Sarah Williams, Cancer Support Manager at The Sydney Adventist Hospital, on Creativity, Advocacy, and the Power of Teams

 

Sarah Williams is a healthcare leader in Cancer Support Services at The Sydney Adventist Hospital, and winner of the Impact ANZ Leadership Circle Award 2023, which recognises exceptional leaders who have a big impact on people and organisations achieving important goals.

In this article, Part 2 of 2, Sarah shares the leadership lessons she’s learned so far in her career, from the importance of creativity to team dynamics and authentic leadership in a post-pandemic world.

Miss Part 1? See the first part of our conversation with Sarah.

 

LC: Post COVID-19, what kind of creativity do you think leaders need for a connected, collaborative culture?

SW: One of the good things post COVID is flexibility. When I came in, I was very gung-ho, saying; everything’s back on-site. But I have learned that we need flexibility. There is no doubt that things like Zoom and Teams have brought enormous benefits. I was doing educational forums face-to-face because I wanted our groups to be back, but doing things in person was actually cutting out people who previously had access during COVID; those who lived further away, carers who couldn’t leave the house, immunosuppressed people, or people who felt so poorly during their treatment that they couldn’t leave the house.

It’s important to recognize the positive things COVID created. We also need to remember some of the old values that COVID brought to light: We need community around us. We need nature around us. We’d forgotten that, and COVID reminded us. We’re trying to introduce those lessons at the centre. Go back to some of the essentials of what makes us feel well as humans, whether that’s walking groups or garden therapy or mindfulness photography, so that people are outside more.

For me, a lot of the creative stuff that we’re trying now is actually going back to the essentials that I think we’ve lost over the last few decades—bringing back the outside, bringing the outside in, remembering community, remembering that it’s not just about what education we can receive through this forum or what clinical purpose that meeting will serve. Actually [being] about making connections in the community and creating new friends and support for your carers and loved ones.

LC: How do you think leaders can bring out the best ideas from their teams to solve problems, especially problems that we might not anticipate? What could be the next COVID-19 or what are the potential impacts of climate change? How can we get ahead in our creative thinking as a team?

SW: I really think the way to get the best creativity out of a team is to actually stop. So often, we’re running meeting to meeting. We’re having our 10-minute standup scrums. It can only be 10 minutes, check here, check there. OK, what meeting have we got next? What are we doing next? Ticking off all these boxes. I think when the real magic happens, before you even start listening, is when you can forecast things to stop, and get those really creative, passionate concepts happening. Let’s just take a day [when] we’re not going to be running from meeting to meeting. We’re not going to be saying, we’ve only got 10 minutes to stand up. We’re actually just going to stop and listen to each other.

And I think that is so important face-to-face. When you’re just on a screen, I don’t think that creativity flows as much. If you actually stop and listen to people, they have so many thoughts and so many different ideas that you don’t usually hear. Nobody feels OK to mention a crazy idea in a 10-minute scrum, but if we stop for a while and listen to each other, that’s when I think you get the best out of people.

For us, it’s really important to stop for a day, get together, and get the butcher’s paper all over the wall. We feed each other, we soothe each other with cups of tea. We have good conversations about what we would love to see. What do you think could happen? The best ideas and the most beautiful, passionate responses I’ve ever heard have been in situations like that.

LC: It’s so true. Often, just when we think we don’t have the time to stop, it’s most important to stop. We see that with the Leadership Circle Profile. The perfect time to do it is often just when you think you’re too busy to spare the time.

SW: That’s a really good point. When I was offered this leadership course, I had just started this role, and I’d come from a role that had been extraordinarily difficult during COVID with full-on frontline vaccination rollouts. My adrenaline was already peak each day. I was starting a new role that I felt intensely proud and passionate about. And I thought, I can’t be taking time off for a course as soon as I start. This is going to be wasting my time when I’ve got other things to do. But I accepted it because I felt that I should.

And, as I said before, the last year would be so different if I hadn’t done that course. I don’t think that my team would be as tight as they are. I don’t think we would’ve achieved as much. I would’ve been standing as that manager, rather than as a leader—and so not getting the best out of my team, not hearing their ideas, certainly not going to them for feedback. I needed to stop and I needed to learn. We always need to learn, but it was a really pivotal moment because I needed to stop and was forced to stop.

LC: In the current climate of economic uncertainty, what creativity will you be leveraging to make an impact with your leadership?

SW: I know I’ve used this word already and I overuse it with my team, but it’s the word that resonates the most: passion.

If you’re dedicated to a cause and really have that passion for your role, then the creativity will come, the knowledge will come, the skills will come. Skills, you can learn so easily; I’m never really worried about that. I’m worried about [whether] this is a dedicated and a passionate person that’s going to add to our team, because I don’t think you can be passionate about something and not be creative.

I’ve had some of my amazing navigators—I can think of one in particular who has said to me, I’m not good at that stuff; I’m not creative. But she’s so creative. She’s just creative in different aspects. How is she going to get that person to that goal? How is she going to get that person to start talking? How is she going to get that person to realise she needs to be referred to a dietitian? It’s not “pretty, arty” creative, but it is creative because she’s got to use different methods to achieve all those things. And again, it’s because she’s incredibly passionate about what she does, about delivering that care.

Creativity, skills, and knowledge can all be acquired, but I don’t think passion can be acquired. I think it comes from deep inside, experiences and histories. So, if I’m ever looking for somebody to add to the team or how to inspire a team or myself in a new role, it all comes down to what I’m actually dedicated to and passionate about.

There is one Creative Competency that I felt that I struggled with personally: courageous authenticity. I marked myself really low on that, compared to my other competencies, and it was scored lower than other areas by everybody who was surveyed.

Of anything in my leadership, that’s probably what I feel has changed the most. I was very good at being pleasing and positive all the time, even though my values might not have agreed with what I was being pleasing and positive about. Kristyn (Sarah’s leadership coach), at the start of Leadership Circle, had us identify our main personal and professional values. That grounded the whole thing. I’ve always felt I had very strong values, but doing the Leadership Circle Profile showed that maybe some of my values I was a little bit weak on when I came to work. So courageous authenticity is definitely at the forefront of my mind because it was something I needed to work on.

With the “achieves results” competency, I think I found a better balance. I don’t think I ever managed a team in the way that the personal connections were overpowered by having to achieve results, but what I’ve realised is that results will be better achieved with better balance in the team. It isn’t just, “We’ve got to do this at all costs.” I really want to achieve results for the patients and for the centre and for the hospital, but I have a better understanding that those results will be better achieved through a positive and happy team than if the team is just being ridden all the time.

Balance and integrity were probably my highest-ranked competencies, both personally and from the people that were surveyed. And they will still always be the top values for me and the top focus. Balance, integrity, and caring connection—those three would be the most important to me overall and long term. And I’ve tried to highlight more courageous authenticity.

LC: What leadership lessons or tips do you share most with your team or would you share with other leaders?

SW: Advocacy. It comes into caring connection, team play, integrity, and courageous authenticity.

I used to mother my teams, thinking I was doing a good job, but that didn’t really let them grow. To have a flourishing team, the team has to know that they have your support, [even if you don’t] fix the problems for them. If you have belief in your team and you always advocate for them, your team grows with you.

My team really enjoys the safety of having an advocate. They know that I will always support them and their growth. It’s [the courageous authenticity of] saying “Let’s have the difficult conversation” and “I’m going to support you.”

LC: Do you have any reflections to share on the narrative identity topic that we focused on at the APAC Leadership Circle conference, this idea of taking the reins and “rewriting” our leadership story?

SW: I found it an incredibly interesting talk. The thing that stuck out to me the most in regard to my own leadership was the “too small” trap of the narrative identity. I chose an area of study which I didn’t enjoy, and I believed that I needed to fulfill that identity due to the time and education that had gone into it. It was only when I broke out of that “too small” trap of my own story that I found a career in healthcare that was fulfilling and rewarding and allowed me to grow leadership potential.

How Impact Award Winner & Healthcare Leader Sarah Williams’ Career and Leadership Evolved From Law to Cancer Support and from Manager to Leader

 

Sarah Williams is a healthcare leader in Cancer Support Services at The Sydney Adventist Hospital. She is the recipient of the Impact ANZ Leadership Circle Award 2023, which recognises exceptional leaders who have a big impact on people and organisations achieving important goals.

In conversation with Leadership Circle, Sarah shares how her career journey took her from studying law to marketing international hotels, to her dream role managing Cancer Support Services and helping cancer patients thrive—with a trip back to her academic roots in family law and a stop managing a healthcare team during COVID-19 in the process.

Sarah discusses her invaluable leadership experiences and lessons learned along the way, how the Leadership Circle Profile helped transform her from a “manager” to a “leader,” and how she enabled her team to excel in providing incredible outcomes helping patients.

 

LC: Can you tell us about the origins of the Cancer Support Centre at Sydney Adventist Hospital?

SW: It started about 30 years ago and it was very much ahead of its time. Nobody in Australia had thought of the emotional and psychosocial impact on cancer patients. There were no courses, groups or treatments to support people on their journey. So, some visionary leaders started the Cancer Support Centre 30 years ago in a little cottage with some support groups and wig libraries. It was very small, literally a cottage industry!

LC: How did you come into your role leading the Cancer Support Centre?

SW: I first came to know Cancer Support Centre when I came back to work after a career break having my children. I’d previously been in marketing for international hotels which was a very different lifestyle.

I wanted to come back in a smaller capacity at first, doing something that had an impact in the community my children were going to be living and growing up in. So I found myself as the coordinator at the Cancer Support Centre and I fell in love with it and everything that was done here.

After a little while, I decided to progress my career. I decided to go back to my qualifications, which were in law, and I went to family law. People said to me, “how will you handle family law?” And I said, “I can do that, because I’ve been dealing with the sad stories of cancer patients for the last four or five years”.

With cancer support, you see the absolute best of humanity and love and family and everybody was trying to live as long and as well as they could. Every family and loved one was trying to support that. Although we obviously get some very sad stories as well, it’s an incredibly uplifting and satisfying area to work in because of the love that people show each other and the kindness and the generosity of groups. As soon as I reach out, if we’re holding an event or something, people hear it’s for cancer patients and they give. It’s quite humbling to be a part of.

About 18 months ago, I was given the opportunity to manage the Cancer Support Services at the hospital including the Cancer Support Centre, which I jumped at. I was really thrilled. I’d always wanted to come back.

LC: How did you find taking the reins of leadership at the cancer centre post COVID-19?

SW: We’d had an incredible manager while I was here previously who had taken it from the cottage industry and moved it into the early 2000s, and developed lots of different programmes and support services. Then Covid hit.

We had a number of acting managers who were doing their best during a time that was quite horrific for people who needed support due to cancer, because when lockdowns finished for everybody else, they certainly didn’t finish for cancer patients. So many of our services were stopped and so many were on Zoom, which just didn’t have the same impact.

I had this incredible privilege 18 months ago to come in with almost a clean slate. I felt an incredible responsibility for the vision and the work that previous people had put into this centre and the desire for the doctors, nurses, and patients to have all these services.

LC: How did you feel about receiving a Leadership Circle Award?

SW: I feel like it was an award for my team. I was given an incredible team of administrators, counsellors, volunteers, and clinical patient navigators.

I think if I’d received it prior to doing the Leadership Circle Profile with Kristyn (Kristyn Haywood, Sarah’s leadership coach) and prior to leading the team that I lead now, I probably would’ve thought, Oh yes, that’s a great award. And I worked very, very hard, so I deserve that award. But Kristyn, through the Leadership Circle dynamic, taught me so much more about what leadership is, and it was such a beautiful synergy and timing in my career in that I was given the opportunity to lead the team that I’m leading, which is without doubt the most amazing team I have ever led.

LC: How has Leadership Circle helped you achieve your goals as a leader?

SW: Before, I’d always been like a mom for the team, so if there’s a problem, I’m going to fix it. With Kristyn’s guidance and mentoring with the Leadership Circle Profile, I very much felt that I needed my team to grow with me rather than just fix problems. The leader really is only as good as their team.

We’re working on the concept of managing versus leading. I managed before, but with Kristyn’s guidance and the Leadership Circle Profile, I feel like I’m able to lead. I’m able to inspire people and initiate things. The team wants to come on that journey, and I want to be with them on that journey. Working together and making a safe space for the whole team to bring in ideas [allows us to] openly communicate. Now, we can actually bring things up and say, Well, that’s actually not going to work because of this, this, and this, but could we [approach it from] a different angle? I probably wouldn’t have done that in the past.

LC: How has using the Leadership Circle in your organisation helped with innovation and growth?

SW: We’ve tripled the amount of people that come through the centre. We’ve started four or five new support groups for cancer streams. We’ve got different therapy programmes.

People need different things. Some people just want to come and chat one-on-one with a counsellor. Some want to go to a support group. Some need help socially and emotionally through this journey, but don’t want to just sit and talk. So, we do a lot more activity therapy, like mindfulness photography and crochet circle. People are doing something while they’re talking, so they don’t actually realise that they’re talking, but they’re getting the great benefit of talking. We’ve grown tenfold over the last year, and we’ve got so many grateful patients because of that.

Our patient navigators are incredible. We now have cancer patient navigators for breast, prostate, GI, and gynaecological cancer who can refer people to different services, answer their clinical questions, and make sure that they’re thriving through cancer. That’s what we ultimately want to achieve.

LC: What are the big goals you’re all working towards at the Cancer Support Centre?

SW: Our biggest fundamental goal is that nobody goes on their cancer journey alone. We want everyone to be able to identify something that will work for them in all our different therapy programmes. And we want them to think that they can thrive during their cancer treatment. Even for people with metastatic and terminal diagnosis, they can still have life goals, and thrive while they’re here. We’re not pretending that everything’s rosy all the time. But we’re trying to find beauty even in the chaos.

LC: And finally, can you share what you’ve been most proud of in your career?

SW: The thing that I’m most proud of in my career is when I managed a primary care healthcare team in the hospital, and I headed up the vaccination rollout in the LGA during covid. The team was under incredible stress. It was before anybody had vaccinations, testing wasn’t widespread, and nobody had any understanding of what covid would do. We were all coming into work each day when everybody was in lockdown. We didn’t know if people turning up had covid, if we were going to be taking it home to our families. It was a scary time.

It was a very isolating time in healthcare. When the vaccines came out, it was just so fast, so busy. People were very stressed calling us, wanting vaccines and appointments. Government guidelines were changing daily. We would find out as the public found out, there was no advanced notification to the primary health networks.

My team went from handling 200 – 250 phone calls a day to 700 with the same amount of staff. We did over 10,000 vaccinations. The team were doing very long hours. It was isolating, hard work, and it was judgy work: There were people that didn’t like the vaccines, people that thought they should be getting more vaccines. A lot of opinions. We were so desperate to reach 80% vaccination rate so that people could go out in the community. I will be endlessly proud of what we did for our community during that time.

 

Learn more about Sarah’s journey in Part 2 of our conversation, where Sarah shares her insights and reflects on the leadership lessons she’s learned.

Learn more about the Leadership Circle Profile and how it helps leaders and their teams to do their best work and achieve impactful goals.

Self-care is having a moment. According to one study, 97% of Americans believe it’s important to make time to care for themselves. That’s good, because more than half of those survey respondents felt burnt out in 2023.

 

When I’m having a really crappy day, I turn to YouTube and pull up a video of the outtakes from a sketch of John Oliver and Cookie Monster delivering the news. Or one of a flash mob performing a version of “Do Re Mi” at Central Station in Antwerp. Or one of the other 200 videos saved to my “Rainy Day” playlist. If the situation is dire, I camp out on my couch for a marathon of White Christmas, Noises Off, and Joe vs. the Volcano. And if I need the nuclear option, I hop in my car, brave the traffic on I-5, and make my way to the coast. There, I put my feet in the cold sand, breathe in the scent of the Pacific Ocean, and stand in awe of Haystack Rock, which never fails to remind me that I am but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.

If you would ask me what I do in terms of self-care, these are the things I would tell you. But I would be a very poor example.

You see, my modes of self-care are all reactionary. Notice how I started off with “When I’m having a really crappy day…” Not “To keep myself healthy…” or “To make sure I can show up as my best self for my team…”

Like me, so many people see self-care as the spa treatments, personal indulgences, and compulsive compensations that make up for the all-too-common ways we overextend ourselves. I’ve worked overtime every day for a week, so I’m getting a massage on Saturday. I’ve been so busy doing laundry and packing lunches and carting kids from one activity to another, and I need a break. I’m spending the weekend at a hotel with a pool and no cell service.

But is this really the best way to care for ourselves?

Defining Self-Care

Self-care is simply care—the care we often instinctively show others but deny ourselves. It’s checking in to see how you’re doing, making sure you’re getting enough rest, and offering yourself some compassion in the midst of a challenging time.

When done in a healthy way, self-care isn’t the reactive indulgence of the overworked and under-resourced. It’s not a quick reprieve or a temporary fix. Self-care is the proactive prioritization of intentional acts that ensure long-term well-being.

What Self-Care Might Look Like:

• • Getting enough sleep, whether you need five hours or nine
  • Using food as fuel
  • Moving around enough to keep your muscles limber and your blood flowing
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Saying “no” when needed
  • Spending time with friends and loved ones
  • Engaging in hobbies outside of work
  • Creating a meditation or mindfulness practice

Self-Care for Leaders

Self-care may look a little different in your role as a leader than it does in the rest of your life. In life, you may turn to true-crime podcasts and Mexican food, whereas in leadership, you may look to setting healthy boundaries and realistic expectations. That crunchy chicken taco may be delicious, but it’s not going to inspire confidence from your team unless you share. And even then, the inspiration won’t last very long.

For leaders, self-care is an investment in productivity, longevity, and effectiveness. It allows you to model the behavior you want from your team—i.e., healthy ways to cope with stress, increased emotional intelligence, and a high value placed on personal health and well-being. In short, your investment in self-care gives those in your sphere of influence permission to take care of themselves.

When you improve how you lead yourself, you’ll improve your ability to lead others. Self-care leads to self-compassion, which enables every leader to excel without the need to be perfect.

What Self-Care for Leaders Might Look Like:

• • Creating a workspace—at home, in the office, or on the road—that energizes you
  • Establishing daily routines to help you set the right mindset
  • Taking breaks
  • Finding a change of scenery
  • Delegating tasks that don’t require your direct involvement
  • Setting healthy boundaries

Self-Care Is Primary Care

It may be having a moment, but self-care is anything but a fleeting trend. For leaders, it’s a strategic advantage.

Once assumed by many, like me, to be merely an acceptable reaction to overwhelm, illness, or crisis, self-care is primary care in that it ought to come first. When we are proactive in practicing self-care, we can build capacity, increase productivity, and create happier, more fulfilled, and healthier lives.

In the corner of my spare room, under the window and next to a small metal craft cart that holds Christmas wrapping paper and extra gift tags, stands a white goose on a small patch of green grass—a treasured, if somewhat ridiculous, gift I received more than 20 years ago. One which I happily carted across the country when I moved from Ohio to Washington state, and which has repeatedly escaped weekends of spring cleaning and boxes earmarked for donation.

First popular in the Midwest in the 1980s, the “porch goose” is a cement lawn ornament that saw a resurgence in the late ’90s and early aughts and is currently enjoying newfound popularity, thanks to TikTok.

I got mine not at an outdoor nursery or from the lawn care section of a hardware store, but backstage of the small theater of Our Lady of the Elms High School. I was directing three students in a one-act play called The Wild Goose, and my cast and crew presented me with the play’s namesake decorative waterfowl moments before curtain on opening night. They each signed the base and lured me backstage with a panicked (and, frankly, well-acted) ruse about one of my actresses injuring herself and being unable to go on.

It was silly and sweet. And it took me completely by surprise. I was utterly delighted, just as they knew I would be. In other words, it was the best possible way they could say “thank you.”

Being Grateful Is Good for Business

In addition to being a sign of good manners and general human decency, showing appreciation is an effective and useful business tactic. In a recent survey of 800 full-time U.S. employees by software firm Nectar, nearly 84% said that recognition affects their motivation to succeed at work. Similarly, Great Place To Work found, when analyzing more than a million employee survey responses, that workers tied recognition to several aspects of positive company culture, such as employees’ increased likelihood to drive innovation and bring new ideas forward and to believe that workplace promotions are fair.

What great leaders understand about recognition and appreciation is that it’s most effective when it’s specific. For some, that may mean a personal shoutout in the company’s Teams chat; for others, it’s a handwritten note or a cup of coffee and conversation. For others still, it’s a goofy keepsake with a good story. The point is that it’s personal, and the best way to make it personal is to know your people.

Make Your Appreciation Personal

We recently polled our nearly 150,000 LinkedIn followers on the most effective way to show your team your appreciation. Forty-three percent of respondents said public displays of recognition are the way to go; 30% voted for a pay increase or bonus; and 22% said a thank-you gift is the most effective way to make a colleague feel appreciated.

In the comments, consensus was clear: These may be solid options, but the best course of action is to make the effort to meet your people where they are. “It depends on how each team member is intrinsically motivated,” said Gina Lavery, MSOD. Sue Mann agreed. “Know your colleague well enough to know what is most meaningful to them,” Mann commented. “It’s about them, after all, not you.”

More of what our followers had to say:

“Recognition in both public and private, and also a heartfelt conversation that encourages them to think about their personal development.”
—Geetika Agarwal, PCC in training (ICF)

“Don’t wait, do it now!”
—Roberto Giannicola

“Definitely a personal appreciation of their strengths and attitude and the difference that they make… that they may not have realized.”
—Connie Howe

“It depends, different individuals have different needs at different times, so leaders have to know their people and think every time about what kind of appreciation works best this particular time with this concrete individual. One size fits all doesn’t work.”
—Antti Viljaste

“It’s like the five languages of love. You have to love someone with their love language, not yours. It’s the same with business. You have to show appreciation the way a person wants and needs to be appreciated.”
—Miriam Wexler

Small Gestures, Big Impact

Beyond being a feel-good practice, recognition is a strategic imperative for organizations trying to cultivate a culture of excellence and engagement. While formal recognition programs and traditional methods of celebrating achievement will always have a home in the workplace, the personal touch truly makes a difference. When you demonstrate as a leader that you know your people well enough to know how to thank them, they won’t just feel appreciated; they’ll feel seen.

Through our work with more than 26,000 teams from around the world, we’ve identified five significant factors that determine a team’s effectiveness. With help from the workplace proximity associates of the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation, we dig into the important role of a team’s psychological safety and cohesion.

 

 

I may not have read as many historical biographies as Leslie Knope; I may not have her passion for waffles or find Joe Biden as sexy as she does. But I have never identified more with a fictional character than when she talks about her prowess as a gift-giver. “Giving Christmas gifts is like a sport to me,” she says. “Finding or making the perfect something… It’s also like a sport to me because I always win.”

The insight comes at the end of the episode “Citizen Knope,” a holiday entry that sees Leslie on a two-week suspension from work and advised to quit her run for city council by her big-city campaign managers. She’s at a personal low, but true to her glass-half-full disposition, Leslie still manages to give all her co-workers and friends extremely thoughtful and personal gifts, including a leopard-print robe with pink feather cuffs and “You Can Get It” on the back in rhinestones for Donna and motorized office doors that close at the click of a button for Ron.

Leslie’s professional game may be suffering, but she is clearly winning at Christmas gift-giving.

It’s especially satisfying, then, when the team comes together to lift Leslie’s spirits and demonstrate what she means to them with a thoughtful gift of their own. Led by beautiful tropical fish Ann Perkins, the group builds Leslie a miniature replica of City Hall made of gingerbread. But that’s not all. After hearing that her campaign managers dropped her, the team rallies to give her a truly unexpected gift: volunteering to be her new campaign crew.

I’ve watched this episode (and, indeed, the whole of Parks and Recreation) approximately 900 times, and every time Leslie responds to their gesture with tears in her eyes and a hitch in her voice, saying, “I don’t know what to say, except… Let’s go win an election!” I get choked up right along with her. Why? Aside from being a saphead for wholesome Christmas storylines, I tear up because it’s a scene in which Leslie’s co-workers and friends come together to support her in the pursuit of her dreams. Even though we, in the audience, know that they are ill-equipped to do this and greatly anticipate the hilarious mishaps that will arise, in that moment, Leslie is safe to spread her wings, and that’s a feeling we all hope to experience.

Teams Work When They Work Together

The most effective teams create an environment where members feel safe to take personal risks and actively support one another. This is what’s happening when, as each member of the team outlines their new role in Leslie’s campaign, Donna offers rides in her Benz to special events, April offers to lead youth outreach and new media, and Ron simply offers, “Any other damn thing you might need.”

For teams to be productive and effective, members don’t need to be protected or shielded from the potential pain or discomfort of personal risk; they need to feel safe in spite of that potential pain, in spite of that risk. This is what we call psychological safety and cohesion.

Using Psychological Safety and Cohesion To Boost Team Effectiveness

Whether one of your team members is running for city council, giving a pitch to a potential new client, or tossing out a wild idea during a brainstorm session, they will be much more likely to share themselves authentically, to look for common ground, and to be resilient in the face of challenge or disappointment if they know the team has their back. If you’re looking to power up your team’s effectiveness, foster these generative factors to increase camaraderie and mitigate these disruptive factors to reduce siloed thinking:

Generative Factors

1. 1. Welcoming Participation Structure: Teams with explicit group norms and expectations increase active participation. Team members who aren’t sure whether all opinions will be welcome or received without repercussions are much less likely to share ideas or provide constructive criticism.
   2. Interconnectedness: When team members get along and genuinely enjoy spending time together, they enjoy better collaboration, manage conflict more successfully, and are more likely to remain optimistic in the face of setbacks.
   3. Team Emotional Intelligence: Teams with high team EQ can handle difficult conversations and will seek feedback about their performance to work more effectively together.

Disruptive Factors

1. 1. Distrust: When team members distrust the intentions or integrity of other members, they are less willing to be vulnerable or courageous in their interactions, resulting in decreased energy, poor processes, and lack of cohesion.
   2. Political/Pleasing Culture: A political or pleasing culture reduces the likelihood that team members will challenge ideas, even when there are issues or problems that need to be addressed.
   3. Destructive Dynamics: Team members who undermine the ideas of others or only interact with or support certain members feed into a “clique” or an “us vs. them” mentality, making it nearly impossible to achieve collective goals.

Camaraderie, Collaboration, and Resilience

In the world of Parks and Recreation, Leslie Knope is used to winning Christmas as the superior gift-giver in Pawnee. But, when her team steps up and makes it clear that she has their support, she concedes. “This year,” she says, “my friends won. In fact, I got my ass handed to me.”

Teams that prioritize establishing a welcoming and inviting culture, creating opportunities for connection, and building team EQ can achieve camaraderie, collaboration, and resilience—much like the crew of the Pawnee parks department. As you navigate your own team dynamics, remember that success often begins with the unwavering support and unity of your team members.

Through our work with more than 26,000 teams from around the world, we’ve identified five significant factors that determine a team’s effectiveness. Today, in the first of a five-part series on teams, we take a look at the contribution mindsets make to team effectiveness.

 

 

In a recent postgame press conference, Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders voiced his frustration with the way his team performed. “Played like hot garbage,” he said. And this is after his Buffaloes defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 27-24.

Sanders didn’t take issue with the victory but with how it was won. The Buffaloes fell behind early, committed eight penalties, and gave up five sacks in the game. The final score belies a contest that wasn’t nearly as competitive as it suggests. The Buffs only pulled out the win with the help of clutch play from quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Deion’s son) and a 43-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining. That may make for a dramatic finish and good TV, but slow starts, sloppy play, and late-game heroics do not lend themselves to building a culture of consistency and excellence.

And excellence is what Sanders is after. After all, this is the man who gave himself the nickname “Prime Time,” reflecting both his ability and versatility as a professional athlete and his flashy and charismatic personality—on and off the field. As a standout cornerback in the NFL, Sanders became a Super Bowl champion with both the 49ers and the Cowboys, and as an MLB outfielder, he played on two World Series-winning teams with the Atlanta Braves. During his career as a player, Sanders embraced the spotlight and was known for his showmanship, confident in his talent and unafraid to shine in the biggest moments and on the biggest stages of the sports world.

Now, as “Coach Prime,” he’s brought that self-assurance and swagger to Colorado. When he joined the team, the Buffs were coming off an abysmal 2022 season in which they finished 1-11. In his first meeting with the players early this year, he signaled a shift in philosophy and a new team mindset, repeatedly telling them, “I’m coming,” meaning he was coming in to turn around the program. “There is not going to be any more mediocrity, period,” he said. “I’m coming.”

Great coaches like Sanders possess a clarity of vision and an unshakable belief that they can produce such results, and they do so by shaping the mindset of their team and inspiring that same belief in their team members. Great leaders do the same.

Defining Your Mindset

Whether you’re a college football coach, a rising business leader, or a CEO, you set the culture and tone for your team; you articulate what the team aims to accomplish; and you instill the belief that the group is capable of achieving those goals. The most effective teams have a shared understanding of who they are and what they are pursuing together. You establish the team mindset.

For the Buffaloes, Sanders laid out the team mindset in that first meeting with his players: no more mediocrity. That’s why the loss to Arizona State was so frustrating. It wasn’t frustration born of a failure to win but of a failure to be more than mediocre.

Using Mindset To Boost Team Effectiveness

The Buffs are currently in what I like to call “the messy middle.” They’re onboard with the vision of being a skilled and disciplined well-oiled machine of a college football team, but not quite executing on that vision just yet. As they work to improve, here are three generative factors they can embrace to help unify and strengthen their mindset and three disruptive factors they should avoid, lest the team fracture:

Generative Factors

1. 1. One Team, One Goal: When members are aligned with a team’s mission and vision, they create a “team identity” and pursue their goals with passion, focus, and creativity.
   2. Belief in Team Efficacy: The shared belief that a team is capable of achieving its goals provides motivation that increases both individual and collective effort and productivity.
   3. Systemic View: Viewing the team as part of a larger system or organization allows team members to focus on integrating and aligning their goals and processes.

Disruptive Factors

1. 1. Silo Mentality: When team members focus only on themselves and their own work or productivity, they’re likely to miss opportunities for collaboration and teamwork.
   2. Negative Affect: Negativity and pessimism are exhausting and drain motivation, enthusiasm, and energy from the team.
   3. Blaming Culture: Mistakes and setbacks are bound to happen, but when team members focus on “who” or “what” is to blame for them, they limit the team’s ability to learn, improve, and evolve.

A Team of Achievement

Despite the Buffs’ lackluster performance against Arizona State, the team is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a year ago. Halfway through the season, and Colorado has a winning record (4-2) and is only two wins away from bowl eligibility. Coach Prime wasn’t kidding when he said, “I’m coming,” and the change he promised is taking hold.

Ultimately, Sanders’ journey with the Buffaloes is not just about college football; it’s a story of leadership, culture change, and the power of mindset in achieving excellence. Like all great coaches and leaders, he understands the critical role mindset plays in shaping team effectiveness. It can be the difference between building a team of potential and one of achievement.

Money raised through Dec. 31 will support projects protecting forests in Brazil and Costa Rica

 

DRAPER, UTAH – Premier leadership assessment and development firm Leadership Circle today launched its annual Steward the Planet campaign, raising funds to protect terrestrial rainforests in the Amazon region of Brazil and mangrove forests along the coast of Costa Rica.

“In all great traditions, there is a moral imperative that we are caretakers, guardians, stewards of this planet,” says Leadership Circle Co-Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer Bob Anderson. “As we have grown in population, the need for that has become more and more self-evident—and we are not doing it.

As leaders in the world and as leaders in the leadership space, it is incumbent upon us to take the lead, be examples, and do all we can. Future generations depend on what we do now.”

This year, in association with Conservation International, Leadership Circle is raising funds to support two projects. The first will help the Noke Koi tribe of the Brazilian Amazon to protect their land by helping them establish food security and a sustainable livelihood, improving existing infrastructure, promoting training, and helping develop local businesses. The second will help scale the restoration, conservation, and rehabilitation of mangrove forests around Costa Rica’s Gulf of Nicoya.

Working together with other organizations to reach the campaign goal of $185,000, Leadership Circle has committed to raise approximately 40% of total goal—$70,000.

“It’s time for us to wake up and manage our impact on the world,” says Anderson. “We do this each year because the time is urgent. This is one way our organization and its customers around the world can come together to have a direct impact in our stewardship of the planet.”

The 2023 campaign marks the fourth year that Leadership Circle has launched a fundraising campaign to benefit Conservation International projects. The 2022 campaign raised funds to support Project Peru, which focused on protecting and restoring the Alto Mayo tropical rainforest region, ensuring the long-term conservation of the Nuwas Forest, and designating a protected area off Peru’s coast. Earlier efforts supported grant-writing proposals to the United Nations Green Climate Fund for projects protecting and restoring the Amazon rainforest and mangrove forests in Ecuador.

Leadership Circle’s annual campaign to benefit Conservation International is just one part of the organization’s Steward the Planet Initiative. The initiative also includes an ongoing partnership with One Tree Planted, which results in the donation of one tree for every purchase of an electronic Leadership Circle Profile™ or virtual mat. Since July 2021, Leadership Circle has helped plant nearly 23,000 trees around the world.

Visit the 2023 Steward the Planet campaign webpage to learn how you can support this year’s campaign.

 

About Conservation International
Conservation International is a world leader in biodiversity preservation and climate mitigation. The organization focuses on combining fieldwork in local and Indigenous communities with innovations in science, policy, and finance to secure the health of Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity, and to improve the lives of people everywhere.

About Leadership Circle
Leadership Circle is a global leader in leadership development on a mission to evolve the conscious practice of leadership. Through its tools, methodology, and consulting approach, Leadership Circle aims to integrate the otherwise fragmented field of leadership development. With more than 10,000 certified practitioners around the globe seeking to bring the Universal Model of Leadership™ to leaders, Leadership Circle has worked with more than 200,000 senior leaders to actively improve their leadership. For more information on Leadership Circle’s methodology, leadership and certification solutions, or to sign up, visit leadershipcircle.com.

This month, we’re exploring the importance of effective communication in leadership. In this post, we discuss how leaders can level up their listening skills—by throwing their whole bodies into it.

 

 

Ignoring the potential future benefits of knowing Spanish or French, I took four years of Latin in high school. Then, doubling down in college, I satisfied my foreign language requirement with two years of American Sign Language (ASL). Did I know any deaf or hard-of-hearing people? No. Heck, I didn’t even know anyone else who knew ASL. But something drew me to that language, and I ended up stumbling into a lesson that forever altered my perspective not only on hearing but on listening.

Sign language (American or otherwise) demands that you “listen” with your entire self. And that you “speak” the same way. Your body becomes a canvas for communication and an instrument of understanding. Where verbal communication relies on the words that you’re saying and the tone that you use to say them in order to convey information, context, and sentiment, sign language is a medium constructed through gesture and expression.

Of course, I’m simplifying things. Every verbal conversation includes nonverbal cues, just as sign language isn’t exclusively a series of hand gestures. But, as a hearing person, the lesson that to truly listen for understanding and comprehension, I needed to listen with my whole body had a profound and transformative effect on me.

In the world of sign language, listening goes beyond just “hearing” words. It’s an intricate dance of body language, expressions, posture, and gestures. Sign language requires you to pay attention, establish direct eye contact, and observe the nuanced movements of the hands. None of this “listening with half an ear” business while you check your phone. That just won’t work. Whole-body listening demands that you are present, not only in the conversation but in each moment of the conversation.

To be honest, it begs the question: Shouldn’t all communication be this way?

If our goal is to communicate with each other effectively, whether in a professional or personal capacity, shouldn’t we always be attentive? Shouldn’t every attempt to communicate be immersive?

The Art of Whole-Body Listening

Too often, when we talk about “effective communication,” we focus on how we can more effectively get across our own message. We think of “communication” as the thing we’re doing, the thing we’re saying, the thing we’re conveying. But that’s only one side of the conversation. For any communication to be genuinely effective, it must be received, understood, and accepted, so for our discussion, let’s shift the focus to the act—and art—of listening.

Listening for Understanding

Words have meaning, and that vocabulary is important, whether it’s made up of sounds or hand movements. But it’s not enough to just know the words. Whole-body listening reminds us to tune in to more than what a person is saying. Consider their demeanor and nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions, whether they’re fidgeting, and their general posture, to gain context clues and increase understanding. As we move beyond merely hearing the words, we get closer to the heart of the message.

Listening Actively

Listening is not a passive act; it’s an active and deliberate process. Active listening is how we fully engage with a speaker and demonstrate our commitment to understanding their perspective. Eliminate distractions, lean in, and make eye contact. Provide (and invite) real-time feedback by asking open-ended questions, seeking clarification, and indicating whether you understand or agree. When you show empathy and interest, you ensure a more comprehensive and meaningful exchange of ideas.

Receiving the Message

For any communication to be effective, the listener must be open to receiving it. Whole-body listening teaches us the importance of creating an environment where individuals feel seen, heard, valued, and understood. Be aware of your own biases, preconceptions, and emotional responses. Keep an open mind and avoid getting distracted by your own thoughts or judgments—or by planning what you’re going to say next. When you’re listening, focus on listening.

A Blueprint for Meaningful Conversation

Communication is most effective when both speaker (or signer) and listener play equal and essential roles. And true understanding comes when we engage our entire being in the conversation. By embracing the practice of whole-body listening, we can begin to transform the way we connect with others, whether through spoken words, sign language, or any form of communication.

As leaders, we must not only speak with intention but listen with purpose. Whole-body listening offers a blueprint for effective and meaningful conversations. It challenges us to be fully present in our interactions, to eliminate the noise and truly hear what the other person is trying to communicate. If we let it, it teaches us to listen not with just our ears but our hearts, minds, eyes, shoulders, backs, legs… you get the idea.

When we listen with our whole selves, we can bridge gaps, build relationships, and foster a more inclusive, empathetic, and understanding world.

Becoming a successful executive coach requires more than just passion. Quality education, practical experience, cutting-edge coaching tools, and a strategy for acquiring your first clients are all part of the equation. This step-by-step guide will cover the most crucial aspects required to fast-track your journey to become a top-performing executive coach.