We’ve reached a milestone at Padraig: This is our 250th blog post! As milestones go, hitting 250 seems to be a pretty auspicious occasion. After all, the celebrations for a centennial are big, but for a “sestercentennial” even more audacious ?. The first blog post was written by Patrick O’Reilly, President and CEO of Padraig, on September 13, 2013.  Patrick founded Padraig in 2012 to provide one-to-one leadership coaching after leaving the leadership team at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Patrick was a senior executive at just 28 years of age and the CEO of a Crown corporation in ch ..read more

Organizations that want to be successful should invest in creating a coaching culture.  According to newly released research from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), coaching helps employees with important organizational initiatives that are vital to workplace transformation and organizational success.  In the newly released Defining New Coaching Cultures report, the majority of respondents agreed that coaching helps employees with organizational initiatives such as: Upskilling Well-being Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Environmental ..read more

There’s a lot of discussion in corporate circles about creating a purpose-driven workplace because researchers have shown that they outperform organizations that strive for profit above all else.  What research by the Harvard Business Review Analytics Service Unit revealed about purpose-driven workplaces is that their: employees are more productive, motivated and engaged. customers are more loyal. retention rates are better. revenue growth is stronger. teams are more agile and innovative. ability to execute transformational change is better. That’s an amazing list! Being able to define ..read more

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is an important asset for leaders and team members in today’s diverse workplace. It’s important to understand how to work with leaders, peers and clients who hail from different countries, cultural and religious backgrounds, socioeconomic circumstances and experiences. Understanding what CQ is and how it can be developed can give you and your team an advantage.  Understanding Cultural Intelligence (CQ) If you’ve travelled abroad or even to different regions of Canada, you’ll likely have encountered that culture varies as you notice nuances in the ways people com ..read more

Have you ever wondered about the secret to succeeding as a leader?  If you ask our executive coaches, one of the most important skills that every leader needs is the ability to delegate effectively. To help you master delegation, we’re going to share with you how to use the RASCI Matrix to assign and manage tasks for your team. When executive leaders delegate effectively, companies flourish. They generate more revenue, create more jobs and recruit and retain top talent. So why is delegation so hard for so many of us? For many managers and leaders, delegation is a struggle. Here are some o ..read more

When was the last time you got an email from a boss, coworker or client and worried they were angry or annoyed with you, only to find out you misinterpreted the tone or wording? As leaders, we’re often encouraged to go with our gut feelings, but sometimes we make assumptions that are wrong–and might even override our critical thinking and set us to catastrophizing. Think about other workplace situations when miscommunication arises because of assumptions. As executive coaches, this is a common theme we explore with leaders.  Sometimes a leader assumes that silence in a meeting means every ..read more

Many of us feel inspired to start off the New Year strong, resolving to do better and make some progress on personal and professional growth.  Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, consider setting some goals so that you move from hopes, wishes and dreams to steps you can achieve. Just the act of writing down goals makes them a priority. (Pro tip: Use our Ultimate Goal Setting Worksheet here) As leaders, goal setting can help to mitigate dealing with competing priorities because sometimes what seems urgent isn’t really important. Goals provide direction, motivation and a sense of purp ..read more

Whether you’re looking for books to give as gifts this holiday season or to read yourself as we head into a New Year, our executive coaches have you covered for top leadership book suggestions. Books are great presents for the leaders on Santa’s nice list (and hey, perhaps even more appropriate for a leader on the naughty list!). From seasoned leaders to young adults you’d like to see succeed in life, our top leadership book picks have something for everyone. We surveyed our experienced team of executive coaches for their favourite reads (our blog with our Padraig team’s thoughts on leadership ..read more

Leaders regularly ask our executive coaches for help to deal with impossible workloads. Often they’re struggling with lengthy to-do lists that they’re plowing through but realize they’re not making progress on the big, strategic stuff. Between high-level planning and strategy, project deadlines and deliverables, dealing with unexpected emergencies or challenging issues, fielding requests from team members and managing the never-ending inundation of emails, most folks are feeling strained (if not completely overwhelmed).  We hear things like: “If I didn’t need to sleep, I might be able to ..read more

A leader who has to take the helm of a newly acquired company, manage a business through a market crash or lead the organization through a natural disaster might be scenarios that come to mind when you think of leading through adversity. However, one of the most challenging – and common – scenarios of leading through adversity arises when leaders have to manage difficult team members. There might be a high performer who doesn’t play nice with others. While their skills are niche or superior and they bring in results to drive business goals, they feel like less of an asset as they destroy team ..read more