How to build a culture of trust that enables accountability, ownership, and strong performance. A culture of trust is built through relationships where people trust you to consistently treat them with respect, fairness, and gratitude for the talents and ideas they bring to their work. When trust becomes a team norm, friction decreases, accountability increases, and teams perform without constant oversight.
Why do professional athletes so often take ownership for errors and misses, while in offices around the world, mistakes and mishaps devolve into blaming, bickering, and finger-pointing? The difference beween teams that take ownership and those that don’t lies in structure. Key Takeaways — Building Team Ownership Building Team Ownership is a Strategy Nearly every leader I work with wants their team to take ownership of their work—and nearly all of them admit how difficult it is to make that…
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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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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 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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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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Today I’m sharing my list of the best leadership books that changed how I think and what I do as a leader. This is a personal, field-tested list—books with stories and tools I still use. Below are my picks for the best leadership books that actually changed how I lead. How I chose these best leadership books First, I looked for great reads and practical ideas you can apply right away. Next, I prioritized memorable stories that illustrate impact. Finally,…
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