Russell Stratton

As the "Leadership Champ" I help leaders act their way into a new way of thinking and doing.

When I first moved into a Leadership role nearly 35 years ago, I had received zero training and was given one piece of advice by my new boss, ‘the worst part of this job is the people, never turn your back on them!’ Over the years I found that advice to be both very unhelpful and also untrue!

I believe that all employees have the potential to achieve their very best and every leader has the potential to transform individual and team performance in their workplace. However, during my work with a great many leaders over 30 years, across a range of businesses, I’ve found that there is one particular challenge that holds them back - being able to have difficult conversations with team members, co-workers, clients or even their boss.

My early employment background involved working with a number of people who were part of the emergency services or law enforcement and/or had been in the military. One of the seminal lessons I learnt from them was that any training needed to have a strong dose of practicality to it and simulate real life as much as possible. To achieve this in my training programs, I use live actors in a stop/start forum theatre methodology, to create a dynamic learning experience. This approach allows people the opportunity to practice their skills in a safe environment that they can then implement back in the workplace.