As an Agile coach who’s worked across organizations of all shapes and sizes, there’s one pattern I’ve seen play out time and again: a company says it values collaboration, then immediately undercuts that message with empty gestures and contradictory leadership behavior. It’s not always intentional. In fact, it’s often well-meaning. But when organizations engage in “token team initiatives” or when leaders fail to model the collaboration they preach, the results are predictably cynical. Teams don’t become stronger—they disengage.
Token Team Initiatives: The Corporate Lipstick
I’ve seen organizations drop tens of thousands of pounds on slick off-sites, team-building retreats, and slogan-laden posters. A new campaign launches: “One Team, One Dream!” or “Better Together!” And for about a week, people talk about it. Then reality kicks back in.
Because when everyone returns from that carefully choreographed workshop, what do they find?
Reward systems that still incentivize individual delivery over team success.
Managers measuring output, not outcomes.
Little to no follow-through on anything that was discussed or promised during the event.
And that’s where the rot sets in. People aren’t stupid. They don’t need a picnic to feel like part of a team—they need to feel trusted, aligned, and supported in their daily work. If you take them offsite and talk about empowerment, but on Monday morning the same micromanagement and siloed structures are waiting for them, the disconnect is felt immediately.
I’ve had people pull me aside after these sessions and say things like, “That was a good day out, but nothing’s going to change, is it?” That single sentence is a killer. Once people start thinking that way, you’ve lost the very energy and openness you were hoping to spark. A team event without a change in system or behavior is a sugar rush. A spike followed by a crash.
Consistency Over Symbolism
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against team events. But unless they’re backed by real, structural change, they’re just pageantry. People want fewer slogans and more substance. They want:
Clear goals that are shared across the team.
Systems that support collaboration.
Recognition for joint success, not just lone heroics.
When those things aren’t there, no amount of away-days or motivational speeches will move the needle. In fact, they do more harm than good. The article I read years ago put it well: the biggest risk of team-building is that people become cynical about the organization. That’s not just a risk—it’s an inevitability if you keep trying to “inject” collaboration instead of designing for it.
When Leaders Talk Teamwork But Don’t Walk It
Now, let’s talk about the bigger issue: leadership behavior. You can plaster “collaboration” across every PowerPoint deck and office wall, but if your senior leaders don’t model it, it all falls flat.
I’ve coached in organizations where the leadership team genuinely believed they were promoting collaboration—because they said so. But they still made decisions behind closed doors, rewarded individual stars, and avoided the hard work of bringing teams into the room early. It’s not malicious. It’s just old habits and unclear self-awareness.
What leaders often miss is that people are watching how things get done, not just what gets said.
If a leader holds a town hall about “empowered teams” and then micromanages the next sprint, people notice.
If the execs say they value transparency, but then only loop in teams after a decision has been made, people feel it.
If someone delivers heroic results by working 80 hours alone while ignoring the team, and they get rewarded for it—guess what message that sends?
You can’t teach collaboration in a workshop and then act in silos. You can’t preach team empowerment and still treat feedback as a formality. This is where leadership integrity matters most—not in the talking points, but in the daily behaviors that teams witness.
What Real Role-Modelling Looks Like
So what does it look like when leadership gets it right?
It’s the CTO who says, “I don’t know—what do you think?” and genuinely listens.
It’s the Head of Product who invites the team into the decision-making process instead of just informing them afterward.
It’s leaders being willing to disagree in front of teams—constructively—so people see that healthy conflict isn’t punished.
It’s a culture where “we” is used more than “I,” where leaders aren’t afraid to be challenged, and where team success genuinely outweighs individual spotlight.
How I Coach Around This
When I’m brought in to work with a struggling team, I no longer start with the team itself. I look up. Because no team can outpace the behavior of its leaders. If the leadership is incoherent, inconsistent, or stuck in a control mindset, any team initiative is doomed from the outset.
So I ask a few simple questions:
Do leaders genuinely believe in collaboration, or are they just saying the right words?
Do structures, rituals, and incentives support collaboration—or work against it?
Are people seeing collaborative behavior modeled above them?
From there, I work to create alignment. That might mean redesigning decision-making processes. It might mean redefining performance metrics to include team behaviors. Sometimes, it just starts with leaders being honest about what they value most.
Because if they value control more than outcomes, or speed more than inclusion, that has to be named. And only then can we decide what to do about it.
You Can’t Fake It
The bottom line is this: you can’t fake collaboration. You either build it into how your organization operates, or you don’t have it.
People are more perceptive than many leaders give them credit for. They’ll spot a token gesture a mile off. They’ll sense when praise for teamwork rings hollow. They’ll know when your actions don’t match your values. And they’ll adjust their behavior accordingly.
So if you’re serious about collaboration, start by looking in the mirror. Are you modeling what you expect from others? Are your systems aligned with your values? Are you rewarding the right behaviors?
If not, no amount of “team-building” will fix it.
