04/08/2026
They were already a team.
On paper, at least. Based in the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Eastern and Sri Lanka — connected by project boards, shared drives, and the kind of digital choreography that keeps global businesses moving.
What they didn't have — what most distributed teams don't have — was each other.
I ran a YQ for Teams programme recently with a division of IFS, a large global technology company. A group of colleagues who'd been working together for years. Real deadlines. Real deliverables. A shared mission.
None of it had brought them close.
The credit for changing that belongs, first, to Robyn — their leader. She saw something in her team that performance metrics couldn't capture. And instead of pushing harder on output, she created the space for something more fundamental. That takes a particular kind of leadership. The kind that's willing to ask: who are these people, really — and do they know each other?
YQ for Teams was her answer to that question.
And then, someone in the group said this: "In all these years working together, we haven't had such a wonderful time as a team as we are having in the sessions (time zone, not feeling comfortable sharing…). The YQ sessions are getting us closer, and your coaching style, in addition to Robyn's leadership, are being such a life-changing thing."
Years. Real work. Real collaboration. And this — this — was the first time it had felt like this.
There's a difference between a team that works together and a team that knows each other.
Most organisations invest heavily in the first. Tools, processes, frameworks, project management platforms. All of it useful. None of it sufficient.
Because what makes a group of people genuinely cohesive — what allows them to take risks, speak honestly, and support each other across difference — isn't structure. It's self-disclosure. And self-disclosure requires a degree of self-knowledge that most people simply haven't been given the space to develop.
That's what YQ creates.
Not through team-building exercises or forced fun. But by giving people a framework for understanding themselves — their patterns, their values, what drives them, what stops them — and then sharing that, carefully, with the people they work alongside.
Time zones didn't disappear. The discomfort of speaking across cultures didn't vanish overnight. But something shifted. People who'd shared a screen for years started, for the first time, to share themselves.
That's the real cross-territory problem, by the way. It's not logistics. It's proximity — human proximity. And you can't Zoom your way to it.
What would change in your team if people knew who they were working with?
Not their job title. Not their output.
Who they actually are.
Who would show up on Monday?
Let's Talk
If you are looking for a team development investment that produces honest, lasting change - the best way to understand whether YQ for Teams is right for your organisation is a direct, honest discussion about what your team needs and whether this is the right fit.
Colin Morris — Founder, YQ
[email protected]
yqmoreyou.com
