Successful leaders have strong relationships with their teams.

When your team feels you value them and trust them, they will want to help you succeed.

When they win, you win.

So how can you build a strong relationship?

It starts with strong communication.

Learn more in this week's episode on how certain communication skills (especially listening) can make the difference between building connection or fueling disconnection.

Many of us underestimate how much our values influence how we feel and show up as leaders.

How can you tell if you are not aligned with your values?

You may feel stressed, frustrated or demotivated.

When you understand your values and make decisions to prioritize them, you can become motivated, inspired and excited.

I have seen it many times working with leaders - how simply understanding what motivates them (personal values) can change the way they work and lead.

Find out more about...

What makes us give up when we want to learn something new?

We start out really motivated.

We envision ourselves mastering the skill - dancing, budgeting, whatever it is.

And then we start applying it...

And we realize we have a long way to go to master this skill.

We see how far off we are - how it seems almost impossible to become a great singer or delegator or whatever.

And so we give up.

Of course we give up!

We are looking at how far we have to go.

Rather than how far we have already...

If knowledge was the only thing preventing us from taking action, we would all be a lot healthier and manage our time better.

But that's not the way it works.

We know many things - like that we need to get more sleep.

But knowing doesn't mean we will get more sleep.

Before we are able to take action, we need to better understand the being part.

That is, how is my identity helping me or hindering me from sustainable behavior change?

Once we identify ourselves as someone who does not work on...

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 really reflected on what YOU want?

Not by looking externally - but by seeking internally?

And what about...

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 chances you procrastinate.  

In this episode you'll learn what it is and how you can immediately...

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 you do not have the communication skills to relay that information so others can understand and...

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 results in no action because the root problem has not been addressed, versus one that allows forward...

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.

And that although telling others what to do makes us feel important, it doesn't help our team...

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.

To skip the hard steps of learning.

To simply "know how" without any practice.

The thing is, when we...