From good to great: The secrets of team effectiveness with Sean Riches

About this episode

Zoe Cunningham interviews Sean Riches to explore the science and psychology behind high-performing teams and the key traits that separate good teams from great ones.

What separates a good team from a truly great one? In this episode of The Digital Lighthouse, host Zoe Cunningham sits down with Sean Riches, founder and managing director of Erskine Nash Associates, to explore the science and psychology behind high-performing teams. With over 20 years’ experience in leadership, organisational psychology, and consultancy, Sean has worked with global giants like Vodafone, Oracle, Microsoft, and TCS. Through his CAB model — Clarity, Alignment, Behaviour — he helps leaders and teams move beyond competence to excellence. Together, Zoe and Sean unpack the real drivers of team effectiveness, from psychological safety to behavioural alignment, and share practical ways to measure and improve performance across thinking and feeling dimensions. In this episode, discover: The five key traits of high-performing teams (from Google’s Project Aristotle) How to measure both the cognitive and emotional sides of team effectiveness Why clarity, alignment, and behaviour are the foundation of lasting performance How leaders can overcome fear, complexity, and disengagement Real-world techniques for assessing and improving team dynamics If you enjoy this episode…

People in this episode

Host: Zoe Cunningham

Guest: Sean Riches

Topics covered

• team effectiveness
• high-performing teams
• leadership
• organisational psychology

Keywords

• psychological safety
• behavioural alignment
• CAB model
• team dynamics

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Vodafone, Oracle, Microsoft, TCS

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