of everything. 
And finally, they end the episode on a number of tips and insights you all can go away and apply tomorrow.

Who are the people in your team that demonstrate ‘Role Model Behaviours’ and how are you recognising, motivating and rewarding them for being Role Models?
How are you leveraging their behaviours within the team and ensuring their behaviours inspire others and hold others to account when they are not meeting that standards of excellence set for the team?
These are the questions Luke and Danny explore during this episode leaving them with some reflective moments and as always challenging each other’s thinking throughout.