And the team notices. Every time.

This about demonstrating leadership. It’s about earning the right to lead. That happens through observation, curiosity, and a few honest conversations.

Real Talk

We live in a culture that rewards action. Speak up. Step up. Show up with answers. And so new managers - often high performers who built their reputation on having answers - default to the same behaviour.

It feels like leadership. It looks like confidence.

But when you’re leading people you haven’t yet understood, it can feel like being talked over before being seen.

The most effective leaders aren’t the ones who fill the room. They’re the ones who make space in it.

💚 This is just as true at home as it is at work. When a parent starts needing more support, our instinct is to fix - to research, to arrange, to manage. But what most ageing loved ones want first is to be heard. To have someone sit with them and ask: ‘What matters most to you right now?’ The listening comes before the leading. Always.

So What

Managers/ Leaders should be in listening mode. Sitting in on key workflows, customer interactions, handovers, team meetings. Not to fix things. To understand them. And they should be booking one-on-ones with every team member - not just performance-focused, but also human-focused.

Four questions to carry into every conversation:

1. What are your strengths and the parts of this role you love most?

2. Where are the real pressure points or bottlenecks?

3. What would make your work easier or the team’s output better?

4. What do you need from me?

That last one signals from the start that leadership here is a two-way relationship.

Run three short learning bursts — 30 minutes each — across the week:

How to run a one-on-one that actually matters.

Start with how they are. Move to wins, priorities, blockers, and actions. Not a status report - a real check-in.

How to give feedback that sticks.

Specific. Kind. Focused on behaviour, not character.

When to escalate - and how to ask for help.

New managers often wait too long. Asking early is a sign of strength, not a gap.

The Forward Move

After every significant meeting or interaction this week, debrief briefly - ten minutes, three questions:

1. What did you notice?

2. What worked well?

3. What would you do differently next time?

This is where confidence grows - not from being told you’re doing well, but from reflecting on what you’re learning.

💚 This week, practise the same thing at home. Before your next visit or call with an ageing loved one, resist the urge to update, report, or fix. Instead, ask one open question and then - just listen. See what you notice that you’ve been missing. 💚

Coming in Bite 3: Step Into the Room and Own It — Week 3 is where observing becomes leading.

Lana Johnston | Taking It Forward + Connection with Lana

lana@takingitforward.com | takingitforward.com | connectionwithlana.com

It’s also where a lot of businesses quietly stumble.

We hand someone a new title, a slightly different job description — and then nothing.

We hope they figure it out.

They usually do. Eventually. But the gap between the promotion and the clarity? That’s where confidence dips, teams get mixed messages, and performance wobbles in ways that are hard to diagnose.

And this isn’t just a leadership problem. It shows up everywhere a person is suddenly expected to operate in a role they weren’t formally prepared for.

Real Talk

Most new managers don’t fail because they’re not capable.

They struggle because nobody told them what good leadership looks like in this organisation — in practical, human terms.

Not in a policy document. In a real conversation.

And the result is predictable: they mimic the leader who managed them — good habits and bad ones both — because it’s the only reference point they have.

The organisation then wonders why culture doesn’t shift, even when the people do.

💚 Here’s what this reminds me of. How many of us stepped into a caring role for an ageing parent without a single conversation about what that would actually look like? We just started doing it — carrying the weight, making the calls, figuring it out. And somewhere along the way, we realised we were running on assumption, not connection.

So What

Before you load a new manager up with projects and problems, give them three things:

1. A leadership charter they can hold onto.

One page. Plain English. What does good leadership look like here — in behaviour, not buzzwords?

Then sit down together and talk through it. Sixty minutes. Real examples. Questions welcome.

A document alone won’t shift behaviour. A conversation will.

2. Crystal-clear role definition.

Three to five outcomes for the quarter. Clear measures. Clear ownership.

What do they own? What do they influence? What must be escalated?

If they can’t answer those three questions after Week One, you’ve left them to guess — and guessing costs everyone more in the long run.

3. Two habits, set from day one.

Meet regularly with each team member. Actually listen.

Address issues early. Kindly, but clearly.

These two habits carry more weight than any leadership program you’ll ever run.

The Forward Move

Ask your new manager to write a short reflection before the week closes:

In your own words — what does good leadership look like here?

What three outcomes will you own this quarter?

Which decisions are yours, which feel unclear, and what will you escalate?

This isn’t a test. It’s alignment. And alignment in Week One saves weeks of confusion later.

💚 And if you’re the one who stepped into a caring role for someone ageing — without a charter, without a conversation — it’s not too late to have it. Ask one question this week: ‘What does a good day look like for you right now?’ That’s your version of Week One clarity. 💚

— Lana

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones – before it’s too late 💚. If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation here or connect with Lana on linkedin.com/in/lanajohnston or instagram.com/connectionwithlana/

The World Economic Forum recently named vision and storytelling as core skills for the next generation of leaders. It’s about time we took that seriously.

Here’s what I see most often in organisations navigating change or trying to shift their culture:

Leaders are good at communicating what is happening.

They are far less practised at communicating why it matters.

That single gap creates confusion, resistance, and a workforce that feels like change is something being done to them — rather than something they are genuinely part of.

People don’t disengage because they don’t care.

They disengage because no one helped them see why they should.

And this isn’t just a workplace problem.

It’s a human one.

Think about the last real conversation you had with an ageing parent or loved one. 💚

Not the logistics. Not the appointment scheduling or the quick check-in call.

I mean a conversation where you shared why something matters to you — or asked why something matters to them.

Most of us are so focused on getting things done that we skip the meaning entirely.

At work and at home, we lead with the plan and forget the story.

Vision gives people a sense of direction.

Storytelling is what helps them see how their part fits into the bigger picture.

When leaders connect strategy to purpose — using real, human stories rather than polished messaging — people feel oriented, included, and motivated.

That’s true whether you’re leading a team through a restructure, or sitting across the kitchen table from your ageing mum trying to understand what she actually needs from you right now.

Connection — real connection — requires us to explain the why.

Not assume people already know it.

Not hope they’ll figure it out.

Say it. Out loud. Directly.

The Forward Move

At work: Before your next team meeting or change communication, ask yourself one question — Have I explained the why, or just the what?

If the answer is just the what, take five minutes to add the context.

Tell a real story — something that happened, something you witnessed, something that made the decision feel necessary.

Watch what shifts.

With your ageing loved ones: 💚 Next time you’re with your ALO, try this — instead of talking about what’s happening in your life, share why something matters to you.

Why you took that job.

Why you made that decision.

Why you’re proud of that thing you’d normally brush past.

Ask them the same.

You might be surprised what they’ve never thought to tell you — because nobody ever asked why.

That’s where connection actually lives. Not in the update. In the meaning behind it.

Lana Johnston | Taking It Forward & Connection with Lana

lana@takingitforward.com | takingitforward.com | connectionwithlana.com

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones — before it’s too late 💚

If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation on Substack or connect with Lana on LinkedIn.

Most leaders prepare for important meetings the same way. They review the data, tighten up their talking points, and rehearse their key messages until they feel confident. And then they walk in, deliver everything perfectly, and wonder why nothing actually moved.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about influence — it doesn’t start when you open your mouth. It starts well before you’re in the room.

I worked with a senior leader who was preparing for a critical executive meeting. The recommendation on the table was significant — a restructure that would affect how two entire teams operated. He had the data. He had the business case. He had a compelling slide deck that any consultant would be proud of.

What he didn’t have was a clear read on the people sitting across from him.

He didn’t know which executive was quietly protective of one of the impacted teams. He didn’t know that the CFO had already flagged budget concerns in a separate conversation. And he had no idea that the CEO had recently shifted her thinking on how change should be communicated to staff.

He presented brilliantly. And the recommendation stalled. Not because the idea was wrong. Because the preparation was incomplete.

Influencing in a key meeting isn’t about the strength of your argument — it’s about your understanding of the people you need to bring with you.

Before your next important meeting, stop preparing your content first. Start by asking yourself a different set of questions.

· Who is in the room, and what do they actually care about — not just professionally, but right now, in this season of the business?

· What does a good outcome look like from their perspective, not just yours?

· Where is the resistance likely to come from, and what’s underneath it?

· What does this person need to feel — informed, consulted, respected, reassured — before they can say yes?

When you can answer those questions clearly, your preparation changes completely. Your message becomes sharper. Your timing gets better. And the conversation stops feeling like a presentation and starts feeling like progress.

The leaders who influence well aren’t necessarily the most polished speakers in the room.

They’re the ones who did the thinking about people before they walked in the door.

The Forward Move

Before your next key meeting, spend ten minutes on the people in the room before you spend a single minute on your content. Map out what each person cares about, where they might push back, and what they need from this conversation to feel good about moving forward.

That ten minutes might be the most valuable preparation you do.

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones — before it’s too late 💚

If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation on Substack or connect with Lana on LinkedIn.

It was with my dad.

I was busy — genuinely busy, the kind of busy that feels justified because there’s always something urgent waiting — and I nearly let another visit pass by as something to get through rather than something to be present for.

I almost managed it instead of experience it.

And I think about how many professionals I know who are doing exactly that, right now, with the people they love most.

Here’s what I’ve come to know after years of working with high-performing people: the skills that make you brilliant at your job don’t disappear when you walk through your parents’ front door.

You’re just not applying them.

The strategic thinking, the stakeholder empathy, the ability to read a room — all of it is available to you.

You just need to reframe the context.

Connection with ageing loved ones doesn’t require more time. 💚

Most of us don’t have more time. And the guilt that comes with that reality is real, and exhausting, and I’m not here to add to it.

What it requires is presence in whatever minutes you do have.

One small, intentional shift.

A question you haven’t asked before.

A moment where you put down the to-do list and pick up the conversation.

I wrote my book Small Moments, Strong Bonds because I believe those moments don’t just matter to the person you’re sitting with.

They matter to who you become.

The distance between where you are and where you want to be with your ageing loved ones is rarely as far as it feels.

You just need someone to help you close it. 💚

What’s one small moment you remember with an ageing loved one that meant more than you expected? I’d love to hear it in the comments.

— Lana

connectionwithlana.com | lana@takingitforward.com

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones — before it’s too late 💚

If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation on Substack or connect with Lana on LinkedIn

.

Most leaders I work with are exceptional at managing complexity.

They can navigate a restructure, hold a difficult conversation with a board, and keep a team moving through uncertainty.

But ask them what their people are actually experiencing day-to-day, and the room goes quiet.

Not because they don’t care.

Because somewhere along the way, we taught leaders to manage outcomes rather than understand humans.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth I see inside organisations regularly: the gap between what leadership intends and what employees experience is almost always wider than anyone realises.

And that gap? It doesn’t just affect culture scores and engagement surveys.

It affects performance, retention, trust, and ultimately, whether your organisation can actually move when it needs to.

The fix isn’t a new framework or a leadership offsite.

It starts with something far simpler — and far more powerful.

It starts with listening before solving.

The organisations I work with that get this right don’t just have better cultures.

They have people who show up differently. People who feel the difference between being managed and being understood.

And here’s the part that always stays with me: the skills that make a great leader at work — curiosity, presence, the willingness to sit in discomfort before rushing to an answer — are the exact same skills that matter most in every other relationship in your life too.

For now, I’d love to ask you: when did you last genuinely listen to what your people are experiencing — not to fix it, but just to understand it? And do you do this intentionally when it comes to connection with your ageing loved ones?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. I read every one.

— Lana

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones – before it’s too late 💚. If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation here or connect with Lana on linkedin.com/in/lanajohnston or instagram.com/connectionwithlana/

Subscribe now

Hello, I’m Lana - I’ve spent my career helping people connect. At work. And at home.

Let me introduce myself properly.

I’m Lana Johnston — consultant, author, and founder of two bodies of work that, on the surface, might seem different, but are really driven by the same belief: that genuine connection changes everything.

The professional side.

Through my consultancy Taking It Forward, I work alongside boards, leadership teams, and HR professionals during some of the most complex moments an organisation can face — mergers, restructures, de-mergers, acquisitions, and everything in between.

My job is to help them figure out what’s actually going on with their people — and then do something meaningful about it.

Here’s what I’ve learned after years of doing this work across some of Australia’s most respected organisations: most leaders think they know what their people are experiencing.

Most of the time, they don’t.

Not because they don’t care. But because no one ever built them a proper bridge between what leadership intends and what employees actually experience.

That gap costs organisations more than they realise — in culture, in retention, in performance, and in their ability to lead through change.

The personal side.

Away from boardrooms and strategy decks, I’ve written a book called Small Moments, Strong Bonds — and it comes from somewhere much closer to my heart. 💚

It’s for the high-performing professionals who are brilliant at managing stakeholders and leading teams, but quietly struggling to truly connect with their ageing parents.

I call it the “sandwich life” — juggling a demanding career, a family, and the growing realisation that time with the people who matter most is slipping by faster than you’d like.

Through my brand Connection with Lana, I help people make small, intentional shifts — not grand gestures or guilt-laden overhauls — just real moments that become the memories that last.

The same strategic thinking that makes you good at your job? It works here too. You just need someone to help you reframe it.

1. Why this, why now

Because I’ve been having two sets of conversations for years — one in organisations, and one with the humans inside them — and I’ve realised they belong in the same room.

This is where I’ll share what’s real across both worlds: the messy, complicated, and genuinely important work of building connection — whether that’s inside your organisation or around your family dinner table.

Here’s what you can expect from me:

Straight-talking insights on culture, leadership, workforce strategy, and the people challenges that keep HR professionals and leaders up at night.

Practical guidance on connecting with your ageing loved ones — without the guilt, without the pressure, and without needing more hours in the day.

Perspectives that might challenge how you think — because comfortable thinking rarely builds better organisations or better relationships.

2. What I’d love you to do

If any of this resonates, hit subscribe - what I write will earn your time.

And if you know someone navigating a tricky leadership challenge, a cultural shift at work, or the very human experience of caring for an ageing parent while keeping everything else afloat — share this with them.

The best conversations start when the right people are in the room.

I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get into it.

— Lana

3. Who I am and where to find me

Lana Johnston is the founder of Taking It Forward, working in transformation and connection with leaders, HR professionals, and organisations who are serious about putting people at the centre of how they work. Through her Connection with Lana work, she also shares practical tools and thinking to help people connect more meaningfully with their ageing loved ones – before it’s too late 💚. If this Bite sparked something for you, hit reply — she’d love to hear your thinking. Know someone who’d benefit? They can join the conversation here or connect with Lana on linkedin.com/in/lanajohnston or instagram.com/connectionwithlana/