We all want to be judged on our intention. Instead, we're judged on our impact.In a recent coaching conversation, my client Jessica shared her frustration about a deteriorating relationship with Maya, her direct report of nine years. "Something's up with Maya, and...
Leadership Development
Leadership User Manuals: The Simple Tool That Transforms Team Dynamics
User manuals should evolve as you learn and grow. They're meant to facilitate understanding and communication, not create rigid rules or expectations.In my years of coaching senior leaders through transitions and transformations, I've noticed a common challenge: teams...
What We Mean By Trust—And How Leaders Can Grow It
Most of us think of trust as a single factor: you either have it or you don’t. But that way of thinking is too simplistic. In reality, we trust the people in our lives in different ways and for different purposes. “I’ll take a look at that tomorrow,” a former...
The Gift of Feedback: A Leader’s Perspective on Giving and Receiving
This holiday season, I invite you to consider feedback as one of the most valuable gifts we can offer as leaders. As the year draws to a close and the holiday season approaches, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the gifts we give and receive. In my role as a...
Read More Leadership Development Articles
Team Development
Wrap It Right: The 5 Essential Questions to Close Every Meeting
Try using these questions in your next team meeting. You don’t need to wait for permission or a formal process—just ask. Tyler was exhausted. He’d recently been promoted to a new level in his organization, and his responsibilities meant he was serving on multiple...
Getting Past the Drama at Work
Resolving conflict at work means you have to address the task and relationship challenges honestly and directly, with thoughtful language, curiosity, and a spirit of compromise. But none of that can happen if you don’t let go of the drama. Kayla and Will work...
SuperCharge Your Team’s Growth with these Four Reflection Questions
Here’s the simple but powerful 4-question framework to reflect on difficult situations with a new lens. In a recent coaching conversation, one of my clients shared her frustration with a team member who failed to complete a critical project task and then subsequently...
The Power of WE
As leaders, we create the WE for our teams, building a safe space, a sense of belonging and a group of peers with whom we will achieve great things. A few years ago, my oldest child shared that they were transitioning and would prefer to use a new name and new...
Read More Team Development Articles
Organizational Strategy
The Strategic Plan Death Spiral: Why Your 47-Point Plan is Killing Your Results
The most successful leaders I work with aren't the ones with the most comprehensive plans—they're the ones with the clearest focus.You're three months into the fiscal year. Your leadership team is reviewing quarterly progress, and someone pulls up the strategic plan...
Budget Season is upon us. Here’s how to make planning less scary.
This approach will boost the amount of collaboration, support, and buy-in that will benefit you not just during the remainder of the budgeting process, but also throughout the year as you execute the plan. Everyone’s favorite season is finally here and I hope you are...
Balancing Ambitious Strategy with COVID Burnout
If you are anything like the hundreds of executives we have worked with, you are struggling to balance your long-term ambitions with the overwhelming amount of tasks associated with delivering today. It was a challenge even before you began the latest COVID adventure...
Growing Your Business During Times Of Change
Whether an attempt to shift company culture, an effort to re-brand, or simply a change in processes, many company-wide change efforts are met with apathy or resistance. When employees are hesitant to accept new ways of working, feel uninvolved, or lack a sense of...
Read More Organizational Strategy Articles
Workplace Culture
The Culture Equation: Six Elements That Separate High-Performing Teams from Everyone Else
Culture is built one decision, one interaction, and one moment at a time. Every policy you implement, meeting you run, and piece of feedback you provide either reinforces or undermines your desired culture.Tom was surrounded by two of his valued team members in what...
Why ‘Work-Life Balance’ Won’t Save You From Burnout
Burnout isn't just about being busy—it's about misalignment with your values and purpose.Do you ever hear someone say, "I can't help you with that, I'm too busy?" When you hear it, do you think, "there is just NO way you're as busy as I am?" Many with packed personal...
Beyond Team Building: Creating a Culture of Kinship
Building kinship isn’t a one-time event or a quick-fix initiative. It’s a journey that requires attention and care.When I think about the most extraordinary teams we've worked with over the years, what stands out isn't their impressive credentials or even their...
Two-thirds of US Workers Say They’ve Experienced Incivility on the Job— Here’s How to Check Yourself
"A leader’s job is to remove the obstacles to productive work—that includes rooting out incivility and replacing it with a culture of generous and supportive communication." New research from SHRM revealed that two-thirds of the 1000 US workers surveyed have...
Read More Workplace Culture Articles
Career Development
Do this at Your Next Performance Review
When it’s time for your annual review, you can either be a passenger or a driver. The key to getting what you need from your performance review is asking the right questions. One of my coaching clients, Eddie*, was preparing for his annual performance review. He...
Classroom Calling: How to Transform Your Professional Expertise into a Teaching Position
If you’ve ever considered teaching in higher education, either part-time or full-time, here is everything you need to know to make the transition from professional life to academia. “I’m not even sure I was an official employee of the university for my first night of...
Advanced Networking Practices for Upgrading Your Job Search
These upgrades deliver newfound reach and turn the tables for you in a positive way. These practices also reward you with an alternative currency – confidence. A May 30th Wall Street Journal article proclaimed, “Landing a Job is All About Who You Know (Again),” and...
The Complete Guide to Job Search Networking
Whether you’re in transition or looking to leap into a larger role, the secret to finding the right opportunity lies less with an “optimized resume” and more with an expanded network. Whether you’re in transition or looking to leap into a larger role, the secret to...
Read More Career Development Articles
Personal Growth
Be Wrong with Confidence: Three Mindset Shifts to Turn Uncertainty into Advantage
When we approach scenario planning, we often focus on the mechanics—the frameworks, the analysis, the documentation. But what if the most powerful aspect isn't the process itself, but the mindset it cultivates?Most organizations engage in some form of scenario...
Gratitude is the Secret to “Likability”
Gratitude turns your focus from inward to outward, from reactive to proactive, from passive to active. At dinner recently, a friend mentioned that she would have had no career at all if “likability” weren’t her superpower. She humbly claimed to have almost no other...
Leveraging Positive Visualization for High Performance
Instead of coming at a challenge from a place of fear or with a deficit/scarcity mindset, we can truly view it as an opportunity and have the confidence that will help create the future we really want to realize. In a recent executive coaching session with one of my...
How Do You Make an Agonizing Decision?
In my professional and personal life, I’ve adopted a framework for facing emotionally charged decisions. The next time you have a challenging decision to make, here are five things you can do to work through the choice. Recently my wife, Stacey, and I had to make an...
Read More Personal Growth Articles
Communication Skills
Plan for High Impact Conversations in the New Year
As you set your sights on next year, now is the time to plan for high impact conversations you should target in the coming months. As a new calendar year approaches, many of us are planning, have a plan, or plan to make a plan for our professional lives. Let me add...
Read More Communication Skills Articles
Are You Leading For Peak Performance?
Take our short assessment to gain insights on the kind of culture you’re fostering, how your leadership is impacting your team’s performance, and if you’re creating a great place to work.
Sign up for Email Updates
Get notifications every time a new blog is published.