Most of us have been trained to hide our true feelings and do things in spite of them for fear of appearing unprofessional. There’s certainly a need to manage our emotions so that we can be professional. But there’s also a need to experience and be conscious of our feelings so that we can be skillful, intuitive, effective leaders.

When I’m helping clients through difficulties, whether it’s internal or external challenges, there’s usually a series of consecutive steps we take together. I call it the Leading Spirit Success Cycle, for obvious reasons. What this cycle represents is the idea that success can happen in any situation; it’s always possible to create something new and different no matter how big the mess.

“Team culture” is the difference between loving your work and hating it. It’s the difference between a healthy environment in which a group thrives and a sickly atmosphere that directly impacts the bottom line. In “Reactive” team cultures there’s avoidance, scapegoating, turf protection, communication breakdowns and other “triggered” behaviors that don’t serve the team or organization. As coaches and trainers, our job is to help organizations develop healthy, synergistic teams that produce skyrocketing results.

As a leader, are you creating an optimal return on investment? How would you even know if you were? Or worse, how would you know if you really, really weren’t?
Leading Spirit is certified in an assessment tool called the “Leadership Circle Profile,” which measures leadership effectiveness. It empowers an individual to take a hard [...]

In alignment-based organizations, diverse voices are valued. There’s creativity, innovation and trust because people can comfortably speak their mind. They can have disagreements about how to do something or what to do next because they’re all aligned around a common purpose and clear understanding.

In agreement-based organizations, creativity is stifled and fear of “breaking the rules” or “rocking the boat” runs rampant. Staffers play it safe around conflict, which can be just as damaging as tearing each other’s eyes out. Teams, departments and staffers don’t work together well, and the organization as a whole suffers greatly.

The choice seems pretty obvious, so how do you create and sustain an alignment-based organization?