COLIN ON CULTURE
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Grey hair, golden outputs
Forward-thinking companies implement age-friendly programmes, recognising the value older employees can add
Things Don't Always Get Better
Middle-aged men often hide their struggles behind the phrase, "Things can only get better," but the truth is, real change requires vulnerability and seeking help. Your well-being matters—don’t suffer in silence.
Beyond National Food Days
Celebrating diversity with food is just the beginning. True cultural empathy involves understanding the stories, values, and communication styles that shape your colleagues. Let’s dive deeper to build stronger, more empathetic teams.
Another Way
Someone recently said, "Everything is negative these days." I disagreed. While negativity is everywhere, we become what we consume
Pranks
April Fools' Day is all about fun and pranks, but are they suitable for the workplace?
Leading on and off the field
Sports is starting to take culture seriously and if teams want to see sustained performance it’s important that more follow St Helens’ lead.
It’ll never be us
Toxic culture is every organisation’s biggest risk. Toxic cultures harm humans, results and reputations. But they are preventable.
Anomie
Anomie is ‘a lack of rules’ and it's the silent killer of great work. It's what happens when nobody knows which standards matter anymore.
Truth without the thorns
Lose the jargon and communicate with directness because when your team know where they stand they feel safer.
Laughter
Life can be a pretty serious business so take the opportunity to lean in to laughter. It’s good for you!
Facts matter
When leaders make decisions based on facts they build trust and reinforce the culture they want to see.
Emotionally excellent
It takes more than technical skills to build a team and create a culture.
Won’t AI just make employees lazy?
To be successful, AI implementation must be part of a broader evolution of the existing culture, with good practice principles agreed in advance.
Space for everyone
We don’t all work the same so why do we persist with culture killing monolithic office spaces?
Communication: the key to success
Communication permeates every aspect of our working lives. From explaining strategies, crafting compelling presentations and negotiating deals to resolving conflicts and building trust-based relationships. Effective communication shapes outcomes at every turn.
A case of the Mondays
We all have bad days but your mood is contagious and spreading negativity is a culture killer.
The Five Levels of Management Mastery
Middle managers are the difference between organisation success and failure and yet most managers lack the training to make a real difference every day. I share my experiences to help fast-track your learning.
Saying no
One of the best skills we can learn, therefore, is the ability to say ‘no’ and sometimes, ‘no’ is a complete sentence. That’s not to say that we deliver the message rudely or with attitude, indeed the opposite is true.
Agency, the culture secret
When employees are given the opportunity to define their own working conditions — how they connect, behave, work together and be creative — they gain not only a sense of pride in what they’ve built, but also a determination to uphold it.
Anchored in the past
The stories in your culture will determine whether you sail or sink.