Top Takeaways Tuesday Review: How to Revolutionise Remote Culture
The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast, Ep. 55 with Chris Dyer
Hello KSKOers
I had a great conversation with Chris Dyer in episode 55 of The Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast. I learnt a lot and it made me think about my own organisational culture and leadership practice. Here are my 5 top takeaways from our interview…
1. The Importance of Self-Aware Leadership: Chris emphasises the significance of self-aware leadership, highlighting it as a continuous journey of learning and acknowledging limitations. That definitely fits with my ideas and why I called my book, ‘THE SELF-AWARENESS SUPERHIGHWAY: CHARTING YOUR LEADERSHIP JOURNEY’! He stresses that leaders need to be open to learning from others and to avoid assuming they know everything. This includes recognising the need for continuous personal growth and development, which can positively impact the company's culture and overall success. Chris also discusses the fit between self-aware leadership and company culture, emphasising the role of senior leaders in setting the direction and middle management in reinforcing it.
Reflection question: Thinking about self-awareness like a long journey, what steps can you take to map out the development of your self-aware leadership skills?
2. Innovative Meeting Practices for Creating a Collaborative Culture: Chris challenges traditional one-to-one meeting structures and recommends a shift towards group meetings to promote collaboration and support between team members. He highlights the advantages of group meetings for promoting transparency, support, and reducing the pressure on leaders to solve all problems. Chris also suggests using innovative meeting formats such as ‘cockroach meetings’ and ‘tiger team meetings’ for different types of issues. I just love these descriptions!
“If you have a cockroach in your bathroom, it’s a small problem… Now imagine if there was a tiger in your bathroom. Much bigger problem. Right?”
Reflection question: How could you implement group meetings and innovative formats to enhance collaboration and problem-solving?
3. The Evolution of Remote Work and Its Impact on Productivity: We explore the evolution of remote work, particularly during COVID-19 and its impact on productivity and leadership. Chris shares insights on how remote meetings have become popular, leading to a better work-life balance. He also emphasises the importance of focusing on the positive aspects of remote work to enhance productivity and performance.
Reflection question: How has the shift to remote work influenced your approach to leadership and maintaining productivity within your team?
You can also watch our interview on YouTube
4. Creating a Positive Culture for Remote Workers: We talk about the importance of creating a positive culture for remote workers by providing transparency and more inclusive meetings. Chris talks about the need to make remote workers feel included in the organisational culture and the significance of communication and reinforcement of organisational values. Reflect on how you can create a positive culture for remote workers within your organisation.
Reflection question: What strategies can you implement to ensure transparency, communication, and inclusivity for remote team members?
“I never would have thought that everybody would have had a taste of remote work…. 20 years of progress in a year”
5. Balancing Values and Cognitive Diversity in Company Culture: We talked about the challenge of balancing the need for employees who support the organisation's values with the desire for cognitive diversity within the organisation. Chris says that we need consistent communication and reinforcement of the organisation's values while also hiring leaders and employees who align with those values, but we need to constantly reflect on the balance between upholding organisational values and embracing cognitive diversity.
Reflection question: How can you cultivate an organisational culture that embraces both elements, ensuring that company values are upheld while also benefiting from diverse perspectives and insights?
How can you use these top takeaways and reflection questions (TTRQ)?
Pick one of the TTRQs
Share it with you team
Ask for their thoughts and views
Reflect, discuss and debate
Get to know your own thoughts better. Help others to know their thoughts better. Get to know each other better.
Hope you enjoy the episode and find that these TTRQs generate interesting and awareness raising discussions!
Some other articles you might like to read…
Looking forward to having you on my learning journey!
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Nia is an expert leader who talks the talk and walks the walk. She is an academically awarded thought leader in self-aware leadership and practices self-aware leadership every single day in her role as a Director in a Children’s Charity.
Excellent post, and thanks for the shout out!
Great post and thanks for the share!