Your Morning Commute

Many are still struggling with their 100% virtual or hybrid cultures. If that is you and your team, here is an easy tip...start backwards with literally everything. Meaning all of your structures should be set up to work optimally virtual (of course for industries that can). Create three buckets for everything you do - a virtual how to, a hybrid how to, an in person how to. The how to's should cov...

Is it just me or does everyone seem to be in Crisis Mode?   Regardless, for those of you feeling this way or seeing others in that mode - help them... A crisis is described by each of us in a different way and we react differently too. Some take everything on as a crisis and some brush it off - the masses are in the middle. As leaders, it important to show up with a clear head, mind, and soul...

Building a team requires team building itself. It may sound silly, that I typed that, but I find many may think team building activities aren't necessary - needed - or achievable for whatever reason these past 2.5 years. And I fear, some may think they have never been necessary to create a high achieving team. I respectfully disagree and live on the other spectrum that one begets the other. There...

We all have views, ideas, thoughts, opinions, and experiences we bring to the table. That lens is our vantage point - our view from where we are and what we have done and been through.  In today's 504th episode of #YourMorningCommute I encourage you and challenge you to ensure you are including all vantage points, not just those of top leaders in the decision making - problem solving - innova...

How present are you during Hybrid, in the office work days? Are you being seen and truly connecting with others? As many continue struggling with todays new world of work, being present, when you are present is even more important. We create bias (good and bad) to those we interact with IN PERSON. We do the same on phone calls and zoom meetings too, but today I am focused on your office interactio...

Sometimes asking yourself first, what role you are playing in a conversation, can and will guide the outcomes on all sides.  Have you even gone into a conversation thinking you are guiding / mentoring / coaching and find yourself upset that the receiver isn't going to do or did do what was suggested? Perhaps you switched from coaching (leading) into consulting (managing/doing) midstream witho...

What is stopping you for having conversations?  - just talking with others  - tough conversations  - giving needed feedback  - managing up  - peer to peer Don't be afraid to ask questions, give feedback, seek clarity...remember clear is kind, unclear is unkind.

I am excited to hit episode 500 of #YourMorningCommute podcast. It's been a journey and I have dedicated this podcast to thank each of YOU for your support, comments, questions, topic ideas, shares, and so much more. I started this podcast to give each of you a little getting-up for the day as you travel to your office (all things workplace culture related). Obviously, the travel to the office has...

I love hearing managers tell me how the direct report effectively managed up - giving them feedback and it landed as it was intended. Plain and simple, it does my heart good to hear these stories. Bravo to all those levels having the space and grace to give feedback all ways (both vertically and horizontally). This is what strong cultures are made of and what strong leaders encourage. Love it, jus...

Well it got me, after 2.5+ years of escaping it - I tested positive this week. Such a derailer needless to say. Buttttt, in my brains true fashion I immediately thought about how I let my guard down missing the signals and how we as leaders do it as well. Missing those early signs that our employees are disengaging and going to quit. Not quit on us, but rather we already quit on them. Quiet quitti...

Many are spending time trying to define or determine their workplace culture. Start by asking yourself what are you allowing in your culture now. What are you allowing around call offs, how you hire, how you onboard, how you train, how you communicate, how you decision make, and so much more. You have a culture defined now, the question becomes is what you are allowing, what you want it to be? Is...

How are you using your job descriptions?  Meaning are they written, signed and then tucked into the employee folder never to be referenced again or are you really utilizing them? If written right, there is so much goodness in the description. Short term and long term - that's today's topic on YourMorningCommute.

Nothing works in business until the "people issues" are fixed. Of the four business opportunities - people, execution, strategy, and cash - People is where you must start. To become a high-performance organization you must address people issues before they get out of hand, when your people leave, the cash bleeds. you can forget the strategy and the execution when you don't have the right people or...

Today's podcast I am talking about the back to back to back to back sprinting that is and has been happening on the daily for more than 2 years. This my dear friends and colleagues is not healthy and can not be maintained without running out of breath.  AND that is what I am seeing and hearing.  So stop the sprints, one right after the other. I am referring to all the new initiatives, ch...

Everyday I hear stories...frustrating ones, sad ones, disappointing ones around someones description of their culture.  What I want to hear more of are turnaround stories, actionable shift stories, and celebration stories to describe the teams culture. We get so focused on what isn't working or won't work rather than owning where we are and then taking action to shift into a better place. It'...

Today's 3Rs to moving forward. Make no mistake about it, its in our routines and rhythm - those cadences of habits and finally the reason we do what we do daily. I wish when you clicked on this post that Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation song started playing for you. At the very least, hopefully it is playing in your head right now. Today I want you to ask yourself if you are leaning in and accepting...

Keeping it simple - isn't always so simple or can it be? Employee engagement and disengagement happens daily - but what can we do around more preventative maintenance of engagement? Today's quick podcast serves up some reminders of what engagement looks like and some ways to dial in, level up. Enjoy!

Defining an entire company as being toxic may sound harsh so let's reframe it.  Start by asking yourself, what are the dangerous or destructive things (culture norms) inside of your or a company? For example working long hours as a norm. Or never taking time off. Or when you take time off you are still available and responding to emails, texts, phone calls. Perhaps it's zoom calls with videos...

Conversations gone sideways... it seems to be a part of many day to day offices, text exchanges, zoom calls and emails.  And what's worse are the end goals are completely pushed aside, almost forgotten as team members get wrapped up in the emotions of the exchanges. The tone, the words chosen, the differences in communication styles completely take over. Getting back on track is tough but doa...

Many things create walls between us. When trust is broken almost everything about a relationship, a healthy relationship goes out the door. When I work with teams, it can be tough getting to the root of what created the broken trust. But that step to repair the trust can not be missed. That root cause is a must. Please don't skip that step. If not, you are trying to mend a broken piece of steal wi...

Why is change so hard, scary, frustrating? Well, it has a ton to do with how we announce change. Are we bringing the team into the fold or simply announcing and dropping change in their lap? Reframing that sometimes awful and uneasy feeling of change can absolutely be shifted with the right communication along the way and a few other tips. Enjoy today's 490th episode of #YourMorningCommute

Leadership can be tough for a ton of reasons, but very rewarding too. There I said it (leadership is tough) and many of you think it and know it to be true. Today's episode of #YourMorningCommute goes back to the basics with four leadership lens, also known as Primal Leadership. I hope you listen in and rate yourself on these four lens of Authenticity, Coaching, Insight, Innovation.

"Does it move the boat forward?" - I love that question as you can apply it to soooo many things. The past couple of days I have had the pleasure of team building time with my friends and colleagues at PI Midlantic and our summer retreat - the theme - you guessed it - moving the boat forward. You all know me - my head is spinning (in a good way) around how we can apply that through many walks in o...

How do you describe managing vs leading? Being a manager vs being a leader? I still get asked this all the time. Recently during a CEO fireside chat with a client kicking off their internal leadership university, they explained this in what I thought was a great and simple way - responsibility vs accountability. Creating the frame, vs working inside the frame. Today on the 487th episode of the #Yo...

Why is accountability so hard? Self and to others Today on the 486th episode of #YourMorningCommute podcast I disclose the 8 steps on the ladder of accountability. I use this often in a variety of ways. I hope you pick up the ladder too and start using it. It can do wonders when you are personally stuck and blinded sided by the step you are on, not to mention when you are working with a team or gu...