I am fortunate to be working with leadership teams on becoming more effective and have facilitated several team alignment and trust-building workshops.

I find this work so rewarding and here’s why:

• It’s important that I create a safe space where team members feel comfortable being open and honest, giving candid feedback, and discussing a sensitive topic without being judged, criticized, or minimized. This opens the door for real conversations where people speak their truth allowing them to feel heard, respected and valued.

• I get to help teams create a deeper level of trust and connection. By using the CliftonStrengths assessment, which identifies individuals’ top five innate strengths, people get to know and appreciate themselves and team members better by understanding their natural tendencies in behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. It’s exciting when a team member realizes in themselves or a teammate that a perceived weakness is actually a strength to leverage.

• I love teaching teams leadership skills, especially the soft skills. One of my favorite skills to teach is how to have difficult conversations that are productive and preserve the relationship. After taking one team through my difficult conversation checklist, one of the participants, who has always struggled with this, thanked me for introducing him to this model and was excited to use it both at work and at home.

• I love recognizing “a golden nugget”, a surprising comment made by someone that I sense has hidden importance to the discussion, and then having the flexibility to shift the conversation to dive deeper into that comment. Often, a critical issue, area of opportunity or solution is uncovered which creates a new awareness for the team.

Truly, what is most rewarding for me is when I witness a shift in a team’s energy. A shift from cautious, guarded, and defensive with each other to trusting, transparent and empathic. This shift is what transforms teams and being a witness to this transformation fuels what I do.

Could you or your team benefit from coaching, team, and trust building? Let’s talk.