Fit For the Future

As a leader, would you like the people in your team to take more initiative? You might say,“Of course I want them to take more initiative! That’s a no-brainer.”If that’s what you think, good – because I’ll show you how to start encouraging people to take more initiative.But I should warn you this isn’t always what you want. It’s not always a “no-brainer” that you want people to take more initiative.For example, I see this a lot with AI rollouts. Let’s say your organisation is rolling out some new AI system to improve efficiency, and your job as a leader is to get your team on board with this new system.Do you want your team members to take initiative? Well ... maybe. But probably not!You actually want the opposite: to be compliant. They must follow the rules and use the new software. Not keep using the old system, especially secretly behind your back.So, sometimes initiative is the last thing you want. But you want to move past that point as soon as possible, and start showing more initiative.This isn’t easy!David Marquet, commander of the US Navy’s nuclear submarine Santa Fe, discovered this in 1999.At the time, he was leading his crew through exercises In Pearl Harbor, taking them through a series of intense training exercises.In one such exercise, Marquet ordered the engineer to shut down the nuclear reactor, testing the crew’s ability to deal with the situation, and find and correct the fault. The submarine switched to its battery backup, and the trouble-shooters started working diligently through their checklist, trying to isolate the fault before the battery died.Marquet – by his own admission – became bored, and decided to raise the stakes by increasing the submarine’s speed. That would significantly increase the drain on the battery, adding extra pressure to the process.He nudged his Officer On Deck, Lieutenant Commander Bill Greene, and asked him to increase the speed from “ahead one third” to “ahead two thirds”. Greene immediately barked out the order to the helmsman, “Ahead two thirds!”And then … nothing. Nobody said anything, the helmsman didn’t respond, and Marquet noticed him squirming in his seat. He asked why, and the helmsman replied, “Captain, there is no such setting on this ship!”Marquet realised he had probably been told this during his training, but he had forgotten. He later took Greene aside to ask him why he ordered it. Greene admitted he, too, knew there was no “ahead two thirds”, but went ahead and ordered it “because you told me to”. He went on to say, “I thought you had learned something secret at Commanding Officer school that they only tell the Commanding Officers.”Marquet was stunned. This was his first role commanding this type of submarine, so he was one of its least experienced crew members. But, because he had the title, his crew would respond without question to his orders. He resolved to transform that culture from blind obedience to individual empowerment, and did that over the next twelve months.Marquet realised this crew, as good and as smart as they were, were still compliant. They would obey the hierarchy.He spent the next twelve months building a different culture and turning that around. He tells the story in his book, “Turn the Ship Around”.One of the key principles – and one I encourage you to use – is this simple idea: push authority to information.Push authority to information.If all people do is alert you to problems, that’s fine. But even better is when they have the authority to act on that information without always checking in with you.Of course, there are situations where they should check in – that’s a matter of judgement. But the first and most important thing you can do to encourage initiative is to push authority to information.If you want people to take more initiative, push authority to information.Download my worksheet here to use with your team to identify ways to put this principle into practice.https://swiy.co/go-push-authority-to-information

When you’re operating in a world where more and more things feel unpredictable, that uncertainty puts pressure on how your team functions. You can’t shut the door on that chaos and uncertainty, but there’s one surprisingly simple thing your team can do to reduce stress and anxiety.https://swiy.co/go-the-dependability-gapA few weeks ago, a Tesla driver driving across Australia got stranded half-way across the Nullarbor. He knew there were charging stations along the way, and had planned his trip carefully to use them along the journey. Unfortunately, three charging stations in a row – hundreds of kilometres apart – weren’t working. Usually, they are reliable, and he had even built in enough contingency for one to be broken, but not all three. Suddenly, he was stuck!This often happens in times of change and uncertainty (like right now!). Sometimes the biggest stress doesn’t come from new things, but from old things that just don’t work anymore.This is the dependability gap, and it causes a lot of stress and anxiety.You know this now, right?You go to your local servo and it’s out of petrol.You want to change a flight, but it’s double the price.You want to pump up your tyres, but there’s a massive line of people following the government’s advice.(OK, maybe that last one isn’t happening everywhere!)Your regular café is probably one that reliably makes your coffee the same way every time. It doesn’t have to be the best in the world, but it’s reliably good, and that’s good enough. You wouldn’t go there if it’s the best in the world today, but tomorrow it’s terrible, then the next day it’s just OK, then back to the best again.It’s not reliable, and you can’t depend on it.You don’t need 100% precision – just dependability. If the last train home at night could be 5 or 10 minutes late, OK – you can work around it. But if it sometimes doesn’t turn up at all, you can’t rely on it.We depend on dependability.You might call it reliability, but I’m using the word “dependability” because it’s the word Google used in its Project Aristotle research to identify the factors that high-performing team share. Google thought the best teams must logically have the smartest engineers, but in fact they discovered something five other – very different – things. I won’t share them all here (just look up Project Aristotle), but one was dependability.In other words, people in the team could depend on each other.This happens in the smallest everday things.You ask somebody to send you a report by 2pm, and you know they will do it – not at 2.15pm or 2.05pm (which means you can’t present it at the 2pm meeting).You ask people to do some pre-reading for a meeting, and you know they will do it, so you don’t have to waste time in the meeting waiting for them to catch up.You ask somebody to reply to a customer and you know they will do it – without you checking in on them every hour.Google found that teams with high dependability perform better. And when you think about it, it’s obvious. But would you have guessed it’s one of the TOP FIVE factors?Dependability matters even more when there’s a lot of external change and uncertainty. When you can depend less on what’s happening outside, building depending inside becomes even more important.So how do you build dependability in your team?It starts with small things – like in the examples above. It’s tempting to think they don’t matter. But they do.For more examples, download the worksheet here and use it as a starting point for building more dependability in your team.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-the-dependability-gap

Do you have people in your team pushing back on change? It might not be because they’re difficult, but they’re just exhausted by it. With constant, overlapping demands coming from every direction, it’s no surprise their motivation dips and their resistance grows. Instead of trying to force people to get on board, there’s a simple step you can take to get them started. It doesn’t instantly remove resistance, but it starts to change how people feel about what’s possible – and that’s where real momentum begins.https://swiy.co/go-small-wins-big-changeAs a leader, are you finding your people are resistant to change?In a recent online presentation, I was talking about building a culture of change agents, and one person said their team is going through constant change. And not just one change at a time, but multiple overlapping changes – and it’s creating uncertainty, instability, and change fatigue. His biggest challenge, not surprisingly, is sustaining motivation during this time.I’m hearing that a lot.Leaders tell me their teams are change fatigued, and often it’s from external change completely outside their control. Sometimes it’s even imposed from higher levels of the organisation, but it’s still outside their control.So what can you do?First, accept there’s a lot of change, and there will be a lot more in the future. This isn’t a temporary state that will eventually revert to normal; this IS normal.So, what can you do about it?Recognise that not everybody is going to be open to change at the same level or at the same time.So, one of the first things you can do is what Chip and Dan Heath, in their book “Switch”, call “finding the bright spots”:Find positive examples of change, share them, and amplify them.Ideally, find examples from within your own team. Even the smallest stories, anecdotes, and case studies can help.This doesn’t mean those people who are resistant to change will magically change. It probably takes more before they’re full open to change and embrace it. But at least they can see examples of successful change.So, invite people to think of success stories, give them a place to share them (such as the regular staff meeting or an online bulletin board), and celebrate their success.For practical ways to put this into action, download my worksheet, which is all about finding, sharing, and amplifying bright spots in your workplace. Use it with your team to help people move from resistance to starting to believe that change is possible — and even positive.Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-small-wins-big-change

If you want real, lasting change in your team, understand what truly motivates each person. Everybody shows up to work for different reasons, so connect the change you’re asking for with what matters to them personally. When people see how change benefits them – not just the organisation – they’re far more likely to choose it, support it, and sustain it.https://swiy.co/go-this-time-its-personalI was speaking at a leadership conference recently, and somebody asked me for some advice afterwards. He said:“I’m a leader of a team and we’re going through a major change right now. If we don’t change, we’re going to lose our jobs – all of us! But some people in the team just don’t get it. How do I convince them it’s literally their job at stake?”It reminded me of something that happened to me in my first job, working for a small tech team (Nowadays, it would be called a startup). Because it was small, people tended to get promoted quickly, and I became a manager way before I was ready for it. I’ll admit I wasn’t a very good manager to begin with, but I like to think I learned quickly.At the time, our company was struggling. We had lost a couple of big contracts, and were finding it difficult to get more work because our biggest project (my project) was running late.In my first management role, at one of our weekly management meetings, one of the senior leaders told us we just needed to get people to work harder. Mind you, we couldn’t afford to pay them more, but we just expected them to work longer hours to get the project done.I asked him, “What do I tell my people? How do I motivate them?”He said, “Just tell them that if they don’t change, they’ll lose their jobs!”Even as a naive, wet-behind-the-years, 23-year-old, first-time manager, I knew this wasn’t going to motivate my team! Unfortunately, I had to pass on that message, but it reminded me this has been a constant problem. And many leaders still try to motivate their teams to change by offering only the stick, with no carrot.What’s a better solution?First, you can’t wave a magic wand and instantly get people to change. It doesn’t work that way, unless there’s a catastrophic event – like, say, a global pandemic.So, you need to build a CULTURE of change.And this starts by recognising not everybody is motivated by the same things. Everybody has their own reasons for being at work.For some, it’s just about earning money to look after their family and lifestyle. No problem with that – they feel fulfilled by what they do outside work hours.At the other extreme, some are passionate about their work, and put everything into it because they feel they are making a difference – the kind of difference THEY want to make – in the world.And then there’s everything in between.So, if you’re involved in any sort of change initiative and you want your people to change, my first question for you is this:Do you know WHY your people are there?If you don’t, find out! Because you can’t force them to change – or, rather, you can’t force them to change and keep the change.Motivation comes from them, not from you.This is part of building a culture of change agents, and it’s what makes change happen, makes it positive, and makes it stick.For more, join my free, public online presentation this week, “Keep The Change”. I’ll share how to build this culture of change, including some simple, practical things you can do right now.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-this-time-its-personal

You don’t always need big initiatives or expensive training to bring people along on a change journey. Sometimes the difference comes from a tiny adjustment in how you work. These tiny levers can have a big effect, especially if you foster a team culture that seeks them and embraces them.https://swiy.co/go-tiny-leversWhat small changes are you making that could make a big difference in your workplace?I was recently participating in a panel discussion about the future-ready skills we need for our workforce now and in the future. The discussion turned to the need to embrace diversity in our teams, especially generational diversity. Younger people often bring fresh perspectives and expertise, but we also don’t want to lose the experience, good judgement, and wisdom of more experienced team members.The moderator of the panel, Keith, asked the audience,“Can anybody in the room share an example of bridging the generational gap?”One participant, Isabella, shared a story from a previous workplace.As part of a digital transformation process, they introduced online dashboards to show performance of various technical processes. These dashboards improved the visibility of data, but two of the old, more experienced managers struggled to immediately grasp what a dashboard was showing. So, in a meeting, when they saw a series of dashboards, they missed the first few results, and thus lost important information. As a result, they couldn’t make well-informed comments and discussions about overall performance.So what could you do?Do you send those people off to digital training courses?Do you give them mentoring from younger people?Do you get them to do job shadowing?Do you give them some other form of professional development?Well, yes, all of those things are useful.But Isabella said they did something much simpler.In a meeting, when they switched to the new dashboard, they stopped ... just for a few seconds ... to give everybody the chance to see, understand, and absorb the information. And then they moved on.Those five seconds were enough. That’s all it took to get everybody on board.I love this story because it shows that sometimes, it only takes a few seconds to help somebody.Sometimes, to bring people along on any change journey, you do need to invest a lot of time, effort, resources, and money. There’s nothing wrong with that.But sometimes you don’t.Sometimes all it takes is a small change.So, look for the small changes — the quick wins — that can make a big difference.For more, join my free online presentation next week, called “Keep the Change”, which is all about building a culture of change in your team and your organisation. I’m sure you’ll get some really practical things you can take away and put into place immediately.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-tiny-levers

You want your team to embrace change, but just telling them what to do rarely works. People move at different speeds, and many will wait to see whether something actually works before they commit. One of the best ways to build momentum is to share success stories. When people see colleagues trying new ideas and getting good results, it lowers the risk and makes change feel possible. Instead of pushing everybody at once, highlight “bright spots” to motivate others.https://swiy.co/go-change-is-contagiousHow are you creating a culture of change in your team?I spoke at a conference recently, and somebody came up to me after my presentation, and said:“You might not remember me, but you worked with our extended leadership team a few years ago, and gave us an idea about innovation and change that has worked really well for us.”Well, of course, the only thing better than hearing people say nice things about me is to tell you about it!So, I’ll do that here ...I do remember this client. They were going through a major change initiative, with a focus on innovation and being customer-centric. One of their ideas was to create an online “suggestion board”. Anybody in the organisation could post a suggestion about something they would like changed. Then somebody else who could tackle that, maybe even from a different department, would take that on board and put it into action to create the change.Good idea, but ... You might be able to guess the flaw.Many people were submitting ideas and requests, but very few people would take them. Not surprising, because everybody is already overloaded with their own work, and just don’t have time to do somebody else’s work as well!So this team was planning to ditch the suggestion board. But I told them to keep it, but change it.Instead of using it to make requests, I suggested they use it as a place for people to share their innovation success stories — things that they did, or tried, that went well. Even failures were OK if they shared the process.I checked in a few months later and asked how it was going, and it was ticking along. Then this conference attendee told me it’s working really well now. People are sharing ideas, they get lots of positive feedback on them, and everybody feels good about it.More importantly, sometimes other people say,“That’s a great idea. We can do that as well.”And that’s the point.Share your success stories, so others learn from them – and are inspired and motivated by them.When you’re creating a culture of change, you can’t expect to bring everybody on the journey at the same pace.A few people are keen. A few will hang back and wait to see what happens. And others won’t change unless you drag them kicking and screaming.But you can’t force people to change. And sometimes you can’t even gently cajole the nervous starters.What you CAN do is share the success stories of the keen, enthusiastic, early innovators.This is one of the nine ideas from the book “Switch”, by Chip and Dan Heath. They describe this as “finding the bright spots”.Instead of trying to force people to change, find examples, stories, anecdotes, and stories of people doing the right thing. Share them, highlight them, showcase, them, and celebrate them.For more practical ideas about creating a culture of change with your team, register for my next free, public, online presentation, “Keep The Change”. It’s open to everybody, so please invite others in your team and network as well.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-change-is-contagious

You might have an idea or message to share, but most people aren’t automatically ready to listen. They are busy, distracted, and thinking about their own priorities. For your message to land, you first need to shape their frame of mind. That means answering the four questions already running through their head: Why you? Why me? Why this? and Why now? When you address those questions upfront, you build credibility, relevance, and urgency – and your audience is far more likely to pay attention to your message.https://swiy.co/go-attention-firstWhen you’re sharing an idea with somebody for the first time, how do you grab their attention so they listen to your message?I’ve been doing a lot of work recently with teams and organisations about the skill of sense-making, which is one of the most important future-ready skills we all need.Sense-making is about making sense (surprise!) in three areas:* Intel: Making sense of the world around you and filtering what’s important and relevant to you, your team, your organisation, and your community.* Insights: Using that intel to gain insights into what you need to change, adapt, or keep the same.* Influence: Sharing those insights with others so they take action and make a difference.Some teams want help in all three areas; others choose one or two. Most commonly, I’m asked to help with the third part: Influence.Clients say something like this to me:“Our leaders know what’s going on in the world. They know what action we need to take. But they need to be better at communicating that message.”This could be in any context: standing on stage in front of a large group, speaking up in a team meeting, having a sales conversation with a prospect, or many other interactions.In all those situations, you have a message to share and you want to get their attention quickly.The most important thing to understand is they don’t care about you!They have many other things competing for their attention, and they aren’t in the right frame of mind to listen to your message. If they are, that’s lucky, but you can’t rely on it.So it’s your job to shift and create the right frame of mind for YOUR message.Before your listener will be ready for your message, they are asking four questions in their head:* Why you (authority)? Why should I listen to YOU?* Why me (relevance)? Why does this matter to me?* Why this (benefits)? Why is this idea worth my attention?* Why now (urgency)? Why is this important to me right now?Let’s look at the first (Why you), which is about your authority and credibility in delivering this message. Even for people who know you, you need to answer this question for THIS particular message.To answer this, consider three E’s: education, expertise, and experience:* Education is about your qualifications, which could include school, TAFE, university, your professional organisation, or professional development.* Expertise refers to your areas of expertise.* Experience is usually about numbers – for example, “You’ve been doing this for thirty years”, “I’ve worked with 100 clients in 20 countries”, “I’ve been on the board of six companies in this sector”.Together, these three things answer the “Why you?” question in your listener’s mind.The other three questions (Why me? Why this? Why now?) are just as important. I won’t go through them here, but download my worksheet that covers all four questions. Whenever you’re delivering a message, use this to answer those four framing questions for your listener, so they’re in the right frame of mind before you deliver the message.And if you’d like to talk about how we can implement some of the skills of sense-making for you, your team, and your organisation, let’s have a chat!Download the worksheet:https://swiy.co/go-attention-first

Your customers are already using AI in ways you probably don’t see: asking for advice before they contact you, checking what questions to ask, recording interactions with you, and sometimes even deciding whether they need you at all. Regardless of how YOU are using AI, your customers are comparing you with what they can get instantly, cheaply, and privately. If you’re only thinking about how you’re using AI internally, you’re missing half the picture.https://swiy.co/go-the-invisible-shiftDo you know how your customers are using AI?I had a minor twinge in my back recently, which caused a bit of discomfort for a few days. So I made an appointment to see a physiotherapist a few days later. I also asked ChatGPT for some guidance. ChatGPT first checked whether there was pain elsewhere – in my legs or headaches. I said no, so it then told me this was a common problem, gave me two exercises to do, and reassured me it would resolve in 7 to 10 days.When I saw the physio a few days later, she gave me exactly the same advice: checked for pain elsewhere, gave me the same two exercises, and reassured me it would resolve in 7 to 10 days.What will I do next time? Well, personally, because I know not to trust AI with health advice, I will still see a physio, and trust her advice first, especially if it contradicts AI.But that’s not true of everybody else. And that’s my point.Look at it from her perspective. Regardless of how she and her practice are using AI – for scheduling appointments, transcribing meetings, getting advice with complex cases, reviewing x-rays, and so on – her customers are ALREADY using AI.They might ask AI for initial advice (as I did) to be sure it wasn’t an urgent issue. Or they could ask AI what to say, or what question to ask, in the physio appointment. Or use their phone to record the appointment and then ask AI to summarise the conversation later. Or use it for follow-up advice.And some might choose not to go to the physio at all!This applies to your customers as well.Regardless of how you’re using AI internally, think about how your customers are using AI... before they engage with you... when they engage with you... and after they engage with you.This is not just how YOU are using AI to engage with your customers – with things like chatbots on your website, AI voice assistants, personalised marketing, tailored offers, and so on. All of that’s part of your AI strategy, but it’s only one part. Don’t forget how your customers are using AI as well – in their own lives.All of this is part of your AI strategy, which also means it’s part of your business strategy.If you don’t have an AI strategy, you don’t have a business strategy.For more, join my free public online presentation this week about AI for leaders in 2026 and beyond. One of my key messages is understanding how customers (and employees and others) are using AI. It’s free and open to everybody, so register and invite others in your team and network, too.Register for the virtual masterclass:https://swiy.co/go-the-invisible-shift