In our work over the last decade, one thing has become clear: creating space for quality reflection and deeper connection is not just a leadership exercise - it’s a strategic imperative for achieving sustainable growth and working through the complex challenges we face on a daily basis. These practices help us to make better decisions, enable more effective collaboration and avoid costly reactive cycles that often drain time and resources.

While this insight isn’t groundbreaking—far from it—that’s precisely why it matters. By slowing down, listening deeply, and learning from our experiences, we can access the power of how we lead and collaborate. 87% of respondents in our 10 Years of Impact survey reported that adopting these practices led to increased connection, understanding, and collaboration across functions or regions. This, in turn, resulted in more effective strategy launches, better handling of key challenges, and a more thoughtful approach to navigating unforeseen disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The benefit was clear.

In many ways, the simplicity of what we need to do to improve collaboration is its strength. Real change doesn’t come through grand, top-down solutions but through everyday conversations and continuous iteration. The challenge, however, is how do we protect these spaces for better conversations and resist the temptation of quick fixes that promise to rid us of the difficulties of working with others (because, deep down, we all know they don’t really exist)?

Despite growing recognition of their value, reflective and connective spaces are the first to go when daily pressures take over. Many respondents in our research spoke of how quickly groups fragmented during tough times or when the space wasn’t actively maintained. Even when organisations understand the importance of these spaces, they often struggle to sustain them amidst the constant rush to meet deadlines. Slowing down feels counterintuitive in an environment that prioritizes urgency, and there’s often fear that open reflection might be seen as unproductive—or even risky—especially in environments where power is tightly held. The discomfort of questioning our actions is easily set aside as teams revert to “business as usual” to avoid the tension.

As a result, people, teams, and organisations become vulnerable to reactive cycles, feeling fragmented, overwhelmed, and trapped in short-term thinking. So, if creating and maintaining these spaces isn’t a luxury but a necessity, the question isn’t why they matter but how we can prioritise them amid daily demands.

Over the past decade, we’ve observed that organisations that embed reflective and relational practices into their leadership development and daily rhythms are better equipped to work through their challenges. 75% of respondents reported that this work significantly improved their capacity to lead through continuous change. These practices aren’t about finding the right answers—they’re about creating conditions for us to think and relate differently to one another and the issues we face. They encourage us to engage with doubt and dilemma rather than attempting to eliminate them—because, quite simply, we can’t.

Reflective practices allow us to slow down, not to escape action, but to think more critically about it—to reconsider not only what we’re doing but why and how. These moments of reflection are crucial for navigating the messy realities of leadership, where multiple perspectives, contradictions, and the unpredictability of human behaviour can’t be ignored. Without these spaces, leaders risk getting trapped in cycles of surface-level problem-solving, addressing symptoms instead of underlying causes.

Equally important are relational practices - creating environments where trust, open dialogue, and greater awareness of ourselves and others can develop. Organisations are networks of human relationships where power, influence, and emotions shape every interaction. Through these practices, leaders learn to listen better, navigate tricky dynamics, and understand their role in shaping the culture and outcomes around them.

In reflecting on our 10-year journey, we’ve done just what we encourage our clients to do: slow down, question, and learn from our work. This process has led us to adapt our methodology, highlighting the practices we believe are most important. Central to this is our  Collaboration Compass—a lightly held framework that encourages us to focus on the key dynamics of being, thinking, doing, and relating. While it’s not a clear solution, it helps people stay grounded in the practices that support meaningful change. 

This report shares stories, data, and insights from our work over the past decade, and we hope it sparks reflection and action within your organisation. These practices shouldn’t be seen as add-ons or training removed from the day-to-day—they are central to how we work, lead, and collaborate every day. If we prioritise them, we can work through the challenges we face more thoughtfully and effectively. And that can only be a good thing.