Reorganizations can create uncertainty. Learn how managers can steady their teams, communicate clearly, and guide them through change.
Leading Teams Through Reorganizations: Secure Your Oxygen Mask, First! Read More »
Free snacks and workplace perks may boost morale in the moment, but they do not address the deeper causes of burnout. This article explores the difference between employee perks and well-being programs, and why organizations need both strategy and culture to create a sustainable employee experience.
Free Snacks Won’t Fix Burnout Read More »
Building a strong feedback culture begins with understanding your organization’s feedback readiness—the degree to which your systems, leaders, and employees are equipped to give and receive feedback effectively. In this article, executive coach Don Fries breaks down the five key dimensions of feedback readiness—psychological safety, frequency, skillfulness, reciprocity, and follow-through—along with practical metrics and reflection questions to help leaders assess and strengthen their organization’s capacity for open, actionable dialogue.
“People leadership primarily focuses on inspiring, guiding, and empowering individuals and teams to reach their full potential”. It goes far beyond solely concentrating on tasks, processes, or individual results. People Leadership truly emphasizes the human element within an organization. So, what potentially holds us back from advancing as people leaders? For many of the coaching
Nice vs. Kind Leadership: How to Be the Leader Your Team Truly Needs Read More »
In my pre-coaching career, I found that one of the most challenging aspects of my roles was how to communicate decisions to others (e.g. team members, peers, customers, etc.) that I did not agree with. These decisions involved actions such as employee separations, performance discussions, changes in business strategies and tactics, and letting go of
Communicating Decisions that You Don’t Agree With Read More »
As I reflect on my life to date, from my earliest childhood memories to my current experiences as a “newly minted” Medicare cardholder, I realize that I am riding quite an emotional roller-coaster when it comes to INNOVATION. There have been times in my life when I have been excited and even passionate about creating
A Coach’s Perspective: My Complicated Relationship With Innovation Read More »
May 31st will mark six years since I “retired” from my first career. After 38 years with ExxonMobil and its heritage companies, it was time to explore the “what’s-next” phase of my life. May is “Mental Health Awareness” month. I want to use this post to explore the mental health impacts of retirement and to
Mental Health In Retirement Read More »
It has been over forty years since Jon Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith first published their ground-breaking research on the effective use of teams to create high-performance organizations. In their book, “The Wisdom of Teams”, Katzenbach and Smith proposed that “teams outperform individuals acting alone or in large organizational groupings, especially when performance requires multiple
Re-Energizing Team Performance Read More »
As far back as I can remember, any book I read or course I took specific to effective communication referenced the “7-38-55 Rule”. The concept is derived from research completed by Dr. Albert Mehrabian in 1971, specific to the communication of emotions. In summary, the rule describes the three critical elements for effective communication and
Effective Communication Tips for Virtual Meetings Read More »
“Our connection with others can only be as deep as our connection with ourselves.” This is a quote from Dr. Brene’ Brown’s most recent book, “Atlas of the Heart”. Dr. Brown goes on to discuss that the confidence to “cultivate meaningful connection” with others comes from knowing and understanding who we are and what we
Cultivating Meaningful Connections: A Coach’s Perspective Read More »
