Sutton HR & Business Psychology Consulting

21/09/2023

Last week I had the pleasure of working with some fabulous colleagues in Munich (Jay Chopra, PhD and Josina Gleixner). We had some great sessions with a large client, gamifying team effectiveness, bringing innovation and creativity to life!

Although lots of fun was had, it was important that our approach was grounded in evidence and now we start to develop actions that can be used day to day within the organisation.

19/07/2023

One of the great things about my job is that I get to work with lots of different clients in lots of interesting places…but I have to say this is one of my favs

08/03/2022

is an opportunity to celebrate achievements by women and raise awareness against bias. So much inequality still exists so the most important thing we must do is to continue to take actions that will move us towards equality.

We should strive to surround ourselves with people who are positive, encouraging, kind, ambitious, honest and empathetic. People who will celebrate your wins and raise you up.

We are committed to action towards a society where difference is valued and celebrated.



Photo: Karl Magnuson

10/02/2022

The last 6 months have been exciting for SuttonHR Consulting as we have relocated to Cork, Ireland. We continue to work with clients in the Isle of Man, UK and Ireland.

Some of the services that we offer:
HR Audits to review your contracts and policies
HR outsourcing for small business
Interim HR Leadership
Training for people managers
Psychometric Testing (Personality & Ability Testing)
Insights Discovery
Emotional Intelligence (EQ-i 2.0)
Coaching
Diversity and Inclusion Workshops

Get in touch for a chat to see how we can help your business.

08/02/2022

Leader Behaviour Matters!

When leadership behaviour and espoused organisational culture don't align, what does this mean for the organisation and how it attracts and retains employees?

When leadership behaviour and espoused organisational culture don't align, what does this mean for the organisation and how it attracts and retains employees?

Lots of organisations talk big about their culture and their values. What do they even mean by it? The failure by many researchers to agree on a definition of organisational culture also does not help. For now, I will go with this definition by Chatman(1):

“Organisational culture…is a pattern of beliefs and expectations that members share and that produce these norms, which in turn, powerfully shape what people do in that organisational context”

Many organisations have values on their websites and words on walls espousing the culture of their company. From experience and in discussions with colleagues, quite often the behaviour accepted contradicts those values, so the following statement really resonates with me:

“The culture of any organisation is shaped by the worst behaviour the leader is willing to tolerate”(2)

Social Learning Theory (3) indicates that we observe the behaviour of leaders in our organisations and the consequences, and then decide how to use that knowledge. If the consequence is positive, even if the behaviour is not, it may influence how people behave. However, we may choose not to replicate that behaviour depending on our own values. In a conversation with a CEO, they told me that “Sometimes you learn more from people who you don’t enjoy working with, in terms of things you don’t want to be”.

Is the culture of an organisation then all about behaviours?

If an employee joins an organisation and is influenced by the espoused values, what happens when they witness behaviour that contradicts those values, and that behaviour is not called out? Will those people self-select out, as suggested by Attraction-Selection-Attrition theory(4), leaving the organisation with people who accept that behaviour and behave in a similar manner?

If culture is about behaviour or influenced by it, organisations need to understand the importance of leader’s role-modelling the behaviours they value and make a point to call out those that undermine those values. Otherwise, it’s just random words on a wall.
Sources:
1. Chatman JA. Behavioral Norms , Not Personality , is How Cultures Change . . . if we define culture as aggregated personalities homo ­ culture changing slowly if at all . And yet , we observe. 2021;53(1):60–3.
2. Gruenert S, Whitaker T. School culture rewired: How to define, assess, and transform it. ASCD; 2015.
3. Bandura A. Social learning theory. Vol. 1. Prentice-hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ; 1977.
4. Schneider B, Goldstein HW, Smith DB. the Asa Framework: an Update. Pers Psychol. 1995;40(3):437–53.

17/09/2021

Recent Irish case law highlighting the importance of equality and dignity at work training for all employees.

05/08/2021

Delighted to have achieved the designation of Chartered Fellow with the !

Whilst working on the Isle of Man over the last 7 years, I had the opportunity to work with some amazing people and clients. My new designation comes at the beginning of a new chapter as I return to Ireland. Looking forward to what the future brings!

08/03/2021

Today I am grateful for the leaders and role models I have encountered in my career that have supported me to be best I can be. For me, learning never stops. I'm always interested in what companies actually DO to challenge inequality and the gender pay gap. Do they offer advice and support to overcome the systemic barriers or do they try to remove those barriers?

Those in power help to maintain the status quo where gender inequality is quite evident, through the continued issues with pay equality and with the selection process where figures show the majority of executive roles are awarded to men.

Often, rather than challenging the systemic issues in relation to women’s advancement, advice is offered to women on what they can do to help themselves such as seeking out a mentor or pursuing high profile projects. This could be interpreted as offering women assistance to overcome the barriers, as opposed to recognising that the barriers need to be removed.

What would happen if we spent less time telling women to be more confident, and more time picking leaders on actual competence? We would not just improve leadership quality, but also gender equality. And it would be much harder for narcissistic and psychopathic men to thrive.

09/02/2021

Last year I had the privilege of interviewing some amazing women leaders as part of my research into gender equality at the top levels of organisations and this article summarises that research.

I sought to understand the journey of women who had reached the top levels in their careers and explore their experience of leaders, role models and/or mentors throughout their life. It looked, in particular, at the perceived influence on their achievements. This research focussed on 'C-suite' women to ascertain participants’ thoughts on how the behaviours they observed from role models and mentors influenced their own behaviours, choices, decisions, and career trajectory.

With a relatively small number of women reaching this level, it may be useful for organisations to gain insight into what these women believe was both beneficial and detrimental during their journeys, as they strive to see more women reach senior leadership and board level.

Perspectives of C-suite women on the influence of leader, role model and mentor behaviours. "We are at last beginning to relegate to the history books the idea of the token woman.