Today, Sir Clive is one of the UK’s most in-demand peak performance speakers, celebrated for his expertise in developing winning mindsets and building high-performing cultures. A respected voice among rugby speakers, high-performance speakers and inspirational speakers, he brings a unique blend of elite sporting insight and corporate acumen to the world of leadership development.
In this exclusive Q&A with Champions Speakers Agency, Sir Clive shares practical advice for business leaders across Cambridgeshire—offering proven strategies on motivation, team engagement, and sustaining excellence from one of Britain’s leading motivation and performance speakers.
Q: As someone raised in Cambridgeshire who went on to lead England to Rugby World Cup glory, what lessons can local business leaders learn from top-level sport about driving positive change in the workplace?
Sir Clive Woodward: “Interestingly enough, I read a book recently, and I've got the book with me here by Niall Ferguson. It's a great book, but the key paragraph—and I make no point of reading it—throughout history hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but the real power has resided in networks in the town square below. It's the networks that innovate, and it's through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread.
“So when you think about what Ferguson has said there, what we're basically saying—historically all the power's in the top of the building, at the top of the organisation. What he's saying, what I totally believe, what I've kind of learned from my experience, is that the real power is in the shop floor—the workforce, your team, your employees—and it's through those you've got to really listen. That's where ideas can contagiously spread.
“The whole thing about, in terms of workplace, is really understanding. If you're in a leadership position, it's really listening to your team and making sure you really listen. I used to think leadership was all about the guy at the top of the organisation or the lady at the top of the organisation coming up with all the ideas. I've kind of moved well on from that. What it's become is about really good listening, and I think the idea of leadership is listening to your team and then really understanding what they're saying to you.
“And then, if it’s going to make sense, to actually put these ideas in place. Leadership does that. And I find myself not thinking of good ideas but actually thinking, “That's a great idea that makes the boat go faster.” I'm going to try and do everything I possibly can to make that happen.
“So creating a positive change in the workforce doesn't happen just by luck—just by real engagement of your employees, and really making sure they feel engaged and that they can put forward new thoughts, new ideas on a continuous basis.”
Q: Whether on the field or in the boardroom, high performance is crucial. What core traits should every effective team in Peterborough and beyond focus on developing?
Sir Clive Woodward: “I pride myself on leading high-performance teams in sports and business. But if there is a secret to creating a high-performing team in the workplace, it's if you get every individual—and I mean every individual—working at his or her optimal level, the teamwork becomes a lot easier to do.
“I see so many people get this wrong, where they put this emphasis on teamwork and all these different ideas. If you get every individual working at an optimal level—really optimal level—they will actually respond to you. And then the teamwork becomes easier to do.
“When I'm looking at individuals, there are three characteristics I look for. The first is what I call a sponge or rock—they’re teachable. So we're looking at people who've got the ability to take on knowledge, to learn, to put themselves out there into a pretty tough place at times.
“The key term—and I think the more technical term—is growth mindset versus fixed mindset. I call this sponge and rock. So you have a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset. Your ability to learn, your ability to take on knowledge, and your ability sometimes to relearn and start again in different areas.
“The second characteristic I look for is people who can play and perform under pressure. I think pressure is a great growing word; it sets people apart. Let's face it—anyone can do anything where there's no pressure. Real champion individuals perform well under pressure. But it's not something that you're born with; it's something you can teach people. I've spent a lot of time teaching individuals in my team how to handle pressure.
“And lastly, I'm looking for people with the right attitude. You can have all the learning and be able to handle pressure, but attitude is absolutely key. And again, attitude is not something you're just born with.”
Q: Many organisations across Cambridgeshire are facing big transitions—what practical strategies do you recommend for managing change and re-engaging teams who may feel stuck or unmotivated?
Sir Clive Woodward: “What I like to do is—if you really want to challenge orthodox thinking, and that's a great word, “orthodox”—I mean orthodox thinking is a real curse. If you're just stuck in the way you're doing things, you can never create transformational change. So what you've got to always try and do is challenge orthodox thinking.
“One way you can do it is obviously speaking to your team about whatever’s going on. But what I used to love to do—and I’ll give you again from the rugby team, but I do this in the best businesses I run today—was I used to invite guests into my environment.
“These invited guests were people I knew, but they weren't involved in rugby. We had bankers, hedge fund managers, people who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, headmistresses of schools, police officers... I invited them into my environment. I’d say, “Come and spend a day or two with me.” Hopefully you're going to come into a high-performing environment, but just please sit at the back of the room, keep out of the way, don’t go gaga when Jonny Wilkinson walks in.
“Here’s the deal: spend a day or two with me, enjoy it, because you're going to see a high-performing team. But by the end of that time, I want at least one idea of something we could do differently or better.
“I promise you, over the eight years of coaching England, I brought in over 50 people individually. They all sat at the back of the room, kept out the way, but we showed them everything—we were totally open, nothing was hidden.
“By the time they left, I wanted at least one thought or idea of something we could do better. Every single person left with at least one idea of something we could improve.”
Q: You’ve coached teams to World Cup and Olympic success. What was the single biggest factor behind those winning environments—and how can businesses in our region apply the same mindset?
Sir Clive Woodward: “In professional sport—sport is no different than business, by the way. People often say, “Well, sport is different than business.” It's not. My definition of business is delivering results through people. And I repeat it: deliver results with people. That's what I do as a businessman; that's what I do as a sports coach. I've just been lucky enough to work at pretty high levels in both. I promise you, there's no difference.
“But I think the one key common denominator in successful teams—in sport and business—is this thing I call: “100 things one percent better.” I repeat it: “100 things one percent better.”
“I've never worked in any business or sport where we've come up with this big, massive idea that's going to be the game-changer. I think my kind of DNA—and the people I work with, teach, and run classes for—is all about the actual detail: 100 things one percent better.
“If you think about it, through doing 100 things one percent better, that will make a big, big difference. Or even if you do 10 things one percent better, it makes a difference.
“The key thing, though, is to make sure everyone in your team has got the capacity to put forward new thoughts, new ideas—“This will make the boat go faster”—which is my favourite all-time line.”
Q: What guidance would you give to leaders in Peterborough aiming to make their workplaces more inclusive and psychologically safe for all staff?
Sir Clive Woodward: “I can't think of an organisation that doesn't want to create more inclusivity around their workforce.
“I use a very simple graph—not a graph, and I'll try and explain it to you quite simply. I think if you're trying to create inclusivity, you need two key things. Number one is what I call psychological safety.
“What I mean by psychological safety—it's quite a much-used word now—is that psychological safety means, take a classic meeting: everyone in that meeting or in a one-on-one meeting with me feels safe to put forward new thoughts, new ideas, even if they may be subliminally criticising myself, the leader, or someone else in the room, or the organisation itself.
“They've got to be psychologically safe to actually put forward those ideas. Very simple words—very hard to actually do. Some people are naturally kind of shy and reserved. But also, at times, they just feel they don't feel safe putting forward their ideas.
“One of my favourite sayings in sport is: “There's no such thing as a bad idea.” If you've got an idea, I want you on your feet, put your hand up, and put it forward. But you must feel psychologically safe to do that—and that's what leadership's all about.
“Then the second thing in creating inclusion is what I call productive challenge. This is what I mean about—you know, sometimes my favourite saying is: “The enemy's not in the room.”
“So many times, people just don't feel safe challenging other people. Productive challenge—there’s nothing wrong with that. These ideas are coming forward, but you challenge them in a productive way, not a negative way: “Have you thought about this?” “Have you thought about that?” “Maybe we can build on that.” All these great sayings help you create productive challenge.
“So what I basically have is—if you think of a graph—productive challenge on the vertical axis, and psychological safety on the horizontal. What we’re saying, what we’re trying to get to, is high challenge, high safety.
“If you get low safety and low challenge—in other words, people don't feel safe making new thoughts, and they're not confident about challenging people—you get what’s called apathy. We don't want apathy in any organisation.
“If you get high safety but low challenge—so they feel safe, but they're not really challenging people—it's too comfortable.
“Then the third thing to think about: if you get high challenge—in other words, you are challenging people—but you don't feel safe, you get stress. So you have stress, apathy, and comfort.
What we're trying to get to is high challenge, high safety—and that is the winning mindset. That's what we're trying to get to as an organisation.
“All the businesses I've run—from the rugby team to the Olympic team to the businesses I run now, like the ski academy called Apex 2100 in the south of France—we're trying to create this winning mindset. And the number one way to create a winning mindset is to really understand that inclusivity is really, really important.”
This exclusive interview with Sir Clive Woodward was conducted by Chris Tompkins.