Articles and whitepapers

In my work, coaching executive teams, I sometimes play some jazz and invite the team to consider the ways in which they are listening to great teamwork in action. In working with a team recently we identified the following ingredients: Really talented individuals, who know their music, can play exceptionally well, and enjoy stretching themselves […]

“Every time that something solid is put into doubt or dismantled, something else opens up and allows us to see further than we could before. Watching what appeared to be as solid as rock melt into air makes lighter, it seems to me, the transitory and bittersweet flowing of our lives.”  Carlo Rovelli, “Helgoland”. How […]

Is your leadership team running on empty? Are you facing into increasing waves of change? Do you need to reset, reconnect, and reenergise your leadership team to tackle the next wave?  How can team coaching help? Whether keeping-up with new opportunities or struggling to survive, leaders have been working flat-out in the last year.  Many are feeling […]

Ma (間) expresses the Japanese concept of negative space.  How might ma help leaders better see things, make sense of them, and respond? Ma (間) (lit., “gap”, “space”, “pause”) is the term for a Japanese concept of negative space. The existence of ma in an artwork has been interpreted as “an emptiness full of possibilities, like […]

In the last year, working from home has become the new normal for many.  Almost everyone I talk to feels they are working harder than ever, trapped at their desks, in back-to-back, virtual meetings, which they find exhausting.  In this article I explore the deeper causes for these patterns and offer some suggestions on how […]

Have you ever found yourself in a head to head with a team colleague?  Wondering how did we get to this point, and how can we unravel things?  These stags know why they are fighting.  In my experience as a business leader and team coach, the causes and solutions for conflict between colleagues are often […]

I have found that a growing number of businesses are talking of the need for a coaching culture. Drivers for this include a shift to meet the requirements of increasing responsiveness, agility, collaboration, stakeholder relationships, leading millennials and the ongoing challenge to develop a growth mindset. It has made me think about what we mean […]

To make the shift to a coaching culture an organisation needs to change at multiple levels. If I am working with a business across the entire change process, then it is invaluable to start with a review or audit of where things stand now and how the change will support the business strategy. This would […]

“I am very aware that I am not getting everything done that needs to be done.” I said to Mike, a CEO in a telecoms business, earlier in my career. Mike replied, “That will always be the case! How do you think it is for me?” Of course, the point was obvious and yet I […]