“You don’t need the ball to change the game.”
Part 1 in the “From the Touchline” series
The most effective leaders aren’t the ones calling every play from the centre circle. They’re the ones who multiply their team’s effectiveness from the edge of the action through clear operational intent rather than detailed control.
This is leadership from the touchline. Not distant observation, but strategic positioning that transforms what teams already know needs to happen into accelerated operational results.
What touchline leadership actually means
Leading from the touchline isn’t about stepping back. It’s about stepping up differently. It’s the discipline of multiplying strategic knowledge into operational results without becoming the bottleneck.
The difference is fundamental: instead of telling capable people what to do, you ensure they understand what you’re trying to achieve and why it matters. This operational intent becomes the foundation that allows teams to make the right decisions under pressure, adapt when conditions change, and execute at pace without constant supervision.
In practice, this looks like translating strategic knowledge into clear operational intent that guides decision-making. Creating frameworks that multiply individual capability into collective effectiveness. Building adaptive decision-making capability throughout the organisation. Focusing teams on outcomes rather than constraining them with detailed processes. Accelerating performance through clarity of purpose rather than control of activity.
The best touchline leaders don’t solve problems for their teams. They multiply the team’s ability to solve problems faster and more effectively.
The Von Moltke principle: why intent trumps instructions
Over 150 years ago, Prussian General Helmuth von Moltke recognised something that confounds many leaders today: “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” But his real insight wasn’t about the futility of planning. It was about what happens when people understand the operational intent behind the plan.
When teams grasp not just what needs to happen, but why it needs to happen and what success looks like, they can adapt and deliver even when conditions change dramatically. This became mission leadership—a philosophy so effective that it still underpins every major Western military structure today.
The principle was revolutionary because it multiplied effectiveness through strategic restraint rather than tactical control.
Why traditional control fails modern teams
Most execution problems stem from applying Frederick Taylor’s 1911 “Scientific Management” principles to today’s dynamic environments.
The planning assumption: believing you can create perfect plans that account for every variable.
The control structure: separating strategic thinking from operational execution.
The one-size-fits-all belief: assuming there’s one right way to execute across all situations.
This worked for repetitive factory tasks but fails when your teams operate in environments where market conditions, customer needs, and competitive responses change faster than detailed plans can be updated.
The modern reality: your teams need the speed of decision, speed of execution, and speed of adaptation that only comes from understanding operational intent rather than following detailed instructions.
The Strategic Multiplication Framework in action
This is where The Strategic Multiplication Framework transforms touchline leadership from philosophy into practical application. The framework creates systematic multiplication across four dimensions.
Strategic intent clarity. Everyone understands what success looks like and why it matters to the business. This goes beyond vision statements to operational guidance that helps people make better decisions when you’re not there.
Capability multiplication. Teams multiply effectiveness rather than just execute tasks. Individual strengths are systematically deployed to create collective capability that exceeds the sum of its parts.
Adaptive decision-making. Fast, distributed decisions within clear boundaries. People closest to the action can respond quickly because they understand the strategic intent and decision-making framework.
Performance acceleration. Results that compound through collective capability. Success builds on success as the organisation’s learning and execution capability improves systematically.
Learning it through three different pathways
I didn’t learn this philosophy in theory. I developed The Strategic Multiplication Framework across three distinct operational pathways, each teaching different aspects of multiplication leadership.
As an Interim CEO, the temptation is always to become the solution. But if I became the driving force, I’d only create a bigger problem when I left. The multiplication happened when I built strategic intent clarity and adaptive decision-making capability in the existing team. My role wasn’t to be the engine. It was to implement the framework that multiplied their effectiveness long after I’d moved on.
As a Chair and NED, the discipline is different but equally crucial. Strategic oversight that accelerates rather than inhibits. Using The Strategic Multiplication Framework to ask the one question that unlocks a stalled decision, or provide the operational intent that turns scattered efforts into focused execution. Always amplifying capability, never replacing it.
As an Executive Coach, I work directly with senior leaders who know their strategic destination but need help translating that knowledge into team-wide operational momentum. The multiplication happens when we implement the framework to turn their strategic clarity into distributed decision-making capability their teams can actually execute.
Each pathway reinforced the same fundamental truth: the best strategic leaders multiply existing capability rather than replace it.
What multiplication leadership looks like in practice
The best touchline leaders operate The Strategic Multiplication Framework with quiet precision. They don’t dominate the action. They amplify it through systematic capability building.
They establish strategic intent clarity: clear operational objectives, defined success criteria, established rhythm of decision-making and review.
They multiply organisational capability: not just performance metrics, but decision-making speed, initiative frequency, adaptation capability under changing conditions.
They build adaptive decision-making: creating frameworks that allow fast, distributed decisions within clear boundaries whilst maintaining strategic alignment.
They accelerate performance systematically: only intervening when strategic clarity can unlock operational acceleration, or when structural issues are blocking team effectiveness.
I’ve seen this work repeatedly. A Chair establishes clear strategic intent then watches a management team deliver results they didn’t think were possible—because they now understand what success looks like and can make confident decisions without constant escalation.
Portfolio Managers implement The Strategic Multiplication Framework and see investment performance accelerate because the team has operational intent clarity paired with adaptive decision-making capability.
CEOs resist diving into operational detail and instead create the multiplication framework that allows their senior team to execute at pace whilst maintaining strategic alignment.
Working as an Executive Coach, I help Managing Directors translate their strategic vision into The Strategic Multiplication Framework that multiplies effectiveness throughout their organisation.
They don’t seek the spotlight. They create the conditions where others can perform at their best.
The compound multiplication effect
Touchline leadership through The Strategic Multiplication Framework doesn’t announce itself. The results speak loud enough.
When leaders multiply capability rather than directing activity, you get individual multiplication: each person understands their role in the bigger picture, making faster, more confident decisions with increased initiative.
Team multiplication: coordination improves without constant communication, different specialists contribute expertise toward common objectives, collective problem-solving capability increases.
Organisational multiplication: strategic thinking cascades through the organisation, execution speed increases without sacrificing quality, adaptability improves as conditions change.
This isn’t incremental improvement. It’s exponential multiplication of effectiveness that compounds over time.
The competitive edge for senior leaders
If you’re operating as a Chair, NED, Portfolio Manager, CEO, or Managing Director, The Strategic Multiplication Framework is your competitive edge: systematically multiplying the strategic knowledge that already exists in your organisation and translating it into operational results that accelerate performance.
The multiplication happens when you resist the urge to control every move and instead implement the framework that creates conditions for exceptional execution.
Traditional leadership asks: “How do I get people to execute my plans?”
Multiplication leadership asks: “How do I multiply their capability to execute strategic intent?”
The difference transforms not just performance, but organisational resilience, adaptability, and competitive advantage.
The Strategic Multiplication Framework forms part of my strategic operations consulting approach. Working as Chair/NED, Interim CEO, or Executive Coach, I help senior management teams multiply their strategic knowledge and operational effectiveness.
Follow the complete “From The Touchline” series for frameworks that translate strategic intent into multiplied operational results.
