Aid for Aid Workers Leadership Podcast
Episodes
What's the first thing you do when you know you're going to be deployed to respond to an emergency? What do you do once you arrive on site? What should you consider when working with an implementing partner? These are just some of the questions my guest Marianna Kuttothara, who has 9 years working for the Red Cross and currently is the Lead for Cash and Relief.
In the interview Marianna shares some best practices that h...
As leaders, it is important we understand how to manage our emotions so we can be thoughtful about how we respond to different situations, rather than irrational and unprofessional. In this episode I provide a four step process you can use to become more aware of your emotions and able to respond in a way that builds relationships and understanding.
Resources:
A common challenge my students have around coaching is how to introduce it to their teams for the first time. When working with a team that is not used to receiving coaching, it can be a bit difficult at first for them to understand, which can impact the outcome of those conversations.
In this episode I go over some ways you can easily introduce coaching to your team for more effective conversations that produce results and move ...
Today I'm excited to introduce the stories of three of my students and how they've incorporated coaching in their work. I'm sure you can learn something from their journey that can inspire you to become an even better leader.
The first interview is Helen Henderson, an Australian who works as a Program Manager for Marie Stopes. The second is Paulina da Torres, who is Timorese and works for a social enterprise in Timo...
If you work for the UN or an INGO, you may have worked with local NGO's or civil society while implementing a project. And if you have, you probably know that this can be super rewarding, but also super challenging.
I always struggled with questions like: How do we strengthen our local partner's institutional capacity without taking over the process? Better yet, how do we make it sustainable so they don't stop followi...
There is a lot of talk about coaching these days. What I find interesting is that although many think they know what coaching is, when they start learning more about it they realize that they actually don't know as much as they had thought.
I am excited to bring you today's episode in the form of a coaching session with a busy Head of Programs named Karen Janes. From this coaching session you can better understand what co...
In coaching, we often challenge those we are coaching to go beyond what they think they can do, or to get out of their comfort zone in a way we know will benefit them. If done properly, it can be very effective in encouraging someone to advance.
I used challenging previously to effectively help my direct reports grow stronger and take risks they may not have otherwise. In this episode I share three common ways you can challenge y...
Of course as leaders our teams will do what we ask. After all, we are supervising them! But what happens to all those initiatives you spent so hard working on after you're gone? Will they continue on, or will they fall apart without your oversight?
In today's episode I discuss how to know if your team is really following you, and what to do if they aren't. This can mean the difference between leaving behind a last...
Although there are a lot of changes recently due to COVID-19 and the way we work, a trend that has been going on for some time now is the shift of traditionally expat filled positions becoming "nationalized".
Today my guest Joachim Schwartz from the Civil Society Academy speaks of his experience on how the INGO Welthungerhlife has made this transition, and what he's learned along the way.
In this episode you'll ...
Today's episode is a bit different. I thought I would share my experience after having COVID-19 back in early April. Since then I have mostly recovered, but I wanted to share some things that are not being said in the mainstream media, and that I wish I had known previously.
I am not a doctor nor do I have a medical background. I am not recommending a "cure" or one way to overcome COVID. I am only sharing my exper...
Have you ever noticed a voice in your head that is really good at filling in the blanks? I promise you have one. I know mine has gotten really good at telling me what someone else is thinking, or what they mean when they say something. And sometimes it is right - but a lot of times, it's not.
Filling in gaps with our own assumptions and understanding of the world can lead us into trouble. Especially in the international d...
Have you ever been frustrated with team members who won't bring up a problem until the last minute? What about those who won't tell you when they are not clear on what you just spent an hour explaining, which you find out when they don't turn in the revised budget you asked for? These are just a few of the scenarios which can result from cultural misunderstandings, and can lead to blocks in communication, strained rel...
In this episode I provide five habits you can easily practice to become a better leader in international development. You'll learn how to incorporate these habits into your work week, and how they can help you become healthier, more motivated in addition to getting better results from those you lead.
We all do it sometimes. Despite great intentions of getting those important things done on our to do list, we find more interesting things to do. And that means we leave that proposal, or budget realignment or whatever it is for the last minute. This in turn results in stress, anxiety and maybe even poorer quality work.
In this episode you'll learn five easy ways you can stop procrastinating and start holding yourself accoun...
The way we communicate can have a tremendous impact in our work and life. Our communication style can deepen relationships and influence others to join our vision as leaders, or can isolate and create misunderstandings. The good news is being aware of a few simple differences can allow us to communicate for the better, whether it's with our supervisor, our team, donors or even our family.
In this episode Farnoosh Brock of P...
It's a new challenge many leaders are facing in the time of COVID - how do I lead a remote team? My guest today Matt Ellingson has 26 years' experience in aid work, and currently is the Director of Humanitarian Affairs for Food for the Hungry. Matt has been managing remote teams in complex humanitarian emergencies for about six years, and shares with us some of his lessons learned.
In this episode we cover:
This week's episode is a blast from the past-- an episode I did toward the beginning of the start of the podcast titled "The True Way to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion".
We often think of gender equality and social inclusion within our programming, but have you evaluated your admin, HR and communications team in order to ensure true compliance at all levels? Inspired by human rights violations during Soharto’s p...
Given all that's going on in the world right now, it is definitely impacting your team in one way or another. There are changes in different areas of their lives, and maybe more coming. It is important as leaders that we allow space for our team to be able to talk about what they are thinking and feeling in order to understand they are not alone and also feel like they have been heard. This can help morale and prevent rumors...
As humanitarians we all have our stories about reaching, and perhaps surpassing, our breaking point. You know, the time when you lost it and started yelling at your team, or you slammed a door harder than you had meant to, or you find yourself sick with some parasite whose name you cannot pronounce.
My guest today, Lia Hulit, shares some ways to make wellbeing more sustainable, or how to be proactive about maintaining wellbeing so...