by Julia Felton | Dec 9, 2025
Most leaders don’t realise how much influence they lose the second they switch on a webcam.
In the boardroom, they’re confident, intentional, switched on.
Online?
They look like they’ve joined witness protection.
Giant forehead. Echoey audio. Distracting background clutter. Eyes staring at the screen instead of the people.
Trust slips. Engagement dies. Authority evaporates.
And because remote meetings now are the boardroom, this problem is no longer cosmetic. It’s existential.
So I brought in someone who lives and breathes this work.
This week on Impactful Teamwork, I was joined by Alfred Poor – keynote speaker, technology expert, and virtual-presentation specialist. His mission? Helping founders and leaders show up online with influence, clarity, and credibility.
This conversation was one of the most practical we’ve ever had.
Below is a full breakdown plus action steps you can implement today.
The 75% Reality Check
Gartner predicts that 75% of all business meetings in the US will be online. For many of us, it’s already higher.
Video calls are no longer the convenient option.
They are the core arena where leadership happens.
Hiring, firing, pitching, influencing, decision-making, problem-solving, performance reviews, investor conversations…
All increasingly happening through a lens.
As Alfred says:
“Video meetings are the new telephone… and also the new boardroom.”
If you are not intentional about how you show up, you’re choosing to undermine your own impact.
The Pandemic Broke Our Standards
Before COVID, only a handful of leaders used video regularly. After COVID, everyone was suddenly on screen with no training, no intention, no thought.
People slapped open laptops on kitchen counters.
Harsh lighting. Terrible angles. Distracting backgrounds.
Everything rushed. Nothing considered.
That “make do” mentality never reset.
But influence doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.
Alfred’s work boils virtual leadership down to three non-negotiables:
1. Be seen
2. Be heard
3. Minimise distractions
That’s it.
Simple. Powerful. Game-changing.
Let’s break them down.
1. Be Seen – Your Presence Matters
Online presence isn’t vanity. It’s leadership.
If people can’t clearly see your face, your eyes, your gestures, or your emotional cues, you lose authority. You lose connection. You lose trust.
Here’s what Alfred hammered home.
Fix your lighting
Most leaders have awful lighting because they rely on whatever room they happen to be in.
The fix is simple:
- Use two lamps with plain white shades
- Choose daylight bulbs (slightly blue, more flattering)
- Avoid yellowish light
- Move ring lights off-centre so you don’t flatten your face
- If you wear glasses, beware of those bright white donuts of reflection
Lighting doesn’t need to be expensive. It needs to be considerate.
Fix your framing
No more giant head. No more “up the nose” horror angle.
- Raise your camera to eye level
- Move it further back so your torso is visible
- Aim for the framing you’d see on BBC or Sky News
- Keep your gestures in your natural “power zone” (centre of your chest)
This instantly makes you appear more grounded, engaging, and trustworthy.
Fix your eye contact
Looking at people’s faces on screen feels like eye contact.
It isn’t.
Eye contact online = looking at the camera.
Alfred’s 50p hack:
Stick a pair of googly eyes next to the lens and talk to them.
Ridiculous. Effective. Transformative.
2. Be Heard – Your Voice Carries Your Leadership
Audio is the most underestimated part of virtual presence.
If your sound is muffled, echoey, or inconsistent, people stop listening. They drift. Their brain has to work harder, and that means they switch off.
Avoid your laptop mic
It picks up:
- Room echo
- Background noise
- Harshness
- Every tap on your keyboard
Better options
- USB mic (like the Blue Yeti in cardioid mode)
- Lavalier mic clipped to your clothing
- Headset if needed, especially in noisy environments
Tame the room
Hard surfaces create echo.
You don’t need a studio. You need softening:
- Curtains
- Cushions
- Rugs
- Even a blanket thrown over a table
If you wouldn’t hold a leadership meeting in a tiled bathroom, don’t sound like you’re sitting in one.
3. Minimise Distractions – Your Background Is Part of Your Brand
This is where leaders lose trust without realising it.
Stop using virtual backgrounds
Yes, I’m saying it.
Yes, Alfred said it too.
Your hair disappears.
Your hands glitch.
Your chair vanishes.
You look like a hologram.
It’s distracting, disorienting, and quietly damaging to your credibility.
If you haven’t thought about your background, people will wonder what else you haven’t thought about.
Better options
- Tidy real background
- Plain wall
- Photographic backdrop hung on a clothes rail
- A simple brand element like your logo or a company colour
And for the love of trust-building, remove anything:
- Messy
- Personal
- Political
- Strange
- Half-drunk
Your background speaks before you do.
A Big Mistake: Hiding Behind Slides
For years, screen sharing has meant:
Slide covers the screen.
Your face becomes a tiny postage stamp.
On a real stage, leaders never hide behind the screen.
They stand in front of it.
Alfred showed a brilliant alternative:
Use tools that allow your face and slide together.
You remain present.
Your authority stays intact.
Your message lands.
Even without fancy tools, you can:
- Speak to camera first
- Share the slide briefly
- Return to camera to anchor the message
Your presence is the presentation.
The Leadership Truth Underneath It All
This episode wasn’t really about cameras, lights, or microphones.
It was about leadership.
How you show up online reveals your:
- Intentionality
- Credibility
- Attention to detail
- Professionalism
- Authority
- Trustworthiness
If your team sees chaos behind you, they unconsciously question how you lead.
If your audio is unclear, they question your clarity.
If your lighting is off, they question your presence.
If you stare down at the screen, they question your confidence.
Your virtual environment is a leadership signal.
Make it a powerful one.
Action Steps You Can Implement Today
1. Record yourself on Zoom or Teams
Watch yourself back with brutal honesty.
Notice your lighting, framing, sound, background, and eye contact.
2. Improve one thing this week
- Raise your camera
- Add better lighting
- Clean your background
- Fix your audio
Leadership is built in micro-shifts.
3. Create a team virtual-presence standard
Your organisation needs shared agreements on:
- What “professional” looks like
- How backgrounds should appear
- Audio expectations
- How slides are presented
This enhances trust, clarity, and collective influence.
Final Word
Virtual leadership is not about turning yourself into a YouTuber.
It’s about bringing your real, grounded authority into the medium where leadership now lives.
After this episode with Alfred Poor, one thing is clear:
Remote influence is no longer optional. It’s a core leadership skill.
And when you master how you show up online, your team listens more deeply, your clients trust you more quickly, and your message travels further with less effort.
Listen to the full episode for the deeper insights.
Your virtual presence is part of your leadership legacy.
Start refining it today.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:23 The Importance of Virtual Meetings
04:30 The 75% Solution Explained
08:51 Lighting Tips for Virtual Meetings
14:55 Framing and Camera Setup
20:14 Lighting and Camera Quality
20:39 The Importance of Eye Contact
22:09 Virtual Backgrounds: Pros and Cons
23:22 Trust and Authenticity in Virtual Meetings
28:27 Effective Use of Microphones
33:38 Engaging Presentations with OBS Studio
36:38 Practical Tips for Leaders
36:55 Conclusion and Resources
You can connect with Alfred at: www.alfredpoor.com
Video Meeting Blueprint: https://alfredpoor.com/video-meeting-blueprint
Booking link for a free call: https://BookAChatWithAlfred.com
by Julia Felton | Dec 2, 2025
Have you ever thought about running your business like a Broadway show?
Not in the jazz-hands sense. In the “we perform at a world class level every single night, no matter what breaks, who is missing, or what chaos erupts backstage” sense.
In this episode of Impactful Teamwork, I spoke with Broadway dresser Teri Pruitt, who has worked on iconic shows like Wicked, The Lion King, Miss Saigon and more.
What she shared about backstage life is basically a live masterclass in high performance, trust and teamship.
Here is the blog breakdown of that conversation, and how you can apply Broadway leadership lessons in your business.
1. The Show You Never See: Hidden Teamwork That Makes It All Work
When we watch a Broadway show, we see the stars, the lights, the magic.
What we don’t see is the army behind them.
Dressers, swings, understudies, stage managers, props, set, tech, wardrobe. On Wicked alone, Teri told me there is a 14 person dressing crew, plus swings who cover when others are out.
And here is the kicker.
On almost every performance, the exact same group of people has never done the show together.
Illness. Injuries. Holidays. Life.
Yet the audience still experiences the same standard, the same wow, the same “how on earth do they do that?” show.
Business takeaway:
If your performance depends on a few heroes always being there, you do not have a team, you have a risk.
Ask yourself:
- If three key people were out tomorrow, would the “show” still run at the same standard?
- Is your backstage structure as intentional as your front stage promises?
2. Building Trust Fast With People Who Change Every Night
Most leaders complain about onboarding taking months.
On Broadway, new swings and covers have to be ready to go in a matter of performances, not quarters.
Teri explained how they train:
- First, new dressers shadow and watch.
- Then they run the track while Terry follows them.
- After that, they are on, alone, responsible.
Her line to them is brilliant:
“I’m going to let you stumble, but I’m never going to let you fall.”
That is trust in action. You are allowed to learn, but you are not allowed to fail alone.
Business takeaway:
This is the culture of experimentation we talk about in theory, lived in practice. You cannot develop capable people if you never let them carry the weight.
Reflect:
- Where can you let your team “stumble” safely, while making sure they never hit the floor?
- Are you holding on to work because you do not trust, or because you have not trained?
3. Problem Solving In Real Time: Plan B, C And D
This bit made me laugh and wince at the same time.
Example one:
An actor’s boot zip completely broke in a quick change. He had to go back on stage. No time for repair, no spare that fit. Terry grabbed gaffer tape, taped the boot internally so he could dance safely, then coordinated backstage to source another pair for later in the show.
Example two:
There is a goat character in Wicked who wears a tail. One night he went on without it. The stage manager flagged it. Teri had already created a backup goat tail in a box stage left from a previous incident, so she grabbed it, fixed it, and got back to her original cue on time.
That is not fluffy “be agile” talk. That is real time improvisation built on experience, foresight and systems.
Business takeaway:
Things will break. People will forget. Systems will glitch.
The question is not “how do we prevent anything from ever going wrong?”
The question is “how quickly and gracefully can we recover when it does?”
Try asking:
- Where are the “zipper breaks” in your business that you keep pretending will not happen?
- What are your backup tails, taped boots and plan Bs that mean the client never feels the wobble?
4. From Me To We: Teamship, Not Ego
Backstage on Wicked sounds a lot like a healthy herd to me.
Teri described it this way:
- Everyone knows their role.
- Everyone is watching the whole system, not just their bit.
- If someone is in the wrong place, you “shove with love” to get them safe and in position.
- You might be “responsible mainly for three actors”, yet you see the entire acting company as your responsibility.
Yes, there is hierarchy, there are stage managers and supervisors. But there is also this deep sense of shared responsibility. The show belongs to everyone.
That is pure teamship. Collective accountability.
Not “my department”, “my silo”, “my ego”, but “our performance”.
Business takeaway:
Your team does not need to be nice. They need to be honest, committed and willing to shove with love when something is off.
Consider:
- Are you creating a culture where people can call things out quickly without drama or blame?
- Do people feel responsible only for “their bit”, or for the whole experience you are delivering?
5. Consistency Without Killing Creativity
Wicked has been on Broadway for 22 years.
There are also productions in London, on tour, in Brazil, in Asia, in Australia. Different theatres, different casts, different cultures. Yet if you go to see Wicked in London or New York, the show feels the same.
How?
Because the creative team has:
- Clear scripts, choreography and costume plots.
- Associate directors and choreographers who go out and set up each version of the show.
- A strong footprint that can flex slightly to local constraints, like whether the theatre can take trap doors.
This is the holy grail many businesses are chasing.
Consistency of experience, with space for local adaptation.
Business takeaway:
You cannot scale chaos. You can only scale clarity.
Ask:
- Where do you need a stronger “production bible” for how things are done?
- Where are you over-controlling and killing local innovation, instead of setting guardrails and letting people adapt?
6. Give Them An A: Start From Trust, Not Suspicion
The moment that really landed for me was when Teri talked about trust.
Her advice for leaders was simple and radical:
“Give trust until trust is taken away.”
She linked this to Benjamin Zander’s book The Art of Possibility, and his famous “Give them an A” story. He told his music students they all had an A at the start of the semester, then asked them to live into it.
When you start from suspicion, your people are busy proving they are not untrustworthy. That is a waste of energy.
When you start from trust, you invite their best.
Of course, sometimes trust is broken, and you need boundaries, consequences and hard conversations. Terry shared a moment where she had to escalate a persistent problem to her supervisor very directly. That was not drama, that was protecting the integrity of the show and the people depending on her.
Business takeaway:
Trust is not naive. It is a strategic choice about where you place your energy.
Reflect:
- Do new people in your team feel like they start with an A, or like they are under suspicion?
- Where do you need to have the courageous conversation you have been avoiding to protect the “show”?
Key Takeaways: How To Bring A Bit Of Broadway Into Your Business
Here are some practical actions you can take this week:
- Audit your backstage.
Map who and what it really takes to deliver your “show” to clients. Where are the hidden heroes and the fragile points?
- Create safe stumbles.
Design one area where a team member can take ownership of a task, with you shadowing and supporting rather than controlling.
- Build your Plan B list.
Identify three critical failure points and create your “backup goat tail” solutions now, not when the curtain is already up.
- Practice shove with love.
Encourage your team to call things out kindly but clearly. Celebrate the person who protects the team by speaking up.
- Experiment with “Give them an A”.
Choose one person or project and consciously start from trust. Tell them what A-level contribution would look like and invite them into it.
If your team operated more like a Broadway company, where everyone is clear, prepared, trusted and collectively responsible, how different would your daily experience feel?
That is the invitation from this conversation with Teri
Stop trying to run a perfect, tightly controlled show in your head. Start leading a living, breathing ensemble that can adapt, improvise and still deliver something remarkable, performance after performance.
So, over the next week, what is one small “Broadway move” you are willing to make in your leadership?
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:34 Teri’s Broadway Background
01:50 Teamwork Behind the Scenes
03:53 Challenges and Problem Solving
05:14 Building Trust and Rapid Training
08:08 Collective Responsibility and Team Dynamics
11:43 Handling On-Stage Mishaps
16:08 Learning and Iteration in Theatre
18:43 The Long Road to Broadway
19:32 The Importance of Trust and Levity
21:35 Handling Ego and Conflict
24:26 Consistency Across Global Productions
27:46 Lessons from Theatre for Business
31:32 Closing Thoughts and Farewell
You can connect with Teri at https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-pruitt-a2b341101/
by Julia Felton | Nov 25, 2025
Trust snaps fast. One moment everything feels steady, and the next your team, your culture, your reputation is wobbling like a spooked horse sensing danger in the wind.
This week’s Impactful Teamwork episode hit a nerve, because trust isn’t an abstract leadership concept, it’s the lifeblood of every business that wants to grow with integrity. And right now, trust is breaking everywhere — from the BBC’s recent reporting scandal to a private moment at a Coldplay concert that destroyed two careers overnight.
If you lead people, you’re not immune.
And that’s exactly why we need to talk about what really happens when trust fractures… and how to rebuild it from the inside out.
The Trust Crisis We’re All Living In
The world is watching leaders more closely than ever. Every gesture, every message, every slip is recorded, re-posted, and ripped apart.
No wonder trust levels are at rock bottom.
- People distrust government
- People distrust the media
- People distrust teams, leaders, systems
When a global institution like the BBC falls into disrepute because of an edited video that distorted the context of Donald Trump’s comments, it’s not just a journalism problem. It’s a leadership problem.
Once doubt creeps in, credibility evaporates.
And the question people ask isn’t what happened? — it’s who are you really?
That’s the danger zone for any leader.
Trust Isn’t Built on Perfection, It’s Built on Congruence
This is where horse herds gift us a powerful truth.
A lead mare doesn’t lead because of a title, or force, or ego.
She leads because the herd trusts her energy, clarity, and consistency.
The moment her energy wavers, the herd senses it.
Humans are no different.
Your team may not speak it aloud, but they feel the mismatch between your words and your energy. They notice the micro-hesitations, the subtle shifts, the alignment or misalignment in every decision you make.
At my leadership workshops, we teach four foundations for trust:
- Unwavering attention
- Clear direction
- Aligned energy
- Authentic congruence
Miss one of these, and the horse walks away.
Miss them repeatedly, and so will your team.
This is why trust cracks long before it collapses — you just don’t always see the signs.
What Really Happens Inside Teams When Trust Breaks
It’s not dramatic at first.
It’s subtle, quiet, and easy to miss if you’re moving too fast.
- Communication becomes filtered
- People say what’s safe, not what’s true
- Creativity shrinks
- Engagement drops
- Silos harden
- Protection replaces contribution
According to the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap, trust is one of the three core levers of high-performance. When trust is strong, teams operate in a turbo-charged state where energy flows, people collaborate naturally, and momentum builds with ease.
But when trust erodes?
Teams slide into turbulence, then toxicity.
They stop co-creating and start self-protecting. They follow the rules but withhold their best thinking. They become guarded instead of generous.
Once trust collapses internally, it bleeds externally — into client relationships, partner networks, and your public reputation. Think BBC. Think the Coldplay scandal.
Trust breaks fast, and wide.
Owning the Break: The Courage Most Leaders Avoid
Here’s the uncomfortable truth.
You can’t rebuild trust you haven’t owned breaking.
Leaders often try the coward’s apology:
- “I’m sorry if people were offended.”
- “That wasn’t my intention.”
- “Let’s move on.”
None of these rebuild trust. Because trust isn’t about image management, it’s about integrity.
A real accountability statement sounds like this:
“I made a mistake. This caused harm. I own it. Here’s how I’m going to rebuild trust.”
This is why I had huge respect for the BBC’s Head of News when she resigned. She took full accountability for the failure of her team. She didn’t hide. She didn’t deflect. She stepped up.
That’s leadership. And in a world full of spin, it’s rare.
The Herd’s Wisdom for Repairing Trust
In a horse herd, when a leader misjudges a threat and causes panic, they don’t defend, hide, or spin. They regulate the herd through grounded presence.
Slow breath.
Soft body.
Calm energy.
Clear signals that safety has returned.
Leaders must do the same.
This is coherence. And without coherence, no trust repair lasts.
Step One: Assess the Damage
You can’t repair what you don’t understand.
Ask:
- Who has been affected?
- Where has the trust been dented — relationships, competence, or structure?
- What fears or narratives are now circulating?
- What does the team need to feel safe again?
This is where Healthy Curiosity, one of the levers in the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap, becomes essential. Leaders must create the conditions for real candour, not compliance.
Step Two: Communicate Before Silence Creates a Bigger Hole
Silence destroys trust faster than mistakes.
When the BBC delayed responding, the gap widened.
This happens in companies every day.
People don’t fear bad news as much as they fear not knowing.
Transparency is oxygen.
Withholding is poison.
Even if you legally can’t say everything, you can always say something:
- “Here’s what we know.”
- “Here’s what we don’t.”
- “Here’s what we can’t share yet.”
- “Here’s what you can expect next.”
Honesty breeds safety.
Step Three: Demonstrate Change Through Micro-Actions
Apologies don’t rebuild trust. Patterns do.
This is where leaders often fall down. They say “Sorry”, then continue with business as usual.
Your team needs visible behavioural change.
Try:
- Inviting the team to hold you accountable
- Reporting on progress openly
- Asking for feedback
- Seeking coaching or external support
- Showing congruence between your words and energy
Remember:
Horses don’t believe what you say. They believe what you emit. Humans are the same.
Trust as a Living System
Trust isn’t a one-time transaction. It’s a living ecosystem.
It grows through alignment. It dies through misalignment. And it renews through courageous honesty.
Every trust-building moment is like adding a coin to a money box. Every violation is like breaking the box and watching all the coins scatter across the floor.
You can rebuild – but it takes time, presence, and consistency.
Action Points: Repairing Trust in Your Team
1. Do a Trust Audit
Ask your team: How safe do you feel to speak openly? What’s eroding trust? What needs rebuilding?
2. Model Vulnerability
Share a mistake. Own it. Show your team congruence in action.
3. Rebuild Through Rituals
Regular check-ins, office hours, or open conversations create safety.
4. Regulate Your Energy
Your team trusts your presence before your words. Ground yourself first.
5. Track Your Patterns
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Consistency builds credibility.
Your Leadership Legacy Depends on Your Next Move
Trust is earned moment by moment. When it shatters, your next move defines your legacy.
Don’t reach for spin. Reach for truth.
Because in a world obsessed with image, integrity is the real power move.
If you’re ready to explore how trust, energy, and curiosity shape your team’s performance — and how to transform trust into your competitive advantage — take the Turbo-Charge Your Team Quiz and book your Team Audit.
Let’s rebuild trust from the inside out so your team can move with flow, freedom, and unstoppable momentum.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction to Impactful Teamwork
01:25 Current Events Highlighting Trust Issues
02:45 The Fragility and Importance of Trust
03:40 Rebuilding Trust: Lessons from Leadership and Horse Herds
06:57 Consequences of Broken Trust in Teams
08:41 Steps to Rebuild Trust
14:24 Practical Examples and Final Thoughts
18:51 Conclusion and Call to Action
by Julia Felton | Nov 18, 2025
We keep saying we want more creativity at work, yet most leaders I meet are exhausted, over-analysing everything, and quietly sliding towards burnout.
In this week’s episode of Impactful Teamwork I sat down with Dr Andre Walton, who I dubbed an “organisational creativity architect”, to explore what really blocks creativity in teams and what we can do about it.
His story weaves art, physics, entrepreneurship, and jazz together, and lands in a very simple truth: if you want more creativity and innovation, you must change the way you think, work and relate.
Not in theory, in your actual day.
Let’s unpack it.
Why Creativity At Work Feels So Hard
We romanticise creativity as the magical spark, the big idea in the shower, the genius who sees what others cannot.
Yet in organisations, creativity is often squeezed out by:
- Constant pressure to perform
- Obsession with short term metrics
- A culture that worships “being busy” over being present
- Fear of looking foolish in front of the boss
Dr Andree sees this especially in people on the edge of burnout. They are brilliant, committed and diligent, yet their thinking has narrowed to one mode only, like a racehorse with blinkers on.
Which takes us to one of my favourite distinctions from our conversation.
Divergent vs Convergent Thinking, And The Burnout Trap
Thanks to functional MRI, we now know that different neural pathways light up in the brain when we think creatively versus when we think analytically.
- Divergent thinking is expansive. It explores, plays, asks “what if”. This is the way you thought as a small child, when the world was new and everything was interesting.
- Convergent thinking is focused and analytical. It drills down, reduces options, searches for the one right answer. This is the mode that is rewarded in most corporate environments.
Neither is wrong. The problem is imbalance.
When leaders live almost entirely in convergent mode, they start to:
- Lose perspective, stuck in tunnels instead of seeing horizons
- Exclude alternative ideas and voices
- Drive themselves into burnout because everything becomes about “pushing through”
Creativity, resilience and genuine problem solving only flourish when there is a healthy rhythm between the two.
The Three Rs: Relationships, Recreation, Responsibilities
Dr Andree shared three pillars he sees consistently fraying when people hit burnout. I suspect at least one will resonate with you.
- Relationships
Burnout often isolates. You withdraw, stop delegating, and other people begin to feel like interruptions rather than allies.
- Recreation
You forget to have fun and instead engaged in Netflix-collapse-on-the-sofa recreation rather than genuine restorative time.
- Responsibilities
As you burn out you tend to grab more, not less. You hold onto work you should have handed over three promotions ago. You become the bottleneck and the fixer.
His framing is simple and uncomfortable. If you want to rebalance your thinking and reignite creativity, you must tend to these three areas, not just “try harder”.
Why Walking And Nature Unlock Creative Brains
I talk about nature a lot, so I was delighted when the science-backed version turned up in this conversation.
When you go for a rhythmic, low effort walk, especially in nature, something powerful happens:
- The part of the brain that connects the left and right hemispheres, the corpus callosum, increases its data capacity
- You are no longer using the same neural pathways you use for spreadsheets, forecasts and problem lists
- You create the conditions for those “walking the dog aha moments” we all secretly rely on
The key here is regular, gentle rhythm without cognitive demand. Walking in a park, by a lake, along a bridleway, not scrolling your phone.
It is not a fluffy wellbeing extra. It is how you reclaim divergent thinking so you can actually see new options.
Tiny Experiments To Break Your Mental Tunnel
One of my favourite parts of the conversation was how practical Dr Andree made this. You do not need to blow up your life to get your creative brain back.
You can start with tiny acts of rebellion against routine:
- Take a different route to work
- Order something new at your regular restaurant
- Choose a different restaurant entirely
- Introduce a weekly date night or friendship night that you actually protect
- Schedule one walk a week in a beautiful, natural place, without using it to solve a problem
These might look trivial, yet they are signals to your brain that change is safe, that there are other paths available. Over time, they build your capacity for divergent thinking again.
Teams As Jazz Bands, Not Marching Armies
You know I love my horse herd metaphors, and interestingly, Dr Andree brought in jazz.
In a jazz band everyone:
- Follows a shared structure or theme
- Knows when to play in tight synchrony
- Knows when to step out and improvise, bringing their individuality fully to the front
That is how high performing teams work too.
This nonsense phrase “there is no I in team” came under fire in our conversation. There absolutely is. Teams need:
- The wild idea generator
- The big picture strategist
- The implementer who gets it done
- The polisher who refines and improves
- The playmaker who orchestrates the flow
If you crush individuality in the name of harmony, you kill creativity and morale. Just like a herd of horses with blinkers on, you lose your ability to sense and respond to what is really happening.
You Cannot Bolt Creativity On To A Dead Culture
We also tackled one of the biggest lies in corporate life.
You cannot:
- Build a little innovation lab at the end of the car park
- Hire a few “creative types” in trainers and hoodies
- And expect the rest of the organisation to magically become innovative
If creativity is not a core value, it will always be a sideshow.
That means:
- Risk taking is allowed, not punished
- Experiments that do not work are treated as data, not failure
- There are “champions” in each department who carry the flame of creativity and protect it
- Finance is a partner, not the gatekeeper that kills everything new at birth
Otherwise you burn through your best creative people, who eventually leave because the environment is fundamentally hostile to the way they think.
Happiness, Safety And The Courage To Be Yourself
Right at the end we circled back to something deeply human.
Work is happier and more creative when people feel safe to:
- Be themselves
- Share what is really going on in their lives
- Ask “is this normal?” about their teenagers, their fears, their doubts
- Show vulnerability without fearing it will be used against them
Our deepest need after food and water is connection. Yet most of our waking life is spent at work. If your workplace does not allow genuine connection, it will never sustain creativity or wellbeing.
Psychological safety is not a tick box. It is the soil that allows individuality, innovation and everyday ingenuity to grow.
This Week’s Challenge: Unleash A Little More Creativity
So here is my invitation to you, straight from this powerful conversation with Dr Andree.
Over the next seven days:
- Choose one relationship to nurture. Reach out, reconnect, ask for support, or simply be more honest.
- Schedule one piece of true recreation. A walk in nature, a hobby, something where your brain is off duty.
- Audit your responsibilities. Write down everything you are currently holding. Then circle one task you can delegate or stop.
And as you move through your week, notice:
- When you are in tunnelled, convergent thinking
- When you allow yourself to expand into divergent thinking
Because creativity is not missing. It is waiting.
Waiting for you to create the conditions for it to breathe again, inside you and inside your team.
If this has landed for you and you want to go deeper into how to build more creative, energised and resilient teams, tune into the full episode of Impactful Teamwork with Dr Andree Walton and then ask yourself, honestly:
Where in my leadership have I been wearing blinkers, and what would it look like to take them off?
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome
00:53 Meet Dr. Andre Walton: The Creativity Architect
01:31 Dr. Andre’s Journey into Creativity
04:25 The Science Behind Creativity
05:05 Balancing Analytical and Creative Thinking
07:19 Strategies to Combat Burnout
07:45 The Role of Relationships, Recreation, and Responsibilities
11:35 The Importance of Delegation and Defined Roles
16:12 Creativity in Leadership and Team Dynamics
27:27 Challenges of Maintaining Creativity in Organizations
29:46 Embedding Creativity in Company Culture
34:22 Creating a Happier Workplace
38:26 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
You can learn more about Dr Andre here and connect to him on LinkedIn
by Julia Felton | Nov 11, 2025
When I left the corporate world to start my own business, I thought I had it nailed. I’d built global divisions, led high-performing teams, and delivered results under pressure. Surely running my own show couldn’t be that hard?
Oh, how wrong I was.
The truth hit fast and hard: leadership success is 80% mindset and only 20% skillset.
You can have the strategy, systems, and smarts — but if your beliefs are misaligned, you’ll keep hitting invisible walls.
In this week’s Impactful Teamwork podcast, I dive deep into those hidden beliefs that quietly sabotage leaders and stall business momentum. These are the inner scripts that keep you busy instead of brilliant, driven instead of directed, and in control instead of in flow.
And yes, it gets personal.
Beliefs Shape Every Leadership Decision
As Mahatma Gandhi famously said:
“Your beliefs become your thoughts.
Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your values.
Your values become your destiny.”
It’s a simple yet powerful reminder that beliefs sit at the root of everything.
They determine what you notice, how you interpret situations, and even how you lead under pressure. When you believe only you can do something properly, you’ll micromanage. When you fear mistakes, you’ll hesitate. When you believe saying “no” makes you unhelpful, you’ll burn out.
Ultimately, beliefs drive behaviour — and behaviour drives results.
That’s why reprogramming your leadership mindset is non-negotiable if you want to create what I call Unbridled Teamship — a culture of trust, contribution, and adaptability.
The Hidden Blockers That Sabotage Leaders
In her book Leadership Unblocked, Muriel Wilkins identifies the seven hidden blockers that hold leaders back. I see these every day in teams and boardrooms.
Here’s what they look like — and why they matter.
1. “I need to be involved.”
This belief masquerades as commitment, yet it creates bottlenecks. You stay in the business instead of working on it. As a result, your team never learns to lead — because you won’t let go of the reins.
2. “I need it done now.”
Speed is seductive. But constant urgency drives sloppy decisions and chronic burnout. Sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is pause, breathe, and let clarity catch up.
3. “I know I’m right.”
When leaders cling to being right, they shut down curiosity and silence creativity. The best teams thrive on diverse perspectives — not ego battles.
4. “I can’t make a mistake.”
Perfectionism is just fear wearing lipstick. True progress happens through experimentation, iteration, and course correction. Waiting for perfect means you never ship anything.
5. “If I can do it, so can you.”
This assumption blinds leaders to others’ strengths and struggles. Leadership isn’t cloning yourself — it’s cultivating potential in others.
6. “I can’t say no.”
Boundaries are leadership oxygen. Without them, everything feels urgent and nothing truly matters. Learning to say no creates space for strategic yeses.
7. “I don’t belong here.”
That sneaky imposter syndrome convinces you that your success is luck, not skill. The result? You hide, self-sabotage, and play small — even when you’ve already earned your seat at the table.
From Blocked to Unbridled
Fortunately, these beliefs can be rewritten. Here’s the simple three-step process I use with clients — and in my own leadership journey.
1️⃣ Uncover the Blocker
Start by naming it. Self-awareness is step one. Ask for honest feedback, notice your stress triggers, and pay attention to repeated frustrations. That’s where the truth hides.
2️⃣ Unpack the Belief
Next, trace it back. Where did that belief come from? Often, we’re still operating on childhood programming — beliefs formed long before we ever led teams. Ask yourself: Does this still serve me?
3️⃣ Unblock and Reframe
Finally, rewrite the narrative. Choose beliefs that energise rather than drain you:
- “I can do anything, but I don’t need to do everything.”
- “Excellence matters more than perfection.”
- “My role is to help others find their own answers.”
- “I belong wherever I choose to show up.”
Small reframes like these transform your energy — and your impact ripples outward fast.
What Horses Teach Us About Belief
When I’m out in the arena with my horses, I see this truth play out every time.
A horse doesn’t follow a leader because of dominance. They follow because they trust the energy, feel the conviction, and believe in the safety of that relationship.
If my belief wavers, the horse immediately stops following. They sense it instantly — no words, no explanation.
The same applies in your team. People don’t respond to what you say; they respond to what you believe. When your energy says “I don’t trust you,” they withdraw. When your confidence says “we’ve got this,” they rise.
Leadership isn’t performance. It’s presence — and your energy doesn’t lie.
Why This Matters Now
We live in a business world obsessed with doing more, faster. Yet most leaders don’t need another productivity hack — they need a mindset reset.
That’s exactly why I created the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap — a nature-inspired framework built on Game-Changing Trust, Impactful Contribution, and Unbridled Adaptability.
When leaders unblock limiting beliefs, they unlock energy. When they trust their teams, collaboration flows. And when curiosity replaces control, reinvention becomes the norm.
Ultimately, this is how high-performing teams become unstoppable. They don’t push harder — they align deeper.
Reflection for the Week
Take a moment to pause and reflect:
- Which belief is quietly running your leadership right now?
- Is it protecting you — or limiting you?
- What might be possible if you chose a new belief today?
As Gandhi said, your beliefs become your destiny. And destiny isn’t accidental — it’s created through conscious leadership.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction to Impactful Teamwork
00:53 Leadership and Beliefs: A Personal Journey
02:36 The Power of Beliefs in Leadership
02:53 Framework for Success: Gandhi’s Philosophy
07:05 Hidden Blockers in Leadership
19:54 Overcoming Leadership Blockers
23:21 Conclusion and Reflection
25:05 Podcast Outro and Call to Action
Leadership Unblocked – Muriel Wilkins – https://hbr.org/2025/11/the-hidden-beliefs-that-hold-leaders-back
by Julia Felton | Nov 4, 2025
If you’ve ever felt the pressure to fill a vacancy fast, you’ll love this one. In this week’s Impactful Teamwork, I sat down with Regina Partain Bergman – co-founder of The CEO Holy Grail and CEO of Bridgeport Strategy – to dig into what really builds high-performing teams as you scale. Spoiler: it’s not headcount. It’s discernment, design and discipline.
Regina has “a closet full of hats,” as she puts it – entrepreneur, former staffing-firm owner (12+ years), leadership adviser, and culture architect. Her purpose? Helping people, from CEOs to emerging talent, reach their full potential by getting the right people in the right roles and enabling leaders to actually lead. Below are the biggest takeaways and the practical moves you can steal for your own team.
Stop Throwing Bodies at Jobs
Regina’s staffing firm won by refusing the industry norm of “warm bodies fast.” Instead, her team front-loaded the fit: clear role requirements, culture cues, and a validated predictive assessment (she cites one that’s ~90% predictive of on-the-job success). That diligence let hiring managers see likely “bumps at 90 days” before making the offer.
Why 90 days? Because the first three months are when the mask slips. People relax and reveal their real working patterns. If you’ve planned for that moment, you’re ready with support, not surprised with regret.
Behavioural Interviews Beat Polite Fiction
A standout moment: Regina contrasted behavioural interviews with traditional ones. Ask for specific stories (“Tell me about a time when… What did you do? What happened next?”) rather than hypotheticals. When candidates go into story mode, you hear the details that reveal values, judgement and default responses—insights you’ll never get from “What are your strengths?”
Action: Build a bank of behavioural questions mapped to your core behaviours. For customer-facing roles, probe real situations with the public; for cross-functional roles, probe conflict navigation and influence without authority.
Check Your Bias—Then Tighten Your Policy
I admitted one of my early missteps: dismissing a candidate because of a plum-coloured suit—classic unconscious bias. Regina’s response was sharp and kind: train hiring managers on the legalities and the process, and make sure your policies align to the job and the law. If you have a guideline (“no ripped jeans”), there needs to be a role-relevant reason—safety, client perception, brand standards—not just taste.
Action:
- Train interviewers annually on lawful, bias-aware hiring.
- Standardise decision criteria before interviews begin.
- Keep interview conversations focused on job-relevant evidence.
The Right Seat Changes Everything
One of Regina’s favourite stories: a bank moved a team member from back-office accounting to executive reception once her profile revealed front-of-house strengths. Instant performance lift, zero new hire. I’ve seen the same: our “spreadsheet-averse” data manager was a brilliant team orchestrator—we just hadn’t named it.
Action: Profile your team (use tools validated for hiring decisions when you’re hiring; use strengths/energy tools for development). Then re-seat for strength, not hierarchy.
Shared Leadership & the Rise of Co-CEOs
We wandered (delightfully) into shared leadership. Regina and her partner built The CEO Holy Grail by pairing complementary strengths—hers in nurturing relationships and his in rapid people-reading and sales—then dividing work accordingly. Done well, a co-CEO or shared leadership model scales capacity without burning the bottleneck (i.e., the founder).
Action: Even if you’re solo at the top, design a shared-leadership operating system: clarify who leads what domains, how decisions get made, and where your blind spots need a counterbalance.
Scaling Without Imploding: People and Performance
Regina sees the same pattern I do: founders try to carry everything; teams get tasks, not outcomes; and KPIs are fuzzy or missing. Add discounting to “win deals,” and you quietly erase your margin. Her advice:
- Know your numbers and run pricing scenarios before discounting.
- Set leading and lagging KPIs everyone can see.
- Sequence growth with systems—or the weight of success collapses the structure.
Action: Establish a simple weekly scorecard (revenue, margin, pipeline health, delivery capacity, client NPS/retention, people capacity/engagement) and review it at the same time, every week.
From Conflict to Cohesion (In One Whiteboard)
Another gem: after a post-profiling “cat fight,” Regina brought the two team members into a room, let each bring a champion, mapped their profiles on the whiteboard, and coached mutual understanding. They left hugging—differences reframed from “difficult” to “different.” It didn’t erase every friction, but it gave language and empathy so collaboration could breathe.
Action: When tensions flare, map differences visually (strengths, stress responses, decision styles). Make the work about the work, not the person.
Diversity Is a Performance Strategy, Not a Slogan
We agreed: homogeneous teams (same backgrounds, same lens) miss risks and opportunities. You don’t need performative diversity; you need perspective diversity anchored in shared values and clear standards. Get people who see differently to look at the same problem—then integrate.
Action: In key debates, assign roles: Challenger, Synthesiser, Risk-spotter, Customer-voice. Rotate them.
The CEO Tool You’ll Wish You Started a Year Ago
Regina’s closing power tip: keep a Decision Diary. For each key decision, capture the context, options, rationale, and outcome. Over time, you build a living archive of pattern recognition—where your instincts are sharp, where they wobble, and how consistently your decisions line up with vision and values.
Action: Use a simple template: Date | Decision | Context | Options | Chosen & Why | Predicted Risks | Check-back Date | Actual Outcome | Lesson.
Your Practical Playbook
- Define success behaviours
Write the 5–7 observable behaviours that predict success in the role. Hire and coach to those.
- Switch to behavioural interviewing
“Tell me about a time…” beats “What would you do…” every day of the week.
- Use the right tools, the right way
If you’re using assessments for hiring, ensure they’re validated for selection. For development, use strengths/energy tools to re-seat and grow people.
- Design shared leadership
Clarify domains, decisions, and strengths pairings. Even if you keep one CEO, spread leadership.
- Set a weekly operating rhythm
Scorecard, decisions, roadblocks, commitments. Same time, short, focused, relentless.
- Price with discipline
Stop reflex-discounting. Model the margin impact; often a small price rise beats a blanket discount.
- Map and mediate differences
When conflict hits, visualise differences and align on outcome, not opinion.
- Start the Decision Diary
Future-you will thank present-you.
Final Thought
Great teamwork isn’t an accident; it’s an operating choice. Regina reminded us that fit beats speed, evidence beats opinion, and designed leadership beats heroic effort. If you’re scaling, your edge is not more tools, it’s more truth: about the role, the person, the numbers, the energy, and the decision you’re about to make.
If you want help turning these ideas into action inside your team, I can guide you through a rapid diagnostic and a clear sequence plan.
Next step: Book a short Turbo-Charge Your Team Audit with me and let’s pinpoint your highest-leverage move.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:18 Regina Bergman’s Background and Philosophy
02:13 Staffing Industry Insights and Best Practices
05:43 Behavioral Interviews vs. Traditional Interviews
15:41 Challenges in Scaling Businesses
19:00 The Importance of KPIs and Avoiding CEO Burnout
20:03 The Co-CEO Model: Benefits and Challenges
21:29 Leveraging Strengths in Team Building
23:44 The Pitfalls of Promoting Experts to Leadership
24:26 The Power of Personality Profiling in Organizations
33:20 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
Connect with Regina on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/regina-partain-bergman-a761901/
by Julia Felton | Oct 28, 2025
Have you ever noticed how some days everything just clicks?
You’re energised, focused, and fully alive in what you’re doing, time disappears and results seem to happen effortlessly. That’s not luck. That’s flow and it’s the state every leader should be striving to create for themselves and their teams.
In this week’s Impactful Teamwork podcast, I explore the connection between flow, experiential learning, and equine-facilitated leadership. These three forces combined hold the key to unlocking peak performance, authentic connection, and unstoppable momentum in business.
Why Flow Matters More Than Hustle
Let’s start with what flow actually is.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try saying that one fast!) describes flow as an optimal state of consciousness, that sweet spot where challenge meets skill, where we feel and perform at our best.
In flow, you lose self-consciousness. Time bends. Ideas connect effortlessly. You’re deeply focused but totally at ease. Steven Kotler, from the Flow Research Collective, calls it the “Superman state”, the zone where creativity, clarity and high performance merge.
But here’s the kicker: you can’t reach flow when you’re distracted, disengaged, or demotivated.
It demands total presence. It thrives on intrinsic motivation, curiosity, and purpose, all things we’re rapidly losing in our hyper-connected, constantly-busy world.
My Happy Place: Flow in the Arena
This episode was inspired by facilitating my latest leadership retreat with the horses.
Every time I step into that arena, something magical happens. I drop into flow. Time evaporates. I’m energised, connected, and totally alive.
And I see it happen for my clients too.
When leaders work experientially with horses, they receive raw, immediate feedback on their presence and authenticity. The horse doesn’t care about your title, your KPIs, or your personality profile. It reads only energy, congruence, and intent.
If your energy is scattered, the horse won’t follow. If you try to control instead of connect, it resists. But when you lead from trust, clarity, and calm confidence, it moves with you effortlessly.
That moment when horse and human align, that’s flow in action. And it’s incredible to witness.
Experiential Learning: The Fast Track to Transformation
Traditional leadership training often lives in the head. You listen, take notes, nod politely… and then return to old habits the next day.
Experiential learning is different.
It invites you to do, feel, reflect, and try again.
It activates the body, not just the intellect, embedding insights through direct experience. That’s why the lessons learned through equine-facilitated leadership are unforgettable as they bypass theory and go straight into your nervous system.
When something doesn’t work with a horse, you can’t blame the horse. You have to ask, “What do I need to do differently?” That’s where real leadership begins, not in explaining, but in experimenting.
This mirrors the cycle of experiential learning beautifully:
- Set a clear goal
- Take action and observe outcomes
- Reflect on what happened and why
- Try again with insight
Each loop builds awareness, adaptability, and confidence — the exact qualities needed for high-performing teams.
The Science Behind Flow
Flow isn’t woo-woo. It’s neuroscience.
When we’re in flow, our brains release a cocktail of dopamine, endorphins and norepinephrine – chemicals that supercharge focus, creativity, and joy. Studies show people in flow can be five times more productive and experience three times more creativity.
To access flow, three key triggers must align:
- Challenge vs. skill balance – the task must stretch you but not overwhelm you.
- Clear goals – you know exactly what success looks like.
- Immediate feedback – so you can adjust in real time.
Sound familiar? These are the exact conditions built into experiential learning — and why it’s such a powerful vehicle for creating flow.
Flow Has a Rhythm — And It Starts with Struggle
One of the biggest misconceptions about flow is that it’s all ease and bliss. It’s not.
Flow has four distinct stages:
- Struggle – the prep phase where you wrestle with the challenge, train, plan, and overload the brain.
- Relaxation – when you step back, take a walk, or daydream. This gives your subconscious time to connect the dots.
- Flow – the magic zone where everything clicks and performance skyrockets.
- Consolidation – when the learning embeds and performance becomes embodied.
Most people never reach flow because they resist the first two phases. They stay stuck in struggle, pushing harder instead of pausing to recover. But the relaxation phase is crucial — it’s what allows the nervous system to reset so inspiration can emerge.
This is why I often get my best ideas in the paddock or while riding my horses – when my conscious mind lets go, flow takes over.
Flow Thrives in VUCA Environments
Here’s the twist: flow isn’t triggered by stability, it’s fuelled by uncertainty.
VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) conditions actually stimulate flow because they provide novelty, risk, and unpredictability which are all powerful flow triggers.
So rather than resisting the chaos of modern business, leaders should learn to harness it. The very uncertainty we fear might just be the key to unlocking our greatest creativity and adaptability.
From Individual Flow to Group Flow
If personal flow feels powerful, group flow is extraordinary.
It happens when everyone on a team is operating in sync. They are aligned, attuned, and contributing effortlessly.
According to Steven Kotler, the triggers for group flow include:
- Shared goals and shared risks
- Complete concentration
- Close listening and open communication
- Equal participation and familiarity
- Blending of egos — no hierarchy, just harmony
Sounds a lot like a high-performing team, doesn’t it?
When teams operate this way, energy becomes coherent. Collaboration becomes instinctive. Productivity soars.
McKinsey research shows that top executives are in flow only 5–10% of their work week but when they are, their performance increases fivefold. Imagine what would happen if your whole team could spend even 20% of their time in that state.
Flow + Experiential Learning = ROI That Lasts
Every equine-facilitated session I run activates around 80% of the known flow triggers namely curiosity, novelty, risk, immediate feedback, and deep embodiment.
That’s why this work delivers such a profound return on investment. Leaders don’t just learn about leadership, they experience what authentic leadership feels like. And once you’ve felt that alignment, you can’t unlearn it.
The results ripple back into the workplace: better communication, deeper trust, higher engagement, and sustainable performance.
Your Challenge This Week
Start noticing when you feel most alive. The moments when time disappears and energy expands. What are you doing? Who are you with?
Those are your flow clues.
Follow them. Design more of your work and life around them. Because when you lead from flow, your team follows with ease.
Key Takeaways:
- Flow is the optimal state of consciousness where we perform at our best.
- Experiential learning — especially equine-facilitated — is the fastest path to flow.
- Flow follows a rhythm: struggle, relaxation, flow, consolidation.
- VUCA conditions can trigger flow — uncertainty fuels growth.
- Group flow is the ultimate form of teamwork.
- Investing in experiential learning yields exponential ROI because the learning is embodied, not theoretical.
If you’d like a copy of my white paper on Harnessing Flow in Equine-Facilitated Leadership Development Training To Enhance The ROI of The Learning Experience, drop me a note at ju***@****************er.com or message me on LinkedIn.
Let’s create a world where work feels like flow and leadership feels natural, connected, and unbridled.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction to Impactful Teamwork
00:55 Host Introduction and Episode Focus
01:34 Experiential Learning with Horses
02:44 Understanding Flow States
03:18 Research Insights on Flow
03:50 Defining Flow and Its Benefits
06:56 Triggers and Conditions for Flow
07:57 Flow in Experiential Learning
13:33 Steps to Achieve Flow
17:21 Group Flow and Team Performance
19:23 Conclusion and Further Resources
by Julia Felton | Oct 25, 2025
We’ve been taught that when teamwork breaks down, the answer is more tools.
📊 Shared docs.
📍 Project boards.
💬 Messaging apps.
All helpful — but all surface-level. Because collaboration isn’t about access. It’s about awareness.
That became crystal clear in a recent poll I ran on LinkedIn. I asked:
“What makes teamwork feel most natural?” Here’s how leaders voted:
-
37% said Mutual accountability
-
26% said Clear expectations
-
26% said Time to build connection
-
Only 11% said Knowing who’s best at what
That last number matters.
❓ Why Aren’t We Prioritising Team Insight?
If only 1 in 10 leaders think understanding strengths makes collaboration easier — that signals a deeper problem:
We’re focusing more on performance output than people clarity.
But here’s what I’ve seen after working with hundreds of leaders and leadership teams: The teams that flow instead of force aren’t the ones working harder. They’re the ones who know each other deeply.
They don’t just know job titles. They know:
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Who energises the group during pressure
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Who quietly holds space for details
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Who needs time to process before contributing
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Who thrives when they’re trusted to lead without hovering
Without that understanding? Teams default to task-checking, not real collaboration.
⚠️ How Misalignment Quietly Shows Up
Even in strong teams, lack of people-insight plays out in subtle, costly ways:
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Duplicated work
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Confused ownership
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Meetings that go in circles
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Quiet resentment between high-performers
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Over-reliance on the leader to mediate or decide
These are not communication problems. They’re connection problems.
💡 What I’ve Learned Guiding Teams Through Real Alignment
In my work at Business HorsePower, I’ve seen what happens when leaders move beyond surface solutions.
Teams that once felt reactive, disconnected, or tense begin to operate with a new level of flow and ownership. People stop stepping on each other’s toes. Decisions speed up. Trust deepens, not through slogans or tools, but through clarity of contribution.
This shift isn’t accidental. It’s the result of a deeper understanding of how teams function beneath the surface — a core part of what I teach through the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap.
One of its foundational accelerators?
🔍 Know the Herd
This isn’t about personality tests. It’s about creating space to:
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Discover what each person naturally contributes
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Spot when roles shift (as they do in fast growth)
-
Foster relational trust, not just role clarity
When you know the herd, collaboration becomes natural, not forced.
🧭 A Simple Self-Check for Leaders
If you want to know where your team really stands, ask yourself:
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Do your team members know each other’s strengths — or just their tasks?
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Can each person say what unique value their teammate brings?
-
Do people collaborate because they want to — or because they have to?
If those questions stir some uncertainty, you’re not alone. And that’s why I created something simple and practical to help
📬 Get Insights That Stick — in Just 20 Minutes a Month
Every month, I host a short, free Teamship Teaching session for growth-focused leaders. It’s just 20 minutes, on Zoom.
Each session covers one part of the Unbridled Teamship Roadmap, with tools you can take straight back to your team.
Next up, we’re diving into how to Stop Forcing Results: Start Flowing with the Natural Pulse of Your Business.
You can register here to join us
.
by Julia Felton | Oct 24, 2025
Let’s be honest — bringing a horse into the boardroom might be a bit of a stretch (and a logistical nightmare 🐴💼). But the truth is, there’s so much we can learn from them about leadership in today’s complex, fast-paced world.
The growing fields of emotional intelligence and neuroscience are finally catching up to what horses have known forever: leadership isn’t just about intellect or strategy. It’s about relationships, presence, and emotional awareness. It’s about energy.
Back when I worked at Deloitte, the Global Human Capital Trends report revealed that 86% of companies cite developing leadership capability as their number one challenge. Over a decade later, that number hasn’t budged much — and it’s no wonder. The world has changed, but too many leaders are still clinging to outdated playbooks.
From Command to Collaboration
The old paradigm of command-and-control leadership is crumbling. We’re no longer in the Information Age — we’ve entered the Collaboration Era.
Horses have been modelling this for millennia. In the wild, survival depends on shared leadership, mutual awareness, and collective responsibility. Every member of the herd is accountable for the safety and direction of the group. They move together, fluidly and instinctively, because their lives depend on it.
There’s no single “hero” horse barking orders. Instead, leadership is distributed — dynamic, responsive, and built on trust.
Sound like something your business could use more of?
The Lone Leader Problem
Here’s what I see in too many organisations: the exact opposite. The leader, isolated and exhausted, stands on the fringes of their own team. Communication breaks down, frustration builds, and results suffer.
It’s not that these leaders aren’t talented — they’re just stuck in the wrong model. They’re carrying the weight of the herd alone, rather than creating a culture where everyone shares the load. And just like a horse that’s been driven out of the herd, they start to feel the sting of isolation and fear.
That’s why so many leadership teams come to work with me and my herd — because the horses make the invisible visible in seconds.
Why Horse-Assisted Coaching Works
Here’s the thing: leadership isn’t about what you do. It’s about who you are being.
You can learn all the management frameworks in the world, but if your energy, intention, and authenticity are out of alignment, your team will sense it instantly. Horses certainly will. They don’t care about your job title, your success, or your strategy deck — they care about your presence.
In a Horse Assisted Coaching session, you’ll step into the arena (no riding required!) and engage in simple ground-based activities with the herd. Every movement, every thought, every flicker of emotion is mirrored straight back at you. Horses pick up on energy shifts from nearly a kilometre away. You can’t fake confidence or congruence — they’ll call you out in real time.
It’s not role-play — it’s real-play.
Feedback From the Horse’s Mouth
What happens next is powerful. You start experimenting with different ways of showing up — shifting your focus, adjusting your energy, being clearer or more grounded — and instantly, the horses respond. You see, feel, and embody the feedback, not just intellectually but emotionally and physically.
That’s why it sticks. Unlike traditional leadership training, which engages only your rational brain, horse-assisted learning works through the limbic system — the emotional centre that governs trust, intuition, and connection.
You don’t just learn to say the right thing. You learn to be the kind of person who naturally inspires trust and followership.
Lessons That Last Far Beyond the Arena
What unfolds in the paddock quickly translates to the workplace. Leaders begin to:
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Build stronger, more authentic relationships
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Communicate with clarity and intention
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Foster trust without forcing it
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Create psychological safety and shared accountability across teams
And it all happens in a supportive, non-judgemental environment that encourages exploration and self-awareness. Because when leaders change the way they show up, their teams — and their results — change too.
The bottom line:
You don’t need a horse in the boardroom to lead like one. You just need to learn how to listen, connect, and lead from presence — not pressure.
And that’s exactly what my herd and I help leaders do.
👉 Ready to experience leadership at a whole new level? Join me for an Unbridled Leadership Experience and discover what your team’s been trying to tell you — without saying a word.
by Julia Felton | Oct 21, 2025
If you’ve ever led a team in hospitality, you know the truth: teamwork isn’t “nice to have”, it’s survival. From the first guest smile to the last swipe of a room key, the pressure is relentless. In this week’s episode of Impactful Teamwork, I sat down with Karen Borain – 43 years in hospitality, 35 with Southern Sun, and a career leading training and development right up at CEO level. We went deep on what actually works when the clock is ticking and the lobby is full. Here’s your fast, practical download.
From “Hotel Manager” to Leader: Get Out of the Weeds
Hospitality is famously hierarchical. Titles scream “manager,” but the work screams for leadership. Karen’s blunt truth: too many leaders drag their first job up the ladder with them. F&B stars still doing ordering. Former reception legends still “just jumping in” at the desk. That loyalty to yesterday’s skillset strangles today’s team.
Try this: run a one-week diary audit.
- Manage & Lead: Time spent getting work done through others.
- Technical Only You Can Do: Budgets, sensitive HR, keep these.
- Work Someone Else Is Paid To Do: Stop it. Today. Let them shine.
You don’t prove your value by rescuing tasks; you prove it by creating clarity, momentum and results through others.
Communication Isn’t “A Nice Chat”—It’s Your Operating System
Hospitality teams fail in the gaps – handoffs, assumptions, unspoken expectations. When front office is smooth but the room isn’t guest-ready, the blame game ignites and the guest feels it.
Make clarity your habit:
- Common purpose at every level (team, peer team, property): “We create guest-ready experiences, every time.”
- Role clarity: Who owns what, how success is measured, and when to escalate.
- Team norms: “How we work together under pressure” agreed before the weekend crush.
Fix the Silos: Coach the Peer Team, Not Just the Vertical
Your heads of department will happily introduce themselves by the teams they manage. Then they forget the team they’re in, the peer team around the GM’s table. Karen’s team-coaching move is brilliant: reset that group’s identity, define their shared purpose, and codify how they collaborate across the operation. When the HODs work horizontally, the kitchen and floor follow suit. Momentum flows.
Workshop prompt for your next HOD meeting:
- What do you bring to this peer team?
- What do you need from this peer team?
- What’s our one-line shared purpose?
- What are three non-negotiable norms we all commit to?
Lead a Multi-Generational, Multi-Reality Workforce
Today’s teams blend seasoned pros with students on weekend shifts. Assumptions break fast: some recruits genuinely haven’t made tea at home; some veterans struggle with new D&I language. That’s not a problem, that’s a design brief.
Leader moves:
- Meet people where they are. Train what’s actually missing, not what “should be known.”
- Leverage difference. Invite newer team members to rethink “how we’ve always done it.” Tap experienced staff for craft, standards, and judgment under pressure.
- Make learning continuous. Gen Z walks when growth stalls. Offer pathways, micro-modules, and cross-exposure between departments.
Onboarding That Sticks: Buddy Up, Don’t Drown
In a high-turnover environment, you’re always in forming mode. Throwing people into the deep end costs you guests, morale, and money.
Use a Buddy System:
- Pair new hires with role-model operators who live the team’s purpose and standards.
- Give buddies a clear checklist: purpose, safety, standards, escalation, “one shift to mastery” essentials.
- Recognise your buddies publicly—they’re multiplying your leadership.
SOPs + Humanity: Automate Smart, But Don’t Lose the Soul
Automation is brilliant… until it breaks. We’ve all witnessed the lobby meltdown when self-check-in goes down. SOPs matter; connection matters more. Train both: the standard and the stance – presence, care, ownership.
Teach the stance:
- If it touches the guest, we own it (even when another department “caused” it).
- We solve here and now, then we tidy the process later.
- We escalate with facts, not friction.
Purpose Powers Performance (And Cuts Through Drudgery)
Cleaning 18 rooms can feel soulless. Making every room guest-ready is a purpose. One lands like a chore; the other lands like a promise. Purpose turns grind into craft.
Implement today:
- Rewrite every role’s purpose line.
- Room attendant: “Make each room guest-ready, first time.”
- Front desk: “Set the tone for a seamless, welcoming stay.”
- Night manager: “Guard the quiet and safety of our sleeping guests.”
- Start huddles with a purpose reminder + one micro-win.
Delegate the Doing, Own the Energy
Hospitality is a marathon disguised as a sprint. Leaders don’t need to be everywhere, they need to steward energy:
- Plan peaks. Time the hardest tasks to your team’s natural highs.
- Build recovery. Micro-breaks, water, stretch, rotate roles on long shifts.
- Celebrate small wins. Shout-outs in real time fuel stamina and pride.
When Things Go Off the Rails, Look for These Signals
- Blame spikes at handoffs (front office vs housekeeping).
Fix: reset the peer team’s norms: shared ownership, clear escalation.
- Leaders “helping” by taking tasks back.
Fix: diary audit + stop-doing list.
- New starters drift, veterans grumble.
Fix: buddy system + role purpose + daily clarity.
Try This in the Next 7 Days (Practical & Implementable)
- Run the 3-bucket time audit (Lead/Manage, Only-You Technical, Someone-Else’s Job). Create a Stop-Doing List and honour it.
- Write purpose lines for every role in your team and share them at the next huddle. Ask: “What would ‘guest-ready’ look like for your role today?”
- Host a 30-minute HOD reset: agree a one-line peer-team purpose and three norms for handoffs and escalations. Put them on the wall.
- Launch a buddy system for onboarding with a simple checklist. Recognise two standout buddies publicly this week.
- Energy check-ins twice per shift: quick pulse (1–5) + one action to lift the average by one point (water, rotate, three-minute reset outside).
- No-blame escalations: “I own the guest; I loop in the fix.” Track time-to-resolution, not “who caused it.”
The Edgy Truth
If you’re still proving your value by doing other people’s jobs, you’re not leading, you’re blocking. If your HODs don’t see themselves as a team, your guests will feel the cracks before you do. If your onboarding is a shrug, your turnover is a self-inflicted wound. This isn’t about being nice; it’s about being unbeatable under pressure.
Listen In + Next Step
This blog is the companion to my latest Impactful Teamwork episode with Karen Borain—packed with real-world tactics from the front line of hotels. Listen now for the full conversation and steal the scripts, the questions, and the coaching moves we unpacked.
Ready to turn these ideas into momentum across your whole operation? Book a Turbo-Charge Your Team Audit and we’ll map where energy, clarity, and collaboration are leaking, then fix it fast.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:35 Karen Borain’s Background in Hospitality
04:26 Challenges in Leadership and Management
06:59 Empowering Teams and Delegation
10:52 Multi-Generational Workforce Dynamics
15:49 Team Coaching and Breaking Down Silos
22:21 Onboarding and Succession Planning
28:09 The Future of Hospitality and Technology
33:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Karen’s contact details:
www.linkedin.com/in/karen-borain-17749a/
https://karenboraincoach.com/
