Great Managers® MasterClass with Sandra Wood

Sometimes life throws you a curveball; something that knocks you for six, that makes you wonder whether life will ever be the same again… Exposure to traumatic events can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. (There's been quite a lot in the press about that lately). Several recent developments in the trauma field have led to significant changes in how PTSD is diagnosed and treated. Martin Seligman has done some significant work in this area and has found from his research that people who had experienced particularly awful situations could experience what's called Post-Traumatic Growth. Seligman found that with the right support and a good process trauma doesn't need to flatten us forever. Martin Seligman's been offering this type of support to the U.S. Army since 2009 via his Master Resilience Training. In this podcast episode, I'll give you a snapshot of the 5 Steps for Building Resilience from this Master Resilience Training program.  For more practical ways to Build Resilience as a Leader, you can view the full-length lesson in our Great Managers MasterClass.   For a limited time, you can subscribe to our MasterClass for free. For more information, visit: https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/masterclass-subscription/

Having Virtual or Remote staff is not a new concept. Many organisations have had teams working remotely for a very long time. But today, this is no longer just a trend, it’s a necessity! As a leader, it is vital you adapt quickly to this change and take advantage of its benefits… whilst mitigating its risks and challenges. When the topic of remote work comes up, it’s quite common for people to be doubtful about how to get it to work best, particularly those with newly remote workers. One of the issues with working from home is that people can feel isolated and disconnected, or they can get very distracted. Many people don’t cope well with this style of working, others love it But for both sides it’s important you set it up well and continue to check in with your team to make sure everything is working for them and obviously work is still getting done. Research on Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Contagion tells us that employees look to their managers for cues about how to react to sudden changes like this. In this clip from a recent Great Managers MasterClass, we'll give you the 6 Essential Skills you need for Effectively Managing Remote Teams. For more information on subscribing to the Great Managers MasterClass, visit: https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/masterclass-subscription/

Keeping up with the relentless pace of change is part of our world and organisational life today…and it’s not going to slow down any time soon. This fast pace can take its toll on everyone, so it makes good business sense to develop yourself and your people in a way which strengthens them from the inside out. This preview of a recent Great Managers MasterClass will strengthen you so that you don’t just cope with our fast-paced world, you FLOURISH! Flourishing is about wellbeing, heightened development, positivity, growth and a feeling of confidence & success. If we don’t actively develop the necessary skills, habits and routines, it’s highly likely that we will flounder rather than flourish. The more resourceful people are in their lives the more energy they will bring to work which increases engagement, productivity and results. In this MasterClass, Sandra will provide the Formula for Flourishing including the 6 most well-researched, tried and tested habits that will help you FLOURISH and get the most out of life. If you would like to view the full-length lesson on The Formula for Flourishing, for a limited time you can subscribe to the Great Managers MasterClass for free. Click here for more information. 

Sometimes the hardest thing about managing people, particularly in relation to performance conversations and providing feedback, is dealing with defensiveness… the other person’s and your own! While defensiveness is a ‘normal’ human behaviour it can get in the way of our ability to communicate with others and achieve our desired outcome. It can feel like we’re going around in circles… or backwards even. It can be incredibly frustrating! However, if you know how to identify Defensiveness, understand it and handle it in an effective way before it takes hold, your discussions can be focused on the future, on solutions and next steps, as opposed to being stuck in protectiveness, the past, and who’s to blame. This MasterClass is all about How to Deal with Defensiveness in a skilful, emotionally intelligent way. If you would like to view the full-length lesson on Dealing With Defensiveness, for a limited time you can subscribe to the Great Managers MasterClass for free. Click here for more info.

What tough decisions do you need to make right now at work or in your life? How are you going to make them? Every day, whether we like it or not, we have to make many decisions. We have to make choices that can impact ourselves, our organisations and others. Our choices have consequences. Self-knowledge is critical for making the right decisions. Some people know they are indecisive – they agonise about making decisions and can get paralysed in the grocery store due to the amount of choice. Others rate themselves as good decision-makers because they make decisions fast. But is that the BEST way to make sound decisions? In this extract from a recent Great Managers MasterClass you will learn a 4-Step process that will help you make sound Decisions at work and in your life! At Great Managers, we’re all about giving you really practical skills, in the right sequence, to enable your team to become a high-performing one.  Want access to the full lesson?  For a limited time, you can subscribe to the Great Managers MasterClass for free and get unlimited access to this and over 60 other practical leadership lessons.  For more info visit:https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/masterclass-subscription/

Starting from today, you can be significantly more effective as a manager by asking the right coaching questions to your team members. Great Coaching is one of the best ways in which leaders can increase the capacity and capability in their team, and help individuals and organisations reach their goals. Developing manager’s coaching skills has become even more important in these fast-paced times because organisations are increasingly calling on people to deliver more with fewer resources. In this extract from a recent Great Managers MasterClass, we look at: - The 3 Principles of Coaching Conversations - The 2 types of coaching conversations - How to Build your Coaching Conversations toolkit with 3 of the top Coaching Questions every manager needs to know To learn more about improving the leadership capability in your business, visit: https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/academy/

Successful teams are not formed overnight, nor are they achieved in a seminar or weekend retreat. Teams that are pieced together with little planning, few resources, and little support are going to be high-maintenance rather than high-performing and will not result in any organisational advantage. Dysfunctional teams drain time, money and energy away from you, and your organisation. In this extract from a recent Great Managers MasterClass we look at: - The benefits of a High Performing Team- Problems that arise if Teams are Dysfunctional- Patrick Lencioni's Model (5 Ways to Develop a High Performing Team) If you would like more information on how our full High-Performing Teams workshop can be delivered in your workplace (anywhere in Australia), please contact us here: https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/contact-us/

It’s likely that you, or someone you know has experienced grief and loss. Death, illness and challenging times are a part of life, but many of us are not equipped to communicate skilfully with others at these times, particularly in the workplace. Let’s face it, having conversations about death, tragedy, illness and challenging times are not easy or comfortable, but at some point, we’ll all face a situation when we’re going to need to do so. In this extract from a recent Great Managers MasterClass, we’re going to show you how to get more comfortable ‘discussing the undiscussables’ and allow you to Build a Compassionate Workplace! We’ll interview Groundswell Project Executive Director Jessie Williams. The Groundswell Project was established 5 years ago to enable social and cultural change when it comes to death and dying in Australia. Their aim is to promote resilience and wellbeing in response to end-of-life issues and to encourage people to build their death literacy. Their goal is to make it easier for people to talk with someone who has experienced a loss and to help kindness to show its face. For more information on the Groundswell Project visit:http://www.thegroundswellproject.com/ For more information about Great Managers visit:https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/

Leadership is not a place for the timid. Leaders must summon their will to deal with a whole range of complexity and unknowns, and create workplaces that are motivating and safe for others, even in changing and turbulent times. They must summon their will to take risks, and face things the average person shies away from. Leadership requires Courage, in fact, it could even be described as Courage in Action. We know that a lack of Courage can derail a leader’s success. Courage is one of those big, bold words that gives rise to images of daring acts of bravery and nerves of steel, and of overcoming impossible odds. But what about Courage in Teams? When you Build Courage in your Team, you will see: - Engagement- Passion- Motivation- Commitment - Accountability In this extract from a recent Great Managers MasterClass, we’re going to explore the role Courage plays in your team's success and importantly, how you can get more of it! To view the YouTube version, click here.  

Many people have great difficulty saying NO to others. Even people who are quite assertive, in some situations might find themselves saying yes to things that they really don't want to do!Listen to this MasterClass for 2 techniques to be more confident saying NO.

The goal of Assertion Messages is to change behaviour which is intruding on or upsetting you. Learn these 3 key components of Assertion Messages and instantly become more Assertive as a leader.

Perfectionism can lead to physical and emotional stress, both personally AND organisationally. If you want to move from the STRUGGLE of Perfectionism to STRIVING for excellence, here's how to disrupt your damaging thinking, language and behaviour patterns.

How would you like a breathing technique that allows you to stay in positive performance mode, with the 'clever' part of your brain working for you, even under intense pressure?

The ABCDE Model is a method for building Optimism by recognising and disputing pessimistic thoughts.   This model is a proven method of upgrading your Thinking System and if you practise it, will not only make you a more inspiring leader but will significantly improve your personal life too!

In our super busy world, it’s all too easy to focus on the next task at hand, rather than to stop and acknowledge what has been achieved. This MasterClass will give you a Winning Formula to avoid making that mistake!

Great Managers founder, Sandra Wood, conducted an interview with top Australian CEO who reveals her fundamental MUST-DO's for every successful leader. In this extract of the interview, Kim Anson shares these two invaluable tips.

This is the second in our 3-part "Building a Great Place to Work" culture series. In this MasterClass we are going to delve into the principles and “how to’s” of “Tribal Leadership” and how to use them to upgrade your team culture. Everybody loves an upgrade, right? A tribal leader is someone who: is actively upgrading the culture in their tribe. knows that culture is what makes the different and figures out their tribe's current culture.knows how to nudge their tribe from one stage to the next.We all know that human beings naturally form tribes. What separates average tribes from those that excel, is their culture. Tribal culture exists in stages, going from “undermining” at the lower stages, to “egocentric” in the middle stages, to “history making” at the higher levels. Where is your “tribe” currently at? Let's find out!

Improving your culture can deliver huge benefits to your business: • Financial – the better the culture and employee engagement the better the bottom line results • You’re more likely to attract and retain talented staff • Morale is higher – staff are more energetic & enthusiastic • Responsiveness to change is better • There is more co-operation and teamwork • Productivity is higher • Physical and emotional safety improves – there tends to be fewer workers compensation claims and less grievances • Reduced staff turnover and absenteeism Use this 6-Step Culture Building System in your business and be the envy of your competitors!

Emotions play a big role in stress management. So, let's talk about the skill of emotional agility. Emotional agility is about knowing yourself and developing a greater level of control over your feelings and reactions. With greater emotional agility, you can maximise your confidence. You can turn negative emotions into positive thoughts, and respond resourcefully in a way that you may not even know that you're capable of right now, but you are. Emotional agility is one of the most valuable business skills you can possess, and you are capable of improving this skill quite quickly. It just takes a bit of practice. Here are 4 steps to improve your emotional agility...

Performance conversations aren’t easy. They are probably one of the most challenging parts of your role as a manager. Our third and final installment of the Painless Performance Conversations series is a 6 Step Performance Conversation Model to build your tool kit of skills and put them into action.

Part two in our Painless Performance Conversations series is about taking your conversation skills to the next level...  Self-awareness is your key to growth. You need to know your style when it comes to performance conversations and be honest with yourself. There are 2 very common patterns when it comes to performance conversations… AVOIDANCE & CONTROL. So are you an AVOIDER or a CONTROLLER?  Tune in and find out!

We all know that quality conversations about work performance lead to better results; however, far too often, things like our emotions or procrastination and getting tongue-tied or talking too much, all of these things get in the way of us having the type of skillful conversation that we really want to have. The fact is that managers need to be able to discuss performance issues and behavioral issues with confidence. This MasterClass extract is about building your critical conversation toolkit so that you can confidently and painlessly discuss the difficult issues, even the really difficult issues. 

Communicating sincere appreciation and encouragement to your staff and colleagues is a powerful way to create a positive work environment. Appreciation can increase loyalty and engagement and that's the topic of our latest Great Managers MasterClass! In this Masterclass Extract Sandra will share the 5 ways to build appreciation that can help you empower and encourage your staff in the way that works best for them.

Learning about and building a Growth Mindset will increase your level of achievement, increase your self-esteem and confidence, improve your relationships and lower your risk of depression. Would you like any of those things? I know I would!  Well in this MasterClass Extract Sandra will: Take you through the characteristics of the Growth Mindset and the Fixed MindsetTake you through a process to build your Growth Mindset stronger and how to make the move away from a Fixed mindsetGive you some tips on how to build a Growth mindset in your team

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you just can’t get through to your boss?One of the key challenges facing many leaders today — at all levels — is how to influence people more senior than themselves, including their bosses and boards! Being able to get your point across and communicate persuasively with people in more senior positions is a critical workplace skill that you have to develop.Apart from making your job easier, Influencing Upwards has many benefits such as better understanding, co-operation and team work, more productivity, problems better addressed, less frustration and stress, and of course, recognition, and potentially promotion.The ability to influence colleagues effectively is key to your professional and personal success.In this Great Managers® Masterclass Extract Sandra will share with you some of the skills and mindsets required!

In our previous MasterClass Extract we discussed how to Break Bad Habits that can kill your career as a Manager.This month we’ll extend our discussion to the habits in your team.That’s right, this month’s Masterclass is all about “The ‘A Team’ Formula – Breaking Bad Habits That Are Killing Results For Your Team” where Sandra;Unlocks the shortcuts to get changes in behaviourShows you how to apply a 3-Step-Formula to help your team break their Bad Habits and get them on the path to ‘A-Team’ resultsGives you real, practical examples and case studies on how to use the change formulaChanging behavior can be on of the hardest things to achieve but its possible when you understand change and HOW to approach it in a way that works.

Now I know our Star Wars fans might disagree :), but did you know that BAD is stronger than GOOD?You might do 99% of your role fabulously but your habits, your bad ones, can dilute your efforts and kill your career/reputation.Have you ever worked with someone who had a bad habit that overrode their good efforts? I’m sure we have all encountered this. It’s easier for us to spot bad habits in others than in ourselves.People have puzzled over habits for centuries, but it is only in the past 2 decades that scientists and psychologists have understood how habits work and more importantly, how they change.In this Month’s Masterclass Extract I’ll teach you about the Habit Loop and how you can use it to eliminate your bad habits before they kill your career!”

“Have you ever wished you knew a better way to motivate staff?You’ve tried lots of different things but just cant seem to nail a sustainable system of motivation that creates an engaged, high performing workplace?Then its time to get crafty with RECOGNITION!This Month’s Masterclass is all about “How Great Managers use Recognition to Engage their People” where I will show you how to increase staff productivity in 60 seconds with these three simple steps!”Want 15++ creative ways to Recognise your people? Join our MasterClass Community”

Have you ever worked with a person who was always in a bad mood or negative?What impact did that have on you? Can you describe the impact it had on the rest of your team…..and what about the impact it had on your results?Emotions play a huge role in our daily lives and they are so infectious that it is CRITICAL that you understand the impact of Low “Emotional Tone” in your organisation and most importantly, what you can do about it!This Month’s Great Managers® Masterclass Extract focuses on moving mood and emotion into a positive register – is it possible and if so, HOW do you increase the emotional tone of your team?

Inner strength is what you need to stay resilient and resourceful and to bounce back if you get
 knocked over. 
How many times have you wished you had more inner strength, willpower or self-discipline How many times have you lacked the persistence and inner stamina to follow through on your goals and decisions? How often do you ‘cave in’ on yourself and not do what you know you should? Most people are not born with inner strength, but it can be developed like any other skill. It is inspiring
 to know that there are a number of things you can do to make yourself stronger.  Want to get better results as a Manager? In this Great Managers® MasterClass excerpt, Leadership and People Management Expert, Sandra Wood give you Four Fabulous Tips to build the Inner Strength you need to succeed
 as a Leader. These tips will:  Give you tangible things to practice to make you stronger Build your confidence as a leader Strengthen your achievement drive

How to be successful at Networking - even if you really hate networking! Do you LOVE Networking? Whether you love it or hate it, Sandra Wood from Great Managers® will give you some tips in this MasterClass excerpt that will make you more confident AND competent when you head to your next networking event!

How to Manage Different Generations at Work - Join Sandra Wood from Great Managers® as she explores the different needs, values and work styles of the different generations in the workplace and how you as a Manager can provide what they need so you get the best from each.

How to Build Emotional Intelligence in Teams - Join Sandra Wood from Great Managers® as she shares why Emotional Intelligence is a major factor in the levels of success we achieve individually and in teams.

How to Build Trust in Teams - Join Sandra Wood from Great Managers® as she shares the 5 Building-Blocks you need to Build Trust in Teams - A High Performing, Successful Team that trusts you AND each other - in an excerpt from The Great Managers® Academy MasterClass at www.greatmanagers.com. 

If you've ever had to manage change or learn something new, you may have experienced some discomfort going through that process. In today's Great Managers® MasterClass Sandra will cover; rediscovering your most successful learning style, why change can be hard and what to do about it, and keeping change and learning on track for successful outcomes

In this Great Managers® MasterClass, Leadership and People Management expert Sandra Wood discusses Leadership Brand, why its important and how to develop a strong brand as a leader.Leadership brand is how you’re known as a leader. It’s how people perceive the value you bring to your role. Your leadership brand conveys your identity and it’s about your distinctiveness as a leader so that’s what sets you apart from others. It communicates the value that you offer as a leader. And if you’ve got the wrong leadership brand for the position you have or the position you want, then you’re not having the impact you could be. So a strong personal leadership brand allows all that’s powerful and effective about your leadership to become known to your colleagues allows you to generate maximum value and get the results that you want. -->