About the Episode

The working world is a team sport, and it is impossible to excel at it on your alone. The presence of an ally attitude is one of the most essential indications of success, not just for individuals but also for teams and organizations. Working relationships flourish when we have the closest friends to share the ups and downs with and help us get through the tough times together. If we don’t, we’ll fumble and burn to the ground, leaving behind nothing but a smoldering heap of rubble to prove our existence. My guest today has an extensive background in many fields, including corporate finance, leadership and executive development, and human resource management. She is business savvy and has a firm grasp of the intricacies of leading and managing a team. In this episode of the Pursuit of Learning podcast, Morag Barrett stresses the importance of having a work pal,  how to be a better friend in the workplace, and how doing so can improve your mood, teamwork, and productivity.

Morag Barrett is a renowned keynote speaker, an expert in leadership development, and bestselling author of Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships and You, Me, We: Why we all need a friend at work (and how to show up as one!). In her books, Morag outlines how to nurture Ally Relationships, those who will hold us accountable, increase our impact, and accelerate our success.  Additionally, Morag is the founder and CEO of SkyeTeam, a boutique leadership development organization. Since its inception, SkyeTeam has helped more than 15,000 leaders from 20 countries and on four continents achieve extraordinary results by increasing the efficiency of their leadership and teams.

Throughout our discussion today, Morag emphasizes that the key to our personal and professional success is in the quality of our interactions with others, demonstrating why it is impossible for us to be successful in business or life unless we are also effective in establishing professional relationships in our lives. During the course of the discussion, she elucidates the process of pinpointing the essential connections that might either facilitate or obstruct the accomplishment of our objectives. Moreover, she offers guidance on how to use the relationship ecosystem to assess the state of the connections we have in our professional lives. Morag walks the listeners through the process of developing an “Ally Mindset,” which will assist them in building and nurturing their “Ally Partnerships” and creating long-lasting relationships that go beyond the transactional and surface level to achieve transformational results. Also, she outlines the framework for an ally mindset includes five essential parts: abundance and generosity, connection and compassion, courage and vulnerability, candor and debate, and action and accountability.