Performance Psychology Consultant, Dr. Alexander McWilliam, Talks Presentation Anxiety and Performing Under Pressure with MBM CEO, Darren A. Smith.
Join Darren as he asks; 'What makes Dr. McWilliam the best person to talk Presentation Anxiety?'. With perhaps the only PhD, globally, that specialises in why and how we feel nervous when public speaking, Dr. McWilliam has the utmost knowledge and expertise on how to combat presentation anxiety.  Watch or listen to the podcast episode to experience Darren and Alexander exploring the ins and outs of this subject.

 

Click the Image Above to Watch the Full Episode on YouTube.

 
Read The Full Episode Transcription Below:
Darren A. Smith  
Welcome to the world's stickiest learning. My name's Darren Smith, and more importantly, I'm here with our guest. Thank you for coming. Alex, how are you?

 
Alexander McWilliam  
I'm very good. How are you doing?

 
Darren A. Smith  
Hey, I'm good. I'm good. We've both got our funky shirts on and striped. You're in check. We better not go to the same party. We'll clash. But hey, we're good. We're good. Let's get back to you. We're going to talk about presenting and about being nervous and speaking up and those types of things. We'll get to that in the nicest possible way. Why should we listen to you when you talk about this topic?

 
Alexander McWilliam  
Well, we said my name is Alex, which is true, but my full title is Doctor Alexander McWilliam. I've got a PhD in public speaking anxiety and performing under pressure. To my knowledge, the only person in the UK potentially globally with a PhD specialising in this field, and I've been coaching presentation skills confidence when presenting for almost  decades, so a wealth of experience. It makes me feel old, but.
An expert in the field of anxiety and performing under pressure.

 
Darren A. Smith  
Two decades we haven't even got any grey hair. What's that about? OK, so you're the only one with the PhD potentially in the world in this. So just tell me about that. How long did you study for to get this?

 
Alexander McWilliam  
So my PhD took  1/ years in total, so it was three years. Multiple studies I looked at AI looked at all the interventions available for public speaking anxiety into reduction. That was one area of study. I developed a questionnaire to help identify specific public speaking concerns because there's so many in the world. But actually when we're coaching, we need to identify what it is specifically.

 
Darren A. Smith  
Yeah.

 
Alexander McWilliam  
And then a last study was using acting and improvisation to help reduce public speaking anxiety.
So over the three years, there was all of these studies going on with multiple participants trying to figure out why they get anxious. How do we overcome that? And as there's so many interventions available, can something alternative, like acting in improv, which hasn't seen many mainstream sort of interventions, you see CBT, you see exposure therapy, things like that. But acting in improv, that was the unique route I wanted to go down and bring on my own expertise of being an actor and being an improviser.

 
Darren A. Smith  
Yeah. Yep.

 
Alexander McWilliam  
With that so 3 1/2 years of lots and lots of studying, lots of reviewing, lots of writing, and if anyone's doing it, if anyone's done it, they know that it is a mammoth of a task. But so rewarding once it's done.

 
Darren A. Smith  
Impressive. OK, so 3 1/2 years doing that and and just would you just paint a picture for us? So what did you do? You did some research, not some. You did research.

Discover the Personal Values Coaching Card deck with Expert, Clare Walker
Dive into a great discussion between Clare Walker, expert in Personal Values and Darren A. Smith, MBM CEO. Here, the pair talk about why Clare is perfect author of this deck, due to her expertise, training and extensive career experience, how the deck works and what you can do to improve your coaching whilst utilising Coaching Cards.

 

Watch the full podcast on YouTube by clicking the image above.
Read the full Personal Values podcast transcript below:
Clare Walker, Vodafone   0:04
Yeah.


Darren A. Smith   0:06
OK, so the whole thing is probably, I don't know, 3-4 minutes, 5 minutes. You know, it's not a long video. It's as much as you want to say. Really the idea is we're helping people to understand and use them.


Clare Walker, Vodafone   0:20
Well, no, I'm not. I'm gonna go the personal values.
They just look at the opposite way around for the simple reason I built those as very bespoke, not bespoke. But yeah, I built them quite bespoke.


Darren A. Smith   0:34
OK.


Clare Walker, Vodafone   0:36
Yeah. OK. Let me go personal wrong.


Darren A. Smith   0:40
So the first question coming up after I ask you who you are and what you do is what are these personal values cards all right.
So we're just doing the what the what the why in the how.
OK. So let me make sure you're OK with that.


Clare Walker, Vodafone   0:58
Let me completely blame and just push my credit First off.
I'm gonna be on video.


Darren A. Smith   1:05
And then afterwards I got a different question for you. Nothing to do with the video, just something I've had your opinion on.
OK. All right. I'm ready when you are.


Clare Walker, Vodafone   1:13
OK.
I'm ready now.


Darren A. Smith   1:20
Talks, it looks real. It's good. Love the dunks.
Hi, my name is Darren Smith. I'm from the world's stickiest learning. I'm here with Claire Walker from Vodafone. Claire, how you doing?


Clare Walker, Vodafone   1:33
I'm very well. Thank you, Darren.


Darren A. Smith   1:35
And Claire, what do you do at Vodafone?


Clare Walker, Vodafone   1:38
I am the coaching and mentoring lead, so it means that I look after all things for external coaching, internal coaching, coaching resources and also training people how to have a coaching mindset as opposed to be coaches.


Darren A. Smith   1:53
OK. And how long have you been doing coaching? Not necessarily just a Vodafone, but how long have you been doing coaching things for?


Clare Walker, Vodafone   2:02
I started my professional or my my more structured career back in 2016, but actually through conversations and interviews like this, I realised I've pretty much been coaching all of my life.


Darren A. Smith   2:14
Love that, love it. Love it. OK, OK, now we're here talking about these coaching card things. We have a number of coaching cards and you kindly collaborated with us on a particular deck. So I'm going to ask you a few questions to share with the folks that are watching. What are these things? Why did you create it and how to use them? So let's start with the first question.
What did you create? What are they?


Clare Walker, Vodafone   2:41
I created a deck that our personal values cards and I have them all here.


Darren A. Smith   2:47
Oh yeah.


Clare Walker, Vodafone   2:48
And there are 80 of them that help people to understan...

Parenting Coach Ruth Taylor Talks the What, Why and How of our Parenting Coaching Cards with MBM CEO Darren A. Smith
In this exclusive discussion, Ruth touches on why her experience as a parent herself and her training as a soft skills facilitator makes her the perfect coach to have written our deck of 80 parenting coaching cards. Ruth and Darren cover the what, the why and the how of this deck of coaching cards, together with a few key pieces of advice and guidance that can be found in this brand new deck!

 

Click Here to Watch the Full Podcast on YouTube.

 
Read the Full Parenting Coaching Cards Podcast Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith
Welcome to the world stickiest learning. My name is Darren Smith and more importantly, I'm here with Ruth Taylor. Ruth, how you doing?

 
Ruth Taylor
Pretty good today. Thank you. When I say today, for me it's night time.

 
Darren A. Smith
Good.
It is. Where are you in the world?

 
Ruth Taylor
Well, I decided to move from the UK all the way to the other side of the world, so I'm currently in New Zealand.

 
Darren A. Smith
Right. OK. So it's 9:00 AM here. It's probably about 9:00 PM there, isn't it?

 
Ruth Taylor
10:00.

 
Darren A. Smith
Oh, right. OK. Thank you very much for coming in. We've got 3 short questions for you about the cards that you created, which I can see on the right there. So the first question is: Why, in the nicest possible way, should we talk to you about parenting? What do you know about parenting?

 
Ruth Taylor
When I came to New Zealand, I had toddlers and now I have two adults who I'm very proud of. They're in their 20s now. I was very fortunate. I did  parenting courses before I had parents.

 
Darren A. Smith 
OK.

 
Ruth Taylor
Parents? before I had children.
Before I had children and that's something that most people don't get the chance to do. But I was trained as a parenting coach and a facilitator for courses by health promotion at the time to work with parents, and I thought this is awesome. I've got this and then what I found was the reality of having your own children is.

 
Darren A. Smith
Yeah.

 
Ruth Taylor
Not quite as simple as they made out.
But there were things which I was able to consider before having children, which maybe other people weren't, because obviously having gone on the courses, there was things I could talk to my husband about going. Have you ever thought about this? It was like, no. So those questions where I was thinking, well, how can we encourage other people to be able to ask those questions either before they even think about getting pregnant, when they are pregnant.
And all that. So that's really kind of where the coaching clads came from and also where the sort of sections of the the cards came from.
So and in my life I'm a facilitator. I I facilitate soft skill courses, communication skills, conflict management, leadership skills.
Emotional literacy. A lot of things like that. So I've worked in schools, I've worked in hospitals with leaders, with parents, with children. So I guess I have a different insight as well as.
How how we often think about children isn't actually how children think, and sometimes we don't think of the impact of our actions on our children.
And therefore having again having card which encourages to reflect before we open our mouths or before we make certain decisions means that hopefully we'll get more of the behaviour we're looking for.

 
Darren A. Smith
That that makes perfect sense. I know. When Gabby was born 25 years ago,

Master the Art of Persuasion With Expert Christopher Phelps, Us Ceo of Cialdini Institute
Christopher Phelps and Darren Smith dive deep into the psychology of persuasion. Explore the powerful principles that can help anyone improve their persuasion skills.

From understanding Robert Cialdini's six principles to actionable insights on how to apply persuasion in sales and business, this conversation is a must-watch for anyone looking to influence effectively and ethically.

Click the image above to watch the video on YouTube

 
You Can Read the Full Transcript Below:
Darren A Smith:
Welcome to the World Stickiest Learning. I'm Darren Smith, and I'm here with Chris Phelps. Chris, how are you doing?
Christopher Phelps:
Very good, Darren. How you doing?
Darren A Smith:
Hey, I'm good. You've just managed to solve a problem for me where I've got a stream of light from my light and, and Chris was saying, we'll put a post-it note sort of here, and you've just cracked it. It's been a problem for two years. We're off to a great start.
Darren A Smith:
So in this podcast we are talking about persuasion, influence, those types of soft skills. I'd like to start with a question, which is why should we and the people listening and watching listen to you when we talk about persuasion?
Christopher Phelps:
Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so just to give you a little bit of my background, uh, I was very fortunate, uh, and unfortunate at the same time. So I'm a dentist, uh, by trade. Uh, grew multiple dental practices in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I live on the East coast. And, um, had made this bold move of selling two of my best offices, uh, to free up my partners to be happier elsewhere, as I like to say, and took over my two struggling practices, the worst ones, so I could get back to being me, right? Get back to doing it my way. And I felt like if, if, if I could put my, all my efforts into those two baskets, so to speak, that I could do more with those two offices than what I was being held back with, with the four, right?
Darren A Smith:
Okay.
Christopher Phelps:
And so when I did that and I made that move, I then realised maybe that wasn't so smart, because now you're stuck with not the ones that were making money, the ones that are costing you money. , uh, one of which was a brand new dental practice that was costing me 70,000 a month, us in expenses, but only taking in 35,000 a month in revenue. So you don't have to be a math expert to realise that's not a good check to write each month, right? So, but what it was was a powerful motivator for me to stop, uh, procrastinating on the problems of these practices or ignoring them, right? And, and deal with them. The problem was I just didn't know what the root cause of the problems were. Okay. And so your brain is funny in that sense. That's why it procrastinates, that's why it ignores the problems, because if it doesn't understand the root cause or doesn't feel like you have the capability to solve the problem, that's what it does to quote unquote protect you.
Christopher Phelps:
Right? Well, at this point, knew I had to do something and dig into it. And I was fortunate that a friend of mine invited me to a business seminar, and the keynote speaker was the, the godfather of influence himself, Dr. Robert c Cini. And, you know, Cini is a professor of emus, of Mark, uh, psychology and marketing at Arizona State University. Uh, he wrote the book, influence of Psychology of Persuasion over 40 years ago, and that's what he's built his name and research around is this whole idea. And after he, he gone on stage and talked about those six principles. There was one of them in particular that was like my aha moment that I was like, yeah, that principle right there, that one is the root cause of all of my problems in my practic...

Mastering the Art of Negotiation: Strategies, Insights, and Real-World Solutions
Explore the art of negotiation with a distinguished group of professionals in this Negotiation Skills Training Webinar - Kuwait. Today, we're joined by Darren A. Smith, a seasoned expert in negotiation strategies and the founder of the innovative Sticky Learning methodology. Darren will guide us through some of the most effective techniques for achieving success in high-stakes negotiations, drawing from his extensive experience.

Also joining us are Suha Isaac SCV, a dynamic facilitator and partner in bringing this invaluable knowledge to Kuwait, where she has been instrumental in fostering leadership and strategic negotiation skills across various sectors. Suha will share insights into how negotiation principles can be applied in the unique context of Kuwait's culture, especially for leaders in banking, education, and investment.

Additionally, we are joined by professionals like Farrah, Yousif, Hamad, and others, who will share their personal challenges and experiences with negotiation, providing real-world examples to enrich our discussion.

This session promises to be interactive and insightful, offering practical strategies that can be applied immediately. Darren will dive into the sticky learning approach, demonstrating how repetitive learning over time leads to meaningful behavioural change and long-lasting negotiation skills.

Click the image to watch the webinar on YouTube

You Can Read the Full Kantar Market Share Transcript Below:
Darren A Smith:
Hello and welcome.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Yeah. Hello everyone? Yes. Hello, hammed. Hello, Farrah. Hello, Yusef.
Yousif:
Hello. Hello. Hello everyone.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Hi, hammed. Thank you for joining.
Yousif:
Thank you.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Yeah, we're just gonna wait couple of morning, couple of minutes until um, we have more people because they're joining. And we are gonna start in two minutes maybe, Darren.
Darren A Smith:
We'll just see who else attends and then we'll begin.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Okay, great.
Suha Isaac SCV:
And of course, I know it's very difficult for people to join after working hours unless they're really interested in having some insight and a new, uh, let's say a new view about, uh, any topics that will be discussed in these kind of webinars. And, uh, I assume some of the people, I, I assume they have their, uh, I think their, their, uh, kids, uh, going to exams in this period of the time. And many people, let's say busy with starting, uh, preparing for their Christmas leave. So we're, we we're hitting the ground before the 20th of December when everybody actually will be switched off. .
Darren A Smith:
Makes sense.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Good. Yeah. Good, good. So the, the mic is yours. Can, uh, Darren, when you want us to start?
Darren A Smith:
Okay. Well, let's, um, see if we've got a few more people coming. This will be a very interactive webinar, so if you would like to come on camera, and if you would like to join in, I'd love to see your faces and we can chat about what challenges you have and how I can help. Hi. Good.
Suha Isaac SCV:
Yeah, how you,
Yousif:
Hi, how are you?
Darren A Smith:
Hello. I'm good. Good. I'm good. Farrah. Hello? Uh, you are on mute just in case you
Farah:
. Oh, sorry. I just said hi. Hi. Uh,
Darren A Smith:
I did some lip reading and I think I guessed. Uh, let's see if Hamed will join us. Can we coax him out? Hamed, do you fancy join us? Okay. And we've got, uh, someone else coming in. Okay. So bear with us while we just grab the late comers. Um, if you could, um, grab a piece of paper and a pen, it would be great. Um, just be some questions.

How Embracing Nervousness and Understanding Human Factors Can Transform Your Deals
In this podcast with negotiation expert Derek Chevalier, we dive into the secrets of mastering negotiations and transforming your approach from amateur to pro. Discover how to leverage your own nervousness to your advantage with the surprising strategy of "rope-a-dope," and learn why understanding the human element in negotiations is crucial for success.

With insights that go beyond mere tactics, Chevalier's advice reveals how to effectively manage complex negotiations, understand the hidden roles of all participants, and craft strategies that make you the master of your negotiation game.

Ready to up your negotiation skills and walk away with better deals? Read on to uncover the key strategies that will give you the upper hand and turn every negotiation into a win.

View this episode on YouTube by clicking the image below.

Click the image to watch the podcast on YouTube

 
You Can Read the Full 'Rope-a-dope' Expert Interview Here:
Darren A. Smith:
Alright, alright. Welcome to the world stickies. Learning my name is Darren Smith and my guest is Derek Chevalier. Now Derek and I were just having a great conversation because I was saying how do you pronounce your surname? And you were telling me it's French and it means nice. Is this right? Wow.
Derrick Chevalier:
OK. Yes, yes, that's it's actually a title, right, a Chevalier or knight.
Darren A. Smith:
You said so much better than me.
Derrick Chevalier:
Ha ha ha.
Darren A. Smith:
And also we were discussing Smith and I was saying how boring it is and I love your surname. I love it, I love it. But let's get down to why we're here. Derek, you're an expert on negotiation. I'm going to ask you a question which will be a little bit tough, but I know you'll take it in the right way. Why should our listeners listen to you when I ask you questions about negotiation? Right. Have you been doing it a while?
Derrick Chevalier:
Ha. I've been doing it awhile and I think the benefits that can come from the experience that I have is that people can transform their interactions with other human beings.
Darren A. Smith:
Nice.
Derrick Chevalier:
It's a process that can be adapted to virtually any element or aspect of both personal and professional life, child rearing to business, yeah.
Darren A. Smith:
Yeah, yeah. I mean I always say in negotiation, I can negotiate with anyone. But my kids, you know, they just win. But you know, we both know that.
Derrick Chevalier:
Exactly.
Darren A. Smith:
Now I've got.
Derrick Chevalier:
The younger they are, the more true that is.
Darren A. Smith:
Oh, I want a lolly. I want a lolly. I want a. Oh, come on. You've worn me down. Have 4 lollies, alright? So you and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago and I said well, let's ask the questions that people are asking on Google, which I've got here. And you said, yeah, you can answer those questions. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to ask you the questions that the folks are mostly asking on Google, like 10,000 hits a month, alright.
Derrick Chevalier:
OK. Sure.
Darren A. Smith:
So let's start with the first one. Nice easy one to get us going. What do you mean by negotiation, that's what the folks are asking.
Derrick Chevalier:
Sure. So it's a formal or informal process of either conflict resolution or problem resolution. Essentially. That's as simple as it is, you know, a process for resolving.
Darren A. Smith:
I like it.
Derrick Chevalier:
Either issues or questions or conflicts.
Darren A. Smith:
Alright, nice. Nice. Alright, nice and simple.

Dive Into Whole Brain Thinking
In this episode of "The World's Stickiest Learning," hosts Darren A. Smith and George Araham engage in a deep dive into Whole Brain Thinking with expert psychologist Johan Olwagen.

The discussion revolves around the HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument) model, exploring its applications and insights. With Johan's extensive experience since the late '90s and the hosts' own encounters with the model, the conversation delves into the value and impact of Whole Brain Thinking.

Get a comprehensive understanding of HBDI and its relevance in leadership development and personal growth with this podcast!

View this episode on YouTube by clicking the image below.

 

Watch the video if you're more of a visual person

 
You Can Read the Full Kantar Market Share Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Welcome to the world. Stickiest learning. I am absolutely pleased that this title will be a deep dive into whole brain thinking with our psychologist, Johan. Johan, how are you?
Johan Olwagen:
I'm very well and thank you for the opportunity guys.
Darren A. Smith:
And we're here with George as well. Hi, George. You good?
George Araham:
Hello. Hi, good and you?
Darren A. Smith:
All right, so we'll ask these guys to introduce themselves in a moment. What we're looking to do here for the next 30 to 40 minutes is a real deep dive into HBDI whole brain thinking to understand this thinking preference tool. And we've got our expert here. And George and I are going to grill Johan to within an inch of his life about HBDI because he's been using it for about 500 years.
Johan Olwagen:
Excellent. Looking forward to the challenge.
Darren A. Smith:
All right. Well, let's start with George. George, would you just tell us 30 seconds about you? So our listeners know who you are before we get stuck in.
George Araham:
Sure. So I'm actually NSO blog writer and I've been collaborating with Darren on HBDI. Which is a fascinating assessment tool. I also have my masters in marketing, but that's boring stuff so I don't really like to talk much about it. I did write an international best selling book on relationships, so yeah, that would be me in a in a nutshell.
Johan Olwagen:
Trans.
Darren A. Smith:
Well done. Well done. Thank you, George. Very welcome. Johan, would you just give us 30 seconds about you? And also I'm going to ask you that tough question, but in the nicest possible way, why should we listen to you when you talk about HBDI, please?
Johan Olwagen:
Well, first let me introduce myself. I'm a clinical psychologist in South Africa. I have been working in the field of leadership development since 1995, went through a number of iterations in my career. Why should you listen to me? Passion, excitement and impact? I really am passionate about getting people to change and working with people so that they can thrive and grow in whatever they intend in life and purpose in life.
Darren A. Smith:
Fabulous. Fabulous. Thank you. Thank you.
George Araham:
Hmm.
Darren A. Smith:
And how many years have you been, Johan working with HBDI whole brain thinking.
Johan Olwagen:
Well, in the late 90s, we had discovered it. A colleague of myself and we wanted to get a hold of the HBDI and it was provided to somebody else to run the business in Africa. And so I haunted this person down in 2001, made-up with her. She was the CEO of Herman International Africa and just said, I need to talk to you. We need to get together. We need to. Utilise this tool because I found absolute value in it so since 2001. In a couple of decades now.
Darren A. Smith:
And I didn't know that before we started this,

It Can Be Loney at the Top - But C-Suite Coaching Cards Can Help
Join C-Suite Coach, Kim Randall and our very own Darren Smith, as they talk about support for C-Suite (executive-level managers). Face it, sometimes it gets lonely at the top, especially when everyone is rushing to you for support. Explore Kim's passion for delving into the human side of leaders, helping them to connect with who they are as a person as well as a leader. If you're a leader or want to offer support, make sure to check out this podcast.

 

Click the image above to watch the episode on YouTube!

 
You Can Read the Full C-Suite Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Hello. You're at a podcast. Welcome to the world's stickiest learning. We're with Kim Randall and also Pudding who you're stroking there.
Kim-Adele Randall:
I am to try and get him to not join in. I think he might be the more vocal of the two of us this morning.
Darren A. Smith:
It's probably true. That's probably true. The title of our podcast is where Do C-Suites go to for support now? I'm joined by Kim, who is a C-Suite coach. Is that right?
Kim-Adele Randall:
It is.
Darren A. Smith:
OK, now in the nicest possible way. Kim, I'm going to ask you, why should we listen to you about this?
Kim-Adele Randall:
Great question, Darren. So I guess for me, I started off as in C-Suite and was there for a number of years. And then when I became a mum, I decided that I could have a bigger impact by coaching of the C-Suite leaders. Having been there and realised that it might be lonely at the top, but it's certainly not quiet. Everyone is looking to you for the answer. Everyone expects you to always be on your game. People forget that our cease suite leaders are people 1st and leaders second and we are all perfectly imperfect. We have things that go wrong in our lives. We don't always know the answer.
Darren A. Smith:
True.
Kim-Adele Randall:
We're not always feeling like we're firing on all cylinders and so if we can, when we understand the human side of that C-Suite, that was one of my passions as part of my purpose, which is how do we help those C-Suite leaders connect with who they are as a person as well as who they are as a leader and give them that support? Because no human being in the world can survive without support for long. And it's this way you think the phrase comes from lonely at the top. I think so, yeah. Because when you get to the top, you both from. From my own experience and also from, you know, coaching at hundreds of other C-Suite leaders, one of the things that is so common throughout is we all fear becoming irrelevant.
Kim-Adele Randall:
And when you get to the very top, you know that everybody wants your job. You're doing one of you, so there's nowhere to go. So actually all you are is hanging on for dear life until somebody comes to step into those shoes and that is that plays in, in their head. It's that, you know, am I still adding value? Am I still relevant? Am I still doing stuff? Cause where do you go for your help? You can't. If you have those moments of doubt, we all have them. You know, in Process syndrome hits us all at some point in our life, you kind of go well, where, where, where do I go?
Darren A. Smith:
True. True again.
Kim-Adele Randall:
So I'm having this moment of doubt and I can't go to my direct reports because they're one looking to me for support and equally looking for any element of weakness so that they might be able to take and I can't go to the board because they might doubt my confidence or credibility and therefore you know that might have ramifications. So where do I go in those moments? Where I need to get out of my own head and we all know that we all have blind spots for the reason we're blind to them.

Cultivating a Culture of Belonging
Join us as we explore Chelsea Kirk's profound perspective on EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) and, above all, the significance of belonging. Discover how these principles can transform workplaces into vibrant ecosystems where every individual feels valued, heard, and empowered to contribute their best. Also, we talk about the EDI Coaching Cards and how valuable they can be.

So get ready for a journey that goes beyond the surface, into the heart of creating workplaces that truly reflect the diverse tapestry of the world we live in.

 

Click the image above to watch the full episode on YouTube!

 
You Can Read the EDI Coaching Cards Podcast Episode Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Welcome to the world's stickiest learning. I am absolutely over the moon to have Chelsea Kirk with us. Hello.
Chelsea Kirk:
Hello, thank you for having me.
Darren A. Smith:
Hello how are you doing? It's Friday weekend soon.
Chelsea Kirk:
Absolutely super excited.
Darren A. Smith:
Good, good, good, good. Now we wanted to ask you to come to our podcast because you're an expert on EDI, is that right?
Chelsea Kirk:
That is.
Darren A. Smith:
OK. So Chelsea, would you tell us what you do and in the nicest possible way, why should we listen to you when you talk about EDI?
Chelsea Kirk:
Yeah, of course. So my current position is head of equality, diversity, inclusion at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn been in that post for around 2 1/2 years and done EDI for probably near enough four years.
Darren A. Smith:
Wow.
Chelsea Kirk:
And kind of a generalist for about 8 years in HR prior to EDI. I suppose in terms of listening to me, I've got kind of a lot of experience in sort of that HR field in the EDI sort of field and landscape and.
Darren A. Smith:
OK.
Chelsea Kirk:
We're quite well connected with different sort of professions and different EDI leaders, and I think as well sort of keeping yourself current. It's really important that you know, as the landscape evolves constantly, it is around, how do you kind of keep yourself current? So you know, well connected, you know, net networking with different individuals. It is really important as well. So I would say in a roundabout way that that to sort of summarise. Yes.
Darren A. Smith:
Alright, alright, cool. Cool, cool. So EDI is something that's relatively new to most people, although it's becoming, dare I say, on trend, it's becoming more topical, which is a good thing. So if I new to EDI, would you just summarise for us what is this thing and why should we start understanding it better?
Darren A. Smith:
Run.
Chelsea Kirk:
Why is really important one? I think creating that sense of belonging in the workplace, having that safe space to be their true authentic selves and bring their whole selves to, you know, the workplace. And I think that for me is really, really important. And I think as you know, EDI has really sort of grown over the last sort of few years. I think there's a few topics that have really elevated that. So I think you know the Me Too movement, the Black Lives Matter.

Employees who feel welcomed contribute to a healthy workplace environment

 
Chelsea Kirk:
Have really sort of pushed the dial and organisation.
Darren A. Smith:
There.
Chelsea Kirk:
Sort of. You know, waking up to some of that and, you know, EDI is becoming quite a top priority in organisations and now becoming that golden thread through it all really.
Darren A. Smith:
Yeah, and what about organisations that are still sort of we're too busy, we've got too much on, we're just not going to think about this now, does it matter?

Use HBDI to Get Your Prospects to Reply
Are you fed up with not getting hold of your prospects? Learn to use the HBDI quadrant to your advantage and get prospects to reply. Join us in this fourth instalment of this HBDI series with Darren Smith and George Araham.
You Can Read the Full HBDI Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith
Hi and welcome to the world's stickiest learning. I'm here with George Araman. George, how are you?
George
Hi Darren, I'm good. How are you?
George
I'm sure it won't be.
Darren A. Smith
Hey, I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited about our next podcast, so I'm gonna read out the title 'cause. It's a bit of a mouthful, but I think it works. I can't get my prospects to reply. Use HBDI to get your prospects to reply. So that's the title of our 4th podcast on HBDI. George is going to be excited for the next 20 minutes. What do you think about that title?

 

Finally, get prospects to reply

 
Darren A. Smith
That's certainly the plan.
George
Well, show me the money like they say so I'm pretty sure people are gonna like our audience are really gonna love it.
George
Yes.
Darren A. Smith
Fantastic. Fantastic. So let's do a few minutes bringing people up to speed on HBDI so we don't want to make an assumption they know now you've kindly lent us your profile for HBDI. So HBDI is the Herman brain dominance instrument. It's a way of understanding how people think. And this is your profile. It's split into four quadrants as everyone's is now. George, what does the left brain normally mean?
George
So the left brain is more of the rational brain. It's more of the logical brain. Whereas the right side of the brain is more the emotional side of the brain or more, the idea, the onceptualising side of the brain.
Darren A. Smith
Fantastic. So HBDIL, Hermann, asks us to understand our thinking preferences. Now, Hermann. Ned. Herman back in the 70s, split it also into the top half of the brain in the bottom half of the brain, giving us these four quadrants. Now, Herman, colour them as well. Obviously, they're not coloured in our head, but they are coloured here. So the further your profile goes towards this outer circle, the more you prefer to think in that way. But you can do all four of these.
George
Yes.
Darren A. Smith
Alright, now let's see from our other podcasts. George, what does the Blue quadrant mean?
Darren A. Smith
Yes.
George
So the blue is analytical side of things. This is the part where I don't really enjoy doing for me. Facts tend to be more boring, very flat, and very not imaginative. I'm more into the imagination side of things. The creativity. I think Leonardo da Vinci would agree with me somehow. Yeah.
Darren A. Smith
I think he was. I think he worked and you're in good company. Alright. So this is the fax. The fax quadrant will use an F just to make it easy. This is the future quadrant. And you talked about creativity. Entrepreneurs love this quadrant and this is where you are. You're quite creative. Lots of ideas. Then as we come down here, the Red Quadrant. Let me quiz you. What's the red quadrant?
George
So the Red Quadrant is more about the relational side of the quadrant. It's more like we liked how we relate with others. It's more about the passion we bring into it. It's about like you mentioned in one of our podcasts that for example, the red is very important because they tend to bring the team together and it's so even if sometimes people might think they're not really actually adding value, they are in the back scenes and they're really. Only the team together in a very efficient and effective way and even energising others to have better and more efficient results.
George
Yeah.
Darren A. Smith

struUse HBDI to Manage Conflict at Work
Looking to manage conflict at Work? Well, you can use HBDI, the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument. Join us in this third instalment of this HBDI series with Darren Smith and George Araham.
You Can Read the Full HBDI Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Hi, you're at the home of the world's stickiest learning. My name's Darren Smith, and this is George Araman. George, how are you?
George:
I'm great, Darren. Thank you. How are you today?
Darren A. Smith:
I am good. I'm good. I'm keen to share with our listeners about HBDI. This is the third in our series of podcasts and I'm just going to read the title out to make sure I get it absolutely right. It says I really don't know how to manage conflict at work. Use HBDI to manage conflicts at work, so that's the title of our podcast. And George has kindly allowed us to share his HBDI. Herman brain dominance instrument profile. So this is a profile. It's a bit like Myers Briggs is a bit like disc. It's a bit like insights. The reason we favour Herman is it's lovely and simple, simple to use and it really just has four colours and it's a it shows the thinking preference.

 

Conflicts are a natural part of life

 
Darren A. Smith:
So there are blue, yellow, red, green and this shows almost the thinking preference of George's brain. So what this tells us is he likes to think in the big picture, creative. He likes to think in the people feelings area. But when it comes to facts, struggles a bit and when it comes to form and structure. Plan he struggles with that as well. Now the thing to say is we can do all four colours, we can do all of this. My metaphor is that George does yellow and red in 5th gear and maybe blue and green in second gear.
George:
Spot on.
Darren A. Smith:
All right. So that's a really quick summary and an overview of HPDI for anyone who hasn't seen it before. George, what have I missed on there? Your news HBDI, what have I missed that people would want to know?
George:
So far, like from what you mentioned, it seems great. We already talked a lot in our previous podcast like how we can overcome the differences and how we have like I think what would be really interesting for us to delve into is with regards to conflicts, how what is the best way to like manage conflicts from different perspectives.
Darren A. Smith:
OK. OK. Well, let's, let's start with conflict hard now. I've been doing soft skills as a training provider for 20 years and I've come to 11 absolute fact on conflict. It's hard. It really is. It's exhausting. It takes energy, it consumes our brain. It's those things that we lay down at night and think, oh, how did that happen? How did I get to that place? So conflict is not easy. And what I read a lot lately about is people. Let's avoid conflict.
George:
OK.
Darren A. Smith:
Just can't you imagine there's seven 8 billion people on the planet. With all these microcosms of banging together and they're gonna bang together, they're going to have conflict. They're not going to think all the same way. And do you know that's all right. We don't have to agree.
George:
Yeah. And it's a good thing, or else with the own robots. If I'm thinking the same way.
Darren A. Smith:
Well, we would, we would. Well, let me give you an example. So George, what's your favourite food favourite meal?
George:
Depends on the like. I would say sushi or pizza or.
Darren A. Smith:
OK, so you love sushi. I mean, I happen to as well, but let's say you love sushi and I didn't. And I liked only fish and chips. That's OK. Now we have a small conflict there. We don't have to disagree, but let's take that into the more passionate disagreements that we might have. It's still OK.

Use HBDI to Build a High-Performing Team
My team is not performing well, so what can I do? Well, you can use HBDI to Build a High Performing Team. Our second video in this HBDI series is all about building high-performing teams. Join Darren and George as they explore ways you can super-boost your team for success.
You Can Read the Full HBDI Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Hi, my name's Darren Smith and I'm here with George Araham. George, how are you?
George:
Hi Darren, how are you?
Darren A. Smith:
Very good, very good. We're at the home of the world's stickiest learning MBM, and we're talking about HBDI now the 2nd in our podcast on HBDI. And I'm going to read out the title because it's taken George and I a while to get an absolutely cracking title. My team is not performing well. What can I do? And this is based on feedback we've had from other people, OK, what can you do? And the second part is use HBDI to build a high performing team. So this podcast is all about HBDI and teamwork. And high performing teams, George, why did we come up with this as our second in our range of HBDI podcasts?
George:
Today, there's a lot of problems around the world with Teamwork and team working together or not working together. So we found out like around 15 to 16 topics around that and we want to delve into them and discover how can we tackle each one of them using HBDI and how HBDI can take team performance to the next level. Love it. Yeah.

 

Here's how to use HBDI if your team is not performing

 
Darren A. Smith:
Brilliant. Love it. So for a couple of minutes, let's do a recap on HBDI is, we'll share a profile just so the viewers can see what we're talking about in case they're new to HBDI. And then let's get straight into Team conflict, team dynamics and all that good stuff. All right, all right. So let's check in with you HBDI Hermann brain dominance instrument. That's all well and good, but what does it mean? What's your take on? What is HBDI?
George:
As in the title.
Darren A. Smith:
What does it mean to you?
George:
Well, it's a profile. An assessment profile type that helps you navigate into your like understanding or discovering your thinking style. If you're more left-brained right-brain conversion, divergent feeler or thinker, all those types of sorts of things and to help you to help guide you to use your best assets and your best tools as well as improve the areas that you need in certain circumstances to develop better work. And work better in teams as well. Yeah, indeed.
Darren A. Smith:
Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. I put George on the spot of there a little bit because we did a podcast last time, and I'm just bringing back his memory of what he retained. I've been working with HBDI for about 20 years. George, you're relatively new to it. And we did your profile, didn't we? So you did. You did 80 questions and then this thing pops out. Is that right? Yeah. OK.
George:
Yeah, yeah.
Darren A. Smith:
And what George was referring to is the left half of the brain, the right half of the brain, which most people know. This is largely logical. This is largely creative, but what Ned Herman said was there's a top half and a bottom half of the brain as well, given US 4 quadrants. So the four quadrants, if I do it as four FS fax. So this is a thinking preference for retaining lots of facts. If you've got a mate who's good at pub quizzes, brilliant.
Darren A. Smith:
This is future, so this is me. It's not my profile, but I do have a tendency to think more in the yellow quadrant, which is big picture creativity type, then we've got.
Darren A. Smith:
It is.
George:
That's what we that's why we get along very well. I love yellow and red.
Darren A. Smith:
Yes.

Use HBDI to Understand Your Opponent to Avoid Stalemates
Does you constantly reach a negotiation stalemate? Well, today's podcast will explore using HBDI to avoid a negotiation stalemate. Join Darren Smith and George Araham as they tackle this exciting topic.
You Can Read the Full Negotiation and HBDI Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Hi, my name's Darren Smith and you're the home of sticky learning.
We are with George Harran. George, hello.
George:
Hello, how are you, Darren?
Darren A. Smith:
Hello. Hey, I'm good. I'm good. So I'm Darren, this is George. And we're here today to talk with you about HBDI and negotiation. In fact, the title of this podcast. I'll read out my negotiations. Always get to an annoying stalemate. Use HBDI to understand your opponent to avoid stalemates. So George, we're talking about negotiation and HBDI. The reason you're here is your what we would call naive results. You've just completed your HPDI profile, is that right?
George:
Yay, correct.
Darren A. Smith:
OK. Fabulous. Fabulous. So you're gonna ask me lots of probing, challenging questions, particularly around HPDI and how we can use it with negotiation. All right, all right, so let's do a couple of minutes on your understanding of HBDI and what this profile meant to you.

 

The HBDI brain is split into four coloured sections

 
George:
Love it.
Darren A. Smith:
What did it mean to you doing your profile?
George:
It's interesting because I found a couple of like things.
It was interesting. I discovered things I was aware of, some I wasn't really aware of.
Darren A. Smith:
Mm hmm mm.
George:
A couple of the so when I was asked to anticipate the results, I actually nailed it in a way I got all my 4 quadrants more or less precisely the same. I was surprised though, by stressful flow. What's it called? This. Yeah, exactly. The results were a bit different than I was expecting, but like, it is what it is, I guess.
Darren A. Smith:
That's not. OK, alright. Well, let me give you and the viewers a quick summary of my understanding of your profile here it is. I'm sure you don't mind me showing it. So what Ned Herman said was that we all know that the brain is split left and right. So let me ask you, George, what's the difference between left and right of the brain?
George:
Yeah. No. The conversion side of the brain and the right side is more like the creative, intuitive side of the brain, or the diversion.
Darren A. Smith:
Perfect, perfect, perfect. OK. And this was discovered now probably 50 years ago now. Not what Ned Herman said was actually left and right. Absolutely. But he also said there's top and bottom given US 4 quadrants to the brain. Now, Ned, Herman or HBDI, which is the Herman brain dominance instrument, measures how we prefer to think. And there are four quadrants in how we prefer to think we've got the blue Quadrant, which is all about facts. So if you've got a mate who's very good down at the pub quiz.
Darren A. Smith:
He's probably a blue loads of facts. The yellow. This is the creative, the entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial type. People who have got a million ideas and might be described as having their head in the clouds. We've got the red people. These are the touchy feely people. People what I love about the Reds is if you walk into a room they normally come over and touch your elbow and then we've got our greens, who are our structured plan. Next project managers. All right. So this just describes how you prefer to think.
George:
Interesting.
Darren A. Smith:
You can't get it wrong. You can't get it right. This is George.
George:
Hello.
Darren A. Smith:
So if having understood that you have a tendency to think ...

Mastering the Art of Service
Join Darren A. Smith and Andrew Stotts as they explore our deck of Customer Service Coaching Cards. Dive into the world of customer service with Andrew Stotts.
You Can Read the Full Customer Service Coaching Cards Podcast Transcript Below:
Andrew Stotts:
So first of all, welcome back. This is a actually very special edition of the Weird Human podcast. Just to remind you about why we exist. We exist really to kind of shed light on the extraordinary. Once again I am joined by a truly extraordinary chap Mr. Darren Smith from Sticky Learning. Again when Darren reached out to me a few weeks ago and he asked me whether I would kind of partner with him in it on a small project. We kind of thought that we would just talk a little bit about that project today with you guys and get down, kind of ask me a few questions. Primarily it's around exceptional customer service. So Darren tell us about the project.
Darren Smith:
Well, the project is mainly about four years ago we looked at coaching cards, little playing cards like, you know, with the ACEs spades and that on. We thought there'd be a great learning tool if we could turn into 80 questions per topic. This one's about customer service that would help a manager with a report to coach that person to be fabulous at customer service. We also have coaching cards on negotiation skills and others, and each time we find an expert who rock and rolls on the topic like you do on customer service, we ask you to write the questions, and then we put it online as a cheap resource and tool to use.

Read our return policy

 
>> Customer Service Coaching Cards <<

Andrew Stotts:
I have to say that the, well, first of all, the coaching cards I use them regularly in coaching. They are absolutely on the money, really fantastic. Slightly my kind of my kind of, I suppose my imposter syndrome kind of gets in the way around you explaining how amazing the customer service cards are. But I do believe that the collaboration between Darren and myself around customers are particularly is absolutely excellent. So I'm actually going to just sort of like switch the coin today. So Dan was going to ask me a few questions just around kind of customer service. I'll let you into a little secret. I don't really know the answers. I don’t know what he can ask me. So I'm slightly apprehensive, but hey I'll do my best to, to answer his questions.
Darren Smith:
That's fabulous. Well, we all know, and the people watching that you know your stuff. So I'm going to throw a few questions your way. Let's talk about customer service. We're going to do a shameless plug for one or 2% of the cards, but 80-90% of this is about helping people to be rock and roll at customer service. Alright.
Andrew Stotts:
It sounds like an absolute plan. I mean, it's always been a deep kind of like, passion of mine. Where I like to start it, if you don't mind, Darren, the reason it's been such a strong passion of mine is it's because I suppose I'm quite selfish, really. When I went to work as a very young man about 400 years ago, I suppose I kind of learned really quickly that if I gave people—I started my job as a waiter. Well, actually I started slightly more junior than the waiter. But as a waiter though the few moments at the beginning of my career as a waiter were absolutely critical.
Andrew Stotts:
I always say that because, you know, for me, I learned very quickly that if I gave people what they needed and I understood what they needed usually that translated into them giving me what I needed, which was a big tip. Yeah. Simple. So that's kind of how I learned the art really, of customer service. The better I got at it and it wasn't unusual for me. I mean, I think it's quite funny these days, and people would laugh at this, but I think my weekly salary was about four pounds a wee...

Discover the Personal Rule Book
Join Clare Walker - a practise leader at Vodafone, an expert in personal values, and Darren Smith - the chief executive officer at MBM, as they explore the exciting topic of personal values. Discover the trick to finding your number one value with Clare using a special tool - personal values coaching cards.

Our new addition to our set of cards is Personal values coaching cards. Unlike other cards, these are not questions, but rather one word. There are about 70 cards in this exciting new pack! Check out the podcast to learn more!
You Can Read the Full Personal Values Share Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Hi and welcome to another podcast or video depending on whether you're watching on YouTube or on our podcast platforms. We're here with Claire Walker. Claire, how are you?
Clare Walker:
I'm very well. Thank you, Darren. How are you doing?
Darren A. Smith:
I'm good. I'm good. We're sitting here on Thursday afternoon. It's hot. Is it hot where you are?
Clare Walker:
It has clouded over a little bit, but I'm very fortunate. I've got an ever-changing view outside my window because I live in the Lake District. So yes, it may change to hot in a moment's time. It may rain.
Darren A. Smith:
Lovely. Lovely. I'm jealous. We're here talking with Claire because you are an expert on personal values and we have just collaborated on some coaching cards. So we have a bunch of coaching cards. I'll grab some here like this. But these are premium grow coaching cards and we've collaborated on some personal values and we want to talk to you about personal values and coaching cards. All right, so.

More about our expert on values

 
Clare Walker:
Indeed.
Darren A. Smith:
Claire, what do you do at the moment? What's your day job?
Clare Walker:
My day job is that I am the coaching community of practise leader at Vodafone and I'm very fortunate with that. I have a wonderful team of internal coaching coaches who are both certified and credentialed. There's about 100 of them.
And it's great and a coach will pull within Vodafone of probably in the region of about 80,000 people. So we have a lot of work to do here.
Darren A. Smith:
Wow. OK, alright. So you working for a very big company. You're doing coaching all day long and you've got a whole bunch of people who coach with you for you around you. Alright. Fabulous. Fabulous. So before we get started on personal values, would you tell us a little bit of something weird and about you?
Clare Walker:
Ohh gosh. It's gonna start with. I'm very modest, but that's really hard when you ask that question, isn't it? What do I what's where do wonderful about me? I'm a member of the local acting group and I recently played a 75-year-old woman who finds her neighbour's ecstasy tablets and proceeds to take them with some very interesting consequences.

So I love doing that. That's really good fun. And I think actually I really enjoyed playing her because I think one of my life's quotes is that you don't stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing and. And so I think I love playing her because of that. And I think that kind of leads to the fact that I love practical jokes. One of the things I really miss about working from home is that you don't get to do them quite similarly anymore. So yeah, probably the weird thing about me is my little practical joking.
Darren A. Smith:
Lovely. Lovely. Wow, wow, wow. OK. And in the nicest possible way I'm gonna ask this question, but particularly for our viewers. Why should we listen to you about personal values? What do you know about it?
Clare Walker:
I think because I can speak from experience about how values have changed my life and my relationships,

Expert Tips for the World of Negotiation
Join Darren A. Smith, Dr. Anthony, and Andrew Stotts from the Weird Human podcast, as they tackle how to be a better negotiator.
You Can Read the Full 'Better Negotiator' Transcript Below
Andrew Stotts:
So guys, so first of all, welcome to another edition of the Weird Human Podcast. Our 25th actually. So we've got some fantastic guests again today. Huge. As usual. I'm joined by the brilliant Dr Anthony, but also today, which I'm joined by the Fantastic Darren Smith. I've known Darren for many, many, many, many years. And we've worked together in different organizations around the world, which has been fantastic. Today's question, just to remind you guys, is really how can I be a better negotiator?
Andrew Stotts:
And before we kind of tackle the question I'd like to just remind you upon the mission statement, really for the Weird Human Podcast. That mission statement is really about exploring the extraordinary about the human beings who are around us. And that's a very, very important point. So it's about making you and really kind of bringing out the extraordinary of being a human being. So, Darren, perhaps it'll be helpful for the people who are listening, just to have a brief introduction from yourself.
Darren Smith:
So we are MBM, we're also known as the Sticky Learning Guys. We are the guys who want to achieve behavioural change with you because we know that most people go on a one-day training course, come back and do nothing different. So we're the guys that ensure by prodding, poking, doing everything we can, you come back and be the very best version of yourselves. That's me, Anthony.

Learning that sticks

 
Andrew Stotts:
That's a great introduction. Dr. Anthony. I can't believe, we did a show last week. That show actually had had more than 11,000 views now. So again, massive thanks to Michelle. That was the one around kind of like wealth coaches and kind of like tips around kind of money. So if you want to go back and look at the catalogue that's an incredible episode. We also started to delve into the kind of relationships and kind of what made relationships. Then of course that kind of took us into the path around negotiating, particularly between couples. Dr Anthony's obviously married to Dr Michelle in the previous show.
Andrew Stotts:
The first time I met his beautiful wife. We obviously then started to explore kind of what made their relationship successful and that kind of brought us to our conversation today. So if I can go back. So Dr Anthony, love you, my friend.
Dr Anthony:
I hope that Darren can actually then teach me how to negotiate better because there's one thing for certain, every man is know how to negotiate better to be a good man. You start to seek love, that's for sure. Darren, how do you negotiate?
Andrew Stotts:
How do you?
Darren Smith:
Well, I'm starting to feel like I should have some awards on the wall like you've got because wow, they're very impressive. The first thing that we need to do in answering that question is understand the difference between haggling and negotiation. Now, there are eight ways to solve a conflict. Haggling is one, negotiation's another. So, Andrew, I know you do this. You've been to the bizarre market stores and you've haggled for the Ray-Bans, and you started at 40 Euros, didn't you?
Andrew Stotts:
That's just an obscene amount of money for those, the Ray. I'm kind of more in the two-euro range, to be fair.
Darren Smith:
So we've all been there, haven't we? We're trying to buy these Ray-Bans, we're on holiday and the guy behind the stool starts at 40 euros, we start at two, and you meet somewhere in the middle. A valid form of resolving a conflict. But don't kid yourself that it's negotiating. It is not. It is haggling. Now,

Mental Health Expert Interview with Simon Blake CEO of Mental Health England by Darren A. Smith MBM
Today's podcast features mental health questions and answers by our expert Simon Blake. Here's a quick overview of the questions:

What is the definition of mental health?
How has Covid-19 affected mental health?
How accurately is mental health reported in the media?
How does mental health affect physical health?
How does mental health affect your life?
Why is mental health important? - Why is mental health training important?
Why is mental health on the rise?
Please tell us about mental health month/week.
When is mental health too much?
What does mental health mean to you?
Where can someone get a mental health diagnosis?

You Can Read the Full Transcript on Mental Health Questions and Answers Below:
Darren Smith:
Welcome to Sticky Interviews. My name is Darren Smith, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of MBM Making Business Matter, the Home of Sticky Learning. We are the soft skills training provider to retailers and manufacturers around the globe. The idea of these interviews is to bring to you the expert's inside knowledge of how you can be the very best version of you. Welcome to the show. Welcome Simon Blake. We are here at Sticky Learning, MBM, and we have the great honour of talking to you. Now, I know that you are the CEO of Mental Health England. I know that you ride horses and you've got a competition tomorrow. But what I'd like to do is, for the guys that are watching is say, why should we talk to you about mental health?
Simon Blake:
Simon Blake, on Mental Health Questions and Answers

 

So, I mean, the first thing, of course is that everybody should be talking about mental health and talking about mental health properly and seriously. So great to be here talking with you. But I am Chief Executive of Mental Health First Aid England, which is an organisation that wants to train one in 10 of the adult population in mental health first aid England skills and knowledge because we think that will create a cultural tipping point in which enough people have the skills and understanding around mental health to make a real difference.
Simon Blake:
I also, of course, have lived experience in terms of live with a partner who has their own mental health conditions, friends, family, my own ups and downs in all sorts of things. So, yeah, I have some professional expertise and then some personal expertise. But just go right back to the first bit. We all need to be talking about it, and that's why you should talk to me because hopefully, I encourage some people too [inaudible1:47].
Darren Smith:
Fabulous. Alright, we've got about 12 questions. Most of them are those that either come from people on LinkedIn or they are searching for them on Google. So we saw these questions and we thought, who better to ask than you? So we are going to go through these questions, ask you, we might go off a tangent, we might ask you to share a few stories. But for the viewers at home or at work, what we are really trying to do is get all those goodies that are inside your head around mental health out so we can help each other.
Simon Blake:
Cool.
Darren Smith:
So our first question is, what is the definition of mental health?
Simon Blake:
Sure. I mean, the World Health Organisation, I know Donald Trump's not their biggest fan. But the World Health Organisation defines mental health as a state of well-being in which individuals realise their own potential can cope with the normal stresses of everyday life, can work productively and fruitfully, which is obviously a good term for those working in supermarkets and be able to contribute to their own community.

Are You an Amateur Negotiator?
Join Ben from Innovate Podcast and Darren A. Smith with their talk on how to become an effective negotiator. Learn useful tools like the squaredance for negotiating and disregard bad practices like running to PowerPoint first. Read on to discover the basics of effective negotiation that you can start using today.
You Can Read the Full Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
What else could we do? What could I explore? What do you want from me? Could we talk about a contract that's 50 years long? No, we can't, Darren. Alright, what about one's five years long maybe? Okay. Could we talk about improving the quality, and reducing the packaging? Could we work together on blah, blah, blah? There’re a million things we could talk about. Now. None of them might bridge the gap between a 10-pound case and an eight-pound case. But let's try.
Ben:
Welcome to the Innovate Podcast, a show where we discuss, dissect, and attempt to rebuild the world of product and category within consumer goods. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Darren a Smith a veteran of the grocery industry with over 3o years of experience, I think working either for retailers or advising manufacturers and brands. Darren and I briefly crossed paths as buyers and category managers at Sainsbury back in the very early naughts, which we may discuss in a moment. But Darren, welcome to the Innovate Podcast. Delighted you can join us. How are you? How are you today?

Negotiating is a key business skill

 
Darren A. Smith:
Hey, Ben. I'm good. We're in process of moving house, not today, but in the next couple of weeks, so I am struggling with that process. There's a reason it's stressful.
Ben:
So yeah, you just thought you'd add another huge seismic life event onto the already kind of generational economic challenges that we're facing.
Darren A. Smith:
That's absolutely true. I think we just squeezed in for the interest rates went through the roof.
Ben:
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not a joking matter actually. Yeah. Okay, cool. Good. So, Darren, just for the benefit of the listeners, I guess a natural place to start would just be to introduce yourself, talk through your kind of background from Sainsbury through to now and just talk about what you're focusing on with your current business MBM, if that's okay.
Darren A. Smith:
Of course. So I started Sainsbury in 1990 and at that point, I was the assistant. Now that's the important part. I was the assistant cottage cheese buyer. I wasn't even the real one. I didn't even know what cottage cheese was at the rightful age of 19. So that's where I started. Then I took on various buying roles for the next 13 years. My last real job was looking after the fruit team for Sainsbury, where I decided that actually I wanted to go and see if I could do something by myself, set up MBM, and ever since we've worked on soft skills training.
Ben:
Okay, awesome.
Darren A. Smith:
For the last past 20 years now.
Ben:
So soft skills training, I guess that could be quite broad. It's clearly focused on people. What are kind of the key areas that you focus on in terms of developing skills?
Darren A. Smith:
The key ones that people want are how do I get the most out of my time — time management. How do I get the most out of my people — people management, leadership skills, and how do I get the most out of my deals, particularly in the industry that you and I are in? So it's negotiation predominantly.

It's time management and it's people management skills. They're the three. There are a number of other soft skills. The bit I really like is Jack Ma, recently the chairman of Alibaba said that with the progress of AI, soft skills is the only way forward. Love it.
Ben:
Right. Awesome.
Darren A.

Is Drinking No Longer an In-crowd Kind of Thing?
Join Janet Hadley and Darren A. Smith in an all-new podcast episode on the British drinking culture. Hear why the British drinking culture has changed in the 21st century and its impact on how leaders encourage inclusivity in the workplace. Learn other cool things like the origin of beer and statistics on the leading cause of absenteeism and fights in the workplace.
You Can Read the Full Transcript Below:
Darren A. Smith:
Welcome to S***s and Giggles with HR. We are with the lovely Janet Hadley. How are you?
Janet Hadley:
I'm very well, thank you.
Darren A. Smith:
We've entitled this podcast or video if you watch it by video — this was Janet's idea — the Elephant in the well-being room. Is that right?
Janet Hadley:
That's correct. Okay.
Darren A. Smith:
I'm intrigued and I'm going to ask you more about that. But firstly, before we move on, why should we talk to you about British drinking culture? Because that's what I know our topic's about.
Janet Hadley:
So the reason why you should talk to me about British drinking culture is because I am on a mission to create a drink-safe workspace without killing the boss and that is what we do here at Choose Sunrise. I guess what brought me here is my own personal experience. I've worked in large corporations since all my jobs apart from my pay ground have been in large corporations basically.
Darren A. Smith:
Right.
Janet Hadley:
I've always been a big drinker. Those two things go very nicely together actually as it turns out. So I was a big drinker at school actually, from the age of 14. A big drinker through sixth form, a big drinker through university. I thought, do you know what? I'm going to have to calm this down a bit when I get my first proper job. I was wrong.

I had to dial it up a bit because when I joined the trading floor of a large supermarket whose head office is based in Leeds, I was quite shocked actually. It was such a boozy culture. So it suited me down to the ground at the time. We would be out from 4:00 PM till 4:00 AM on a Friday.
Darren A. Smith:
Oh. That's heavy.
Janet Hadley:
It's probably heavy, isn't it? I never saw anything wrong with it. It was almost a culture where you had to be part of that in-crowd in order to be considered for promotion.
Darren A. Smith:
Right. Okay.
Janet Hadley:
I do remember there being a couple of pregnant, well, not pregnant women. Well, there were pregnant women or people who were recently back from maternity leave who I feel so guilty for now knowing I was in this. But they weren't part of the in-crowd. They weren't ever out in the pub with us, and they were passed up for promotion.

There was a real culture of, well, they're only part-time and they're not really serious about their careers. It's a horrible toxic culture actually for someone to work in who has a young child. I actually do feel incredibly guilty now looking back on it and thinking about how I was part of that.
Actually, I mean, fast forward to a couple of years ago when I decided to stop drinking, which I've obviously missed out on. It's a huge amount of story.

I really only saw for the first time how much British drinking culture in the workplace had influenced me. I would never say it was my employer's fault that I developed a problem with my drinking. But it certainly didn’t hurt. If you wanted to create a culture where someone would develop a drinking problem, that would be it.

Many people develop drinking problems due to the drinking culture in the workplace

 
Darren A. Smith:
Okay. So there's a hell of a story there from heavy drinking. Now, you haven't had a drink for two years.
Janet Hadley:
Two and a half years.

Shits and Giggles with HR Episode #1
What is Right About the Recruitment Industry Could Be Written on a Stamp!
Join Lisa Haggar and Katrina Collier to discuss what is wrong with the recruitment industry. The horror stories of people going through 6 rounds to get a job and then getting no reply, or how people receiving job offers then leave their job, only to be told that the job they applied for & won, has been made redundant before they even start!
Sharing Resources Mentioned By Katrina in the Podcast

Katrina's Website
The Robot-Proof Recruiter
Getting back to people:

https://circlebackinitiative.com/
https://end-ghosting.com/


Places to feedback:



https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/interview/
https://indeed.com




https://www.kununu.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell



You Can Read the Shits and Giggles with HR Episode #1: What is Right About the Recruitment Industry Could Be Written on a Stamp! Transcript Below:
What is wrong with the recruitment industry?

 
Darren A. Smith:
Let's start. Welcome to the Shitz and Giggles with HR podcast. We're here with Lisa. Haggar, Lisa. Say hello, please.
Lisa Haggar:
Good evening. Hello everybody.
Darren A. Smith:
And we're also here with Katrina Collier. Hello, Katrina.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
Hello.
Darren A. Smith:
Hi I'm your host, Darren Smith. We'll come back to these lovely ladies in a moment. Our topic for tonight and I'm going to blame Lisa for this is what is right about the recruitment industry could be written on a stamp. Katrina, I'm just gonna come to you and ask what's your name in this game? What do you do?
Darren A. Smith:
Let's stop listening.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
So I am best known as the author of the Robot Proof Recruiter that I have been in the recruitment industry for nearly two decades, and I spend most of my time delivering design thinking workshops to fix candidate experience and recruitment. And I also have a coaching and mentoring group that's probably me in a nutshell, but plenty plenty of experience in their recruitment and talent acquisition space.
Darren A. Smith:
Brilliant. Brilliant. But we wanna get into that and ask you what's wrong with this industry. Let me just come to Lisa for first. Lisa, what do you do?
Lisa Haggar:
It's a good question. I tell people I knit Jelly for a living because when you tell them the work in HR, it switches people off quicker than if you're the tax man. So I knit Jelly Darren.
Darren A. Smith:
Yeah.
Darren A. Smith:
Yeah. It's. OK. That's good.
Lisa Haggar:
Or otherwise known as the ******** from HR Queen of HR on LinkedIn, the opinionated small 5 foot blonde who has a lot to say about most things.
Darren A. Smith:
Lovely. And how do you guys know each other?
Katrina Collier (Guest):
LinkedIn.
Lisa Haggar:
Uh, Katrina's fabulous, and I know everybody who's fabulous on LinkedIn. Simple.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
Is it LinkedIn? I don't know how we know each other. That's hilarious. Yeah, LinkedIn.
Lisa Haggar:
It is, yes, yes, I remember. I remember the day we met Katrina. Do you mean you? You can't remember that wonderful time? I don't know.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
Yeah.
Darren A. Smith:
Well, thank you both.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
Menopause.
Katrina Collier (Guest):
Hmm.
Darren A. Smith:
Thank you both for joining us for ***** and Giggles, HR podcast. Katrina, let's start with you. So at the topic is what's wrong with the recruitment industry?