Coherence - Stefan’s Week-notes 19/07/2026
Inspired by the weeknotes of friends and coachees including John Fitzgerald, Steve Messer and Nour Sidawi - I love doing these when I get time to ‘do it properly”. cementing thoughts, refining approaches and who knows , adding some value along the way.
Weeknotes | Coherence
1. What activities did I get up to this week?
This week was full of conversations that mattered, each one reinforcing why I love the work I get to do.
I had a wonderful catch up with Chris Brammall ahead of our next Building 41 working group. We’re creating and cohering a business support ecosystem for the Isle of Wight, bringing together some brilliant organisations around a clear pathway that supports businesses through five stages of growth. It feels like important work, not just for today’s businesses but for setting a benchmark for how support could look in the future.
I also had a wonderful coaching session with Stacey Crump. Stacey spoke beautifully about our work together earlier in the week, so I feel comfortable mentioning her here. After a couple of years away, it was a real pleasure to reconnect. Alongside some valuable individual coaching, we also did some fabulous work with her team a couple of years ago. She’s returned to coaching at a time of considerable change in the public sector, and I’m genuinely excited to continue working alongside her.
Another highlight was an inspiring conversation with Parisa Wright from Greener and Cleaner. We spoke about growing community, sustainability, community hubs, awards and the remarkable work she’s leading. It was one of those conversations that leaves you with more energy than you started with. I’m really looking forward to continuing the conversation and seeing where our thinking might overlap in the future.
Alongside the conversations themselves, I spent time continuing to develop my own thinking around Agency, Forum, Stewardship and Meaningful Progress. It still feels as though these ideas are finding one another rather than being invented, becoming clearer each time I return to them.
I also had a brilliant conversation with a wonderful organisation about supporting them as they continue to evolve. They’re already performing phenomenally well, which made the conversation all the more exciting. This isn’t about fixing something that’s broken. It’s about helping a great organisation become even more coherent, aligned and able to fulfil its potential.
The second half of the week took me north, via a stop in Wolverhampton, before heading on to Manchester to deliver a morning workshop for the latest Future of Greater Manchester Leaders Plus cohort on behalf of Lisa Taylor. It was a brilliant day. I had the pleasure of working alongside Colette Hayton and Susie Cuthill and got to see Susie facilitate one of her sessions, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Most of all, it was a privilege to spend time with another exceptional group of leaders working across the placemaking space. Their openness, curiosity and commitment to creating better places for people shone through from the outset.
On Friday, I made the journey back to the Island in time to collect Vera and Willoughby from school. Football camps and trampoline competitions await, alongside what has been a lovely weekend together. A delightful couple of swims in the sea too.
There’s something about getting into the water at the end of a full week that brings everything back into perspective.
Looking back, this week reminded me how fortunate I am to spend my time with people who care deeply about making things better, whether that’s supporting an individual leader, strengthening a team, building a community or shaping an entire system. And then, just as importantly, returning home to the two people who remind me why all of that work matters in the first place.
2. What was the central theme or thread that tied my week together?
If I had to give this week a title, it would be Coherence.
Almost every conversation, whether with an individual leader, a leadership team, a community organisation or a wider partnership, centred on bringing different elements together into something stronger than the sum of their parts.
I’ve realised this has been a thread running through my whole career, long before I knew people called it systems thinking or systems change. Whenever I’ve been asked to help create meaningful progress, my instinct has never been to focus on one problem in isolation. Instead, I’ve always found myself asking, What else needs to be true for this to succeed?
Over the years that question has become more nuanced. Sometimes it’s about people. Sometimes it’s culture, governance, capability, relationships, purpose or place. Sometimes it’s helping an individual align their values, confidence and actions. Other times it’s helping a team or organisation connect the many moving parts that already exist but haven’t yet found their rhythm together.
This week reminded me that meaningful progress rarely comes from doing one thing brilliantly. More often it comes from helping many good things become coherent.
Perhaps that’s what I really do.
I help good people bring the right things together so that meaningful progress becomes possible.
3. What moments lit me up this week?
Without doubt, delivering the workshop in Manchester at @Planit for Future of Greater Manchester
I facilitate board meetings, team away days and strategy sessions regularly, and I mentor groups online, but it had been a little while since I’d stood in front of a room simply to facilitate ‘training’.
I’d forgotten quite how much I enjoy it.
Watching the room connect the ideas, seeing delegates suddenly say, “I really get this,” and feeling the energy build across the morning reminded me of some of my favourite periods in my career.
It took me back to the cultural transformation work we delivered at Santander over a decade ago. We were a small team, but together we combined consultancy, transformation, executive coaching and facilitation in a way that genuinely shifted culture. They were special days, and this week reminded me that those muscles are still very much there.
I also left a conversation with Pete Swift and Naomi Burl feeling so energised. The topic - evolution. What could be more exciting than developing yet further the brilliance they are already seeing.
Finally, I found myself unexpectedly inspired by the conversations around placemaking. Although I wouldn’t have described it as one of my specialist fields, I realised how naturally it connects with the ideas I’ve been exploring for years. People, place, stewardship, community, systems and meaningful progress all belong in the same conversation. Sometimes you don’t discover a new interest. You discover you’ve been travelling alongside it all along.
4. What did I wrestle with this week?
My biggest wrestle wasn’t with the work itself. It was with explaining the work.
I found myself in one of those conversations where someone simply asked what I do. Not in the context of coaching, facilitating a board or running a workshop, but across the whole breadth of my work.
It caught me slightly off guard.
The conversation itself was excellent, but I came away realising that although I know exactly how I help people, I haven’t yet found the simplest way of expressing it.
The more I reflected on it, the clearer it became.
I help individuals, teams, organisations and systems become more coherent so they can create meaningful progress.
That coherence comes through listening, creating understanding, making sense of complexity, building alignment and helping people move forward together. Whether I’m coaching an individual, facilitating a board, working with a leadership team or supporting an organisational transformation, the work is remarkably consistent. The context changes. The purpose doesn’t.
I’ve spent years doing this work. What’s changing now is my ability to describe it.
Rather than feeling frustrated, with myself, I found myself genuinely excited. Moments like these don’t undermine confidence; they sharpen it. They reveal the next layer of clarity.
You can’t backdate learning.
All you can do is notice it, be grateful for it and carry it into the next conversation. This week reminded me that every interaction is both an opportunity to contribute and an opportunity to become a little clearer about who you are and what you’re here to do.
5. What personal moments felt significant this week?
This week reminded me that you can miss something deeply without feeling deprived by it.
I wasn’t able to get out on the bike because of travelling, and when my friends Jason and Darren were talking about the ride they’d been on, I felt that familiar pang of missing it. Cycling has become such an important part of my life that I notice its absence.
What surprised me, though, was how calm I felt.
There have been times when not riding would have left me frustrated or restless. This week it simply felt like life. There’ll be another ride. Sometimes the right thing is to be fully present where you are rather than wishing you were somewhere else.
The other personal moment came through the kindness of others.
Two people reached out to ask if they could work with me again, which was a real privilege. A number of people also wished me well before my trip to Manchester or checked in afterwards to see how it had gone.
That stayed with me.
When you spend much of your life looking out for other people, it’s easy to forget that people are quietly looking out for you too. This week I was reminded that care has a habit of finding its way back.
6. Where did I see stewardship in practice this week?
I saw stewardship come to life during our visit to Altrincham with @Matt_Townsend and @Emma_Koch from Planit.
They took us on a brilliant guided walk through the area, showing us what it had been, the vision that was created, the partnerships built, the decisions made and the journey that brought the place to where it is today.
What struck me wasn’t simply the physical transformation.
It was the care.
The care for people, for place, for relationships, for safety, for biodiversity, for transport and for the long term. Every decision seemed to acknowledge that places don’t become great through a single intervention. They become great because people are prepared to steward them over time.
That same mindset was reflected within Planit itself.
Despite having built an exceptional organisation and an impressive legacy, there was no sense of complacency. Instead, there was a genuine openness to asking how they could continue to evolve, strengthen their practice and increase their contribution.
To me, that’s stewardship.
Not protecting what you’ve already achieved, but taking responsibility for what it could yet become.
It was a timely reminder that the best leaders, teams and organisations don’t see success as a destination. They see it as something to care for, strengthen and pass on in an even better condition than they found it.
7. What metaphor or image captures the feeling of this week?
The metaphorical image? That’s a really good question.
I’m going to say the photograph I’m including this week. It’s a cup of Two Brothers Coffee in Altrincham. A really good coffee, by the way, and a great blend.
It was complete serendipity. I noticed the coffee roaster’s name on the side of the street and realised it was the same blend my great friends Ian and Jane chose to serve in their North Road Cycles bikery.
We lost Ian not too long ago, which remains a moment of incredible sadness for me. Ian was a force of nature. With Jane, he built a phenomenal brand, crafted beautiful bikes, created an extraordinary community and touched so many lives.
So it felt rather special to walk in, order an almond cortado and, for a few quiet moments, be reminded of him.
Perhaps that’s the image that captures this week.
A simple cup of coffee that became a reminder that the people who leave the deepest mark on us rarely disappear completely. Their influence lives on in the places they shaped, the communities they created and the choices they inspired in others.
That felt heartwarming. And somehow, it captured the spirit of the whole week.
8. What did I notice beneath the surface this week?
Beneath the surface, I was reminded just how much I love this work.
Not simply because of the work itself, but because of the people I get to do it with.
Almost every conversation this week was with people carrying huge amounts of passion, energy and spark for what they do. Whether they were shaping places, leading organisations, growing communities or investing in themselves, there was a common thread. They cared. Deeply.
It reminded me of a team meeting Gary Samson led many years ago at Nationwide. He played the song It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It), and his point has stayed with me ever since.
He was right.
This week I found myself adding something to it. It isn’t just what you do, or even the way that you do it.
It’s who you do it with.
I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to work alongside people who genuinely want to make things better. This week reminded me that the work matters because of the people. The conversations matter because of the relationships. And meaningful progress is rarely the result of one brilliant individual. It almost always emerges when good people come together around a shared purpose.
Perhaps that’s what I noticed beneath the surface.
I’ve never really fallen in love with the work.
I’ve fallen in love with the people doing it.
9. What am I carrying forward into next week?
If I’m honest, I’m carrying a little tiredness.
It was a full week. A week of travelling, conversations, facilitation, coaching and thinking. The kind of week where you know you’ve given a lot.
But alongside the tiredness, I’m carrying something much more important.
Energy.
The energy I felt from working with brilliant people. The energy that comes from facilitating a room and seeing ideas land. The energy of conversations that open new possibilities. The energy of reconnecting with people, discovering new collaborations and seeing my own thinking become a little clearer.
I’m also carrying a renewed confidence in the direction my work is heading. This week reminded me that I don’t need to reinvent myself. I simply need to keep finding better ways to express what I’ve been doing for years.
So next week isn’t about doing something different.
It’s about continuing to help individuals, teams, organisations and systems become more coherent, so they can make meaningful progress.
And perhaps that’s enough.
10. What writing flowed from me this week?
Ironically, this week it wasn’t so much writing that flowed. It was speaking.
Having the opportunity to facilitate again reminded me how much I enjoy weaving ideas together in real time. Across workshops, coaching and conversations, I noticed the same narrative emerging again and again around trust, motivation and performance, often drawing on experiences from throughout my career.
One idea in particular seemed to resonate.
We talked about conscious vulnerability.
There’s a lot of conversation about the importance of leaders being open and vulnerable, and I wholeheartedly agree. Trust depends upon it. So do motivation, connection and performance. It’s also simply part of being human.
What I’ve always been keen to stress however, is that leadership carries an additional responsibility.
To be consciously vulnerable.
If we simply lay everything on the table without any conclusion, reflection or learning that can be shared from a moment of vulnerability, ‘weakness’ or ‘failure’.
Without an “….but I know that because of what we’ve faced before, that we have the capacity to get through this…” an “I’m worried about this big scary ‘thing’ too - can leave people feeling overwhelmed or even hopeless. Leadership isn’t about pretending everything is okay. Nor is it about unloading everything we feel.
It’s about being open in a way that serves the people around us.
Sharing enough to build trust, whilst also helping people find meaning, hope and a way forward.
That feels like an important distinction, and one I’ll continue to explore through my coaching, facilitation and writing. It’s an idea whose time has come.
11. What thought or question do I want to leave myself (and others) with?
Don’t leave it too late to find your joy.
This week reminded me how easy it is to become consumed by responsibility, deadlines and the next thing that needs to be done.
But the moments that stay with us are often much simpler. A great conversation. A room full of people learning together. A bike ride with friends. A coffee that brings back memories of someone special. Time with the people we love.
Joy isn’t something to earn once the work is finished.
It’s something to make space for along the way.
12. How do I want to sign off this week?
Here’s to another week of helping good people make meaningful progress.
If something in this resonates - or you’re carrying something you want to think through:
Just reply…