Connecting the Dots: Exploring personality, team dynamics and workplace culture

What does it look like when one of the more rare personality types in nonprofit leadership faces a 10% budget deficit, a structural crisis, and the weight of an impossible mission of ending homelessness? In this episode, we sit down with Lisa Strandberg, Executive Director of Pillars Inc., a housing and homelessness nonprofit in the Fox Cities, to explore how an ENTJ navigates uncertainty with sys...

What happens when a high-achieving, in-charge leader faces a challenge that can't be solved by sheer determination? In this episode, we sit down with Melissa Borowicz — CEO and owner of The Utech Group, organizational development expert, and co-author of Cracking the Rich Code — to explore what it looks like to face uncertainty through the lens of an ENFJ personality type. Melissa shares how her B...

Welcome back to Connecting the Dots: Exploring Personality, Team Dynamics, and Workplace Culture... your go-to podcast for understanding how personality shapes leadership, decision-making, and organizational success. In this Season 3 kickoff episode, hosts Steve Utech and Ryan Graziani introduce a powerful new series: Facing Uncertainty. In today’s rapidly changing world, where business leaders, t...

Unlock the secrets to high-performing teams with our practical, actionable guide to the Big Five Teamwork Theory—a framework of 8 critical teamwork behaviors and attitudes that can transform how your team works together. In this episode, we break down Backup Behavior, Mutual Performance Monitoring, Adaptability, Mutual Trust, Team Leadership, Team Orientation, Closed-Loop Communication, and Shared...

In this final episode of our series on personality dynamics, we explore how Stress Quotient—also known as Emotional Stability or Neuroticism—influences your work and personal relationships. Join hosts Stephen Utech and Ryan Gracyalny as they unpack what it means to have high or low emotional reactivity, and how tendencies like worrying, self-doubt, or calm resilience affect communication, trust, a...

Conflict often shows up when people have different approaches to structure, organization, and follow-through. In this episode of Connecting the Dots, Stephen Utech and Ryan Gracyalny dive into how the Big Five trait of Conscientiousness influences conflict in both business and personal relationships. Whether it’s the clash between highly organized, detail-driven individuals and those who prefer a...

Discover how Agreeableness, one of the Big Five personality traits, shapes conflict styles in relationships and the workplace. Stephen Utech and Ryan Gracyalny break down how empathy, cooperation, and directness show up in conflict — and how couples and teams can leverage differences in Agreeableness to improve communication, trust, and problem-solving. High scorers, known for their warmth, empath...

Discover how Openness to Experience, one of the Big Five personality traits, shapes conflict dynamics in both personal and professional relationships. Stephen Utech and Ryan Gracyalny explore how high and low scorers approach disagreements, problem-solving, and change — from curiosity-driven brainstorming to grounded, practical solutions. Learn how to bridge differences, communicate effectively, a...

This is the first episode in our 5-part series exploring how the Big Five personality traits shape the way we work, lead, and live—starting with Extraversion. Whether you're navigating team dynamics, managing a relationship with your spouse or sibling, or raising kids with a very different energy level than your own, Extraversion plays a powerful role. In this episode, we unpack what Extraversion...

In this final episode of our four-part “Red Flags at Work” series, we dive into one of the most unsettling but important workplace realities: Corporate Psychopaths. These individuals may be charming, charismatic, and seemingly competent—but underneath lies a manipulative, self-serving nature that can wreak havoc on teams, culture, and long-term success. Join us as we break down: -The different fla...

How can you tell if your team is on the path to high performance or stuck in dysfunction? In this episode of Connecting the Dots, Ryan Gracyalny and Steve Tech continue the Red Flag Series, breaking down the stages of team development and the red flags that signal trouble. 🚩 Forming Gone Wrong – When leaders are too hands-off or too controlling, setting teams up for failure. 🚩 Dysfunctional Stor...

Why do some companies thrive while others struggle with chaos and dysfunction? In this episode of Connecting the Dots, Ryan Gracyalny and Steve Utech continue the Red Flag Series, exposing three major organizational and leadership traps that can stall company growth and create workplace dysfunction. 🚩 The Founder’s Trap – When company vision is stuck in the hands of one person, leading to chaos,...

Are you in the right company for your career growth and work style? In this episode of Connecting the Dots, Ryan Gracyalny and Steve Utech kick off the Red Flag Series, exploring how organizational size and structure impact job satisfaction, leadership dynamics, and cultural fit. From startups to enterprise corporations, they break down the key factors that determine whether you should stay and gr...

The final episode of 2024 builds on the discussion of family systems theory by highlighting one of Murray Bowen's key tenets: the impact of birth order on family dynamics. To gain deeper insight into this topic, Ryan and Steve bring on Dr. Donna Marino, a family business psychologist out of Chicago, to learn how birth order impacts personality and sibling dynamics in business. Dr. Donna shares her...

In part 3 of their series on team dynamics, Ryan and Steve continue to explore the family systems perspective on group behavior. This episode focuses on the concept of differentiation of self that was pioneered by Murray Bowen. Ryan and Steve lay out some core principles related to gaining more emotional freedom in your relationship as well as share approaches to increase your own levels of differ...

In the second part of their team dynamics series, Ryan and Steve expand on the understanding of human systems when working with teams by introducing the concept of triangles. Triangles aren't just about triangulation. Triangles are actually the primary mechanism for how energy and anxiety are managed in relational systems. The more one can understand how triangles work in healthy and unhealthy way...

Ryan and Steve start the Team Dynamics series by introducing concepts from Murray Bowen and family systems theory, namely understanding group behavior as an emotional process. The series is designed to deepen your knowledge of group dynamics to increase your self-awareness and social awareness so you can arrive at deeper and more meaningful change when working with teams. This episode covers: - Th...

Have you ever wanted to improve employee commitment, support employee wellbeing, improve employee retention, while also improving performance? You're in luck! In this episode, Ryan and Steve walk through the researched PsyCap protocols to strengthen mindsets of leaders and employees. There are four 2-hour micro-interventions designed to increase hope, optimism, self-efficacy (confidence) and resil...

Personality assessments are only as useful as how they are used. Too often they are looked at once and rarely referenced again. In this episode, Ryan and Steve walk through a practical example of how to use the Big Five for leadership development discussions in your team or with clients. In this episode we cover: - Researched leadership archetypes that you can use to better understand leadership s...

In this episode, we are diving deep into the art and science of optimizing creative problem-solving within teams. Creativity isn't just about wild ideas; it's about turning those ideas into actionable, useful solutions. Join Ryan and Steve as they: - define what is creative and what isn't - breakdown the two types of thinking (divergent and convergent) to get the most out of your creative process...

When challenges arise around onboarding and retaining new hires, we often hear complaints about the workforce being lazy and uncommitted. There is definitely some truth to this, especially in the manufacturing sector. When leaders get stuck on generational stereotypes it does them a disservice because it limits the options to solve the underlying problem. In this episode of Connecting the Dots, th...

Is it better for team members to be similar or different? Join Steve and Ryan as they delve into the impact of personality compatibility on team performance. In the research community, there are two main perspectives: one argues that similarities enhance team dynamics, while the other champions the benefits of diversity. Could both be correct? Discover how different situations call for different a...

In this episode, Ryan and Steve get a little neurotic! Tune in as they dig into the Stress Quotient (neuroticism) factor within the Big Five model of personality. Stress Quotient is broken down into multiple traits to provide you with a more well-rounded and nuanced understanding of this dimension of personality. Examples around how these traits are lived out are provided so you can better underst...

In this episode, Ryan and Steve dig into the Conscientiousness factor within the Big Five model of personality. Conscientiousness is broken down into multiple traits to provide you with a more well-rounded and nuanced understanding of this dimension of personality. Examples around how these traits are lived out are provided so you can better understand the healthy and unhealthy aspects of Conscien...

In this episode, Ryan and Steve dig into the Agreeableness factor within the Big Five model of personality. Agreeableness is broken down into multiple traits to provide you with a more well-rounded and nuanced understanding of this dimension of personality. Examples around how these traits are lived out are provided so you can better understand the healthy and unhealthy aspects of openness in both...