Kia Ora Tatou and Hello there, good people of the MFAT PEP Team!

This Wednesday we’re all getting together for the day to focus on you - as individuals and as collective of teams - and how you serve your customers from here on. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together over the coming 12(ish) months and it’s my role to help you unleash the potential bubbling just below the surface. I’m been told great things about you so far this year and I can’t wait to work with you.

For now, here’s a little introductory video and few things the Partnership & Delivery Team have already done, plus some shameless self-promotion.
I can’t wait to see you all on Wednesday!🤘

Here’s a little bit more about what I do and the Catalyst model. Not compulsory viewing and there won’t be a test!

Where to start?

I devour books – audiobooks. I believe leaders & HR professionals are only as good as their last book or learning opportunity (& that learning must be shared), so here are some of my favourites from the last 12 months that literally speak to my work with diverse groups. I’m really fascinated by the way people think and how they behave when required to ‘think together’, hence the following collection. I’ve tried to find videos about each book so you can get a sneak-peak so as to not waste your time if it’s not your thing.

Check these out:

This is a beauty and covers cognitive diversity: Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed:

Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell

The Power of Others – Michael Bond

Upstream – Dan Heath

Heath’s written a couple of other beauties – like Switch - with his brother Chip. They’re quite different characters so compliment each other really and as a result their books are super-useful in helping leaders hack the systems and behaviours at play in workplace cultures.

PODCASTS

If you find yourself in the mode of listening, here are some of my favourite podcasts which I reckon you might like. I like a good long-form interview pod (i.e. a couple of hours) to dip in and out of when driving, but there are some bloody good 20-30min shows too. Check these out:

BTW I listen to podcasts on Spotify (episodes seem to get uploaded earlier than on other platforms) or Stitcher and listen to them on my phone while doing other tasks. Download your App of choice.

People Management processes checklist:

On an organisational front, I reckon we’ve made a massive mistake spending the last couple of decades recruiting for cultural fit in many roles and functions that would be better served with a bit more diversity – in particular diversity of thought and thinking (a big hint was in the Rebel Ideas book reference).  So, I’ve developed a few resources for leaders to look at how their people-management processes might be excluded a valuable but hidden cohort of employees.

Not at all related to the HR Catalyst programme, but definitely something you should consider as practitioners is how your People Management processes and systems exclude or hamper the potential of neurodiverse staff (and likely some more you don’t necessarily know about - perhaps they themselves don’t either?!). Here’s a simple checklist you might want to have a quick glance at, which I developed to help answer this question:

What might be hindering their entry to, and performance in, your organisation? My research shows there’s upwards of 20% of entire workplace populations that are forced to hide themselves because they feel different or that they don’t fit in - in effect self-limiting their potential because of fear, shame, stigma or misunderstanding. That’s madness (not mention a complete waste of money and potential). A lot of these people initially showed huge potential but then plateaued; others are seen as problem children. Other still flourish - as we discussed, the manager is pivotal and the leader/staff dynamic is crucial.

Speaker reel

Here’s a cheeky video of me speaking ….. just to fill up space and let you get a sense of what I’m like in-person.

Whitepapers

Download any of these if they pique your interest:

 Again, if you want me to look into anything for you and post it here, please sing out - we’re here to help!

Take care and I can’t wait to see you on 29th June,
Callum