Teaming and collaboration experiences happen in all walks of our professional and personal lives. Some experiences working with others are draining, others passable, and just a few are energizing and even fun and successful. You can hope these fun, productive experiences emerge by chance. Or you can be deliberate about creating the conditions that improve the possibility of a great collaboration experience. I opt for improving our odds of bringing one of these productive, fun experiences to life. Here are four ideas to help:
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Why You Should Maintain a Professional Journal—Twenty Prompts to Help You Get Started
Journaling is one of the most powerful continuous improvement tools we can use in our working lives, yet many are unsure of how to get started. Here’s some guidance and twenty journaling prompts to help:
Finding Purpose in Your Role as a Manager
How do we access the power of purpose in our role when many above and around us might not be playing with the same sense of motivation? Here are some lessons from some great managers about finding and harnessing the power of purpose in their work. Read and think about how you might put their ideas to work.
Want to Make a Career Change? Expect to Do Some Heavy Lifting
There are no quick fixes, magic beans, or silver bullets to get the work out of your career pivot project. While everyone’s journey is different, there’s a common thread: you have to think, think deeply, be creative, be willing to explore, and ultimately, be ready to experiment before identifying the right “next” in your career. In other words, you need to do the heavy lifting required for a successful career pivot.
How Will You Describe the Leader You Aspire to Be?
If you are interested in taking that next step as a leader, it pays to silence the outside voices and spend some time mining your experiences, influences, and aspirations.
Leaders: How Hard are You Thinking About These Two BIG Issues?
There are two issues every person in a leadership role must constantly focus on and work on: (1) who they aspire to be as leaders and (2) how hard they are working at developing their skills as strategists. Anything less than daily work on these issues is a problem.
Leadership Caffeine Jam Session 4 —Rethinking Employee Career Development for This Era
I’m excited to have a great friend and fabulous expert on career development, Julie Winkle Giulioni, join the upcoming Leadership Caffeine Jam Session: Rethinking Employee Career Development for This Era on Friday, February 11 at noon central. You can register here. (This will be recorded and the video, chat stream, and mind map distributed to all registrants.)
How to Maximize Value from Your Coaching Experience
I find that many participants come into coaching situations unclear on what to expect and unsure how to leverage the experience. Here are some ideas to help.
When Your “Ask” Runs Into a Brick Wall— Find the Loose Brick
People resist anything that threatens their autonomy and safety. Quit leading with what you need and start focusing on what’s important to them, and you’ll watch resistance melt.
Leadership Caffeine Jam Session #3: All About Tuning Your Communication Skills for Success
We’re live on January 14 at noon central with the latest (free) Leadership Caffeine Jam Session entitled: The Persuasive Power of the Right Words in the Right Order Said the Right Way. No slides, no pitches, plenty of ideas and interaction!









