Autonomy in teams requires clarity, not chaos. Successful autonomous teams need defined authority over coordination, transparent processes, and intentional facilitation to empower people whilst maintaining alignment and effectiveness.

Jon Barnes is a facilitator, coach, and co-founder of Pala, and he focuses on helping teams and organisations become more autonomous. His approach spans a spectrum from making hierarchies feel less hierarchical, to helping teams operate fundamentally without line management.

Three reasons to listen

• Create clarity in team structures by defining authority and decision-making processes upfront
• Build psychological safety and engagement through effective facilitation techniques
• Balance empowerment with appropriate holding by learning when to let go and when to provide direction

Episode highlights

• [00:12:22] the two types of waste in teams
• [00:18:10] What does leadership look like away from hierarchy?
• [00:21:44] Self-management in highly-pressurised teams
• [00:25:37] The myth of self-governance
• [00:27:12] Unhelpful self-management patterns
• [00:32:47] Jon's biggest two levers
• [00:35:32] Jon's media recommendation
• [00:36:59] Dan's media recommendation
• [00:41:12] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Jon via LinkedIn
• Humankind, by Rutger Bregman
• Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry – Jon’s media recommendation
• The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley – Dan’s media recommendation
• From the Core, by John Wineland – Pia’s media recommendation
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

There's a scientific basis for understanding optimal team size, including research on connection complexity, social loafing, and performance data that challenges common assumptions about how many people should work together effectively.

In this Q&A episode, Dan and Pia dive into the science and the data, to discover the optimum team size.

Episode highlights

• [00:01:27] Is it OK to have a big team?
• [00:04:15] The Ringelmann effect
• [00:07:22] What's the optimum team size?
• [00:08:18] When is a team a group?
• [00:10:20] What the Squadify data shows

Links

• Ringelmann effect
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

While AI will dramatically reshape work and careers – potentially displacing entry-level jobs and creating “companies of one” – the true competitive advantage will lie in taking a human-centric approach to AI adoption, where diverse teams maintain creativity, critical thinking and genuine human connection rather than simply automating away people to maximise shareholder returns.

Larry Chao is the founding Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at trustme.ai, a startup building tools for AI governance. He’s also involved with nonprofits like Berkeley Skydeck and the Ethical AI Governance Group, where he helps empower the next generation of innovators to develop AI responsibly.

Sunaina Lobo has been a Chief Human Resources Officer three times over, and is now a strategic advisor to trustme.aiand co-founder of Momentum Global HR, where she does strategic HR consulting with an AI lens.

Three reasons to listen

• Understand the trajectory and implications of AI evolution, and what this means for teams and workflows
• Navigate the human impact of AI adoption in your organisation
• Move beyond AI as a differentiator to focus on human connection and diverse thought as the true sources of organisational strength

Episode highlights

• [00:12:47] The evolution of AI
• [00:16:55] AI and teams
• [00:17:37] Facts emerging from our continued use of AI
• [00:29:01] The case for responsible AI
• [00:32:15] The case against the "company of one"
• [00:41:50] Driving shareholder value while being human-centred
• [00:43:43] Suni's media recommendation
• [00:44:05] Larry's media recommendation
• [00:45:12] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Larry via LinkedIn
• Connect with Sunaina via LinkedIn
• TrustMe.ai
• Suni’s podcast recommendations:
  • Pioneers of AI
  • The AII Daily Brief
• KPop Demon Hunters – Larry’s recommendation
• Humankind, by Rutger Bregman
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Successful team performance requires slowing down to achieve alignment before rushing into action. Spending more time upfront ensuring everyone truly understands the problem statement, decision-making roles, and priorities will save significant time, energy, and relationship breakdowns later.

Without this foundational alignment, teams waste enormous amounts of time in ineffective meetings, experience constant breakdowns in execution, and carry baggage from unresolved issues that poisons future decisions. The key is to move with discipline and sophistication rather than mere speed, investing in both the technical frameworks and the relational intelligence needed to bring out the best thinking from diverse perspectives.

Susan Asiyanbi is the founder and CEO of the Olori Network, an executive leadership practice that works with CEOs, executive teams, and boards, specialising in studying what the strongest executive teams and boards do differently.

Three reasons to listen

• Identify the hidden costs of misalignment in your team, from wasted meeting time to breakdowns in relationships that drain energy both at work and at home
• Apply a disciplined approach to decision-making that balances speed with rigour through five key strands
• Reclaim control of your calendar by conducting a time audit that reveals the gap between what you say matters and where you actually spend your energy

Episode highlights

• [00:09:18] Alignment, themes, and relationships
• [00:11:06] How to get alignment
• [00:12:32] What happens when alignment isn't found
• [00:15:48] Asking the right questions
• [00:17:32] Decision-making is compromised
• [00:18:40] The five key components of a decision-making framework
• [00:26:17] How to move more slowly
• [00:28:41] How will AI affect decision-making?
• [00:31:44] What are you prioritising for?
• [00:37:23] What to try this
• [00:39:57] Susan's media recommendation
• [00:40:43] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Susan via LinkedIn
• Team #1, by Patrick Lencioni
• AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity
• How to turn a group of strangers into a team – Susan’s media recommendation
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Rather than trying to "fix" people or show them rungs on a ladder, social mobility comes from recognising individuals, giving them psychological safety, and allowing them to fulfil their own potential.

Diverse workplaces thrive not because of tokenistic inclusion efforts, but because different voices at the table lead to better outcomes and more successful organisations.

Dan and Pia are joined by Arad Reisberg, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor at Brunel University of London, campaigner for social justice and social mobility, and co-founder of the Social Mobility Leaders Forum.

Three reasons to listen

• Reframe your understanding of social mobility as social justice, focusing on creating opportunities for people to fulfil their potential rather than just climbing career ladders
• Create an environment where people feel comfortable being their authentic selves by asking powerful questions and actively listening
• Build more diverse, successful teams by recognising that different voices at the table lead to better outcomes, challenging conventional thinking about "hiring for fit"

Episode highlights

• [00:09:32] What is social mobility?
• [00:15:24] How social mobility helps business
• [00:18:59] How to implement social mobility in your organisation
• [00:26:31] Arad's media recommendation
• [00:29:43] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Arad via LinkedIn
• Arad’s media recommendations: the Inward trilogy by Yung Pueblo:
  1. Inward
  2. Clarity & Connection
  3. The Way Forward
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Restaurant franchises can be powerful environments for leadership development, especially for young people. When managed with intentionality, these seemingly entry-level jobs can provide significant opportunities for personal growth, skill development, and career advancement.

Melissa Nuttall, along with her partner, is the franchisee of a quick service restaurant in New Zealand. In this conversation with Pia and Dan, she lays out how good customer service and continuous training create positive work cycles that benefit both employees and customers.

Three reasons to listen

• Achieve broader business goals while reducing cognitive load on staff
• Develop young team members into capable leaders through progressive responsibility
• Create safe spaces for growth regardless of employees’ long-term career plans

Episode highlights

• [00:08:38] Helping the next generation of leaders
• [00:14:21] Turning a culture around
• [00:18:23] Creating a stable launchpad for new careers
• [00:24:38] Leading with kindness and humility
• [00:27:58] Be mindful of your leadership shadow
• [00:29:20] Mel's media recommendation
• [00:30:11] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• Connect with Melissa via LinkedIn
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

While many teams focus on building trust to improve performance, it's actually clarity that needs to be addressed first.

Research shows that teams need clear roles, goals and processes before they can effectively build trust and collaborate. This represents a significant shift from traditional thinking about team development, and the data shows that improving clarity drives up trust results, whilst working directly on trust doesn't impact clarity scores.

In this episode, Squadify’s Chief Data Officer, Juliet Owen re-joins Dan and Pia to discuss the role clarity plays in driving team performance.

This episode will help you

• Build team trust by first establishing clarity around roles, goals and processes rather than focusing directly on trust-building exercises
• Create effective one-page team documents that capture why the team exists, their collective goals, and non-negotiable behaviours
• Drive better team performance by shifting from individual KPIs to collective team goals that encourage collaboration rather than competition

Episode highlights

• [00:09:34] How teams are coping with change today
• [00:15:30] What we mean by trust
• [00:20:03] The trust gap
• [00:26:29] Case studies on building trust
• [00:33:12] What can you do?
• [00:34:59] Pia and Juliet's media recommendations
• [00:37:24] Takeaways from Pia and Dan

Links

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni
• You Can’t Ask That – Pia’s mdia recommendation
• The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley
• Connect with Juliet via LinkedIn
• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note

Humans are crucial to AI adoption. While AI technology continues to advance, its effective implementation in business depends on people working with it rather than being replaced by it.

Inclusive AI means finding the right balance between technological advancement and human insight, rather than seeing AI as a simple push-button solution to complex knowledge work.

Susi O’Neill is a consultant, author, and speaker on frontier technology. She helps organisations implement AI effectively, analyses AI trends, and distills insights in her newsletter.

Three reasons to listen

• To move past the hype and see how humans will continue to be essential in an AI-enhanced workplace
• To start implementing an effective approach to AI adoption in your organisation
• To develop a more balanced perspective on technological change than the one propagated by Silicon Valley

Episode highlights

• [00:05:19] The nebulous nature of AI
• [00:11:17] Change is the constant
• [00:16:06] The falacy of the competetive advantage
• [00:18:16] Inclusive AI
• [00:26:18] How do we use AI responsibly?
• [00:29:05] Squadify's AI governance
• [00:33:06] Take your first step into AI
• [00:37:41] Suzi's media recommendations
• [00:40:32] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Track and improve your team performance with Squadify
• Leave us a voice note
• Connect with Suzi via LinkedIn
• Rethinking the Hype Cycle – Suzi’s newsletter
• Women Leaders in Tech Outpace Men Counterparts in Generative AI Adoption
• Channel 4 Corporate AI Principles
• Supremacy, by Parmy Olson
• Threads (1984)
• Offal