Coming into the workshop, everyone was caught up in their individual realities, playing the ‘survive the day-to-day’ game that so often takes over. It becomes consuming, narrow and frantic – and can be exhausting for leaders and teams alike.  

And just like that, there goes the Easter weekend.

For many clients, this is where the first-half performance starts to properly come into view. And with just over two months to go, the results are coming in as to what will and won’t make it across the line before the mid-way point of 2023.

This is one of the most common coffee questions I get asked. It’s right up there with, “What are you seeing happening? How are others going? What are people focusing on?”.

I spend a lot of time with teams – executive teams and departmental leadership teams all the way through to operational units.  One differentiating factor between them all is simply cohesion.   

Human beings like to be able to compartmentalise things and give them a label. It helps us compare and contrast, and make sense of the world around.

We have all become fixated on goals, both personally and professionally.  

But here’s the bad news: The goal doesn’t actually matter. I mean, it does of course – no one’s denying that goals don’t win games. But it’s certainly not the most important part.  

The journey I’ve taken from having that very first acorn of an idea to holding a finished manuscript still feels more than a little surreal. And when I say finished manuscript, by that I mean I’ve now done most of my bit. After my editor, Michael, completed the first major edit, I then reviewed all the changes, made adjustments to improve readability and finished off the last few outstanding sections.

Without sounding dramatic, there are some systems, such as nuclear power plants, with highly complex operations. That complexity can be hard to stay on top of over decades of operation, and simple human error can lead to catastrophic consequences.

I’ve recently been in numerous conversations regarding vision, mission, purpose, values, and behaviours. There’s been confusion, complexity – and even outright rejection.