johnsonrob

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What is Culture and how to change it?

Reflecting on ten years at my current organisation, I've realised how crucial culture is in the workplace - but what is culture?

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast“Peter Drucker Reflecting on my ten years at my current organisation, I’ve realised how crucial culture is in the workplace. No matter how brilliant our strategies and research plans are, they won’t succeed without a strong and positive culture. But what is culture? I’ve come to think of it as “the way we do things around here.” Why Care About…

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The Importance of Trusting Your Team's Judgment

I recently has reason to reflect on why it's important to trust my team's judgment - here are my thoughts...

As a team leader, one of the most critical aspects of my role is to cultivate trust. Trust is not just a feel-good fuzzy thing – it is the foundation upon which high-performing teams are built. I recently has reason to reflect on why it’s important to trust my team’s judgment even when it is hard and even when I’m getting significant outside pressure to go against this judgment. So, I made an…

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What are percentiles and probabilites?

I'm just back from an extended summer break - highly recommended - so i'm going to try picking up the blogs again. To kick things off here's a little explainer.

I’m just back from an extended summer break – highly recommended – and so i’m going to try picking up the blogs again. To kick things off here’s a little explainer. One thing I am often asked in my work is what is a ‘percentile’ and what is a ‘probability’ and how do they differ, so for my first blog back I thought i’d make it a short one that I can point people to the next time they ask…

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Insights from Answer.AI's Launch

Insights from Answer.AI's Launch

Answer.AI‘s recent launch announcement and blog post presents a Research and Development (R&D) strategy that really appeals to me and aligns well with how I approach my research. Their philosophy offers a practical framework for tackling complex real world problems, which is particularly relevant in my fields of meteorology and oceanography. The core idea Jeremy Howard writes about and one that…

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Running a Scientific Paper Reading Group

How do you stay up to date on the latest paper and research?

Introduction As a part of my team’s regular activities we run a fortnightly scientific paper reading group. In this post I’d like to share how we operate our reading group, the challenges we’ve faced, and how we’re currently overcoming them. Running a paper reading group offers substantial benefits. It keeps us updated with the latest research, a crucial aspect in rapidly evolving scientific…

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Reflecting on Stand-up meetings

Effective teams don't just follow methodologies; they evolve them to fit their unique needs and continuously improve their practice.

Looking back on my journey over the last few years, I’ve come to realise the nuanced complexities of team meetings, in particular the famous “stand-up”. There was a time in my recent past when mandating stand-ups felt like an uphill battle, met with resistance and scepticism. This reflection has led me to consider three things that reshaped my perspective on stand-ups over the last year of so and…

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Conversations That Matter: The Celebrity Interview

How do you connect with and tap into the wisdom of the elders? I'm a big fan of the 'Celebrity Interview'.

Liberating Structures’ “Celebrity Interview” technique offers an innovative approach to fostering human connections and knowledge sharing between the elders of science and our teams. This method transforms “traditional science presentations” into captivating personal narratives that create a direct connection between humans. In a scientific institute, this method can be particularly valuable. It…

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5 Fingers, 1 Team: How to Build an Unstoppable Team with Voting!

How are decisions made in your teams? Top down or bottom up??

Voting is an essential process in any democratic system, and it can be just as effectively applied to decision-making in research teams. In the collaborative hub of a research science team, harnessing the collective intelligence and perspectives of every member is crucial for innovation and problem-solving. I have found that voting is not just as a method of making decisions, but is a tool for…

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The "Check-In" Ritual: How to Create a Welcoming Meeting Environment

Have you ever tried starting a meeting with everyone saying how they’re feeling or what they’ve been pondering? This idea is a riff on the “Check-In” ritual from the Core Protocols, a set of practices for building great human teams. At the beginning of a meeting, each person takes a turn to speak their mind briefly – by answering a question or finishing a sentence – and ends with “I’m in.” Then…

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The 5-Step Blueprint to Innovation

So, how do you actually get started with innovation?? Here's my 5 step Innovation blueprint.

People have been asking me how they can get started with Innovation Sprints, so I’ve put together a quick start guide on how to do your first Innovation Sprint with your team. Image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E, courtesy of OpenAI. Get on the same page – meet with your pm and your team and discuss that you want to trial an Innovation Sprint and that at the end you will be asking them to vote on…