Welcome to Phase 2: Lead the Sandpit. In this phase, we shift from leading ourselves to leading others—with clarity, care, and consistency.
And we begin with one of the trickiest leadership dynamics: accountability and resistance.
If you’ve ever felt frustrated that someone isn’t doing what they said they would, avoiding feedback, or not stepping up—this week is for you.
Here’s the truth: resistance is normal.
It’s not a character flaw. It’s not laziness. It’s biology.
🧠 When people sense ambiguity, unfairness, or loss of control, their brains trigger a threat response. This can look like avoidance, defensiveness, blame, or shutdown. It’s not personal—it’s protective.
Your role as a leader is to notice it, name it, and navigate it.
This week, we introduce the Above and Below the Line model,a tool that gives you (and your team) a shared language for those moments of reactivity, fear, or disengagement. It’s a mirror and a map.
You’ll also be challenged to lead from strength and kindness. That means knowing what’s yours, what’s theirs, and holding space for both—with respect and without judgment.
The Above and Below the Line model is from The Conscious Leadership Group. You can check out their work here https://conscious.is/
It’s not soft. It’s strong. You can be kind and hold expectations. You can lead with clarity and care.
This week sets the foundation for the core conversations ahead: Check-Ins, Coaching, and Growth. By starting here, we give you the tools to stay grounded, regulate emotion, and lead from above the line—even when things get messy.
From assumptions to clear agreements.
Neuroscience Insight: The brain perceives unclear expectations, ambiguity, or lack of control as threats, activating the amygdala and shutting down higher-order thinking. Clarity, calm, and boundaries create safety for responsibility and growth.
🧭 Creating trust by resetting expectations with calm authority, not control.
🎯 Seeing resistance as a signal, not a problem, and responding above the line.
🧘 Leading from strength and kindness where empathy and accountability coexist.
And that starts with replacing assumptions and avoidance with clear, respectful expectations and holding space with strength and kindness to model what real accountability looks and feels like.
This Week’s Experiment:
✅ Identify a recent moment where a commitment was missed or a reaction surprised you.
“Let’s reset what good looks like here. What does success mean to you—and what might get in the way?”
✨ Stretch Experiment:
✅ Facilitate a team mini-workshop using the Above/Below the Line model.
Finish with: “We all camp below the line sometimes—but let’s build our home above it.”
This reflection helps track your shift from reactive to ritualised leadership—and how that’s experienced by others.
