Can we bring method to building the culture of our team?

ALSO: More bosses are betting on the Big Return

‘If you want to win, the single most important factor is the level of talent you have… what comes next is environment’. This environmental effect - in other words the culture and conditions that work is done in - accounts for a huge part of success, both in sport and in business. This was the powerful lesson that I took this week from a conversation with culture-master Owen Eastwood .

For those who aren’t familiar with Owen’s work he has helped shaped winning cultures with Gareth Southgate for the England team, for the leadership generals of NATO, the South African cricket squad, the British Olympic team, and the 2023 European Ryder Cup team, to name just a few.

I wanted to talk to Owen to help tackle the challenge that leaders are increasingly sharing with me: ‘my team feels less like a team than any group I’ve ever worked with’. People have expressed their frustration that there’s low participation in group activities, that colleagues don’t want to sit together on hotdesk office days. I’ve had countless conversations where managers have asked me for any pointers of how to re-energise their own team. Owen felt like the best possible person to ask.

In his own work Eastwood strives to build a clear sense of identity to the teams he works with, rooting that feeling in the context and meaning of the work being done. But what I always enjoy about chatting to Owen is that his own humility means that he never seems to mystify his approach:

‘I get asked by people from time to time, could I come and buddy with you and watch how you coach for a day in one of these environments? And I normally can't because obviously the trust and sensitivity of the team wouldn't allow it. But they would probably be a bit underwhelmed. They'd probably be looking for these big belonging rituals and all this emotion and sitting in circles and all this.’

In reality he says there are far more prosaic discussions about people’s understanding of their roles in the group and the discussions about the norms of group behaviour.

What I found most insightful - most potently in a moment where we can find ourselves in multiple overlapping teams - is Owen’s entreaty that not every group we work in needs to see itself as a team. In fact he says his first act with many groups he works with is to ask, ‘do we even need to be a team?’

If you’re interested in what his approach is he talks through it step-by-step in this week’s Eat Sleep Work Repeat. It’s another outstanding listen. You can also read the transcript here.

Listen on Apple / Spotify / website

• CEOs are ready to push for an office return. KPMG published their CEO report (UK version , US version ). The big shift was the number of leaders expecting that we will be heading back to the office. Last year KPMG found that 68% of bosses expected a full return to the office within 3 years. This year that stat has moved up 15% points with 83% expecting that we'll end up with a 5 day office. This comes before the Amazon RTO decision last week - which no doubt would have emboldened some under-the-radar office fanatics.

I chatted to Christine Armstrong about the reasons for this:

(We also talked last week about Amazon going back to the office… does this mean we’re all destined to head back?

Got a question for us? Send it to us and we’ll discuss it

• “It’s not the low carb, healthy fats, lots of fish diets, it’s the pension fraud”. I’ve definitely quoted research about Blue Zones, regions that produce startlingly high longevity. A researcher won a prize this week for demonstrating the data cited in those studies was wrong . In most instances poor middle aged people had inflated their ages earlier in life to get their pension earlier (or were claiming pensions for dead relatives): ‘Poverty and pressure to commit pension fraud were shown to be excellent indicators of reaching [old] ages’. It’s a very good read - if yet another reason to be dubious of scientific findings…but honestly this TikTok is a way more entertaining way to catch up…

• A worker at EY India died from overwork, raising questions about how consultancy firms manage workload
• If you’re someone who uses overwork as a way to self medicate in your life then the book I read this week, Toxic Productivity , will be like a warm hug from a therapist for you. (BTW I’m pretty sure therapists aren’t meant to hug you, which is why the whole industry is a racket I can never support)
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• This week I presented at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham for the first time since I used to be a wine waiter there more than a few years ago. On the plus side fewer people tried to run off without paying but also there were less drinks drunk at the end of the shift