We loved working with St Carthage's Community Care leadership team for the first workshop of your leadership program.
We came into this with a clear goal: to help your leaders grow into the kind of people their teams genuinely want to follow. The group brought real energy, honesty and a genuine desire to improve.
Your leaders took on some challenging reflection work, exploring culture drivers and derailers, identifying leadership strengths, and surfacing the gaps that are holding the team back.
The picture that emerged is a team with real strengths to build on, particularly in coaching, consistency and courage. But there are also clear patterns that need to shift, particularly around gossip, silence and defensiveness.
This is session 1 of 4 in your program. The sessions ahead will go deeper into difficult conversations, holding accountability and building high-performing teams. In the meantime, this report captures the key insights and the critical focus areas to start working on now.
We are excited to see the leaders at St Carthage's Community Care continue to develop and connect throughout the program.
Annabelle
Annabelle Bishop
Leadership Consultant
02
Culture Drivers
How we behave as a team
Culture Derailers
Behaviours we want to stop
Culture Drivers
Behaviours we do well
VS
6
Apathy
Drive / Energy
5
2
Ego
Humility
4
1
Entitlement
Grit and Gratitude
5
4
Defensiveness
Curiosity
5
8
Gossip
Trust
5
9
Silence
Courage
5
The 5 leadership non-negotiables
Coaching
The ability to guide and mentor your team, empowering people to grow their skills and achieve results together.
Culture
The ability to build a culture people are proud of, that gets results and that they do not want to leave.
Clarity
The ability to set clear goals and communicate expectations so everyone knows exactly what is required of them.
Courage
The ability to make the hard calls, hold people accountable and have bold conversations even when it is uncomfortable.
Consistency
The ability to practice what you promise, build trust and psychological safety and show up consistently for your team.
03
Leadership Strength Areas
Your leadership strengths
Areas leaders identified they do well
Empathises and seeks to understand x10
Invests in mentoring x4
Provides space to learn and fail x4
Identifies strengths and growth areas x4
Actively listens x3
Asks curious questions x3
Coaching
Values relationships and results x4
Builds trust and safety x3
Lives out core values x3
Spots signs of cultural problems x2
Creates a healthy environment x2
Culture
Sets clear performance goals x3
Creates a compelling vision x3
Delegates duties to the right people x3
Communicates with influence x2
Clarity
Shows vulnerability and owns mistakes x4
Confronts conflict and tough issues x3
Makes the hard calls x2
Holds people accountable x2
Gives regular feedback x2
Courage
Known for being reliable x4
Emotionally intelligent x3
Behaviour and mood predictable x3
Talk and action align x2
Self awareness x2
Other awareness x2
Consistency
03
Leadership Blindspots
Your leadership blindspots
Areas leaders identified they are not yet confident in or do not do well
Asks curious questions x4
Invests in mentoring x3
Provides space to learn and fail x2
Actively listens x2
Empathises and seeks to understand x1
Coaching
Builds grit and resilience x5
Values relationships and results x3
Spots signs of cultural problems x1
Culture
Sets clear performance goals x3
Creates a compelling vision x3
Communicates with influence x2
Delegates to the right people x2
Recognises and rewards high performance x1
Clarity
Makes the hard calls x5
Confronts conflict and tough issues x4
Gives regular feedback x3
Holds people accountable x3
Shows vulnerability and owns mistakes x2
Addresses underperformance x2
Courage
Self awareness x4
Behaviour and mood predictable x3
Other awareness x2
Talk and action align x2
Emotionally intelligent x1
Reliability x1
Consistency
These are areas team members identified as a personal or team struggle during the workshop activity.
04
Team Reflection
What the team said about themselves
Team Strengths
Compassionate and consistent with people
Aligned as a team to our vision and strengths
Coaching and consistency drive team performance
Communication builds trust and safety within the team
Important to cultivate a positive culture to achieve goals
Supportive, empathetic, firm but kind
Respectful: provide people a voice in decisions
Growth Areas
Lack of vision and direction at times
Difficult conversations not happening consistently
People do not always speak up or feel heard
Culture breaks down when issues go unaddressed
Moods and inconsistency erode trust in the team
Dysfunctional team dynamics and poor peer support
Self awareness needs to grow across the group
05
Culture Health Check
What are the culture flags?
Green
Healthy culture
Safe space to talk openly without fear
Open dialogue and good communication across the team
High productivity with a collaborative approach
People help each other without being asked
Trust is the foundation. People share ideas and suggest improvements
Positive, happy conversations within the group
People feel comfortable raising issues with their leader
Openness and a no blame culture
Orange
Early warning signs
Sub-teams forming within the broader team (cliques)
Communication starting to break down between people
People starting to disengage or go quiet
Issues going unresolved for longer than they should
Water cooler gossip increasing in frequency
People stop sharing positive feedback with each other
Change in someone's mood or attitude over time
Always working solo rather than asking for help
Red
Serious culture issues
Low performance and below expected productivity
Toxic or arrogant behaviour going unchecked
Conversations that are not solution focused
Constant negativity and no respect for leadership
Complaints ignored by management
Absenteeism increasing and resignations following
People commenting on each other's workload negatively
Zero communication or complete shut down
06
Workshop Insights
Shifts to make
01
From Gossip to Trust
Be consistent in how gossip is addressed. Encourage people to speak directly to the person involved
Be open and approachable so people feel safe raising issues the right way
Identify the difference between debriefing and gossip as a team
Assume good intent rather than jumping to conclusions
Create space for people to be heard, but challenge them to resolve things directly
02
From Silence to Courage
Clearly communicate expectations so there is a basis for accountability
Normalise feedback through regular debrief rhythms. Make it routine, not a one-off event
Address issues early, before they escalate into bigger problems
Schedule regular one on one catch ups as a standing rhythm
03
From Defensive to Curious
Prepare before delivering feedback. Do not wing it
Create the margin and time for honest conversations
Prioritise self reflection as a regular leadership habit
Ask curious coaching questions rather than making assumptions
07
Leadership Priorities
What to focus on next
Courage
Build the feedback habit
Schedule weekly one on one conversations with each team member
Prepare before giving feedback. Write down what you want to say
Use situation, behaviour, impact as your framework
Address issues within 48 hours, not weeks later
We go deeper on this in Session 2: The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback
Culture
Name and address gossip
Agree as a team on what gossip looks like versus a legitimate debrief
When you hear gossip, redirect the person to speak directly to the other party
Model the behaviour you want. Do not participate in gossip yourself
Build daily debrief rhythms to give people a sanctioned outlet
Clarity
Create a compelling vision
Articulate where the team is headed in plain, simple language
Connect individual roles to the bigger picture regularly
Revisit and communicate the vision often, not just at the start of the year
Every team member should know what they are trying to achieve and why their role matters
Coaching
Develop people intentionally
Identify one growth area per team member and create a simple plan
Ask more, tell less. Lead with curious questions before giving answers
Create safe space for people to try, fail and learn from it
Invest time in mentoring emerging talent before they disengage
Consistency
Stabilise your presence
Be aware of how your mood lands on the team. It sets the tone for everyone
Do what you say you will do, every time
Hold the same standards for everyone, not just the difficult people
Build team rhythms that give the team predictability and safety
Culture
Build psychological safety
Reward people who speak up, even when the feedback is uncomfortable
Own your mistakes openly. It gives others permission to do the same
Separate the issue from the person when addressing problems
Check in on people who have gone quiet. Silence is often a warning sign
Thank you!
We love working with the team at St Carthage's Community Care
