Trusting agility: Jess Holmes’s H1 insights and H2 outlook

Agile Leadership in 2025: What’s Changed and What’s Next

The first half of 2025 has tested leaders across all sectors. It has demanded speed, adaptability, and emotional intelligence (EI). Jess Holmes, Managing Consultant and Business Psychologist at Morgan Philips Talent Consulting UK, has seen a clear shift. Leaders are becoming more agile, more open, and more focused on building resilient teams.

In this Q&A, Jess explores what’s changed, what’s working, and what leaders can lean into as H2 unfolds.

The Biggest Shift in Leadership Mindset in 2025

What’s been the most significant shift you’ve seen in leadership behaviour or mindset over the past six months?

There have been a number of shifts, including in adaptive leadership and the need to be more agile. This may be leaders realising that they need to put a new strategy in place to cope with constant change in the market, or to helping them to understand the ability of talent within their organisation to respond to continued uncertainty.

Given the political and economic backdrop, leaders are feeling particularly uncertain, leading to more risk averse behaviour. We are working with a number of leaders who are trying to break this pattern, be more forward-thinking and consider what their organisation might look like in the future.

Key Coaching Insight from H1: Leadership Growth Isn’t Linear

What’s one insight from your coaching work that has stuck with you in H1? 

The journey to success isn’t linear, and the work doesn’t stop for even the most senior leaders. There will always be obstacles and setbacks within your career, and it is important to take stock and dedicate time for self-reflection. A coach can also support this process. It’s important to take time to celebrate achievements to build confidence, but also to reflect on mistakes. Knowing where you can improve is invaluable for helping align development actions or goals to work towards. Many leaders don’t ask for feedback on themselves and their performance, yet doing this regularly and informally can help with this process.

How Psychological Safety Will Shape Team Culture in H2

What trends in psychological safety or team dynamics do you expect to shape H2?

In H2, I expect there to be even more emphasis on the role of a leader to lead by example. This includes showing and modelling vulnerability, demonstrating a willingness to learn, and taking ownership and accountability for mistakes. This helps create a culture of psychological safety, reduces individual blame, and creates an environment where employees are not afraid to fail. For leaders, it’s also about showing that mistakes are OK and that it’s about what you take from them and learn.

The more open leaders are, the safer employees feel, and this starts to trickle down through the organisation. A good leader is someone who knows they aren’t perfect and who can lean on other team members for support in areas where they are less strong.

A key behaviour we look for in our leaders is the ability to reflect, learn from past mistakes, and show willingness to grow and adapt. This is what some of our clients see as an essential leadership behaviour.

All of this helps build a more resilient environment. Creating a space where individuals can take risks without fear of retribution is the foundation for creativity and agility in an organisation.

Where do you think organisations can do more to embed behavioural science into talent strategy?

Organisations should consider how to use meaningful and practical ways to embed behavioural science, and not waste time with traditional, long-form training modules that are too generic or theoretical.

Leaders can consider smaller micro behaviours that they can change, which then have ripple effects across the organisation. For example, encouraging feedback loops and recognising small achievements can lead to a culture where learning and growth is celebrated and prioritised. You can then build on this with specific development interventions focused on these, such as how to give feedback or how to celebrate success.

Organisations should think about using nudges to encourage leaders and employees towards better practices. Morgan Philips coaching programmes can help with this, nudging leaders towards action. Getting into the detail of understanding why leaders behave as they do through behavioural science can help identify specific behaviours to nudge leaders towards improvement. .

What’s one habit or mindset you’re carrying into the second half of the year?

I’ve been listening to a few Mel Robbins podcasts recently and I like some of her ideas and approaches. One of the things she speaks about is the five-second rule: five, four, three, two, one…countdown to success. This is a great technique to apply to help you push forward with any tasks you are thinking about avoiding.

Counting down from five in your head and then immediately completing an action, even something small, can move you closer towards achieving a bigger goal. It can be as simple as helping you get out of bed in the morning rather than continuing to snooze your alarm. As someone who has a tendency at times to put certain tasks off, this is helping me get through my to-do list.

Another of her theories is‘ Let Them’ which can be applied both to personal life and work. ‘Let them’ can help you regain perspective and take your power back. So, for anyone whose role involves dealing with tricky situation, this may be a good one to read up on.

How clients benefit from Morgan Philips’ psychologically informed approach to leadership and coaching?

The use of psychometrics can help facilitate discussions around strengths and development areas, help individuals to open up, and act as a useful prompt or give structure to a discussion. They can be a good starting point in coaching relationships that we can then refer to throughout the process.

We use scientifically backed models to help support, guide and structure discussions. We know that these tools work as they are grounded in research and behavioural change theory. For example, using the GROW model to work through a challenge or SMARTER to help clients with goal setting.

We understand the challenges that leaders are facing and ‘what good looks’ like across organisations, which provides a useful foundation for coaching sessions.

Leading with Purpose: Agility, Insight and Authenticity in H2

Jess’s reflections highlight a clear truth: modern leadership demands both adaptability and authenticity. As we head into the second half of 2025, leaders who show vulnerability, apply science to the behavioural change process and stay agile will shape stronger, future-ready cultures.

Morgan Philips supports clients by embedding psychological insight into leadership development, building clarity, confidence and empathy.