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Great line management (part 4/5); handling uncertainty and complexity

Good quality management is essential, and great 1-1s are an important part of what makes a good line manager. Great line management can help reduce stress on senior leadership, improve retention, and help scale the business. People feel more engaged, motivated, and excited about their career progression when they’re well supported. This article focuses on […]

Is it possible to create a nourishing workplace?

This post is about the (possibly lofty) exploration of work being nourishing for the whole individual. Previously we’ve explored the notion of personal growth as an important and financially viable approach to growing your agency. In this article we take this further and explore the notion of nourishing work as having its own inherent value. Why […]

How we helped Wholegrain become short-listed as a ‘culture pioneer’.

In 2022 our work inside Wholegrain Digital was shortlisted for a culture pioneer award by HR Zone. Here’s how we managed that and what it might mean for you and your team. How we became culture pioneers The full story of our path to becoming culture pioneers was originally published on the Wholegrain blog here in August […]

Great line management (part 3/5); giving and receiving feedback

Good quality 1-1s are important. Great line management can help reduce stress on senior leadership, improve retention, and help scale the business. People feel more engaged and excited about their career progression when they’re well supported. This article focuses on the importance of great feedback in management. In this sort series of articles we explore […]

Great line management (part 2/5); asking great questions

We’re publishing a short series of five articles focusing on how to have more effective and meaningful 1-1 conversations at work. Good quality 1-1s are important. Great line management can help reduce stress on senior leadership, improve retention, and help scale the business. People feel more engaged and excited about their career progression when they’re […]

Great line management (part 1/5); create psychological safety

We’re publishing a short series of five articles focusing on how to have more effective and meaningful 1-1 conversations at work. This is part 1; creating psychological safety. Good quality 1-1s are important. Great line management can help reduce stress on senior leadership, improve retention, and help scale the business. People feel more engaged and […]

Create leaders around you by making good invitations

When considering how we can improve the leadership within our teams, one of the under-appreciated skills is that of making good invitations. An invitation means you’re asking somebody to take on a role, to do something, to grow into a new position. The skill of making good invitations is an important part of great leadership.  […]

There’s more than one way to grow a business

Tom Greenwood (Founder of Wholegrain Digital) suggests that a focus on personal growth is the best way to achieve conventional business success. If I was Managing Director of any other company, I probably would have been fired a long time ago. In a world where businesses are obsessed with growth, I have spent much of […]

Embracing neurodiversity – and why it’s your team’s secret sauce.

Inclusion and diversity and essential to a high functioning workplace. In this article we explore and often under-appreciated dimension of diversity – the difference in how we think. Neurodiversity refers to the difference in the way people’s minds are made, and the resulting difference in how they think and learn. It’s often missed as a […]