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Alex Hill works with a range of sporting organisations. He sometimes stuns them into silence too.

On one such occasion, Hill, the Co-Founder and Director of the Centre for High Performance, compelled senior leaders at the Premier League to confront its own demise.

“I said: ‘at some point people will not want to work for you’. Now that feels impossible at the moment,” Hill tells the Leaders Performance Podcast.

How did that observation go down?

“It was quite a quiet room,” Hill says. “At the moment, they’re lucky they’ve got the pick of the best talent, the best physios, the best scientists – but that might not be there forever.”

Hill spent 13 years studying organisations that have out-performed their peers for over 100 years, including the All Blacks, Eton College and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The result is his book Centennials: The 12 Habits of Great, Enduring Organisations.

“If you want society to support you long term, your impact has to be much broader than just creating role models,” he continues. “Why don’t you take the learning from being at the cutting edge of mental and physical performance and share that?”

Hill believes that the British national governing bodies competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games could feed those lessons back into the community in the form of a “spin-offs division” similar to that of NASA (another centennial).

“This spin-offs division [could be] designed to take that learning and feed it into all of society so that the whole of our country develops.”

It is just one idea Hill shares during the course of a conversation full of advice for sporting organisations. He spoke of the New Zealand All Blacks and their readiness to embrace failure [40:20]; finding smarter ways to attract money and talent [10:45]; and why a diverse talent pool can make an organisation more relevant to a broader swathe of society [17:15].

Henry Breckenridge X | LinkedIn

John Portch X | LinkedIn

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Alex Hill’s Centennials: The 12 Habits of Great, Enduring Organisations is now available in paperback from Cornerstone Press / Penguin Random House

By Luke Whitworth

We all know a crisis when we see one.

You may recognise the signs from your own experience; from elements of high risk and disruption to the instability and the potential for internal clashes.

They’re all familiar signs, but do you truly understand how crises emerge? It is often assumed that crises are the outcome of events that cannot be managed – but nothing can be further from the truth.

That is the view of Dr Daryl Jones, the VP of Sports Leadership at Abilene Christian University, who wrote a white paper in 2017 entitled Sports Leaders, Sensemaking, and Self-Preservation: Uncovering the Real Crisis in Sport.

Jones, during a recent Virtual Roundtable for members of the Leaders Performance Institute, explained that crises emerge as a complex interplay of behaviours, processes and emotions.

Reconceptualising what we understand by ‘crisis’

Jones honed in on three specific areas that provide the terms for analysing crises in sport:

1. Context: a team’s entire outcome and decision tree can be dictated by performance outcomes regardless of the months of planning that preceded the competition. We experience really short performance windows and a win-or-lose culture that can “chew you up and spit you out” as Jones put it.
2. Nature: a crisis develops over time. We’ve been taught and conditioned to believe that crisis is something we discuss as an aftermath. Yet the study led by Jones highlights that crises stem from behaviours, processes and emotions that we witness on a daily basis; we can choose either to act or not act upon those.
3. Response: the response is typically self-preservation. Instead of operating from a position of strength, one may operate from fear that they might lose their jobs. It’s really self-preservation that starts to encourage crisis in organisations.

Common misconceptions of crises in sports organisations

Jones points to four common misconceptions:

1. They are unforeseen: we have no way of detecting a crisis.
2. They are uncommon: Jones declared that he can guarantee there is some form of crisis brewing in all organisations. We just hope that we have the mechanisms and tools to manage it.
3. They are unmanageable: Jones’ research reveals that there are tools but they depend on your culture, talent, as well as your learning and development curriculum.
4. They happen to us: crises are not something experienced as an outcome.

Organisational elements conducive to crisis

Crises are not strictly outcomes – they are induced by behaviours, processes and emotions. They are highly disruptive, often leading to demise for the brand, organisation and culture. They garner passive responses from leaders because they are operating in self-preservation mode, while attempting to reconcile winning today and building for the future; we often subconsciously operate from fear as opposed to strength.

Additionally, crises are accompanied by apathy and myopia. What does this mean? We tend to develop a system of rewards for people to not be innovative, but to solve for today.

During the session, Jones shared some reflections from sporting leaders who were interviewed for the research:

“The fires are usually internal, and sometimes, unfortunately, we set them.”

“The most challenging piece in critical cases is trying to stay true to who you are philosophically.”

“Then, a whole new coaching staff, a whole new front office came in, and there were a lot of people unsure about their jobs, and unsure about what that was going to mean in the grand scheme of things. For probably 3 or 4 months, everybody was kind of auditioning for a seat.”

“The entirety of your success or failure is based on ten Saturdays. Is it more important to win, or is it more important to do the right thing?”

“It’s called moral callousness. You just become callous to the rules. It flips the ‘sports build character’ concept on its head.”

“It all boils down to everybody in the building can be performing at their best capacity, but if you’re not performing on the field, it’s not considered success.”

Six of the behavioural, process, emotion-based factors most frequently associated with crisis

The research project led by Jones uncovered the six behavioural, process, and emotion-based factors (BPE) most frequently associated with organisational crises in the sports industry. Curiously, the first factor was not even a point of consideration in his initial theory-building process:

1. Self-preservation: this involves actions that are directly linked to survival, coping, and maintaining one’s role within an organisation, such as manipulating the truth. According to Jones’ study, self-preservation was found to be the most critical factor in 32% of crisis situations.
2. Strategy: this involves actions that are directly linked to the long-term and short-term vision, mission, and objectives of the organisation, such as creating plans to meet organisational goals. Strategy was the second most significant factor associated with crises experienced by sports leaders, being the key factor in 27% of all situations.
3. Codes of conduct / policy / regulations: this involves actions directly related to enforcing policies, complying with regulations, or acts that are seen as harmful to the organisation, such as a student-athlete ignoring university or team rules. Issues related to the conduct of athletes, coaches, staff, and employees in terms of policy, regulations, morality, and ethics often receive the most attention in crisis situations, and were the primary factors in 22% of all crisis situations.
4. Executive leadership: this involves actions directly related to managing through the poor leadership practices of others to achieve business goals, such as leaders using selective engagement and communication practices that are seen as harmful to the success of the organisation. Executive leadership was another critical factor associated with crises in sports, existing in 15% of the situations experienced by Jones and his colleagues’ interviewees.
5. Industry effect: this involves actions directly related to common industry characteristics, such as 10-week sports seasons in the NCAA. In 3% of the cases described by sports leaders, the industry effect was a factor associated with crisis.
6. Job performance: this involves actions directly related to meeting job expectations, such as dealing with poor quarterly business results, winning, or losing games. Job performance was related to crisis less than 1% of the time.

Taking steps towards learning the behaviours and practices that promote a flourishing organisational culture

What does this research tell us? It tells us we can start to proactively manage crisis as leaders; but it’s going to require that shift from self-preservation to flourishing. Jones’ assumption was that the most frequently associated response would be job performance. However, the research revealed that no matter who the leader was or where they were operating, or in what capacity, there was some form of self-preservation that at some point entered into their workflow.

Self-preservation tend to raise its head in the following scenarios:

• When making or contemplating decisions.
• While collaborating with others.
• When coping with managerial decisions.
• While dealing with bureaucracy.
• While managing the flow of information.
• While managing one’s own personal brand.
• While pleasing one’s boss at the expense of rational decision making.
• When developing strategies.
• When deliberating the future of the organisation.
• When solving business problems.

To wrap up, Jones offered some recommendations:

• Assess your organisational culture regularly. When you start to enact new behaviours, processes and emotions, it enables you to better identify opportunities and strengths.
• Focus on critical aspects of employee flourishing. A culture doesn’t necessarily think this way or reward a plan until they see results.
• Endorse a learning culture. As leaders, oftentimes your role is to consistently encourage a learning and development culture.
• Establish core competencies by role. Continual employee assessments are important, as is looking at people through the lens of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Prioritise talent and performance metrics.

By Luke Whitworth

Too often there is a disparity between what is said and what is done in an organisation.

Angus Gardiner, the General Manager of the New Zealand rugby team the Crusaders, once said: ‘good and bad teams have the same values written on the wall’.

The ‘saying’ is the easy part, the ‘doing’ is quite another and this idea, was the jumping off point for Dr Edd Vahid’s recent project with Management Futures titled A Cultural Hypothesis, which was published in March 2024.

Vahid hypothesised that sustained cultures of success consistently display four features:

1. Purpose
2. Psychological safety
3. Belonging
4. Cultural leadership

As Vahid wrote, ‘an inspiring purpose is essential, a psychologically safe environment is critical, and a sense of belonging exists as a fundamental human need. Coupled with exceptional leadership, these elements distinguish cultures that thrive’.

The fourth has provided the basis of Vahid’s three-part Performance Support Series focusing on culture and change.

The first session invited Leaders Performance Institute members to assess themselves across the four areas; the second focused on cultural leadership as the ‘super enabler’ of culture; the third session further explored the skills needed by cultural leaders.

The three levels of cultural leadership

In A Cultural Hypothesis, Vahid explains that cultural leadership operates on three levels:

1. Sponsors: those operating at ownership or board level; they give permission to architects and guardians (who have a more active role) to deliver the culture. They are typically one or two people.
2. Architects: those responsible for the design of the culture, ensuring it is set up in a way that can allow people to thrive. They are typically a small number.
3. Guardians: the individuals on the ground, delivering on a daily basis, ensuring alignment to the articulated culture which they can translate to individuals operating in that space. There can be multiple guardians.

The architects and the guardians are more active in their roles and, during the session, Vahid explored the skills required for each.

Cultural architects – what skills are required?

Vahid asked members to reflect on the cultural architects in their environments and their skills. The group suggested the following:

• They have a clear vision of what ‘good’ looks like.
• They have a solid understanding of the current state of the culture.
• They can be what the culture requires them to be.
• They have strong communication skills and the ability and opportunity to lead by example.
• They have the ability to win hearts and minds.
• They are respected in the organisation and have the common skills to bring people along on the journey.
• A resilience to withstand the challenges presented by the journey.
• They set and maintain standards with consistency and genuine care.
• They ‘walk the talk’ themselves and believe in necessary change.

Vahid then shared a series of observations about cultural architects based on his research:

They are often appointed by the sponsors. By contrast, the guardians will mobilise on the ground.

They lead the cultural design. They have the ability to articulate and create the environment; they make others aware of the vision and direction of travel. This needs to be done in a skilled and inspiring fashion, with language that is able to influence the culture.

Their role can also be more literal i.e. they have a role in creating a more optimal physical environment.

They acknowledge the tensions within their team and possess the ability to flex and be agile without losing sight of the purpose.

They understand the importance of stories, which can help to distinguish your culture. As Daniel Coyle asked several organisations in his 2018 book, The Culture Code, ‘tell me a story of something that happens here that doesn’t happen anywhere else?’ They know the answer.

The architect must be effectively monitoring the culture and its current state. That can be checking-in with where the culture is now or, equally, understanding the journey that it is going to go on. It’s important to invite feedback and ‘speak truth to power’. It is crucial for them to be connected to the guardians in staying abreast of goings on; they must also ensure a sense of positivity around the culture.

Architects will take a more ‘global view’ than the guardians.

In light of the ‘radically traditional’ research of Alex Hill and the Centre of High Performance, architects provide what Hill calls the ‘disruptive edge’ while the guardians maintain the ‘stable core’.

Cultural guardians – what are their other traits?

Once again, Vahid turned to members to ask what skills they felt cultural guardians possess. They suggested:

• They have an ability to have courageous conversations with skill.
• They have awareness of their skillset and how to model behaviours and values.
• They are self-aware of their biases.
• They have the ability to advocate for the importance of cultural preservation and to influence others regarding its value.

Vahid outlined what his research had to say on the matter of cultural guardians:

The guardians can provide much-needed support as well as bandwidth, space and capacity for the architects to focus on the things that really matter. It requires insight and intelligence to provide a clear view of the landscape.

They carry a strong purpose; there is a level of awareness, alignment and connectedness. The challenge for the architect is to ensure the guardian remains connected because if the connection is lost, you can lose someone who is a positive advocate and instead they become a disruptive influence.

The guardians can speak truth to power with ‘radical candor’, to cite Kim Scott’s theory; they ‘care personally while challenging directly’.

They are role models. They also need to have a degree of influence as they are the foot soldiers that can carry out the vision effectively.

The guardians are on the ground, taking that more localised view. They can make decisions on the ground for the benefit of and in alignment with the culture. They don’t need to escalate every decision or action.

Finally, guardians are identified or are emerging. Vahid’s use of the term ‘identify’ is deliberate because one of the challenges for cultures is to identify the individuals that are going to have a positive influence. He says teams have to ask the question as to whether they are doing enough to support their guardians and the development of their skillset.

Cultural architects, cultural guardians… and cultural shareholders

While there are cultural sponsors, architects and guardians, these are all cultural shareholders.

Vahid’s research suggests that cultural shareholders can be distinguished by their level of:

• Influence
• Engagement
• Motivation

Those who carry significant positive influence and are highly motivated in alignment with your cultural aspirations could be considered guardians, but they are absolutely your strongest architects.

The challenge of a culture is to get an appropriate balance. Is there sufficient weight towards the guardians – if everyone’s a shareholder, are there sufficient numbers of strong and positive advocates for the culture – or are there people who might be considered countercultural?

How does a shareholder become a cultural guardian?

Vahid invited Leaders Performance Institute members to answer the question. They said that cultural shareholders transition into guardianship because:

• They communicate the ‘why’ well.
• They use rituals to highlight and celebrate their behaviours that support and reinforce the wider cultural aspirations.
• They onboard people into the way things are done with care.
• They give frequent updates and appreciate roles.
• They provide access to the thinking underpinning the culture and mentoring programmes.
• They involve shareholders in governance processes where they can have a say in decisions that affect the company’s culture, possibly through working groups, representation, or advisory roles.

In order to create more cultural guardians, Vahid argues that it is important to:

• Ensure people are onboarded effectively; they must know the why of the culture and be granted access to that thinking.
• Make sure people remain connected during change and transitions. New people and those evolving in their roles – include them in the process.
• Be deliberate and attentive with belonging cues. Just because someone fits today it doesn’t mean they will in six months’ time.
• Invest in people development. Are you doing enough to ensure that people have the skill to operate as and feel valued as a guardian? What development programmes do you have in place?

What are some of the fundamental change principles?

Vahid invited members to reflect on cultural change and the fundamental principles they call upon in those phases of development. Attendees suggested the following:

• Start with ‘unfreezing’ the current culture. Help people to recognise what’s not currently working and why there is a need for change.
• A clear articulation of what it looks like and what is desired.
• A clear direction of the path on which you are heading, whilst acknowledging the past as a springboard for future development (maintaining positive traditions).
• Respect the need for time – change cannot be rushed.

The change starts with observation; the sponsor then gives the architect permission to design, create and deliver what the new culture might look like. With this in mind, Vahid suggests a six-step process:

1. Existing status – where are we? Honour the strengths of the existing culture; combine this with data, intelligence and insights, whether that be critical incident reviews, walking the floor, interviews or focus groups. Finally, check in on people’s experience of the four enablers.
2. Move into the idea of vision and purpose and being able to inspire and aspire. This means giving a clear articulation of where you’re going; matching this with the culture and the strategy. Communicate the value of change. Why are we changing, and how do you create a level of urgency and commitment to seeking change?
3. Identify those who align to the target culture. The guardians play a fundamental role. John Cotter talks about the idea of a ‘guiding coalition’ and it has real validity here.
4. Design. What are the short-term wins? Consider the work around removing barriers and instituting change.
5. Behaviour. What are the critical behaviour shifts you want to see? What are you going to recognise and celebrate and be explicit about in terms of the culture? Consistency and regularity are important.
6. Continuously monitor your progress to help reinforce the change.

By Luke Whitworth

Win, lose or draw, teams are constantly in transition and, as such, they need different things from their leaders at each stage in their development.

This can be tricky because you can’t shortcut the development of rapport, belonging and trust – all are critical to team development and effective transitions – and yet teams and leaders still face pressure to perform now.

This topic was at the heart of a recent Leadership Skill Series session, which was attended by Leaders Performance Institute members. All in attendance agreed that for a team to reach its full potential, every individual needs to have a sense that their team has invested in them and they need to be invested in the team too. Everyone needs to buy-in.

What steps can you take to reach that point?

Five levels of communication in teams

Before we delve into the five key transitions for teams, it is worth exploring five levels of communication as experienced in a team setting. It is useful to think of this as a pyramid. Teams begin at No 1 and work towards No 5, with increasing exposure to risk, vulnerability and criticism at each level.

1. Basic ritual: this is a safe place to start. When sharing basic rituals, we are weighing each other up and there is an unconscious measuring process going on.
2. Sharing information: the next layer up is when there is a confidence and trust to begin to share information. This might be personal information or progress and insights on internal projects.
3. Exchanging ideas and opinions: now we want to know what people really think. This is where the risk factor in teams can be increased. The asking of opinions and ideas. There may be an exposure to risk and a need to be bolder.
4. Free expression of feelings: some teams never really get to this stage. This can be a drag on potential when you can’t share feelings and there is a lot of energy wasted. There can be an atmosphere of tension.
5. Unspoken rapport: this is the nirvana. The stage where things happen and others know how to respond.

With these in mind, let’s get into those transitions.

There are five key transition scenarios experienced by teams:

1. The forming of a new team.
2. Onboarding new team members.
3. Joining an established team as a new leader.
4. Responding to (inevitable) disappointments and setbacks.
5. Responding to success.

These transitions can be both expected and unexpected. Dynamic team environments require adaptability, resilience and a commitment to continuous growth. By navigating these transition points with purpose and intention, teams can cultivate an environment of collaboration, innovation and excellence that propels them towards their collective aspirations.

1. The forming of a new team

Start off by building rapport fast. Don’t wait for trust to arrive. In any team development approach, you need to spend a significant amount of time upfront developing rapport and trust before you are ready to do anything else. You can measure this by assessing where everyone is at in the five levels of communication (see above).

Learn quickly about others’ strengths, weaknesses and working styles. Seek to understand from each individual what are they hoping to bring to the team.

Give people a sense of contribution and that everyone has a part to play. As the leader, set a clear, simple vision and specify what part each person has to play in this.

Clarify ‘the rules’ of the team and consider the creation of a team charter around standards, behaviours and values. Remember to involve the team in creating the charter because if there is that ownership, you tend to find the team set higher standards than the leader would, and that in turn raises the bar.

2. Onboarding a new team member

It can be easy to assume that it is the old team plus an additional person. This isn’t the case. When a new person joins or one leaves, this influences the team dynamic. As a leader, you need to be cognisant of this and be prepared to revert to the bottom of the communication pyramid (see above) at first to build back up again with group alignment.

It sounds simple but help create opportunities for the new person to introduce themselves, get to know others and have a sense of belonging in the team.

Closely aligned to this, invite individuals to contribute straight away to heighten that sense of belonging, as well as emphasising their strengths and how they can contribute both individually and across the team.

Beware of the ‘magic helper’ syndrome. There is a tendency in teams for a piling up of jobs the new person can take on. We don’t want to put a heavy load on straight away and hope they are the ‘magic person’ who will solve all the problems. Onboarding cleanly and intentionally is important.

3. Joining an established team as a leader

This is arguably one of the more trickier transitions, but one that is also very common.

Beware of ‘Year Zero’ syndrome. As a new leader coming in, show respect to the past. Don’t be dismissive of the past. Some colleagues may have worked there for a long time and have fond memories of the previous leader or team dynamic. Naturally, it will change but it’s important not to disrespect it.

Seek to build rapport. Some social time is useful for the team to learn who you are. The more they know about you the more they are likely to open up about themselves. The leader must support their team in having access to informal networks as well as formal ones.

Arrange one-to-ones as well as team meetings. Develop the relationship.

Allow for some ‘mourning’ of the previous leader. You can’t embrace the new without letting go of the past.

Give people your picture of the future. Give the purpose behind how you see the picture, why you are doing what you are doing. Outline broad plan of action. Be very clear on giving each person in your team clarity about the part they play so they feel connected to the vision.

4. Responding to (inevitable) disappointment

It’s important to acknowledge disappointments. Don’t shy away from it. Process it as a team. We discuss the use of visual methods such as timeline reviews to show the wider picture and journey.

Review the lessons learned from the disappointment and use these to inform the resetting of the team’s vision and goals. As part of the review process, don’t lose sight of what is still good and what you do well.

As a leader, offer and show thanks to the team. The rapport and relationship within the team will be crucial to getting back on track.

5. Responding to success

Success is also a significant transition point in teams. It’s a culmination of the great work the team has done, but also a chance to reflect on what next and how to get better.

Ensure you celebrate the success to enhance team cohesion. At the same time, stay humble as the likelihood is that other teams or the competition will have learned from your success.

Just as you should give thanks in disappointment, the same goes for responding to success. Similarly, conducting a lessons-learned review after winning is just as important as when you don’t win.

A very simple but powerful question a leader can ask their team is ‘what percentage of our potential have we actually reached?’ The answer is rarely 100%, therefore it creates an opportunity to engage in high quality conversation around what next and how we improve again.

And when transition messages are unwelcome…

Vulnerability is powerful, especially in candidly telling the team anything that you don’t know.

Don’t act the victim and be aware of your communication to your team.

Be emotionally open and honest, admitting to any discomfort, but also express honest positive emotion.

It doesn’t all have to be perceived negatively. Point out any potential advantages of the transition.

Similarly, emphasise what will stay the same through the transition. We know human beings don’t like change, so this should bring about some comfort.

Create a clear ‘call to action’ with next steps specified to outline the roadmap to moving forwards.

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By John Portch with additional reporting from Luke Whitworth

“A question to reflect on in your teams is the impact of IQ and EQ,” said Holly Ransom.

The renowned leadership consultant was onstage at the Leaders Sport Performance Summit at Melbourne’s Glasshouse speaking about her book The Leading Edge, in which she proposes a framework for leadership based on notion that when we are able to lead ourselves we are better equipped to steward others through periods of change and development.

An audience of more than 200 Leaders Performance Institute members sat with rapt attention as Ransom joined coaches and leaders from organisations including the Brisbane Lions, San Antonio Spurs and Melbourne Business School, all of whom laid out how they are working to ensure their people can navigate the shifting sands of high performance in years to come.

“Research suggests some of the most in-demand skills by 2030 will be how we work together, connect, and build empathy,” Ransom continued.

Here, in light of those skills, we explore eight ways those who took to the stage are working to future-proof their teams.

1. Winning strategies are co-created, not imposed top-down

The recent renaissance in Australian cricket – the men’s and women’s teams are reigning world champions across four different formats – has not been a happy accident. Andrew McDonald and Shelley Nitschke, the head coaches of the men’s and women’s teams respectively, stressed the need for thorough performance planning, skilful execution and finding the space to pick up lessons along the way.

‘What is high performance? It’s the ability to move quickly and make good decisions.’

Andrew McDonald, Head Coach, Australia men’s cricket team

‘A large focus for us has been trying to create a welcoming and open environment.’

Shelley Nitschke, Head Coach, Australia women’s cricket team

Next steps:

• Bring your athletes onboard by giving them the agency to help shape your performance plan. McDonald sought to do this by shifting the discourse from talk of ‘culture’ to one of ‘environment’ so that players, particularly when on the road, can fashion for themselves safe spaces to share ideas. Whether it’s tactics or using data, Australia’s players are now empowered to make critical in-game decisions.
• Success may not be instant and outcomes may be erratic at first. Use low-consequence preparation matches to trial new tactics and strategies; then re-frame what winning means in those moments.

2. Role-model good leadership

Burnout is a universal problem, with New Zealand and Australia suffering some of the highest rates in the world, according to leadership consultant Holly Ransom. She argues that while stress is inevitable, and can be abated, burnout can be entirely avoided. In her view, the conditions necessary for eradicating burnout stem from empathetic leadership and, when a leader adapts their habits, it gives permission for others to do the same.

‘If we want to see it, we have to be it.’

Holly Ransom on the notion that we can’t sustain leadership, without leading ourselves first.

Next steps:

• Spend time reflecting on whether the habits you’re living by and leading with are still serving you well. Are they supporting you using your energy on the tasks that matter most? Are you getting a return on that energy?
• Ransom suggested three steps for deactivating the nervous system and returning to a state of calm and relaxation:

1) Complete an energy audit – when are our natural highs and lows in a day, and how are we using them?

2) Establish your building blocks – do the little things that help you build momentum.

3) Set your micro-breaks – take time to get mini hits of new energy.

3. Do you promote safe risk taking in the pursuit of innovation?

Kit Wise of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology [RMIT] and Budi Miller of the Theatre of Others, an innovative performing arts company, were invited onstage to share their approaches to fostering creativity and risk-taking in their environments.

‘Our philosophy is centred around inspiration, aspiration and expectation. Inspiration is liberating, fun, and what gives us desire. Aspiration – the why and our values and purpose. Expectation – have fun and think deeply about what you do so we can hold one another to account.’

Professor Kit Wise, Dean, School of Art, RMIT

‘We talk a lot about play and playfulness in our philosophy. It is a sense of freedom where play and risk exist together. Play and playfulness elevate the speed of curiosity and problem solving.’

Budi Miller, Co-Artistic Director, Theatre of Others

Next steps:

• Risk-taking can be brave. Find ways to build trust and empathy within your team.
• Encourage risk-taking and rule-breaking in the pursuit of innovation. They are fundamental to innovation, not merely in-the-moment flashes.

4. Learning and development is easier when people feel connected and a sense of purpose

The New Zealand All Blacks and San Antonio Spurs are worlds apart in sporting terms but share numerous commonalities when it comes to bringing to life and sustaining a winning culture. Beyond results, both are renowned for creating environments where people and innovation flourish, as the All Blacks’ Mike Anthony and Spurs’ Phil Cullen explained.

‘We want to have teams that you never want to leave. The environment has to be special to keep people there.’

Mike Anthony, High Performance Development Manager, New Zealand Rugby Union

‘When we were planning our new training facility, Coach [Gregg] Popovic had only two requests: take care of the people and take care of the culture.’

Phil Cullen, Senior Director of Basketball Operations and Organizational Development, San Antonio Spurs

Next steps:

New Zealand Rugby have identified five factors that enable their group to flourish:

1) Connection – players take pride in serving their community.

2) Balance – the group looks for learning, stimulation and edge.

3) Fun – a big part of balance.

4) Learning – athletes learn by doing; so what environment will facilitate the best learning?

5) Family – the organisation has worked to bring families in while also helping them to understand the expectations of an athlete in high performance sport.

The Spurs have their three core values:

1) Character, which is based on values.

2) Selflessness, which is culture-focused.

3) ‘Pound the Rock’. A metaphor inspired by 19th Century Danish-American social reformer Jacob Riis. His Stonecutter’s Credo perfectly captures the Spurs’ drive for championships:

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

The Stonecutter’s Credo, Jacob Riis

5. Empower athletes in their learning

The Brisbane Lions men’s team, under the stewardship of Senior Coach Chris Fagan, have in recent years returned to prominence for the first time in a generation. Amongst the factors responsible for their rise is their ability to out-learn their opponents, as High Performance Manager Damien Austin explained.

‘Do we do what makes us comfortable or do we do what the athlete needs to do or learn?’

Damien Austin, High Performance Manager, Brisbane Lions

Next steps:

• You have to educate the ‘why’ for athletes and encourage them to take responsibility. Start by gathering their input when shaping your habits and standards. And remember: no one is above the basics, no mater how good they are.
• Consider: what are your athletes taking away from training? Did they retain the requisite knowledge? Are they enjoying your training environment? Do they have any fears or concerns? Find out and iterate. Be sure to check for misunderstanding and guide them in their learning.

6. Dare or challenge your people to change

Models for change are all good and well – change is inevitable, so perhaps they are entirely necessary – but what are some of the so-called ‘soft’ factors that enable a leader to influence change? Professor Jen Overbeck was on hand in Melbourne to dispense some tips for explaining and justifying change to others.

‘We can make people change, or we can persuade them to change. We should choose deliberately, and be clear about what makes them listen to us.’

Jen Overbeck, Associate Dean, Melbourne Business School

Next steps:

• Your capacity to influence – built by your credibility in the eyes of others – must be established well before you need to rely upon it. What gives you credibility and lets you influence others? If you get it right: they will admire, like and trust you. They’ll think they’re in good hands, that you bring success, or access to good things. They’ll think you got to where you are in the right way.
• A leader has to balance their social capital (their membership of ‘the tribe’) and their intellectual capital (their competence). Sometimes you have to simply be part of the tribe. At other times, you can simply demonstrate that you support the values and core identity of the tribe, and that you’re willing to fit in with them instead of challenging or resisting them.

7. No sustained performance without wellbeing

Wellbeing and performance are indivisible, yet there is more we can all be doing to ensure our people can flourish. At the Glasshouse, Emily Downes of High Performance Sport New Zealand and Sonia Boland from the Australian Institute of Sport provided an insight into their work helping people to thrive amidst the challenges presented by high performance sport.

‘A lot of conversations around wellbeing have centred around the duty of care but not touched upon its direct impact on performance. We are now observing a shift and evolution in the system where there is a readiness to have conversations around the benefits of wellbeing.’

Emily Downes, General Manager – Wellbeing & Leadership, High Performance Sport New Zealand

‘We are striving for sustained and repeated performance outcomes. Wellbeing is a performance enabler and opportunity.’

Sonia Boland, National Wellbeing Manager, Australian Institute of Sport

Next steps:

• Language is so important. It is becoming evident that we are all talking about different things when we discuss wellbeing. Find terms that makes sense and have meaning to your people.
• Resource alone is not enough. None of it means anything if those above and below are compounding the problem – it requires integration at an organisational or system level to have a true impact.

8. Better athlete and coach development for women and girls

As women’s sport continues to evolve, the system will need the athletes and the coaches to fill the spaces created. Given the hitherto piecemeal approach to developing women’s sport, and the often misunderstood differences between men and women athletes, this is far from a given. Helene Wilson of High Performance Sport New Zealand and Tarkyn Lockyer of the AFL are two individuals meeting this challenge head on.

‘Athletes aren’t as exposed to women coaching. Could this actually bring a point of difference?’

Helene Wilson, High Performance Sport New Zealand

‘The easy way would be for women and girls’ pathways to mirror the boys and men’s. In terms of resourcing, it is the same. However, feedback collated from the clubs and players shows that girls and women want more education around high performance and knowledge of preparation and recovery. Boys and men prefer more competition and game time. The needs are different so the curriculum needs to match that.’

Tarkyn Lockyer, Australian Football League

Next steps:

• Given the speed of growth in women’s sport, the focus needs to be on creating adaptable and malleable athletes. To do this, focus on the fundamental skills in a high challenge, high support environment.
• For the development of both women coaches and athletes, it’s not just about providing opportunity. We need to wrap support around them as we set them up to be successful.

By Luke Whitworth

As part of our final Case Study virtual roundtable of 2023, we focused our attention on the theme of change management and, in particular, exploring experiences and approaches for doing this effectively from a position of leadership.

For the first part of the discussion, we heard from Bobby L Scales II, a former professional baseball player and front office executive, before engaging in some thoughts and experiences of our own around the topic.

This summary is split into two parts, the first, highlighting the insights from Scales, the second, the group’s thoughts on what they have seen work well when it comes to effective change. When considering the topic of organisational change, you will often here of the ’90 Days’ concept, which underpinned some of the experiences Scales shared with us in the first segment of the roundtable.

Win the people

Before we explored different elements and specific details for the ’90 Days’ approach to change, Scales shared that from day zero it is crucial to ‘win the people’ as part of this process. The leader or those involved need to show strong emotional intelligence through understanding contractual situations, team structure and roles. There is a need to be authentic. There must be clear intent around communication and decision-making. Finally, acting with integrity and communicating effectively are important elements to set the stall out successfully from the very outset.

First 30 Days – how did we get here?

Being clear on how you ‘win the people’ in Scales’ experiences is an important cornerstone of the effectiveness of the change process. Now this has been outlined, we can look towards three other key foundations: how did we get there, strategy formation and strategy implementation. In the first thirty days, we must think and reflect on the circumstances surrounding why you as a leader or team are there. Reflective questions you can explore include: what is broken? Are these challenges technical, tactical, cultural? What is needed to resolve what is broken? Is it a case of filling the cracks, re-modelling or tearing it down and starting afresh? Finally, what role do you as the leader play in fixing this?

First 60 Days – strategy formation

Using the first 30 days to evaluate the situation allows you to move into the next phase of the process, which Scales refers to as strategy formation and something you can do around the 60-day mark. This is where you develop your strategy, so what is important to get right? First and foremost, involve the stakeholders in the process as this gives you the insight and data to find out more about your people’s ideas, abilities, strengths and weaknesses.

Secondly, by this stage we should have clarity on what needs fixing, so development of the technical and tactical items that you are going to feed into the strategy formation. Finally, developing and clearly outlining the roadmap of an action plan that is different to the previous regime that can generate collective buy-in and clear direction. As the leader initiating the change, clear and effective communication of the process, procedure and expectations are crucial; as are the formulation of key performance indicators that reflect the new direction to allow for measurement in defining and measuring the success of the process.

First 90 Days – strategy implementation

Finally, time for implementation and action. It often sounds easy but as Scales reiterated, it is far and away the most difficult stage of the process. What is important to look out for? He explained that it is natural for people to revert to what is comfortable. As the leader, you need to be aware of this to not stifle the action plan. To support this, ensure there are active reviews along the journey to provide opportunities to reflect and adjust if needs be. This stage is also going to be a key insight around personnel, and specifically if you have the correct people on the bus and if they are in the correct seats. Your active reviews will help provide key information around this – here is where you may have to make difficult decisions if certain individuals aren’t on the bus with you or if adjustments around roles need to take place.

Change management checklist

For the second part of this roundtable, we asked attendees when thinking about effective change management, what have you seen work really well? The idea for this segment of the call was to create a checklist of best practices and considerations based on the experiences of those on the call, complementing what Scales learned from his personal experience. All of the responses from the group could be categorised into: transparency, commitment to philosophy and core values and alignment.

Transparency

There were a number of responses that fed into the bucket of the importance of transparency. Having transparency with all decision-making and structural changes that are decided upon. The leader or group being personally or collectively transparent in sharing information about themselves, what they value, expectations of one another and clarity on what their leadership approach is. Being clear in the message, with transparent and outlined goals and roles for all involved, providing autonomy for people so they feel a part of the progression. Creating the conditions for empowerment with accountability, and even safe space opportunities to let people talk, ensuring they feel that empowerment in the first place. When change is done well, the leadership demonstrate vulnerability to ‘open up the room’ and accompany this with active seeking feedback throughout the change process. One participant shared the importance of tapping into the self-determination of employees, notably their competence (the recognition of skillsets), connection (building relationships) and choice (collating opinions and fostering  a sense of autonomy).

Commitment to philosophy and core values

A second core section for effective change as outlined by those on the call was a commitment to a philosophy and core values. Those that have seen change done effectively suggested that it is important for the leader or leadership to be themselves and intentional, displaying their core values as a person or collective. They outline clear expectations with a clear vision, but without judgement. They also have the ability to show what excellent looks like and galvanise an organisation around the philosophy and commitment to high standards.

Alignment

Finally, a word that you could expect to see when considering important elements of change management – alignment. Those who are effective change agents are able to co-develop the change with key stakeholders, creating a chain of clarity and alignment. They are skilled at being emotionally intelligent, so in getting to know those involved, are able to align tactics and strategies to best support them through the process. They are able to build strong relationships and trust with all involved, thus actively engaging them on the journey. As part of channelling alignment, consider asking your people for their suggested changes or ideas before suggesting yours to continue to develop their sense of empowerment. Finally, another effective strategy is finding out who the early adopters are or those who are the biggest influencers, seeking to generate alignment with them to continue positive momentum.

By Bobby L Scales II

When organizational change is needed it usually means something has not gone well.

Results may have slipped, your culture may have drifted. Perhaps the market is telling you there’s something you need to improve upon.

Recognizing the need for change is one thing, coming into a new environment and selling that change to the team you have inherited is quite another.

We know change is difficult. Change can illicit feelings of fear and uncertainty and when those feelings arise, as humans we naturally go back to what is comfortable and safe. The problem is that more often than not what is comfortable and safe is exactly why the change is needed. Your team may feel isolated or alienated. Even when the change is 90% good, people are going to worry about the ‘bad’ 10% and how it inevitably affects them. The leader needs to create an environment where people are willing and able to embrace change.

Leading a team or organization through times of change is a heavy lift and there is no escaping that, but there are things a leader can do to give themselves the best chance during those first 90 days and beyond.

Below is the ‘30-60-90’ model I would follow if I were leading a team or department through a period of transition and development. For the uninitiated, the 30-60-90 model divides those first 90 days into three phases where you sequentially identify your team’s issues, formulate your strategy, and begin to execute your plans.

Know your personnel

Your first 30 days should be spent asking the people around you a ton of questions. You need to have an idea of what needs to change but, in those early days, you must get a proper gage of the temperature ‘in the room’. How are people feeling? What was the sentiment of the group previously? Allow them to ask questions of you. Find out about the ‘who’ first, then you can begin to ask questions about the ‘what’. It is important to ask what happened in the past and understand why things were done a certain way before. This will inform your ideas of where you need to go. It’s impossible to do the latter until you win the people first.

In my view, this is the most difficult phase during those first 90 days because you and your staff are learning and, oftentimes, you’ll have new personnel either in management or in the rank and file – or just an entirely new group on both sides – because something has not gone to plan. You are not changing for the sake of change: you’re changing because something needs to happen in order to grow whatever group you are part of.

It is crucial to know your personnel, as former NFL Head Coach Herm Edwards memorably put it, you need to learn who is in front of you and to whom you are talking. Staff members cannot be bucketed into broad categories as you solicit their feedback. You need to understand each and every person on your team as an individual to fully understand where they fit or if you need to move on.

Identify the right people, get them in the correct seats on the bus

One thing you’ll find with long-tenured individuals is that they can become stifled or bored, which does not alter the fact that they may have some great ideas stifled because there is no real pathway for advancement and bored because there have been ideas that have been put forward and for whatever reason haven’t gone anywhere. If you have a smart and sharp talent base, you need to afford staff members the space to run with those ideas. Another way to put it is that you need to make sure that your people are sat in the correct seats on the bus.

All people want to be challenged in their job. People want to feel they can master their job and excel in their role and grow into more. As a manager, that can mean being secure in the fact that you are not the smartest person in the room. Part of the first 30 days is understanding that and then folding that into your plan.

It also speaks to your authenticity as a leader. Yes, ‘authenticity’ is a buzzword these days but, when you’re creating an environment, people want to know you are real. You have to be yourself, you have to be honest, and you have to be up front. It goes hand in hand with your integrity. People need to understand that you’re still doing the right things when no one else is watching too.

With the right questions asked of the right people, we then turn our attention to days 31 to 60. This phase is about formulating your plan and how you’re going to put all the pieces into play. Towards the end of that period you need to tell your group: ‘this is what we’ve got here and these are the answers I got from you all. This is not me making this up because I was not part of this group before. Here’s how we got here, these are the answers I’ve gotten from you and this is the path forward as I see it for this group’. You have to lay out your vision and plan for innovating or iterating in your environment and, when you have buy-in, it alleviates a lot of those questions such as ‘what’s in it for me?’

Here’s what’s in it for you: a chance to grow your career that you didn’t have before because you were stifled. You were bored and now you have the opportunity to stretch your legs and run with it.

It is also a question of communication and there also needs to be an intentionality to your strategy. There are key people you should have identified inside your department that are your influencers, people whose words and actions carry weight. It is important to communicate effectively with and through those people.

Full steam ahead

By the time you reach day 61 you’re going full steam ahead as you put your plan in place and you let your people run with it.

Your plan must also be nimble. Having a process and a framework is important but if market factors change then you will need to have the space to amend your approach. In that scenario, you need to be honest and open. You need to communicate that message in a way that is supportive rather than aggressive. Again, it comes down to communication and being genuine in gathering people’s ideas about how to remedy the situation when things are not going according to plan.

It is amazing what you can ask people to do when they feel like they are part of a team and in the know.

By John Portch

• Why is change required at your organisation? There must be a solid rationale.

• Have you given your people have sufficient motivation to make the required change?

• As a leader, you must be prepared to role-model the desired change too.

What is ‘change’ in your context?

It’s a simple but important question: “What is ‘change’ in and of itself?” asked Dan McFarland, the Head Coach of Ulster Rugby, when talking to the Leaders Performance Institute in 2022. “Firstly, ‘change’ is someone who says ‘this isn’t working, things are terrible, and we need to change’. But change is also growth. If you’re an organisation that wants to grow, develop and learn – by definition that is ‘change’.

“How you conceptualise change and how you use it is interesting, because if you include the idea that ‘growth is change’ then there’s always a need for change, isn’t there? At least in anything that’s competitive. It is important not to box change as merely something that happens to a failing organisation or somebody who’s in trouble. Then it’s just a degree in change and, I suppose, recognising the degree of change is interesting.”

Tim Davie, the Director-General of the BBC, referred to change as a “narrative around jeopardy” when speaking at the 2021 Leaders Sport Business Summit in London. He said: “That’s a pretentious way of phrasing it but people are naturally resistant in well-established organisations. Sometimes, you really need to really believe there is an issue of jeopardy [but] many people in the organisation say ‘we were OK for 99 years, we’ve done alright.’”

What’s timeless in your organisation? And what’s not?

The BBC was on the cusp of its centenary year when Davie spoke onstage. “My personal view is that, first thing, a successful reform comes from a real understanding of history, strength, respect of tradition, really understanding where an organisation comes from, what its core purposes are. What things are valid that are not attached to technology that are timeless?” he told the audience. Davie makes the distinction between what is “important and timeless” and what is not. “I think some people defend their territory or in their silo saying ‘that is something that’s absolutely sacred’. ‘It isn’t. What’s sacred is this’,” he added.

Is the motivation there?

In 2011, behavioural scientists at University College London developed the COM-B framework for behavioural change. It is a diagnostic tool to assess whether the organisation or individual possess the capability (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (M) to perform the desired behaviour. When you have each, it is often the perfect recipe for change but, as Gareth Bloomfield, a psychologist at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, told the Leaders Performance Podcast in 2022, there can be a multitude of things that affect an individual’s motivation. “Do you believe you can do it? Do you believe it’s going to be useful? Most people when they’re given new direction about what they need to do, most people just say ‘that sounds easy, I can do that’ but do they fundamentally believe that it’s going to be useful to the team?” said Bloomfield. “If they don’t understand what the Leader’s vision is, what the leadership team are trying to get to, then maybe there’s a gap there in terms of my motivation because I don’t really understand why it’s going to be useful. Do I fully appreciate the consequences of doing it and not doing it? This becomes an important part of motivation, which is, most of the time, if I’m going about a behaviour that is counter-productive, I’m not necessarily that aware of it because the counter-productive elements of it are long-term.”

The leader must role model change and chart development

McFarland viewed himself as a role model of change at Ulster. “Let’s say you want to create a learning environment,” he said. “You’ve got to model that. If that’s me, I’ve got to be seen to be willing to be wrong and adapt, I’ve also got to be seen to be doing things that are helping my own individual growth, I’ve got to be seen to be celebrating things where people are developing. Then once you’ve modelled those you’ve got to be able to mechanise those. There’s got to be room in the actual programme for doing that kind of stuff. It could be individual development programmes that are up and running and actually have things that you do, there’s got to be time in the schedule for development of certain things or skills, but there’s also got to be time in the programme for sports staff to be able to have personal development. Then, finally, you’ve got to be able to measure that; you’ve got to be able to look at your programme and say ‘have we actually created development? Have we developed as a staff, as a group? Have we developed as players? Have we developed as individuals?’ Modelling, mechanising and measurement are pretty key to that.”

By Luke Whitworth

On the 26 April, Leaders Performance Institute members met for the inaugural Performance in Practice session hosted in collaboration with the Premier League.

The theme for the afternoon, as indicated by the title, was Leading Innovation & Problem-Solving. The session included a case study and conversation from both inside and outside of sport, as well as exploring the skills and tools to ‘develop the muscle’ of innovation both individually and collectively.

“If the rate of change within an organisation is slower than the pace of change within its external environment – it will die” – Jack Welch, former CEO & Chair of General Electric

Performance in Practice – Part I: Insights on Innovation in Sport

Guest: Scott Drawer, Head of Sport, Millfield School

When do you know you are getting innovation right:

• There will be haters.
• Startup mindset.
• Step change.
• Behaviour change.
• Diversion & deception.

What is creativity, research & innovation?

Creativity:

• Creativity is ‘novelty, utility, surprise’ (US Patent Office).
• ‘An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements and the capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships’ (James Webb Young, 1939).
• ‘Creativity is just connecting things… creative people were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesise new things… they’ve had more experiences… they have thought more about their experiences than other people (Steve Jobs, Apple).

The science of creativity (Kaufman 2016):

1. Creativity is often unpredictable. The ten-year rule is NOT a rule.
2. Creative people often have messy processes. Creators rarely receive helpful feedback.
3. Talent is relevant to creative accomplishment. Personality is relevant.
4. Genes are relevant. Environmental experiences matter.
5. Creative people have broad interests. Too much expertise can be detrimental to creative greatness.
6. Outsiders often have a creative advantage. Sometimes the creator needs to create a new path for others to deliberately practise.

Study: what are some of the commonalities of the most successful scientists in the world?

Arts Foster Scientific Success: Avocations of Nobel, National Academy, Royal Society, and Sigma Xi Members

Innovation = Ideas + Impact

• Innovation is the concept of taking ideas and making a practical difference to the environment you are operating in.
• What are the problems you are trying to solve?

Confusion is often caused by misunderstanding symptoms and causes. Creativity is a symptom of innovation not a cause.

3 necessary (but not sufficient) conditions for innovation:

1. Starvation
2. Pressure
3. Conditions

Designing for innovation:

• Shared problem.
• ‘Under regulation’.
• Leadership appetite for risk.
• Freedom to explore and experiment.
• ‘Rapid prototype’ environments.
• Share and celebrate your failures.

Failing is your first attempt in learning – celebrate the process vs. the outcome. Closing doors is almost as important as opening them.

Learning from Others’ Failures: The Effectiveness of Failure Stories for Managerial Learning

Research:

• The systematic gathering of data, information, and facts + advancement of knowledge (Cost of Federal Regulations).

Where does research fit in the innovation process?

• It is one approach to support innovation but not the only one.
• It can help understand the problem you are trying to solve.
• Helps ask brilliant questions.
• Observation and patterning skills.
• Communication skills.
• It can be slow: speedboats vs. super tankers.

‘Knowledge alone is not impact.’

Conclusions:

• Innovation is shaped by the environment’s design.
• Innovation is about solving real problems that make a practical difference.
• Leadership approach – leader-leader model.
• Organisational maturity – ‘Big Kids’
• Diversity in networks and openness to experience.
• Storytelling to share approaches.
• Create fun as a catalyst for change.

Performance in Practice – Part I: Insights on Innovation, Creativity & Problem-Solving

Guests:

Scott Drawer, Head of Sport, Millfield School

Jonnie Noakes, Director of Teaching & Learning, Eton College

• Innovation challenges in education: the school thinks about innovation in terms of internal and external. Externally, AI is getting teachers both excited and worried. The pupils are way ahead of the teachers, so the school has moved fast to educate its staffing group. Teachers have gone from 0-100 in a short time because outside circumstances have forced them to see what AI can do and how it can support them. Internally, there is a big emphasis on partnerships. There is also a big drive to rethink assessment with the belief that the current ways of assessing have a stranglehold on what and how we teach. The question being explored is: what are schools for and evolving the approach to assessment?
• Balancing innovation and tradition: the model being used at Eton College is having a small group of people whose job it is to innovate. Two-thirds of Jonnie’s time is opened up for innovation work. If you have dedicated people to horizon-scan, you are able to influence things more quickly. Start talking to your colleagues when you can see a practical use that can be applied.
• Required skillsets: there are particular skillsets required to do this type of work, notably logical thinking. To do deep intense thinking is difficult around day-to-day work. Innovation can stem from small things that accumulate over time and having a risk-taking ethos. Create headspace and an approach that does this and give the space to those that have a propensity for these. Prove this stuff works.

How do we create a culture of learning?

• As a starting point 12 months is too short a time for a culture to truly change. The Innovation Centre at Eton College has been open for eight years – it took five years to see a culture of innovation begin to form. Set up a small group of people to test promising ideas. Get others onboard to trial them. Get them to report back to hear from each other. At the point where your colleagues are hearing what is going on, then you are beginning to get traction.
• Organisationally, put everything on the biggest priority and do what you can to make it happen, but identify what is that most critical problem. Put all the eggs in this basket – the process you engage in with a startup mentality will move you along. There is an importance for clarity on what has the greatest room for innovation.

What holds back innovation:

• Habit and comfort in doing and thinking in a certain way. Sometimes it takes external pressure. Days are full with things that need to be done, therefore being asked to do things and find headspace for experimentation is often what is needed. Fear – in education people are scared of what AI is going to mean as there is uncertainty. Show people why things are not to be feared.
• The reality why people want to innovate is because there are solutions in there. There needs to be an acceptance that you need to fail to get there. Fear stops people putting themselves out there. Talk about the process and less about the outcome. Being comfortable with the confusion and not knowing.

Where to put the resource: find people who are innovative or develop their skills to be innovative?

• Curiosity is coachable. In your environment, provide opportunities and a safe space to support people in being innovative. Most environments want to be better, there is an inherent propensity to want to do that – surface it and give people the skills to exploit. The environment is far better than the genetics. If senior people aren’t that open to innovation, they will crush it quite quickly.

Session 2: Leading Innovation & Effective Problem-Solving

Can you develop it and, if so, how can you develop it?

Rivers of thought:

Edward de Bono – when we step into an environment, what we do is absorb quickly and begin to form ideas, developing ‘rivers of thought’.

• Ideas / Knowledge / Experience.
• Streams of consciousness.
• ‘Rivers of thought’, which we accept as reality and cease to challenge.

IDEAL Model for Problem-Solving:

Taking us back to a process of innovation. Can be obsessed with creativity as a concept vs. the process of creativity.

• Identify potential problems and opportunities for improvement.
• Define the problem. Seek to understand it. Gather relevant facts and views.
• Explore its causes and potential impacts. Explore possible solutions. Using creative techniques to generate multiple options.
• Assess these options. Choose the best one, and take it.
• Action with a ‘test & learn’ mindset.
• Look Back and debrief to driving learning and improvement.

Identify problems and opportunities

“The first and most important step towards innovation is identifying the problems you want to try and solve” – James Dyson.

Two types of innovation:

1. Responsive: where we face a problem that is impossible to ignore.
2. Front foot: where we proactively identify an opportunity for improvement, and solve for an issue everyone else is accepting or ignoring.

Traps to watch out for…

1. Operating out of an out of date mental map of the world – who are you speaking to who will challenge our thinking of our current world?
2. Boiled frog: change too gradual for us to notice.
3. Denial: ostrich response – there is an issue which is uncomfortable to talk about.

Define the problem:

• Articulate the gap, why it matters, the causes and your constraints.
• A lot of teams jump too quickly to solving it vs. understanding the problems.

Key traps to avoid at this stage:

• Failing to identify the real issue, root causes.
• Failing to sell the problem effectively and create enough urgency.
• Suggesting or hinting at a solution in your problem statement – narrowing people’s thinking ahead of the Explore stage.

Exploring possible strategies:

The more options you have, the better your chances of coming up with a game-changing idea.

5 Strategies:

1. Redefine or reframe the problem with alternative goals: how can we think about this problem differently? Think of at least three different ways we could define our goal, to help open up new ways of thinking about the problem.
2. Mind mapping: mapping out the different categories of possible solutions, so we don’t narrow in on one type of solution.
3. Step-change thinking: set a very stretching goal, and then think how that could be possible.
4. Ideal world: describe your absolute ideal outcome. Then ask yourself under what circumstances you would get this?
5. Related world: key question – who’s already faced and solved this problem? And what did they do? Learning from others who have addressed a similar challenge. Staying open to insights from outside of our immediate sector.

Questions to help us apply these techniques:

1. Reframing the problem with a different goal: what are at least three different ways to think about the problem and your goal here?
2. Mind mapping: if you were to draw a mind map with the problem at the centre… what are the different types of solution we can think about?
3. Step-change: pick a key area of performance related to this problem – what would be a ‘step change’ goal you could set for that measure? Assuming it is possible, ask yourself ‘what would we need to do to achieve this?’

Group insights: what are the key qualities of those who are good innovators?

• Having time and space.
• Create time to think.
• Environment over personality.
• Invite diverse opinions.
• Accepting of risk.
• Act quickly.
• Live in the future.
• Take people on the journey.
• They do not give up.
• Remove mundane distractions.
• An ability to switch off.
• Encourage creative thinking and supporting of ideas.
• Secure enough to fail.
• Find a different perspective.
• Biased toward strategic not operational – thinking and seeing the bigger picture.
• They know how to take ideas through trial to usable form.
• Believing in the value of innovation.
• Exploratory mindset.
• Open-mindedness – not being attached to existing, familiar ways of doing things.

A Leaders Performance Podcast brought to you by our Main Partners

“How do we make it more difficult for people to do what they’ve always done?”

This question is posed by psychologist and former Leaders speaker Gareth Bloomfield in this edition of the Leaders Performance Podcast, which is brought to you today by our Main Partners Keiser.

Bloomfield, who works with the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, explores the topic of behavioural change at length and delves into:

• Understanding how the brain works when making decisions [4:20];
• What we already know about human behaviour [6:30];
• How leaders should approach behavioural change [8:00];
• Tips for overcoming the typical barriers to change [16:00].

John Portch: Twitter | LinkedIn

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