Andy

When I was coaching, I noticed something about players who missed training. They’d always have a reason. A sore knee. A late night. A busy week. They’d tell themselves they’d be fine once the game started. But you could always tell who’d skipped training once the whistle blew. Their timing was off. Their decisions were […]

One thing I’ve always expected from my players is simple. If you get injured, you still turn up to training. Even if you can’t run drills or make tackles, you’re still part of the team. You might help set up cones, talk through plays, or share what you notice from the sideline. You’re still adding

After one particularly close rugby match, our team walked off the field gutted. We’d given it everything, but still came up short. The easy option would’ve been to blame the ref, bad luck, or a missed call. But instead, we sat down the next week and reviewed the game together — play by play. It

In sport, not all the players stay on the field for 80 minutes without rest. Substitutes bring fresh energy, change the pace, and give the team a lift when fatigue sets in. Leadership is no different. Burnout happens when leaders and teams never rotate, never rest, and never bring in new energy. As a leader, if

A frustration employees often tell me is, “We never know how we’re doing; we just get told to work harder.” That’s like asking players to try harder without them knowing what the scoreboard says. Teams need to know the score. In sport, it’s obvious: it’s up on the board for everyone to see. But in leadership,

A number of years ago we sent off a series of promo emails for a seminar. The first one landed well, so we figured the rest would follow suit. But we stopped paying attention mid-campaign and missed the slide in open rates. A quick check-in could have helped us adjust earlier and get back on

A new leader told me recently, “I feel like I need to prove myself by doing everything.” This is a common trap. In rugby, the captain doesn’t need to be the top try-scorer. Their role is to set the tone, call the plays, and keep the team aligned. The best captains actually score less because

Have you ever noticed how the atmosphere in the locker room before a game can set the tone for the whole match? The same applies to leadership. The “locker room”  the environment you create in meetings, daily interactions, and team spaces, shapes how your people perform. If your team walks into a meeting feeling dread,

One of the most common frustrations I hear from managers is: “I just don’t feel like my team trusts me yet.” The mistake? Thinking trust is built in one grand moment. It’s not. Trust is like fitness training — built steadily, rep by rep, through consistent effort over time. In sport, you don’t get match-fit

A manager I worked with recently was frustrated. “I’ve told them what needs to happen—more than once. Why aren’t they on board?” I get it. When people don’t follow through, it’s tempting to double down, re-explain, or push harder. But what I have found: You can’t force buy-in. You have to invite it.   Buy-in