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In this episode of Better People, Better Business, Andrew has a conversation with Simon Dowling.
Simon is a leading thinker on creating and leading collaborative teams and workplaces. As a speaker, facilitator and educator, he works closely with leaders and teams from some of Australia’s most interesting organisations, equipping them with the inspiration and know-how to build strong, highly engaged teams.
Simon possesses a unique blend of creativity and pragmatism – something reflected in his past experience. He began his career as a commercial lawyer, and is also an experienced improviser, regularly performing with leading improvisation company Impro Melbourne. He was a regular cast member on Working Dog’s hit TV show Thank God You’re Here.
For the past 20 years, Simon has been working with leaders across a wide range of industries, helping them to tap the collective genius of their people. His clients include AFL, Bega Foods, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, BUPA, Envato, Mercedes Benz, myob, SEEK, Telstra Health and University of Melbourne. He is also a member of the Australian faculty of DukeCE – the executive education arm of the internationally acclaimed business school at Duke University.
Simon is the author of Work with Me: How to get people to buy into your ideas (Wiley, 2016).
Andrew and Simon have a conversation about how we can be better at teamwork, collaborative leadership and co-creation. Their conversation is full of banter, practical and useful tips and goes deep into this important work.
They discuss:
- The fundamental principles Simon learned from his years as an improv performer that he draws on to help teams co-create and collaborate.
- The mistake leaders make in forming teams that results in team members being disempowered – and less able to work better together.
- The fact that teamwork, collaboration and cocreation should be a choice – and getting clear on what that looks like is fundamental to doing teamwork better.
- Simon’s three alignments for teams – focus flow and care – and the questions you can ask to reflect on what this might look like for your team.
- Why this work has to start with the senior leaders in the room – and the vulnerability we need to start that work toward being better.
- One simple shift you can make to your team meetings to make them useful and increase collaboration.
If you want to connect with Simon and ask about his visual model for the three alignments, reach out to him at:
