In this episode, we’re chatting to Gretchen Gagel. An expert in the construction industry, she consults to owners to support the cost-effective planning, design, and construction of capital assets, and to contractors, engineering firms, and material and equipment suppliers.
Her firm, Greatness Consulting, has worked with high level clients over the years including Intel, Marriott, Hewlett Packard, United Airlines and others.
Gretchen holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA from the University of Denver, a Masters in Nonprofit Management and a PhD in Organisational Learning, Performance and Change.
She is also an Affiliate Professor at the Australia National University and the University of Denver, where she develops and teaches courses on leadership and ethics, change and agility, strategic human resource management, evidence-based management and team performance.
Her research explores the relationship between leader behaviours and organisation agility, which we’re very interested in and talk more about in this episode.
She’s also an experienced consultant to the nonprofit sector and author of ‘8 Steps To Being A Great Working Mom’.
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Episode Highlights:
- Gretchen’s focus at the moment - leadership and women
- What Gretchen’s firm, Greatness Consulting, does - helps people solve strategic issues
- The problem with creating change management as a capability nowadays - everything changes faster than it used to
- How Gretchen defines agility
- The book she used for her research - ‘The Agility Factor’
- The four agile routines - agile strategising, agile proceeding, agile testing and agile implementation
- What Gretchen did for her PhD study - measured the behaviours of leaders of business units and the presence of the four agile routines
- Typical leader behaviours Gretchen found in her research
- What Gretchen would like to research in the future - how culture develops these four agile routines
- How leaders influence business culture and why it’s key they understand their impact
- The difference between leaders and teams in the USA and Australia
- Regional cultures in the USA
- How our nationalities and backgrounds impact our ability to lead effectively
- The teams Gretchen has worked with in Australia are all multi-cultural
- Google Aristotle Project - learning about psychological safety
- Gretchen’s tips to leaders and teams to demonstrate or give psychological safety
- Making the time to reflect on yourself as a leader
- Sometimes you have to let people go if you want your culture to change
- Gretchen’s upcoming work - chairing the board of Bridges to Prosperity
- Habits Gretchen has to ensure she remains a high performer - no caffeine, working out, 8 hours’ sleep a night and regularly playing golf
- One piece of advice Gretchen gives to her clients that she needs to take on board herself
Useful Links:
“The one piece of advice I give my clients that I need to listen to myself: You have to know how to say no so you don’t end up with too much on your plate.” - @GretchenGagel #PeopleLeaders #Business #Consulting