Kindness and productivity are not opposing forces in business. In fact, kindness can be a powerful driver of success when treated as a practical approach rather than just a nice-to-have value.

Shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, and focusing on collaboration rather than competition, can transform how teams work together.

Graham Allcott is an author and the founder of Think Productive, a global company that helps teams improve their work through productivity and leadership training. He’s written multiple books, including the international bestseller How to be a Productivity Ninja. His latest book, Kind, explores the relationship between kindness and business success.

Three reasons to listen

• Shift your thinking to create more opportunities for kindness
• Build stronger teams without defaulting to competitive behaviour
• Create ripple effects of positive change by understanding how self-kindness and kindfulness influence team dynamics

Episode highlights

• [00:11:24] When you're kind, you win
• [00:14:05] The scarcity mindset
• [00:17:06] How we can develop kindness
• [00:19:07] The myth of the business bastard
• [00:22:17] Psychological safety in teams
• [00:23:20] Case study: Timpson
• [00:27:37] How to build an abondance mindset
• [00:28:42] Kindness vs niceness
• [00:30:10] Case study: Jacinda Ardern
• [00:32:04] Kindness and difficult decisions
• [00:35:53] Kindness starts with you
• [00:37:57] Graham's media recommendations
• [00:40:18] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Graham via LinkedIn
• Kind: The Quiet Power of Kindness at Work – Graham’s most recent book
• Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
• Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, by Rutger Bregman
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Traditional ways of working are failing in today's complex world, with global engagement levels dropping and productivity losses reaching $438 billion.

Adopting business agility – not just its tools and processes, but its mindset shifts – helps organisations move beyond outdated approaches and create more effective ways of working.

Joining Dan and Pia is Natal Dank, an HR author, speaker, and consultant specialising in helping businesses become great workplaces. Her work particularly focuses on HR and people teams, bringing business agility principles to organisations.

Three reasons to listen

1. To understand how business agility can help solve multifaceted problems in uncertain environments
2. To build effective teams that break down silos and harness diverse skills
3. To focus on solving real business challenges rather than getting caught up in tools and terminology

Episode highlights

• [00:09:16] The Agile mindset
• [00:13:46] Misconceptions around Agile
• [00:18:19] Agile people teams
• [00:23:05] Teams in name only
• [00:24:17] The challenges in adopting Agile
• [00:27:11] The evidence for Agile
• [00:31:58] Common objections to Agile
• [00:40:05] Leaders need to embrace complexity
• [00:41:26] What does "done" look like?
• [00:44:20] Protecting time for deep work
• [00:46:10] Where to start
• [00:48:58] Natal's media recommendation
• [00:50:35] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Natal via LinkedIn
• On the Level – Margaret Heffernan’s Substack newsletter
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Most change initiatives fail because they focus solely on technical aspects like planning, roles, and measures, while neglecting the human element – particularly the need for people to understand why changes are happening and to feel heard throughout the process.

Jeffrey Wetherhold is a behavioral scientist who’s built his career around organisational change management. He transitioned from behavioural science to community health, and now runs his own change management consultancy.

This conversation will help you

• Better understand why traditional technical change management approaches often fail
• Recognise and address the most fundamental barrier to organisational change
• Move beyond labels like "resistant" or "averse" and focus on different perspectives

Episode highlights

• [00:07:46] Understanding change management
• [00:11:21] When change feels weaponised
• [00:13:04] Overcoming resistance to change
• [00:15:05] Mmotivational interviewing.
• [00:17:47] Where to begin having the change conversation
• [00:23:12] Caught in the middle
• [00:27:01] The hierarchy of needs
• [00:30:30] What you can do today
• [00:32:44] Jeff's media recommendations
• [00:34:23] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Jeff via LinkedIn
• How Minds Change: The New Science of Belief, Opinion and Persuasion, by David McRaney
• Build Something Better – The Raw Signal Group newsletter
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note