From “that’s just me” to “I can do better.”

Life is fast. Loud. Nonstop. Hybrid schedules, constant alerts, a calendar that needs a vacation. We’re all sprinting and rarely stop long enough to notice whether we’re even running in the right direction. Thinking gets pushed to the back burner. Thinking is productivity. Thinking is strategy. Thinking is growth.  And self-reflection is where we sharpen the edges that matter. Self-reflection is the moment you pause and ask: What’s really going on with me? And what needs adjusting?

Let’s use impatience as an example. Maybe you jump in too quickly. Maybe you finish someone’s thought before they finish their sentence. Maybe you rush people who don’t move at your pace. You’re aware of it—great. But self-awareness is just the headline. Self-reflection is the deep dive:

• Why does this behavior show up?
• What’s the ripple effect?
• What does “better” look like to me?
• And what small shift can I make today?

That’s how you recalibrate—not by beating yourself up, but by being honest enough to choose differently. Self-reflection keeps your inner compass pointed in the right direction. It’s your reset. Your grounding. Your way of checking, “Am I aligned with who I want to be—or am I drifting?”

And because the world is evolving fast, the questions we ask ourselves need to evolve too:

• Did I show up today as the person I want to be?
• What energized me? What drained me?
• What story did I tell myself that might not be true?
• Did I protect my boundaries—or let them slide?
• What’s one small thing I can do differently tomorrow?

This week, give your inner compass some attention. Grab your favorite beverage. Take ten minutes. Pick one moment or one behavior and reflect on it. That pause? That’s your tune-up. And it might be exactly what you need to recalibrate, reset, and move forward with clarity.

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Your Inner Compass Needs a Tune-Up appeared first on PeopleThink.

Here are several steps that leaders and individual employees can take to normalize accountability:

• Set the Tone at the Top: If you never accept personal responsibility for something, how can you expect your team to? Leaders serve as role models, and their behavior and actions set the standard for the entire organization.
• Create a trusting environment : Encourage open communication where all team members are encouraged to share successes and failures for the purpose of learning and continuous improvement.
• Find (and share) the lesson in failure : What could you have done better? What will you change? Acknowledge the impact that your actions (or lack of action) had. Embracing accountability means acknowledging mistakes and learning from them.
• Align Goals and Values : When leaders consistently uphold their commitments and demonstrate accountability, it reinforces the importance of the organization’s values, creating a shared sense of purpose among team members. Be sure those are clearly defined and understood.
• Avoid the blame game : Leaders who take responsibility for their actions set the expectation that the focus can be on problem-solving and improvement rather than assigning blame. Ditch the excuses. Take the blame. Apply what you learned. And do better next time.

In summary, leadership accountability serves as a cornerstone for a positive organizational culture by shaping behaviors, fostering trust, encouraging learning, and promoting values that contribute to the overall success and well-being of the organization.

Want to learn more about how you can practice and encourage accountability in the workplace? Check out my Keep It Real Leadership program!

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Thriving Together: Cultivating a Positive Culture through Accountability appeared first on PeopleThink.

But how do you create that special magic that results in not just an effective team but a high-performing team?

Here are six proven strategies to build and foster a strong team:

• Establish a clear purpose and specific goals: A high-performing team is defined by individuals who not only comprehend the shared purpose and milestones but also collaboratively contribute to defining the means to reach those goals. Clear communication of team goals, objectives, and expectations ensures alignment among members, fostering a deeper commitment to the common purpose and enhancing overall performance.
• Create a sense of mutual accountability: Be sure everyone clearly understands expectations. Challenge your team to higher performance goals and establish an environment where they hold themselves – and each other – accountable for results. Include regular progress reports, open sharing of mistakes made and lessons learned, and team discussions on moving through roadblocks.
• Encourage open communication and constructive feedback: The key to building a high-performing team lies in continuous communication. Foster a culture of open communication, encouraging team members to share ideas, concerns, and feedback while actively listening and promoting collaborative discussions.
• Build Trust: Trust is the foundation of any successful team. Be transparent, honest, and reliable in your interactions. Trust is earned through consistent actions, so demonstrate your commitment to the team’s success.
• Promote Team Bonding:Organize team-building activities or events to help team members get to know each other personally. This can improve communication, understanding, and collaboration among team members.
• Recognize and Celebrate Achievements: Acknowledge and celebrate both individual and team achievements. Recognition boosts morale and motivates team members to continue working hard. It also reinforces a positive and supportive team culture.

Remember that effective team building is an ongoing process that requires continuous attention and effort. By investing time and energy into these strategies, you can create a positive and cohesive team that thrives and achieves its goals.

To learn more about effective team building, check out our Keep It Real Leadership program! Keep It Real Leadership is a human-centered program that nurtures leaders to embrace their strengths and deliver on their goals. Together, we can take you and your team to the next level!

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post 6 Strategies to Build and Foster Strong Teams appeared first on PeopleThink.

Self-awareness is the foundation upon which trust is cultivated, decisions are made with more clarity, and personal and professional goals can be achieved. It involves understanding your strengths, limitations, values, beliefs, and emotions and how these factors influence your behavior, interactions, and decision-making with people around you. Being self-aware can help you to communicate efficiently, resolve conflict, and overall, be a successful leader.

Here are four steps to start your self-awareness journey:

• Understand Your Strengths and Limitations: Understanding your competencies, accomplishments, and those behaviors or beliefs that have worked against you is the first step on your journey to becoming a leader. Recognizing your limitations allows you to work on them and seek support or assistance where necessary.
• Embrace Your Authentic Self: Authentic leadership is built on being true to yourself. Self-awareness helps you understand who you are and define your values, allowing you to lead with authenticity. This is an extremely important step in clarifying who you are or want to become as a leader.
• Work on Your Emotional Intelligence (EI): Leaders with high EI can understand and manage their emotions effectively, which is essential for building strong relationships and leading with empathy. It allows you to empathize with the people you lead, fostering stronger connections and trust.
• Prioritize Self-Development and Growth: Self-awareness is an ongoing process that allows you to develop and grow as a leader continually. By recognizing areas for improvement, you can actively seek out opportunities for personal and professional development.

Self-awareness is a fundamental aspect of effective leadership. It enables you to understand yourself, your emotions, and your impact on others, ultimately leading to more authentic, empathetic, and successful leadership.

With the Keep It Real Leadership program, you can get the right coaching to help you through your self-awareness journey! Keep It Real Leadership is a human-centered program that nurtures leaders to embrace their strengths and deliver on their goals. Together we can take your leadership journey to the next level!

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Self-Awareness is a Super Power! appeared first on PeopleThink.

It’s great for you to become aware that a certain behavior – impatience, for example – is holding you back, but unless you make a conscious decision to do something about it, you’re missing an important growth opportunity. That’s where self-reflection comes in.

We live in a culture obsessed with being productive by DOING. Yet we can also be productive by allowing ourselves time for some THINKING. Thinking can lead to creative ideas, new ways to approach a problem, and insight about opportunities for personal growth (AKA self-reflection).

Here’s how that might look. Let’s say you’ve gotten feedback from others that you tend to be impatient with people who don’t think and speak at the same pace as you. You know this about yourself and have even on occasion cut someone off by saying, “just get to the bottom line.” Self-reflection means taking the time to look inside and ask yourself why you react that way, what the impact is (damaged relationships, people not wanting to talk to you), and what you can do to change the behavior.

Self-reflection means being vulnerable, being willing to admit the behaviors that are working against you and clarifying a plan to move beyond the behavior.

Self-reflection is also a way to ensure that you are living and working according to your values and what you want to achieve. It’s a way to level set if you’ve gotten off course.  A recent Positive Psychology article suggests 10 questions as a starting point for self-reflection.

1. Am I using my time wisely?
2. Am I taking anything for granted?
3. Am I employing a healthy perspective?
4. Am I living true to myself?
5. Am I waking up in the morning ready to take on the day?
6. Am I thinking negative thoughts before I fall asleep?
7. Am I putting enough effort into my relationships?
8. Am I taking care of myself physically?
9. Am I letting matters that are out of my control stress me out?
10. Am I achieving the goals that I’ve set for myself?

Sometime this week, grab your favorite beverage and set aside some time to reflect on a behavior you want to change or to just do a general reset. Take the pause that refreshes.

For more on the benefits of self-reflection, check out my podcast conversation with senior executive Mike Mansbach about the important role self-reflection has played in his growth as a leader.

Till next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Self-Awareness is Not Enough – Take the Next Step appeared first on PeopleThink.

Values are defined as “a person’s principles or standards of behavior.” They serve as a personal moral compass to guide us in our choices, our decisions, our interactions with others, and our everyday lives. As leaders, when we are clear about our values and model them with employees, peers, customers, vendors job candidates, and well, everyone, we help create an organizational culture that aligns with those values.

So, this being said, it will come as no surprise to you that one of the first questions I ask the leaders I interview for my Let’s TAWK Leadership podcast is: What are your top 3 personal values?

Although most said it was difficult to narrow their list to three, when pressed (gently, of course) to do so,  they were very clear about their most important values and how those values influence the way they lead.

Every leader is unique. And the list of values I’ve been accumulating from these conversations is varied. And yet there were four that bubbled to the top, as indicated on the values word cloud included with this blog. I’ve listed them below along with a definition and some “sound bites” from my Let’s TAWK Leadership podcast interviews.

Integrity

Integrity means honoring commitments, taking responsibility, and owning up to mistakes. It means aligning what you do and what you say with your values. It means doing what’s right even when no one is looking.

• Consistent messaging.
• Integrity – no one can take it away from you.
• How do you act when no one is looking?  That’s integrity.
• Do what you say you are going to do – accountability and achievement.
• Communicate the good and the bad so your team will trust you.

Empathy

Empathy means being able to understand how others are feeling, to see things from their point of view.  And to care.

• Human factor/connection.
• Meet people where they are.
• Compassion and empathy.
• Ask and then listen.
• We have to move to “humane” leadership.

Humility

Leaders need to be able to admit that they don’t have all the answers. They need to be continuously learning. That includes asking for and accepting feedback.

• Be real with your team.  Sometimes you have to be vulnerable with your team.
• Be introspective about yourself.  Practice self-reflection.
• A strong leader needs to be vulnerable and capable of getting out of the way!
• A leader needs to be a “whole” person – head and heart.
• As a leader you have to stay curious.

Respect

Respect means treating others with kindness, listening, and demonstrating appreciation for diversity of thought, opinions, skills, approaches, etc.

• Provide a safe platform.
• Listen – 2-way communication is a must.
• When providing feedback, you have to tell them “the why” behind your feedback so they can adjust and learn and maybe even push back.
• Thankful and kind.
• Learn from each other.

Tune into the Let’s TAWK Leadership podcast series to learn more from my conversations with leaders from a variety of industries.

Till next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post The Best Leaders Live by Their Values appeared first on PeopleThink.

For new leaders, one of the barriers that frequently pops up is the fear of failure. The thrill of the opportunity can be tempered by the self-inflicted pressure to be perfect.

What if I make a wrong decision? What if I can’t achieve all that’s expected of me? What if someone on the team doesn’t think I’m up to the job? What if I’m NOT perfect?

Here’s what I say to that. No one is perfect. In fact, perfection is debilitating. And trying to attain it can leave you at the station while the train is speeding forward.

So, how do you get past the fear?

Remember that leadership is a learning journey. Learning from others, learning from experience, and learning from mistakes. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Then learn from them. 

Be real to keep it real. Practice transparency. Admit your mistakes and share what you’ve learned from them with your team. Give them the freedom to take risks and to learn from their own mistakes. Those lessons learned spark creativity, new ideas, and new approaches. Rare is the innovation that isn’t the result of multiple failures.

Remember that you don’t have to have all the answers. Lean on others for their expertise. Ask good questions. Listen.

Acknowledge that although you may not be the smartest person in the room, you know how to hire the smartest people in the room. Focus on building a team with diverse and complementary skills and creating an environment of mutual learning and respect.

Becoming the leader you want to be takes time. Leadership is a set of competencies. Be patient. Allow yourself the cycles to get it right. Be authentic. And keep learning.

To learn more, check out our Let’s TAWK Leadership podcast with Susan Montz, AVP Performance Improvement, Ochsner Health Network.

Till next time. Keep it real.

Karen

The post Leaders: It’s Okay Not to Be Perfect appeared first on PeopleThink.

When managed effectively, however, conflict can actually be a good thing. New ideas are born; relationships are deepened through the airing and resolution of differences; teams grow stronger. When you are a leader in the midst of conflict, however, and attempting to deal with it while juggling everything else, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Here are 5 tips for managing team conflict effectively.

Be self-aware. Understanding your leadership strengths and how you react under stress is essential to handling conflict in a constructive manner. Often our positive traits can be perceived as negative when they get overextended during stress. For example, if you tend to set the bar high for yourself and others, this may be perceived as an unreasonable demand for perfection by a team that is struggling with workload or other internal issues. If your strength is leading through people, when stressed you may spend too much time trying to make sure everyone is happy rather than focusing on the collective team goals.

Know your team. The best teams bring diverse personalities, skills and experience to the table. Recognize the value that each individual contributes to the team. Build the team’s awareness and appreciation for different skills, ideas and approaches. Provide opportunities for productive interactions and mutual understanding. This will help you create a foundation for effective conflict resolution.

Make the time to just listen. When a deadline is looming, and the team can’t seem to get past a conflict barrier, you may be tempted, as the leader, to force an end to the issue and just push your position through. Don’t. Make time to listen to all sides so you can get to the core of the issue and help the team co-create a solution.

Harness the power of diverse thinking. Create an environment that encourages open communication and fresh ideas and approaches. Reach out to those who are less vocal to ensure that their ideas get added to the mix. When everyone feels heard and appreciated, “conflicts” become productive discussions.

Chart the way forward. Embrace the “lessons learned” from the bumps on the journey, refocus on the goals and move forward.

Want to learn more about your leadership style and the styles of your team for more effective conflict resolution? Contact me at kcolligan@PeopleThink.biz.

Till next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Team Conflict: The Good, the Bad and The Ugly appeared first on PeopleThink.

Sound familiar?

For many years, the trend has been to promote people to leadership roles because of their domain expertise or bottom line results regardless of how many bodies they may have left in their wake. Thankfully, things are changing. In fact, Emotional Intelligence (EI), the “human” skill set, is becoming as important, if not more important, than the “hard skills” in determining leadership success.

What exactly is EI?

Emotional Intelligence, as defined by EI expert Dr. Daniel Goleman, is the capacity for:

1. Knowing your emotions
2. Managing your own emotions
3. Motivating yourself
4. Recognizing and understanding other people’s emotions
5. Managing relationships, i.e., managing the emotions of others

How does this translate into the workplace and leadership? People with emotional intelligence quickly build rapport and connect with others. They listen. They have the self-awareness to know how they’re going to respond in certain situations and can self-manage to direct their behavior positively. They can disagree without being disrespectful. They have empathy. They control their emotions. Great leaders recognize that to be successful, human relationships and connecting with others is as important as their domain expertise.

Some people come by these capabilities naturally. For others, the skills must be learned. Wherever you are on the spectrum, it’s essential to understand that you can no longer succeed on expertise alone.

Till next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Leaders: Cultivate Your Emotional Intelligence! appeared first on PeopleThink.