#70 Is Leadership Supposed to Feel This Heavy?

from Katie's Leadership Lounge · host Katie Quinney

In this episode of The Leadership Lounge, Katie explores the analogy of birds flying in V formation to draw lessons on leadership and teamwork in healthcare. She explains how the V formation reduces wind resistance, allowing birds to conserve energy and fly longer distances, symbolising how teamwork enhances efficiency and endurance. The formation also facilitates visibility and communication, enabling quick adjustments and mutual support, including helping struggling members. Leadership is shared as birds rotate the lead position to distribute workload, reflecting the importance of distributed leadership and leveraging individual strengths. Katie stresses the value of encouragement within teams and cautions against becoming isolated in echo chambers, urging alignment with shared goals and directions. She connects these insights to healthcare, emphasising collaboration, supporting colleagues through challenges, and balancing leadership roles to improve efficiency and well-being. The episode encourages leaders to reflect on their direction, foster collective strength, and embrace shared leadership to navigate the ongoing demands of healthcare delivery.Check out katiequinney.com for links and resources :)

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 21, 2025

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What this episode covers

In this episode of The Leadership Lounge, Katie explores what birds flying in V-formation can teach healthcare leaders about teamwork, resilience, and balance. Leadership can feel unbearably heavy when carried alone, but geese remind us of a better way: rotating the lead, encouraging one another, and staying aligned on direction. Katie connects these lessons to the realities of healthcare, where leaders and teams are stretched thin, often overwhelmed, and at risk of burnout. You’ll take away practical insights on how to share the load, support colleagues through challenges, and build collective strength to sustain both well-being and impact.