Synopsis
It was psychologist Abraham Maslow who said "A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." That was the starting point for my blog and this podcast. More than ever the world of work is a heady mix of people, behaviour, events and challenges. When the blend is right it can be first-rate. Behavioural science has a lot to offer in terms of recipes and ingredients - welcome to People Soup.
Episodes
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Meet Gabriella Braun
02/02/2023 Duration: 36minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 12 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. In this episode you'll meet Gabriella Braun - and part one of our chat lands on an auspicious day - it's the day when Gabriella's book - ALL THAT WE ARE - lands in paperback form - 2 Feb 2023.Gabriella Braun is the director of Working Well, a specialist consultancy firm that uses psychoanalytic and systemic thinking to help leaders and teams understand the hidden truths of their behaviour at work. In part one of our chat, you'll get to know a bit more about Gabriella, her childhood, what happened when she entered the world of work, how she floundered in a more senior leadership role and how the seeds for her work and her extraordinary book were planted.You'll also hear Gabriella's views on the key organizational and leadership themes that have emerged over the course of the pandemic, and of course, her song choice.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in
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Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool
26/01/2023 Duration: 27minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 11 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. In this episode you'll hear Andréa Watts talking about the messy process of writing a book - and how her Collage Coaching Technique really helped her to get unstuck. Andrea uses collage to help people look inside and surface what's going on for them and how it might be impacting on their behaviour. Her book is called Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool - A comprehensive resource for coaches and psychologists. You'll hear all about the book - from the first sentence to the whole writing process and how she stayed motivated during the darker times. Andréa is an inspiration - and her passion shines through in the way she talks about her book.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun. We're all about Unlocking Workplace Potential with expert perspectives from Contextual Behavioural Science.There is a transcript for e
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ENCORE - psychological safety in virtual teams with Alexandra Lechner
19/01/2023 Duration: 31minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 10 of People Soup. It's Ross McIntosh here. I've been floored by a heavy cold this week so instead of Part 2 of my chat with Andrea Watts (which will appear next week) we're revisiting the archives and sharing one of our most popular episodes, my chat with Alexandra Lechner. We talk about her ground breaking research on the challenges of building psychological safety in virtual teams. We cover the barriers and the enablers and it’s fascinating to hear Alexandra’s recommendations too. Alexandra was a student on the MSc in Organisational Psychology at City, University of London and her research supervisor was Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock, our legendary guest from the first episodes of this season.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun. We're all about Unlocking Workplace Potential with expert perspectives from Contextual Behavioural Science.There is a transcript for
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The girl beneath the blanket with Andréa Watts
13/01/2023 Duration: 36minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 9 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. I'm so excited to share this conversation with Andréa Watts who uses collage to help people look inside and surface what's going on for them and how it might be impacting on their behaviour. In coaching we could imagine our clients are like an iceberg - there's a lot going on beneath the surface and through the development of her Collage Coaching Technique, Andréa allows her clients to explore and reveal their inner world in a new and innovative way. Andréa is an entrepreneur - Her business is called - Unglue You and her book is called "Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool - A comprehensive resource for coaches and psychologists". We'll speak more about the book next time - but first of all let's get to know Andrea - her career path - a bit of the science behind the approach- how she uses ACT alongside collage with her clients and of course - her song choice. Andrea is an inspiration - and you'll also find o
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Female Entrepreneurship with Dr Hayley Lewis
05/01/2023 Duration: 46minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 8 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. IN our last episode I introduced you to Dr Hayley Lewis - Hayley is the founder of Halo Psychology - and as an occupational psychologist she provides expert and evidence based support for individuals, teams and organisations going through transition. This episode is a right treat - as we get to hear first hand about Hayley's doctoral research and not just the outcomes but the whole darned process. Hayley approached her research with her characteristic drive, curiosity, authenticity, diligence, humour and much more. If you've ever wondered about the qualitative research process, thematic analysis and what exactly is a systematic literature review - then this is the episode for you. You'll also hear about Hayley's research findings - they're not only informative but fascinating - she's the first to look at values in relation to female business ownership and explore the lived experience of female entrepreneurs
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Meet Dr Hayley Lewis
29/12/2022 Duration: 43minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 7 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. I'd like to introduce you to Dr Hayley Lewis. Hayley is the founder of Halo Psychology - and as an occupational psychologist she provides expert and evidence based support for individuals, teams and organisations going through transition. In this episode - you'll get to know Hayley and she's very open about her career experience to date and what made her take the final leap to establish Halo Psychology. We chat about the motivation to take those leaps and how we present them to the world, her approach to her profession, psychological safety and a whole lot more. You'll also get to hear Hayley's song choice and the reason for her doctoral research topic. It was a joy to speak to Hayley and I hope you'll feel that from the conversation. People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun. We're all about Unlocking Workplace P
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Better Happy with Mike Jones
22/12/2022 Duration: 29minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 6 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. This is the Second part of my chat with Mike Jones, he's the founder and chief at Better Happy - who enables organisations to develop healthy, motivated, high-performing managers, safe from burnout, In this episode Mike talks about the better happy approach - and we chat about topics that are very important to us both - including our view that workplaces are optimally placed to make a meaningful impact on happiness and wellbeing and that culture can be massively influenced by leadership role modelling. We also talk about the impact of ACT on Mike and also why the ACT segments are the most rewarding part of the training he delivers.He truly is a man on a mission to make a difference.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun. We're all about Unlocking Workplace Potential with expert perspectives from C
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Happy Yuletide - Festive Trailer
21/12/2022 Duration: 03minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 5 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here and I've got a little festive trailer for you all. Please be warned this does include some of my legendary vocals.P soupers - Happy Yuletide - and as we approach Christmas Time - Mistletoe and Wine - I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you for your support for the People Soup Podcast - whether you listened to one episode or the whole shebang - I'm extremely grateful . Looking back over the year - we've had some outstanding guest - Season 4 included some legendary voices and Season 5 has had a phenomenally strong start with some unique festive treats and I am indebted to all of our incredible guests.Our advent offering was a three parter with Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock - who is at the cutting edge of next generation mindfulness, breathing new life into the research on collective mindfuless, which can help teams and organisations reach new levels of awareness and collaboration.Our Christmas present is a two parter with M
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Meet Mike Jones
15/12/2022 Duration: 39minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 4 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. This is the First part of my chat with Mike Jones, He's the founder of Better Happy and I always leave a conversation with Mike feeling inspired and invigorated. Better Happy enables organisations to develop healthy, motivated, high-performing managers, safe from burnout, as they say"When your managers thrive, your people and business thrive." In this episode he openly shares the ups and downs of his fascinating career - which involves two tours of Afghanistan, living in a Tibetan monastery and setting up his first start up - a cross fit gym. All of these experiences led Mike to create his highly successful business - Better Happy.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun to help you glow to work a bit more often.Another first for Season 5 is that I'm adding a transcript, wherever possible. Ther
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Lessons from the Skein with Jutta Tobias Mortlock
08/12/2022 Duration: 30minHi there and a very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 3 of People Soup – it’s Ross McIntosh here. This is the final part of my chat with Jutta, we could have gone on for days, but I'm sure she'll be back. Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock, a social psychologist from City, University of London who is the co-director of the Centre for Excellence in Mindfulness Research.IN this episode - Jutta describes more about her published research, the paper is called - "Extending the Transformative Potential of Mindfulness Through Team Mindfulness Training, Integrating Individual With Collective Mindfulness, in a High-Stress Military Setting" - and that's in Frontiers in Psychology. We find our what there is to learn from geese in terms of team work and how the collective mindfulness literature shows that this reliability or resilience in the face of collective stress for an organization is driven by two things, leadership and culture. We also touch upon the reputational damage to mindfulness, caused by the tone deaf way it c
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Collective Mindfulness with Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock
01/12/2022 Duration: 32minA very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 2 of People Soup. In this episode I continue my chat with Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock, a social psychologist from City, University of London who is the co-director of the Centre for Excellence in Mindfulness Research.Together we explore the concept of collection or team mindfulness and Jutta shares how she has approached the development of the skill in her work with Naval cadets. We also consider how team mindfulness contributes to psychological safety. Psychological safety in virtual teams was a topic we explored in Season 4 in an interview with one of Jutta's research students, Alexandra Lechner. You can find a link to that episode below.People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun to help you glow to work a bit more often.Another first for Season 5 is that I'm adding a transcript, wherever possible. There is a caveat - this transcript is largely generated by Artificial Inte
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Mindfulness Manifesto with Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock
24/11/2022 Duration: 30minA very warm welcome to Season 5 Episode 1 of People Soup. Our first guest is Dr Jutta Tobias Mortlock, a social psychologist from City, University of London who is the co-director of the Centre for Excellence in Mindfulness Research.Jutta's research explores next generation mindfulness, which means using the science of mindfulness at a collaborative, team level. In this episode you'll hear a bit about Jutta's career history, the breadth of her mindfulness exploration and the motivation for her current research. It was such a fascinating chat that I've decided to spread the joy and split the conversation over three episodes. Mindfulness is often misunderstood and I felt it was important to give it a thorough airing for the P-Soupers to reflect and digest. People Soup is an award winning podcast where we share evidence based behavioural science, in a way that’s practical, accessible and fun to help you glow to work a bit more often.Another first for Season 5 is that I'm adding a transcript, wherever possi
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Interview Reflections & The Matrix
02/10/2022 Duration: 24minSeason 4 Episode 25Hi there and a very warm welcome to Season 4 Episode 25 of People Soup. This week - it’s a short cup a soup - called Interview Reflections & The Matrix. It’s a continuation of the previous episode - where I shared a particularly memorable and cringeworthy interview experience. In this episode - I’ll share some of the insights from our listeners, the P-Soupers, and their experiences of work interviews. And then I’ll introduce, or reintroduce the ACT Matrix - as a way to reflect on/and sort through the experience of that interview, to help me learn and grown. You might want to use the matrix to reflect on an experience you’ve had, whether it’s an interview or anything else that’s been on your mind.Shownotes - including a template for the matrix at www.rossmcintosh.co.ukConnect with Ross and the ShowTwitter https://twitter.com/PeopleSoupPodhttps://twitter.com/RossMcCOACHInstagram https://www.instagram.com/people.soup/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/peoplesouppod/LinkedIn https://www.link
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The Greasy Pole
19/08/2022 Duration: 07minSeason 4 Episode 24Hi there and a very warm welcome to Season 4 Episode 24 of People Soup. This week - it’s a short cup a soup and we’re going experimental. I was reflecting on the approach of Rich and Joe in last week's episode to self-esteem, and my mind went back to an interview I had whilst I was still in the Civil Service, over 10 years ago. It was for a senior role and it was, without a doubt - the worst interview I’ve ever had, cringworthy, terrifying, embarrassing and humiliating. I’ll tell you all about it this episode.Why the hell am I sharing this - When I’d much rather just keep avoiding this memory. Well for three reasons - * It might resonate with some of you * You might me willing to share your worst interview experience with the P-Soupers * In the next episode - I’ll share how I can usefully reflect on that interview, using a tool called the ACT matrix - to help me sort my experience, and learn for the future.If you'd like to share a terrible interview experience with the P-Soupers - you can e
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Self-Esteem with Rich and Joe
09/08/2022 Duration: 50minSeason 4 Episode 23I’m delighted to be back to share part two of my chat with Dr Richard Bennett and Dr Joe Oliver - both clinical psychologists - both legends in their field- they joined me on the show to talk about self-esteem at work. We began by unpacking the concept that’s so popular and Rich and Joe draw upon the evidence to illustrate how self esteem can be quite a narrow and restrictive concept. People might say - "I’ve got high self esteem" or "I’ve got low self esteem" and it can feel quite rigid and inflexible. It can limit our behaviour and impact our whole career and or life. The chaps present their alternative perspective of self-acceptance - which effectively captures the nuanced and multifaceted experience of being a human. Their approach has is set out in their book - The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Move Beyond Negative Self-Talk and Embrace Self-Compassion And in this episode - there’s a treasure trove of insights and a tre
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Get to Know - Rich & Joe
26/04/2022 Duration: 42minSeason 4 Episode 22Hi there and a very warm welcome to Season 4 Episode 22 of People Soup.I’m delighted to share part one of my chat with Dr Richard Bennett and Dr Joe Oliver - both clinical psychologists - both legends in their field. They joined me on the show to talk about self- esteem at work - and I spent the first part of the conversation inviting them to share a bit more about themselves and their career trajectories - and I’m mighty glad I did. I’ve attended several trainings with the Bennett-Olivers and also some solo gigs from each of them AND I learned so much more about them in this conversation. Both of them were very open and their career trajectories have had some quite pivotal moments, where they explored interesting, career change opportunities. We also hear about their stance towards training delivery and of, course - their song choices.Shownotes at www.rossmcintosh.co.ukTwitter https://twitter.com/PeopleSoupPodhttps://twitter.com/RossMcCOACHInstagram https://www.instagram.com/people.soup/F
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Dr Arianna Prudenzi - Part 2 - Researching psychological flexibility in the workplace
12/04/2022 Duration: 34minSeason 4 Episode 21I’m delighted to share part two of my chat with Dr Arianna Prudenzi - now I told you in part one that Arianna was a prolific researcher - and you’re about to find out why. I’m so excited to share this episode where Arianna describes four of her recent research publications.Shownotes at http://www.rossmcintosh.co.uk/2022/04/dr-arianna-prudenzi-part-2-researching.htmlConnect with the showTwitter https://twitter.com/PeopleSoupPodhttps://twitter.com/RossMcCOACHInstagram https://www.instagram.com/people.soup/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/peoplesouppod/LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-mcintosh-261a2a22/And you can support the podcast by buying me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/peoplesoup
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Dr Arianna Prudenzi - Part One
05/04/2022 Duration: 32minSeason 4 Episode 20I’m delighted to share part one of my chat with Dr Arianna Prudenzi.Arianna is a research fellow at the University of Birmingham and her research focusses on promoting mental health in the workplace. In this episode we’ll find out a bit more about her and what drives her to make such a valuable contribution through her work.You’ll also hear about Arianna’s ambitions and interests, her career path, the challenges of learning a language and her passion for dance.Shownotes at http://www.rossmcintosh.co.uk/2022/04/dr-arianna-prudenzi-part-one.htmlTwitter https://twitter.com/PeopleSoupPodhttps://twitter.com/RossMcCOACHInstagram https://www.instagram.com/people.soup/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/peoplesouppod/LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-mcintosh-261a2a22/Linktree - for links to many other podcast platforms and apps - linktr.ee/PeopleSoupAnd you can support the podcast by buying me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/peoplesoup
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Helping
14/03/2022 Duration: 11minSeason 4 Episode 19Hi there and a very warm welcome to Season 4 Episode 19 of People Soup. Yes I'm back - after an unexpected break due to catching Covid, which knocked me out for a few weeks.This episode a new type of episode - one aimed more at those who are workplace trainers or facilitators support adults in the development of new skills. It’s a short cup/a/soup called Helping. Equally, it could be useful for anyone contemplating the helping relationship.Have you ever had the misfortune to fall over in public or witness somebody else taking a tumble.It’s yes to both of those scenarios for me and in my experience - there’s a common theme which relates to the helping relationship. It's inspired by one of my cycling adventures, the work of Edgar Schein and a reflection from my friend and colleague, Rich Bennett.Facilitators and trainers - I’d love to get your feedback on this episode - does this resonate with you and your experience? Would you like to see more episodes like this?Shownotes are at - www.rossmc
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Remembering Lou, our ACT Auntie, our inspiration
19/01/2022 Duration: 45minSeason 4 Episode 18 - reissued from the People Soup archivesThis episode is revisiting a favourite conversation from the archives - my chat with Louise Gardner, my ACT Auntie, your ACT Auntie, our inspiration.Over the last few days I’ve been feeling a bit adrift and overwhelmed - the enormity of business planning, the complexity of my residency application, improving my Spanish. And as an aside, that’s nothing to do with Blue Monday, which is a nonsense created by marketing folk.And I’ve also been trying to think of a topic for the next episode, my mind was all over the shop, lots of possibilities, so for inspiration I decided to listen back to my chat with Lou. Now that Lou is no longer with us - I miss her tremendously her fun, her love, her creativity, her courage, her energy. Many days when something absurd or bizarre happens I think, I’d love to tell Lou all about that, which I go ahead and do, in my head. I also told Lou about my award in her name - you can read more about the Louise Gardner Award in th