personal performance

The New Employment Rights Bill: Opportunities for Leaders, Teams and Performance

Diversity and Inclusion, High Performing Teams, MatchFit Methodology, personal performance /

Bradley Honnor gives his view on how organisations can optimise the impact of the incoming legislation changes to drive performance at a leadership and team level.

The New Employment Rights Bill has now gained Royal Assent, marking one of the most significant shifts in the UK employment landscape in recent years. Much of the early discussion has focused on compliance such as updating policies, revising contracts and preparing for enforcement.

But for organisational leaders, the real opportunity lies beyond compliance. This Bill represents a cultural shift in how work is experienced day to day — particularly within teams, where employment rights are most visibly lived or broken.

For organisations that respond intentionally, the Bill can become a catalyst for stronger trust, clearer alignment and higher performance at every level.

What the Bill proposes – a brief overview

At its core, the Employment Rights Bill strengthens protections and formalises rights around fairness, security and voice at work. Key themes include:

  • Greater safeguards around dismissal and workplace fairness
  • Expanded rights related to flexible working and family leave
  • Stronger whistleblowing protections
  • Higher expectations of transparency and consistency in employment practices

While implementation will be phased, the direction of travel is clear: employees should feel respected, protected and treated consistently, not just contractually, but culturally.

What this means for organisational leaders and teams

Employment rights are rarely experienced at board level. They are felt within teams, through day-to-day leadership behaviours, decisions and conversations.

As rights become more visible and enforceable, team leaders sit at the intersection of policy and practice. How managers interpret, communicate and apply new rights will directly influence:

  • Trust within teams
  • Psychological safety
  • Engagement and retention
  • Performance under pressure

This reinforces a crucial truth: culture is not shaped by policy alone; it is shaped by people.

As employment rights expand, modern leadership must evolve from directive to empathetic, from control to clarity, aligning organisational values with a culture of fairness and psychological safety. Leaders and managers who model fairness, consistency and transparency create environments where teams feel safe to contribute, challenge and perform.

At the heart of this is alignment. Every team member needs to understand the organisation’s mission and values, what success looks like, and how their role contributes to it. Without this shared direction, even well-designed policies can result in confusion, frustration and disengagement.

Embedding compliance as culture; starting at team level

Organisations don’t need to wait for full implementation of the Employment Rights Bill to act. In fact, the most effective changes start with how leaders and teams work together today.

Team leaders are the daily translators of policy into behaviour. They sit at the point where organisational intent becomes lived reality. Investing in their capability, particularly in communication, decision-making and emotional intelligence is critical. Leaders need the confidence and skill to navigate sensitive conversations fairly, apply policies consistently, and model the behaviours the organisation expects others to follow.

Equip team leaders, not just HR

This is why compliance cannot sit solely with HR. When legal changes are treated as a technical exercise, they rarely influence culture. But when they are integrated into leadership development, performance conversations and everyday decision-making, they become part of how the organisation operates.

Embed rights into everyday team practices

Culture is reinforced through operational habits: how team meetings are run, how performance is discussed, how flexibility requests are handled, and how concerns are raised and addressed. Embedding change requires conversation, not broadcast. Creating a two-way dialogue within teams strengthens ownership and reduces resistance.

These everyday moments shape trust far more than policy documents ever could. When they consistently reflect fairness and clarity, compliance becomes embedded into culture rather than bolted on as an afterthought.

As employment rights expand, teams will closely observe how leaders respond. Organisations that use this moment to reinforce transparency, consistency and respect will see stronger alignment, higher engagement and more resilient performance.

As the saying goes: compliance shouldn’t be a tick-box. When legal protections are woven into organisational values and leadership behaviours, teams align more naturally and culture becomes a genuine competitive advantage.

At MatchFit, building high-performance cultures starts with a discovery phase. Through staff interviews, surveys and gap analyses, we identify the disconnects between leadership intent and team experience, ensuring interventions address real, lived challenges.

The future of flexible, secure work

The Bill also signals a decisive shift toward more flexible and secure ways of working. Provisions affecting zero-hours contracts, alongside strengthened parental and flexible working rights, reinforce the expectation that work should adapt to people, not the other way around. For leaders, this requires more than policy awareness; it demands judgement, consistency and trust at team level.

The workplaces of tomorrow will reward leaders who can balance commercial goals with genuine employee wellbeing and flexibility.

MatchFit helps organisations develop this balance through leadership and team interventions that bring clarity, accountability and care into everyday practice. When leaders are equipped to have better conversations and make fair, confident decisions, flexibility shifts from a concern to a genuine performance advantage.

Why this matters for organisational performance

High-performance cultures aren’t built through isolated initiatives or reactive compliance. They are built through consistent leadership behaviours that shape how people think, collaborate and perform.

Peer-reviewed research published via SSRN in 2023 The Role of Leadership in Organizational Development confirms that leaders act as “cultural architects”, shaping organisational values, norms and behaviours. When leaders at every level are aligned, teams become more adaptable, innovative and resilient.

MatchFit’s CLIMB programme  supports senior leaders in understanding how their communication patterns and leadership style influence teams. By linking self-awareness to real-time business challenges, leaders learn how to embed cultural change in a way that feels authentic and sustainable, cascading clarity and trust through teams.

The Employment Rights Bill reinforces what high-performing organisations already know: fairness, clarity and consistency are performance enablers. When teams trust their leaders and feel secure in how they are treated, engagement rises, alignment strengthens and results follow.

Looking ahead

 The organisations that will thrive in this new landscape are those that view the Bill not as a compliance burden, but as an opportunity to lead better at every level. Because when rights are embedded into leadership behaviour and team culture, performance doesn’t need to be forced. It emerges naturally, through trust, alignment and shared purpose.

If your organisation can integrate fairness, clarity and transparency into everyday practice, you’ll not only stay compliant but be able to outperform those that do not.

Contact bradley@matchfitclimb.com if you would like to know more about how our programmes can help embed trust within organisations.

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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Why do smart leaders make stupid decisions?

High Performing Teams, MatchFit Methodology, personal performance /

It’s a paradox that many of us will have witnessed – leaders with a track record of competence, intellect and vision suddenly making baffling decisions. Whether it’s an acquisition that derails a thriving business, a communication blunder that negatively impacts trust, or a cultural misstep that undermines engagement, the question arises: why is it that smart leaders can make stupid decisions?

At MatchFit, we believe that this not as a failure of competence, but of self-awareness. Smart leaders don’t wake up one day and choose to make stupid decisions. Rather, their judgement gets clouded over time by a subtle but dangerous mix of ego, pressure and overconfidence. These elements can affect decision-making and shape it in ways leaders often can’t see until the damage is done.

The hidden influence of ego

Ego isn’t inherently bad. In fact, a healthy sense of self can help leaders remain confident, assertive and resilient. But when ego starts to take over, it can distort perception. Leaders become overly invested in being right rather than doing what’s right and the ability to listen effectively can lessen. Challenge by co-workers is seen as threat rather than healthy debate, which can lead to dissenting voices being dismissed rather than listened to.

This is trend is particularly risky in high-performance cultures. When leadership is viewed as synonymous with authority or infallibility, decisions can become more about protecting status than delivering results. Our work with senior leadership teams consistently uncovers how ego-driven behaviours—which are typically unconscious—can ripple through an organisation, stifling the freedom to express and put forward innovative ideas.

Under pressure, overreacting

Leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s shaped by context including tight deadlines, political dynamics, stakeholder expectations and shifting market trends. Under pressure, even the most experienced leaders can slip into reactive mode. Decisions are made in haste, data is ignored, and ‘doing something’ trumps ‘doing the right thing’.

Pressure can shorten our time horizons and long-term impacts are sacrificed for short-term relief. We see this frequently during periods of transformation or crisis with clients; precisely when calm, reflective leadership is most needed. Our phenomenological approach to leadership development helps leaders slow down, reflect and separate real urgency from perceived panic. It’s this pause, this awareness of context, that often prevents a poor decision from being made in the first place.

Overconfidence: the silent saboteur

Confidence is a strength, but overconfidence can be negative. Smart leaders who’ve had consistent success may start to believe their instincts are always right. Past achievements become a justification for unchecked judgement. In these circumstances, risk may be underestimated and assumptions untested.

Ironically, the more senior a leader becomes, the less likely they are to receive honest feedback. Their decisions may go unchallenged because others assume they must know better, or they fear the consequences of speaking up. This creates a dangerous feedback loop: overconfidence fuels risky decisions, which may not be questioned until it’s too late.

One of the aims of our CLIMB programme is to interrupt this loop. By encouraging leaders to explore their experiences and assumptions, it builds self-awareness and humility. These two essential qualities help leaders manage complex situations more effectively.

Smart doesn’t mean immune

Being intelligent or previously successful doesn’t make someone immune to cognitive biases or emotional triggers. In fact, smart leaders can be even more susceptible because they trust their reasoning capabilities, often a little too much. But the human brain is wired for shortcuts—confirmation bias, groupthink or the sunk-cost fallacy. These aren’t signs of poor intellect, but of being human.

The key difference between a smart leader who grows and one who stagnates is the willingness to examine their own thinking. Reflection, self-questioning and openness to challenge are the safeguards against decision-making drift. And yet, these are rarely prioritised in fast-paced environments unless they are intentionally built into and addressed through leadership development programmes.

Culture: the invisible hand

Organisational culture either cushions or amplifies the impact of poor decisions. A culture that values transparency, challenge and reflection helps to catch poor choices early. One that rewards conformity or protects hierarchy allows them to spread unchecked.

This is why we place such emphasis on culture as a performance lever. Leadership decisions don’t happen in isolation, they emerge from, and feed into, the prevailing culture. If the culture doesn’t support open dialogue or reward reflective thinking, poor decisions become systemic rather than individual.

Building decision-making capabilities

So what can be done? The goal isn’t to eliminate ego, pressure or confidence, they are often part of effective and dynamic leaders. The challenge is to manage them so that they are channelled in a positive way.

Here are four practical ways leaders can improve decision-making fitness:

  1. Create space for reflection
    Build thinking time into your day. Regular reflection sessions (both individual and collective) help leaders notice patterns, identify assumptions and spot blind spots.
  2. Encourage challenge
    Build teams where constructive dissent is welcomed. Make it safe to ask, “What might we be missing?” or “What if we’re wrong?”
  3. Test assumptions deliberately
    Before big decisions, use structured techniques to identify and question assumptions. This could be through premortems, red teaming or scenario planning.
  4. Invest in self-awareness
    Use tools, feedback and coaching to deepen understanding of how ego, stress and past success influence thinking. Our Leading-Self development module, for example, focus specifically on uncovering behavioural and motivational drivers that impact judgement.

Ultimately, smart leaders aren’t defined by how often they get it right, but by how quickly they can recognise and recover when they don’t. Stupid decisions don’t mean stupid people, they’re usually signs of pressure, unchecked thinking or unhelpful dynamics.

The smartest leaders aren’t those who know all the answers, but those who keep questioning, especially themselves.

 

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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MatchFit’s partnership with the Ministry of Justice – a very personal perspective

High Performing Teams, Interview, MatchFit Methodology, personal performance /

Jackie Woollaston, Head of Corporate Services, HR Casework in the MoJ’s People and Capability team, shares her personal experience working with MatchFit as a client.

Initially, Jackie participated in MatchFit’s full CLIMB programme.

“When I initially got involved with MatchFit, they were delivering their CLIMB programme to the team,” said Jackie. “CLIMB for us was something that evolved over the years and it allowed us to work through challenges in detail. We then moved onto what we called CLIMB Spotlight which was a very focused hour’s session on what we, as the client, felt were our priorities. MatchFit would take our feedback and design the CLIMB Spotlight sessions, and it was because of their high levels of responsiveness and agility that they were able to do this so well.”

One of Jackie’s main areas of involvement was the Shadow ExCo programme—first as a participant, then later as the manager running the initiative for the wider HR Casework team.

“For me the relationship and support progressed onto the Shadow ExCo programme, evolving off the back of CLIMB. We wanted to do some work specifically to develop SEOs and HEOs. One of the things I liked so much about Shadow ExCo was its ability to upskill people and push them out of their comfort zone,” said Jackie.

The HR Casework team launched with a cohort of 10 participants working on five strategic projects, each intentionally outside their area of expertise. All projects were planned through a combination of collaborative internal and external discussions.

“MatchFit’s agility was again important meaning they were able to quickly take our thoughts on board and shape the programme so that it directly met the requirements we had at the time,” said Jackie.

At the time, Jackie recorded her reflections on the programme and her personal development journey:

“Starting the Shadow ExCo Programme I knew that I would have the opportunity to develop my skills working on a team project. To support this, I was appointed a MatchFit coach and started working with a mentor. This part of the programme has been very rewarding, and my leadership skills have continued to improve from attending workshops, self-learning and participating in action learning sets. Knowledge is built on throughout the programme, so I was able to apply my new skills to my project and my own work from the very first workshop.

The Shadow ExCo Programme provided an opportunity for personal development. One of the first things my coach asked was what did I personally want to achieve from the programme. I had recently started a period of temporary promotion, and I told my coach that I wanted to finish the programme with the skills to help me achieve the next grade. My coach helped me keep site of this goal and towards the end of the programme I was successful in promotion to the next grade. The work that I have undertaken on my project and the skills that I have developed gave me the belief and determination to achieve my goal. I would recommend this programme to anyone who not only wants to be a driving force for team improvement but who also has a personal desire to improve and progress.”

When Jackie took over managing the programme, the approach was structured from the start. Expressions of interest were sent out to gauge applicant interest, with those from the first cohort available to speak to prospective participants about what to expect. Team leaders also carefully matched applicants to ensure the programme suited them.

“When we started it was mainly SEOs but then we got HEOs involved so different levels of people would be working together,” said Jackie.

One element Jackie particularly valued was the involvement of managers from clients across the Civil Service, who shared insights into their career development journeys, offering participants invaluable advice. Attendees were also encouraged to find mentors who best suited their needs.

“I still speak to my original mentor and have a strong relationship there,” said Jackie.

A key aspect of the Shadow ExCo was presenting the results of the participants’ projects to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

“In subsequent years when I was part of the SLT I looked forward to those on the programme coming and presenting, because I had been on the other side,” said Jackie. “It was great to see the work they’d done and how they had measured the impact. The fact that the projects were there to solve an actual business problem gave them a legitimate purpose and made them even more valuable.”

Strong programme results

Both the MoJ and MatchFit were careful to measure the results of the Shadow ExCo initiative, which proved to be overwhelmingly positive.

Key cohort achievements included:

  • 46% of attendees obtained further promotions
  • 8% changed role internally (via the Job Placement Programme)
  • 34% took on long-term additional duties
  • 4% secured new opportunities within the Civil Service
  • 11 new roles were created as a direct result of successful projects

For clients, the main benefit was enhanced productivity through increased capability. For participants, Shadow ExCo significantly boosted engagement, delivering sustainable personal growth and the development of transferable skills.

“I enjoyed working with MatchFit, especially on the Shadow ExCo,” said Jackie. “I enjoyed watching the projects move forward and how they made a difference. The communications project has resulted in us having our Pulse Bulletin that goes out every Monday containing pretty much everything that we want to share with the team, so we don’t keep having to do that all during the week unless it’s urgent. And that’s still going.

It was also a time when I was looking to move up, and being on the Shadow ExCo helped me develop professionally and get that promotion.”

 

 

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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What is a high-performance culture?

High Performing Teams, MatchFit Methodology, personal performance /

At a time where agility, innovation, and productivity are no longer optional, building a high-performance culture has become central to organisational success. But while the term is often used, its meaning is not always clear so in this article we answer the question what is a high-performance culture, what does it really mean to have one and why does it matter?

What is a high-performance culture? At its core, it is an environment where people are enabled and encouraged to perform at their best—not occasionally, but consistently. It goes beyond meeting quarterly targets or exceeding KPIs. It’s about embedding behaviours, mindsets and practices that align people’s daily work with the broader goals of the business.

One major study found that 78% of Fortune 1,000 CEOs believed culture to be one of the top three factors affecting their firm’s performance. This correlation isn’t coincidental. When culture is deliberately shaped around high performance, everything from decision-making to employee engagement is positively influenced.

The building blocks of a high-performance culture

While every organisation is different, there are certain features commonly found in high-performance cultures. These include clear expectations, psychological safety, meaningful feedback, and a deep sense of purpose. Employees understand not just what is expected of them, but why it matters—and they feel equipped and supported to meet those expectations.

MatchFit, for example, focusses on a methodology based in the lived experiences of employees – both in and outside of the workplace. By using a phenomenological approach, they help organisations uncover what performance really looks like day-to-day, from the ground up. This understanding enables leaders to shape cultural change that is not only strategic but more closely related to the realities and needs of the employees within their organisation.

A high-performance culture also involves alignment—between leadership and teams, between personal and organisational values, and between strategy and execution. When people are aligned, performance is not forced—it flows.

The role of leadership and communication

One of the most decisive factors when looking at what is a high-performance culture is leadership. According to McKinsey & Company, effective leadership behaviours— solving problems effectively, operating with a strong results orientation, seeking different perspectives and supporting others—have the highest correlation with organisational health and performance. Leaders who model the right behaviours don’t just inspire their teams—they set the tone for the culture itself.

Communication is another critical piece. In cultures where communication is clear, transparent and two-way, employees are more likely to be engaged and proactive. MatchFit’s work with organisations often begins with a deep discovery phase, involving staff interviews and surveys. This not only gives people a voice but ensures that cultural initiatives are grounded in real experiences rather than top-down assumptions.

Why it matters more than ever

In a post-pandemic world marked by hybrid work, shifting employee expectations, and increased competition, culture has become a defining advantage. A high-performance culture isn’t just about pushing people harder—it’s about removing the barriers that stop them from doing their best work.

For example, when HM Prison Service partnered with MatchFit, their tailored interventions led to noticeable improvements in team dynamics, leadership effectiveness, and overall workplace culture. This echoes what Gallup’s global research has long shown: organisations that prioritise employee engagement—an essential component of performance culture—see 23% higher profitability and 18% higher productivity.

Final thoughts

So, what is a high-performance culture? It’s a workplace where people feel trusted, supported, and clear on what success looks like. It’s led by individuals who communicate well, lead with purpose, and model the behaviours they expect from others. And importantly, it’s measured—not just by output, but by how people grow and contribute over time.

Creating such a culture takes time, intention and the right partnership. People-development consultancies like MatchFit bring the insight and methodology to make this transformation practical and measurable through programmes such as CLIMB. As more businesses realise that culture is not just the soft stuff—it’s the foundation for performance—the question isn’t whether you can afford to build a high-performance culture, but whether you can afford not to.

 

 

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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How to (re)discover your purpose and achieve your goals

Interview, MatchFit Methodology, personal performance /

Welcome to the second of a series of articles based on a recent OxTalks podcast in which Chris Oxley (Managing Director, Oxley & Partners) and Bradley Honnor (MatchFit Managing Director) discuss leadership and development training.

In this second episode, Chris explores the concept of purpose. He describes the scenario of a life filled with administrative tasks – which need to be done but are not delivering any joy.

How can I make my life fantastic?

Bradley explains how purpose has driven his career path and the consistent effort needed to make a significant change.

Discovering a new purpose, what that means to individuals, both in their careers and personal lives, and having the staying power to change course are discussed.

The question we should all be asking ourselves:

‘What do I care about?’

You can read the transcript of their conversation below. Click the link at the end of the transcript to listen to the full podcast.

 

Transcript

Chris: You mentioned a sense of purpose. I listened to an audible over the weekend. It was incredible. Quite a sad story. A Beginner’s Guide to Dying. I don’t know if you have stumbled across it but I highly recommend it.

But the point of what he was talking about is where we become satisfied with certain parts of our lives. And one of the key areas was whether that is really driving a purpose.

I know you’ve spoken before about a sense of purpose staying constant and that never ending. How do you personally define purpose when you’re working with clients? How has it evolved over your career?

Bradley: First of all, it’s a very personal thing. And my sense of purpose is going to be very different to somebody else’s, which is a good starting point. We talk about purpose in various different ways, but certainly in terms of what drives people to feel they have a sense of purpose you have to think about what what’s possible and take actions around what you can do today. What can you begin that’s going to make some significant changes in a direction you feel is motivating for yourself and inspires you.

For me, a sense of purpose is a very, very passionate thing. It’s very deep rooted. It’s the thing that gets you out of bed, makes you work very hard and stay focused for great lengths of time, and helps you to be resilient and to pivot and do things differently. What changed in me is quite interesting. Part of my sense of purpose has always been to strive to be successful. And that may come from my relatively challenging experience at school being dyslexic. I wanted to prove to myself. Maybe to prove to other people in the beginning, that I could succeed and be successful. And that’s been a huge driving force for me for as long as I can remember, right from when I was 15/16 years old.

But what has changed as I’ve grown older is my definition of what success is and what it should look like for me personally. I’ve moved on from the helicopter pad and having Brad towers through to understanding the importance of work-life balance and feeling that I’m enjoying my work and that it’s rewarding in every definition of what rewarding can mean. And that I’m being authentic and really following my path with integrity and living that authentic life, as they say in therapy. Those things really define success. And I think it’s also about understanding that success isn’t really an end game, it’s an ongoing journey. It’s not a destination to coin the phrase. So I think for me, I feel that my sense of purpose has changed in terms of specifically what I’m working towards and driving for. But the underpinning aspiration to make the most of my life has always been my driving force from as long as I can remember.

 

Chris: For those who are feeling a bit lost, a little bit stagnant, what advice would you give them about finding or reigniting that sense of purpose in their career? I mean, it might even be attached to their personal life as well.

Bradley: If we’re looking to find a purpose when it isn’t necessarily right there, right now what would we advocate someone doing? It’s really about understanding that it’s quite easy to move from day to day, fulfilling tasks and, for want of a better description, administrating our lives and jobs. Moving through the day to day with no real passion or enthusiasm or purpose, because we’re out there doing stuff, and we’ve got all stuff to do, and it can feel quite task based. It can feel quite responsibility based, but not so inspirationally based.

So it’s interesting to understand and look at our lives and take a step back sometimes and ask what would bring me a fantastic life? What do I need to do to transform how I am operating in my day-to-day world. What is it that I feel hugely passionate about? What is it that I really care about? How do I get more involved so that my day to day is actually hugely fulfilling and really inspirational for me in terms of driving a purpose?

So I think I’m answering your question there by saying: expand what we think is possible in terms of the experience we have on a day to day basis. Can I become the most influential leader in the world, in my space? Can I be the first company in the world to do a specific thing, and to really open up the possibilities of what can be achieved? And create belief that you can get yourself there. But again, that for me is a very personal thing, that purpose.

So how does someone find their own purpose? For me it’s about really exploring what you believe is actually possible. Can you be working and being financially successful whilst at the same time feeling completely inspired and infused by what you’re doing and how you’re engaging with others? I think very few people are going to find a sense of purpose in just doing their administrative tasks on daily basis. So how do we reframe what we feel is achievable or possible? Certainly, for me, that is a really good starting point for anyone who’s in that limbo of wondering how they get their mojo back.

 

Chris: So we’re talking here about being better. And what does that take, that striving to be better from your experience? What does it really take for someone to continue improving, both personally and professionally. What does that look like to somebody? Where do they start with this?

Bradley: Well, it’s actually whether you enjoy it or not, in terms of achieving more. It’s a lot easier to be on autopilot. It’s a lot easier to cruise through our day doing things in the way that we’ve always done them and getting the results we’ve always got. It’s harder to really look at something in our lives and say: I want to do this differently, or better, and I need to make some changes to apply consistently over a significant period of time in order to achieve that.

So the analogy I often bring is that some people would just like to go to the gym once and be fit and ripped. But actually, it takes going to the gym for a long time consistently to achieve that. It takes real discipline to achieve what we’re talking about. And that’s why a vast majority of people find it very difficult, because it is difficult, and we have to be resilient, and we have to not give up. We have to live with the frustration of not being where we want to be today, but believe that we can be there tomorrow. And for me, I think that’s one of the key aspects of how I’ve matured.

I now understand it’s about understanding what my goal is in this situation, in terms of being better or more. What do I need to do, and be doing consistently and relentlessly, for a sustained period of time before it becomes an entrenched and embedded natural behavior and way of operating in the world? And that transition is like going from a learner driver who has no idea of what the clutch or accelerator or gear stick do through to understanding what they do but having to really think about them all of the time. And then to a point where we drive and don’t think about how we’re driving, and we can take voice calls on hands free and barely remember how we even got to our destination, because we’re driving on autopilot.

So that transition, I think, is a good example of what am I aware of that I can’t do, or don’t do very well. Let me practice that, even though it’s uncomfortable and hard work, until it becomes something that is second nature to me and my way of operating. That’s a proven science, and why I feel passionately about it. I’d really encourage anyone listening to think about that. But during that process there can be doubt that causes people to give up too early, or not being consistent or relentless enough. And that is one of the secrets I’ve found in anyone who’s successful in any aspect of life – they all have the capability to stay on their chosen path.

 

We hope that you enjoyed this conversation and remember look out for Episode 3 soon. You can listen to the whole conversation here The Transformative Impact of Personalised Development with Bradley Honnor

 

 

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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How tailored training and development drives success

Interview, personal performance /

Article 1: How tailored training and development drives success

Welcome to the first of a series of articles based on a recent OxTalks podcast in which Chris Oxley (Managing Director, Oxley & Partners) and Bradley Honnor (MatchFit Managing Director) discuss leadership and development training.

In this first episode, Bradley explains the light bulb moment when he realised the potential for reimagining personal development training and created MatchFit to deliver his vision.

Frustrated by the ‘sheep dip’ approach as described by Chris Oxley, Bradley set out to build an approach that is self-directed, highly relevant and outcome focussed.

You can read the transcript of their conversation below. Click the link at the end of the transcript to listen to the full podcast.

Transcript

Bradley: I really thought about what it is that interests me professionally. Throughout the work I’ve undertaken for all of my career, I’ve always been in that people development space, in a variety of ways. I’ve worked as a sports massage therapist and a psychotherapist. And what I found is that people have an innate interest in thinking about how they can improve their life, their experience of life, their experience of work/life.

So working within learning development or organisational development for many years, I started to be quite critical of the development methodology that was on offer. Quite often there’s a process that’s unmeasured or lacking in relevance for the individuals taking part. You might engage in a leadership program where some of it is very relevant, but you’re there for four or five days. Some you’ve done before. Some of it’s not so relevant because you’ve got a field team, for example, and you’re more interested in how best to manage them remotely and the course doesn’t cover that.

I started to think about Richard Branson. Not that I’m comparing myself, but I love the fact that he looks at a service and asks himself how could he do it better. So I was thinking that surely there must be a better methodology to deliver learning and development experiences for individuals and teams. And because of my psychotherapy training, I was very familiar with the concept of phenomenological interventions and, for me, that seemed like a much better way forward. So I took the step from leaving an employed role and moved into going it alone and seeing how people felt about what I was offering as an alternative approach.

Chris: You touched on the ‘phenomenological’ approach. Can you explain that a bit more?

Bradley: It’s about understanding that every individual is completely unique. And, for those listening, that won’t be a great surprise. But what is surprising is that we don’t always treat individuals as individuals. We tend to group people together and assume the content is going to be relevant for leaders, rather than looking at that specific leader in that specific context of where and how they are working currently. And from here, really starting to think about, what does that individual need in terms of their development.

The starting point of that phenomenological approach is to really engage with them and to see what it is they want to work on or want to look at, and then shape the interventions and approach to their development around that input. So it’s very specific and very relevant. It’s very behavioural. Leaders drive change, but behaviours drive leaders.

So what are the behaviours that will help this leader engage in a development activity? What are the behaviours that they’re looking to address themselves? And then it’s about shaping the content and approach specifically around those challenges. And that way we get great buy in. Individuals are really engaged because they’re shaping the development experience themselves. We’re facilitating and steering that, but the direction comes from them. It’s a self-directed experiential learning process. And I’ve found, through delivering our services in that way, that people get a great deal of value, because there’s no generalisation of what a good leader should be.

Chris: It seems like you’re involving the people you’re supporting in developing their own journeys. Is that, right?

Bradley: Very much so. I’m the first to stand back and say: I don’t know until at least we speak and really engage together, what you need, what your interests are, what’s going to spark that fire, what’s going to capture your interest. And a way to really do that is analyse the team or individual or organisation, and to start looking at what people are talking or thinking about, and where they feel their challenges are. And then we can present those things back to that individual, team or organisation so they have an independent view of the issues.

If we are working with a leader, we can talk to them about what they feel they need to address. And there will be a number of directions that we can go in, a number of priorities we could approach. But in their minds, in their context, in the environment in which they are working, they will know what’s most important. And by the very definition of that conversation, that individual or team or organisation is engaged, because they know they’re setting the scenes themselves. They’re setting up the context to those conversations, rather than us coming in and imposing some external, irrelevant, content on them.

For me, a fundamental aspect of what we do is to do the listening before we design and deliver the intervention.

Chris: I’m presuming you’ve seen quite an increase in engagement from that sheep dip approach, and I’ve noticed that, through certain L&D individuals I’ve spoken to, they’re almost fed up with the constant one size fits all. There seems to be a real need now to find something that’s more individual to inspire teams. Christian hunt, who I know, was UBS’s first Managing Director of Behavioural Science, but he come from a compliance background, and was using behavioural science to lead people to be more compliant to rules. It’s looking at those types of strategies, and it feels like there’s some similarities here. Is that, right?

Bradley: Very much so. We’re working with very senior people generally. An organisation we’re working with right now has a £4 billion turnover and are in every country you can imagine. They have an end-to-end service, everything from design to logistics and digital marketing.

They’re very sophisticated, experienced people, and have done a lot of traditional leadership work. But what they want is something that’s much more personalised and relevant to them. And quite often we find those leaders will have exceptional business acumen so there’s a limit to what we can teach them about leading a business. But as soon as we get into the behavioural psychology of what we do, people find that quite fascinating. How could I find more motivation in myself? How do I motivate and engage my team? How do we find a sense of purpose and drive a vision? We find that behavioural science gives what we do validity.

People can see there’s science behind what we’re doing. Because engaging and leading people is a fine line between art and science. There’s a real art to that. There are some nebulous things we need to be doing, understanding and putting into practice to lead effectively. But there is also science behind behaviour and the way we think and operate. So shedding light on the components of performance psychology, and how leaders apply them in their role as a leader, we find is a much more interesting and relevant conversation for these very experienced and senior people.

We hope that you enjoyed this conversation and remember look out for Episode 2 soon. You can listen to the whole conversation here The Transformative Impact of Personalised Development with Bradley Honnor

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If you’d like to learn more about our MatchFit leadership programmes, take a look at our information pages here, or why not get in touch? enquiries@matchfitclimb.com

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The Confidence Challenge: How our thinking can undermine us and what to do about it

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Confidence can be a game changer, both personally and professionally. But is confidence innate or something we develop over time?

That’s an interesting question, but the truth is: it’s probably somewhere in the middle. Some people will definitely have ‘natural’ confidence and others will be ‘naturally’ shy. We can, however, build our confidence through hard work and persistence, so it becomes second nature.

However, most people aren’t taught how to be more confident, and have probably never asked. So they don’t consciously develop this characteristic and end up somewhere on a scale between very confident and very shy, or confident in some things, and not in others.

So overcoming the ‘Confidence Challenge’ is about first understanding that it is actually possible to overcome a lack of confidence. There are actions we can take to build our self-assurance so that it becomes a more natural behavioural characteristic.

Reduce ‘thinking errors’

Thinking errors can be key drivers of a lack of confidence. They are easy to nurture, but much more difficult to remove.

Many a scenario can be invaded by thinking errors, but presenting in front of a group of people usually puts them into overdrive!

Even if someone is articulate, senior, smart and presenting on something they know more about than anyone else in the room, if they lack confidence, thoughts such as ‘I’m nervous about this’ or ‘What if I forget my words’ can easily creep in and undermine them. And if words such as ‘always’ and ‘every time’ start to manifest, the lack of confidence compounds.

At this point, the sympathetic nervous system triggers those familiar ‘flight or flee’ feelings: sweaty palms, shallow breathing, rapid heart rate. Together with thoughts such as “I’m going to mess this up” or “Oh my god, I can’t believe they’ve made me do this”. And this is not how we want to be walking into the boardroom ahead of a key presentation!

“I often ask people if those nervous feelings and thoughts are real,” says Bradley Honnor, managing director at MatchFit. “Or have they just told themselves those things for so long that they actually believe them? The latter is almost always true.”

So understanding that our thinking errors will undoubtedly be compounding a lack of personal confidence is a key first step.

Replacing our thinking errors

The second step is understanding what to do about your thinking errors.

This can be a complex process, but it usually helps to start by asking yourself questions like “What do I need to be thinking that would make me more confident?” or “What would a really confident person think in this situation?”

You then need to develop the discipline to catch yourself thinking in a negative way and replace that thought every time. Replacing it over and over again until in the end you quite literally develop a new neurological pathway in the brain. And when that happens, those thinking errors will have been removed or dramatically reduced. New, more positive thoughts will occur automatically, which is a mentally healthier and more confident way of thinking.

“It’s really a process of identifying all the thinking errors and behaviours that aren’t helping your confidence, and then literally eradicating them systematically,” says Bradley.

And it’s a process that is proven to work, yet here we are with most people feeling that they’re just not confident, they’ve always been that way, it’s their nature, it’s their personality.

“If you are looking for that next jump in your career,” continues Bradley, “You can want it but not do anything about it, or even look at other people who have achieved it and think that they just have the natural ability to move more quickly up the ladder. Or, you can think: ‘I know what I need to do to get my next move’ and do it.

“And then it’s about goal setting and relentlessly trying to achieve your goal.

“In a way confidence and thinking errors seem obvious, but lots of people don’t know about it. They’ve never talked or asked about it. And I know that because when we talk about it in training sessions, people are always very engaged. We talk about the cognitive triangle; the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. And whenever we do that, we can feel that people are engaged and saying to themselves ‘I do that all the time’”, Bradley says.

Identifying and eradicating thinking errors is a change that can we make over time that will have a dramatic effect on the paths our careers and personal lives take and, ultimately, our own experience of the world.

“And that, for most people, will be incredibly important,” concludes Bradley.

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