Leadership is neither glamorous nor easy, yet so many of us willingly sign up for it.

Done right, done with intention, your leadership principles should become your and your team’s compass.

I asked myself: who am I as a leader and what do I stand for? Why on earth would/should people follow me? 

And whatever I came up with, I needed to make it mine, make it clear, communicate it often, and, most importantly, live and breathe it. 

Once in a leadership role, I rapidly grew to recognize the overwhelming importance of organizational culture….

I could have created the best strategic documents, the most definitive and clarifying policies, but neither made a difference if the team I supported did not feel engaged, safe, or aligned.

A well-designed strategic session or retreat is full of ‘treats’ in the form of insights, connections, new questions, and shared accountability. At their best, great offsites energize the people and fuel the work.

The opportunities to deepen our skills with conflict and communication are plentiful. From a labour relations experience with interest-based bargaining to training as a mediator, practices like win-win thinking change trajectories.