The "Toxic Team" Myth: Psychological Safety, Cliques and Smarter Hiring (with Nicole Williams)

The "Toxic Team" Myth: Psychological Safety, Cliques and Smarter Hiring (with Nicole Williams)

What if the "problem person" on your team is actually a symptom, not the cause? Chartered Occupational and Coaching Psychologist Nicole Williams (founder of Nicole Williams Organisational Psychology) joins John to unpack what really drives toxic team cultures, and what leaders can do about it. You'll learn: * Why psychological safety is the foundation every team needs, and what happens when it's missing * How the challenge and support balance makes or breaks a leader * The difference between a tight-knit team and a damaging clique * How to use personality profiling and structured interviews to hire better as you scale #TeamCulture #PsychologicalSafety #Leadership #HiringStrategy #B2BSaaS #OrganisationalPsychology

People First in the Age of AI: Building Teams When You Can’t Compete on Salary (with Anna Ganley)

How do you build and keep a great team when you can’t compete on salary — and what is AI really doing to creative careers? Anna Ganley (Chief Executive, The Society of Authors) joined as a temp on reception and rose to lead the union representing over 12,500 writers, illustrators and translators. She shares how flexibility, training and honest career conversations hold a team together, and offers a clear-eyed take on generative AI, copyright, and protecting the creative workforce. You’ll learn: • How to win talent when you can’t pay top of market • Why honest career conversations keep people (or help them leave well) • What AI really means for creative careers — and how to respond responsibly #TeamBuilding #NotForProfit #PeopleFirst #AIandWork #Leadership #Recruitment

Stop Writing the Job Spec: Hiring for the Need, Not the Gap (with Michael Ruiter)

Something breaks in your business. How long before someone writes a job spec? For most teams, about three weeks. Michael Ruiter, interim CEO and transformation consultant, thinks that's the wrong move almost every time. In this episode he breaks down how to hire for the need, not the gap: * The questions to ask before you write a single job description * Why your current need and your future need are often two different jobs * Why experience doesn't predict on-the-job success #Hiring #InterimLeadership #Recruitment #TeamBuilding #Transformation

Reshaping a Team You Did Not Build: Transformational Leadership Done Right (with Jenny Jarvis)

When you inherit a team you did not build, where do you actually start? Jenny Jarvis (COO, Energy Saving Trust and author of Lead With Confidence) shares how she walks into established teams and reshapes them through transformation: diagnosing the organisation before judging the people, and starting with the work rather than the org chart. You’ll learn: • How to prepare before day one and test your assumptions instead of acting on them • Why most we need a new hire decisions are really structure problems in disguise • How to redeploy the talent you already have before replacing it #TransformationalLeadership #TeamBuilding #LeadershipStyle #HiringStrategy #WomenInLeadership

Why Every Application Gets Read by a Human (with Sarah Mukherjee MBE)

How do you build a recruitment process that genuinely tests for values, in a 50-person organisation operating in 120 countries? Sarah Mukherjee MBE (CEO, IEMA, former BBC Environment Correspondent) shares the practical operating model behind a small, global, values-driven team: human-read applications, peer interviewers, a welcome letter at the front of every job description, and why ‘soft skills’ should be renamed professional skills. You’ll learn: * How to test for values without relying on rehearsed answers * Why every application is worth a human read * What the ‘welcome letter’ front-page does to your applicant pool * Why ‘professional skills’ is a better, fairer name for the things that actually make business work #ValuesDrivenHiring #ProfessionalSkills #HumanInTheLoop #JobDescriptions #PeopleAndCulture #NotForProfit #Sustainability #TeamBuilding