📋 The Itinerary Business — A Lesson in Passion

What Happened

So my first real experience of building a business within a team was the itinerary making venture. On paper it had potential. A service that helps people plan trips and experiences sounds like a solid idea. But in reality, it became one of the most important learning experiences of my entire time on the programme. Not because it worked. Because it didn't.

Over time the energy in the team just faded. People stopped caring, stopped contributing, and what had started as an opportunity slowly fizzled out. There was no big dramatic moment where everything fell apart. It was more of a gradual drift. And honestly, that gradual drift was harder to deal with than a clear breaking point would have been.

Why It Happened & What It Means

Looking back, the reason this team failed is really clear to me now. We never had genuine passion for what we were building. We had an idea, but we didn't have belief in it. And without belief, there is nothing to hold a team together when things get difficult.

Lencioni (2002) identifies the absence of commitment as one of the five core dysfunctions of a team. And that is exactly what happened with us. Commitment is not just about showing up. It is about genuinely buying into a shared goal. When people do not care about the destination, they stop walking. That is what I watched happen in real time. One by one, people disengaged. And once that starts, it is really hard to reverse.

Tuckman (1965) developed his model of team development through forming, storming, norming and performing, and reflecting on this team, I do not think we ever made it past storming. We never found that norming stage where trust and shared understanding start to develop. Without passion to carry us through the difficult early stages, we got stuck. Hackman (2013) supports this, arguing that effective teams need a compelling purpose to sustain them through difficulty. We did not have one. And that absence showed.

What made it worse was that nobody addressed it. West (2012) talks about team reflexivity, which is the ability of a team to step back, look honestly at how things are going, and adjust. We never did that. We let the drift continue until it was too late to recover. And I think part of that was on all of us. Nobody wanted to be the one to say out loud that it was not working. Kozlowski (2018) highlights that collective disengagement creates a ripple effect across a whole team. When one person pulls back, others follow. That is exactly the pattern I witnessed.

What this means for me is that passion is not optional. It is the foundation. Without it, even the most promising idea will collapse under the weight of real challenges. This experience is a big part of why RILAIDITT feels so different to me. It is mine. I built it from something I genuinely love. And that love is what keeps me pushing even when things are hard.

Katzenbach and Smith (2015) argue that the most successful teams are built on shared commitment and mutual accountability. I know what it looks and feels like when those things are absent now. And that knowledge makes me a better teammate, a better entrepreneur, and a better leader.

Moving Forward

This team did not work out. But it taught me more than most of the things that did. It showed me what happens when passion is missing, when nobody speaks up, and when a team drifts without direction. Those are lessons I carry into every team I am part of now, including Phoenix, which could not feel more different. And that contrast says everything.

🔥 Team Phoenix — Rising Together

What Happened

Team Phoenix did not get its name by accident. I chose it deliberately, rooted in its definition of rising from the ashes. After the lessons learned from the itinerary venture, there was something really powerful about starting fresh with a name that represented exactly that. A new beginning. A second chance to get it right. And from the very start I took ownership. I created the name, drove the initial brand concept ideas, and set the tone for what Phoenix was going to be. That in itself was a shift for me. This was no longer the quiet girl from year one. This was someone who had something to say and was not afraid to say it.

We started out with a streetwear clothing brand. The energy was there, the ambition was there, and the concept felt exciting. But like a lot of early stage ventures, the reality of startup costs started to hit. And as those costs grew, so did the differences in where we each wanted to take the business. People started pulling in different directions in terms of the plan, and slowly the original idea faded.

Why It Happened & What It Means

The reason the streetwear idea did not survive comes down to alignment. We were united as people but not always united in direction. Lencioni (2002) identifies the lack of commitment to a shared direction as one of the most common reasons teams lose momentum. When individual visions start to diverge, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a unified path forward. That is exactly what happened. It was not a falling out. It was a slow drift away from a shared goal, which in some ways is harder to navigate because there is no clear moment to address.

But here is what made Phoenix different from my previous team experience. Even when the business direction was uncertain, the people were not. We remained solid. We showed up for each other. Katzenbach and Smith (2015) argue that true teams are bound not just by a common goal but by mutual accountability and genuine respect for one another. Phoenix had that in abundance. The business idea changed but the team did not.

Tuckman (1965) would describe what happened next as our norming stage. Unlike the itinerary team, which never moved past storming, Phoenix worked through the uncertainty and found its footing. We communicated, we adapted, and we came out the other side stronger. Hackman (2013) reminds us that what makes a great team is not always a perfect plan but the quality of the relationships and processes within it. By that measure Phoenix was already a great team, even before we had a clear business direction.

What this means for me personally is that I learned the difference between a team that has a good idea and a team that has a good foundation. The first team had an idea but no foundation. Phoenix had a foundation so strong that it outlasted the idea. And that foundation is what allowed us to evolve into something even better than we had originally planned.

Moving Forward

Phoenix did not fall apart when the streetwear idea faded. It rose. And what it became next, a team of individual entrepreneurs each building their own thing under one name, is honestly something I am more proud of than any single business idea could have made me. The name was always right. We just needed time to figure out what we were rising into.

🦅 Team Phoenix Now — One Team, Many Wings

What Happened

What Phoenix has evolved into is something I am genuinely proud of. We are no longer just a team with one shared business idea. We are an umbrella of individual entrepreneurs, each building something personal and meaningful, all under the Phoenix name. Sonia stayed true to the original vision and continued developing the Phoenix streetwear brand. Anya took her passion for dance and built BollyFusion, running weekly classes that blend culture, movement and community. And I continued to grow RILAIDITT, my hair business that started as a hobby and has become a core part of my identity and entrepreneurial journey. Three women. Three businesses. One team.

Why It Happened & What It Means

The reason this structure works so well comes down to one thing — accountability. We check in on each other, push each other forward, and make sure each of us is showing up for our own goals. It does not feel like an obligation. It feels natural. We genuinely want to see each other win.

Lencioni (2016) identifies accountability as one of the most essential qualities of high performing teams. But what I have come to understand through Phoenix is that accountability does not have to feel formal or forced. When you genuinely care about the people around you, holding each other accountable just becomes part of how you operate. We do not have to remind each other to show up. We just do. Because we know someone is watching and rooting for us.

Widdowson and Barbour (2021) argue that the most effective team structures are those that balance collective support with individual autonomy, giving people the space to grow on their own terms whilst remaining anchored to something bigger than themselves. Phoenix is exactly that. The support is always there but so is the freedom to develop independently. And that balance is what makes this structure so powerful. If we were all building the same thing together I do not think any of us would be as far along as we are individually. Having our own lanes gives us ownership. And ownership drives effort in a way that shared responsibility sometimes does not.

Katzenbach and Smith (2015) further emphasise that strong teams are built on mutual respect and complementary strengths. With streetwear, dance and hair all under one name, our strengths could not be more different. And that difference is a strength in itself. We each bring something completely unique to the table, which means when we do come together, the collective is genuinely greater than the sum of its parts.

What this means for me more broadly is that I have learned that the best teams are not necessarily the ones doing everything together. Sometimes the best teams are the ones that trust each other enough to go and do their own thing, knowing the support is always there when they need it. That is a model of teamwork I want to carry forward into everything I do after this programme.

Moving Forward

Phoenix did not just rise. It flourished. And what we have built, not just as businesses but as a team, is something I will carry with me long after university. Three women, three businesses, one name. That is something worth being proud of.

🤝 Future First — Strength Through Difference

What Happened

Future First was unlike any team I had been part of before. We were brought together to organise a networking event centred around AI and property, and from the start it was clear this was going to be a different kind of challenge. We were a group of strong personalities. Everyone was confident, everyone had opinions, and everyone had a clear idea of how things should be done. As Head of Social Media and Marketing I had a defined role and I owned it. But beyond my own responsibilities, I was navigating a team dynamic that was genuinely difficult at times.

The clashes we experienced did not come from a lack of effort or care. If anything they came from too much of it. Everyone cared deeply about the event, but caring deeply without being willing to compromise can be just as damaging to a team as not caring at all. The tension was real. Progress felt slow. And there were moments where it genuinely felt like we were pulling in opposite directions.

Why It Happened & What It Means

The reason we clashed comes down to a lack of willingness to compromise in the early stages. Tuckman (1965) would recognise this immediately as the storming phase, the period of competing ideas, friction and conflict that every team must work through before it can truly perform. But what made our situation interesting is that we were not afraid of conflict. We were too comfortable with it. The challenge was not starting difficult conversations. It was moving through them and coming out the other side.

Lencioni (2002) identifies the fear of conflict as one of the five dysfunctions of a team, but our issue was almost the opposite. We had plenty of conflict. What we lacked was the ability to resolve it productively. And it was only when we stopped, refocused, and recognised that we all shared the same end goal, a successful event, that everything shifted. That moment of realignment was the turning point. Suddenly the differences that had felt like obstacles started to feel like strengths.

Katzenbach and Smith (2015) argue that true teams are united by a common purpose meaningful enough to transcend individual differences. That is exactly what happened with Future First. The shared goal of delivering an exceptional networking event became bigger than any one person's preference or opinion. We stopped competing and started collaborating. And the event ended up being a real success.

What also made this experience meaningful for me personally was the followership element. AI and property are not my fields. They are not my expertise or my passion. So rather than trying to lead or impose my perspective on areas I did not fully understand, I focused on what I could genuinely contribute, which was my social media and marketing expertise. I supported the wider vision of the team and trusted my teammates to lead in their areas. Uhl-Bien et al. (2014) define followership as the behaviours of individuals who are not in a leadership role but who nonetheless contribute meaningfully to outcomes. That is exactly what I practiced in Future First. Knowing your lane and owning it is just as valuable as leading.

Hackman (2013) suggests that the most effective teams are those that can reflect on their dynamics and adjust. And that is precisely what Future First did. We recognised what was not working, addressed it honestly, and came together stronger for it. Kozlowski (2018) further highlights that collective engagement and shared motivation are the cornerstones of team effectiveness. Once we found that alignment, our collective energy was unstoppable.

What this means for me is that difficult teams are not failed teams. They are the ones that teach you the most. I learned more about compromise, humility, followership and resilience from Future First than from any team that ran smoothly. The friction was frustrating in the moment but genuinely valuable in hindsight.

Moving Forward

The event was a great success. And looking back I believe it was a success not despite our differences but because of them. Every strong personality in that room brought something valuable. We just had to learn how to sit at the table together. Future First taught me that the teams that challenge you the most are often the ones that grow you the most. And I would not change that experience for anything.