Good Morning Reader it's Maria,

You may or may not have noticed that there was no newsletter from me last Saturday. Full confession: I forgot.

It had been quite the AI Week: at the AI summit and the Claude Community House, with networking events every evening, and a long weekend already booked. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I realised that the newsletter hadn't been written. So I made a call: take the break, enjoy the weekend, and come back recharged to attack week 2 of conferences.

So here I am, back on track!

I spent Thursday at FAIR 2026 here in Barcelona, a conference about people, work and fairness. It was my first time attending, and I was very impressed by the quality of not only the speakers they brought in for the keynotes and workshops, but also of the actual attendees in the room. I met so many interesting people with whom I had great conversations and connected.

That didn't happen by accident. The organisers, the wonderful Oana Iordachescu and team, built time into the day to get from one stage to another, to network and to have meaningful conversations. They designed the day for connection, and it worked. (If you'd like to go next year, follow Fair Cultures on LinkedIn. It's totally worth it.)

A workshop I really enjoyed was called "Design Contagious Leadership". The idea really intrigued me at a time when lots of young people are saying they don't want to step into leadership roles. Their main point was that lasting change comes from the system people work in, not from training individuals, which I thought would be an interesting topic for this week's newsletter.

If podcasts are more your speed, I've got you covered; there's a discussion about this topic available now here.

THE BIG IDEA

Leaders I work with often share their frustrations of being asked to adapt and work differently while everything around them stays the same.

The environment changes fast, but the processes, resources, support and infrastructure don't follow. We ask people to think creatively, then fill their calendars so completely that they don't have the time. The answer to this problem is not just training, because training can give people the skills, but it's the way we organise work that determines whether they get to use them.

Victor from Verbalima, who led the workshop, shared a story: They would run a brilliant training session; in the moment, everyone loved it, and some people even told them it was life-changing. Then they would go back to the same groups a few months later and notice that, in fact, very little had changed. That's when they realised that they should stop trying to fix the people and ask what was wrong with the environment those people went back to.

It totally resonated. I saw it again and again in my corporate years, and I still see it with clients now. I'm sure you've experienced it yourself Reader, you have a great training day; you leave fired up and super eager to apply everything you've learned, and then Monday arrives, and you get swallowed up by your inbox, back-to-back meetings, and whatever drama that week has decided to throw at you.

You look at your training workbook sitting on the corner of your desk, feeling guilty. You really want to find time to apply this new knowledge and practise it, but the system simply gets in the way.

That idea kept showing up all day. Fiona Garvey, CEO of Softonic, talked on her panel about rolling out AI tools and training first, and watching stress go up instead of down, until they invested in their leaders and how people worked together. Ernest Abella from NTT DATA described how people quietly build workarounds when a process doesn't work, so the organisation assumes everything is fine. Professor Lee Elliot Major spoke about the hidden rules of the workplace, and how celebrating individual success stories can hide the barriers built into the system itself. Martina Ercoli, who leads wellbeing for Nvidia in EMEA, made the same point about wellbeing. Instead of offering it as an extra that nobody has time for, her team builds it into the working week, with protected focus time and meetings that each have a clear owner and outcome.

Here's where it connects with AI. Adding a tool to a messy foundation doesn't make it better; it will simply amplify the chaos. AI can make things simpler, but if it's not implemented correctly, it can actually create more stress and work.

What was most powerful about Victor's workshop was that he didn't just talk about this; he demonstrated it. A pile of picture cards and a bit of play turned a room of strangers into people having real conversations. He changed the setting, and the energy and engagement changed with it.

That's the opportunity for every leader: you don't need a big transformation programme.

• Remove one approval step
• Protect time for thinking
• Make space for a bit of play
• Ask your team what slows them down, and then change it.

Change the environment, and people will show you what they can do.

Don't know where to start?

​Book a free consultation and let's chat!

THE ACTION STEP

Run a simplicity check.

Pick one thing you've added to your work recently. An AI tool, an automation, a new process, a new meeting. Then ask yourself:

1. What problem was this meant to solve? Try to write it in one sentence. If you can't, you need to rethink it.
2. Is it actually simpler now? Think about the steps, the checking and the back-and-forth, before and after.
3. Who is doing extra work because of it? You, your team, your clients.
4. Keep, fix or drop? If it isn't making life simpler, give yourself permission to let it go (scary, I know).

The goal isn't to use more AI or less AI. It's to make sure whatever you add makes sense and is making your life easier.

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AI MADE SIMPLE

Ask AI whether you need AI.

Before you add AI to a task, describe the task to Claude or ChatGPT and use this prompt:

"Here's a task I do regularly: [describe it, who's involved, roughly how long it takes, and what frustrates you about it]. Before suggesting any AI tool, help me figure out whether the real problem is the process, the people, or the tools. Then be direct with me: would AI make this simpler, or would a simpler fix (removing a step, a clear rule, a conversation) do the job better? If AI isn't the answer, say so."

You'll often find the fix is a missing rule or an unnecessary step, and not a new tool. And if you don't like the answer, push back! It's a chat, so chat with it.

One more thing before I go. A big shout-out to Rhiannon Stroud and Emily Firth from TruthWorks, who stepped in at the very last minute when a speaker had to cancel, and put their session together on the flight over. No Wi-Fi, so no AI, just two sharp minds and a lot of original thinking and fun on what the HOT topics in the industry were right now. The whole room loved it, and so did I. If you ever need an independent HR or people expert, TruthWorks is a great place to start (you'll find me there too).

That's all for today Reader

Have a great weekend!👋🏼

Take Care

Maria

PS: If you want to explore what working together looks like, book a free call

PPS: If you enjoy these emails and want to do something nice, you can buy me a coffee 😉

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