Free Webinars

What does "Managing Up" really mean?

Managing up is the skill of fostering a strong, productive relationship with your manager and shaping the decisions that impact you.

It’s about positioning yourself as a key player, someone who influences rather than simply follows.

How do you see your manager? How do they see you? And how can you bridge that gap to create a more effective working dynamic?

In this Skills Taster Session with Russell Caird, you will learn how to navigate diverse personalities, refine your communication skills, and showcase your own unique qualities.

Timestamp:
00:02 - Welcome and session introduction
03:28 - Introduction to managing upwards session
05:07 - Poll: rate your manager out of 10
06:50 - Why managing upwards matters
13:49 - Building relationships and influence
14:22 - Poll: how do you see your manager?
16:46 - Poll: how does your manager see you?
19:41 - Scale of influence and strategic managing
22:29 - Understanding your manager better
27:57 - Tips to improve manager relationship
30:14 - Getting time for conversations with manager
34:39 - Q&A: managing different manager styles and challenges
42:19 - Managing upwards with senior staff and stakeholders
43:14 - Q&A: handling past mistakes and moving forward
44:54 - Session closing and thanks

For more tips on how to make space for what matters, and all of our latest skill sessions, make sure to like this video and subscribe!

Visit our website: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk
Sign up to our newsletter: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk/sign-up
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Date: October 29, 2025

Duration: 45 minutes

Host: United Kingdom

Spoken Language: English

Inspired by our Supercharge Your Team Comms workshop, this fast-paced 30-minute webinar is your shortcut to clearer, calmer communication—personally and across the team. We’ll unpack some of the unspoken “rules” around tools, messages and expectations that often lead to confusion or overwhelm. You’ll walk away with practical ways to create shared clarity, reduce noise, and set your team up to collaborate more effectively. Think of it as a comms detox… the Ninja way.

Date: October 29, 2025

Duration: 28 minutes

Host: Australia

Spoken Language: English

Are you a Delegation Ninja?
When we get busy and overwhelmed, we often stop delegating – “they won’t do it like I do it, it’s too hard, it will take too long, everyone else is busy too…” The excuses abound.

Join us to find out:

Why Delegation is great
Why YOU need to delegate well
How to Delegate Like a Ninja

By optimising the way you delegate, you can build an organisation of thinkers. It brilliantly empowers your team members to think and to problem solve in new and innovative ways. Suddenly you are building a culture of thinking, engaged, motivated problem solvers, rather than a culture of overloaded, responsibility burdened managers.

We’ll be sharing our top tips for Ninja-style delegation so you can find new ways to boost your productivity and your teams!

Date: September 24, 2025

Duration: 29 minutes

Host: Australia

Spoken Language: English

When things get busy or the world seems a little crazy, our amygdala (that ancient part of our brain that controls our fight/flight response) gets a real workout.

And if we’ve moved to overwhelm, it’s really hard to get it back under control again.

In our Ninja Skill Booster we’ll share some more of the science and our top 3 tactics to move beyond the fear and harness curiosity to regain our Ninja productivity.

Date: August 27, 2025

Duration: 28 minutes

Host: Australia

Spoken Language: English

For this Ninja Skill Booster, we’re excited to introduce Murray Guest (details below). Murray has been a part of our Think Productive network for over 10 years and it’s an absolute honour to have him share his skills and expertise with our Productivity Ninja family.

Transform your potential into productivity and performance.
Being your best self means playing to your strengths in all areas of your life. Through this session you will discover the power of unlocking your potential through your strengths.

We will explore…

The science and benefits of a strengths-based approach.
The five clues to talent.
The power of recognising the strengths in others.
Recommended next steps to learn more about your strengths.
About Murray …

Murray Guest is one of Australia’s leading Strengths coaches. He has helped over 5,000 people unlock and apply their strengths to achieve their professional and personal goals. He shares his experiences from 20 years in corporate roles in manufacturing and learning and development to build teams and inspire people. As a Gallup certified Strengths coach, he partners with leaders to build strengths-based cultures and realise the benefits a strengths-based approach brings. Murray is passionate about people getting to do what they do best every day and have conversations that matter. He loves mountain biking too!

Date: July 21, 2025

Duration: 43 minutes

Host: Australia

Spoken Language: English

With employee engagement at an all-time low, it’s time to get to grips with human motivation.
Despite years of study into work environments, worrying trends, such as “quiet quitting” are on the up.
Every team member is different, and understanding what truly motivates them can feel like a puzzle.

This Skills Taster Session with David Papa will help you start to solve that puzzle, unlock motivation, have more meaningful conversations, and create an environment where everyone feels valued and energized.

Timestamp:
00:00 – Introduction: Why Leadership Must Evolve
01:28 – About Think Productive & Session Overview
02:29 – Icebreaker Setup: Sound Ball Game
03:46 – Live Demo with Volunteers
05:16 – Breakout Activity Begins
06:22 – Breakout Room Explanation
07:22 – Debrief: Why We Started with Emotion
08:35 – The Importance of Emotional Experience at Work
09:10 – Why Are We Still Talking About Engagement?
10:10 – 2024 Drop in Global Engagement & $438B Lost Productivity
11:08 – Root Cause: Drop in Manager Engagement
11:35 – What % of Engagement Comes from the Manager?
12:08 – Gallup’s Engagement Tiers Explained (Engaged, Not Engaged, Actively Disengaged)
13:52 – Disengagement = Big Financial Costs
15:33 – Example: £14,280 Annual Cost of One Disengaged Employee
16:02 – The Power of High Engagement: Productivity & Sales Boost
17:24 – Just 5% Engagement Lift = 3% Revenue Gain
18:18 – Nonprofit Relevance: Engagement Still Matters
18:47 – Companies That Invest in Engagement = 4x More Profitable
19:20 – The Bigger Why: Work Shapes the World
20:24 – People First: Transforming Lives = Transforming Business
21:18 – The Puzzle: Why Haven’t Engagement Numbers Improved?
22:04 – Engagement ≠ Money or Logic
23:14 – Engagement is Emotional, Not Logical
24:18 – Leaders Lack Training in Emotional Engagement
25:24 – The #1 Leadership Question: How to Change Emotional Experience?
26:50 – Humans Are Emotion-Driven: Backed by 50 Years of Science
28:14 – 7 Human Needs at Work: Emotional Levers
28:48 – Lever 1: Safety (Trust + Psychological Safety)
30:02 – Lever 2: Play (Creativity, Fun, Collaboration)
31:16 – Lever 3: Power (Autonomy & Mastery)
31:43 – Lever 4: Belonging (Top Priority Need from Workers)
32:14 – Lever 5: Self-Expression (Values & Authenticity at Work)
33:15 – Lever 6: Inspiration (Vision & Intuition)
34:13 – Lever 7: Purpose (Meaningful Work)
34:47 – Connection to Yoga & Chakra Systems
35:41 – Self-Rating Exercise Setup (1–10 Scores)
36:06 – Self-Assessment: Safety (You & Team)
36:43 – Self-Assessment: Play
37:33 – Self-Assessment: Power
38:13 – Self-Assessment: Belonging
39:47 – How to Use Your Scores & Reflect
43:44 – Live Poll: Which Need Do You Need Most?
45:17 – Engagement Is Personal: No One-Size-Fits-All
47:22 – How to Engage a Disengaged Leader
48:17 – Emotions Are Contagious – Start with Yourself
49:09 – Mini Deep Dive: Belonging
49:42 – What Blocks Belonging (Judgment, Silos, Thanklessness)
50:13 – How to Unblock Belonging: See & Use Unique Strengths
51:32 – Formula: Belonging = Gratitude + Social Support + Appreciation
52:34 – Practical Tip: Build Gratitude Rituals
52:58 – Build Social Support: Pair People, Peer Work
53:25 – True Appreciation = Unique, Genuine, Specific
53:54 – Feedback Ratio: 4 Positives to 1 Negative
54:48 – What the Full Workshop Covers (All 7 Levers)
55:16 – Contact Info & Free Ticket Giveaway
55:52 – Live Giveaway Announced
56:25 – Recording Ends

For more tips on how to make space for what matters, and all of our latest skill sessions, make sure to like this video and subscribe!

Visit our website: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk
Sign up to our newsletter: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk/sign-up
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-productive/

Date: July 10, 2025

Duration: 56 minutes

Host: United Kingdom

Spoken Language: English

Date: June 25, 2025

Duration: 27 minutes

Host: Australia

Spoken Language: English

Haley Watts, author of How to Fix Meetings, shares comprehensive insights into improving meeting culture and effectiveness within organizations. Drawing from her experience and work with Think Productive, she emphasizes that meetings can either inspire or demotivate participants depending on how well they are managed. Successful meetings drive engagement, productivity, and meaningful collaboration, while poor meetings waste time, reduce motivation, and contribute to burnout.

Timestamp:
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction by Haley Watts
01:10 – Why Meetings Matter & Their Impact on Culture
02:34 – Session Format: Chat, Q&A, and Expectations
04:01 – Goal: More Memorable, Interesting, Productive Meetings
05:26 – Start Meetings with a Positive Check-In
06:26 – Graeme’s Quote: The Value of Collective Brains
06:52 – Before, During, After – Focus Today: During the Meeting
07:28 – Yin and Yang of Meetings Explained
08:32 – Example: School Governor Meeting Revamp
09:32 – Know Your Preference as Chair (Yin/Yang Balance)
10:39 – Chat Prompt: What’s Your First Reaction to Meeting Invites?
11:34 – Be Ruthless: Ask “Am I Important to This Meeting?”
12:31 – Clarifying Meeting Roles & Expectations
13:31 – Delete Stale Meetings to Create Fresh Energy
14:27 – Common Problems: Too Many Meetings, Lack of Purpose
15:48 – Cost of Meetings: Would You Pay the Invoice?
16:45 – Build Meeting Culture: Create an Org Manifesto
17:18 – Energize: Stretch or Move Mid-Meeting
18:47 – The HIPPO Effect: Highest Paid Person’s Opinion
19:12 – Tactics to Reduce HIPPO Impact (Anonymous Input)
20:16 – Decision Fatigue & Timing of Decisions
21:31 – Calendar Overload: No Time for Work
22:15 – Hybrid Meeting Challenges & Solutions
23:26 – Make Hybrid Inclusive (Tech + Roles)
24:02 – When Should It Not Be a Meeting?
25:07 – Sharing Info in Advance (Videos, Docs, Slack, etc.)
25:56 – Rethink Meeting Constraints: Time and People
26:58 – Multitasking in Meetings: Why It's Ineffective
27:28 – Action-Oriented Meetings: Purpose, Ownership & Follow-Up
28:30 – Two-Minute Rule & Action Clarity
29:30 – End with a Quick Review: Highlight & Even Better If
30:33 – Q&A Begins
31:25 – Q: Tips for Making Hybrid Meetings More Inclusive
32:28 – Q: Managing Partial Attention in Online Meetings
33:17 – Q: Sending Video Messages Instead of Text
33:54 – Q: Should Chair Also Take Minutes? (No!)
34:47 – Q: Trustee Meetings – Volunteer Motivation & Engagement
35:45 – Q: Optimum Meeting Length? Try 25 Minutes
36:43 – Q: Staff Network – Boosting Manager Participation
37:49 – Q: Supporting Neurodiverse Teams in Meetings
39:24 – Q: How to Encourage Contributions in Small Meetings
40:53 – Summary: Think Productive’s Meeting Workshops
41:24 – Promo: Productivity Ninja Public Workshop (Sept)
42:20 – Promo: July Taster – “Cracking the Engagement Puzzle”



For more tips on how to make space for what matters, and all of our latest skill sessions, make sure to like this video and subscribe!

Visit our website: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk
Sign up to our newsletter: https://www.thinkproductive.co.uk/sign-up
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-productive/

Date: June 23, 2025

Duration: 43 minutes

Host: United Kingdom

Spoken Language: English

A power-packed session with Ninja Lindsay that embraces the momentum from 3 quick, impactful strategies to boost your productivity. Our expert insights help you relax and recharge as you learn how to gain more control of your day.

Date: June 2, 2025

Duration: 31 minutes

Host: North America

Spoken Language: English