Thriving in Uncertainty - Episode ten with Judith Formston
Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, joins us in this episode to discuss authentic leadership. Judith shares her experience leading others by showing her human side, which helps her team realise she is just like everyone else. She also provides strategies for how her organisation fosters connections to create a safe space where everyone is invited and feels that they can express themselves freely through a range of initiatives, that help workers to disconnect from the workplace, but connect with each other, including coffee breaks, Friday night wines, groups, and communities of practice.
Often, asking simple questions such as “Is everything OK?”, “What’s happening with you?” or “What are you working on at the moment?” can help us learn more about the people around us and form connections with one another. Many post-pandemic workplaces have a range of flexible working arrangements, and it can be challenging for those workers to feel connected to others, leaving many lonely, burnt out, or disengaged.
Judith Formston, Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services at the Department of Health and Wellbeing SA, joins us in this episode to discuss authentic leadership. Judith shares her experience leading others by showing her human side, which helps her team realise she is just like everyone else. She also provides strategies for how her organisation fosters connections to create a safe space where everyone is invited and feels that they can express themselves freely through a range of initiatives, that help workers to disconnect from the workplace, but connect with each other, including coffee breaks, Friday night wines, groups, and communities of practice.
Listen in as Judith talks about key takeaways from the Jarwun Program she participated in. She enjoyed the yarning circle, where she connected to others during lunchtimes by basket weaving and talking. She also discusses the current journey her department is on to give their employees a better experience and improve mental health through organising meditation sessions.
Judith is a great example of a humble, authentic, and ‘human’ leader. We hope that you get as many takeaways from this episode as we did.
Listen to episode ten:
Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Judith Formston
Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate Services
Department of Health and Wellbeing
South Australia
Judith is a Deputy Chief Executive of Corporate and Infrastructure, at the Department of Health & Wellbeing, where she has Executive responsibility for Workforce, Finance, Procurement and Contracting and Infrastructure Projects. Judith has worked in Government over 20 years and has held Executive and Senior Management positions across a number of Government agencies in South Australia.
Judith is leading the project delivery team, in delivering the new Women’s and Childrens Hospital to the South Australia, being the State’s largest health infrastructure project.
Judith has a passion for reform and project delivery, leading a number of reform projects across Corporate Services, driving change and innovation across systems and processes. Judith has a key focus on the Employee Value proposition and embedding diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.
Trailblazing with CorbettPrice Podcast - Episode 7
This week concludes our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness. We hope you have enjoyed the series and find the insights and perspectives of all our trailblazers helpful. In the final episode of our first series, we explore the seventh dimension of organisational health, the relational dimension, which is all about learning and development.
Listen to episode seven:
Also available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts:
With changing employee expectations around the learning and development opportunities organisations offer to improve their overall wellbeing, L&D managers face meeting these expectations to future-proof their organisation and attract and retain the best talent.
How and what must L&D managers focus on to provide these opportunities to employees in a hybrid working environment, and how can they empower employees to build and maintain an A-grade team?
David Powell, author, founder, and life skills mentor of The Golden Thread, joins Andy in this enlivening discussion to provide ways that L&D managers can offer learning and development opportunities that build self, relationship, and team interpersonal skills to empower their workforce in their lifelong learning journey to mastery.
David and Andy discuss the importance of mindfulness and provide examples of how powerful meditation practices can be at both the individual level and the potential contribution this can unleash at an organisational level.
This episode is jam-packed with practical advice, real-life examples, and different perspectives on boosting the relational dimension of organisational health. Listen now to hear David’s meditation based on Alpha Dynamics to get you into the blue…
Download the full transcript of episode seven (with references):
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
David’s passion lies in empowering people to achieve the success they seek in life. David is the founder of The Golden Thread’s online toolkit, Life Journey Skills and recipient of The Visioneers’ 2022 global award in recognition of his work to benefit humanity.
Born in the UK, David gained a first-class honours degree in chemical engineering at Edinburgh University and worked in the resources and IT industries for 24 years, leading many teams to success.
Realising that his passion lay in empowering people, he became a business skills trainer, facilitator, and mentor. Over almost three decades, David has helped individuals and teams in hundreds of organisations, across 30 countries and five continents to improve their lives and business performance.
After finishing university, David spent a year driving a Land Rover overland from the UK to Australia and became fascinated with the different religions and cultures that he encountered. These travels were the genesis for his lifelong research into history, religion, gnostic wisdom and psychology - to discover how to best empower people. The result is his unique ability to synthesise the latest scientific thinking and the ancient wisdom to address, and inspire the whole person - body, mind, emotions and the deeper inner being.
This is the lifetime of experience and learning that David has condensed into his online Life Journey Skills program. He teaches the essential life skills - that people don’t learn at school - so that they can thrive at life. David’s book, Life Journey Skills, is also available for free on kindle or to purchase in hardcover from amazon.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/david-powell-89539276/
Amazon: Life Journey Skills
That now concludes the first series of our Trailblazing with CorbettPrice podcast. Stay tuned as we will announce details of series two coming out soon!
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Trailblazing with CorbettPrice Podcast - Episode 5
Welcome back to our podcast series on organisational health and the seven dimensions of wellness. This week in episode five, we continue to explore the theme of employee experience by looking into one of the crucial factors that impact this positively or negatively, an organisation’s culture. Workplace culture is our fifth relational dimension of organisational health.
Listen to episode five:
Also available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts:
Workplace culture, as defined by BambooHR, is the personality of an organisation – it’s a shared set of workplace beliefs, values, attitudes, standards, purposes, and behaviours. Research by Gallup shows that employees with a strong connection to their organisation’s culture are more likely to be engaged and less likely to experience burnout as often as those without.
Cherie Canning from Luminate Leadership joins us to discuss this essential topic, where she draws on real organisational case studies to talk through the attributes leaders need to have to create a people-centric culture, how this starts with psychological safety and how to create that, how organisations can overcome toxic workplace cultures, why mental health first aid is essential for everyone throughout an organisation, and how to build a connection with employees regardless of whether they are in the office, or working from home.
This episode is must listen for anyone who wants their organisation to be more people-centric or learn how to maintain a positive and strong workplace culture.
Download the full transcript of episode five (with references):
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Cherie’s passion lies in inspiring people to achieve their potential by developing their 'human skills'.
Cherie is a passionate optimist, an avid traveller and the Founder and Director of Luminate Leadership.
With almost two decades of leading and developing leaders at Luminate and previously at Flight Centre Travel Group, Cherie has proven results and her authentic communication style and workshop content continue to leave a long-lasting impact on leaders and their businesses.
Cherie founded Luminate Leadership in 2020 with one purpose in mind; to grow and inspire leaders of today to create a better tomorrow. Her intention is to embrace human based Leadership traits such as connection, collaboration, courage, empathy, compassion and kindness.
It’s her mission, and the mission of Luminate to share these skills with as many Leaders as possible, inspiring them to be the best humans they can be and bring as much joy and fulfilment to their work and lives. Cherie will also host Luminate Leadership’s annual IGNITE conference this August, celebrating Women in Leadership through coming together to connect, learn, inspire and be inspired.
Web: www.luminateleadership.com.au
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cheriecanning