From Tension to Trust: How to Resolve Conflict and Strengthen Communication in a Hybrid Team14/4/2025 Here's 3 simple practices for creating trust, resolving tension, and communicating clearly in a remote-first world, that will help you build a high-performing team. And why Nature has something to teach you.  In the world of remote and hybrid work, many of the subtle, everyday interactions that help your team stay connected are missing. You spend less time together in person. Casual chats in the kitchen are gone. And without the body language and nuance of face-to-face contact, even small tensions can quietly build up into bigger issues.
A tone misread in a Slack message or an email. A team member unintentionally left out of even a small decision. A disagreement brushed under the carpet because no one feels quite brave enough to raise it on screen. It’s no wonder misunderstandings, resentment and conflict can simmer for longer. For one of our clients, feedback given to a team member that was not received well had led to tension between two team members for more than a year, and affected the whole team and the work they did (until they came to us in the woods that is.) But here’s the good news: when handled well, conflict can actually strengthen a team.
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Hybrid teams face unique challenges in maintaining a strong culture. Without the right strategies, communication gaps and disengagement can creep in. Discover practical ways to build trust, foster collaboration, and keep your team connected - whether they’re in the office or remote.  Why Hybrid Teams Struggle with Culture (and How to Fix It)With an estimated 22.1 million British people, or 40% of the population, working from home at least some of the time, it’s clear that hybrid working is here to stay. While hybrid working offers flexibility and autonomy it also presents challenges for collaboration, trust, and team cohesion. Without the right structures and habits, hybrid teams risk fragmentation, unnecessary competition and silent voices, which can lead to frustration and disconnection, a lack of commitment and difficulties working together. So how can you cultivate a strong, healthy culture when people are working from different places? How to Strengthen Culture in a Hybrid TeamThere are three key areas that will help you create a thriving hybrid team:
Move from silos to synergy. How we can help you tackle challenges in your leadership team in 2025 and beyond.
Is your leadership team struggling with silos, misalignment, or interpersonal conflicts that hinder collaboration and progress?
These challenges don’t just slow you down - they erode trust, weaken decision-making, and prevent your team from reaching its full potential. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By focusing on what truly works - building meaningful connections, fostering cohesion, and creating space for open, honest conversations - you can unlock your team’s ability to thrive and lead with purpose.
At School of the Wild, we've guided diverse teams - from purposeful digital agencies and environmental charities to michelin-starred restaurants and teams from corporates - towards meaningful connections and actionable strategies. Our unique, nature-based programmes have transformed challenges into opportunities for growth and unity. Discover how we can help your leadership team overcome obstacles and achieve shared success.
In today's fast-paced workplace, your team may find themselves overwhelmed by constant demands, digital distractions, and the pressures of daily tasks. To truly rejuvenate, reconnect, and become more cohesive, stepping away from the office, screens and desks, and immersing in Nature can be transformative.
This is where School of the Wild's Shift programme comes into play - it's a two or three-day company offsite retreat designed to foster deeper team connections, strategic clarity, and actionable outcomes.
 How does a purpose-driven remote team build a stronger rapport so that they can collaborate better? Location: Woodland, near Brighton Group size: 16 The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), is a leading non-profit driving news and analysis on energy and climate issues. With a team of 16 who mostly work remotely, they turned to School of the Wild for a team building away day to help them break down silos, strengthen connections, and unlock opportunities for deeper cross-team collaboration. Who they are
The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit supports informed debate on energy and climate change issues in the UK. They support journalists and parliamentarians with briefings on key issues, and work with others that have interesting stories to tell.  How does a small team resolve conflict and navigate the dynamics that can exist between team members?Location: Woodland, South London Group size: 5 How does a small team resolve conflicts that can exist between team members?Mental health consultancy Luminate asked School of the Wild to help them resolve some difficult team dynamics that was causing others in the team to feel uncomfortable, and which was having a disproportionate effect on the company’s growth.
Our role was to find creative ways to support employees discuss their concerns openly, hold space for people to have honest kind conversations that would improve relationships within the team, and help them get back to a positive working environment.  A magical day in the woods for a leadership forum of 50 leaders from POhWER, an advocacy charity. The aim was to reconnect the executive team, management team and team leads with each other after a time of change, and to work together on the organisation’s challenges for the year ahead. Client: POhWER Location: Woodland, South London Group size: 50 Who they are POhWER is a charity set up to effect change by providing advice, support and advocacy to people who experience disability, vulnerability, distress and social exclusion. Their leadership team's culture, context and challengesPrior to working with us, there had been a lot of change. People had strong feelings about it and in some parts of the organisation there had been resistance to the change programme, which had led to a polarised culture and tension among certain groups.
A group of staff were not exercising agency and were pushing decisions and solutions upwards. This meant that people were not working together to address challenges. In addition, the cost of living crisis was putting pressure on some staff and that, combined with the continual drip of bad news in the world, was exacerbating mental health issues. POhWER came to us to help them start to change mindsets and culture.  An offsite retreat based at a yurt village, for a fast growing charity working in the field of sustainability and the built environment Client: UKGBC - a charity working in the built environment
Location: Yurt Village, West Sussex Group size: 26 Who they are The UK Green Building Council is a membership organisation that aims to radically transform the built environment. This is a growing sector: there is a lot of work to do, and the team was growing. Their context UKGBC’s team had been through a very busy time and were feeling stretched. Plus there had been some instability - several new people had joined, and several key people had left, and the team had been challenged by this. There was a feeling that screen-based remote and hybrid working was creating barriers and as a result the organisation was missing out on creative conversations, people were not collaborating in the way they once were, and some people felt frustrated and that they couldn’t bring their whole selves to work. There was also an issue with a few people being quiet and not speaking up in meetings. Their challenge “How can we support each other, feel connected, bring our true selves to work and be motivated/fulfilled?" The aims and objectives UKGBC wanted their team to reconnect, regroup and develop as a team, and be reminded that their organisation was a great place to work. They wanted a meaningful programme to give them:
If you are a CEO, senior manager, or team leader seeking to invigorate your team, make meetings, away days or offsites more effective, or drive impactful change, an external facilitator can be your key to success.  The other day we were asked by a prospective client - an HR director at a large travel company - why they should use us to facilitate a team building programme for their middle managers, rather than just do it themselves.
The company had been going through a lot of change and they felt middle managers needed supporting and enabling. Their need was for managers to get to know each other better and develop as a group so that they would work together better, and bring the benefits of that to the whole organisation. The HR director asked us for help with reasons why they should hire someone externally because she knew she would be asked by the CEO. So this blog post sets out reasons why to use an external facilitator - whether for a team away day, strategy session or managers development programme - and when it is a good idea. Wondering how to get your team out of a stuck pattern or how to boost collaboration and move everyone forward towards a goal? Try using Forcefield Analysis, a framework for looking at the factors that are driving or hindering you. We use it in the woods with our clients. It'll help you make faster progress.  The other day we were working with a research group from a London university. The leader was frustrated that the same small core bunch of people came to meetings and away days, while the rest of the research group - about 25 people - didn’t show up or engage in any activities.
She came to us to try something different, to catalyse a more connected and engaged group. She wanted people to see the group as a real resource. And she didn’t want to be the only person driving things. We decided to experiment with a new (to us) development tool in the outdoor team day we ran for them. Forcefield Analysis was created by psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940s, it is a process for working out what’s driving your team and what’s holding you all back - whether on reaching a goal, or working together better. The theory is that you make faster progress by weakening and removing the restraining forces than by trying to do more driving things (especially when everyone is already overloaded.) Conflict in teams is an inescapable part of working life. Team conflict can affect morale and productivity but it doesn't have to cause permanent rifts. Here's how Nature can help you rebuild trust, boost collaboration and bring your team back together when there is conflict in your workplace.  Photo by Yan Krukau on Pexels A team is only as strong as the relationships among its members, and like most connections teams can have their ups and downs like a rollercoaster ride. Even with the best of intentions, sooner or later clashes between team members are inevitable because working life creates conflict by its very nature. Decisions may not have everyone's agreement, projects don’t always run smoothly, people get promoted or passed over. Different personalities bump up against each other and people can be triggered by what seems like the smallest of things.
This year we’ve been working with various clients at different stages in their life cycles - from startups with ambitious growth plans, to established large organisations that are implementing structural change. For many clients, the issue of conflict and how to handle it is a common theme. For one charity, people across the organisation were angry about a restructure and were not holding back on telling leaders. For another, a startup, it was the opposite. People were avoiding saying what they really thought and were only being nice to each other. Especially when senior leaders were present. Workplace conflict is a tricky one. It feels uncomfortable and if not handled well, it can cause all sorts of issues - exclusion, scapegoating, communication breakdown. You can get stuck there. According to Tuckman's forming, storming, norming, performing model - team conflict is a necessary and important stage that teams go through as they work through frustration and individuals establish their own authority - it can be transformative if handled well. How one UK business is making itself even more environmentally friendly by giving Nature a seat on the board. Could you do the same?  pic Cottonbro Studios/Pexels A couple of weeks ago I went to a really inspiring talk by Mika Peck, Professor of Conservation Ecology at Sussex University, about the Rights of Nature.
While many of us are concerned that human activities are causing runaway climate and ecological breakdown, there is a global counter-movement that is trying to rebalance things by adopting a different worldview - from one that sees Nature as our property, to one where Nature has its own rights. Already a number of rivers and ecosystems in 24 countries from the USA to New Zealand have been granted personhood in law. Ecuador in particular made history when it changed its entire constitution to enshrine Nature’s rights. When that was tested in 2021, the courts revoked mining licences in protected regions. How can you and your team create a workplace culture you can be proud of, that makes you all want to come into work every day and that brings out the best in your team?  The other day I was chatting with a director of a small charity. He was reminiscing about how his whole team used to cook and eat lunch together at his previous place of work. It was the best place he had ever worked, he said.
"I’m not sure whether it was a great place to work because we did stuff like eating together, or because we did stuff like that, it became a great place to work," he wondered. It is a good question. A bit like the chicken and the egg, when creating a great workplace culture, what comes first? There are two things we hear time and again from clients that are affecting the culture they want to see in their organisations:
Learn our top 5 tips for creating an inclusive team building experience that integrates values, reconnects teams, and improves wellbeing in our Free guide.
We’ve all been to team building events that rate way too highly on the cringe-scale, aren’t enjoyed by the majority of the attendees, and leave no lasting impact other than a hangover and a few embarrassing memories. Sometimes they are more akin to a stag or hen do, and follow an all too predictable formula: activity + food + booze.
In today’s diverse and inclusive workplaces these kinds of activities may no longer be appropriate or right for your team.  Have you read anything by ex-VP of Twitter in Europe, Bruce Daisley? Daisley left Twitter well before Elon Musk bought it, and is now writing and consulting on workplace culture.
At a culture conference I attended a few weeks ago, Bruce spoke about resilience, and about gentle moments of connection and shared joy as ways to build a strong cohesive culture in hybrid workplaces. Something he said really struck me: the best way to build cohesion in a team is when we become human in each others’ company. "This is the way to do our best work together," he said. This really resonated. Our experience at School of the Wild - and backed up by the research - shows that you’re never more human than when you’re in Nature.  At School of the Wild, we’re driven by one idea: nature brings out the best in people.
All our programmes are based on the principle that connecting people and the world begins with making nature itself the meeting room. Studies have shown that outdoor learning correlates with: • greater group bonding and cohesion, • levelling of hierarchies, • enhanced learning outcomes, • increased creative thinking • greater well-being, • more concentration, • better behaviour, • improved memory and confidence. Plus the best conversations and ideas don’t happen in meeting rooms! And to paraphrase Einstein: you can’t solve problems in the same place you created them.  School of the Wild is an experimental business school. We're on a mission to help organisations work with nature to both help their teams perform at their best, and to inspire a more regenerative relationship with the earth, as part of an ongoing strategy to develop.
Everything we do at School of the Wild is designed to get you out of the office to reconnect with each other, and be inspired by nature to make positive change. Our programmes fuse creative and practical skills with facilitated campfire conversations to help you strengthen your connection to the land and to each other, leaving a lasting impact on the way your team thinks, feels and works together.
(And why taking your team into the wild can help you figure it out)
photo by Scott Evans on Unsplash
Most organisations aren’t doing enough on climate change. And the chances are, even if you’re already working hard to reduce your organisation’s environmental impact, there’s still more you could do.
Even as we see the immediate effects of climate change growing all around us (in the form of wildfires, unseasonal weather and flooding) the coronavirus pandemic served as an unwelcome distraction. The reality, though, is that the earth is warming and that climate change can no longer be avoided. What we can do is to avoid its most devastating effects: but that will take significant, decisive and rapid action to achieve. At School of the Wild, we run offsite team building and leadership development programmes outside, on purpose. Here's why nature brings out the best in your team.
At School of the Wild, we’re driven by one idea: nature brings out the best in people.
We believe that reconnecting with the natural world is the one of the best ways to reconnect with each other, freeing your collective potential and growing together. It’s where many voices become one mind. The latest research backs this up, showing that spending time in nature:
Time in nature boosts your team performance by helping individuals grow and develop, and build meaningful bonds with each other. We know this works. So we run offsites and team building programmes with a difference: we support you to solve concrete problems and realise your team’s potential in these challenging times, through:
Looking for memorable way to energise and motivate your team? Here's our guide to the nine best outdoor team building activities in London that will help build people and culture in 2025. Pic courtesy of RODNAE Productions on Pexels Why Outdoor Team Building in London?Gathering your team in nature builds trust, belonging, and engagement in a way that helps employees connect with each other and the bigger picture. It’s a well-known fact that businesses live and die by their people. They are the heart, mind, and soul of your organisation, and truly are your greatest asset.
Continuing the analogy, much like a human body your workforce has to be nurtured and cared for, otherwise things will start to break down or give up altogether and pretty soon you’ll be immobile. The best way of doing this? Foster a sense of belonging. Your people aren’t drones and they shouldn’t be sitting in silos disconnected from each other. People want to make real connections when they go to work. It’s where they spend half their time, after all. Meaningful relationships don’t just make the day go faster for your staff, they actually boost business. On average, companies with high connection scores had 32% higher ratings than their competitors, were 14 times more likely to be named on a “best places to work” list and were 25% more likely to be recommended by current employees to their friends. So, how can you achieve this? It’s unnatural to force genuine connections, but a basic understanding of psychology shows that finding common ground between people is the fastest way to start growing these connections. This has probably happened to you before, if you have bonded with someone over a hobby or shared opinion. One of the best ways to increase trust, belonging and engagement is through team building activities in the great outdoors. Spending time together in nature is shown to have many benefits for developing relationships and connection. A lot of research shows that time in nature leads to improved communication and collaboration between individuals, provides a deep sense of purpose and strengthens an individual’s environmental values. It is also shown to dramatically increase creative problem solving, by as much as 50%. However team building in nature often focuses heavily on competitive pursuits. Why Giving and Receiving Feedback Matters for Your Team’s Development — and How to Do This Well31/10/2022
In this article, we explain the benefits of effective feedback for employee and team development and why it is an important tool for leaders. We also debunk some commonly-held misconceptions and explain how to go about providing helpful, constructive feedback for your team using tools such as Johari Window and CEDAR framework.  picture by Gustavo Fring on Pexels. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Do you see feedback as important to the development of your team? Are you comfortable giving feedback to your team — the good and the bad?
How do you react when you’re given feedback on your own performance and behaviour? You might not realise it, but feedback is critical in a business environment because your employees need and want feedback in order to grow and improve. According to one survey by Gallup, 69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were recognised through feedback. However, according to a poll commissioned by Interact, 37% of managers say they are uncomfortable giving feedback, and 21% avoid giving feedback at all when it’s negative. The truth is we all want feedback, but none of us really want to hear it when it’s difficult, so providing your team with clear, constructive, actionable feedback is an important skill for leaders. It’s also important that you’re able to handle receiving feedback yourself and taking it on the chin when it’s not what you’d like to hear. This way, you can be an example to your team by using feedback positively and constructively. Feedback is valuable. It helps you learn more about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and how your behaviours and actions affect others. It also helps your team get along better — something to bear in mind when you consider that 60-80% of all organisational difficulties grow from strained inter-team relationships rather than individual lack of skills or motivation. Scheduling in regular cycles of feedback within your team dramatically increases their capacity to respond, adapt, and learn. Other benefits include boosted engagement, motivation, and confidence, which drive and encourage your team to perform at their best. In 1965 psychologist Bruce Tuckman's theory described how teams move through several stages in their development, known as forming, storming, norming, and performing.In this article, we’ll explain what each stage involves and how you, as a leader, can best support your team through each of these phases.  Understanding Tuckman’s Team Development ModelIs your team struggling to work together? Are they holding back, clashing or underperforming? Can they ask each other for help? Do the same enthusiastic voices speak up in meetings? Are people able to be authentic with each other or do they seem disengaged? Have new starters changed the dynamics or have recent leavers affected team confidence? If you're experiencing any of these challenges, you may be wondering how can you help your team collaborate, work together better and become a more successful and high performing team. Tuckman's theory (sometimes known as Tuckman’s Ladder) is something that we refer to all the time, it shows that as your team develops, it moves through four stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing. By working through these stages - which may not happen in a linear way - your team members will be able to build more effective relationships and become better able to collaborate with each other. As an added benefit, your leadership style will become more collaborative too. Why Tuckman’s Model Still Matters for Teams TodayDespite having been around for over fifty years, Tuckman’s theory of team formation is still a solid and relevant explanation of team development and behaviour.
The simple truth is, building successful teams is hard - things change all the time, and people and their feelings are not always straightforward. As a leader, you may find yourself in that position for different reasons, not necessarily because you’re skilled at managing or building teams. So leading a team is an important skill to master. Tuckman’s model can help you gain an understanding of how individuals naturally come together in a team. It helps you figure out their motivations and inhibitions, and also the challenges that you, as a leader, need to help them overcome. After the pandemic, do workers want to continue working from home? We talk to three Sussex businesses who're navigating hybrid working and exploring how to make sure it works for them and their staff.  photo: by Theo Decker from Pexels Pre-2020, how many of us had regular conversations about hybrid working?
There might have been the flexibility to work the occasional day at home, or flexible hours around school pickups. But for most, 9-5 in the office was the norm – and anything else an exception. The switch to home working in 2020 was abrupt, with little space to think strategically about how best to make it work, or how to maintain a sense of connection. Two years on, we have that space. Some organisations have already moved successfully to hybrid working patterns, tested different ways of doing things and found the path that works best for them. At School of the Wild, we’ve been helping teams as they adapt to hybrid working find new ways to collaborate and connect – taking them away from screens, and into nature. What we’ve found is that there is no simple, one-size-fits all solution – but there are solutions.
Purpose-driven organisations perform better and have more engaged employees, but staff are particularly prone to burnout. Read on to discover why, and what you can do to support your purpose and your team.
Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash
Purpose-driven organisations naturally inspire commitment and passion among their people, who are driven not only by salary and benefits, but by their desire to make a difference.
Often this is highly beneficial, with purpose-driven organisations performing better and having more satisfied employees. One survey found that purpose-driven organisations achieved 30% higher levels of innovation and 40% higher retention rates. Another survey found that 25% of British managers would take a pay cut to work for a purpose-driven organisation. The commitment shown by employees to purpose-driven organisations is impressive, but it should be handled with care – because people who are passionate about their jobs often find it hard to stop, and that commitment can then quickly turn into over-commitment and burnout. In other words, purpose doesn’t remove stress (and may actually heighten it).
How can you bring your team with you as you navigate the post-covid world? Organisations that listen creatively and learn together will be able to get out of remote-working silos, work more sustainably and keep staff happiness levels high.
photo by @soyhivan on Unsplash
If 2020 was the year of scrambled work from home arrangements, lost revenue and organisational stress, 2021 is the year of the restructure. Particularly now, as we head into the final few months of the year and pandemic-related restrictions are all-but lifted, organisations are asking ‘how do we really want to work in 2022 and beyond?’
For some, the answer might be cautiousness, cutbacks and a continuation of the survival mode we’ve all been in for the last 18 months, driven by fear that the currently promising economic signs won’t last, and a desire to ‘get back to normal’. But that would be a short-sighted loss of opportunity. Perhaps your organisation wants to take this chance to make a real, long-term difference to the way you do things? Restructuring and re-evaluating not to tighten up and push on as before, but to work out how to collaborate better, listen more and work more sustainably into the future. Learning the lessons of the pandemic, rather than trying to pretend it never happened. |
Author & CuratorNigel Berman is the founder of School of the Wild. |
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