After the Intensity
Reflections from a quieter week
Image credit: Andy’s selfie
Hello fellow Enablers,
Last week I was in India and, four weeks ago, Australia, delivering Fulfilling Performance workshops. The build-up to those trips—particularly Australia, where I worked with three separate organisations over three consecutive days—involved plenty of planning, follow-up, and administration (thank you, Julia) before I even got to doing the “actual” work.
And even though I’ve delivered plenty of workshops before, I still experience some nervous energy around meeting new teams for the first time. Will Fulfilling Performance be well received by the participants? Will my approach to introducing it land well in their culture? And, if this is not their first exposure, will they appreciate going deeper with me on their Fulfilling Performance journey?
If you’ve read my recent updates, you’ll know that I needn’t have worried. Or perhaps that small amount of care and concern—rather than worry—helped me to perform well on the day. Either way, the outcome from every session was at least as good as I could have hoped for.
Back home, work has been quieter. I was going to say “thankfully quieter,” but quiet can be harder than busy when you’re building something. If you know, you know, as they say.
I do enjoy a bit of reflection, though, and have had more opportunity for that this week. It’s timely, given that we’ve just had Aquilae’s 9th anniversary, to reflect on how far we’ve come.
Fulfilling Performance continues to prove itself as an innovative organisation-wide approach that enables all associates to perform at a higher level, achieve better results, and continue to grow. They experience a sense of fulfilment from doing so that energises them to be great partners, parents, and people outside of work too.
Each time I introduce it to a new team, regardless of their level of seniority or industry, I am heartened and motivated by their response to its simplicity, relevance, and applicability.
Our Aquilae Academy Guided Peer Mentoring and Executive Coaching programme is in its sixth year. Over 50 leaders from 10 countries have benefited from the supportive environment in their virtual teams. They share their current challenges and receive input from trusted team members with decades of relevant experience and no personal agenda other than to help.
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR is approaching 250 episodes. It provides me with an opportunity to meet and share the life and career stories of senior leaders and rising stars internationally, while building an invaluable library of experience.
Our shorter Side Mirror episodes allow me to introduce interesting experts or dive into Fulfilling Performance topics in more detail. With those, I ask for more of your time than I do here, in the knowledge that you can listen while doing something else at the same time!
And every week, for the last 19.5 months, this newsletter, Release the Handbrake!, has allowed me to share Fulfilling Performance widely and bring you—fellow Enablers—on the journey with me.
This exercise—spending some time looking down the hill we’ve climbed—has helped me deal with the quiet period after the intense but fulfilling activity of the last few weeks. I feel content about the quality and value of what we’ve created and the way we share it, with options from zero dollars upwards. As I wrote last week, it’s gratifying to experience my vision of 11+ years ago becoming increasingly real.
There would be little point in me pursuing any of these initiatives were it not for you. Whether you’re a reader of this newsletter, an Academy team member, a Fulfilling Performance programme client, or a CAREER-VIEW MIRROR guest—thank you for your support. And for those of you who can check several of those boxes, all four in some cases, thanks for your multifaceted commitment to Fulfilling Performance, Aquilae, and your own development.
Reflection with Action
This week has reminded me how valuable it is to pause and take stock — especially after periods of intensity. Whether the last few months have felt full of progress or full of challenge, it’s worth noticing the ground you’ve covered.
You don’t need a long list of wins. Sometimes it’s enough simply to acknowledge that you’re still showing up — that you’re learning, adapting, and moving forward.
If you can, take a few quiet moments to reflect on what’s mattered most to you this year. Where have you grown? What’s tested you? And what do you want to carry forward into the next chapter?
Fulfilling Performance is an organisation-wide approach to performance. It brings with it a compelling vision, and a framework of diagnostic questions and guiding principles that make it practical and easy to apply. In just a couple of hours, a team can learn enough to get started on their Fulfilling Performance journey. If you’d like to know more, send me a message and we can have an informal chat.
Side Mirror: Uncertainty High, Morale Low — Providing Clarity When You Don’t Have it Yourself
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR #242
“How can we give clarity to our people when we don’t yet have it ourselves?”
I had a conversation recently with a senior leader whose team was struggling with low morale during an organisational restructure. She told me one of their biggest handbrakes was a lack of clarity.
Her question was a good one. It’s something many leaders wrestle with.
Clarity is one of the four Fundamentals of Fulfilling Performance. But when we use the term, we’re not talking about predicting the future. We’re talking about present reality.
People need to know what they’re supposed to be doing now and how they’re performing against expectations today. That kind of clarity is always within your control.
And when you’ve provided it, but morale is still low, the framework gives you the tools to go deeper — to explore whether the real handbrake is down to a lack of one of the other Fundamentals: Capability, Culture, or Purpose.
In this week’s Side Mirror episode, I share this story in more detail as a real-world example of how Fulfilling Performance helps you get to the root cause of friction — and what to do once you’ve found it.
🎧 Listen now: Apple Podcasts / CAREER-VIEW MIRROR / Spotify
Check out the directory of all our guests and episodes on Instagram.
How well-aligned is your team?
Even the best leaders notice times when things don’t feel quite in sync:
People pulling in different directions.
Departments working in silos.
Commitments made but not kept.
Too much firefighting in the day-to-day, and not enough focus on the strategic priorities that really matter.
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. These are common frustrations for senior leaders — and they’re exactly the challenges we tackle in the Aquilae Academy.
The Academy is a guided peer-mentoring and coaching team for senior leaders. It’s where you learn to apply the Fulfilling Performance framework, get the support of experienced peers, and work through real challenges every month.
In the Academy you’ll find:
A safe, confidential team of like-minded peers.
Fresh perspective, encouragement, and constructive challenge.
Practical ways to bring more alignment, cohesion, and follow-through into your organisation.
If you’re a senior leader who knows you don’t have to face these challenges alone, the Academy could be for you. Contact me and I’ll happily tell you more.
Thank you,
Andy
E: andy@aquilae.co.uk