What We've WrittenReading17 July 2026
Turps' Top Ten Team Tips
In Episode 6, Turps talked about his personal leadership principles that he carried throughout his career; tried and tested, ‘been there done that’ advice. Here's the full list . . .
- Let people do their jobs
- Create a platform that allows people to be the best they can be.
- Provide the appropriate level of support and guidance commensurate with the individual's level of capability within any given task.
- Have a clear and simple business plan , written, owned and understood by the team. No prizes for the most complex or sexy plan: guaranteed that will just collect dust in a draw somewhere
- Everyone has a voice which is valued
- Let people make mistakes, that's great learning. Frequently, people are capable of more than they think they are.
- Invest time in helping people grow and succeed and take pleasure when they surpass you
- Don’t expect your people to perform and behave just like you did
- Just because you did the job in a certain way, that doesn't mean that you're right and everyone else is wrong!
- Everyone is different and different people need different things from a role - so get to know your people, what makes them tick, what they're good at and what they need help with
- Keep stuff in perspective
- Sometimes it can seem as though everything in corporate life is so fucking important….but it isn’t! Don’t create controls and measures that that have zero mpact on your bottom line - don’t sweat the pointless stuff.
- Having fun is a key ingredient. Why wouldn't you want people to enjoy being at work, which after all, is where many people spend most of their time?
- Health and family are far more important than work, so look after yourself and your own
- Create a purpose
- Find something to be famous for…and ensure everyone knows the goal (and their part in it); always give people the context of how their role helps achieve that goal (the WHY)
- Where possible, help colleagues understand what they do achieves for other people. The example we gave was that a loan to a customer in a bank wasn't just giving someone a loan, it was helping them achieve something like going on their hoilday of a lifetime or buying their dream car. The theory behind this is known as Jobs To Be Done and the link below explains more about it . . .
- https://jobs-to-be-done.com/jobs-to-be-done-a-framework-for-customer-needs-c883cbf61c90
- Get people to play to their strengths
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Don't focus on the “what will be good for your profile bollocks”. Ryan Giggs never went in goal and didn’t practice with his right foot!
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Make sure any obvious weaknesses aren't a barrier to your performance, but don't try and make them a strength
- When necessary, help people find happiness elsewhere
- Get rid of Terrorists , Your Team will respect you and doing so sets the standards; allowing toxic behaviour in others is the quickest way to create a toxic culture
- t’s rare to have people who don’t care or work against everything, but sometimes you have to help people move on.
- Tackle behavioural issues head on with robust and fair action
- Make It Personal
- It’s not all about prizes, money and the things we naturally think about when it comes to recognition.
- Take genuine interest in your team as people, as humans. Understand and respect their world. Remembering a small thing about a person can have a massive impact and make them feel genuinely valued and show that you listen
- Create a culture of trust/loyalty
- Needs to be earned, not demanded
- Show vulnerability e.g. put your hands up when you’ve made a shit decision - more powerful to show that your normal. Be humble
- Do what you say you’re going to do -stick to your rhythm
- Be visible and ensure your leaders are visible too
- Define and follow your personal leadership values. When people share those, support them even when they make a mistake - always have their backs. But, if people choose to take the piss and cross over the line, we may soon be having a chat in the car park.
- Communicate Communicate Communicate
- Keep people up to date, but get the balance right
- Be honest -you’ll get caught out otherwise!
- Give people the context in your messaging - apply the 'so fucking what' test to anything you communicate
- Build for diversity
- Surround yourself with good people
- Different people with different backgrounds think differently, and will often find better, creative solutions, not the usual ones. If you don't, you risk creating a dangerous echo chamber that will just keep agreeing with you.
- Have a balanced recruitment approach -a mix of Internal progression and external hires