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A drawing of a person with wave lengths circling their head with the words overlayed - When Everything Is Urgent: How Competing Priorities Destroy Focus, Energy, and Value

When Everything Is Urgent: How Competing Priorities Destroy Focus, Energy, and Value

When every initiative is labelled “urgent,” focus disappears and people burn out. This essay explores the hidden human and financial cost of competing priorities — and why clarity, alignment, and care are essential to turning ideas into value.

A drawing of animals within a circle - with the words overlaid - Objects and Models: Why Work Never Matches the Diagram

Objects and Models: Why Work Never Matches the Diagram

Cultivated: Notes on Seeing, Work, and Life

Cultivated: Notes on Seeing, Work, and Life

A photo of a vending machine with the words overlayed - The Vending Machine Method: Solving the Right Problems First

The Vending Machine Method: Solving the Right Problems First

A photo of a man in a workshop with the words overlayed - The Learning Structure Behind Every Great Workshop

The Learning Structure Behind Every Great Workshop

A photo of a collage butterfly with the words overlayed - Buckminster Fuller and the Impact We Don’t See

Buckminster Fuller and the Impact We Don’t See

A drawing of an angelic person to represent trust with the words overlayed - Why Solving Customer Problems Builds Stronger Relationships

Why Solving Customer Problems Builds Stronger Relationships

communication skills

A drawing of a circle with lots of lines, circles and pathways coming from the middle to represent the growth of a business

The Rule of 150: Why Growing Organisations Lose Clarity, Connection, and Value

As organisations grow, communication fragments and shared meaning fades. Using the Rule of 150 as a lens, this essay explores why clarity, connection, and story matter — and how leaders can keep energy flowing from idea to value.

A photo of the speech patterns with the words overlaid - Clarity in Speech: Mastering Words, Tone, and Pace for Workshops and Presentations

Clarity in Speech: Mastering Words, Tone, and Pace for Workshops and Presentations

Picture of Rob Lambert presenting in a workshop - with the words Effective Workshop overlaid

How I Bring the Principles of Effective Communication to Life in My Workshop

A photo of Sheffield City Centre with the words overlaid - Going from Vision to Reality: Turning Ideas into Results in the Workplace

Going from Vision to Reality: Turning Ideas into Results in the Workplace

A photo of a solitary signpost with the words overlaid - Leading Business Change: A Practical Playbook for Engaging and Inspiring Teams

Leading Business Change: A Practical Content Playbook for Engaging and Inspiring Teams

A photo of some graffiti in Sheffield with the words overlaid - Beyond Words: How Your Team’s Tone of Voice Shapes Influence and Workplace Impact

Beyond Words: How Your Team’s Tone of Voice Shapes Influence and Workplace Impact

A photo of a newspaper with the words overlaid - Communicating to a Diverse Audience at work: The Sunday Broadsheet Approach

Communicating to a Diverse Audience at work: The Sunday Broadsheet Approach

creativity

A photo of a map with connections between places with the word overlaid - How ideas spread at work

How Ideas Spread at Work (and Why Sharing Matters More Than You Think)

Ideas rarely create value on their own. They create value when we make something from them — and share that work generously. This short reflection explores how ideas spread, morph, and grow inside organisations, often in ways we never fully see.

A photo of a river and forest with the words overlaid - Creativity Is a Climate Problem

Creativity Is a Climate Problem

A photo of someone jumping whilst skiing - Image sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Wikimedia Commons / British Library

Jump into the void

A photo of the Reader's Digest book with the words overlaid - The Art of Bricolage: How Managers Create Value From Limits and Constraints

The Art of Bricolage: How Leaders and Managers Create Value From Limits and Constraints (Meeting Notes)

Great leaders and great notebooks go hand in hand

The Leader’s Notebook: Plotting the Future, Capturing the Past

A photo of an abandoned house with the words overlaid - Wicked Problems: Why an Interdisciplinary Approach Drives Better Workplace Solutions

Wicked Problems: Why an Interdisciplinary Approach Drives Better Workplace Solutions

Rob Lambert in the garden recording a podcast with the words overlaid - Chasing Rabbits: Balancing Creativity, Fun, and Delivering Results

Chasing Rabbits: Balancing Creativity, Fun, and Delivering Results

business agility

A drawing of a person with wave lengths circling their head with the words overlayed - When Everything Is Urgent: How Competing Priorities Destroy Focus, Energy, and Value

When Everything Is Urgent: How Competing Priorities Destroy Focus, Energy, and Value

When every initiative is labelled “urgent,” focus disappears and people burn out. This essay explores the hidden human and financial cost of competing priorities — and why clarity, alignment, and care are essential to turning ideas into value.

A photo of an old map of Paris from the Public Domain Image Archive with the words overlaid - Agile PMO Principles: How Communication Turns Ideas into Value

Agile PMO Principles: How Communication Turns Ideas into Value

A photo of a Sheffield street at night with the words overlaid - Mechanisms for Better Outcomes: Focusing on Why and Value, Not Just How

Mechanisms for Better Outcomes: Focusing on Why and Value, Not Just How

A diagram with circles on it with the words overlaid - How to Build an Internal Coaching and Consulting Function That Delivers Real Value

How to Build an Internal Coaching and Consulting Function That Delivers Real Value

A drawing of concentric circles with the words overlaid - Cycle Time: The Powerful Metric Driving Business Value and Process Efficiency

Cycle Time: The Powerful Metric Driving Business Value and Process Efficiency

A graphic with the word better all over it - overlaid with the text - Releasing Business Agility: How Learning and Improving Drives Success (Step 5)

Releasing Business Agility: How Learning and Improving Drives Success (Step 5)

A photo of a mixing desk with the words overlaid - Step 4 of Releasing Agility: How Routines and Processes Unlock Smooth, Fast Results

Step 4 of Releasing Agility: How Routines and Processes Unlock Smooth, Fast Results

learning

More

The Gift of a Good Book

Why mistakes are opportunities to make the business better: How great leaders turn mistakes into growth

How to Be a Great Business Coach: Key Skills for Leadership and Team Development

Proximity to Role Models: Why Learning by Example Beats Daily Lessons

Effective Learning That Changes Behaviour: A Practical Guide Using Engeström’s Activity Theory

meeting notes

More

Objects and Models: Why Work Never Matches the Diagram

Resolutions - On Courage

Agile PMO Principles: How Communication Turns Ideas into Value

How Ideas Become Knowledge, and Knowledge Becomes Value

The Temptation of Technology

problem solving

More

The Vending Machine Method: Solving the Right Problems First

The Leader’s Notebook: Plotting the Future, Capturing the Past

Wicked Problems: Why an Interdisciplinary Approach Drives Better Workplace Solutions

Stop Blaming, Start Leading: How to Fix Problems You Helped Create

Narrowing the Problem to Solve It: Effective Workplace Problem-Solving Strategies