Tom Verrall

There was a time when being distracted required a little more effort. You might stare out of a window. Doodle on a notepad. Wonder what you were having for dinner. Today, distraction comes looking for us. Emails arrive while we are in meetings. Messages flash across screens while we are talking. Watches vibrate discreetly on wrists. Phones sit face down on tables, apparently ignored, but still occupying a corner of our consciousness. And even when the technology is nowhere to be seen, our...

Every meeting has a hierarchy. The interesting thing is that hierarchy doesn't necessarily play out in the same way as in does on the organisational chart. The most senior person in the room may be apologetic, hesitant or desperate to be liked. The most junior may appear calm, comfortable and entirely at ease expressing a different opinion. Within minutes, we begin to sense who has authority, who wants it, who is giving it away and who doesn’t seem particularly concerned about it at all....

No leader enjoys delivering bad news. Whether it’s a missed target, a restructuring, a cancelled project, budget cuts or simply telling a team that things aren’t going as hoped, these conversations sit on every manager’s list of things they’d rather avoid. The thing is, I’ve often found that bad news itself isn’t what damages morale the most. It’s how it’s communicated. People are remarkably resilient when they feel respected. They can cope with uncertainty, disappointment and even...