About Serve The Team

Mindful management

We believe the world would be a happier and more successful place if it had better leaders, everywhere. We don’t think the world’s leaders and managers are bad people, but leadership is hard, and most of us don’t get much help to do a better job. Our mission is to change that, with practical tools you can put to work every day.

Why 'Serve' the Team?

Leaders are only as good as their teams. You might be a brilliant individual contributor, but if you can’t engage, motivate and drive your team then you’ll be an ineffective leader.

You can’t lead just by telling everyone what to do. Not only are there not enough hours in the day for this approach, but if you demand people just follow orders then you miss out on their individual brilliance: their insights, their ideas, their creativity. You also rob them of the chance to learn and improve, which means that your team will never get better at what it does.

The best leaders recognise that you get the most out of a team by serving its needs. They give direction, but they empower their teams to deliver. They value accountability, but they coach and support their teams to be the best they can be. They recognise that their success comes from their teams, not from themselves, and they spend their time and energy accordingly.

We help you develop a wide range of leadership skills, including...

Establishing your team's mission Team conflict Communication skills Developing your team's skills Innovation Succession planning Remote leadership Celebrating successes Giving your team autonomy Recruitment Onboarding new hires Coaching Developing resilience Performance management Improving productivity Delegating effectively Bringing new people into your team Motivating your team Managing upwards Networking with your peers Putting your team first

Who’s behind this?

I’m Steve. I’ve spent over 20 years leading teams, from small engineering squads to global product organisations, across market intelligence, technology consulting, and cloud infrastructure. I’ve managed teams in the UK, the US, and remotely across time zones.

Like millions of other managers, I started with limited experience and very little help. I was fortunate to have some great mentors and role models, but I learned just as much from my own painful mistakes. I know how important good leadership is, not just for delivering results but for the quality of life of everyone on a team.

I also learned that formal leadership training, while useful, is always more of an event than a journey. You simply can’t retain and put into practice everything you hear in a half-day session, never mind a three-day course. You need to build good habits, and that means practising regularly and making time for it. Serve The Team started as a tool to help me do that, then my friends and colleagues, and now you too.

I know what works because I’ve lived it. And I want you and your team to benefit from that experience and start being happier and more successful today.