The Magic in the Space Between

 

The Magic in the Space Between is subtitled How a unique mentoring programme in transforming women's leadership.

It is written by Ian Wigston with Hilary Wigston who have over 25 years of experiences as mentors and coaches to women.

A challenge was posed by both state and independent schools to Ian and Hilary. They rose to meet the challenge and put together a team of highly qualified and experienced leaders from the public sector, commerce and industry and the armed forces.

The team were able to enable almost 100 women to examine their potential to be successful leaders in the school system.

The programme was highly successful in helping foster self-belief, self-awareness and widened horizons. 

It has already brought about the launching of similar schemes in Australia, the USA and Canada.

Reading the book you will learn about stories of individual success stories, examining the lessons that can be learned from the programme. 

The book is published by John Catt and costs £14.00, though is a little cheaper on Amazon at £13.42.

I must admit to being puzzled as to why the name of Ian Wigston on the cover is much larger than that of Hilary Wigston, which seems somewhat ironic, given the purpose of the book.

Male Perspectives on The Value of Women at Work

 

Male Perspectives on The Value of Women at Work is a book from Susan Popoola.

Susan is an award winning consultant and her specialism is human value in the workplace, education and society in general.

This book takes a very timely look at the values that women bring with them to the workplace.

Susan explores a variety of male perceptions of the things that women uniquely bring with them to the workplace. They also raise a number of challenges that might impede the ability of women to be able to reach their full potential.

It also provides a reminder of how valuable women are with insights into how they will be able to more easily navigate through the world of work.

As for men it offers valuable insights into the value that women bring to the workplace and how to engage with them in a more productive way and how to support them within the workplace.

For workplace leaders it offers helpful insights into how policies structures and systems can sometimes create barriers and restrictions for women, meaning that they are sometimes unable to reach their full potential.

This book offers valuable guides how employers can enable themselves to provide a more functional and properly balanced and more productive work environment for everyone.

The book contains a framework to make sure that this can be implemented in the workplace.

It should be pointed out that the book is not just theory (but even theories can have their place in the workplace) it is based on interviews with men and women who are senior executives and entrepreneurs with many years of experience in the workplace.

The book is published by Mosaic Gold at £11.99 through Amazon and other retailers.

How to be a change Superhero

 

In How to be a Change Superhero by chartered psychologist and experienced HR expert Lucina Carney is subtitled "The business toolkit to help you to 'do' change better."

And that is exactly what this highly powerful yet eminently readable book does.

Lucinda starts her book with a very powerful and challenging question "When was the last time you experienced change at work -did you feel it was being done to you, or perhaps you were involved in trying to communicate or deliver it? Did the change achieve the promised results, or did it fizzle out? How effectively was it managed? Did it leave people energized, puzzled or cynical?"

Lucinda then goes on to point out that the reality is that change has become the new normal, but that many changes are still poorly thought out, badly planned, badly executed and ill-communicated to the workforce.

Rarely do we hear that managers or employees have been properly trained in how they should deliver change or how to work with it.

Lucinda makes the point that some people who are responsible for change, even those with 'change' or 'transformation' in their job titles are too often ill-prepared for dealing with the complex requirements of adequately dealing with and managing the process of change.

Of course, poorly managed change can result in reduced business outcomes and can even mean that people can be emotionally harmed by the change experience. 

Lucinda asks a very pertinent question: "Isn't it time to do change better?"

Of course it is! But how can people involved in implementing change make sure that they are capable pf doing change better? 

Buy Lucinda's change toolkit, read it from cover to cover and implement the valuable change lessons that you will find.

Learn how to explore what superpowers you can develop that will be helpful in implementing change.

Consider the responses toward change that are either driven by cultural attitudes or by human nature. These can either make the path of change smooth or bumpy.

You'll learn how to put together a change 'Master Plan' that will let you make use of the strengths of a team (described as your Change League) and have a clear understanding of how to plan and deliver large-scale plans for change in an effective manner.    

You'll learn how people can challenge or derail change plans because they don't understand why change is required, or because they have a need to be consulted because they think they should be a part of the change process or perhaps because they should be a part of the process. Or because they might have identified a challenge to the process.

You'll discover how courage can be a valuable tool, along with self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and much more besides.

The book is published by Practical Inspiration Publishing at £14.99. It's available from Waterstones, Amazon and other book retailers.

If you are involved in HR from a modest firm of Solicitors in Mid Wales right up to a huge company with dozens of branches worldwide, this book is required reading.

You can also access the related free change toolkit at 

https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/change-superhero-resources/toolkit/