Blog – Toni Collis

Why do some people thrive and others stall?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to sail through their careers, while others, who seemed to be soaring suddenly stall, stop, and potentially even fizzle out? Perhaps you are feeling this yourself, and wondering how to get unstuck and move onwards again? Here’s the truth: everyone stalls at some point. The difference between those who thrive and those that stay stuck is what we do when we stall. And this week I’m taking the lid off what needs to happen to get you thriving once again. Whether you are ready to get unstuck in your career, or you see colleagues, peers or your team stalling, the tips below are all about moving you forward.

How to boost your team’s productivity and happiness by developing motivation

Dealing with ‘difficult’ or ‘problematic’ colleagues, whether they are your direct reports, peers, or even your boss, is draining and exhausting. As leaders, it can feel like the majority of our time is spent on just a few people. And typically it is the staff/projects that we don’t want to spend time which makes the whole thing even more draining. What if I told you that if we invest a small amount of time upfront, this problem can be removed? If instead of managing performance you managed motivation you could remove the burden of dealing with that ‘difficult’ person and instead have them show up as yet another great employee? This is possible – we just need to approach the issue differently.

Boosting your public speaking skills for the online world

Public Speaking is one of the most challenging, and often most avoided methods for up-levelling your leadership, and yet the most powerful.

We’ve all come across amazing speakers who inspired us to take action. Just look at some of the best TED talks on the internet for long enough and you find yourself wanting to try something you never dreamed of before! This is the power of public speaking. And yet, for many of us, it is something we hate to do. We know it can boost our careers, but is it a necessary part of the toolkit? Is there a way to avoid it?

How to uplevel your remote networking (and why should already be doing it!)

The further you go in your career the more you will realise the power of your network. Your network opens doors for you, makes sure you are advocated for when you aren’t in the room, suggests you as someone who might be useful in a particular situation and connects you with others. Your network can also create jobs and opportunities for you. But right now, traditional networking has ground to a halt. There are no more networking parties and social events where we ‘chat’ about our future (often awkwardly) while juggling a glass of wine and canapés! There are no more conferences where we hang out at the buffet table or walk up to a poster author to chat about them with the poster content as an excuse for the conversation. What can you do about that?

Do you feel like you don’t do enough ‘real’ work?

‘I didn’t do any real work today!’ Sound familiar?
A day of 5 meetings, then just a few hours in between catching up on emails and some management admin, and the day is gone. By the end of the week you feel like every day has just gone by in a blur and you haven’t touched a line of technical work. You have become a blocker for your team and you know you aren’t doing the technical work you promised. Worse still, if you have recognised you don’t have time for the technical stuff and have started to give it up and delegate it you feel inadequate and that you don’t contribute anything meaningful. You’ve become that manager. Sound familiar?

What to do when you feel frustrated

Do you feel frustrated at the lack of progress in your career? Frustrated at yourself, at others? Annoyed that you didn’t get something done, or that someone else didn’t produce as quickly as they should do (whatever should means)?
Right now, our natural tendency to feel frustrated is coming to new heights and peaks as we deal with the uncertainty of a world under lockdown, having to homeschool and realising that productivity drops for us and our colleagues when we are all stressed, even without children at home. Then there are the additional frustrations around stalled promotion prospects. The frustrations build. Want to know how to feel better and channel your frustrations for good rather than giving into the annoyance, anxiety and even anger that it generates? Read on.

Why you need to step up as a leader

Do you have the feeling that you know you want to achieve more? But are you holding yourself back because you are anxious or unsure of what to do next?
In these times of uncertainty, we are all looking for great leadership. We are looking for a leader that inspires us, offers solutions, that can help each and every one of us navigate through the current moment and show us who we can be, and what the human race is capable of.
The tech industry is at the forefront of human discovery, human support and human innovation. And now more than ever it needs inspirational leaders at every rung of the ladder, and I want you to step up and be that leader.
If you have a fire in you to do more, now is your time.

Strategies for managing up

Ever felt like your boss is the one stunting your professional growth? That you are held back because they don’t listen or don’t recognise your contributions? Maybe you’ve recently had a performance review that you felt just didn’t demonstrate your worth.

Even if you like your boss as a person, if you feel like they just don’t give you what you need professionally, then it is time to start actively managing them.

Yes, managing-up really is a thing, and it is one the most important things for accelerating your career, whatever stage you are at. Even entrepreneurs need to manage up to their board and investors.

Leading strategically to sustain your team

Ever thought about your ability to anticipate as a strategic leadershp skill? Well believe it or not great leadershp isn’t just about clarity, communication, trust, recognition and the ability to get a team to deliver on a product or outcome (although that is what I often focus on – those ‘real skills’ not ‘soft skills’ 😉). Great leadership is also about foresight, prediction and anticipation, trust, empathy and empowerment. And right now, being strategic in your leadership is more important than ever. So if you are ready to uplevel and lead here are the most important strategic leadership skills you need in your leadership toolkit.

The four components for great strategy to up-level your work and business

Strategy, strategy, strategy…. We’ve all been told that to look good we need to be strategic. We need to have strategic activities in our list of performance criteria, metrics and goals. We have to-do lists that are ‘strategic’. But are we really being strategic?
All too often people misuse the word ‘strategy’. It is used to define a metric, or a goal, or even a set of tactics. What sets apart the high performers (whether we are talking individuals or business high performers) is a clear understanding of what strategy really is. So in this post I’m taking apart strategy, removing the mystery and showing you what a great strategy really looks like. If you want to uplevel your game, this is what you need.

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