The Not So Breakfast Show
Listen, laugh and learn as we share our latest thoughts about staying relevant, contemporary leadership and doing life right. Ish Cheyne is the Head of Fitness in New Zealand for global fitness juggernaut Les Mills. Sacha Coburn is the COO of Coffee Culture, a leading group of boutique coffee shops, and the co-founder of The Company You Keep.co.nz.
The Not So Breakfast Show
Friends, Friction, and the Fine Art of Collaboration
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Episode 263
In this episode, Ish and Sacha unpack the joy and occasional lumpiness of working with people who have different styles to your own. The conversation comes from real life, as they have recently been building a project together and noticing the little differences in how they think, plan, create, communicate, and get things over the line.
They talk about the difference between co-presenting, where they already have an easy rhythm, and co-creating, where the work is messier because both people are shaping the thing at the same time. Ish likes to see the structure and the steps. Sacha often wants to think, talk, shape the words, and polish closer to the deadline. Neither approach is wrong, but they do require conversation, trust, and the occasional grown-up check-in.
They also explore what happens when collaboration is not optional: project teams, clients, suppliers, banks, doctors’ surgeries, and the general life admin circus. There is a great thread about frictionless experiences making us less resilient, plus a very practical reminder that a little bit of rub is not always a bad thing.
The big takeaway? Working well with others is not about finding people who are exactly like you. It is about understanding what the work needs, what the other person needs, what you need, and being honest enough to bridge the gaps before everyone quietly loses their mind.
Key Topics
1. Different working styles are not the problem; unspoken expectations are
2. Co-creating needs a different kind of trust
3. A little friction can be useful
4. Use “I” statements when collaboration gets tricky
5. Sometimes the problem is you, and that is useful to know
If you haven’t come across it yet, Working Genius is one of the simplest, most practical models I’ve seen for helping teams understand how they actually get work done. Not personality. Not fluff. Just clarity on where people thrive — and where they get frustrated.
If you’re planning your next team day, offsite, or work event, I’d love to bring this to your crew.
Find out more at IshCheyne.com