Going Further: The Coaching Newsletter

🗣 Laurence‑ism: Be Safe Enough to Tell The Truth

The best teams aren’t always the smartest. They’re the safest.

I’ve noticed that it can quite be difficult for leaders to fully accept, because many leaders still believe that performance is driven by pressure. (That was once true and in some ways exists, yet is outdated for newer generations). Leaders will raise expectations, push harder, and keep their teams operating right at the edge, thinking that’s where the best work lives. Spoiler alert: it’s not.

On the surface, pressure-filled leadership can look like it’s working. Deadlines are met more or less, people are busy, meetings move quickly, and things seem aligned.

Yet, underneath that…the Upside Down is growing (shoutout Stranger Things). Something else is happening.

When safety doesn’t exist in organizations, people start becoming more careful. Teams and employees start measuring their words. Vital employees think twice before speaking. They choose the safe answer instead of the honest one. And over time, often without anyone realizing it, individuals move from protecting the work to protecting themselves.

As an Executive Performance Coach, I see this more often than people think. I step into and coach in rooms that look strong from the outside, but feel restricted once you’re in them, with words left unsaid. Teams that appear aligned but aren’t actually telling each other the truth. Leaders who believe they’re driving performance, when in reality they’re managing risk.

Truth bomb here, when people don’t feel safe, they don’t ask the question they should ask. They don’t challenge the idea that needs to be challenged. They don’t admit mistakes early enough for the team to learn from them. And eventually, they stop offering the kind of honesty that great teams, and leaders, depend on.

There was a study done by Google called Project Aristotle that looked at what actually makes teams successful. Notice I didn’t say the smartest teams or the ones working the longest hours, but the ones where employees felt safe enough to speak openly, and to take risks, and most of all, to be honest with each other.

That’s what stood out.

And the data supports it more broadly. McKinsey found that only 26% of leaders actively create that kind of environment, and even fewer teams experience it consistently. So while we talk about culture and performance often, the conditions required for both are still relatively rare.

Safety doesn’t mean lowering the bar and it doesn’t mean removing accountability or making things comfortable.

What safety means is that it creates the conditions where accountability can actually exist. Where ownership shows up without fear, and where team members are willing to say what needs to be said, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Without that, you don’t really get excellence. You get compliance. Creativity and compliance rarely exist together.

So when you find yourself in a room where everyone agrees a little too quickly, or where the conversation feels unusually smooth, it’s worth pausing and asking a simple question.

Is it that people don’t have ideas…or is it that they don’t feel safe enough to share them?

And how can you create that safety, while also maintaining the necessary values to help your teams thrive?

Go Further 🚀

🧰 Tools to Go Further: How to get Unstuck.

"I feel stuck." 

I hear this weekly from my teams and clients. And I promise, I am not above that feeling either.
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The single biggest action you can take to feel less stuck is simple:
stop waiting to feel perfectly ready.
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Many individuals and teams think they need more confidence before they move.
But like Clooney said in Three Kings, "you get the confidence after you do the thing, not before."
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Decision, action, and movement create progress.
Being stuck has a pattern, and it's easy to think it's something helpful.
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Stuck often shows up as: perfectionism, overthinking, procrastination, and self-doubt.
But team, I'm here to tell you...it's all just that scary four-letter F word: fear.

Each of us wants to avoid the fear of:
getting it wrong.
failing.
being judged.
or taking the step and realizing you still have farther to go.
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I'm guilty of it too.
I have had moments where I told myself I was preparing or needed more time.
All I was doing was postponing.
And all it did was keep me in the same place. Stuck.
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Here is the shift:

Progress and flow will absolutely not come from waiting.
They come from action.

It's a small step, then a small win, then a little momentum, then a lesson, and then confidence!

That's how people move forward.
That's how YOU go further.
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Tonight I'm featuring this breakdown and visual in our weekly newsletter. 
You can subscribe and read.

And the question for you:
What part of the stuck cycle do you see most in yourself right now? 
We're all there. Let's get unstuck together.

Go Further 🚀