Most leadership teams aren’t stuck because they lack talent, tools, or ambition.
They’re stuck because the energy is off.
Trust feels thin. Decisions drag. People hide behind roles, or worse, they perform “busy” while momentum bleeds out of the business. And no, another framework won’t fix that if the living system underneath is stressed, fragmented, and bracing for impact.
Horses have taught me this truth in the most confronting, liberating way:
You don’t get performance without safety, clarity, and connection.
This is why I talk about Teamship, not leadership. Teamship is the shift from “hero leader at the top” to shared responsibility and collective momentum, where everyone leads from where they stand.
Let’s break it down, the old way vs the new way, herd-style.
The Old Way: Control, Compliance, and Quiet Resentment
You know this terrain.
Leaders over-function, the team under-functions
Meetings are full, clarity is empty
People wait for permission, then complain about the bottleneck
Trust becomes transactional (“I’ll trust you if…”)
Energy gets spent on politics, not progress
It looks like a team.
But it behaves like a group of stressed animals sharing the same field, watching the horizon for threats.
In a horse herd, that never lasts. The system self-corrects. Quickly.
Because survival demands alignment.
The New Way: Teamship, Shared Power, Unstoppable Momentum
Teamship is a modern way of working together that creates:
shared ownership
mutual trust
clean communication
faster decisions
real accountability (without the blame game)
And it’s built on three levers I see again and again in high-performing teams:
1) Game-Changing Trust
2) Energised Execution
3) Curiosity That Reinvents
Let’s take each one and make it practical.
Lever 1: Game-Changing Trust (Not the Fluffy Kind)
Trust is not “we get on well”.
Trust is: I can predict you. I can rely on you. I feel safe telling the truth.
In a herd, trust is everything. A horse won’t follow a leader because of a title. They follow because that leader is steady, congruent, and aware.
What trust looks like in human teams
People speak early, not late
Feedback is direct, clean, and kind
Commitments are kept, or renegotiated fast
Mistakes are owned without theatre
Your trust-building actions this week
Run a micro Trust Audit: ask 3 questions in 1:1s
“Where do we lose time as a team?”
“What do you hesitate to say out loud?”
“What would make working together feel easier?”
Make one bold repair: name a broken promise or messy moment and clean it up
Set 3 team agreements: communication, decision-making, handovers
Trust isn’t built in a speech.
It’s built in the small, repeated moments where people see you mean what you say.
Lever 2: Energy Is the Fuel, Not an Afterthought
Let’s get edgy about this:
If your team is exhausted, no strategy will land.
In nature, horses conserve energy and use it intentionally. They don’t sprint all day, then wonder why they’re burnt out. They cycle. They recover. They reset.
Most businesses do the opposite.
They run on adrenaline, urgency, and “just push through”, then act shocked when engagement drops and sick days rise.
What energised execution looks like
Fewer priorities, finished properly
Deep work protected
Recovery normalised
Wins celebrated (so the nervous system learns “we’re safe”)
Your energy actions this week
Energy check-in at the start of meetings: “0–10, where are you today?”
Protect one deep work block for the team: no meetings, no interruptions
Create a recovery ritual: weekly review, gratitude, lessons learned, then stop
Energy is either your superpower or your kryptonite.
Choose deliberately.
Lever 3: Curiosity That Reinvents (Instead of Blame That Repeats)
When momentum stalls, most teams go into judgement:
“They’re not pulling their weight.”
“We’ve tried everything.”
“That won’t work here.”
That’s fear pretending to be logic.
In a horse herd, curiosity is survival. They explore, test, and respond to the environment in real time.
Curiosity is what breaks the loop.
What curiosity looks like in teams
“What are we not seeing?”
“What assumption are we protecting?”
“Where is the system asking to evolve?”
Your curiosity actions this week
Replace blame with a better question:
Old: “Who messed this up?”
New: “What conditions made this outcome predictable?”
Run a 20-minute reinvention huddle:
What’s working?
What’s wobbling?
What’s the next experiment?
Reward the try: celebrate learning, not just outcomes
Curiosity is the bridge between friction and flow.
The Future Vision: A Team That Moves Like a Herd
Imagine this:
Decisions are made faster, with less drama
People take ownership without being chased
Your leaders stop being the bottleneck
Conflict becomes clean, then useful
Your business builds momentum that doesn’t depend on you pushing every day
That’s Teamship.
Not perfection.
Alignment.
Ready to Turbo-Charge Your Team?
If you can feel the truth of this in your bones, you don’t need more theory.
You need a clear diagnosis and a practical next step.
Book a Turbo-Charge Your Team Audit and we’ll pinpoint exactly where trust, energy, and curiosity are breaking down, and what to do first to restore momentum.
Or tune into Impactful Teamwork, where I share grounded strategies inspired by nature and herd dynamics, for leaders who want performance and humanity.
If you want, paste the messy reality of what’s happening in your team right now (two paragraphs max), and I’ll turn it into a punchy “old way vs new way” narrative you can use in your next leadership meeting.
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:
Build stronger, more authentic relationships
Communicate with clarity and intention
Foster trust without forcing it
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.
In today’s fast-changing, unpredictable world, the leaders who thrive are not those who rely on past successes, rigid structures, or outdated management playbooks. Instead, the 21st century demands adaptive, forward-thinking, and continuously evolving leadership—a model built on reinvention.
Why Leadership Must Be Reinvented Now
The traditional models of leadership were built for a more stable and predictable world. Hierarchical structures, top-down decision-making, and long-term strategic plans worked in an era of slow-moving change. However, today’s world operates at an accelerated pace, driven by technology, globalization, economic uncertainty, environmental shifts, and societal expectations.
The Data Speaks: Change Is No Longer an Event—It’s Continuous
60% of businesses report that they need to reinvent themselves every three years or less just to survive
One out of three public companies will cease to exist in their current form over the next five years—a failure rate six times higher than forty years ago
The average lifespan of an S&P 500 company has dropped from 33 years in 1964 to just 12 years projected by 2027
A Harvard Business Review study found that 75% of business transformations fail, largely because they approach change as a one-time initiative instead of an ongoing process.
Titanic Syndrome: The Danger of Holding on to the Past
One of the biggest threats to leadership today is what’s called Titanic Syndrome—when leaders and organisations, faced with disruption, create their own downfall by clinging to past successes, refusing to adapt, or ignoring emerging realities
Nokia ignored the shift to smartphones.
Kodak invented digital photography but failed to capitalize on it.
Blockbuster laughed at Netflix’s online streaming model.
Each of these companies had the opportunity to reinvent, yet they chose stability over evolution—and paid the price.
The same applies to leadership. If leaders today fail to adapt, evolve, and reinvent their leadership approach, they risk becoming obsolete—just like the organizations they lead.
How To Reinvent Leadership for the 21st Century
Reinvention isn’t just a business strategy—it’s a leadership mindset and a system. And with 45% of CEO’s believing their business will not be viable in 10 years if it stays on the same path, it is now a leadership imperative.
Here’s a practical, action-oriented framework for leaders who want to future-proof their leadership and create organisations that thrive in disruption.
1. Build a Reinvention Mindset: Adopt Nature’s Approach To Leadership
Nature is the greatest teacher of reinvention. The seasons change, ecosystems adapt, and animals evolve to new environments. Leaders should take inspiration from nature’s cycles of reinvention:
Winter (Reflection & Renewal) → Step back, assess, and let go of outdated methods.
Spring (Growth & Experimentation) → Test new strategies, encourage creativity, and allow fresh ideas to emerge.
Summer (Execution & Scaling) → Double down on what’s working and build momentum.
Autumn (Harvest & Preparation) → Celebrate wins, document lessons, and prepare for the next reinvention cycle.
👉 ACTION: Schedule quarterly “Seasons of Leadership” reviews where you assess what needs to be let go, nurtured, tested, scaled, and celebrated.
2. Shift From Managing Stability To Leading Continuous Improvement
Leaders can no longer afford to react to change; they must anticipate, design, and implement it continuously.
Key Shifts in Leadership Thinking
Old Leadership Model
New Reinvention Model
Change is a one-time project
Change is a continuous system
Top-down decision-making
Decentralised, empowered teams
Rigid long-term plans
Agile, adaptable strategies
Risk avoidance
Experimentation & calculated risks
Control and efficiency
Innovation and flexibility
👉 ACTION: Use the Titanic Syndrome Diagnostic to evaluate where your leadership style may be clinging to outdated success patterns.
3. Reimagine Your Leadership Role: Become a Chief Reinvention Officer
To succeed in the 21st century, leaders must go beyond traditional leadership models. You need to become a Chief Reinvention Officer—someone who anticipates change, designs new strategies, and implements transformation continuously.
The Reinvention Leadership Model
A reinvention-ready leader must master these six pillars:
Anticipation → Actively scan for emerging trends before they become disruptions.
Experimentation → Test new ideas rapidly with a “fail fast, learn fast” mindset.
Collaboration → Break silos and encourage cross-functional, cross-industry learning.
Sustainability → Lead with long-term adaptability, not just short-term gains.
Resilience → Create a culture that embraces uncertainty and sees change as an opportunity.
People Empowerment → Equip teams with the skills, autonomy, and mindset to adapt.
👉 ACTION: Shift your leadership approach from command and control to inspire and empower—let your team lead reinvention at all levels.
4. Reinvent Team Collaboration: From Hierarchies To Networks
Traditional hierarchical leadership no longer works. Teams today thrive in decentralized, agile, and purpose-driven environments.
How to Reinvent Your Team Structure
Traditional Teams
Reinvented, Agile Teams
Rigid hierarchy
Flat, cross-functional collaboration
Fixed job roles
Fluid roles based on strengths & projects
Top-down decision-making
Empowered, self-directed teams
Siloed departments
Cross-functional networks
👉 ACTION: Introduce “Reinvention Labs”—teams dedicated to testing new ideas, processes, and leadership styles in small, controlled experiments.
5. Build a Reinvention System: Make Change Part of Daily Operations
The best leaders don’t just talk about reinvention—they bake it into their organisation’s DNA.
How to Build a Reinvention System
Create a “Reinvention Budget”—allocate resources specifically for innovation and experimentation.
Measure What Matters—track metrics beyond financials, such as agility, adaptability, and team engagement.
Celebrate Failure—reward learning and risk-taking, not just results.
Make Learning a Non-Negotiable—continuous learning should be embedded in daily work, not just in annual training sessions.
👉 ACTION: Implement a “Reinvention Scorecard” to track how often your team is experimenting, adapting, and learning from failure.
The Future of Leadership Belongs To Reinventors
The leaders of the future will not be the ones who hold on to outdated structures, methods, or mindsets. They will be the ones who embrace change, continuously reinvent, and lead with adaptability.
Use the Titanic Syndrome Diagnostic to identify outdated leadership habits.
Empower Teams Through Reinvention Labs—let teams lead innovation.
Shift From Stability to Agility—lead reinvention, not just change.
Build a Reinvention System—make continuous learning and innovation part of daily operations.
💡 Final Thought: Reinvention is not a one-time project—it’s a way of life for 21st-century leaders. The question is not whether you need to reinvent, but how fast you can start.
Are you ready to become a Chief Reinvention Officer?
Few people have the opportunity to meet a true sporting legend, but recently, I had the privilege of meeting Frank Bruno, the former world heavyweight boxing champion. Meeting him invoked childhood memories as my dad always used to impersonate him and his banter with legendary sporting commentator Harry Carpenter, as he was infamous for always saying “Know what I mean, Harry?”
Listening to his stories and reflecting on his journey, I realised there were profound lessons in his resilience, discipline, and mental strength. Frank’s life, both in and outside the ring, offers valuable insights for business leaders, teams, and anyone striving to overcome challenges and achieve greatness.
Here are three key lessons I took away from my encounter with Frank Bruno.
1. Resilience: Bouncing Back from Setbacks
Frank Bruno’s boxing career was filled with both triumphs and setbacks. He fought some of the greatest heavyweights of his era, including Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis. Despite crushing defeats, he never abandoned his dream of becoming a world champion. In 1995, after multiple attempts, he finally won the WBC heavyweight title, proving that persistence and resilience pay off.
In business and leadership, setbacks are inevitable. The key is how we respond to them. Many teams and leaders get discouraged when things don’t go as planned, but resilience means learning from failures, adapting strategies, and coming back stronger.
Key takeaway: Don’t let setbacks define you. Instead, let them refine you. Just as Frank Bruno kept stepping back into the ring despite losses, business leaders must embrace challenges, pivot when necessary, and keep moving forward toward their goals.
2. Discipline and Hard Work: The Foundation of Success
Boxing isn’t just about physical strength; it demands immense discipline and dedication. Frank Bruno was known for his rigorous training regime and unwavering commitment to his craft. He understood that success in the ring wasn’t achieved overnight—it was built through years of sacrifice, discipline, and relentless effort.
In leadership and teamwork, the same principles apply. Success doesn’t happen by chance. It results from consistent effort, strategic planning, and disciplined execution. Whether developing a high-performing team or executing a business strategy, discipline forms the foundation that turns aspirations into reality.
Key takeaway: Success is built on daily habits and small, consistent efforts. Whether you’re leading a team or running a business, discipline and hard work will always be your best allies in achieving long-term success.
3. Mental Toughness: Strength in Adversity
Frank Bruno’s battles weren’t just in the boxing ring. He has openly shared his struggles with mental health, showing incredible courage in discussing a topic often stigmatised, especially in sports. His openness and determination to overcome personal challenges are as inspiring as his victories in the ring.
Leaders and business owners face intense pressure, uncertainty, and moments of self-doubt. The ability to remain mentally strong, even in adversity, separates great leaders from the rest. Mental toughness doesn’t mean ignoring emotions or pretending problems don’t exist. It means developing the inner strength to navigate difficulties with clarity, confidence, and resilience.
Key takeaway: Mental health and emotional resilience are just as important as physical strength. Prioritise self-care, seek support when needed, and cultivate a mindset that enables you to navigate challenges with courage and perseverance.
Final Thoughts
Meeting Frank Bruno was an unforgettable experience that reinforced the importance of resilience, discipline, and mental toughness. Whether in sports, business, or life, these qualities are essential for overcoming obstacles and achieving greatness.
As business leaders, we may not be stepping into a boxing ring, but we face our own battles daily. By embracing the lessons from Frank’s journey—staying resilient in setbacks, committing to discipline and hard work, and strengthening our mental resilience—we can achieve extraordinary success in our own arenas.
So, the next time you face a tough challenge, ask yourself: What would a champion do? Then, step forward with the mindset of a true fighter.
Box breathing is a powerful, yet simple, relaxation technique that aims to return breathing to its normal rhythm. This breathing exercise may help to clear the mind, relax the body, and improve focus.
The technique is also known as “resetting your breath” or four-square breathing. It is easy to do, quick to learn, and can be a highly effective technique for people in stressful situations.
Typically used by people with high-stress jobs, such as soldiers and police officers, and now used much more widely by everyone on a daily basis, box breathing is used when the body is in fight-or-flight mode. This technique is also works for anyone interested in re-centering themselves or improving their concentration, so they can become more present and aware.
So How Do You Box Breathe?
There are four simple steps required to master box breathing. It is a simple technique that you can do anywhere, including at a work desk or in a cafe. Before starting, you should sit with their back supported in a comfortable chair and their feet on the floor.
Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose while counting to four slowly. Feel the air enter your lungs.
Hold your breath inside while counting slowly to four. Try not to clamp your mouth or nose shut. Simply avoid inhaling or exhaling for 4 seconds.
Begin to slowly exhale for 4 seconds.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 at least three times. Ideally, repeat the three steps for 4 minutes, or until calm returns.
If you find the technique challenging to begin with, they can try counting to three instead of four. Once you are used to the technique, you may choose to count to five or six
Why Breathe Is Vital To Health
Resetting your breath, or working to make the breath leave fight-or-flight mode, is good for both the mind and body.
The unconscious body, or the autonomic nervous system, refers to the functions that take place without any thought, such as the heart beating or the stomach digesting food. This system can be in a fight-or-flight or rest-and-digest state.
In fight-or-flight mode, the body feels threatened and reacts to help the person escape or avoid a threatening situation. Among other things, the body releases hormones to make the heart beat faster, breathing to quicken, and to boost blood sugar levels.
Having this state of stress activated too often, or for too long, has adverse consequences on health, however. The physical impact of this state can cause wear and tear on every system in the body.
Long-term stress can increase the risk of conditions that include:
The recent England v Wales rugby game as part of the 2024 Six Nations Championship was a masterpiece in howThe GC Indexcan be used to assess and develop high-performance teams.
England, with their Game Changer energy, set the tone early on with bold and inventive plays that kept Wales on the back foot. Their strategic approach, led by the Strategist energy, allowed them to anticipate Wales’ moves and exploit openings with precision.
Wales, however, demonstrated their resilience and adaptability, embodying the Play Maker archetype by orchestrating intricate manoeuvres, using the right players at the right moments to capitalise on fleeting opportunities. With their ability to read the game and make split-second decisions, Wales remained a formidable adversary throughout.
As the match progressed, both teams relied on their Polisher qualities to refine their execution and maintain momentum. England’s attention to detail and flawless execution bolstered their lead, while Wales’ commitment to perfecting their tactics kept them within striking distance.
In the crucial moments of the game, it was the Implementer energy that proved decisive. England’s disciplined approach and methodical game management secured them a hard-fought victory, as they meticulously executed their game plan to overcome Wales’ determined resistance.
In the end, England emerged triumphant in a closely contested encounter, showcasing the power of understanding and leveraging The GC Index proclivities to achieve success on the rugby field.
Reach out to me if you want to understand how you can use the GC Index to change the way you think about teams, performance, strategy and impact.
AtBusiness HorsePowerwe use the GC Index with teams, individuals and organisations looking to maximise their impact and success.
Business stakeholders—customers, investors, and team members—are now demanding more from the businesses they “work” with. Millennials and Gen Z want to know that the businesses they engage with have a social purpose and are behaving in a responsible manner. This societal accountability is changing the face of business and how leaders behave.
A number of recent surveys from McKinsey research have identified three traits that are becoming leadership imperatives to respond to this growing demand for social accountability.
Transparency
As consumers are more and more demanding that they see the provenance of items they purchase to ensure they align with their values, leaders are being forced to rethink their supply chain and the materials that they use. Especially as some two-thirds of consumers around the world say they would switch, avoid, or boycott brands for their stances on controversial issues.
Given that millennials will make up 75% of the buying population by 2025, and 52% of them say that they always research background information before buying goods or services—compared with 45% of Generation X consumers and 41% of baby boomers—the onus on leaders to pay attention to the ripple effect their business is creating is significant.
One way some companies are seeking to be more transparent is by adopting B-corp status. In order to become a B-corp, a company must pass an assessment that measures its impact on its employees, customers, community, and environment. Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia are two such companies that have shifted to becoming B-corps in a bid to be more transparent and socially responsible in how they operate.
Cognitive Empathy
In 2015, the World Economic Forum predicted that emotional intelligence would be one of the top 10 skills demanded by employers by 2020. Emotional intelligence (EI) relates to qualities such as empathy and curiosity, the so-called traditional business soft skills that enable effective communication and relationship building.
However, it turns out that there is more than one type of empathy. Emotional empathy involves:
feeling the same emotion as the other person
feeling our own distress in response to their pain
feeling compassion toward the other person
This is distinct from cognitive empathy, which seeks to recognise and understand another person’s emotional state. When leaders practice cognitive empathy, they practice taking the perspective of another person. In essence, you imagine what it might be like to actually be this person in their situation and put yourselves in their shoes.
For leaders to be socially accountable, it is essential that they practice this type of empathy, as it enables them to fully understand and appreciate the perspective of all their stakeholders so they are able to make better decisions, as they consider the holistic impact of what they are doing.
Purpose and Values Driven
Consumers are also demanding that business recognizes the impact it has on society and that it aligns the 3P’s—purpose, profit, and planet. No longer is it acceptable for CEO’s to focus on short-term gain to line their pockets. Rather, business leaders need to take a longer term approach, which means no longer being driven by the 90-day reporting cycles of the world’s stock markets.
In his new book The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek refers to these leaders as being infinite in their approach, as they understand that long-lasting success only occurs if they build long-term value for customers, which translates into healthy enduring for the business.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is an example of an “infinite leader” who understands the importance of social accountability, as he always strives to ensure that the company lives up to its values of trust, innovation, equality, and customer service. “There will be times when prioritizing values, especially trust, will come at the expense of profits. In the short term, that is,” he is quoted as saying. “But the money your company makes in any given quarter will never be more valuable than the trust you stand to lose over time.”
What do you need to do to shape your leadership, so that it meets the needs of all stakeholders and recognises the social accountability that consumers now demand of business?
I don’t think anyone can dispute that now, more than ever, we need great leaders. People who can step up and show others the way. People who take charge, not in an overbearing way, but in a way that inspires others to follow. After all, you can’t be a leader unless others will follow you.
Leaders emerge in all shapes and sizes and from all ranks of the organization and society. Leadership is not something just reserved for the top bastion of an organization. It exists everywhere, and right now we are witnessing some great leadership and also some really poor leadership. I’ll leave you to decide which is which!
To help leaders navigate this situation, I have identified 7 characteristics they need to embody to be successful. These form the acronym LEADERS.
Leaderself
Great leaders understand that they need to look after themselves first, before they can look after others. It’s a classic case of putting your oxygen mask on first before helping others. For many leaders, this means indulging in self-care—which could include meditation, exercise, and eating and sleeping well. There is no one solution that fits everyone, but prioritizing your own well-being is paramount if you are to have the energy to inspire and motivate others.
Engaging
Leaders understand that they need to engage others. This is particularly true when so many team members are working remotely. Leaders need to spend time with these remote workers really understanding their needs and effectively communicating what is happening. During these times you can’t over-communicate—team members, customers and other stakeholders will only feel engaged if they know what is happening. And even if you don’t know what is happening, share that as well!
Adaptable
Being adaptable is a key attribute of a great leader. They are easily able to see the whole picture, recognize opportunities, and then pivot their resources to solve the challenge they have identified. There are plenty of examples of companies adapting to this change. For example, Brew Dog in the UK has pivoted to creating hand sanitizers rather than making beer.
Decisive
Great leaders are decisive. They make the difficult decisions that others won’t. Here in the UK, I think our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, made some good decisions early on putting us into lockdown. Was it popular? No, it wasn’t—but undoubtedly his actions have saved many lives.
Empathy
A component of emotional intelligence, empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Great leaders understand that how they view the situation might be very different from their team members, and indeed everyone is experiencing this situation differently. Taking the time to really connect with team members and understand their concerns is paramount to being seen as a caring leader at this time.
Resilience
Mental toughness is a requirement for leaders at all times, but none more so than now. Being able to bounce back from adversity is imperative, as is being able to maintain a great state of mind. Being positive and encouraging inspires your team to want to follow up. Resilience enables leaders to stay focused and on track, despite everything else that is happening around them.
Solution Focused
One of the great things to come out of this pandemic is the high level of innovation that we have seen. Companies have changed their work routines literally overnight, as team members have had to start working from home. Other businesses—like Brew Dog—have redirected resources to help provide much needed hand sanitizer, whilst some car producers have pivoted to create ventilators. Restaurants have moved into the takeaway market. Product development has been speeded up. For example, James Dyson designed a ventilator in a matter of days rather than months.
No one doubts that this pandemic will totally transform the way that we operate business going forward, and I firmly believe that the leaders that display great leadership at this time are the ones that will enable their companies to survive in the long term. Team members and other stakeholders will remember how they have been treated, and I firmly expect them to vote with their feet, leaving companies where they have not been supported and cared for during these challenging times.
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned many businesses on their heads overnight, as people have had to adjust to remote working. Many industries that had been resisting allowing team members to work at home have, in a matter of a few days, had to pivot and adapt to this new norm.
For both team members and employers, there have been challenges to navigate along the way. Not least of all is that employers have had to trust that team members will do the work. For some companies that had resisted remote working up to this point, I know they had an inherent distrust in their team members and didn’t believe that the employees would do a full day’s work. Ironically, I often hear of exactly the opposite happening. Stuck at home with their families, some people are gravitating to work as a means of escape and so are working way more than the standard working week hours. I know my brother is one such person. It’s so easy to go back into this office after his kids have gone to bed and just check email again or finalise that report he was writing.
So, how do we find a happy medium—and how do all parties communicate effectively at this time? I’d like to propose the 5 E Framework as a model for helping navigate this change:
Embed The Purpose
Now, hopefully your organisation has a clear purpose that every team member understands. Purpose provides the raison d’etre for the business and, combined with company values, helps everyone have clarity on where the business is going. It provides the true north of what is expected and therefore can guide team members in how to prioritise their work and decision making, when there are no colleagues directly around.
Clear Expectations
When working remotely, it is essential that everyone is clear on what is expected of them. Know what the protocol is for answering emails and responding to messages, what the work hours are, etc. Many people I know feel that they have to respond immediately to every notification that pings on their computer, or else their boss won’t think they are working. This is foolhardy, as all these notifications distract us and, in fact, hamper our productivity. Remember the technology should be there to support you, not negatively disturb you.
Empower Team Members
When working remotely, it is even more important than ever to stop micro-managing your team members and empower them to get the job done. Give them a clear briefing; make sure they have understood the briefing, the deliverables, and the timeline; and then, let them get on with it. Continually checking in to see how they are getting on with the project will just demotivate and frustrate them.
Engage and Connect
In the absence of “water-cooler” chat and seeing colleagues face-to-face, it is important to check in with them and make sure they are okay. Everyone is reacting differently to these challenging situations—so, as a leader, spending time to really connect and find out what is going on for your team members, outside of work, is essential. It helps builds trust and connection, and demonstrates empathy.
Efficient Communication
Ensure that you communicate regularly with your team members when they are working remotely. In this time of rapid change, that might mean a daily check-in call for the team to make sure everyone is on the same page and has all the information they need. It’s amazing how much information you glean when working in an office, and how often people forget to communicate really important things when they don’t see the other person face-to-face. I was recently coaching a client, and her boss had forgotten to tell her the deadline had changed. It wasn’t malicious—it was just an oversight. So, regularly ensuring everyone is on the same page can mitigate this.
Effective virtual communication also means that you need to use the appropriate level of energy. As a leader, it is your job to inspire the team, and your energy and enthusiasm needs to be contagious at this time, in order to keep your virtual team motivated.
I’d love to hear about the lessons you’ve learnt about effective virtual communication at this time!
Many of you might have recently read or seen extracts from Simon Sinek’s new book on the Infinite Game. In it, he suggests that business leaders should stop focusing on short-term (finite) gains and instead focus on the long-term (infinite) game of the business. This is something I wholeheartedly agree with—but it’s nothing new as a concept.
When at school, I clearly remember learning about Japanese theory management and how, in Japan, people were more concerned with the long-term outcomes of what they did rather than the immediate short-term benefits. The challenge for leaders in the West today has become the fixation on short-term results. Public companies are measured by their 90 day success on the stock market. If the CEO fails to make the numbers, the stock price plummets. The result is that business leaders make decisions based on short-term success, rather than considering the longer-term consequences.
When leaders are always seeking to win the game, rather than acknowledge and appreciate that their decisions today have a ripple effect throughout society, the quality of their decision making can be significantly impaired.
That is why it was so heartening to see Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, stop publishing quarterly results back in 2010 and informing shareholders that “if they didn’t buy into this long-term value-creation model, which is equitable, which is shared, which is sustainable, then don’t put your money in our company.” Curiously, over the decade that Polman was at the helm, Unilever’s shareholder return has significantly outperformed the FTSE index. What Polman clearly understood was that if you are kind to the planet and the communities in which you operate, that long-term success is inevitable.
So, what exactly are the differences between a finite and infinite approach to business and life? In his book Finite and Infinite Games, the author James Carse identifies the difference as being:
Finite games have a start and finish. They are played within a boundary. There are rules that shape the play on the field, and whoever is the most powerful at the end of the game wins.
In contrast:
Infinite games are ongoing. There is no start and no finish. Once you enter an infinite game, the critical asset is endurance and resilience.
What can we learn from nature about having an infinite mindset?
Nature is always playing an infinite game—after all, it has been around for 3.8 billion years. In nature, if you don’t play the game and adapt, you die. Which is why we see so many species that have endured over time simply by adapting to the changing environments in which they find themselves. Contrast this with the abject failure of household brands such as Nokia, BlockBuster, and Kodak—all companies that failed to realise they were playing a long-term game, and so steadfastly resolved not to change and innovate as the environment and changing landscape shifted.
For leaders, really understanding that work is infinite can massively change your perspective on things. Just imagine, if you really appreciated that business was an infinite game, you would stop saying things like: “If I just stay late I’ll get caught up” (we all know that never happens!) or “If I just sacrifice seeing my kid’s event this evening, I’ll be in a better position for work tomorrow.” When we focus on work and business being an infinite game, we realise that it will never stop, there will always be something to do, a pivot to make, a promotion to plan.
The work will never stop—however, as leaders, what we can control is how we respond to this.
When leaders recognise that work is continually evolving (just like nature) and their job is just to harness and direct it in order to get the best overall outcome, it brings a degree of flexibility and freedom to the role. With an infinite mindset, leaders can build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organisations that are committed to bringing meaning and contribution to their lives.
One of the first steps in creating an infinite business is to create a compelling purpose and vision, something that will make a real difference in the world and which will drive you forward on a daily basis.
