Impact Factory Podcasts

Having influence and gaining respect from your colleagues with independence of your hierarchy could be daunting but also very rewarding and even fun. Learn in this podcast with Jo Ellen Grzyb and Katy Miller how to make your ideas to be listened to and discover the factors that make a good influencer: Likeability, generosity, confidence, passion… to name a few.   

Organisations with a clear purpose do better than those without it, says a recent Harvard Business Review study in partnership with the EY Beacon Institute. We certainly agree; Purpose is now more relevant than ever, especially in this fast-paced world with a growing awareness of those brands doing their best to change the world for good. In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Ottillie Parfitt discuss what purpose means at an individual and organisational level, and offer thought-provoking ideas to help your organisation develop and utilise yours.  

Resilience refers to how well we can deal with adversity and bounce back. In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb, Founder Director of Impact Factory, and Paul Hughes, one of our trainers and ex-Chelsea and Southampton mid-fielder, discuss the psychology behind resilient people, teams and businesses, and the importance of learning how to ride the waves of uncertainty in the times we’re living. They explore the differences between resilience and endurance and offer practical tips to increase your self-awareness to identify these triggers that may undermine the way you respond to challenges in a positive way.

What makes a good line manager? Which issues a new manager may encounter in his new managerial role? Having people skills to inspire a motive a team and get things done are some of the important capabilities that any line manager would need to excel. In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Sarah Dawrant, one of our senior Training Consultants at Impact Factory, discuss the challenges a new line manager may have and offer practical solutions to accomplish work and increase performance.   

The same principles that build a great sport club can be applied to a work team. Paul Hughes, ex Chelsea and Southampton football midfielder, now a successful manager for Hayes & Yeading United F.C. and an Impact Factory trainer, shares with Jo Ellen Grzyb his thoughts and experience about what makes individuals, with different personalities and idiosyncrasies to work as one to achieve a common goal. What works in the pitch also works in the boardroom. Impact Factory

Any kind of change, specially within organisations, could be challenging. Jo Ellen Grzyb and Sarah Dawrant discuss the importance of leading people through change by transparent communication, personal commitment with the teams and acknowledgment of people’s emotional stages when facing change, as explained by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and her Change Curve. Jo Ellen and Sarah also offer the best advice for organisations to become more competitive and ready to accelerate change: introduce regular small changes and allow people to express their ideas to create an open and engaging culture. Impact Factory

Humans are the most important asset for organisations. Despite technological advances changing -even improving – our lives and our jobs, it’s all for nothing without humans at the core. Jo Ellen Grzyb and Sarah Creevey discuss the latest neuroscience studies that focus on the plasticity of the brain (an organ that is far more nimble and agile than any software or app) and how people learn. It’s all about motivation and upping the ante to absorb new information - and allowing emotions to be expressed.  It’s about providing lots of opportunities to practice and to build on what we already do well - all of which create associations that stick. This is precisely Impact Factory’s training method since 1991, now fully backed by neuroscience. Impact Factory

Despite all the cutting-edge technology and technical advances that have substantially changed our lives and jobs; after all the articles and reports on AI and digital transformation, it’s clear that the future, more than ever, is human. Jo Ellen Grzyb and Tina Lamb discuss the vital importance of people for organisations to become agile, flexible, collaborative and creative to respond to their most urgent challenges. Something that can be achieved by awaking the dormant but innate communication and engaging skills that we all have. Impact Factory    

35 UK Universities prompted by Cambridge University have run a study and have concluded that women tend to speak at least 3 times less than their male colleagues.     One of our Directors, Jo Ellen Grzyb, has participated on Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 and has offered very practical tools to inspire all and boost confidence. Impact Factory

There are new skills and behaviours absolutely key to help people stay nimble as the world changes around them, which it is doing on a continual, accelerated basis.  In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb, Director and Founder of Impact Factory and Katherine Grice, senior trainer consultant of Impact Factory discuss how, by investing in people and their development, you can help your organisation to stay ahead of the game, addressing rapid growth and change and improving productivity and retention.  Impact Factory

For L&D and HR professionals, it could be easy to identify technical learning gaps. But, how do you assess the subtler learning requirements that underpin how people communicate, interact and work together? In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Tina Lamb discussed the importance of putting the individual at the centre of learning to make change effective and implement a successful culture shift through Continuing Personal Development (CPD). Impact Factory

We are living in a fast-paced world. Businesses and professionals never have had a stronger need to be adaptable and agile to respond to their challenges. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report has determined that the top three skills needed by 2020 will be: Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking and Creativity. Roll them into one and voilà! Creative Strategic Thinking. In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Janet Addison discuss the importance of encouraging employees to put diverse ideas together which makes businesses thrive and creates a culture of innovation and high engaged teams.   Impact Factory

  Do you make New Year Resolutions? Are you tired of writing down a list to realise half way through the year that you are far from reaching them? In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Nick Clark Windo have fun discussing the origins of the New Year Resolutions and how we have become self-absorbed with personal improvements that just put ourselves under pressure. Their advice: Raise your consciousness of your habits so you’ll have better chances to change things to achieve a healthier and more enjoyable personal growth while accomplishing your goals. Impact Factory

Journalist Laura Barton completes her examination of the place of confidence in modern life with a personal quest to explore the role of confidence in our everyday lives and relationships. Laura speaks with Jo Ellen Grzyb, one of the founders of Impact Factory, about how she has managed to move from being 'a human doormat' in her early life to being the head of an organisation teaching people how to become more confident. Laura takes part part in a professional workshop at Impact Factory to find out whether, in the words of another attendee, it's possible to display confidence "without turning into a jerk." Impact Factory

The best Performance Management is all about giving honest, productive and relevant feedback to make your people and your business grow, develop and excel. In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Katy Miller explain why good Performance Management is vital to reinforce engagement and build a strong culture having a huge impact in your team and in your business.   Impact Factory

Social drinks, company parties, mince pies, carol singing, present wrapping, morning frost and family gatherings. Christmas or the Festive Season, as you wish, is around the corner. How to survive Christmas or the Festive Season (as you wish) Learn with Jo Ellen Grzyb and Katherine Grice how to have a stress free festivity by embracing the unexpected and making life easier for yourself. Impact Factory

What makes good customer service? Could authenticity and consistent real care delivered by organisations of all sectors be the key to increase customer retention and profitability? In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb, Dom Kracmar and Isabel Pollen explain how clear communication, genuine interest, positive language, humour and human factor are the elements to achieve excellent customer service.    Listen to this recording and learn how to create Win/Win situations so everyone goes away feeling 'right' and returning for more. Impact Factory

Humans are pattern making ‘machines’ if you will.  We do a lot of things by rote for very good reasons.  Our bodies are made up of interlinking ‘systems’ and those systems operate through patterns that we never ever think about….until we are ill.  When we are ill it’s because one of those systems is out of whack.  Our lives are governed by patterns so that we don’t have to re-learn things every time we want to do them.  That’s the upside of patterns:  they make our lives so much easier. The possible downside of patterns is mindlessness: we do things so much by rote that we are barely aware we are doing them anymore. Mindfulness takes practise and the rewards are truly worth it.  Less stress, less anxiety, a happier outlook, a healthier body, a more peaceful, calmer inner life. Learn a few tips to help you become more mindful in this podcast with Jo Ellen Grzyb, Tom Bodell and Sarah Dawrant.   Impact Factory

What makes a good leader especially in the uncertain times we’re living in? As a leader, your success depends upon your ability to get things done: up, down and across all lines in good times and in times of crisis. To do so, you must be persuasive and convincing to win hearts and minds. Are the best leaders born with these essential skills or can we all develop them? In this podcast, Jo Ellen Grzyb and Nick Clark Windo discuss the relevance of values, preparation and good communication to succeed as a leader.  Impact Factory