Leadership is designing how your team thinks

When I was involved in improv (I know!) I experienced an amazing phenomenon. When things were going well, I felt like me AND like part of a seamless larger awareness.

The best improv groups feel and operate as a hive mind - able to move together, anticipate each other, and build something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s really quite something to experience.

You can’t script it, but you can certainly shape the conditions that allow it to happen: trust, respect, openness.

• Most leaders influence what their team does.

• The best leaders shape how their team thinks.

Not by telling them what to think (yuck) but by designing how ideas flow, how decisions get made, and how people relate to uncertainty, disagreement and ambiguity.

It’s a shift from being the smartest person in the room to building a room that thinks smartly together.

I’ve been calling this idea “Distributed Consciousness” - the ability to wire up the collective brain of a team or organisation – to generate a “hive mind”. It’s not about decentralising control. It’s about being deliberate in how you shape:

• What people notice

• How they decide

• When they speak up

• And how they handle ambiguity

It’s subtle. But powerful…

✅ You’re not the bottleneck for decisions. Instead, there’s flow.

✅ People build on each other’s ideas without waiting for permission.

✅ Clarity comes from the group—not just from you.

It’s not about stepping back – and it’s not the same as collective consciousness (the content of shared thought – what everyone knows).

It’s about stepping into the role of designer, not decider.

If you’re a leader, consider these thought-starters:

• Are you teaching people how to think - or just giving them conclusions?

• When was the last time someone offered a perspective totally different from yours?

• What thinking habits (good or bad) are people unconsciously picking up from you?

What do you think? And how do you think it??

Until next week, take care of yourself and others

Madeleine

I help accomplished professionals untangle difficult career questions so they can thrive in work and life.

1. Want to find out more? Send me a note and let me know.

2. Feeling unfulfilled, overworked or unclear about what next? Work with me to identify what is holding you back and make a plan for more powerfully and enjoyably pursuing goals that matter to you. Contact me to find out more.

3. Join my list to receive regular articles and insights, early news about programs and offers, and respect for your inbox.

4. Follow me on LinkedIn to stay connected.

5. Prefer to talk? Choose a time and it will drop right into my schedule.

Click below to share this on your socials…