Monkey Puzzle Blog: Articles for forward-thinking leaders and teams

Mon

2 Dec 2019

You’re in your dream job - so is work life balance even relevant?

Written by Karen Meager

If you love what you do, do you even need to think about work life balance? It’s a question many CEOs, business owners, and entrepreneurs ask us. The short answer is yes - both you and the relationships that matter to you – need looking after, regardless of how well…

Mon

4 Nov 2019

The secrets of landing messages or announcements successfully

Written by Karen Meager

Doing a group communication is one of the most agonised over events in organisational life. The number of meetings about meetings, reviews and circulations of scripts and announcements can be staggering and often result in something that’s so bland and watered down that the message is lost, confusing or ineffective.

Mon

7 Oct 2019

How to ask questions to get clarity in briefings – without being annoying

Written by John McLachlan

Does this sound familiar? There’s a briefing going on, it’s an important project and you’d really like to ask a question. Except that you don’t. If only you had, a little clarity would have made your contribution so much more effective from the outset.

Mon

2 Sep 2019

Why aren’t my brilliant people being brilliant?

Written by Karen Meager

You’ve invested a huge amount of time and resources hiring the best people, you’ve got them in the right roles and are rewarding them well for their contribution - but you just don’t seem to be getting the success you’d anticipated.

Sun

4 Aug 2019

Our leaders don’t behave our values - what can we do?

Written by John McLachlan

Last month we looked at how to integrate your values into your organisation – and we emphasised the importance of getting your leaders on-board to ‘walk the talk’. But what happens when they don’t – or even do the very opposite – what can you do?

Thu

4 Jul 2019

How to successfully integrate values into your organisation

Written by Karen Meager

Anyone who’s worked on an organisational values exercise knows how painful the process can be. You start out wanting to build something inspirational that truly reflects all that is great about your organisation; instead, you end up in endless wrangles over the right kind of words and ‘what’s the point…

Tue

4 Jun 2019

Why emotional regulation is a creative and innovative organisation’s secret weapon

Written by John McLachlan

We’ve all seen emotions displayed at work. As humans, it’s almost impossible to hide our emotions and often they can be a good thing – showing positive emotions at work can be highly motivating and engaging.

Mon

20 May 2019

Self Care for High Achievers

Written by Karen Meager

People who are motivated to achieve are always looking to improve, drive quality and love getting stuck into complex problems.

Mon

6 May 2019

Supporting your team through difficult life situations - is there a magic formula?

Written by Karen Meager

Stressful life events don’t have to be work-related to impact on performance or the workplace. It’s human nature to be affected by the challenging events that life can bring our way. Unfortunately, taking them into work is often unavoidable.

Mon

8 Apr 2019

Tuckman’s stages of team development – how to keep innovative organisations performing

Written by John McLachlan

The four stages of team development by Bruce Tuckman is a core management model most leaders are familiar with. Teams start by ‘Forming’ and then go through a series of stages that eventually see them arrive at ‘Performing’ – with the advantages of being self-motivated, autonomous and competent.

Wed

13 Mar 2019

When does difficult behaviour become toxic

Written by Karen Meager

Leaders and managers often ask us to run training or coaching programmes to help them deal with difficult behaviour - it’s the most common request for training we get. It’s not surprising, difficult behaviour in the workplace is time consuming and frustrating. Even the most cohesive team may experience it.

Mon

18 Feb 2019

The CEO Dilemma - how can I stop firefighting and focus on what I love?

Written by Karen Meager

We work with many CEO’s passionate about what their organisation does, but less so about the time pressures that come with leadership roles. People have a habit of looking to the top for solutions, so it’s no surprise that many CEO’s discover that people and organisational issues are the real…

Blog

Monkey Puzzle Blog

You’re in your dream job - so is work life balance even relevant?

The secrets of landing messages or announcements successfully

How to ask questions to get clarity in briefings – without being annoying

Why aren’t my brilliant people being brilliant?

Our leaders don’t behave our values - what can we do?

How to successfully integrate values into your organisation

Why emotional regulation is a creative and innovative organisation’s secret weapon

Self Care for High Achievers

Supporting your team through difficult life situations - is there a magic formula?

Tuckman’s stages of team development – how to keep innovative organisations performing

When does difficult behaviour become toxic

The CEO Dilemma - how can I stop firefighting and focus on what I love?

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