A philosophy I am aspiring to live by right now is to take more responsibility in my work and life.  That means recognizing that the results in my life and work are consequences of the choices I have made.  Sometimes we confuse what is within our control and what is outside of it, meaning we do not always recognize how much control we have over certain outcomes (health, professional advancement,...

Whether it's managing email, determining which working group meeting to attend or balancing time to respond to our team's needs, as aid workers we need all the help we can get to be able to make deadlines and maintain a work-life balance.  Of course there are a ton of resources on how to increase productivity - but what are some of the best tips for aid work?  

My guest today has figured out qu...

A five year study by Google on highly effective teams found that by far the most important characteristic of a successful team is to feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable.   So how can we create an environment in which our teams feel safe enough to be vulnerable and in which we can have open and sometimes difficult conversations?

Whether it is a change in policy or a cut in funding, we all ...

Maybe you've heard of a Mastermind Group.  Maybe you've even thought about joining one.  Well I can tell you from my experience, I have found them so valuable I have formed two myself and all three of my Masterminds have been invaluable in terms of giving me great advice during difficult times, encouragement when I have struggled and celebrations when I have done well.  Not only this, I have lea...

This is one of the things I enjoyed the least about aid work--- the number of ridiculous meetings we have to attend. Of course some meetings can be very productive, but let's face it, most of them are at least a partial waste of time.   Because I have heard this is a challenge for so many of you, I am doing a two part episode on meetings - so you can free up more time during your week to focus o...

I have recruited staff before that were great at interviewing and talking about their experience, but once hired demonstrate a poor attitude.  One example is a Project Manager who was great at selling herself but then consistently talked down to the admin staff, treating them like her personal servants.  This type of disrespect is exactly the opposite of the type of culture we work hard to maint...

Do you ever feel like you are in reactive mode, responding to what is going on around you during your day but not having the time to work on tasks that require focused and undistracted thought time?  Making time for focused time or “deep work” as Cal Newport claims in his in his bestselling book, is linked with innovation, greater productivity and staff morale.  But deep work isn’t just somethin...

One of the major struggles in aid work that I have encountered both myself and amongst other aid workers is around protecting a certain number of hours during the work week to work on those “important” tasks. You know, the tasks that can help us make a bigger impact, and advance our teams and ourselves professionally. But somehow, it always seems like other things get in the way of working on th...

Coaching is becoming more recognized in international development as a powerful leadership methodology that when used properly will help your direct reports develop professionally, realize their goals and become the best version of themselves. That said, there are a lot of misconceptions of coaching, what it is and how to do it. In this episode I share three common misconceptions (the wrong way ...

It can be scary to seek feedback, knowing that if you are to get genuine feedback there are inevitably things you will find out about that you may not want to know.  Add to that the difficulty of receiving open feedback in some of the cultures where we work in the humanitarian context, and receiving honest feedback becomes even more challenging.  And what do you do once you have received that fe...