Our Philosophy

Our philosophy can be distilled down to three simple principles that infuse all of our work:

Speak, Listen: Act

    Speak

    Be confident, be heard. It’s your right.

    Listen

    Be humble, be generous. You don’t know everything.

    Act

    Be collaborative, take action. Make things happen.

    The Speakers' Gym Culture

    The Chart: Axes

    VERTICAL HORIZONTAL TRAJECTORY

    Vertical

    The vertical axis represents the quality of speaking within a business – how much people use their voices to get their points across/ share ideas etc.

    Horizontal

    The horizontal axis represents the quality of listening within a business. By listening, we mean, high-quality listening – free from ego, present, and with a genuine desire to understand.

    Trajectory

    The trajectory represents healthy action – where there is an equal weight given to speaking and listening. It’s the healthiest culture for exceptional collaboration – where people are both assertive and co-operative. It’s not about competing egos and agendas which are self-serving, nor is it about evasive, siloed behaviour.

    The trajectory represents action that is truly in service to each other, clients, and the business’s authentic purpose – the type of action that we deliver and embed at The Speakers’ Gym™

    The Chart: Quadrants

    What are the factors that can influence the fine line between success and failure? Introducing The Quadrants, a series of behaviours and actions that, if left unchecked, will lead to a dysfunctional organisation and the stagnation of business growth.

    Silos

    Low-quality listening and speaking. There’s no open, healthy communication, it’s difficult for ideas and creativity to flourish when everyone is their own island, and there won’t be much in the way of business growth.

    Humble Stasis

    Here, the culture is ripe for people to speak up. The environment is caring, people are connected and truly listen to and support each other. There are no big egos.

    However, for whatever reason, not enough people are speaking up, sharing ideas, challenging each other etc. Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence – it could be apathy – a lack of inspiration or direction – but nobody is taking the lead. It leads to humble stasis, and not enough healthy action.

    Ego-Driven Noise

    Everyone is competing to get THEIR voice heard here, irrespective of anyone else or the interests of the business or its clients. It’s self-serving and doesn’t serve healthy business growth. How can it not be self-serving when there isn’t a willingness to actively listen to and understand anyone else in the business?

    The Speakers' Gym™ Healthy Growth Culture

    This is where we aim to get your business to be. The key word here is high-quality.

    High-quality speaking and listening are given equal weight, creating a vibrant, fertile culture for collaboration and leading to high levels of healthy business growth. Action that doesn’t come from high-quality speaking and listening is unconscious and destructive in some way – either to others in the business, clients or the authentic purpose of the business itself. Healthy, high-quality action in business needs to be informed by high-quality speaking and listening and in alignment with the business values and purpose.

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