the Captain’s Blog
Build your skills in this leadership blog with regular insights from Ollie Phillips and the Optimist Performance team. Learn about Ollie’s dual passions of rugby and adventuring, and how they relate to a corporate director role with PwC, coaching and motivational speaking to teams. Plus you will find loads of useful growth tips, success stories, podcast links, videos and more to help you build your own leadership and teamwork skills.
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Building a cohesive team can reduce loneliness – By Ollie Phillips
Most people have probably felt lonely during the past few years of lockdowns and restrictions on our social interactions. Across the country and across all age groups we are now just beginning to experience some other nasty side effects of the Covid pandemic. Our...
Who cares if leaders feel lonely? – by Optimist Performance
We talk a lot about how leaders need to make sure everyone in their team is happy and comfortable. We appreciate how important it is to create a culture that promotes well-being and performance, but while leaders take care of the people they lead, who is taking care...
What I have learned about stress & mental health since quitting rugby – By Ollie Phillips
As Stress Awareness Month comes to an end, it leads me to reflect on stress and the journey I have been on throughout my career. The topic of mental health and stress should not be taboo. We should feel empowered to be open when it comes to verbalising issues...
How can leaders help with work-related stress? – By Optimist Performance
Work-related stress affects a quarter of the population in the UK, making our jobs, along with health and money, one of the most stressful factors in our lives. There's also a link between the number of people who say they're stressed and the number of people who quit...
Why you shouldn’t completely avoid stress? – By Optimist Performance
We’ve all been bombarded with the dangerous effects of stress. But many don’t realise that stress can actually enable and encourage the best performance. Could we be less worried about stress if we believe it could help us achieve our goals, be more compassionate,...
Is your mindset stopping your growth? – By Optimist Performance
How many times have you thought or said things like "I'm too old to learn this," "I'll never be good enough," "I don't really need to know," "I'm not good at this type of thing," or "learning will take too long, and I don't have the time right now"? Learning something...
Empower the employee in the age of the hybrid workplace – By Ollie Phillips
One of the biggest challenges faced by businesses as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted in the UK is how to integrate employees back into the workplace. There’s both a marked appetite and tension, among people who are unsure what changes will mean to how and where they...
5 proven tips to improve your accountability – By Optimist Performance
You have set up your goals; you know what you want to achieve and how long it will take you. Great, you are one step ahead; however, while establishing the right goals in the right way is essential, the challenging part is to achieve these goals. And no matter what,...
Is your new hire hurting your team morale? – By Optimist Performance
Are you willing to risk your teams because of poor management? The average cost of turnover per employee is £30,614, and statistics show that 57% of employees have left a job because of their manager. So even if you offer amazing compensations, flexible working hours...
Our jobs as a source of community – By Optimist Performance
Research has shown that some of the most common reasons for people leaving their jobs are: emotional disconnection from coworkers, a lack of sense of belonging (51%), a lack of trust in one another at work (46%), and a lack of a true sense of purpose that aligns with...
Why daily exercise should form part of your corporate strategy – By Ollie Phillips
We’re often told to strike a balance between our work and personal lives – yet, for many, there are still challenges and barriers to achieving a healthy status quo. Whether you are pursuing a new line of work or have been in the same company for many years, finding...
How to change habits to achieve your goals in 2022 – By Optimist Performance
Have you already set your New Year's resolutions? How sure are you that you’ll be able to accomplish them? Do you want to get in better shape, develop in your profession, or acquire a new skill...? You've probably given it a lot of consideration, set your SMART goals...