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.

I say this over and over because we cannot be anyone except who we are. This is validated every time I interview a different leader for my leadership podcast series, Let’s TAWK Leadership.

It’s fascinating.  

Of course, there are common threads – the importance of integrity, for example – and the belief that being a manager and being a leader are distinct – but each leader I have spoken with has their own personal definition of leadership.

Michael Martin, for example, who is co-founder of Avenue 8, a residential real estate platform, told me that being a great leader is like being a great chef.  You have to select the right ingredients (build a team), know how to follow a recipe (the plan), and know how to improvise when you don’t have all the ingredients. He compared being a financial leader to baking – you have to be very precise. Conversely, being a product strategy or brand leader is like grilling – you can improvise and experiment. And finally, the customer experience is like plating, or presentation – we eat with our eyes first.

Now THAT conversation certainly got me thinking about leadership in a different way.

Senior executive Mike Mansbach made the connection between being a leader and being a husband and father. He talked about the importance of self-reflection – being self-aware and then digging deeper to determine “where does my personal baggage get in the way?” Self-reflection is an active feedback loop that opens the door to continuous learning and growth. And he gave an amusing example of how one of his sons participated in that feedback loop. The ultimate reflection.

Other words of wisdom I’ve gathered about leadership along the way:

• The responsibility of a leader is to drive with purpose.
• As a leader you have to stay curious.
• It’s okay not to be perfect.
• Leaders need to be as accessible as anyone – keep the door open
• Strong leaders give control.
• Communicate the good and the bad so your team will trust you.
• A strong leader needs to be vulnerable and capable of getting out of the way!
• How do you act when no one is looking?  That’s integrity.
• Do what you say you are going to do – accountability and achievement.
• A leader must be clear about their communication, set expectations, and lead with their head and their heart.
• A leader needs to be a “whole” person – head and heart.
• IQ and EQ are equally important.
• Lead by example.
• Be true to yourself.
• Do the right thing.
• The “why” is so important for everyone – individuals and organizations.
• Be clear about your purpose.

Listen to more of our Let’s TAWK Leadership insightful conversations with leaders and get inspired to become the leader only YOU can be!

Till next time. Keep it real.

Karen

The post How Do You Define Leadership? appeared first on PeopleThink.