Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi’s wisdom isn’t just inspirational—it’s practical leadership strategy.
In times of great disruption like climate change, AI and digitalisation of our workplaces, we can be swept away and forget the opportunities and our goals. When your team lacks coherence, these disruptions create chaos, delays, and burnout.
But when you create what Otto Scharmer calls an “Island of Coherence”—where your team’s attention, intention, and agency are aligned—something powerful happens:
- Decisions get made faster, even under pressure
- Team members stay focused on what matters most
- Culture becomes your competitive advantage, not your weakness
As Scharmer notes in “Presencing,” this helps us “refocus on where the real opportunity is – in our very own agency – that is, in our capacity to act.”
When I work with teams and leaders, I always start with intention and direct our attention to what matters and use our own agency to lead towards our goals. The teams that weather storms best aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or newest tech—they’re the ones where leaders have created alignment between what the team pays attention to, what they intend to achieve, and how they use their collective power to act.
APPLY: Start with yourself as the smallest “Island of Coherence”:
- Attention: What are you and your team actually focusing on daily? (Hint: if it’s just putting out fires, you’re part of the chaos)
- Intention: Get crystal clear on your project’s true purpose beyond just “delivery”
- Agency: How are you using your leadership to create the culture and results you want?
When you align these three, you become the calm center that others gravitate toward. That’s how sustainable culture change happens.