In complex services, teams rarely fail because they lack talent. They fail because pressure triggers predictable patterns: promises drift, people burn out, direction thrashes, decisions bottleneck, and pace becomes unsafe. FLOCK helps prevent this by making leadership practice visible, assessable, and improvable.
Why the five principles matter
FLOCK's five principles are not values statements. They are leadership outcomes you protect through observable signals in day-to-day delivery.
- 1. Commitment
- 2. Shared Care
- 3. Shared Direction
- 4. Shared Leadership
- 5. Sustainable Pace
1) Commitment: When promises drift, trust collapses
Principle: Commitment = We honour our promises to users and to each other.
What strong looks like: promises are explicit, owned, and reviewed. Risks are reported honestly. Work traces back to user needs and outcomes.
What weak costs you: polished work can hide service harm and delivery risk. Scope changes become silent broken promises that create rework and mistrust.
- Counter-move: run an Outcome and Promise Review.
- Record decisions with evidence references so changes are explainable, not opinion-led.
2) Shared Care: When care is optional, burnout becomes the operating model
Principle: Shared Care = We look after the wellbeing and growth of the whole community.
What strong looks like: there is a regular health check, support is easy to access, and harmful dynamics are challenged.
What weak costs you: wellbeing is discussed only after crisis, inclusion becomes theatre, and attrition quietly taxes delivery.
- Counter-move: run a recurring Team Health Check.
- Every cycle should end with 1 to 2 concrete changes and owners.
3) Shared Direction: When direction is not shared, busy replaces progress
Principle: Shared Direction = We align around a clear direction and move as one.
What strong looks like: a shared story exists, maps and models are used, and backlogs reflect direction with visible trade-offs.
What weak costs you: thrash, side-quests, repeated resets, and research that exists but does not inform decisions.
- Counter-move: run a Flight Path Session that sets 3 to 5 bets and explicit not-now decisions.
- Maintain maps through a small cadence so they do not rot.
4) Shared Leadership: When leadership bottlenecks, the system becomes fragile
Principle: Shared Leadership = We share responsibility, visibility, and decision-making.
What strong looks like: rotation is intentional, decision-making guardrails are clear, multiple people can represent the work, and deputies exist in practice.
What weak costs you: single points of failure, stalled decisions, gatekept development, and advice-only participation in multi-supplier delivery.
- Counter-move: run a Rotation and Guardrails routine.
- Rotate decision ownership, not just presenting, and make external decision authority explicit.
5) Sustainable Pace: When pace is not governed, quality and ethics degrade quietly
Principle: Sustainable Pace = We manage pace so people and services can last.
What strong looks like: pace is planned, reviewed, and renegotiated when capacity is exceeded. Crunch is exceptional, time-boxed, and followed by recovery.
What weak costs you: permanent emergency mode, compromised quality and ethics, systemic burnout, and teams acting as the buffer for everyone else's chaos.
- Counter-move: run a recurring Pace and Load Review.
- Force a decision each cycle: stop, slow, de-scope, or re-sequence, and record trade-offs.
Need support applying this in your service context?
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