A Self-Leadership Q&A for Organisational Change
Before we talk strategy or compliance, let’s talk honestly.
How much time, energy, and trust is being drained in your workplace… by drama? By silence? By stress?
This short self-reflection exercise is for leaders who are ready to move from reacting to reshaping. It’s a chance to pause and check in—not just on your people, but on the systems and stories playing out around them.
What Do We Mean by “Drama”?
Drama in the workplace often hides in plain sight: repeated miscommunication, over-responsibility, escalated stress, avoidance, or burnout. Stephen Karpman created the Drama Triangle framework back in the 1960s – so personal and workplace drama isn’t a new thing! David Emerald, creator of The Empowerment Dynamic, renamed it the Dreaded Drama Triangle (DDT) due to the toxic nature of these roles when played out too often. The DDT roles are what human beings go to in times of stress, an unconscious pattern of reactivity, where we can adopt either one or all of the roles of Victim, Rescuer, or Persecutor, in a heartbeat!
When these roles are active, even subtly, they feed the very psychosocial hazards the Code of Practice asks us to address. But drama isn’t inevitable—it’s a signal. And signals can be redirected.
“What has this person, condition, or situation come into my life to teach me?” – a key coaching question that transforms conflict into learning. In our workshops, leaders learn to ask this—and it changes everything.
The Leadership Q&A
1. Where am I putting my focus?
Is it mostly on problems, gaps, complaints, or on outcomes, purpose, and progress?
2. How am I relating?
Am I caught in old roles (like rescuing or firefighting), or am I taking a moment to pause, and consciously choosing to relate as a creator, challenger or coach?
3. What actions am I taking?
Are they reactive and short-term, or creative, intentional, and connected to a greater outcome?
4. What costs am I not tracking?
Think: absenteeism, high turnover, unspoken tension, lost engagement. How do these show up?
5. Who do I model leadership for?
Are my actions modelling the mindset I hope to see in others, or something else?
6. What support do I need to lead differently?
Because none of us is meant to lead alone.
Want a Printable Version?
If you’d like to take these questions to your team or reflect on them offline,
Click the button below to download the Leadership Q&A PDF version. It’s free, it’s yours, and it’s a starting point for a healthier workplace.
Prefer to watch and reflect?
If you’d like to see the message behind these questions brought to life, I invite you to watch my 20-slide Pecha Kucha presentation on YouTube:
Transforming Workplace Drama: A Guide for Leaders Using TED* and 3VQ: video link is here
It’s less than 7 minutes and may shift the way you think about workplace culture forever.
Final Thoughts
Leadership today requires more than policy. It requires presence.
TED* and 3VQ offer a powerful, accessible way to begin transforming your workplace from the inside out—by changing how you focus, relate, and act.
If you’d like support in bringing this to your organisation, reach out.
Let’s talk about what change could look like for you, your people, and your culture.
Take care,
