Sladen Bottles on Tour
It’s a sign of summer here in Europe; our Sladen bottles are on their travels again! We love seeing where they go and to know that some of the hardworking Sladen family are taking a well-earned break.
Rest assured we are not all on holiday! If you need any support from the team please do get in touch.
Elephant in the Room
Today we are spectators in the ‘business zoo’.
Addressing the elephant in the room is not always easy and many people tend to shy away from it – AND it can completely change the energy, dynamic and quality of collaboration in a team – and by this increase team effectiveness once the controversial or critical issues have been surfaced and solutions jointly initiated.
In the Sladen family we have an inflatable elephant as our companion that we regularly use in workshops and larger events.
When did you recently have a candid conversation in your team that was revealing and what was the outcome?
Virtual Headshots
Rebellious headshots! Would you expect anything else from Sladen Consulting?
Here is a small selection of our wonderful Sladen Family and a showcase of the outstanding creative results we achieved by working with the exceptionally talented Anne Thomas on this fun project. Some Family members had such a good laugh with Anne while shooting that it was difficult to get the professional picture done.
Our challenge was to get new headshots of 60 team members based across the globe. We knew we wanted high quality professional headshots, but we also wanted to show the Sladen Family when they are off duty and in their happy places! We are delighted with the results which you can see by visiting our Crew page here on the website.
See if you can guess our various passions…
Chief of Staff
In her past Sonja Skopp was a Chief of Staff (COS). She would never have imagined to have the privilege of having one herself one day.
At the end of this month Julia Stephenson will have been in this role for Sladen Consulting for 90 days – supporting Richard Colley and Sonja Skopp (we still do not know why she has been mad enough to raise her hand for this adventure!).
This is to give Kudos and show appreciation to Julia for having absorbed this role in such a brilliant way.
Being the confidant to Sonja, Richard and our ‘Hub team’, being the communicator linking the leadership team and the broader organisation, being an integrator that connects dreams, theoretical ideas, work streams and the reality as well as being a first alert system having her eyes and ears everywhere to pick up the vibes of the Sladen family. It is about juggling many balls!
Sonja very much loved to be a COS and we know that Julia does as well. We could not be in a better place to shape the future together!
Lessons Learned
We have been reflecting this week, as we do regularly, embracing lessons learned and best practices. Why are lessons learned so important?
It’s rather like going to the dentist. We know it’s good for us, it may be painful, but out of it comes a feeling of freshness and confidence that we have done a good thing that will be felt long into the future – rather like ‘lessons learned’.
How do we do it?
– Connect with the team to collect data and prepare for reflection
– Reflect on what has been done well and how it can be improved (and we do this continuously)
– Act and follow up on action items
– We also add a bit of the ‘Sladen Way’ to the process, asking rebellious questions as we go
Why not add lessons learned to your next meeting agenda?
Welcome our new Project Managers
Wow! What a start to the week here at Sladen! We are delighted to welcome three fabulous Project Managers to the Sladen Family.
Virtual onboarding is well underway and today we are introducing them to the Sladen Way: Involvement, Sustainability, Human Potential, Mutuality and Rebelliousness.
WELCOME Ali Alam, Lynsey Archer and Katie Sinclair – we are so looking forward to getting to know you and working with you. Thrilled to have you onboard!
A Really Hard Thing...
A picture paints a thousand words.
Life’s not always easy. Sometimes we feel too much is going on, things are overwhelming, we do not know the answers to important questions. We find ourselves out of our comfort, in our stretch or occasionally even panic zone.
This picture helps us to get things in perspective and find strategies for coping.
How does the image help you?
Be Bold Radio Podcast featuring Sonja Skopp
Attention all our German speaking followers! Our very own Sonja Skopp is featured today on Be Bold Radio. This daring podcast features people who describe their stories, experiences, paths and transformations in their own voice and from a subjective perspective.
As trained coaches, Radha Isabelle Arnds and Jörn Ogiermann support their interview partners in showing them the way they want to show themselves. As questioners, they also deal daringly with lows and highs, so that listeners can empathise with them and are also motivated to live their own daring lives.
We dare you to listen!
Supporting Ukraine
Please watch this update from Julie Colley regarding how Sladen Consulting, through our Butterfly Fund, is supporting the humanitarian effort in Ukraine. We wanted to act now.
Thank you to our clients and the Sladen Family for making this support possible. It touches our hearts.
Mindset Shifts
In today’s world all leaders need to consider their focus.
At Sladen Consulting we are practicing mindset shifts. Here are 5 mindsets we are really trying to move from and to, and we are seeing the benefits already.
How are you shifting your mindset?