How Great Leaders Get Team Members and Employees to Contribute Ideas for Improvement and Innovation

It’s really not difficult. That is literally true of ANY leadership lesson you will learn. What I struggled with as a young coach was finding and implementing the ideas that our team could benefit from. Because as a young leader I didn’t know what I had to eventually learn from others – or from my own […]

An Unexpectedly Fun Effective Way to Check In and Stay Connected With Your Remote Team

As a leader, trying to stay connected to your people can be difficult even when you work in the same office. But with virtual or blended teams, communication and connection are even more of a challenge – and you need to have an effective way to check in with the people on your remote team […]

ONE Simple Question to Use in Interviews to Hire a New Team Member or Add Someone to Your Team!

Trying to hire a new team member or add someone to your team can be difficult –   You never know how they will mesh with your established culture, how they will interact with existing team members, or how true to their interview or trial-period personas they will stay…   As a teammate or team […]

3 Ways to Create a Competitive Advantage for Your Team

There are so many ways to gain a competitive advantage for you and your team. I am sure each one is a valuable and helpful suggestion… Whether it is in a book, or on a video, or in a presentation – I assure you that they all have their roots in one of three important […]

Pearls of Wisdom and Growth are the Result of Irritating Coworkers

There is a difference between a minor irritating behavior and a malignant disease.   Let me begin by clarifying that this article is NOT an invitation to tolerate toxic teammates or to enable destructive behaviors. That said, we do exist in what is becoming an increasingly offended and overreactive society…   So – it is […]

EVERY CAKE (AND GREAT TEAM CULTURE) HAS THE SAME FIVE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS

Every cake you have ever eaten (if it was good) included at least these five main ingredients – because you cannot have an impressively delicious cake without them.   Similarly, in working with teams as a teamwork speaker and teambuilding event facilitator, I have found that all GREAT teams have the same five ingredients.   […]

17 Quotes on Virtual Teamwork and Remote Teams to Inspire You

Working on remote teams and trying to successfully navigate the challenges of remote teamwork can sometimes be frustrating. As I have shared before with man audiences, “Talent is essential, but never sufficient!” And that is because true remote teams find ways to connect and to encourage and to support one another consistently…   So, to […]

Funny Office Awards – Don’t Earn the “Margo” for Being the Worst Teammate Ever

As a team leader, you need to recognize great effort to ensure it is appreciated and emulated. As a coach, one of the things I learned was that what gets rewarded gets repeated. So, to motivate our athletes we would give out post-game awards to celebrate the things we wanted our team to value and […]

Stop Wasting Time and Money… Trust Falls Don’t Work!

Have you been through an experience that was CALLED “teambuilding,” only to regret the investment of time and resources? Have you felt that an event was ineffective because it had very little impact or seemed irrelevant? Ever sat through something  (like a trust fall) that didn’t change the negative or unfocused behaviors you see threatening […]