Respect - Lisa D. Foster, Leadership Coaching & Training

Respect is necessary to enable trust and high performance.

A mother duck leading ducklings in a line, symbolizing influence at work through guidance and respect.

Influence at Work: 4 Proven Ways to Build Trust and Respect

September 19, 2025

Everyone wants influence at work, whether it’s with their boss, their team, or colleagues across the organization. The question is: what’s the best way to earn it? Influence is a subtle art. Sometimes even when you have the best advice, pushing too hard can backfire. In this post, I’ll explain what influence really is, how it works, and why it so often goes wrong. What Influence Is Influence at work is about advocating for an idea—not issuing a command. Many…

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

September 17, 2025

Empathy and Managing Others, Trust and Building Teams

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…

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

September 15, 2025

Alignment and Effective 1:1s, Trust and Building Teams

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…

How to Appear More Confident and Speak with Authority

September 12, 2025

Confidence and Managing Yourself

Nearly all of my clients want to appear more confident and speak with authority. Some want to look more confident; others want to feel more confident. These goals aren’t the same—but both are achievable. Key Takeaways Leadership Presence vs. Real Confidence: Why Appearance Isn’t Enough “Leadership presence” is a catchall term for behaviors leaders commonly exhibit. However, real confidence is more than a set of behaviors that you exhibit. It’s about being able to respond authentically in the moment, without…

trust in leadership causes better team performance

Trust at Work: The Most Important Way to Boost Team Performance

September 8, 2025

Trust and Building Teams

Want better team performance? Build trust. Research shows trust—not control—boosts ownership, information flow, and results.

Empathy in Leadership: Why It Matters and How to Practice It

September 3, 2025

Empathy and Managing Others, Trust and Building Teams

Empathy isn’t soft—it’s power. Research shows empathetic leaders build trust, boost performance, and inspire teams to succeed.