Todd Hopwood

Are you showing your people their superpowers?.

As leaders our most important challenge and outcome is to create the next generation of leaders.

My job is to manage my team. But my purpose is to inspire, to create knowledge in others, to create an environment where there are no barriers to accomplishment.

True leadership is not about you. You are only a success when you allow others to succeed.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.“

#leadership #inspiration #success #humanresources #whatinspiresme #linkedin

It doesn’t matter how you measure your business. If you achieve the following, your teams will deliver to the best of their ability.

So how are you keeping your people interested, informed, involved and most importantly INSPIRED.

People are central to everything you do, and in current times when skills are short, don’t lose the people you have because they are not inspired.

#humanresources #leadership #whatinspiresme #employeeengagement

True leadership is not about you. You are only a success when you allow others to succeed.

Great leaders make the right choices, and select a path in order to enhance the lives of others around them.

It is important that as leaders we understand that it is the people we lead that ultimately determines the success or failure of any venture.

Recognise the great people around you and that cultivate them into a team of competent, confident individuals who can work well as a team.

As a leader it is your role to guide your team towards a well-defined vision by clearly communicating short and long terms goals, inspiring confidence and trust among colleagues, and influencing common efforts.

This will only be a success if you achieve this through character rather than by the use of authority.

The simplest sign of a great leader is that they create and nurture other leaders.

This list is just a few of the things that can make a great leader. What inspires you in a leader?, even better tag a great leader who has inspired you in your career.

#leadership #success #whatinspiresme #linkedin #humanresources #people

In today’s very competitive labor market attracting new talent is very challenging.

But if you are throwing everything at the new talent, this often means paying higher wages than some of your existing staff, who may be more experienced and doing the same role.

I think it’s fine for a company to believe and accept that the only way they could attract and incentivize new talent is with a higher salary. The current market pretty much dictates that.

However companies need to accept that they also need to look at the salary levels internally of identical or like for like job holders. Your existing, valued, high quality employees, need to be retained. Don’t make consistent high performers have to look elsewhere for salary parity.

During recruitment the market tells you what talent is worth, and that value should be the same for all talent in similar experience and skill set categories.

Remember, depending on the size of your business, the total costs of replacing an employee varies from 30-150% of their salary. This amount represents a substantial expense for any size business. And is likely to dwarf a pay increase to retain your best talent.

#recruitment #humanresouces #staffretention #staffrecognition #employeeexperience #whatinspiresme

Leadership is no longer hierarchical. It needs participation, involvement and contribution from everyone.

You need to make your team feel important and you need to show your people their superpowers.

As leaders our most important challenge and outcome is to create the next generation of leaders.

My job is to manage my team. But my purpose is to inspire, to create knowledge in others, to create an environment where there are no barriers to accomplishment.

True leadership is not about you. You are only a success when you allow others to succeed.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

So how are you keeping your people interested, informed, involved and most importantly INSPIRED.

People are central to everything you do, and in current times when skills are short, don’t lose the people you have because they are not inspired.

#humanresources #leadership #whatinspiresme #employeeengagement

Seeking help for our mental health takes courage and strength.

Openly discussing our mental health with someone else, even a doctor, comes with fear. But to me bravery is taking action despite fear, rather than the absence of it.

For those in the workplace, fear can come about due to the perception, and sadly sometimes the reality of how you may be treated.

If someone takes time off to grieve the loss of a close relative, or to fight a very serious illness, they are always welcomed back without question and often admired for their bravery.

But in some workplaces many worry about how they will be treated and perceived when they return. Will the challenging projects go to others “to protect them from stress”?. Will leadership and advancement opportunities still be available to them.

My message to every individual is to take the time to work on your mental health even if that requires time away from your role. Yes it takes honesty, vulnerability and even bravery, but investing in your own health always pays dividends.

And remember if your are struggling with mental health challenges you can’t really be firing on all cylinders at work. So seeking help, working on yourself and improving your mental health will see you being much more productive at work.

It is also important for leaders to remember that people do not return from working on their mental health as diminished in anyway. They are strong, capable and will continue to deliver for you.

Work can be a frustrating and annoying place at times. We can get angry, upset, sad, disillusioned when things don’t go our way.

All of those emotions are valid and you should take time to reflect on them and work through them. However at the time you are feeling them take the time to work on you, concentrate on your self care and getting yourself back on an even keel.

This is not the time to shoot off a text message or an email complaining about a customer, or a colleague or using langauage that might not be the best in hindsight.

We’ve all sent that email or text that we regret in the heat of the moment, but now imagine a roomful of strangers hearing that read aloud. In front of a judge. Trust me, it happens.

So the next time you get ticked off at someone, take a walk instead of sending a message you might regret. Think about you and your needs and not about them.

#selfcare #humanresources #linkedin #whatinspiresme

Are you showing your people their superpowers?

As leaders our most important challenge and outcome is to create the next generation of leaders.

My job is to manage my team. But my purpose is to inspire, to create knowledge in others, to create an environment where there are no barriers to accomplishment.

True leadership is not about you. You are only a success when you allow others to succeed.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.“

#leadership #inspiration #success #passion #humanresources #whatinspiresme #personaldevelopment

I don’t know why so many companies are pushing towards getting everyone back in the office, as they think that working from home was just a COVID response.

We save so much time and remove negative aspects of commuting when working from home.

The smart employers are embracing work from home but more importantly they are looking at the well-being issues that come with it and working on the emotional connectivity of their workforce to ensure WFH is sustainable into the future.

#workfromhome #wfh #sustainability #wellbeing #future #workplace

Taking a step back at the right time can be the most powerful step you can take, and sometimes the bravest.

It is important to take the time occasionally and reflect on the impact our workplace has on our mental wellbeing. If you are dreading returning after some time, or even if you have just felt welcome relief from your role grinding you down throughout the year, it could be time to make a change.

The image below from the awesome Michael James Schneider on Instagram says it all quite simply.

A lot of people are hesitant to leave a role unless it is for a promotion, more money, or prestige, but if a workplace is damaging to you and your mental health, why stay. If your boss said I’ll give you a pay rise, but your mental health worse off in response, would you take it.

Taking a step back or down should be a viable choice, without stigma. Those who have chosen to do so in the past grow from it and eventually look back at this as one of the most important turning points (for the better) in their career.

If a workplace is damaging you or impinging on your mental or physical well-being, it can be difficult to ever fully recover. This is especially the longer you stay in those scenarios.

I have left organisations that either didn’t align with my values or were straight out toxic environments that damaged myself and those around you. Those steps backs and away often involved significant salary drops or leaving without another role in place.

However, for me they were the absolute right thing to do. I have never been in a stronger and safer physical and mental space, and aligning myself with employers that value my talent and me as a human as allowed me to excel and I now easily earn more than those roles I stepped away from.

So have to courage to step back and away from damaging situations, even if you tell yourself it’s not damaging you, you won’t see the impact until you are removed from the situation.

I know that not everyone financially can afford to make these decisions and that is why I advocate so strongly to make our workplaces mentally safe for all. However until that day comes, prioritising your mental health is the best career decision you can make.

#career #careerbreak #mentalhealth #leadership #humanresources #whatinspiresme #selfcare

Do not give in to imposter syndrome. Trust yourself—you know more than you think you do. You are doing great things and please believe others when they tell you so.

So many of us struggle with imposter syndrome, no matter what positions we hold in life.

Those with imposter syndrome are at risk of doubting everything they have achieved, both business wise & in their personal life.

Instead of listening to the voices of peers or connections praising our efforts or achievements, way too often we listen instead to the voice inside that second guesses what we say and what we do.

Learn to bet on yourself and have confidence in your decisions. No one knows your business or yourself better than you.

#impostersyndrome #selfgrowth #wellbeing #mentalhealth #whatinspiresme #personaldevelopment #leadership

You are on your own journey, do not got distracted or disheartened by what you see on social media.

There is so much content on LinkedIn about side hussles, and promotions and career success, but most people only post the best version of themselves on social media.

That is not the expectation we need to live up to on an ongoing basis. These people have struggles, and pressures and more importantly failures to get anywhere in their careers, so don’t judge yourself in your journey on the glossy snapshot of “success” of someone else.

We must gain confidence in our own timeline we set for our own growth, within our own expectations, knowing that failure, and delay and false starts are always part of that.

In the interests of raw honesty, I recently had two weeks leave where I vowed to get healthy, read every night and lose some weight. I am back from holidays managing to do the opposite and gain 2 kilos, only read 2 chapters in a book, and now losing motivation to get fit.

So reframing and starting again today on the same goals.

Stick to whatever your plan is despite the hiccups that will come your way.

#motivation #mentalhealth #success #personaldevelopment #growth #whatinspiresme #wellbeing

In a world where you can be anything, why not just be kind.

Kindness can be any act no matter how small, a smile or kind greeting, generosity, friendly behaviour, or just a hello.

The thing about kindness is that it makes both you and others happy, you don’t know how much happiness your small act of kindness can bring to their lives, but kindness at the right time can change lives.

Imagine the change in your workplace, if every person did each act with kindness. Even it it was a tough task or delivering bad news, doing it with kindness will be remembered in the long run.

So today try some random acts of kindness, such as:

1. Giving up a seat to an elder in the bus/train.
2. Check on and comfort your friends and colleagues who may be doing it tough
3. Send a thank you email to someone at work to thank them for something they did for you recently. Make this part of your daily routine.
4. Give to charity

And one last suggestion that my wife does regularly:

5. Pick up snails or insects on the footpath at risk of getting squashed by a pedestrian or cyclist, and help them to the grass on the other side. How often do you get the chance to save a life.

#kindness #happiness #charity #whatinspiresme #linkedin

Are you the one who always make the effort—whether it’s at work, in relationships, or even within our own households?

But what if we paused for a moment, loosened our grip on the oars, and allowed the ship to drift?

The awesome Michael James Schneider on Instagram made the great image below. At first, it seemed counterintuitive. After all, isnt effort essential for success? Yet, there’s wisdom hidden in those words.

Letting the ship sink doesn’t mean abandoning responsibility or neglecting our loved ones. Instead, it’s about accepting imperfection and embracing balance.

We need to acknowledge to ourselves that perfection is unrealistic and definitely unsustainable. Our homes needn’t be spotless, and take-away meals every day for a little period is okay. Dust won’t harm anyone, and downtime is essential for our well-being.

So on occasion it is okay for you to step back from taking the lead on certain things. This is good for two reasons. It allows others to step up and show their potential, and it allows you time to focus on your wellbeing if needed.

Back to back meetings are just a stupid idea.

And unfortunately I’ve pretty much got a day full of them today.

We’ve all known that since the pandemic with back to back zoom meetings becoming the norm then but now there is research to prove it.

Research done by the Microsoft Human Factors Lab has shown that volunteers wearing EEG equipment to monitor electrical activity in the brain and record stress levels.

A link to the research is in the comments

With back to back meetings stress keeps accumulating, however when short breaks are taken between meetings there was no increase in stress.

There were also noticeable differences in focus and engagement from those who had rested between meetings.

So make sure you schedule short breaks for you and your teams before and after meetings and zoom calls. Start meetings 5 minutes past the hour and finish them 5 minutes before the hour.

It will do amazing things for your stress levels, health and productivity.

#productivity #whatinspiresme #humanresources #leadership

Do your workplace mental well-being programs mistakenly work towards a pre-defined and narrow ideal of well-being?

Well-being in the workplace needs to be about genuine care, being open and honest with conversations, supporting people no matter where they are at, and suppprting them to get to wherever they need to be.

Listen, care and remove any negative causes generated by the workplace.

Are your well-being initiatives all aimed at positive activities? Yoga, gym, meditation are all great things that can lift your energy and spirits. But those who are generally struggling often just can’t connect with those offerings.

It is your support, trust, care and understanding that will make the biggest difference to your employees when they really need it.

We need to meet people where they are, and support them there. Not bring them to where we have pre-defined well-being.

#work #wellbeing #mentalhealth #humanresources #leadership #whatinspiresme #linkedin

If you’re scrolling through LinkedIn and see someone post an achievement, celebrate it.

It doesn’t matter if you know the person, perhaps it’s even more important if you don’t.

Whatever the achievement is, whether a degree, new job, project completion, award or anything really. Take the time to acknowledge that behind the scenes each of these things has taken courage, strength, discipline and sacrifice for them to achieve.

So even if you don’t know the person, hit the like, celebrate or support button and just appreciate effort and achievement when you see it.

Even more importantly, those who you directly know, pick up a phone, send an email, or walk down the hall to pass on congratulations when someone has a success or reaches a milestone. It is so much more powerful in person.

I love to see the success of others, let’s all try and bring that attitude to our interactions with others.

#linkedin #celebrate #success #positiveattitude #wellbeing #whatinspiresme