Episode 5

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Published on:

13th Oct 2026

Quickfixation - When the Problem Is Structural but the Solution Is Biscuits

People are overloaded, trust is wobbling, and the workload is becoming impossible. So naturally, leadership books a workshop. In this episode of Leadruption, Emma Last explores Quickfixation, the tempting habit of trying to solve complex human and organisational problems with an initiative, a worksheet, and, if we’re lucky, slightly better biscuits.

In this episode, we explore:

  • What Quickfixation is, and why taking action isn’t always the same as addressing the actual problem.
  • What happens when people raise concerns about workload, management, or trust, and the response is another resilience session.
  • Why individual wellbeing interventions can’t compensate for problems being created by the wider system.
  • How the Say–Do Gap appears when leaders say, “We’ve listened”, but people experience another initiative rather than meaningful change.
  • Two questions to consider: Where might you be offering people a tool to cope with something you actually have the power to change? And what are people repeatedly telling you is wrong that you keep answering with an initiative instead of a decision?

Sometimes the most human-first thing a leader can do isn’t book another workshop.

It’s fix the thing.

Although you can still keep the better biscuits.

Want more Leadruption?

Come and join Emma in Leadruption PodChat to continue the conversation and discover more words from The Leadruptionary.

You can also explore the Say–Do Gap White Paper and go deeper into what happens when leadership intention and lived experience stop matching.

https://emmalast.com/leadruption-podchat

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About the Podcast

Leadruption
Ever wondered whether people experience your leadership the way you think they do?

Leadruption explores the funny, frustrating, and occasionally uncomfortable contradictions hiding inside modern leadership.
Hosted by Emma Last, Informed Leadership consultant, People Director and speaker. This is leadership development with less corporate nonsense and a little more humanity.
Each short episode explores one idea, behaviour, or Leadruptionary word, from difficult conversations and decision-making to trust, culture, AI, authority, and the everyday habits that quietly shape how people experience us.
It’s for leaders of businesses, people, communities, and movements who want sharper judgement, stronger trust, and a more informed way to lead.
Expect humour, disruption, honest reflection, and the occasional “Oh heck. I do that.”
New 5–6 minute podshots every weekday morning.

About your host

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Emma Last

Emma Last is a Informed Leadership Consultant , People Director and Speaker with over 25 years’ experience supporting leaders build results with responsibility. The founder of Leadruption, creator of the Informed Leadership Standards™ and developer of The Say-Do Gap.

Before founding Progressive Minds in 2018, Emma held senior leadership roles and spent more than two decades working across people development, leadership, business development, and organisational change.

Because leadership isn't what we intend, Leadership is what people experience. If we strengthen Results With responsibility we will build trusted authority.

25+ years in leadership and people strategy | 300+ clients | DfE quality-assured work | 40+ media features