Welcome! My blog offers for practical leadership resources to help you build stronger, more productive, and more resilient teams.

Leadership is not innate. It’s a set of skills that, practiced daily, promote cooperative, steady focus on what matters most. Anyone can learn these skills with dedication and practice, even if you don’t hire a coach. These skills help good leaders diagnose and tamp down distractions. Using tactics that support these skills, they build a positive team culture where everyone feels respected and has the opportunity to grow. In this way, this skillset helps leaders inspire whole teams to collaborate and pursue even ambitious goals.

The articles here explore five core leadership skills that consistently drive results: Confidence, Empathy, Trust, Team Alignment & 1:1s, and Decision Making — plus how to motivate your team, find the right coach, and the research behind these skills — what researchers call emotional intelligence.

Browse the articles below to find quick tips, tactical techniques, case studies, and immediate solutions to common leadership challenges.

Not sure which leadership skills matter most for you right now? Take the FREE 3-minute Leadership Skills Audit.

Want more free leadership resources? Build these skills live at my free training, One-on-Ones that Motivate.


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Confidence at Work

image of confident woman for leadership resources

Confidence isn’t about asserting yourself or dominance. It’s about knowing your strengths, accepting your gaps, and leading from your values.

True confidence creates calm. It helps you listen under pressure, make clear decisions, and project steady leadership that earns respect and trust.

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Empathy in Leadership

empathy in leadership for leadership resources

Teams disengage when they feel ignored or misunderstood—and they engage when they feel seen and heard.

Leaders create that connection by using empathy as a tactic. It’s not just about feeling empathetic, but showing empathy. When you understand and validate what others feel, you build respect, defuse defensiveness, and open the door to collaboration and performance.

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Trust at Work

knot symbolizing trust for leadership resources

Once you’ve built confidence and empathy, you’re ready to create trust—the foundation of every high-performing team. Without it, performance collapses into silos, fear, and politics.

Trust grows from respect and listening. Respect is the foundation, and listening is its most visible sign. When people trust you to treat them with fairness, gratitude, and consistency, collaboration replaces fear, and teams focus their energy on shared goals.

Explore leadership resources on how to build trust day-to-day, create psychological safety, and replace fear with focus and performance.

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  • Trust at Work: The Most Important Way to Boost Team Performance — Cultures of trust don’t just correlate with results; they cause higher performance. When there is trust at work, information flows, collaboration rises, and execution speeds up. When fear and control seep in, office politics and self-protection rise—and performance drops.

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Find all my posts on Trust at Work here.


Team Alignment & 1:1s

birds flying in formation as a metaphor for alignment in leadership resources

Signs of low performance like missed deadlines or incomplete goals usually aren’t “people problems,” they’re alignment problems. Alignment is how to maintain high standards and psychological safety for results that propel teams forward.

Build a team structure that drives focus, accountability, and momentum — even during times of disruption.

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  • Team Alignment: How To Build Better Teams and Exceed Expectations — A complete guide demonstrating alignment in action. See how trust, confidence, empathy, quarterly goals, and weekly one-on-ones all work together to create teams that outperform expectations, deliver better long-term results, and turn disruptions into competitive advantages.

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Find all my posts on Team Alignment and one-on-ones here.


Ready to create alignment this quarter? Get more leadership resources live in my free workshop, One-on-Ones that Motivate.


Decision Making

decision making for leadership resources

Good decisions aren’t luck. They’re built through processes that ensure better input and take into account what could get in the way.

Learn how to gather better information, reduce bias, balance stakeholders, and decide faster—so solutions stick the first time.

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Motivation at Work

Motivation at work comes when the leaders and team culture satisfy our deep human needs. Discover what truly drives people — the universal needs for safety, belonging, respect, and self-actualization — and learn how to diagnose what your team needs from you to thrive.

All the skills above—trust, empathy, respect, confidence, and alignment—come together here. When you meet your team’s deeper needs, motivation soars!

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Find a Coach

find a coach for leadership resources

Coaching accelerates personal and career growth. Learn how to identify a coach who understands your goals and fits your style and budget.

Learn how to assess coaching types, vet credentials, compare approaches, and choose a coach with confidence.

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Leadership Resources for Emotional Intelligence

EI Pyramid for case studies and leadership resources

These are the research-backed skills beneath great leadership — the engines behind trust, confidence, empathy, alignment, and decision making.

Learn to stop being emotional and instead, use emotional information strategically to build motivated teams, make better decisions, and lead more effectively.

Start Here for Leadership Resources on Emotional Intelligence:

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Get Started with More Leadership Resources

Leadership isn’t something you’re born with. It’s a set of daily skills you can practice. Use this hub to get started. Explore solutions to your biggest challenges and grow your impact over time.

Not sure where to start? Take my leadership quiz to find your top growth area.

Ready for more free leadership resources? Join One-on-Ones that Motivate for live practice.

Questions or need help choosing a starting point? Email me: lisa@lisadfostercoach.com