The Game of Teams

Introduction: Douglas Board has enjoyed a backstage pass into Britons power bases for over 30 years. As a head-hunter he was a gatekeeper for some of the country’s high places working for a leading Executive Search firm called Saxton Bampfylde, where he later became deputy Chairman. Douglas holds several board positions one of which was as Treasurer for the Diana, Princess of Wales Trust. In 2010 he received a doctorate looking at how we chose Leaders. Douglas is also an author and his latest book is called Elites, How to rise to the top without losing your soul.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the journey that Douglas has been on over the last 15 years. A serendipitous encounter with migrant construction workers in Mumbai in 2006 disrupted Douglas enough to consider jumping off his hamster wheel of work and his rather rarefied life  to consider what he might not be seeing of the world and life. He pursued a Doctorate, employed Coaching as a way to make a living and wrote several books including his latest called. Elites.    Points made over the episode The last 15 years of Douglas Board’s life have been an exciting journey of exploration & discovery In 2006, a study trip with Leaders Quest saw him face to face with migrant construction workers in Mumbai That encounter altered the trajectory of his next 15 years A Doctorate in 2010 awakened him to the subject of power & politics and how the way we are taught to think about these two topics is unhelpful  Douglas was keen to learn how to offer his learning to others which motivated him to write and in particular write Elites.  Douglas shares how the book was written and what it purports to share. He shares the 3 symbols he uses to delineate the subject matter under discussion. A mountain symbolises the reality of a senior level executive, a magnifying glass the ideas he shares and a squiggly arrow the journey Douglas is on Elites was written for a number reasons but mostly to reach hidden heroes and heroines in organisations and then to bust some myths and illuminate the wizardry of corporate life The book starts by sharing a survival guide for work over 10 walks. Douglas goes further to reveal the players in organisations and in particular the hidden heroes. He questions our definition of success and he offers the possibility that we may have been educated, certainly in the West, by the wrong idea of what it means to be human We think too much in individualist terms by our solitary minds “I think therefore I am” when we are in fact much more connected  Ubuntu is an African belief that says “ I am because you are” so our existence emerges and does not precede the social and the group A team is either a collection of individual decision makers who chose to collaborate or It exists in the complexity of multiple human interactions, of which Team is one form, that human beings find their existence.  Ubuntu says that parts of us are buried in other more diverse people and by implication means that we ought to be encouraged to explore and be curious to meet other people because you never know when you might meet part of yourself.  The notion of Power changed for Douglas by year two of his Doctorate.  Our typical definition of Power is often voiced as meaning the resources or techniques we use to get what we want  If we assume the notion of Ubuntu that definition becomes very stupid indeed We are a very anxious society. We know that connection is important for our survival and we seem to have forgotten how to be in connection  One way is to master the skill of listening We also have to dismantle our thinking about Power – accept that we know a lot already and getting to the top might not be the answer, it also might not have to be a selfish act Douglas offers the ideas that we can be in more choice, we can look deeper into our organisations and recognise the heroes that exist and when we do get to the top to think about rolling on and give space for others to make a contribution before hubris sets in  The question about dreaming about a world without politics is adeptly answered There is beauty in a team making decisions using the triple lens of Science, Politics and Intuition  We could think about Power as an incredible way of discerning patterns and dynamics and using that to inform new possibilities  We need to open up the conversation about Power, accept it exists and employ it usefully for its potency for navigating trends/patterns/dynamics  We assume our organisations are based on merit and often we protect that thinking. Power has often been silenced when instead it is a natural phenomenon.  Douglas ends by sharing his optimism for this new way of thinking about Power and likens this shift to the open discussions about Sex that happened in the 1950s  Resources shared  Board, Douglas: Elites; Can you rise to the top without losing your soul? 

Introduction Craig Lemasters former CEO of a $5bln Fortune 500 subsidiary Assurant Solutions, is an author, entrepreneur, investor and board member with more than two decades of success in executive leadership positions. He is now CEO of GXG an advisory company dedicated to helping other senior leaders get unstuck on the major growth challenges to their businesses    Podcast Episode Summary This episode illuminates what it means for organisations and in particular top teams to get unstuck with respect to the major business challenges they face. Craig shares his deceptively simple formula and steps to help others get unstuck. Wisdom is a combination of Knowledge and Experience and when businesses face into growth outside of what is core they often fall short of critical wisdom Craig helps readers and clients appreciate there is an alternative to being stuck. The first step on the journey is humility. This conversation explores not only the methodology but the many themes about Leadership, Biases, Stereotypes and Patterns that keep us stuck. The book is littered with gems of wisdom, models, knowledge sources and references to critical and timely research. The book is 108 pages long and while seemingly short is anything but.     Points made over the episode Craig Lemasters now runs a company called GXG, an advisory boutique to help organisations get unstuck on the major growth challenges to their businesses.  He started his company 6 years ago and after working with several clients it was suggested he write his methodology in a book. This book is called Unstuck, how to unlock and activate the wisdom of others  Craig defines wisdom as a combination of Knowledge and Experience  He shares that it is OK to be stuck but we have to be willing to admit it to ourselves and have the humility to ask for help.  The circle of stuck is an example of the many activities people identify with at work where busy, like the many meetings we have and the many voices we copy in emails etc… is confused with momentum and activity.  Leaders have to pick a destination. Strategy is not the destination and not the end game it is only the beginning.  By putting B in the middle of a flip chart we can begin the work of identifying wisdom gaps.  Craig walks us through the digital transformation challenge he faced at Assurant and describes the process he engaged to breakthrough his self-imposed stuck.  It is extraordinary how often people in business at the start of this process deny their current reality. -Humility is key These first few steps raise awareness about the number of wisdom gaps a team might face in pursuing a particular growth strategy.  Leaders need to address the wisdom gap and very often that wisdom is housed in personas outside of the business and often in unrelated industry’s. The importance of humility and being able to hold the truth are some of the lessons Craig shares from his experience working with organisations willing to explore his methodology.  Leaders still suffer many biases and stereotypes that keep them away from considering this methodology.  The belief “ I should know” Not realising that the job of Leadership is to make choices and create a culture that lifts people up An over identification with self interest A capacity deficit to dialogue    GXG source and locate advisory boards full of people who have the necessary wisdom to advice boards. This is a critical part of his methodology and it works because these people do not have an agenda but have the credibility and knowledge to impart.  There needs to be an instance of candid conversations, conversations without internal wrangling and agendas for his process to be a success.  Boards were originally conceived to support Leaders with operational issues they now assume a far greater governance role. Some of Craig’s clients are now developing shadow boards to get at the required wisdom necessary to compete in a VUCA world.  The last chapter of Unstuck focuses on the idea of accessing Joy at work. Craig Lemasters sees no reason why we cannot be happy and lead dignified lives at work.  Covid-19 has taught Craig a few things that we would like to see continued.  Know people more than just knowing about them.  More priorities does not mean better. As Leaders we need to de-stress people by making better and tighter choices so that fewer priorities are appropriate  Flexible working is a paradigm that has been shattered and proven to work  Let’s stop the game of 10 year plans and instead focus closer in and execute.    Resources shared  Lemasters, Craig. Unstuck: How to Unlock and Activate the Wisdom of Others, Front Edge Publishing, 2020  Collins, James C. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap & Others Don’t. New York: Harper Collins 2001 Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time. New York: Viking 2013 GXG. www.gxg.co

Introduction Peter Bluckert is the founder of Courage & Spark, pioneers & thought leaders in the Gestalt approach to Leadership Development. He is also the founder and has led and grown four successful coaching & Leadership Development consultancies. Peter is a prolific writer. He is the author of several books & articles including; Psychological Dimensions of Executive Coaching, Gestalt Coaching-Right Here Right Now and Gestalt Coaching: Distinctive Features. He also co-founded the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC). Peter’s other passion is music and for this episode, he asked the acoustic musician Ed Boyd, band member of Lunasa and Flook to compose an outro to simulate team coaching. I sincerely hope you enjoy both the conversation and this music piece.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode illuminates what is involved in a transformational team development journey. Peter explores the role of a Team Coach and shares some important distinctions & capacities that Team Coaches need to possess to support team development. The episode is littered with gems, words of wisdom and stories that bring to life Peter’s approach and the value of his offer. I particularly enjoyed his football story at the end of this episode where Peter demonstrates his skill in genuinely helping a team transform.    Points made over the episode The reason for entitling this episode as The Amazing Journey is explained  Peter Bluckert’s model and approach often takes anywhere between 18 months to 4 years with a team.  It is not uncommon that a team will approach this work with some order of anxiety and trepidation even resistance.  Team Coaches can have influence and impact with a team.  They can improve the quality of conversation, help the team offer deep levels of sharing, disrupt dysfunctional patterns, improve team mood, spirit and belief & accelerate personal and leadership development.  Important that a team coach has the ability to create conditions of deep trust and psychological safety.  Openness, Trust and Safety are critical success factors in team development  Often Team Coaches meet their own anxiety by over structuring events and relying too heavily on content.  Our role is to create enough space for the Team to do their work  Team Coaches need to possess a holding presence, they need to grade their experiments and not go too fast. They need to invite team members to stand in the metaphorical swimming pool and take a dip Context is such that we have to manage our own anxiety and help the team see that slowing things down is the work to reflect, to notice self to notice self in relation to others -all requires a different pace As Team Coaches we have to hold the tension and not react to a client by giving them an approximation of their world.  Process versus Content is an important distinction Peter learnt early on in his career. Most of us have only a partial awareness of this important distinction.  By being overly focused on content we miss each other, we miss communication issues, we miss team dynamics and relationship issues. We miss a lot.  Peter shares how he introduces a team to group process work.  He then described his model and approach to team development. He shared it is a combination of individual work and team work as well as a focus on the Leader.  He invites the team to declare their current reality and to determine what it needs to learn and change to deliver its stated mission. He determines if the team has a clear and compelling Purpose, Values and Team Behaviours as well as Group Norms that team members will buy into.  In addition he will afford the team skill development as well as teaching moments, including the ability to self -reflect, build awareness, take personal responsibility  & regulate emotions. He works to uncover team dynamics and finally he supports a team consider their immunity to change using the work of Kegan & Lahey.  The work Peter does with a team could be described as Truth Telling.  He helps the team develop their capacity to dialogue, to notice their own patterns, bias’s and habits.  Team Coaching is complex and  as an external intervener we never know all that is going on in a system. We can get lost, blind- sided by a team and in those moments we have to be patient to allow the fog to clear and gently see what might be figural. We have to be careful how we share and put into the team. It is wise to   offer stuff lightly with humility.  Working with teams Peter will check for the kind of support that is available for team coaching and the level of real commitment for the work  Peter closed the episode by sharing a piece of pivotal work he did with a football team in Ireland that was in danger of being relegated. In this we hear his approach and success with the team.  Finally Peter shared the reason for the change in outro that listeners will experience by listening to the end of the episode The Outro has been composed by Ed Boyd an Irish acoustic musician who play for two bands Lunasa and Flook. This piece was created to approximate team life. A beautiful composition.    Resources shared  www.courageandspark.com  Bluckert P. Psychological Dimensions of Executive Coaching, 2006, Open University Press Bluckert P. Gestalt Coaching; Right Here, Right Now. 2015, Open University Press Bluckert P. Gestalt Coaching-Distinctive Features, 2021, Routledge Ed Boyd, member of the Lunasa band, a traditional Irish Music Group named after Lughnasadh an ancient harvest festival, provided the Outro music to this episode. 

Introduction: Cath Bishop is a three-time Olympian, World Champion and Olympic Silver medallist in rowing. In her career as Diplomat, she specialised in stabilisation policy for conflict affected areas of the world. In business Cath acts as a Business Coach & Consultant, advising on Teams and Leadership Development. She also teaches on the Executive Education Programs for Judge Business School at Cambridge University.  Podcast episode Summary: The book, The Long Win is a deep and rewarding exploration of human motivation, in sport, politics, business & our personal lives. This episode explores Cath Bishops alternative approach to a zero sum approach to winning. Her approach is housed in an alliterative 3 C’s, developing Clarity, Constant learning and Connection. Cath’s passion for a different approach to success and in solving our  worlds complex issues is palpable across this conversation.  Points made throughout the Episode:    The book served as vehicle to make sense of Cath’s experiences, failures and wins.  Cath looked at the common themes that could get at sustainable performance She observed our collective obsession with defining winning on narrow terms  Her aim for this book is to challenge our definition of success, challenge the simple metrics on which we so depend & to begin to define broader success criteria that matter.  A meaningful purpose is one that offers a contribution outside of ourselves, is meaningful, it allows us have agency and connect more widely to be part of something together.  Having broader aims allows us to be resilient, to be creative in the face of setbacks and to be involved not just from a head space but from a heart space too.  She invariably challenges metrics to wonder what might not be housed in a metric that also matters.  In her experience as an Olympian athlete especially for her first two experiences Cath noticed a very dominant theme. Toughness. It took failing on a big scale for Cath to ask some tough questions of herself. She took a year out.  Cath’s third experience in Athens was different.  Cath appreciated the change in sport psychology.  It wasn’t necessarily about “fixing athletes” that led to performance gains but to an appreciation of the Culture and environment in which athletes trained. Removing fear and separating out performance from results. To an understanding that more things about an athlete, like mindset, behaviours, relations with others contributed to the performance.  These learnings underpinned what became for Cath her 3 C’s, Clarity, Continuous Learning and Connection.  Cath is often invited into Corporate Settings to explore her wins and help others be winners. She explains that this is not the question. Instead she asks how Leaders can share why their organisation exists, the difference it makes to society and then to go about connecting and making links with every employee.  Start what Success means to the team on a broader level. Cath shares a story of where a team was facing into miserable results but with her help they were able to mine the real learning they had achieved over the year.  She extols a Growth Mindset made famous by Carol Dweck. Cath asks teams to look at what went well, to leverage learning and be prepared to do consistent reviews. This gets people away from having only one metric the outcome.  Cath learnt the capacity of connection as a Diplomat. She notes that it is a little bit mad that it took a Pandemic for organisations to give themselves permission to ask people how they are. Importantly we should take stock about why that was the case.  In her capacity as a Diplomat Cath was keen to make connections before the content of her assignment. Who am I speaking to beyond the title? Knowing a person helps you tap into the their better part.  The Brexit negotiations are really forged out of an archaic system of Zero sum games. Competition and politics where someone has to lose.  Complex collaboration is required to solve some of our more wicked social problems  For teams Cath suggests that each team define what success means to them, to put people first and to value the team ethos in addition to the metrics. She suggests people on teams need to take responsibility for what matters and to challenge entrenched thinking.  Make sure the conversations about Purpose are not outsourced as a Comms initiative but spoken to everywhere.  Cath’s biggest discovery in writing the book was the realisation that a lot of our more systemic issues and inability to collaborate are borne out of our education systems. She admires the work of Alfie Cohen in the US and his thinking on Co-operative learning as well as the approach adopted by the Nordic countries.  We do not have a lot of cognitive diversity much of us have learnt the exact same curriculum. How can we allow for more choice?  Begin by defining success on your own terms and lose the “should”  Resources  Bishop.C; The long win; the search for a better way to succeed Cohen.A; Punished by Rewards www.cathbishop.com @thecathbishop

Introduction: Pedro Angulo is the Head of Leadership Development at AIB where he leads the design & implementation of enterprise wide Leadership Development initiatives. He is also a Program Director of the Diploma in Strategic HRM for the Irish Management Institute, Board Member of Green Sod Ireland and Past President and Chairman of the EMCC in Ireland. A graduate from Minnesota State University (USA) and holder of an MBS in Management and Organisational Studies from University College Dublin. He is a prolific writer and much sought-after motivational speaker.  Podcast episode Summary: How to put attention on the Team as an important if not the most important unit of currency in Organisational Life. This episode speaks to the organisational lag in recognising the need to put attention on team life and teaming skills. Too often organisations assume you can put a bunch of talented people together and they will become a team, the reality is often very different. Listen to the many tips Pedro litters throughout this episode, emphasising attention, energy, clarity and measurement.  Points made throughout the Episode:  Pedro opens the conversation by sharing his “Why” He is passionate about people and genuinely interested in helping people be at their best  He immediately illuminates the gaps that exist with respect to teams and teaming in organisations of which he is apart  Little real attention given to team effectiveness. Much is spent of team development and confusion exists about what it takes to make teams great.  Organisations tend to invest at the Individual level and on the enterprise level but pay scant attention to teams.  They often assume that by putting bright people together they will work it out. Invariably that is not the case and the result is a group Team effectiveness is working out why the team exists, what is its purpose, how to collaborate, solve for conflict and make decisions as well as working on its dynamic to get at flow.  People are often promoted because of their individual contribution and not for their teaming skills  To address the gap we have to put attention on teams. Help Leaders create the conditions that allow teams thrive. Call it and or get external help if the capacity for teaming is weak or poor.  Develop a standard framework or model of team effectiveness that can be scaled and measured. Great at illuminating landscape data from which development can be a resource.  Organisations have individual sophistication when it comes to psychometrics and coaching but less so when it comes to Team Development  Pedro has experienced Irish teams as very collegial but often that collegiality can stand in the way of constructive dialogue. As well there is too much focus on the now and not enough on Horizon level 3 thinking  Too much “vanilla” exists on Irish teams not enough or sufficient diversity especially in terms of diversity of thought risking a maintenance of the Status Quo. Pedro would love to see more inclusivity, much greater challenge on teams, innovation and psychological safety.  To help a team think team a Leader needs to believe he needs a team and ask for a  team. Too often a Leader is focused on his stalk of work or on individual concerns to promote a team culture.  We continue to promote people on individual performance and to wit we often tie that performance to individual goals.  Leadership Pathways are often constructed in a way that misses the opportunity to provide real transitional leadership development  Enterprise Leadership thinking and skills are bereft.  “Values are like posters” we could do better to nurture what is important to an Individual and speak those to the teams of which they are apart to appreciate what could be supportive and what could detract from the team’s performance  Covid-19 imposed a strict regime of virtual working and by and large the Bank fared well. More is required to really support Leaders in this domain. The Bank has provided guidebooks, toolkits to support leaders get at continued engagement, motivation and clarity in a virtual way. Pedro is not convinced they are doing enough.  In a context such as the Pandemic Clarity, Check-ins and Energy is what is required. Energy means showing you care & are interested in helping others manage their energy.  Funny that people are suffering from Zoom fatigue. Maybe they are but maybe the right level of energy and psychological safety is missing  Leaders often assume they create high levels of psychological safety but do they?  It is sad that we have to hire external consultants to point out what we are seeing already every day.  Leaders need to take ownership for their part in the creation of the culture where people are afraid to speak up.  Pedro shared examples of where a Leader could disrupt high levels of agreement when really disagreement could be valued.  Organisations keep rewarding A when they are asking for B We keep rewarding individual performance when we are looking for team collaboration  We need to stop promoting people for their technical competence and solo runs We need to change the definition of what it means to be promoted in organisations. We have to focus on the team as an entity and work on incremental team norms of performance  Everybody contributes to the team dynamic important to discuss what it is Role of Leader to up the teams performance norm.  Net Promoter Score is a valuable measurement often used with  Customers. It could easily be used in teams as well  Important for a team to think about its own context and to share a purpose that is relevant to the team. Pedro asks teams to think about their legacy and what they want to be known for and how they would like to be seen. How are you going to be different?  Pedro’s closing remarks were really a call to action.  Be ruthless with measurement Go to where the team is at  Teams work in context of an organisation alignment is key Teams evolve and are often fluid Don’t forget the complexity inherent on teams  Too easy to think about changing the structure – look at the practices get close to teams  Resources shared  Simon Sinek: Together is better

Introduction: Geetu Bharwaney is the founding CEO of Ei World. Geetu’s specialism is the advanced application of emotional intelligence which focuses on the awareness and development of emotional resilience & the associated micro-skills of understanding, managing and switching emotions. Geetu, is recognised as a thought leader & speaker and is a prolific author. Her chapter in The Practitioners handbook of Team Coaching expounds her approach. She is also renowned for her book on Emotional Resilience: how to be agile, adaptable and always perform at our best. Published in 2015.  Podcast episode Summary: Geetu Bharwaney introduces us to a framework developed by Professor Vanessa Druskat & Dr Steven Wolff, a methodology employed by Ei, that helps teams understand the characteristics of outstanding team performance and the work necessary to cultivate this level of performance through the rules of engagement within a team. She further explores the human dimension of teams and the core emotional & social needs of a team, belonging, shared understanding and control, that have now become primary since Covid-19. Geetu litters the episode with vignettes, words of wisdom, takeaways as well as Ei’s framework that make this episode a must listen.  Points made throughout the Episode:  Geetu’s career was highly influenced by her own struggles with Cancer and her need to explore the intersection between health/emotional wellbeing/life patterns & general lived experiences.  Outstanding team performance is first served by getting 3 fundamentals in place, setting clear goals, having effective meetings and clear roles and responsibilities Research shows that these 3 fundamentals while critical only amount to average performance.  To move the needle, outstanding team performance can be achieved by first understanding and then developing 9 team norms.  These 9 team norms sit under 3 categories which include; Team members as individuals with each other, The team as a unit and the Team with its stakeholders  We can think of these norms as expectations and when well delivered can achieve outcomes such as Psychological Safety, A strong sense of belonging and an ability for robust dialogue.  By managing the emotional dimensions of a team, the team is effectively building a culture with very specific sets of norms.  The individual category: Team Understanding, Addressing Unhelpful behaviour on a team (different from individual feedback) and how to demonstrate caring on a team The team as a unit: Review the team in terms of its process and achievement of intended outcomes (not outputs), Support expression on the team, Building Optimism and Solving Problems Proactively Team with its Stakeholders: Understand Team Context & proactively build external relations. It is important to get at the perspectives held by the team & others in terms of how they are doing against all of these norms. This engages dialogue on the team  Everything is VUCA. We are in an accelerated mode and we need to cut through the noise to get at what is meaningful and at the heart of true performance.  One practical tool to employ with a team is the idea of exorcising team ghosts, the ghosts of a team’s history, the ghost of the Leader, and all of the ghosts that are in the way of a team being clear about how they want to work with each other This exercise normalises the ghosts on teams and makes the undiscussables discussable.  Tools like the one above help free and also release the many pent up emotions that exist on teams  Ei’s approach with a team starts by getting clear on the business imperative and then moving to the pains experienced by team members. Ei, then moves to educate the team on the Emotional Framework explored above and it helps the team to quickly benchmark itself and then chose the work.  A more in depth approach is detailed in Geetu’s chapter in David Clutterbucks book, The Practitioners Guide to Team Coaching.  Covid-19 has brought the human dimension of teams to the foreground.  What was known about the core emotional and social needs of a team is now centre stage. Three core needs include belonging, shared understanding and control or the autonomy to have a modicum of control in a very uncertain world.  If more Leaders can understand this human dimension they will be in better service of a team A reset is needed if we are to explore our collective trauma and psyche on teams.  It starts with the self. Selfcare, Self-reflection and self-responsibility – means put self -first if we are then to tend to others  The ART of self-leadership means building self-awareness, resilience and then my contribution in the team.  Geetu, implores us to mine the opportunity 2020 has afforded the planet-don’t act with yesterday’s thinking, instead use the wisdom gleaned in 2020 and the wisdom we already know to rich dialogue.  Now is the moment  Resources  Team Emotional Intelligence Framework https://www.eiworld.org/team-coaching/ Geetu’s book “Emotional Resilience: Know what it takes to be agile, adaptable and perform at your best” and Audiobook https://www.eiworld.org/store/ Dr. Geetu Bharwaney’s company website, Ei World: https://www.eiworld.org Accreditation in Team Emotional Intelligence framework: https://www.eiworld.org/teams-accreditation/ Bharwaney, G, Wolff, S.B. and Druskat, V.U. (2019). Emotion and team performance: team coaching mindsets and practices for team interventions. In Clutterbuck, D., Gannon, J. et. al (Eds). Practitioner’s Handbook of Team Coaching, Chapter 13, pp 192-209. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. Bharwaney, G. (2015). Emotional Resilience: Know how to be agile, adaptable and perform at your best. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education. Bharwaney, G. (2009). Coaching for emotional intelligence in international business environments: Challenges and opportunities. In G. Abbott, & M. Moral. (Eds). The Routledge Companion to International Business Coaching. Susan Fiske; Social Cognition: Selected Works of Susan Fiske, 2018  

Lucy Widdowson, an executive coaching expert and director at Performance Edge, teams up with Paul J. Barbour, an award-winning coach and co-author on high-performance teams. They dive into the importance of collaboration in building effective teams, sharing insights from their framework, 'Creating the Team Edge.' Listen as they discuss fostering trust through open communication, seven traits of successful teams, and the significance of courageous conversations. Their personal anecdotes highlight how networks and emotional connection enhance team dynamics.

Introduction: Joe Jacobi is an Olympic Gold Medallist, winner of America’s first ever Olympic Gold Medal in Whitewater Canoe Slalom in Barcelona in 1992. Joe is also a performance coach with Valor Performance Inc. helping Leaders & Teams perform at their best without compromising their lives. Joe writes and has a blog called Sunday Morning Joe where he shares his wisdom, insights and lessons learnt from the river in a post every week.  Podcast episode Summary: How to transfer ideas learnt on the river operating as a high performance athlete to Leaders, teams and organisations looking to improve performance. Joe uses the River as a metaphor either on the river in rafts or in a conference room or both to build better performance, to encourage the adoption of better mindsets, strategies and ultimately cultures of excellence. Joe often employs unconventional paths to learning, counterintuitive frameworks for rethinking approaches in a manner that is easily transferable.  Points made throughout the Episode:    Joe opens the conversation by sharing that he is currently writing on a very particular theme and will do so for the next six months. The theme is “The Pursuit of contentment on the River of Uncertainty”  Joe shared his knack for being able to check-in with himself to wonder about his performance in the pursuit of objectives from a very early age.  Joe was fortuitous enough to have grown up in Washington DC, the home of top performance culture for Whitewater River Slalom Canoeing on the Patomic River He grew up surrounded by top performers and coaches.  He was never attracted to the Olympics in fact the sport was only reinstated as an Olympic sport in 1989. That allowed him experience the river with a focus on being the best he could be along with friends who were interested in paddling against the backdrop of the amazing culture on the Patomic River.  Today the sport is very attached to the Olympics and the values of winning and results.  Joe enjoyed a long career in his chosen sport and returned to the Olympics in 2004 when he was aged 34. He also ran a Gold Medal Kayak Camp that allowed him grow as a teacher and coach, giving voice to the River in a meaningful way.  In 2008 he was the Olympic commentator for the sport for NBC, a position that kept him connected to the sport and to the many top performing athletes. He was the Global story teller for the sport.  The River,  Joe shares has been his best life coach and his C2 partner (Scott) his best relationship coach. He learnt how to communicate, mostly non-verbally, how to respect difference and leverage their combined difference with respect to other Olympic teams. The work was often hard and testing and they did rely on a sports psychologist. Today Joe talks about Rocks as the challenges we face in Corporate life and the counterintuitive task of befriending them.  This lesson is not just philosophical but grounded in an understanding of Maths, Science and Hydrology.  Another idea or lesson is the use of the “paddle” Joe explains that it is important to assess where you can draw energy without overusing the power of the paddle and shares how that approximates in corporate life in the patience, posture, understanding of physiology and mindset.  Teams often want to be synchronised and that means going slower, certainly initially to see “the paddle strokes” Not an easy lesson to practice.  By paddling slowly and together teams can respond to uncertainty appropriately.  Teams have to understand how they operate at lower cadence and at higher cadence when needed but importantly not to always operate at one speed.  Teams therefore have to get honest with each other and figure out how to navigate the “River” of their businesses effectively.  Important to appreciate how to rest, how to use down time and to manage energy.  Joe would like to see workplaces be more compassionate, to allow people to be vulnerable to share what is going on outside of the hours of work so as to manage their energy over time.  How do Leaders encourage people to have the confidence and trust to say when they are “off” to nurture reciprocal kindness.  Love, safety and belonging are basic human needs on teams. Yet many Leaders practice Fear, Control and Duality thinking.  Leaders need to be congruent between what they espouse and how they act.  River Mapping is an exercise that Joe employs to provide a powerful way to explore a team’s approach to business objectives. The River allows for a different language and way to communicate that is often more open and honest.  Covid-19 saw Joe lose a parent, his Father died in May of 2020 and Joe had to manage that loss from afar. It also saw him work with a group of High Performing Surgeons  Joe reminds us of the need to see the human in front of us and to remember the lost art of connection and communication.  Covid has meant remote working and zoom life for many of us and that has often blurred the buffers we used to rely on. In parting Joe shares some simple tips to manage energy while using zoom and to find ways to create buffers for energy restoration  Resources shared  www.5withJoe.com   http://joejacobi.com/sign-up-for-sunday-morning-joe/ www.valorperform.com 

Introduction: Irial O Farrell is the owner of her own company called Evolution Consulting which will soon merge with a company called Pebble, an Irish Consulting company. Irial is an accredited Master in Change Management and distinguished in other disciplines such as Learning and Development, Emotional Intelligence, Organisational Design and Executive Coaching. She is also the author of two books; Values; Not just the office Wall Plaque and SMART Objective setting for managers, a roadmap.   Podcast episode Summary: The book, SMART objective setting for managers: A roadmap, unpacks many of the conundrums faced by managers in managing others. This episode explores the content and relevance for SMART objectives on teams. Irial helps us understand why SMART objectives are often outsourced, overlooked & misunderstood. The book is a roadmap to substantially improve the design and setting of effective objectives including behavioural objectives to really drive increased performance. Points made throughout the Episode:   Performance & our behaviours at work is a consequence of the systems we are apart that are often unconscious or blind to us. Part of the work of performance management is making those systems clear and aligned. Building better business is primarily about clarity, clarity of design and alignment of many parts of the business, including Purpose, Vision, Strategy, Plans & Processes as well as the human capabilities needed to execute against these design initiatives. The interface between system sight and capabilities is where things often go wrong Performance management is the subject matter about which Irial choses to write. Her first book was born in 2011. Values only made sense to Irial after a coaching course she attended in 2006. Understanding the role & purpose of values can provide enormous relief and avoid the potential for conflict and emotional turmoil. The same is true for teams organisations In 2019 the book SMART objective setting for managers was written to help managers have meaningful conversations with others around performance Objective setting is often seen as something important to HR and not as a sacrosanct Manager tool- as such the potency and richness of dialogue is lost The tasks involved in a managers role are often misplaced. More definition and clarity is required. SMART is a framework that has endured and it is especially potent as an individual tool. When it is brought forward in a 1:1 capacity or with a team it is the communication that is critical and often lost. We have to be careful about our unspoken expectations and assumptions in order to have meaningful dialogue SMART objectives can enhance team behavioural norms. Some of the letters in the anacronym are particularly useful especially if things do not go to plan. The A in smart is helpful to course or chart alternative strategies for example in Covid. Some of the traps that managers and teams fall prey to include work being done at the wrong level, managers afraid to let go some of the more tangible tasks about which they are comfortable to engage in less tangible conversations -management conversations like feedback, development conversations, coaching conversations. Covid-19 has for sure thrown teams into a virtual reality that works for those who know their roles but for others it is problematic. New hires for example need to be onboarded. Important that managers actively think about the conversation they might need to have with people who ordinarily used informal channels to seek out information. Not as easy today.   Resources   https://www.linkedin.com/in/irialofarrell/ Irial,O Farrell. Smart Objective Setting For Managers: A Roadmap Irial,O Farrell. Values- Not just for the office Wall Plaque-How personal and company values interect Ram Charan; Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company The Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self Deception

Introduction: Dr. Melissa Hughes is the Founder & President of the Andrick Group. She is also the author of happy hour by Einstein, Happier hour by Einstein and the Happier Hour with Einstein companion journal on Gratitude. Melissa holds a Phd in Curriculum and instruction and she is a self-confessed Neuroscience Geek. Melissa delivers keynote speeches and workshops geared to help organisations and individuals work smarter. Podcast episode summary:  Melissa shared her passion for understanding how the brain works and what we can do to support greater cognitive functioning. In this episode we focused on two particular topics for optimum brain functioning on teams,  stress as an inhibitor to great thinking and cognitive bias as a way of shut-cutting excellence.   Points made through the episode: The overproduction of Cortisol weakens our brain cells, eventually erodes them and makes us more stupid Jaak Panksepp conducted some seminal research to understanding brain functioning and his subjects were rats, because the construct of their brains is similar to the human brain He found that when a cat hair is thrown into a rat play area the rats stop playing (read learning) immediately and worryingly sometimes for days Every team has a cat hair, maybe an unconscious bias that gets in the way of team performance Psychological safety and emotional intelligence & personal awareness help us get better at sharing and educating the collective A companies culture can unwittingly erode great thinking. A genius mindset for example can prevent people from being vulnerable because of the competitive nature of winning and showing brilliance A Growth Mindset as espoused by Carol Dweck helps us all by adopting an open sharing mindset full of learning -collective intelligence can grow Make mistakes normal and not secrets to be ashamed of Our number one emotional need as humans is acceptance Our number one emotional fear as humans is rejection Pay attention to what you pay attention to because the brain looks for confirming patterns Neuro Plasticity is a real phenomenon -intense, prolonged and repeated experiences chemically and physically change the brain- in other words we can continue to grow our brains The brain works on the principle of use it or lose it. Our inner critic needs an alternative voice if we do not want to cultivate a vicious cycle of activity. Gratitude gives the giver a bigger does of neurochemicals then the receiver so on a down day remember to genuinely thank someone We pay insufficient attention to cognitive bias -we all biased and much more than we think There are in excess of 200 biases available to the human brain. Melissa shared a few and paid particular attention to group think. Group think erodes critical thinking and challenge. We need challenge to surface the best ideas Work to play with the Neurological seesaw. Instead of focusing on reducing Cortisol or worrying about stress look instead to increasing Oxytocin, Serotonin and Dopamine   Resources: the following include the resources we alluded to over the course of our conversation andrickgroup.com com/in/melissahughesphd Jaak Panksepp Affective Neuroscience Happy Hour with Einstein: Dr Melissa Hughes melissahughes.rocks