The blog
Working with leadership paradigms
Bringing your awareness to your implicit belief systems can help you be a more effective manager. Learn the 9 styles of leadership and how you can work with them to uplevel at work.
Do specific goals really work?
Goal setting is all about getting clear on the destination so everyone is on the same page and working toward the same end point. Here’s how to balance specificity with flexibility.
How do you find ease and flow as a team?
If you want to build a high-impact team or achieve that big-hairy-audacious goal, you have to be willing to put in the effort to see it through. But that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult or laborious, necessarily…
New Year's Reflection
An exercise for the new year: write a letter to yourself filled with all the things you hope someone else will say to you.
Pro Tip for Setting Better Goals
Paradoxically, the goals you set may actually be limiting your ability to achieve what you want…
Why we over-utilize strengths
Often, the very things that we are good at can show up as areas for improvement in a review. Learn how the core needs of each Enneagram type lead to inevitable problems for teams.
The shadow side of playing to your strengths
Aristotle argued that virtues lie between deficiency and excess - and there is more and more evidence that suggests that success doesn’t come from playing to your strengths. It comes from using your strengths in the right situations at the right times. Explore the shadow side of the strengths on your team for each of the Enneagram types.
Patterns explained: Conflict resolution styles
Explore the three conflict styles in more depth so that you can better understand the people you work with. Often, coworkers come at situations from a different perspective on the best way to resolve tension or move things forward…
Patterns explained: Social interaction styles
The different ways we try to get what we want, if misunderstood, can be a source of conflict or confusion on teams. Understanding how your team is wired can help reduce friction on your team and help build a solid foundation of trust.
Is it possible to be too nice on your team?
In this video we explore the main reason why teams struggle to develop rapport and trust (and it is a bit counter-intuitive).
Why I do this work…
I work with teams not because I care about increasing productivity in the workplace. (That is a nice byproduct of this work.)
Have you ever come down too hard on someone at work?
Most people wing it when they first start managing a team. Some things come intuitively, but when things get hard you can tend to be a bit harsh with people as you push them to better results. Sometimes you even lose your cool and say something you regret.
Is micromanaging really the best way to improve performance?
When I work with new managers, it is very common that they are micromanaging at least one member of their team. Hardly anyone wants to admit that they are doing this, and it can be hard to see at first. This video explores why we tend to fall into a habit of micromanaging and what you can do about it.
Mistake managers make: taking on the work of their team
Some managers, rather than let a team drop the ball or experience a failure, will take on the work themselves and put in extra hours to make things happen.
Don't be that manager... (10 Mistakes free download)
I created a free resource that explains the most common mistakes managers make and what you can do to avoid them.