We say we are humanitarians.  That we help people.

But would a true humanitarian prioritize results over their team?

This is unfortunately what many of us do.

We say we are too busy to coach or work with developing our teams.

Too busy on proposals or attending meetings that lead nowhere.

We have lost sight of our priorities, and rather than being rewarded for prioritizing our teams and the...

We are told by a lot of external sources what we SHOULD want in life and work.

For example, social media tells us what we should be doing, how we should be thinking.

Advertisements tell us what cars we need or food to be fulfilled.

Society also tells us what we should want - children, a house, a college degree, etc.

And many of us follow this without questioning.

And yet - have you ever ...

We all have times where we procrastinate and put off doing something.

Have you ever thought about why?

At a simple level it has to do with avoiding a feeling we are having.

For example, we feel overwhelm, or anxious or afraid when we think about doing something, and so we choose to do something else.

Recently I found a simple thing you can do when planning your week that will reduce the cha...

When you think of skills that are important to list in your CV or resume, you probably think of hard skills.  That is, quantifiable or measurable accomplishments.

Hard skills are important when it comes to tasks where we do not rely on others.

But in team environments and as leaders, soft skills may even prove more important.

You can do all the budgeting you want or data analysis, but if y...

When we first start a conversation with our team member, they may say they want to solve a certain problem.

But if we allow them the ability to think things through, sometimes the original problem is not the REAL problem.

In other words, what they say they want is not what they REALLY want.

This is a powerful realization, and can mean the difference between having a conversation which resu...

Are you humble?

And if you say you're humble---does that make you not humble?

We may think we are being humble with our teams.

But many aid worker leaders (myself included) have come to define our validity as leaders with the ability to tell our teams what to do.  

Our ego is tied to our ability to provide the answers.

We are not being humble enough to admit our way is not the only way.

Have you ever learned a new skill and did it perfectly the first time?

Probably not... at least if it's a skill like learning a language, riding a bike or delegating to your team.

Even though it is almost impossible to do something perfectly the first time, many of us still think we can do so.

I see it in my coaching students - the desire to do coaching perfectly the first time they try it...

Last week we looked at how to become aware of how we are using our time through conducting a Time Audit 2.0 (looking at both activities and energy level). 

Now that you know how you currently use your time, we can start to decide if that is how we want to use our time.  The series of questions in this episode will help you decide how much control you have over your time, where your current a...

"Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become." - James Clear, Atomic Habits

This quote captures the topic of today perfectly.  That is, if you compound your actions on a daily or weekly basis, where will they lead you in a year, or even three?  

Are you going in the direction you want to go, or are you going in a direction someone else wants you to go?

Will you achieve ...

Our entire career as a leader - and in fact, our entire personal life as well - is a measure of how well we solve problems.

The better we are at solving problems, the more we advance.  The more we are able to learn and overcome.  And through the failure along the way, we also grow stronger.

So it's not hard to imagine why learning how to solve problems better is a very valuable skill.  Toda...