LJM Associates Ltd

  Welcome to your 30-day leadership micro-reflection journey.
 The next 30 days are not about you becoming a perfect leader, they are about becoming a more aware, intentional, and grounded one. Leadership isn’t shaped in big moments. It grows through the small choices you make every day: the conversation you slow down for and truly listen, the decision you pause to reflect on, an emotion you choose to acknowledge rather than ignore.   This programme offers you one powerful prompt each day to help you pause, look inward, and notice how you are showing up as a leader. You don’t need hours of journalling.
You don’t need to get it right every day.
You simply need to show up with honesty and curiosity. Some prompts will feel easy. Others may feel challenging. All are designed to help you strengthen the core skills of leadership, self-awareness, communication, courage, integrity, and the ability to show up, support and uplift others. By committing to this 30-day programme, yo...

  Really happy to have been a co-author of the article "Algorithm aversion in agricultural decision-making: Trust dynamics, barriers, and fertiliser-related decision support," which has recently been published by Agricultural Systems. Do check it out.

  Merry Christmas to everyone..

  The 2026 Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) report, UK Agriculture: Grasping the Opportunities, that I have authored is now live on the website and can be found here:  If you would prefer to read chapters individually, the full list of downloads can be found a the bottom of this page. The Executive Summary is here  The business and personal assessment form can be accessed here.  Listen to the OFC podcast here, with author Dr Louise Manning, Ali Capper, hop and apple farmer and OFC Director, George Collison, argi and rural consultant and Nicola Shadbolt, a New Zealand farmer and professor in farm and agribusiness management. The podcast is  here:   

  In a world that celebrates being constantly availability and  on-line, boundary-setting is not a luxury it is an essential requirement of leadership. Leaders who protect their own time, energy, and space not only safeguard their own health and wellbeing, they also model healthy behaviours for the people around them.  When leaders set clear boundaries and pace their working life, they create a culture where burnout is the exception, not the norm. They recognise their own limits, priorities, and non-negotiable issues and encourage others to do the same. This means deciding when to say yes, when to say no, and when to take a pause.  Boundaries help protect the focus needed to carry out your work tasks and create space for recovery, reflection, and strategic thinking. Pacing works hand in hand with creating boundaries. It’s the discipline of managing intense pressure over a period of time. Pacing requires individuals to know when to accelerate, when to slow down, and ...

  Really pleased to see the article in the Farmers Weekly on the OFC report that I have authored. Key questions from the report - what do we want to achieve, what will we keep doing, what will we stop doing, what could we do instead?

Moving from directed leadership to enabling leadership requires leaders to develop strong coaching skills. Coaching encourages team members to reflect more deeply and become more reflexive. It supports them to think with greater clarity, act with more confidence, and intentionally grow their skills and capabilities.   At its heart, coaching leadership rests on a simple truth: leaders don’t have all the answers. They can’t solve every problem or address every concern. Instead, their role is to create the conditions for others to discover their own answers. Inquiry is central to this approach. Rather than directing or “telling,” coaching leaders ask thoughtful questions that spark reflection and insight. Effective questioning techniques help people examine their assumptions, explore new possibilities, and build the confidence to articulate what they truly need or envision. This shift, from telling to asking, builds ownership, capability, and confidence across the team.   Co...

  There’s something about preparing for Christmas that brings out both the planner and the procrastinator in us all. The lists are written - lists highlighting the gifts to buy, food to organise, events to attend, cards to write. We all know the feeling of wanting the season to be special and meaningful, not rushed; joyful, not frantic. And somewhere between getting the wrapping paper, meal planning, and putting calendar reminders into our phones, a theme emerges: preparation shapes the experience. Being prepared is not about control, but readiness. Being prepared helps us to focus on the people not the logistics. Being prepared builds confidence for ourselves and those around us. Getting ready for Christmas is not about completing all the tasks, but about being present, helping others to flourish - qualities that lie at the heart of good leadership too.

A few weeks ago, I went to see To Kill a Mockingbird at the theatre in Cardiff. Set in 1934 Alabama, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning story was brought to life through an incredible performance and a powerful adaptation of the book.   One of the lines that stayed with me was: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb inside his skin and walk around in it.” It raises an important question: How do we truly empathise with another person? How do we broaden our perspective—our range of perspectives—and see an issue through someone else’s eyes? How do we connect deeply enough to understand what it means to walk in another person’s shoes?  The answer begins with a simple commitment: we need to invest in others. Invest our time, our energies and our care.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful skills a leader can develop. Facts and data may provide information, but stories create meaning. They help people understand why something matters, not just what needs to be done. When leaders use storytelling effectively, they translate an issue, challenge, problem, or element of strategy into something that connects to human experience.  Great storytelling isn’t about bluff or bluster, it’s about creating real, meaningful connection. A strong story helps people see themselves stepping up and contributing to the team, the process, and the outcome. It allows people to imagine the journey ahead and feel aligned with the leader’s values and aspirations. Stories simplify complexity, making abstract ideas concrete and relatable. Storytelling also builds engagement. When leaders speak through stories, about challenges overcome, lessons learned, and moments of resistance or resilience, they bring authenticity to their communication.  Peopl...

                                                        Uncertainty promotes a wide range of perceptions and feelings - doubt, skepticism, mistrust and suspicion. It reflects our struggle to navigate a world where evidence, information or insight about the present or the future may be in short supply. So how does a leader guide others through uncertain times? When faced with uncertainty, people look to leaders tfor specific qualities - acknowledgement of the situation, calmness, steadiness, steadfastness, and clarity. In uncertain times, people can only have confident in their leaders when there is clarity of purpose, priorities, and expectations. Even when the long term seems so far in the distance, leaders can explain what the next milestone is and provide confidence that it is achievable. Breaking down complex issues into concrete, achievable mil...

Our paper has been published Agricultural robots: using anticipatory approaches to embed appropriate hygienic design of hardware has been published in the British Food Journal. Do check it out.

Leadership involves both deep listening and sensemaking. Deep listening goes far beyond hearing the words being spoken. It is the personal discipline of paying attention not only to what is said, but to the signals that surround the words, the meaning, emotion, intention, and what remains unspoken. When leaders listen deeply, they create an environment where people feel confident to express themselves openly, and they uncover insights that would otherwise remain hidden.  Sensemaking builds on deep listening. It is the process of interpreting multiple signals, connecting patterns, and understanding the broader system and context of a situation or problem. Together, deep listening and sensemaking enable leaders to navigate uncertainty and complexity with far greater clarity.   Deep listening requires presence, not checking emails on a phone while someone is speaking, but focusing fully on the conversation. It means slowing down, suspending assumptions, and paying attention to su...