On leadership and responsibility
A former colleague asked me for my thoughts on leadership and building resilient teams. What follows is a version of the email I sent him in response.
My buzz word for high-performing teams is responsibility. What responsibility do we have towards people we employ? What do we owe our employees / colleagues / clients / employer? How can we genuinely and honestly take responsibility for our own actions and the impact they have - on our immediate environment, society, the world?
At di:ga, the company I set up and ran for 14 years, we treated everyone like adults and expected them to behave this way. We gave people freedom and flexibility but asked them to take responsibility for the things they were tasked with - and for their contribution to the performance and wellbeing of the whole team.
We didn't micromanage, or clock-watch. Of course, we provided support - whether that was training, advice, friendship, coaching, decent benefits and leave policies, or honest feedback. But we did so based on the belief that ultimately everyone is responsible for themselves and how they show up, and that it is a privilege to work on issues you care about, with talented and motivated colleagues, for quality clients.
We expected leadership at every level and asked people to consider themselves co-pilots, or mission-critical crew, rather than passengers. We had clear hierarchy and decision-making processes because they are essential for an organisation to run efficiently. But we emphasised that for the whole to work brilliantly, each part needed to be played well, with full accountability.
For me, responsibility in a professional setting can be demonstrated in different ways (and this applies to leaders and teams):
Getting your work done to the highest standard possible, on time
Supporting your colleagues to do the same
Understanding how your actions interact with and affect others
Sharing, honestly, when you can't deliver, and why
Considering what you think the answer to a question should be before you ask it
Doing the work on yourself - your motivations, your energy reserves, your self-knowledge - so that you can do your job with passion and without resentment
Showing up like this at work might feel tiring. It might be easier to revert to passenger mode, blaming any failings on the organisation, the leadership, the colleagues around you, or clients. You might feel intimated by the demand to step up and show up. But if you accept the challenge, you will be rewarded. What you put in, you will get back, amplified by impact, friendship and shared purpose.
3 July 2025
