Trust at Work

High-performing teams don’t waste energy on infighting, silos, or politics—they trust each other and their leaders. Learn how to build trust at work day-to-day, create psychological safety, and replace fear with focus and collaboration.

Person journaling beside a winter window, reflecting on personal leadership values.

A Simple Exercise to Define Your Signature Leadership Values

Leaders make their biggest leaps when they plan who they want to be when things get hard — and dedicate themselves to those values. Key Takeaways Why defining leadership values matters: Leadership presence isn’t charisma, confidence, or polish. It’s the steadiness that comes from knowing what you stand for and being able to return to those values in the moments that matter most. Your values shape the culture your team experiences every day — how people communicate, raise concerns, solve…

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Bright north star shining in a clear night sky, symbolizing clarity and direction in leadership.

Why Every Leader Needs a Signature Leadership Style (and Why Values Are Your North Star)

When things get tough, great leaders lead from values and get results. Skills like managing deadlines, resolving conflict, running meetings, and inspiring teams all matter. But the leaders people remember — the ones who build trust, inspire commitment, and deliver results — anchor those skills in something deeper. They lead with a signature leadership style, shaped by a small set of values that guide their hardest decisions. In unpredictable times, values become a north star. They steady you, strengthen your…

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Leadership resources hub with practical tips for trust, confidence, empathy, team alignment, and decision making

Start Here for Leadership Resources: Practical Tips and Solutions to Use Now

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…

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taking steps to build trust at work

How to Build Trust at Work: Five Everyday Actions

Trust or mistrust is a choice that every leader has to make: build trust at work to unlock performance or sow distrust and shut it down. Key Takeaways Most organizations fall in the middle between high trust and low trust cultures. In these organizations, managers can vary widely in how much they trust others. Employees are sensitive to even the smallest hints of mistrust. To build trust at work, trust must be a consistent and fundamental part of your leadership…

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validation in leadership

Validation in Leadership: The Most Important Way to Help People Grow at Work

Validation in leadership is an often overlooked skill that builds trust and performance. Key Takeaways Validation at work is one of the deepest human needs—and one of the most overlooked leadership skills. Nothing motivates people more than feeling seen, heard, and valued. When managers learn to validate their team members’ feelings and experiences, they unlock hidden potential for trust, learning, and motivation. Validation isn’t just “being nice.” It’s a powerful, practical tool for leading people. Used well, it can transform…

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GOOD Model of conversation banner

The GOOD Model of Conversation: How to Coach Instead of Command

If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting thinking, “Why am I doing all the thinking?” the GOOD model of conversation is for you. It’s a four-step coaching approach—Goals, Options, Obstacles, Do—that turns managers into coaches. When someone asks for advice, it’s tempting to tell them what to do. However, telling people what they should do is micromanaging and judgmental. Instead, the GOOD model offers an easy way to take a coaching approach, using questions to guide them forward. Why…

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Lisa D. Foster, Ph.D. ACC  is an independent coach. As an Associate Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation, Lisa honors and abides by the ICF Code of Ethics.  All coaching sessions and consultations are confidential.

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