🐐 Let me introduce you to Billie!

I have a confession: I really like goats.

Not because they’re cute – even though they ARE cute! I like them because they are fearless, brave, and experimental. I’ve seen wild goats teetering on the sides of sheer rock faces – seemingly unfazed by their predicament – with me standing below wondering how they got there – and even more importantly, how they are going to get down.

🐐 Billie doesn’t have any cliffs in her pen – she’s very domesticated. But she still manages to find edges everywhere – the roof of her little hut, the kids’ jungle gym, or a log or two… anything that offers a slightly higher perspective and a bit of a challenge.

Coaching teams is similar - it’s about learning edges. Places where:

 • comfort ends

 • certainty drops 

 • real discovery, insight, experimentation takes place

 • and real shift happens

In today’s crazy VUCAH world, teams don’t need more predictable, boring, run-of-the-mill team building sessions. They're pretty much a waste of time. 

Teams need to practice balancing on edges, feeling comfortable with uncertainty, and learning how to stay present and work collaboratively when things feel wobbly. Team coaching isn’t about creating certainty and safety - it’s about building comfort in operating at the edge.

If you'd like to know more about learning edges and Team Coaching, please get in touch. And let's be more like Billie! 🐐

💩 Some teams say their purpose is simple - “get s**t done!”

True – but what s**t exactly?

Is there a shared understanding of what that s**t actually is?

Is that s**t what your stakeholders need from you?

And how is the team supporting each other and holding each other accountable in relation to that s**t?

So, what are the options?

1. Stick with “s**t.”

2. Ignore the conversation completely.

3. Tick a box – craft a beautifully worded statement full of meaningless buzzwords.

4. Build it – use a tactile approach, involving collaboration and active experimentation. Create shared symbols, words, and analogies. Something that actually means something!

I introduce LEGO® Serious Play® to some teams – a way to bring option 4 to life.

Picture of a recent build below. With very few prompts from me, the team created analogies that brought their purpose to life. I won’t share their analogies here - to protect confidentiality and avoid copycats - but I can share the themes that emerged:

💩 Collectively lead the organisation and influence culture

💩 Partner with stakeholders

💩 Collectively build the future

💩 Support each other and learning together

I’m confident this team won’t forget their purpose conversation anytime soon, or bury their team purpose statement in a dusty PowerPoint pack that emerges once a year.

If your team would like to build a purpose that means something, please get in touch. I’d love to have a chat about different approaches and share examples of work I’ve done with other teams.

💩 In the meantime – be specific about your “s**t”!

What does Easter mean?

For me, Easter brings back childhood memories.

Time with my mum - wrapping raw eggs in leaves and grass collected from the farm and garden. Winding cotton around, around and around to secure the greenery. Boiling the eggs in onion skins to dye them, then shining them with bacon rind. The kitchen smelt terrible – but the end result was amazing!

A tradition born from “making do” with what you had - something my mum carried with her from growing up in war-torn central Europe.

For some, Easter is deeply spiritual, or it means time with family, rest, a long weekend… and of course hot cross buns and chocolate.  Different meanings attached to the same word - shaped by our experiences, expectations, and context.

In teams, we often assume we’re aligned because we’re using the same words – but it might pay to check that!

I was working with a team recently who talked about “quality advice”. I paused the conversation and asked “What does quality advice actually mean to you?” The initial response was silence… then options… then debate…and very different views!

Until there is explicit shared understanding, what sounds like alignment might not be. And that’s where confusion, frustration, and missed expectations creep into teams. 

If you’d like to talk about team alignment (or the art of dying eggs in onion skins) please get on touch. 

And have a very happy Easter – whatever it means for you!