After I’d worked with a leadership team for several hours, a participant very courageously spoke up. “I’m not convinced that when we are working together, we are all rowing in the same direction.” If I let the that statement drop, with no acknowledgment or further engagement from their peers, the lesson of the day would have been, “Don’t be courageous. Don’t risk speaking the truth. Because it isn’t safe to do so here.” I knew my job was to acknowledge the uncomfortable but truthful statement while bringing the group back to the concern about team alignment and accountability.

Social enterprise is a sustainable financial growth model that promotes philanthropy through profit generation. Possibly the biggest challenge to launching this type of model is that it requires is a shift in nonprofit thinking. The first step is to begin with …

Often the work we do is hard, sometimes even heartbreaking. The ability to solve complex social issues and to make change, in both public and private organizations, can take time and patience. Sometimes that leads to feeling overwhelmed, which can lead to focusing only on the hard parts, and having less space for joy. Here are some steps that may help you get closer to feeling joy.

Being invited into an existing team is an acknowledgement of your skills and potential. It is one step forward as you develop your leadership presence. But not all teams know how to effectively integrate someone new. Here are some steps you can take to facilitate your own smooth entry to an existing team.

Building sustainable long-term trust is essential for anyone who manages, leads, or hopes to lead people. Building that trust begins not with others, but with our own actions and behaviors. In times of uncertainty and rapid change, it is critical that leaders are aware of the ways in which they demonstrate their trustworthiness. And it’s equally important to be aware of the ways in which they demonstrate being untrustworthy.

The world is hard to take right now, so I seek out ways to find joy, laugh, and be inspired. One way I do this is by turning off the news and listening to something uplifting that releases oxytocin, known as the bonding or love hormone. Lately, I’ve been listening to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast “Wiser Than Me” where she talks with older women she respects. She invites their stories and reflections with great curiosity. I always feel good after listening.

There is a big gap in the nonprofit world, and it revolves around the skillfulness and desire for authentic collaboration. Nonprofits often feel they need to be territorial and competitive to survive. Collaboration isn't always easy, but it is worth it. It reduces isolation in nonprofit work and creates better services and safety nets for those served.

I see authentic community as one of the most effective tools for engagement, retention, innovation, and making sure goals are being hit. In an authentic community employees feel they are contributing to solving challenges. They feel valued, and experience intrinsic satisfaction from their work. When the people in the workplace have the opportunity to be seen and heard, especially around priorities and initiatives, buy-in and alignment is easier.

My understanding is that the race to be the leader in the world of Artificial Intelligence is so great that the larger high-tech companies are now valuing only technical skills, certifications, and things that keep people with their nose-to-the grindstone longer … that nothing that even barely resembles employee holistic health or team development is being considered.

We’ve become a people programmed for immediate satisfaction. I suspect that by not taking the time to feel yearning, we are missing out on a part of our journey, and some key answers, about what our heart desires. 

Not every issue of job dissatisfaction stems from the organization. Some issues are due to an individuals' lack of self-awareness and poor emotional self-management skills, which can exacerbate workplace challenges. Here are some real-life scenarios I've assisted with. 

It is amazing to me how horrifying the idea of taking time off is to so many people. And I get it because I used to be the exact same way. Vacation-resistant clients are often the most stressed, overwhelmed, and short-tempered of my clients. So I start with baby steps. Together we identify an upcoming weekend and add a Friday and a Monday off. For many over-achievers, the idea of missing two days is enough to put them into their stretch zone.

Have you worked with a person who is to valuable to fire but wreaks havoc and damages relationships by the way the communicate? The one that people are always complaining about? So instead of holding this person accountable for their communication, everyone at the company tries to work around them. People ask to be moved off their team. Perhaps people waste time creating workarounds to avoid direct contact. Or maybe you keep losing good people because they don’t want to work with them at all.

Well, guess what? This person, this problem, is the kind of issue that I often am brought in to solve.

I happened to listen to Dr. Sarah Wakeman (Harvard) on the Mel Robbins podcast. Dr. Wakeman outlines some biological and brain research facts on what happens in the body when alcohol is consumed. And I felt compelled to share. The awareness of what she shares in this podcast is just another piece of information to help you make choices in your own life.

I’ve been writing this weekly email consistently since sometime in 2010. Can you believe it? That is approximately 728 email communications! I would estimate that in that time, I’ve missed maybe 10 issues. I sure have a lot to say.

The reason I write the weekly email is because my mission is to help organizations, leaders, and teams transform their work environments into places people want to be. Places where they feel seen and heard, and where they can use their unique strengths and talents. And to help people understand how they individually and collectively contribute to the good of the whole.

Events such as funding cuts, economic downturn threats, competition, politics, civil unrest, and even pandemics can bring a hurricane-level of chaos to teams and organizations. With a new "hurricane" seemingly forecasted every day, and new worries constantly arising, how can your organization prepare?

Managers and supervisors who are bogged down in chasing, cajoling, bribing, or threatening others to be accountable are the same managers who are soon overwhelmed, exhausted, and dissatisfied with their jobs. Managers who establish accountability as one of the norms for being a valued and successful employee will spend less time micromanaging their staff and more time empowering, developing, and rewarding their staff.

Adults learn best when the content is relevant to them and they are able to actively participate as part of the learning. What worked for my recent client was the interactive nature of an activity we call “coaching fishbowls”. Fishbowls are when two people practice applying what they’ve learned thus far in front of their peers. One person is the coach and another person is being coached. Everyone else is observing. The client reported that not only did the feedback session benefit everyone from a learning perspective, but they have since discussed how to apply the fishbowl feedback process to their communication in general.

It’s easy to forget, especially with experienced new hires, that adjusting to an entirely new work environment is often quite unsettling and challenging. For many, it is more challenging than the actual work itself. No matter how impossible it may seem to spare that time, the initial investment is well worth the result: retaining a solid new employee. 

You can have all the right processes, procedures, and skills in place, but without communication, empathy, and trust, the work is not getting done as effectively or as powerfully as it could be. It doesn’t matter how clear and admirable your strategies are if you're lacking a positive culture. And it doesn’t matter how positive your culture is if you're lacking clear strategies. Creating that alignment can be tricky, so when I facilitate for clients, I rely on my Navigating Challenging Dialogue® Approach to Strategic Dialogue.