Navigating friendships with employees can be complex, yet it is achievable through transparent communication, well-defined boundaries, and a dedication to professional conduct. It’s essential to strive for a workplace atmosphere where all individuals feel appreciated, respected, and treated equitably, whether or not you choose to be friends with your employees.

Spending trust means leaning into the things we tend to avoid: conflict, disagreement, feedback, and accountability.

Systems thinking is a powerful tool for managers. It helps us move beyond simplistic, linear thinking to understand the complex, interconnected nature of our organizations.

Today, we're diving into the feels – both yours and your employee's – and how to handle them like the emotionally intelligent leader you are (or aspire to be).

Here's the deal: setting clear expectations is not just about making the workday smoother; it's about creating an environment where people can thrive and want to stay.

The true challenge of any training or development initiative lies in keeping the momentum going.

It’s crucial to understand that cultivating a psychologically safe environment does not equate to an unhealthy leniency in terms of behaviors, processes, or outcomes.

Engage in heated, free-for-all debates that often lead nowhere or consider using a version of the IMAGO conversation process. This approach ensures that everyone's opinions are heard and understood fully.

When skillfully harnessed, conflict emerges as a catalyst for positive transformations: a forge where creativity is kindled, decisions are refined, and bonds are fortified.

Delve into specific mindsets that individuals and teams can adopt to change their perception of conflict and handle it in a way that yields positive team outcomes.

When team members are able to stay relationally engaged in the midst of conflict (regardless of outcomes), they tend to walk away feeling respected and empowered, instead of drained and angry.

Although the idea of “quiet quitting” is now in vogue, it’s not new; many people have been silently skating by for years.

It sucks to consistently have critical job duties get pushed into the evenings and weekends because you’re spending a lot of the regular work hours in meetings.

You’re wondering who should be in each meeting, are you? Tough question! The answer to this question is circumstantial. But here’s the thing - big meetings make people sad.

Change management is an art – we must help people work through the resistance so they can accept and embrace change.

If you want to improve engagement, the best place to start is to improve your leadership culture.

In a healthy leadership team all leaders, from supervisors to executives, are singing off the same sheet of music with best-practice leadership and management behaviors.

It’s important to keep in mind that when we give someone corrective or critical feedback, it will likely trigger a "fear response" in that person. Here’s how to mitigate that defensiveness.

Change. We all resist it on some level, whether the change in question is good for us or not. This resistance to change can be the bane of an organization’s existence.

Four immediately actionable ways (as in, you can do these today or tomorrow) you as a manager can create psychological safety with your team members…and why you should.