A quick check-in. Remembering a personal detail. Giving specific praise instead of a vague “Great job.” These may feel minor, but they build trust, deepen loyalty, and inspire people to perform at their best.

The Power of Small Leadership Moments

I once worked with a leader whose team would walk through walls for him—not simply because of his strategic skills, but because he noticed.

• He paused in busy corridors to ask, “How’s your mum doing?”—and remembered the answer weeks later.

• He noticed when someone was unusually quiet in a meeting and followed up privately.

• His praise was specific, personal, and heartfelt.

None of these moments took more than a minute, but together they created a culture of connection and trust that no strategy slide could match.

At Optimist Performance, we see the same truth: when leaders combine vision with presence, they don’t just manage—they inspire.

What the Experts Say About Leadership Presence

“Trust is built in very small moments.” — Brené Brown

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek

“Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit.” — Jack Welch

“Trust is like the air we breathe—when it’s present, nobody really notices; when it’s absent, everybody notices.” — Warren Buffett

💡 Quick Tips for Small Leadership Moments

(Optimist Performance recommendations)

1. Ask with intention — Put your phone down, make eye contact, and listen fully.

2. Follow up on details — Show you remember what matters to your team.

3. Be specific with praise — Replace “Great job” with exactly what you valued.

4. Notice the quiet ones — Reach out to those who seem withdrawn.

5. Celebrate effort — Acknowledge resilience and problem-solving, not just results.

Why It Matters for Business Performance

High-trust cultures consistently outperform low-trust ones in engagement, retention, and innovation. Embedding small leadership moments into your daily habits is a practical, repeatable way to strengthen trust and inspire excellence.

At Optimist Performance, we coach leaders to balance strategic clarity with human connection—because that’s how you go from great to world-class.

Further Reading & Resources

If you’re ready to explore more ways to strengthen your leadership presence and build high-performance cultures, check out our latest insights:

• Team Transformation – Read the Harvard Business Review on the Seven Transformations of Leadership

• Optimist Performance Insights – Our growing library of articles, tools, and ideas to help you go from great to world-class.

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In today’s fast-paced business environment, effective leadership is not about doing everything yourself. Leaders who try to take on every task risk burnout and miss opportunities to inspire positive change.

Instead, successful leaders know that focusing on the bigger picture, empowering others, and cultivating the right mindset are the keys to long-term success. As A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin wisely said, “Many important tasks can be done by other people. Focus on what you can do a lot better than anyone else.”

Embracing a Growth Mindset

One of the most powerful tools a leader can use is a growth mindset. This mindset encourages leaders to embrace learning, development, and adaptation, rather than trying to control every detail. Leaders who delegate effectively recognise that others bring valuable skills and perspectives that can drive positive change.

The Power of Delegation for Performance

Effective leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself—it’s about creating a high-performance environment where team members feel trusted and valued. Delegating tasks with the right optimist mindset encourages collaboration, fosters innovation, and enables individuals to contribute in meaningful ways. When leaders try to do everything, they limit the potential of their team. Delegation not only eases the leader’s load but also builds trust, allowing team members to grow and demonstrate their strengths, ultimately leading to better results.

Maximising Strengths and Driving Positive Change

Leaders who focus on their core strengths—such as strategic vision, relationship-building, and inspiring others—are best positioned to drive positive change within the organisation. By not spreading themselves too thin, leaders can focus on the bigger picture, providing direction and motivation while allowing others to manage day-to-day operations.

Building Trust Through Empowerment

When leaders trust their teams and delegate effectively, they foster a culture of empowerment and growth. This trust-based environment allows team members to step up, share their ideas, and take ownership of projects. The result is a more motivated, engaged, and high-performing team. Leaders who try to do it all risk diminishing their team’s confidence and engagement, whereas those who focus on empowerment create a mindset of collaboration and shared success.

Executive Coaching: A Valuable Tool for Leadership Growth

Leaders looking to refine their ability to delegate, build trust, and focus on what matters most can benefit immensely from executive coaching. Executive coaching helps leaders develop a deeper understanding of their strengths and areas for growth, enabling them to lead with clarity and confidence.

Coaches work with leaders to shift their mindset, improve communication skills, and enhance their ability to empower their teams. With guidance, leaders can identify where they should focus their energy and learn how to let go of tasks that don’t align with their strategic goals.

Coaching also provides a safe space for leaders to reflect on their challenges and blind spots, offering personalised insights to help them overcome obstacles and drive positive change.

Conclusion

True leadership is about guiding others – not about doing everything yourself.

By focusing on what only you can do best, and fostering a mindset of trust and collaboration, leaders can create an environment where everyone thrives. Empowering others and maximising individual strengths leads to higher performance, stronger teams, and more meaningful impact.

Related Articles

“Leaders Shouldn’t Try to Do It All“ — Harvard Business Review
Read more

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In this article, we share real stories from our coaches about the unique challenges their clients faced and the creative solutions that led to their success. Each story is a testament to the power of dedicated coaching and the incredible change it can bring.

Empowering Personal and Team Development through Intentionality

One client came to us facing a significant challenge: they struggled with taking ownership of their personal development and creating a leadership development plan for themselves and their team. This lack of intentionality was creating a gap in the team’s accountability and overall progress.

Our coach stepped in and offered guidance by sharing strategies and options from related worlds. This approach was designed to empower the client to take charge of their growth journey. With these insights, the client was inspired to be more intentional about their development. As a result, they were able to set a clear and actionable plan for both their personal growth and the development of their team.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome with Strategic Coaching 

A common challenge many clients face, especially when stepping into new roles or positions, is imposter syndrome – feelings of self-doubt, not being in control, feeling inadequate or uncertain. These feelings often arise in different contexts where individuals lack experience or fear looking incompetent. Our approach to coaching involves recognising these feelings as normal and addressing them by flipping the narrative to see ‘imposter-like feelings’ in a positive light.

Our coach worked with a client experiencing this exact challenge, helping them understand that imposter syndrome can actually be a driving force for learning, personal development and getting things done, as long as it doesn’t become inhibiting. Through coaching, the client learned to embrace these feelings and use them as motivation and drive for growth. 

In practice, this meant focusing on preparation and self-awareness. For instance, before entering meetings, the client would prepare thoroughly—considering both their physical and mental state, their key messages, and how they wanted to be perceived. This proactive approach helped the client reduce anxiety, improve clarity in communication, and project more confidence.

The results were transformative. The client became more self-aware, and authentic in their approach and was better equipped to handle challenging situations. By recognising their imposter-like feelings, identifying triggers and creating preventive strategies, they could manage imposter syndrome effectively, leading to greater success and a higher likelihood of achieving their goals.

Elevating Delegation Skills to Build Trust and Accountability 

Delegation is another common challenge, especially when it involves trusting others to perform tasks effectively. One of our clients faced difficulties with delegation, which in turn affected trust within their team. The issue wasn’t just about handing off tasks—it was about ensuring that those tasks were understood and executed correctly, thereby strengthening relationships within the team.

Our coach guided the client through the process of taking their delegation skills to the next level. This involved not only assigning tasks but also actively checking in to understand how their team members perceived the task and their approach to completing it. By fostering open communication and clarity, the client could establish a more collaborative and trusting environment.

The impact of this improved delegation strategy was significant. It shifted the focus from micromanaging to building accountability and autonomy within the team. With clear expectations and open lines of communication, the team members felt more empowered to take ownership of their work. This, in turn, reinforced a sense of trust and enabled continued positive growth for both the client and their team.

Increasing Sales by Enhancing Creativity and Customer Connection

A client wanted to win more contracts in a highly competitive sector. Their challenge was finding ways to be more innovative in their approach to stand out from the competition and create lasting impact whilst staying within strict regulations around the bidding and sales processes.

Our coach worked with key members of the team through one-on-one coaching sessions to embed new ways of thinking and problem-solving. This ran alongside a two-day interactive learning event for the whole team, focusing on how to be more creative and connect more deeply with customers. Grounded in neuroscience, this learning provided the team with practical, brain-based tools they could begin applying immediately.

The results were remarkable. The team’s morale and energy levels increased significantly, as did client engagement and customer satisfaction. By applying their newfound creative and connecting strategies, the team successfully secured a substantial £9 million contract, showcasing the power of innovative thinking in a traditional sector.

Establishing Clarity and Cohesion in a Senior Team

A senior team we worked with faced a significant challenge: they lacked clarity on how to collaborate effectively, hold each other accountable, and resolve conflicts. This lack of structure was impeding their ability to function cohesively and achieve their goals.

To address this, we delivered a series of workshops alongside one-on-one coaching sessions. The first workshop centred around defining the core values that the team wanted to build upon. From these values, we collaboratively established the behaviours and standards they expected from one another.

This process resulted in a clear framework for communication and teamwork, allowing the team to operate at a high level. With these agreed-upon “north stars,” they were equipped to resolve conflicts efficiently and focus on their collective objectives. As a result, the team began hitting their goals more consistently, building real momentum and achieving greater success.

Overcoming the Fear of Speaking Up in Meetings

Another challenge faced by a client was a deep-seated fear of speaking up in meetings. The anxiety was so intense that their heart rate would spike, and the fear of judgment, making mistakes, or being criticised would almost literally choke them, hindering their ability to contribute.

Our coach began by validating these feelings, explaining how the brain reacts when it’s in a “threat” state. This helped normalise their experience, making it clear that such reactions are common. The focus then shifted to analysing lived experiences of meetings. Together, they reflected on instances where someone made a mistake during a meeting and examined what actually happened. This exercise was key in grounding the client’s fears in reality and distinguishing facts from feelings.

To further build confidence, the coach worked with the client on preparing words and sentences they could use during meetings. This preparation acted as a safety net, reducing anxiety and helping them feel more in control. With practice, the client began to speak up more often, gradually overcoming their fear.

As a result, other team members started to recognise and acknowledge their contributions in meetings. This positive reinforcement further boosted the client’s growing confidence, creating a virtuous cycle that empowered them to engage more actively and assertively in discussions.

The Optimist View…

These real-life stories highlight the profound impact that our Eternal Optimists have on individuals, teams, and organisations.

Through our Optimist coaching and leadership sessions, our coaches empower clients to overcome personal and professional challenges, unlocking their full potential.

Get in touch with us today and learn more about our Optimist Executive Coaching.

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“The ideas that coaching is a spend rather than an investment, or a nice to have, not a need to have, are two of the biggest misconceptions about executive coaching.” – Lara Milward. 

This month, we talked to Lara Milward, one of our Eternal Optimists, about executive coaching and our unique Optimist approach. So, if you’ve never done coaching and think it’s not for you or your team (another misconception), keep reading. We’ll discuss the benefits of coaching and why coaching is now more important than ever for leaders and organisations. 

About Lara Milward:

Lara is a NeuroLeadership coach who works with individuals and teams to strengthen their mental muscles. Just like physical muscle, your brain needs challenge and fuel to be stronger. 

Lara loves supporting people to achieve what they didn’t believe was possible. As a former athletic coach, she understood that by knowing how our body works, we could improve our performance, and she wanted to do the same with our brains to enhance our personal and business performance. 

“I don’t believe in a self-made man or woman, we all need at least one other person, a coach or mentor or a team. I love being that trusted advisor who helps individuals and teams go from great to world-class.” – Lara Milward. 

How would you describe coaching? 

“Coaching is fuelling performance and confidence through improved thinking.” As coaches, we create a safe space where people can work things through, think out loud, gain insights, and create new habits & behaviours. We help them by being their trusted advisor and thinking partner. 

“There is no more thrill for me than seeing someone achieve more than they thought they could.” – Lara Milward

Coaching is also about transformation. As coaches, we help our clients reframe their view of their situation, their abilities, and their agency in order to play to their potential. During our sessions, we turn obstacles into opportunities and challenges into learning, which in turn supports their behaviours and performance. 

Why is coaching more important than ever for leaders?

71 % of CEOs in the US have reported feelings of imposter syndrome. Being a leader doesn’t mean you aren’t human! We live in a world where we are all dealing with constant information overload and the pressure of being constantly online. This is overwhelming for the prefrontal cortex of anyone’s brain, including leaders.

They are not only dealing with that overwhelm, but they are also the ones who everyone looks to for answers, solutions, and clarity in an uncertain world.

Additionally, leadership positions can be lonely at times. The fact that leaders want to show their best selves to their teams means that they might not have anyone they can confide in and who can help them sort their own challenges out. 

This is where executive coaching becomes invaluable for leaders because it gives them the space and time to think things through, work on problem-solving, and enhance the confidence they need to lead their teams in the best way possible. 

It’s important to note that we don’t come to new insights and ideas when the brain is in gamma wave, on task, at the computer. We only come to insights and new thinking when we are in the alpha wave. This makes coaching time even more valuable for leaders as it diarises space to slow down and work through their challenges and struggles. They can also work on themselves and how they want to show up for their teams, which in turn, allows them to be better leaders. 

What are the main benefits of coaching you’ve seen in your clients?

We asked Lara about the benefits of coaching. These are the ones she mentioned as the most valuable for her clients: better solutions and better thinking, transforming fears into confidence, clarity of thinking (seeing a way through), validation (understanding they are not alone and that it’s ok to feel the way they fell), ideas generation and dissolving stress 

Other benefits identified by our clients are improved communication and feedback, reduced stress and feeling less anxious, increased self-awareness and learning to manage themselves and others better. 

The link between executive coaching and well-being. 

It can be easier to think that our personal lives don’t have a space within executive coaching, but there is nothing further from the truth. The reality is that we are all humans and it’s impossible to separate our personal and professional lives. 

When we go to work, we are still the same person. This is why, as Optimists Coaches, we take a holistic approach and work around the full individual and not only their professional lives. If we want to achieve our full potential, it’s important that we look at ourselves and our lives as a whole and deal with it accordingly. 

Part of this holistic approach is to work on emotions and more specifically “affect labelling”. This is the process of identifying and labelling our emotions to be able to deal with them better. 

Research shows the importance and benefits of labelling our emotions. By naming our emotions, we can understand and work through them. It also allows us to cope better with stress, adversity and negative emotions. Some of the benefits are reduced emotional reactivity, enhanced problem-solving skills and improved emotional intelligence. 

Read “The Human Behind the performance” here.

What makes the Optimist Performance approach different from other executive coaching programmes?

At Optimist Performance, we use experiential learning and coach the whole person, physically, personally, and professionally. . . Through our other services (group coaching, leadership training and experiences), we support both the individual and the team to shift mindsets and behaviours so that they play to their strengths and enhance their adaptability to change, challenge and opportunity. As we know from high-performing athletes, the ability to adapt is what will help you thrive in a VUCA world. 

“I love that our way is right there in the name – Optimist. With the mindset and behaviour of an Optimist you can play to your potential whatever life throws at you.” – Lara Milward.

Another unique characteristic, according to Lara, is the mature and experienced team of coaches or Eternal Optimists (as we call them). At Optimist Performance, we bring our sports background into our coaching and the business world. Additionally, all our Eternal Optimists have been through coaching themselves (both in their sports and business careers), they have been there and understand the power of coaching and the impact it has on performance. 

“We have all just seen it at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics none of the athletes were alone. They all have coaches.” – Lara Milward.

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Many leaders nowadays take into account the well-being of employees. However, we might be missing the first step; awareness. A poll conducted by Nuffield Health shows that two out of three people won’t share their mental health issues with their employer. 

It’s common practice now to have well-being and mental health policies, but looking at those numbers, we still need to consider if, as leaders, we’re creating a space where people feel comfortable and safe to share those issues and benefit from those policies. 

Read “What I have learned about stress and mental health since quitting rugby – By Ollie Phillips” here. 

Why will this disconnection cause issues?

Even when leaders have the best intentions, it’s impossible to solve an issue if we’re not aware of it. 

Due to the fast-paced environments we are accustomed to, it can be challenging for many people to address well-being issues. A culture of urgency, increasing workloads, and blurry boundaries can all contribute to our team not finding the space or not feeling comfortable to bring up their well-being.

This is why focusing on our team’s well-being is not only about policies, but, even more importantly, about reflecting on the culture and environment we’re creating for our teams. 

Why should leaders focus on well-being?

Well-being must be well maintained. It’s crucial for leaders to keep a healthy working environment where everyone can perform at their best for desired outcomes.

Failing to achieve this, can have huge implications for the team and the overall business. Our environments and workloads can directly link to stress and burnout. This, in turn, will influence your team’s performance, and can even make you lose great talent. 

However, leaders can be role models and demonstrate attributes of open and positive well-being for their employees. Starting with non-judgmental catch-ups, taking time and breaks for yourself, and reassuring employees about these healthy actions can all be successful ways to start. 

Through these good examples being set, employees will be encouraged to follow, allowing an increase in well-being advocacy and positivity.

How can we as leaders build a culture of well-being?

There are many ways of doing this, and for each leader and business, it would be different. However, we can start with some non-negotiables:

• Create a safe environment where people can openly talk about their well-being, their professional and personal lives, and how they might be impacting each other. Once people feel comfortable and safe to talk about an issue, we can start putting strategies and policies in place to help them get better. 
• Reflect on your culture. Cultures in the workplace are created by the behaviours we demonstrate day in and day out. Taking the time to reflect on what those behaviours are and what they are communicating to our teams is a great first step towards a healthier culture and workplace. 
• Allow flexibility and boundaries. These two can seem opposites, but they don’t have to be. Now more than ever, the lines between work and life are getting blurrier and blurrier. This is why it’s also more important now to create boundaries that help us achieve balance. This is an extremely hard task because it completely varies from person to person. Nonetheless, just having honest conversations about it can benefit everyone in our teams, including ourselves. 
• Lead by example. More important than what we say, it’s what we do. This is why as leaders, we need to lead by example. It’s not enough to tell your team to take time for themselves, if they don’t see you doing it, they will assume that it’s not okay. A great example of this is how we behave during holidays, are you still sending emails? If so, you might as well be telling your team that it’s not ok to truly disconnect while on holiday. (Read more about disconnecting while on holiday here). 

By creating balance and support, individuals can enter and stay in their optimal zone of functioning, which is a healthy and stable state of well-being.

Read “Why daily exercise should form part of your corporate strategy – By Ollie Phillips” here.

Optimist view:

At Optimist Performance, we believe that great individuals and teams start with well-being. This is why, in our leadership and coaching programmes, we not only focus on business issues but also consider how personal challenges could be impacting our professional lives. 

Learn more about our coaching programmes and book your free call to see if we are the right fit.

Are you ready to get the best out of each person on your team, including yourself? Then you need to start looking at the human behind the performance. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help you and your team become the best versions of yourselves.

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Team as a Collection of Strengths

In the corporate world, a team functions much like the England Rugby Team. It is a collection of individuals, each with distinct strengths and capabilities. When these strengths are recognised and effectively harnessed, they propel the team—and, by extension, the business—towards achieving remarkable goals.

Benefits of Playing to Your Strengths

Increase engagement and productivity and reduce turnover

According to a Gallup analysis people who use their strengths every day are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life, six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive, and 15% less likely to quit their jobs.

Increase individual overall well-being

According to studies; by using our strengths, we can feel an increase in happiness, improve our relationships, build resilience, strengthen our ability to overcome problems (Hammond, 2010), and enhance our overall well-being (Linley et al., 2010)

“In an intervention promoting people’s top five character strengths at work, employees reported increased life satisfaction and psychological well-being.”

(Forest et al., 2012).

Enhance performance

Team members who not only feel better about themselves and the contribution they’re making but who also feel engaged will perform better, which undoubtedly will enhance their performance and therefore the performance of the team and business. 

How to tap into strengths??

Identifying individual strengths begins with a thorough assessment process. Tools like personality profiles, strength-finding surveys, one-on-one coaching sessions, and peer feedback can help uncover the unique capabilities of each team member. 

Once everyone in the team has identified their strengths, we need to bring these strengths together. First, we need to gain awareness about our own and others’ strengths and then work on how everyone can use those strengths to enhance collaboration and performance. 

Another way we can use our strengths is to understand possible conflicts and gaps. Knowing our own and others’ preferences and strengths can help us foresee possible conflicts but also be more empathetic in managing them. Additionally, we can identify gaps. Games like The Empty Chair help us reflect on the possible gaps we may have as a team and create better strategies. 

Read more about using this knowledge to increase team performance here. 

The Optimist View…

By embracing the concept of “Play to Your Potential,” companies can unlock the full potential of their teams, helping to drive performance, productivity, and employee satisfaction. 

Just as the England Rugby Team thrives on utilising the unique strengths of each player, your business can achieve remarkable success by recognising and harnessing the individual strengths within your team.

At Optimist Performance, we believe in playing to our potential, which is why we use diagnostic tools and expert coaches to work with individuals and teams to delve more deeply into strengths and preferences, avoiding a “sheep dip” approach. 

Are you ready to unleash your team’s potential? Get in touch with us and learn more about how we work with individuals and teams to do just that. 

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As a people-based business, we’ve looked at different approaches and the science behind setting goals. In previous articles, we’ve looked at how to change your habits to achieve your goals – establishing new habits and breaking the unhelpful ones.  We’ve also covered setting SMARTER goals and some of the questions you might ask yourself to reflect on where you are now and, looking to the future, where we can improve.

This month, we turn our attention East to the Japanese concept of ikigai and consider how we can use our own individual sense of purpose to influence and set our goals. Ikigai is a word with no direct translation to English; it roughly equates to “that which makes life worth living”, “reason for being”, or perhaps what gets you out of bed in the morning. 

Purpose is profoundly personal

Ikigai is concerned with a focus on a particular sphere of life, activity or social role which offers a real source of identity or meaning. It can be defined as something that truly makes life worth living for a particular individual. This could be aspects of social identity such as work or family or found within a sport or hobby.

Your Ikigai does not necessarily refer to your working life, nor does it need to be something grand or monumental. While one person’s Ikigai might be building a multi-million-pound business, another’s could be volunteering on a particular project or looking after their pet.

Your individual definition of success will be just as unique as you are.

Your goals will be interconnected

In previous articles, we’ve talked about siloed working within companies where departments fail to communicate with each other. Similarly, to ensure your goals are achievable, don’t fall into the trap of not considering your life as a whole when you start to define them. Writing in Forbes, the CEO of BodeTree Chris Myers, talks about Ikigai’s intersection of the spiritual with the physical, which connects all aspects of life. 

He explains: “There’s a difference between the things that are important in your life and your life’s work. Ikigai is about finding joy, fulfilment and balance in the daily routine of life.”

Myers warns against compartmentalising important aspects of our lives, such as our jobs, families, passions and desires.

Striking a balance between goals across different life areas is key.

Write your narrative to success

Writing your goals down and articulating what success in achieving them will look like is advocated in a paper on how Ikigai can optimise human performance and happiness by Prof Dr Michaela Schippers of the Erasmus Research Institute of Management.

Schippers cites the book ‘Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change’ by Timothy Wilson. He recommends describing the goals you set in “concrete rather than abstract terms” and describes how you can create a new life story by rewriting it, which can help you break free from self-defeating patterns of thinking. 

According to Wilson, writing a ”more optimistic story …will energise you to take action”.

Make your goals positive – and public

In her paper on Ikigai, Schippers describes a study where students were asked to reflect on their goals, which could be academic or non-academic, within their first term of university. They were then asked to commit to one overall goal, which was published, along with their photo, on the university’s website. 

The students were asked to frame these intentions as “I will” commitments. These included statements such as, “I will work as hard as possible to achieve my goals” and “I will sustain the world for future generations,” which were published alongside their name and photo.

Schippers’ study showed an increase of 22 per cent in academic performance compared to previous cohorts who had not taken part in the “I will” intervention and decreased drop-out rates.

Focus on random acts of kindness, along with your goals

Within Optimist Performance, we always talk about the importance of cultivating an ‘attitude to gratitude,’ not just during the season of goodwill, but all year round. According to Schippers’ paper on Ikigai, having an altruistic purpose in life may be particularly helpful for optimising happiness. 

Random acts of kindness were found to be particularly helpful to their benefactor. The study also found helping others, especially in socially engaged ways, was more beneficial to a person’s well-being than providing treats for themselves.

The Optimist View…

At Optimist Performance, we believe that we all can find our Ikigai and achieve that balance and success. However, you don’t need to do it alone, our Optimist Coaches can help you with it, they can support you in fulfilling your potential, clarify your goals and plan your route to success in 2023. 

Learn more about our Optimist coaching here or get in touch with us for a free touchpoint first call with one of our coaches.

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Having formal organisational structures in place helps outline how activities are directed in accordance with defined roles and responsibilities. These structures often determine how information flows between management levels and across different departments.

Organisational structures vary depending on factors such as the company’s stage of development, geography and the verticals they work across. They can range from hierarchical pyramids to virtually horizontal ones. Businesses can be organised across countries, sectors or divisions. They can be matrix-based with team members working across different projects or a networked structure which juggles subcontractors, freelancers and different locations.

Organisational structures according to Frederic Laloux

As well as expressing organisations in terms of their shape, Frederic Laloux takes a colourful look at how groups are structured in his book  “Reinventing Organizations”.

Within the book, he uses colours to illustrate how organisations operate across different kinds of settings, from the Mafia to fast-moving consumer goods brands. Laloux says each of these structures is suited to the context within which it operates, with no one structure being better than the other. And there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the colours:

Red – structured around a strong leader (usually an alpha male) with subordinates jockeying for power. A red structure can be seen in wolf packs, street gangs and the Mafia.

Amber – organisations have both a pyramid structure and a clear chain of command with job titles defining people’s place within the hierarchy. Decisions are made by the upper levels with the lower levels following orders. Armies, governmental departments and the Catholic church are all amber organisations.

Orange  – these still incorporate a pyramid structure but incorporate a greater degree of freedom which helps the organisation pursue greater innovation. Orange is the dominating organisational structure for market-leading brands including BMW, Nike and Coca-Cola. Despite its brightness, orange has a darker side  – corporate greed, short-termism and reckless exploitation of planetary resources are side effects which are fast becoming difficult to ignore.

Green – while green organisations still operate with a pyramid and define staff functions, there is more of a focus on empowering front-line employees. The pyramid becomes inverted with managers at the top and middle encouraged to share power and control to become servant leaders. A green structure is used by ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s

Teal – these organisations are complex with distributed authority and adaptive systems. Teams are self-managing or are organised as decentralised networks. The static pyramid is replaced by a fluid hierarchy with power flowing towards those with the most expertise, passion or interest. Outdoor clothing company Patagonia is an example of a teal organisation.

The top five common roadblocks to performance

While there are differences in terms of the shape – or colour – of these organisations, there are also some commonalities. To achieve the best performance, your organisational structure needs to provide clear and open channels of communication, as well as opportunities for staff across different departments to collaborate to solve business issues.

Similarly, information needs to flow freely between layers, enabling managers to make informed decisions which are beneficial for the entire business.

Removing and redressing the barriers which impede information flow and communication within an organisation are therefore vital for its performance. The top five most common roadblocks to performance that Optimist Performance has identified are:

1. Communication issues (both internal and external) which include ‘silo working’ where a company’s structure impedes the sharing of information between departments 
2. Company culture, including a lack of clarity about the organisation’s mission, values and purposes – all essential to creating a positive culture
3. Issues surrounding change within companies (e.g. growth and mergers, restructure)
4. Collaboration (between management layers, departments and team members)
5. Internal business processes

Just as every company has an organisational structure which works best for them, it can also have its own complex and unique barriers which can impede communication and information sharing. We often see some of these top five roadblocks in companies which are experiencing and adapting to rapid or significant growth. This can be either in terms of onboarding a large intake of new hires or where companies merge with other companies with different cultures or ways of working.

The Optimist View…

Creating change as a driver for performance improvement requires both management and staff buy-in. It’s crucial to make sure that everyone is committed and involved in building structures and processes which will help embed longer-term plans for longer-term success. 

At Optimist Performance, we create bespoke programmes designed to tackle each of the key roadblocks, prioritising the most pressing issue or issues that each individual business needs to solve. We work collaboratively to help a company establish new processes and ways of working to build positive behavioural change in the longer term, factoring in how a company will continue to hold itself accountable. 

If you want to know more about how we can help you and your team, get in touch with us today. 

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The CIPD’s findings are a stark reminder of the negative impact people managers can have on employee mental well-being if they are not trained and supported to go about their management role in the right way.  As well as being damaging to employees and their families, a stressed workforce can result in poor performance, more sick days and higher staff turnover.

Healthy leadership starts at the top

Many businesses go through tense periods, but good people managers can help mitigate or even prevent negative effects on their employees. While a certain amount of stress, such as a realistic deadline, can have positive effects, too much can contribute to common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. 

One in four people will experience issues with their mental health at some point in their lifetime, and with the CIPD listing it as the main cause of long-term absence, it should be a topic that can be openly discussed without judgement or stigma. But the survey highlights – and indeed warns – about the “defining influence” top table attitudes and behaviours can have on the mental wellbeing of employees. 

Sadly, the CIPD has found what it calls a “small but disappointing slip” in attention to employees’ mental and physical wellbeing within this year’s survey statistics in comparison with the first year of the pandemic. Seventy per cent of HR respondents agreed that employee wellbeing was on senior leaders’ agendas (down from 75 per cent last year) and 60 per cent said they believed that line managers have bought into the importance of well-being (67 per cent last year).

While the CIPD found that more organisations were taking steps to tackle unhealthy practices such as ‘presenteeism’ and ensuring people who are ill are discouraged from working, it also highlighted the need for these messages to come straight from the top.

The survey concluded: “Now, more than ever, we need leaders who are not afraid to show compassion, who consciously role-model healthy working practices and foster an environment where people feel safe to speak about health issues and seek help.”

Culture is crucial for health

Companies need to use both their eyes and their ears – being observant of stressful situations and taking time to listen to their staff can help diffuse the negative impact of situations as they arise. Creating a culture that resonates with employees, where people can be open about the mental and physical health issues that affect them, is crucial.

Health is a fact of life and employees are unable to perform their roles well without it. According to the CIPD’s research, the attitudes of senior leadership are “pivotal” to making sure the well-being of their employees is taken seriously and “embedded in day-to-day people management practices.”

The survey reports that the greater focus on employee health and well-being during the Covid pandemic has slipped down the priority list, but we’re only just beginning to see the side effects of two years of lockdowns and restrictions. The consequences of delayed routine health checks and the knock-on effects on treatment programmes are likely to result in poorer health outcomes in the years to come.

Many of us will struggle with our mental health at some point in our lives – but the good news is that there’s a lot we can do to improve it. Men’s Health Week 2022, took place last month organised by the Men’s Health Forum, which provides an independent voice for health and wellbeing for men and boys. 

“Time for your MOT”

One in five men will die before the age of 65, and the causes of this can be both physical and mental. In a year where we’re all trying to get back to normal, this year’s campaign is urging men to take “Time for your MOT.” 

It encourages men to make both their mental and physical health a priority by attending any routine health checks they might be invited to or by reaching out and seeking help for any symptoms they may be experiencing. Checklists are available on the site identifying when you might need to speak to your GP for additional help with both mental and physical health issues.

The Forum also reports that the number of early-stage cancer diagnoses has dropped during the lockdowns. It’s not because these conditions are getting rarer – it’s just that men aren’t visiting GPs as much as women for these conditions to be diagnosed.

Just as companies need to raise their game when it comes to employee well-being, it’s important not to drop the ball when it comes to your own health.

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