Helping leaders build teams who enjoy working together and perform at their best.
Leadership, communication and behaviour change that reduces friction, improves teamwork and brings out the best in people.
You hired capable people who know their jobs. So why do you end up spending so much time dealing with misunderstandings, personality clashes, complaints and people dramas?
Maybe communication is becoming tense between people and departments. Small irritations turn into aggravations. Morale is slipping and your good people keep leaving. And you just wish everyone could sort themselves out and make your life easier.
Sometimes it’s not quite so obvious. Everyone is present physically, they get the work done adequately and the team appears to function OK. Yet you can feel they’re not really working together well. There’s more frustration bubbling underneath than there should be. People are holding back and you have to push for cooperation. You know this team is capable of much more.
So why does a group of perfectly capable people sometimes struggle to work well together?
And these issues rarely exist in isolation. Fatigue reduces patience and affects communication. Hierarchy makes junior crew reluctant to speak up. When leaders don’t address tension or poor behaviour early, it becomes the cultural norm onboard. Pressure from owners and guests often takes priority over crew recovery. Friction between people spreads through departments and affects the mood and morale of the whole crew.
How people work together creates the People Dynamics of the crew.
Think of a team as a machine. Every person is a component of that machine, with their own role to play and their own attributes. For the machine to perform at its best, every component needs to perform its function well and in alignment with the others.
Communication is the oil that keeps the machine running smoothly. Good communication increases the positive energy within the team. People understand and support each other, cooperate, contribute, speak up and work together towards shared success. This minimises friction and keeps the components in alignment.
Poor communication increases negative energy. People misunderstand each other, become frustrated, withdraw, complain and cooperate less. This creates tension and friction and moves the components out of alignment.
The way the whole team communicates and interacts creates the People Dynamics of the team. The state of those People Dynamics shifts as team members, roles, leadership, working conditions and the culture within the team change.
Good communication, cooperation, support and alignment create positive People Dynamics, moving the team upwards through the Spiral towards Engagement, High Motivation and Collective Excellence.
Poor communication, misunderstanding, frustration and friction create negative People Dynamics, moving the team downwards towards Discontentment, Tension, Defensiveness and ultimately Team Breakdown.
Each person’s life experiences create their individual version of these attributes. Together, these attributes shape who they are and how they perceive their world, present themselves and relate to others.
Take the short People Dynamics Self-Assessment to get an indication of where your team currently sits on the Spiral.
I work with leaders and teams to create positive People Dynamics by developing the leadership, communication and people skills that affect how people work together.
And yes, I do offer leadership and communication training with follow-up coaching, as well as coaching individuals and groups to help them understand themselves and each other better. I can also speak about all of this at your conference and, with my background in acting, you can expect it to be engaging, entertaining and definitely memorable.
I’m an Aussie who now calls the Côte d’Azur home and adore living in the heart of the French Riviera yachting region.
I love people and working with them to create happier, healthier team environments. Since becoming involved in yachting, I’ve become passionate about helping Captains and crews communicate and work better together, so they enjoy their work, perform at their best and support each other’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
