Shaping the conditions for high performance
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When it matters
Our work focuses on how leaders set direction, then articulate and activate it across their teams and organisation.
Our support is most valued:
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When strategy needs to be reset, priorities clarified, organisational focus shifted
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When strategy needs to be activated and aligned across teams, functions or regions
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For leaders as communicators - high stakes moments where narrative, clarity and presence are critical
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When relationships matter most - influencing/aligning stakeholders or managing dynamics
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How we do it
Senior leaders value the unique way we marry our insights as strategic thought partners, consultants and facilitators with our expertise as leadership communication coaches
- Strategy & Direction
- Strategy Articulation & Activation
- Annual Planning & Goal Setting
- 3-5 Year Planning
- Leader as Communicator
- Narrative Development
- Executive Speaking Preparation
- Coaching
- Leadership Coaching
Developing thriving, high performing teams
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When it matters
Our work refines how teams function in practice: how decisions are made, priorities are aligned, and culture is built and sustained. We work with leaders to develop teams where individuals feel pride, stretch and support, in environments that are energising and distinctive.
100th Monkey’s support is most valued at moments of:
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Change: a new leader, a shift in direction, an inflection point for team members
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Challenge: a strategic problem to solve, a collective performance or capability gap
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Connection: making the most of face-to-face time together in a hybrid world
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How we do it
In 10+ years dedicated to the performance of teams, clients say what sets us apart is our ability to intelligently diagnose, design and deliver exceptional solutions to their challenges, drawing upon our bespoke suite of tools and techniques
- Team Diagnostics & Alignment
- Thriving, High Performing Teams Diagnostic
- Team Chartering
- Stakeholder Mapping & Influence
- Ways of Working & Agility
- Strategic Problem Solving
- Optimising Governance & Cadence
- Agility in Action
- Frameworks, Playbooks & Guides
Supercharging the skillsets and mindsets for high performing individuals
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What we do
Our capability building programmes enhance the behaviours that enable individuals to thrive in complex, fast-moving work environments. We focus on impact, influence, performance and adaptability.
We are valued as a partner for:
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Intelligent diagnostic of your challenges and fine tuning of learning experiences to context of your people and organisation
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Building consistent capability across roles, teams, functions or regions
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Delivering development at scale – from emerging and established leaders, to early careers
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How we do it
Our learning experiences can stand alone as focused modules but for sustained behaviour change, embedded into day-to-day practice, we design and deliver bespoke multi-dimensional programmes.
- Performance & Adaptability Programmes
- Agility in Action
- Personal Resilience & Wellbeing
- Thriving through Change & Uncertainty
The 100th monkey effect explained
A story about influence...
There’s one question we’re often asked: what’s the story behind your name?
Google ‘the 100th Monkey effect’ and you’ll find aplenty. But put simply, we like to think of it as how an idea, a narrative, or a message becomes accepted as a truth. It is a story about influence.
Reaching a critical mass
The hundredth monkey phenomenon dates back to studies in the 1950s which followed the behaviours of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima. One day the primatologists noticed that a young female monkey, perhaps fed up with the residual taste of grit in her mouth after mealtimes, was washing her sand-encrusted potatoes in the sea before eating them.
Her family watched on, and followed suit. Then her playmates. Then their families. One-by-one, over several years, this change spread within the troop.
Monkey no.100 to adopt the behaviour is what is now described as the point at which ‘critical mass’ had been reached … the tipping point for thousands of other monkeys to follow suit, the idea transformed from being an exception to the norm.
How it relates
The story caught our eye when we were naming our company. Not because of an obsession with monkeys, or potatoes. But because this theory can be considered in light of every change or idea we try to share in our working lives, and every social movement, big and small. Why and how was it that drink driving finally became socially unacceptable? What were the messages that changed public perception on smoking once and for all? When will – or has? – the climate crisis cut through to genuinely change behaviours? Is it simply a numbers game? Or is there more to it, deeper levels of communication and influence afoot?
Postscript
It is only right to acknowledge that we also chose the name because it is ‘stand out’, and to this day we continue to take the monkey monikers coined by our clients – e.g. “the monkey people”, “wise monkeys”, “monkey business” – with pride and good grace 🙂
