I spent the latter half of 2025 writing my e-guide for diagnosing your team’s culture, which outlines my SURVIVE/THRIVE models for team evolution. (Download your copy now if you don’t have one yet!). As I look forward to writing my book in 2026, I was reflecting on that process and what I’ve learned so far.
It’s a book which explores something hiding in plain sight - about age, experience and interactions in the workplace.I decided to write a book in May 2024. I didn’t quite know what book I wanted to write but I did know my voice deserved to be heard AND that I cared about people and their wellbeing in the modern workplace.
The one thing that really shines bright for me is that people aren’t taught at school or university how to really collaborate well. Sure you do some group work or whatever - but you aren’t taught what it really means to have the whole greater than the sum of its parts. That’s a let down when that’s what we need today in our workplaces. People don’t have the right support to truly thrive at work.
This leads to dysfunctional teams across organisations who don’t know how to shape their environment so they can truly value each individual contribution. Or how to weave those contributions together to create something spectacular. Something that can sway as the world changes around it, but stays steady in its core.
Through my career as an agile and team coach, I had some amazing experiences with teams where I truly helped them achieve something incredible, something you wouldn’t believe unless you had been there. I’ve also had some really tough experiences with teams where people are just getting by day to day, believing that this is what work is - without the structure and environment around them to support a thriving team.
I realise that from the oldest people in the workforce, to the youngest, the number of people who must have experienced a ‘thriving team’ (by my definition) in today’s workplace must be very small. This isn’t helped by our education systems still not catching up to the fact that today’s workplaces need people to have those collaboration skills, embracing people working together towards a common goal in uncertain circumstances.
Changing the education system would be one thing - bring in people that understand how to collaborate. But that, for me, doesn’t fix a bigger, deeper problem. And that is that there are (and always have been) huge rifts between people of different ages within the workplace. They have different needs, different outlooks, different experiences within those formative years.
Here’s the odd thing: When I tell people about my work, they say 'we could do with someone like you'. Constantly. They see the dysfunction. They want help. However, organisations pour resources into tackling discrimination around gender, race, disability.
But age? It's acceptable discrimination. The one we don't measure. The one we barely talk about.
I’m not proposing my book will make these rifts disappear (there is a lot of evidence from centuries ago that the old look down on the young), but I do believe I can give people strategies that will allow teams to use those differences for good, instead of simply tolerating them. I believe that by giving people a space and environment where they can learn to appreciate every single other person around them, no matter their age, experience level, or ‘mindset’, we can all achieve greatness.
So that’s what the book will be about: acknowledging where we are and that it needs to be different. Then how to overcome those barriers to make sure your people, teams and organisation really thrives.
The patterns I’m seeing in my research back this up. My survey of teams and leaders confirmed what I've witnessed for years. When asked to describe their teams, people wrote about:
'Older members appearing cautious, reticent to take on new skills'
'Younger team members less likely to voice opinions'
'Different generations with different attitudes to work'
But they didn't call it ageism. They called it 'observations'. Just how things are. One person even asked: 'How do I tell if age diversity is a factor?' They were describing age-based bias in every response. They just couldn't see it. That's the invisibility I'm trying to make visible."
The e-guide describes the SURVIVE/THRIVE models - the patterns I see in teams. Writing it taught me I can do this. Working with Karen Williams, book mentor, I've learned how I write at my best - and that the label 'Author' is becoming more comfortable by the day.
Now I turn my attention to the bigger manuscript: untangling why all of this chat about age and generations is so important and what you can do about it.
I'm working alongside partners to test these ideas with real teams - teams whose members have already told me 'we could do with someone like you.' Over 90% of my survey respondents asked to receive updates on this work. They know something's broken. They just don't have the language to fix it yet.
If you care about this topic - or if you've ever thought 'we could do with help on this' about your own team - I'd love to hear from you. Your insights will help shape 'The Space Between' as I write it.
