Active Leaders: February 2025
The Breakthrough Co
Leadership training that creates skilled people leaders in just 2 hours a month.
Welcome back to the Active Leaders – first of all, some exciting news, we're releasing the Active Manager as a book! If you've done the Active Manager Programme it's a wonderful refresher, and if you haven't done the programme but want to read a really practical, easy to read guide that will transform you as a manager and as a person, this is the book for you. Watch this space!?
I've come into 2025 determined that it's going to be a transformational year. To state the obvious, the world is changing. And agree or disagree, the upheaval invites us to change with it. But even more than that, we've spent a couple of years consolidating and I'm getting restless for improvement again. We have this core belief: there is always a better way. So, one small change is that while we love sharing interesting articles from our favourite sources, we’re also including our own original article each month. We would really love to hear your feedback and get your opinions on it - we want to see this newsletter be a platform for an active management community.?
Breakthrough: 7 Best Ways to Train Your Managers?
Kicking off our first newsletter of 2025, we're looking at the most important things to consider when you’re deciding on a training program for your managers. We’ve been in the industry a long time, and we’ve seen these aspects work countless times in any successful training program.?
McKinsey: Returning to the Office? Focus More on Practices and Less on the Policy??
This is a timely article from McKinsey. Returning to the office won’t fix what’s broken. Instead of debating policies, leaders should focus on the work environment and these five core practices can help organizations implement a policy that best fits their culture.?
Be open to uncertainty:?
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.” -Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.?
My Blog: DEI – A Practical View?
The DEI debate is split—some push affirmative action, others reject it as ‘woke’, but one thing is for sure. DEI is evolving. While corporate diversity programs may fade, good workplaces built on strong values will always exist. A good manager focuses on what matters: how well someone does their job, not race, gender, or identity. Whether DEI stays or goes, strong leadership and fair workplaces will always win.?
Podcast: How to Make Better Decisions?
As a manager, making good decisions under pressure is a crucial skill, but thankfully it’s one you can learn, and in our new podcast, we show you 3 key rules for better decision-making as a manager or leader, with practical tips to improve outcomes for your team.?
Micro-Learning: Your Leadership Style?
Being self-aware and aware of how you interact with the people around you is a key component of not just great managers, but great people. In this micro-learning, we’re giving you a rundown of the tool we use at The Breakthrough Co to learn our working styles and utilize our differences to make a stronger team. What’s your working style??
Video: How Wolves Change Rivers?
This video has the power to shift your perspective on the natural world: it’s about how one small change to the wolf population caused a huge cascade of remarkable changes to the physical geography of Yellowstone National Park. There’s a leadership parable here, perhaps the idea that your managers behave will have a flow-on effect that cascades throughout the entire company. But really this is just a fascinating story about how ecosystems change.?
Thanks for reading?
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends and colleagues. You can also follow me on LinkedIn, where I post more insights in the thought leadership space.?
Until next month,?
Dr Mike?
Founder, The Breakthrough Co?