I’ve watched The West Wing start to finish no fewer than 30 times. And if we’re talking individual episodes, I guarantee you can triple that for “Celestial Navigation,” “Two Cathedrals,” and “Posse Comitatus”—because sometimes I need a good cry.

Friends have begged me to broaden my episodic horizons. Watch Breaking Bad, they said. Game of Thrones, Stranger Things. When I give them polite nods and blank looks around the watercooler, they implore me to step into the worlds of The Office, Veep, and Ted Lasso.

No, thanks. I’m good with Sam and Josh and Toby and C.J. and Charlie and Leo and President Bartlet. I like it here on the fictional Pennsylvania Avenue of the early aughts. These characters feel like old friends. Their stories are hot chicken soup to my achy and feverish soul.

I may be in a rut when it comes to my TV, but I like it.

And that’s how ruts get you. They tempt you with their comfy trappings, their cushy chairs and warm blankets. They lure you to linger with a pervasive, but not unnerving, sense of well-being. They lull you into a state of indifference, if not relative satisfaction, and keep things blissfully knowable and safe. Why would you ever leave?

But for a leader, safety is the refuge of the uninspired. You may have achieved a certain level of professional success. You may have a position you love, a routine that works for you, and a team that trusts you. You may feel complacent, even content.

Or you may just be in a nice, predictable, comfortable rut.

How To Know When You’re in a Rut

Being in a rut, even a nice one, can prevent you from growing as a leader. It can blind you to new opportunities, keep you from adapting to changing circumstances, and kill your motivation. So, be on the lookout for these signs that you may be stuck and, if you are, try these simple steps to help you break free:

• You’re bored. You know the feeling: monotony, fatigue, even sleepiness. You’re just going through the motions, and the motions are so familiar and mundane that you could do them with your eyes closed.

What To Do: Get curious. Volunteer to tackle a new task or a project outside your normal scope. Seek out a mentor or coach who will switch up your methods and challenge you to grow.

• You avoid risk. Like the captain of a ship that never leaves port, you stick to the status quo and stay the (same old) course. This may be hard to hear, but you fear failure, rejection, and criticism.

What To Do: Adopt a growth mindset. Right. How do we do that, again? Try to see your failures as merely first tries. Armed with valuable new information, you’re much more likely to embrace the risk of a second attempt—and a third.

• You’re overconfident. Complacency results when you think you have learned all there is to learn. Even the best of us can get caught in the trap of “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

What To Do: Bring in fresh blood. Seek out input and feedback from others who are different from you and have varying experiences and perspectives. Challenge yourself to listen and learn.

A Rut Is a Rut Is a Rut

Ruts are well-worn for a reason. I return to West Wing over and over again because I know what’s coming. Even the dramatic and exciting bits, like when Josh gets shot or Zoey is abducted or C.J. has to select which turkey to pardon, play as a familiar and comforting refrain for me, like a verse from a favorite song that unexpectedly comes over the radio.

In a world and time of great change, that predictability is incredibly appealing. But it keeps my perspective narrow. The more I re-watch Jed Bartlet, the less I learn of Selina Meyer. The more I stick to Sorkin, the less I explore, well, just about anyone else writing for television these days.

The point is, even if I like it, a rut is a rut. And to fulfill my potential as a leader, I need to branch out.

So, what series should I watch next?

This weekend is Super Bowl 58. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. the San Francisco 49ers. Patrick Mahomes vs. Brock Purdy. The genius of longtime coach Andy Reid vs. the mastermind Kyle Shanahan. Storylines abound in this rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl, as it pits two of the most successful NFL franchises ever against each other. The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls. The Niners have won five. Kansas City’s last win came last year at the expense of the Philadelphia Eagles. San Francisco hasn’t won since Steve Young quarterbacked them to victory 30 years ago. Between them, the two clubs have 53 Hall of Famers. In the annual ranking of NFL Franchise Success published by The Athletic, the Niners rank fourth all time while the Chiefs rank ninth. In short, neither of these clubs is a stranger to long-term sustained success.

It’s tempting to examine how these two teams arrived at the peak. How one overcame a struggling offense, an inexperienced receiving core, an aging tight end, and a QB playing from behind more this year than ever. And how the other overcame a QB with the mantle of “Mr. Irrelevant,” a frustrating rash of injuries, and some regularly questionable coaching decisions.

Both those stories are worth telling. And plenty of other people will tell them.

But as often happens in our work with leaders, examining the victors may be less fruitful than examining those who failed to advance. With that in mind, the AFC and NFC Championship games become fertile ground to explore what can happen when leaders fall back on their Reactive Tendencies instead of reaching for their Creative Competencies.

In times of great stress and pressure, how we show up matters. And knowing how we may show up in our Reactive Tendencies can be the difference between rising to a challenge or making it exponentially worse. Case in point: the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions, losers to the Chiefs and Niners, respectively.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

The Baltimore Ravens entered the AFC Championship game with, arguably, the most pressure of any of the final four playoff teams. Most of that pressure sat squarely on the shoulders of quarterback Lamar Jackson. The presumptive league MVP, Jackson is notorious for wilting in the playoffs. Yet, even with that hanging over his head, the Baltimore defense was widely considered the best in the league during the regular season, and the Ravens entered the game as favorites.

Jackson finished 20 of 37 for 272 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Known for his ability to save failing passing plays with his legs, he ran for just 54 yards. Players on both sides of the ball committed boneheaded errors, including a 15-yard taunting penalty and a fumble at the goal line that cost the Ravens precious yardage and left points on the field. On top of that, Baltimore, who led the league in rushing during the regular season, rushed for only 81 yards against the Chiefs, who struggled to stop the run game all year. Despite leading early, the Ravens collapsed in the second half, losing 17-10 to Kansas City.

So, what was this? A case of the yips? Was the moment too big? The pressure too much? Perhaps.

Leaders internalize pressure in myriad ways. One of those ways, especially when facing pressure that feels overwhelming, is to lean on the Reactive Tendency of being driven. In the Leadership Circle Profile, the “driven” tendency measures the extent to which a leader is in overdrive, equating their self-worth with the need to perform at an impossibly high level.

Imagine you’re the quarterback of the top-seeded team in the NFL playoffs; your team is favored to win; you’re playing on your home field; you held out for and signed a lucrative contract this season; and you’re coming into the game with only two playoff wins in your six-year career. You might be feeling the need to perform. And not just perform but perform perfectly—a second Reactive Tendency (and one adjacent to “driven” on the LCP), measuring a leader’s need to succeed beyond all expectations, performing at constantly heroic levels.

Maybe Jackson felt he had to play a perfect game. Like there was no room for error. When a team leader tries to be perfect—whether they’re leading a football team or a business team—everyone on the team feels that pressure, and suddenly everyone’s Reactive Tendencies are heightened, the volume of self-limiting beliefs rising to a cacophony rivaling the loudest of home-field crowds.

Watching the Ravens abandon many of the behaviors and beliefs that powered their 13-win season was like witnessing a confident and capable leader crumble, clinging to old patterns and suffering the hits that accompany out-of-character behaviors. It’s in those situations that the leader, the team, and the whole enterprise loses. In a football game, it can tarnish legacies. In business, the consequences can be much worse.

Situation Critical

In contrast to the Ravens, the Detroit Lions held too tightly to the culture and identity built by Head Coach Dan Campbell in their 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

A former tight end, Campbell is known in the league as a player’s coach. In an article for Sports Illustrated, sportswriter Collin Haalboom described Campbell’s style as a “hard-nosed, ultra-aggressive, work boots and lunch pail mentality that he not only exudes but speaks into existence.” In other words, he’s a charismatic tough guy and inspires the same in his players.

This identity manifested in a remarkable franchise turnaround that began when Campbell took the helm in 2021. The team’s magical 2023 season saw the Lions finish first in the NFC North with a 12-5 record and win back-to-back playoff games—after winning only one in the previous 56 seasons. Campbell’s reputation for going for it on fourth downs and re-lighting a fire under quarterback Jared Goff delivered a Lions offense that has been among the league’s best the last couple of years.

How then, did the Lions find themselves three points down when the clock hit triple zeros in the NFC Championship game? One contributor, the main contributor in my opinion, is that Dan Campbell didn’t play situational football.

Within the controlling dimension of the Leadership Circle Profile is the Reactive Tendency to be autocratic. This tendency measures the extent to which a leader may be forceful, aggressive, and controlling, particularly when they want to be seen as worthy of a high position. One of the ways to counteract this tendency is to be open to new information within a situation and respond accordingly. Effective leaders are nimble and, in fact, Campbell has proven himself to be a situational learner in numerous instances throughout his time as a head coach. But in this moment, in this game, he played to the culture and identity he had created instead.

Up by 14 in the first half, the Lions had an opportunity to kick a field goal on fourth down and take a three-score lead. They didn’t. In the fourth quarter, with the chance to kick a field goal and tie the game, Campbell decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Niners 30-yard line. The pass was incomplete, and the Niners scored an insurance touchdown on the next drive, essentially putting the game out of reach for Detroit.

Was it arrogance? Was it inflexibility? No. It was the autocratic impulse left unchecked. Dan Campbell picked the worst time to be too aggressive, and it cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl LVIII

As for those two teams headed to Vegas on Sunday, I suspect the one that best manages its Reactive Tendencies will hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the game. For the Niners, quarterback Brock Purdy and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan should beware of the temptation to play a perfect game. We learned from Lamar Jackson what can come from falling into that “perfect” tendency. Shanahan, for his part, usually scripts out the first dozen or so plays and can get pretty narrowminded about his gameplan. The Reactive Tendency of arrogance could be a challenge for him. For Andy Reid, Pat Mahomes, and our favorite Swiftie, Travis Kelce, the hard part may be avoiding the “passive” Reactive Tendency. The trio has been to 11 Super Bowls between them—two of which have been together. After an underwhelming season, Kansas City seems to have flipped the switch just in time for the playoffs. Will it be enough? Is the Super Bowl old hat? Can they keep the switch flipped for four more quarters? In short, can they be repeat as champions after playing a season at a less-than-championship level?

Conclusion

Reactive Tendencies emphasize caution over creating results, self-protection over productive engagement, and aggression over alignment. When we lean too far into them or rely too heavily on them, we limit our effectiveness as leaders.

Our best chance to mitigate these behaviors is to recognize how we show up when we lead, to understand the situations in which we might show up reactively, and to be prepared with action plans to counteract those reactive impulses. Maybe then, we’ll find ourselves playing in, and even winning, the big games.

I used to work with this guy who always had a hack for everything. He had a hack for growing his online presence. A hack for losing weight. A hack to get free Netflix. He even had a hack for getting free Air Jordans, although I suspect it was just his brother making knock-off sneakers in his garage on a Saturday night. For years, I called this guy Life-MacGyver in my head, and not with a particularly flattering tone. He just seemed so jumbled, so flighty and completely lacking in discipline. After all, I was much more logical about things. I knew how to get things done, in which order things needed to be done and how to get the best results because of my brilliance and attention to process.

Life-MacGyver had no process whatsoever, and it annoyed me to no end.

After a while though, a thought occurred to me. Life-MacGyver was not particularly good at planning things, but he was REALLY good at doing things. He would just try stuff. Most of it was haphazard and didn’t really seem to have a through line, but he kept doing things. Every now and then he would stumble upon a hack that would work for a while but only for a short time before the loophole would be closed. But he was undeterred. He just kept hacking away at life.

That dogged determination is one of the most underrated aspects of creating habits. The desire to just keep trying things until you find what works. To act regularly and quickly. We talk about this all the time in business (the adage “fail fast” comes to mind), but how often do we really do it? I know it’s hard for me.

So, today let’s talk about some simple hacks you can use to kickstart habits that boost your effectiveness as a business leader. To provide a bit of structure, we’re going to pair these “habit hacks” with Creative Competencies from the Leadership Circle Profile to show the path from hack to habit—and connect the dots between the habit you’re starting and the reason you’re starting it. After all, if your habit doesn’t have a good why behind it, you’ll end up like Life-MacGyver, hacking away without knowing where you’re going.

Target Creative Competency: Sustainable Productivity

A leader’s ability to achieve results in a way that maintains or enhances long-term effectiveness.

Why?

Because your goal is huge, and you don’t want to get overwhelmed.

Because you’re trying to avoid paralysis by analysis.

Habit Hack

Start small, practice consistency, and build to the big goal.

One surefire way to fail at accomplishing your goal is to bite off more than you can chew. Can I single-handedly reduce the amount of plastic waste in the ocean? No. Can I reduce the number of single-use plastic containers I use as a consumer? Yes. Can I eat an entire Dairy Queen ice cream cake in one sitting? Despite my best efforts, also no. I must enjoy that sweet, sweet soft serve and signature fudge crunch one slice at a time.

Simply put, sustainable productivity is the ability to make steady progress at a pace that makes sense. Begin with small, relatively easy tasks. Complete those tasks consistently—so consistently that they become part of your normal routine. Then, gradually add new ones or increase the intensity of those you’ve adopted. Make little changes in sequence. Remember, buildings are built brick by brick.

Target Creative Competency: Collaborator

The extent to which a leader engages others in a way that allows everyone involved to discover common ground.

Why?

Because you want to build stronger relationships with your team members.

Because you want to bring out the best in each member of your team.

Habit Hack

Ask a friend or colleague to help you craft a habit.

A popular approach to building new habits and adopting new behaviors is through an accountability-buddy system. You “team up” with a partner who holds you accountable for making progress toward your personal or professional goals while you hold them accountable for making progress toward theirs. Ideally, both parties also provide support, encouragement, and motivation. It’s a sort of positive change quid pro quo. I’ll help you speak up more in meetings if you help stop me from dominating the conversation.

This sort of system can be effective, especially if a desire not to let your accountability buddy down is a strong incentive for you. But imagine that your buddy isn’t only your watchdog in this scenario but is also a true partner in authoring your habits and the ways you can cultivate them. Imagine that you ask for assistance in policing and correcting the actions you believe to be in conflict with your new habit and for input and feedback on what that new habit should be in the first place.

Creating your habits collaboratively results in a community benefit. It encourages open communication and vulnerability. It makes you and your partner more relatable. And it opens doors for future collaborations—on new habits, new projects, new team goals, and more.

Target Creative Competency: Personal Learner

The extent to which a leader actively pursues opportunities to grow in self-awareness, wisdom, knowledge, and insight.

Why?

Because you’re looking for ways to ensure that you’re your best self for your team.

Because you know that the most effective leaders know themselves.

Habit Hack

Read a book. Several books. All the books.

If I learned anything from years of after-school programming on PBS, it’s that reading can be a transportive and transformative experience. Whether you go for a self-help book, an op-ed or article online, or—my personal favorite—a cozy murder mystery, reading exposes you to diverse ideas, prompts self-reflection, and provides opportunities to learn from others’ experiences (fictional or otherwise). All of these contribute to expanding your understanding of yourself and the world around you.

It may surprise you, but the thing you read is less important than the act of engaging with it. Seeking out a variety of perspectives and media, such as graphic novels, social commentary, academic research, historic nonfiction, memoir, and more, allows you to pause and think. Then, you can relate the content to your own experiences, values, and beliefs. Leonardo da Vinci was a master at this kind of action. It was da Vinci’s fascination with human anatomy that allowed him to evolve the kinds of artwork normally painted in the 15th century. As he understood the human skeletal structure, he could more accurately paint a living subject, which eventually gave rise to an entirely new artistic movement.

Even 10 minutes a day of dedicated reading can broaden your perspective and enhance your self-awareness.

Conclusion

We all know that good habits are at the center of accomplishment. We’ve been told for years that success comes after doing something consistently for a long period of time. Whether it’s the 10,000-hour rule or all the thoughts in Atomic Habits, or the work of David Brailsford and the English Cycling team, small, consistent actions bring great rewards. But unless you have the tenacity and willingness to try things every day, just like Life-MacGyver, you may find yourself successful but particularly impactful.

A good habit hack clarifies your actions and makes starting a new habit much less overwhelming. After all, if you can read for 10 minutes a day because you want to broaden your perspective, pretty soon, you start to look forward to that 10 minutes, and then you begin to miss it if you skip a day or two. It’s easier to be consistent when you are progressing toward something that is important to you. And it is that consistency that breeds accomplishment. Not brilliance.

So take the lesson from Life-MacGyver that is the most impactful. Just do something. Chances are, even if you think it’s the wrong thing, you’ll find yourself on the right side of becoming the kind of leader who is always trying to improve—and that is what matters most.

Where I live in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., there are—officially—nearly 700 miles of hiking trails through the old-growth forests, across the snow-capped mountain peaks, and beside the freshwater lakes of the region’s state and national parks.

I have hiked exactly zero miles of these trails. (I’m more of a beachcombing, waves-crashing, whale-watching kind of girl.)

But you can’t live in these parts without acquiring some know-how about the makings of a good hike. Every trail worth taking contains a mixture of five key elements:

• Views: A great hiking trail delivers on stunning scenery, and not just at the top, but along the way.
• Peace and quiet: Trekking through nature gets us out of our mundane routines and opens our eyes to see the world anew.
• A little challenge: While this varies greatly depending on the hiker, the need to put in a little effort makes any trail even more rewarding.
• Varied terrain: We said a little challenge, after all. Great hikes are punctuated by flat sections, small descents, and spaces that invite hikers to pause, catch their breath, and enjoy the view.
• Wildlife: Whether eagles in the trees, elk in the mountains, or simply fellow hikers you meet along the way, viewing and interacting with others (from a safe distance, of course) greatly enriches every hiker’s experience.

The same principles are important when setting the course in January for a good year. Allow me to explain.

Many begin January by focusing on grand, sweeping resolutions, seeing the month as the starting block for setting right all their bad habits (or lapsed good ones). There’s space for that. After all, there’s a lot of good that can come from setting goals. But as with any goal, just as with any hike, the key is sticking to it.

Maybe our best approach to the year is the same one we use when we lace up our hiking boots: come as prepared as possible, find reasons to keep going when you want to give up, and remember to stop often to take it all in.

January as Base Camp

Nothing beats the optimism of base camp. Your gear is clean and organized; everyone’s well-rested; your water bottle and snack reserves are full; your socks are fresh; and your feet are blister free. Trail maps are crisply folded and at the ready, and you’re looking forward to the adventure ahead. It’s easy to embrace the momentum of the moment.

In the same way, January offers us a fresh, new start. Gyms advertise membership deals. Art classes can be had at a discount. The whole year lies before us, 12 months of endless opportunity. The desire to move forward, whether by learning a new skill, tackling a challenging situation, or adopting a positive behavior, is infectious. Everyone you know is making resolutions. And underscoring it all, is our shared desire that we can be a little better, try a little harder, do a little more.

After all, at the heart of any resolution—New Year’s or otherwise—is hope.

Make Hope a Habit

Unfortunately, the newness and enthusiasm you feel at both the trailhead and in this first month of the year eventually wear off.

Inevitably, you reach a point where the temptation to turn around and go home is just as strong as the desire to keep moving forward. You’ve had some fun, made some progress up the mountain, maybe even reached a vista or two. Your body is aching in that self-satisfied, “I’m feeling muscles I didn’t even know I had / I could totally be a professional athlete” kind of way. But the path ahead looks steeper, rockier, and sure feels harder than anything you’ve faced so far. You think: I’ve come a long way. Do I really need to go any further?

This is the moment it becomes impossible to ignore one universal truth: Finding hope is easy; staying hopeful is the hard part.

In times of difficulty, hardship, or overwhelm, that optimism you felt at the beginning of the journey can evaporate, only to be replaced by discouragement, resignation, and exhaustion. How can you ensure that these moments don’t overpower you and take you off track? Make hope a habit.

• Hope is easier to build when your goal is clear. Why are you hiking this trail to begin with? Get clear on your “why.”
• Hope is easier to find when you remember past achievements. Look at all you have accomplished so far! Take heart.
• Hope is easier to trust when you reach for it consistently. Like riding a bike or popping the clutch when your ancient car won’t start, actions stay with us when we repeat them over and over again. You can do this; you already know how.

One Road, Many Destinations

With your eyes on the prize and hope enough to see you through to the end of the hike, success (and the summit) seem a fitting reward—but they’re not the only reward. The best hikes feature the best views. Views, plural.

Stop. Look around. Feel the sun warm your face and the breeze cool your skin. Take a selfie next to that little waterfall. Smile at the people you pass. Smell the very real flowers in your path. And all the metaphorical ones, too. The saying goes, “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey.” I’ll do you one better: It’s not the destination or the journey. It’s both. It’s all the ways your eyes get wider, your lungs fill more deeply, and your curiosity is piqued. It’s making the most of every advertised scenic viewpoint and a hundred unexpected ones. It’s celebrating each checkpoint on the way to the top of the mountain, and then celebrating again on the way back down.

Lace Up Your Boots

On the feeling of starting something new, Steve Jobs once said, “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.” A new year and, in truth, the start of any new venture, gives us that opportunity to once again be a wide-eyed optimist, digging out our maps, lacing up our boots, and hitting the trail.

Grab your backpack, and let’s go!

Self-care is having a moment. According to one study, 97% of Americans believe it’s important to make time to care for themselves. That’s good, because more than half of those survey respondents felt burnt out in 2023.

 

When I’m having a really crappy day, I turn to YouTube and pull up a video of the outtakes from a sketch of John Oliver and Cookie Monster delivering the news. Or one of a flash mob performing a version of “Do Re Mi” at Central Station in Antwerp. Or one of the other 200 videos saved to my “Rainy Day” playlist. If the situation is dire, I camp out on my couch for a marathon of White Christmas, Noises Off, and Joe vs. the Volcano. And if I need the nuclear option, I hop in my car, brave the traffic on I-5, and make my way to the coast. There, I put my feet in the cold sand, breathe in the scent of the Pacific Ocean, and stand in awe of Haystack Rock, which never fails to remind me that I am but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.

If you would ask me what I do in terms of self-care, these are the things I would tell you. But I would be a very poor example.

You see, my modes of self-care are all reactionary. Notice how I started off with “When I’m having a really crappy day…” Not “To keep myself healthy…” or “To make sure I can show up as my best self for my team…”

Like me, so many people see self-care as the spa treatments, personal indulgences, and compulsive compensations that make up for the all-too-common ways we overextend ourselves. I’ve worked overtime every day for a week, so I’m getting a massage on Saturday. I’ve been so busy doing laundry and packing lunches and carting kids from one activity to another, and I need a break. I’m spending the weekend at a hotel with a pool and no cell service.

But is this really the best way to care for ourselves?

Defining Self-Care

Self-care is simply care—the care we often instinctively show others but deny ourselves. It’s checking in to see how you’re doing, making sure you’re getting enough rest, and offering yourself some compassion in the midst of a challenging time.

When done in a healthy way, self-care isn’t the reactive indulgence of the overworked and under-resourced. It’s not a quick reprieve or a temporary fix. Self-care is the proactive prioritization of intentional acts that ensure long-term well-being.

What Self-Care Might Look Like:

• • Getting enough sleep, whether you need five hours or nine
  • Using food as fuel
  • Moving around enough to keep your muscles limber and your blood flowing
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Saying “no” when needed
  • Spending time with friends and loved ones
  • Engaging in hobbies outside of work
  • Creating a meditation or mindfulness practice

Self-Care for Leaders

Self-care may look a little different in your role as a leader than it does in the rest of your life. In life, you may turn to true-crime podcasts and Mexican food, whereas in leadership, you may look to setting healthy boundaries and realistic expectations. That crunchy chicken taco may be delicious, but it’s not going to inspire confidence from your team unless you share. And even then, the inspiration won’t last very long.

For leaders, self-care is an investment in productivity, longevity, and effectiveness. It allows you to model the behavior you want from your team—i.e., healthy ways to cope with stress, increased emotional intelligence, and a high value placed on personal health and well-being. In short, your investment in self-care gives those in your sphere of influence permission to take care of themselves.

When you improve how you lead yourself, you’ll improve your ability to lead others. Self-care leads to self-compassion, which enables every leader to excel without the need to be perfect.

What Self-Care for Leaders Might Look Like:

• • Creating a workspace—at home, in the office, or on the road—that energizes you
  • Establishing daily routines to help you set the right mindset
  • Taking breaks
  • Finding a change of scenery
  • Delegating tasks that don’t require your direct involvement
  • Setting healthy boundaries

Self-Care Is Primary Care

It may be having a moment, but self-care is anything but a fleeting trend. For leaders, it’s a strategic advantage.

Once assumed by many, like me, to be merely an acceptable reaction to overwhelm, illness, or crisis, self-care is primary care in that it ought to come first. When we are proactive in practicing self-care, we can build capacity, increase productivity, and create happier, more fulfilled, and healthier lives.

In the corner of my spare room, under the window and next to a small metal craft cart that holds Christmas wrapping paper and extra gift tags, stands a white goose on a small patch of green grass—a treasured, if somewhat ridiculous, gift I received more than 20 years ago. One which I happily carted across the country when I moved from Ohio to Washington state, and which has repeatedly escaped weekends of spring cleaning and boxes earmarked for donation.

First popular in the Midwest in the 1980s, the “porch goose” is a cement lawn ornament that saw a resurgence in the late ’90s and early aughts and is currently enjoying newfound popularity, thanks to TikTok.

I got mine not at an outdoor nursery or from the lawn care section of a hardware store, but backstage of the small theater of Our Lady of the Elms High School. I was directing three students in a one-act play called The Wild Goose, and my cast and crew presented me with the play’s namesake decorative waterfowl moments before curtain on opening night. They each signed the base and lured me backstage with a panicked (and, frankly, well-acted) ruse about one of my actresses injuring herself and being unable to go on.

It was silly and sweet. And it took me completely by surprise. I was utterly delighted, just as they knew I would be. In other words, it was the best possible way they could say “thank you.”

Being Grateful Is Good for Business

In addition to being a sign of good manners and general human decency, showing appreciation is an effective and useful business tactic. In a recent survey of 800 full-time U.S. employees by software firm Nectar, nearly 84% said that recognition affects their motivation to succeed at work. Similarly, Great Place To Work found, when analyzing more than a million employee survey responses, that workers tied recognition to several aspects of positive company culture, such as employees’ increased likelihood to drive innovation and bring new ideas forward and to believe that workplace promotions are fair.

What great leaders understand about recognition and appreciation is that it’s most effective when it’s specific. For some, that may mean a personal shoutout in the company’s Teams chat; for others, it’s a handwritten note or a cup of coffee and conversation. For others still, it’s a goofy keepsake with a good story. The point is that it’s personal, and the best way to make it personal is to know your people.

Make Your Appreciation Personal

We recently polled our nearly 150,000 LinkedIn followers on the most effective way to show your team your appreciation. Forty-three percent of respondents said public displays of recognition are the way to go; 30% voted for a pay increase or bonus; and 22% said a thank-you gift is the most effective way to make a colleague feel appreciated.

In the comments, consensus was clear: These may be solid options, but the best course of action is to make the effort to meet your people where they are. “It depends on how each team member is intrinsically motivated,” said Gina Lavery, MSOD. Sue Mann agreed. “Know your colleague well enough to know what is most meaningful to them,” Mann commented. “It’s about them, after all, not you.”

More of what our followers had to say:

“Recognition in both public and private, and also a heartfelt conversation that encourages them to think about their personal development.”
—Geetika Agarwal, PCC in training (ICF)

“Don’t wait, do it now!”
—Roberto Giannicola

“Definitely a personal appreciation of their strengths and attitude and the difference that they make… that they may not have realized.”
—Connie Howe

“It depends, different individuals have different needs at different times, so leaders have to know their people and think every time about what kind of appreciation works best this particular time with this concrete individual. One size fits all doesn’t work.”
—Antti Viljaste

“It’s like the five languages of love. You have to love someone with their love language, not yours. It’s the same with business. You have to show appreciation the way a person wants and needs to be appreciated.”
—Miriam Wexler

Small Gestures, Big Impact

Beyond being a feel-good practice, recognition is a strategic imperative for organizations trying to cultivate a culture of excellence and engagement. While formal recognition programs and traditional methods of celebrating achievement will always have a home in the workplace, the personal touch truly makes a difference. When you demonstrate as a leader that you know your people well enough to know how to thank them, they won’t just feel appreciated; they’ll feel seen.

Through our work with more than 26,000 teams from around the world, we’ve identified five significant factors that determine a team’s effectiveness. With help from the workplace proximity associates of the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation, we dig into the important role of a team’s psychological safety and cohesion.

 

 

I may not have read as many historical biographies as Leslie Knope; I may not have her passion for waffles or find Joe Biden as sexy as she does. But I have never identified more with a fictional character than when she talks about her prowess as a gift-giver. “Giving Christmas gifts is like a sport to me,” she says. “Finding or making the perfect something… It’s also like a sport to me because I always win.”

The insight comes at the end of the episode “Citizen Knope,” a holiday entry that sees Leslie on a two-week suspension from work and advised to quit her run for city council by her big-city campaign managers. She’s at a personal low, but true to her glass-half-full disposition, Leslie still manages to give all her co-workers and friends extremely thoughtful and personal gifts, including a leopard-print robe with pink feather cuffs and “You Can Get It” on the back in rhinestones for Donna and motorized office doors that close at the click of a button for Ron.

Leslie’s professional game may be suffering, but she is clearly winning at Christmas gift-giving.

It’s especially satisfying, then, when the team comes together to lift Leslie’s spirits and demonstrate what she means to them with a thoughtful gift of their own. Led by beautiful tropical fish Ann Perkins, the group builds Leslie a miniature replica of City Hall made of gingerbread. But that’s not all. After hearing that her campaign managers dropped her, the team rallies to give her a truly unexpected gift: volunteering to be her new campaign crew.

I’ve watched this episode (and, indeed, the whole of Parks and Recreation) approximately 900 times, and every time Leslie responds to their gesture with tears in her eyes and a hitch in her voice, saying, “I don’t know what to say, except… Let’s go win an election!” I get choked up right along with her. Why? Aside from being a saphead for wholesome Christmas storylines, I tear up because it’s a scene in which Leslie’s co-workers and friends come together to support her in the pursuit of her dreams. Even though we, in the audience, know that they are ill-equipped to do this and greatly anticipate the hilarious mishaps that will arise, in that moment, Leslie is safe to spread her wings, and that’s a feeling we all hope to experience.

Teams Work When They Work Together

The most effective teams create an environment where members feel safe to take personal risks and actively support one another. This is what’s happening when, as each member of the team outlines their new role in Leslie’s campaign, Donna offers rides in her Benz to special events, April offers to lead youth outreach and new media, and Ron simply offers, “Any other damn thing you might need.”

For teams to be productive and effective, members don’t need to be protected or shielded from the potential pain or discomfort of personal risk; they need to feel safe in spite of that potential pain, in spite of that risk. This is what we call psychological safety and cohesion.

Using Psychological Safety and Cohesion To Boost Team Effectiveness

Whether one of your team members is running for city council, giving a pitch to a potential new client, or tossing out a wild idea during a brainstorm session, they will be much more likely to share themselves authentically, to look for common ground, and to be resilient in the face of challenge or disappointment if they know the team has their back. If you’re looking to power up your team’s effectiveness, foster these generative factors to increase camaraderie and mitigate these disruptive factors to reduce siloed thinking:

Generative Factors

1. 1. Welcoming Participation Structure: Teams with explicit group norms and expectations increase active participation. Team members who aren’t sure whether all opinions will be welcome or received without repercussions are much less likely to share ideas or provide constructive criticism.
   2. Interconnectedness: When team members get along and genuinely enjoy spending time together, they enjoy better collaboration, manage conflict more successfully, and are more likely to remain optimistic in the face of setbacks.
   3. Team Emotional Intelligence: Teams with high team EQ can handle difficult conversations and will seek feedback about their performance to work more effectively together.

Disruptive Factors

1. 1. Distrust: When team members distrust the intentions or integrity of other members, they are less willing to be vulnerable or courageous in their interactions, resulting in decreased energy, poor processes, and lack of cohesion.
   2. Political/Pleasing Culture: A political or pleasing culture reduces the likelihood that team members will challenge ideas, even when there are issues or problems that need to be addressed.
   3. Destructive Dynamics: Team members who undermine the ideas of others or only interact with or support certain members feed into a “clique” or an “us vs. them” mentality, making it nearly impossible to achieve collective goals.

Camaraderie, Collaboration, and Resilience

In the world of Parks and Recreation, Leslie Knope is used to winning Christmas as the superior gift-giver in Pawnee. But, when her team steps up and makes it clear that she has their support, she concedes. “This year,” she says, “my friends won. In fact, I got my ass handed to me.”

Teams that prioritize establishing a welcoming and inviting culture, creating opportunities for connection, and building team EQ can achieve camaraderie, collaboration, and resilience—much like the crew of the Pawnee parks department. As you navigate your own team dynamics, remember that success often begins with the unwavering support and unity of your team members.

Through our work with more than 26,000 teams from around the world, we’ve identified five significant factors that determine a team’s effectiveness. Today, in the first of a five-part series on teams, we take a look at the contribution mindsets make to team effectiveness.

 

 

In a recent postgame press conference, Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders voiced his frustration with the way his team performed. “Played like hot garbage,” he said. And this is after his Buffaloes defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 27-24.

Sanders didn’t take issue with the victory but with how it was won. The Buffaloes fell behind early, committed eight penalties, and gave up five sacks in the game. The final score belies a contest that wasn’t nearly as competitive as it suggests. The Buffs only pulled out the win with the help of clutch play from quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Deion’s son) and a 43-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining. That may make for a dramatic finish and good TV, but slow starts, sloppy play, and late-game heroics do not lend themselves to building a culture of consistency and excellence.

And excellence is what Sanders is after. After all, this is the man who gave himself the nickname “Prime Time,” reflecting both his ability and versatility as a professional athlete and his flashy and charismatic personality—on and off the field. As a standout cornerback in the NFL, Sanders became a Super Bowl champion with both the 49ers and the Cowboys, and as an MLB outfielder, he played on two World Series-winning teams with the Atlanta Braves. During his career as a player, Sanders embraced the spotlight and was known for his showmanship, confident in his talent and unafraid to shine in the biggest moments and on the biggest stages of the sports world.

Now, as “Coach Prime,” he’s brought that self-assurance and swagger to Colorado. When he joined the team, the Buffs were coming off an abysmal 2022 season in which they finished 1-11. In his first meeting with the players early this year, he signaled a shift in philosophy and a new team mindset, repeatedly telling them, “I’m coming,” meaning he was coming in to turn around the program. “There is not going to be any more mediocrity, period,” he said. “I’m coming.”

Great coaches like Sanders possess a clarity of vision and an unshakable belief that they can produce such results, and they do so by shaping the mindset of their team and inspiring that same belief in their team members. Great leaders do the same.

Defining Your Mindset

Whether you’re a college football coach, a rising business leader, or a CEO, you set the culture and tone for your team; you articulate what the team aims to accomplish; and you instill the belief that the group is capable of achieving those goals. The most effective teams have a shared understanding of who they are and what they are pursuing together. You establish the team mindset.

For the Buffaloes, Sanders laid out the team mindset in that first meeting with his players: no more mediocrity. That’s why the loss to Arizona State was so frustrating. It wasn’t frustration born of a failure to win but of a failure to be more than mediocre.

Using Mindset To Boost Team Effectiveness

The Buffs are currently in what I like to call “the messy middle.” They’re onboard with the vision of being a skilled and disciplined well-oiled machine of a college football team, but not quite executing on that vision just yet. As they work to improve, here are three generative factors they can embrace to help unify and strengthen their mindset and three disruptive factors they should avoid, lest the team fracture:

Generative Factors

1. 1. One Team, One Goal: When members are aligned with a team’s mission and vision, they create a “team identity” and pursue their goals with passion, focus, and creativity.
   2. Belief in Team Efficacy: The shared belief that a team is capable of achieving its goals provides motivation that increases both individual and collective effort and productivity.
   3. Systemic View: Viewing the team as part of a larger system or organization allows team members to focus on integrating and aligning their goals and processes.

Disruptive Factors

1. 1. Silo Mentality: When team members focus only on themselves and their own work or productivity, they’re likely to miss opportunities for collaboration and teamwork.
   2. Negative Affect: Negativity and pessimism are exhausting and drain motivation, enthusiasm, and energy from the team.
   3. Blaming Culture: Mistakes and setbacks are bound to happen, but when team members focus on “who” or “what” is to blame for them, they limit the team’s ability to learn, improve, and evolve.

A Team of Achievement

Despite the Buffs’ lackluster performance against Arizona State, the team is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a year ago. Halfway through the season, and Colorado has a winning record (4-2) and is only two wins away from bowl eligibility. Coach Prime wasn’t kidding when he said, “I’m coming,” and the change he promised is taking hold.

Ultimately, Sanders’ journey with the Buffaloes is not just about college football; it’s a story of leadership, culture change, and the power of mindset in achieving excellence. Like all great coaches and leaders, he understands the critical role mindset plays in shaping team effectiveness. It can be the difference between building a team of potential and one of achievement.

This month, we’re exploring the importance of effective communication in leadership. In this post, we discuss how leaders can level up their listening skills—by throwing their whole bodies into it.

 

 

Ignoring the potential future benefits of knowing Spanish or French, I took four years of Latin in high school. Then, doubling down in college, I satisfied my foreign language requirement with two years of American Sign Language (ASL). Did I know any deaf or hard-of-hearing people? No. Heck, I didn’t even know anyone else who knew ASL. But something drew me to that language, and I ended up stumbling into a lesson that forever altered my perspective not only on hearing but on listening.

Sign language (American or otherwise) demands that you “listen” with your entire self. And that you “speak” the same way. Your body becomes a canvas for communication and an instrument of understanding. Where verbal communication relies on the words that you’re saying and the tone that you use to say them in order to convey information, context, and sentiment, sign language is a medium constructed through gesture and expression.

Of course, I’m simplifying things. Every verbal conversation includes nonverbal cues, just as sign language isn’t exclusively a series of hand gestures. But, as a hearing person, the lesson that to truly listen for understanding and comprehension, I needed to listen with my whole body had a profound and transformative effect on me.

In the world of sign language, listening goes beyond just “hearing” words. It’s an intricate dance of body language, expressions, posture, and gestures. Sign language requires you to pay attention, establish direct eye contact, and observe the nuanced movements of the hands. None of this “listening with half an ear” business while you check your phone. That just won’t work. Whole-body listening demands that you are present, not only in the conversation but in each moment of the conversation.

To be honest, it begs the question: Shouldn’t all communication be this way?

If our goal is to communicate with each other effectively, whether in a professional or personal capacity, shouldn’t we always be attentive? Shouldn’t every attempt to communicate be immersive?

The Art of Whole-Body Listening

Too often, when we talk about “effective communication,” we focus on how we can more effectively get across our own message. We think of “communication” as the thing we’re doing, the thing we’re saying, the thing we’re conveying. But that’s only one side of the conversation. For any communication to be genuinely effective, it must be received, understood, and accepted, so for our discussion, let’s shift the focus to the act—and art—of listening.

Listening for Understanding

Words have meaning, and that vocabulary is important, whether it’s made up of sounds or hand movements. But it’s not enough to just know the words. Whole-body listening reminds us to tune in to more than what a person is saying. Consider their demeanor and nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions, whether they’re fidgeting, and their general posture, to gain context clues and increase understanding. As we move beyond merely hearing the words, we get closer to the heart of the message.

Listening Actively

Listening is not a passive act; it’s an active and deliberate process. Active listening is how we fully engage with a speaker and demonstrate our commitment to understanding their perspective. Eliminate distractions, lean in, and make eye contact. Provide (and invite) real-time feedback by asking open-ended questions, seeking clarification, and indicating whether you understand or agree. When you show empathy and interest, you ensure a more comprehensive and meaningful exchange of ideas.

Receiving the Message

For any communication to be effective, the listener must be open to receiving it. Whole-body listening teaches us the importance of creating an environment where individuals feel seen, heard, valued, and understood. Be aware of your own biases, preconceptions, and emotional responses. Keep an open mind and avoid getting distracted by your own thoughts or judgments—or by planning what you’re going to say next. When you’re listening, focus on listening.

A Blueprint for Meaningful Conversation

Communication is most effective when both speaker (or signer) and listener play equal and essential roles. And true understanding comes when we engage our entire being in the conversation. By embracing the practice of whole-body listening, we can begin to transform the way we connect with others, whether through spoken words, sign language, or any form of communication.

As leaders, we must not only speak with intention but listen with purpose. Whole-body listening offers a blueprint for effective and meaningful conversations. It challenges us to be fully present in our interactions, to eliminate the noise and truly hear what the other person is trying to communicate. If we let it, it teaches us to listen not with just our ears but our hearts, minds, eyes, shoulders, backs, legs… you get the idea.

When we listen with our whole selves, we can bridge gaps, build relationships, and foster a more inclusive, empathetic, and understanding world.