Jonathan Bennett | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Jonathan provides sought-after executive coaching, trusted advice, and training to leaders, teams, and boards across North America. With experience in urban, rural, remote, and First Nations communities, Jonathan’s expertise is in strategic planning, governance, change management, and communications. He was the Founder and CEO of Laridae, a proud B Corp, which he grew into a leading management consulting and training firm. Before founding Laridae, he held C-Suite leadership roles at a large regional hospital, as well as education and social services organizations.

Jonathan is a Special Graduate Faculty member in Trent University’s M.A. Sustainability Studies Graduate Program. An experienced director, he has served terms as Chair of the Board of Directors of Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) and Chair of the Kawartha Haliburton CAS. He was a board member and committee chair of the Writers’ Trust of Canada. He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and earned a Chartered Director (C.Dir.) designation through McMaster University. He now serves on two privately-held, social-purpose corporate boards. His undergrad is from Western. He’s the author of seven books. Jonathan lives with his family outside Lakefield, Ontario. He’s passionate about many issues, including corporate social responsibility and governance, neurodiversity acceptance, and Canadian literature.

Current position (1)

Speaker, Coach, Trusted Advisor

ClearlyThen Inc.

Degrees (1)

Charted Director (C.Dir.)

McMaster University

2017

Presentations

Presentations (4)

Pursuing Psychological Safety & Accountability in the Workplace

This 2-hour, participatory workshop will engages participants in deepening their understanding of the importance of a psychologically safe and accountable workplace. Allowing for personal reflection, small group work, as well as a chance to listen and learn from colleagues, learning outcomes include:

- why psychological safety is essential for a healthy workplace culture
- why personal and collective accountability matters and contributes to a well culture
- how systems and processes can be improved to embed safety and accountability into team workflows
- what psychological safety and an accountable culture can look like for each person, and for the group
- how to foreground psychological safety and accountability during times of crisis or change

> Can be an interactive workshop for a staff or team retreat, or works as a impactful keynote.

Surprising Things Grief Can Teach Us About Workplace Change

Any kind of significant loss can bring on grief.

Like big, unwanted, or unexpected changes at work, or in your career.

We know that grief isn’t a linear experience.

You don't neatly and orderly move through five stages because feelings, and people, are messy. Further, the pain of loss doesn't diminish predictably and gradually.

What if we apply what we know about grief, to the way we experience upheaval and transformation at work?

Might we better empathize with those around us?

The keynote unpacks how grief is like change at work. How it affects us all. How we can recognize it and better manage it. Why we need to show up for it--for ourselves, and for those with whom we work.

Building Trusting Relationships at Work

All relationships evolve. We start with good intentions, and obstacles are overcome, trust, hope, and ambition builds. Our needs overlap; our interests become enmeshed.

But the going, inevitably, gets hard.

And when it does, knowing what to do is complicated.

Why? Because needs change, but old habits and rigid obligations prevent renewal and growth. Letting go and moving on can seem like a kind of failure or loss. Generosity and space can seem like weakness.

So, positions become entrenched, and teams, partnerships, joint ventures, and businesses become stuck.

Once this happens, out of sheer self-interest, pain, and hurt, we wound one another—the very people we once held in such high regard and bestowed with all our faith and loyalty.

This keynote unpacks the biggest pitfalls to lead to relationships getting stuck. What to do to avoid them. And, how to build better structures for relationships in the first place.

Great Leaders Ask Great Questions: how to listen deeply and lead through curiosity

When advice isn't working, or makes it worse, great leaders know it's time to turn to questions.

Questions allow for open space. Questions create movement. Ideas. Possibilities. Options.

As a coach, I collect questions and I use them every day in my coaching and facilitation work. So, I am always on the lookout for new and interesting ones. What are your favourite questions?

In this keynote, I unpack the power of deep listening and how to ask better questions. I share scripts that really work, case studies of common management problems that questions can resolve, and conclude with my top 10 problem-solving questions anyone can use to powerful effect.