Category Archives: Change management

Critical Thinking and why we need this more than ever

In a world characterised by complexity, ambiguity, rapid change and AI, critical thinking is no longer a desirable trait — it is a fundamental leadership capability. Leaders who think critically can interpret complexity, distinguish signal from noise, and guide teams with clarity and intentionality. Rather than repeat parrot fashion what we’re told and what we read.

When I was researching for the article on AI last month, I kept reading that critical thinking was becoming more and more essential, which makes sense.  We need to be able to critically review, as well as embrace how AI helps us.  So, I thought it would be helpful to write about it – this article blends research insight with actionable guidance to help you build or enhance your critical thinking as both a mindset and a capability.

I hope you find it interesting and helpful – do let me know what you think!

Rose Padfield

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AI – Human Collaboration: Harnessing and integrating the value of both

Does the thought of artificial intelligence excite or scare you, or does it do both? What can you do to lead the collaboration between humans and AI into the future?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how humans and machines work together. But most organisations still focus on the technical aspect of AI implementation. Companies need to pay attention to the profound cultural and organisational changes the adoption of AI brings. What can you do to pioneer bringing together the value of AI and the amazing and unique gifts of your people? This newsletter gives thought to this topic. I hope this will be of interest to you – do let me know what you think.

Rose Padfield

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Learning matters – but what learning approach is best for your organisation?

I don’t know of any leaders who would disagree with the importance of learning, at both an organisational and an individual level. It is key to gaining a competitive advantage and is seen as an imperative to keep pace with technological advances and to attracting and retaining the best talent. But not all leaders have stopped to think about the best way to lead learning in their organisation and about their philosophy regarding the outcomes of this knowledge. Why does learning matter and who benefits from it? In this newsletter, we explore and expand on research conducted by Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor of organisational behaviour at graduate business school INSEAD. I hope this will be of interest to you – do let me know what you think.

Rose Padfield

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Uncharted territory

How to lead ‘extreme’ teams

In today’s world, many leaders need to address complex, multi-boundary challenges at scale. To meet this need, you’ll have to develop your leadership mindset and skills, especially your ability to lead ‘extreme’ teams into uncharted territory (as the image suggests).

Much of the content of this month’s article was inspired by the book: Extreme Teaming: Lessons in complex cross-sector leadership by Amy C Edmondson and Jean-Francois Harvey.

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6 stages of change management

Last month, you learned about the award-winning change management project I ran recently together with my associates. This month, you’ll discover how you can apply our unique six-stage methodology to your own change programme, with its focus on yourself and others (know yourself and know/support others).

Note that it’s important to accomplish each phase before you move on to the next, as each step builds on the previous one – if you skip or skim over a phase it’ll come back and bite you!

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Award-winning change management

Award

L to R: Lesley Pugh, Lisa Hancock (client), Rose Padfield, Emily Sun

As you might have seen in my recent LinkedIn announcement, The Padfield Partnership has won an award for excellence in change management, presented by the Association for Business Psychology.

The award was granted for a large change management project I worked on with two of my talented associates. Please read on to understand the work we did and discover the implications for your business.

This links to my article Start with Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action

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Vision

Setting your company vision

Research often shows the first trait employees want from their leaders and colleagues is honesty. The second trait they want is for their leaders to be forward-looking.

Setting the direction is therefore a key part of your role as a leader.

You have probably heard the expression ‘start with the end in mind’ from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

In this article, we look at the points to consider when creating a vision statement. (I have previously shared some exercises to create your vision – see at the end of this article for links to Organisation Development parts 1 and 2.)

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Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action

As a leader, a part of your role is to inspire people to take action – that is, when they really  engage both personally and emotionally with the purpose that the organisation/team is trying to achieve, and will give their best.

Great leaders inspire by conveying a sense of purpose. People will follow you if you talk and act from the perspective of why you are trying to achieve what you are trying to achieve. Inspirational leaders set out the why, and action-oriented people work out how to implement it.

“Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to walk towards, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever is left.”
Simon Sinek

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Introducing nudge theory

This month’s insights are inspired by Inside the Nudge Unit by David Halpern. It describes the work he has done in behavioural science, especially with the UK and US Governments. It’s an interesting topic that companies are beginning to talk about.

Read on for an easy-to-remember model and ideas about how to apply nudge theory to organisational life. I hope you find it as thought-provoking as I do. There are also a couple of quick video clips that are really interesting, so it’s worth clicking on them too!

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