I know. As a woman in leadership roles, I’ve had to navigate people speaking as if my idea was their own for my whole career, why would I purposely be promoting that concept? I’ve come to realize that true adoption for a new idea and change comes not just from what happens when you are in a room to promote it, but what happens when you aren’t. When people start speaking as if your idea is theirs, or even start thinking that your idea was theirs, they are owning it in a way that means they are now invested in moving it forward regardless of whether or not you are involved.

Early on in my career as a manager, I often felt pressure, albeit internalized, to have all the answers. I have found overtime, however, that I see the best results as a leader when I am able to show my own vulnerabilities and be open about the challenges I am grappling with. Check out my blog post on how I learned these lessons.

As a leader in the public sector, I constantly had to make calculations about when, where, and how far to push for equitable results in any given situation, and I watched colleagues do the same. If you push too hard, you get shut out as the difficult one who nobody wants at the table - you may feel good about upholding your values, but you aren’t able to get much done. If you push too little, you miss the opportunity to move forward the systematic changes that so desperately need to take place, and become part of the problem. I found it impossible to strike the right balance all the time. Pausing regularly to reflect on my actions and how they were or weren’t aligned to my values always helped me gain clarity on my next move.

I often see organizations get hooked on the excitement of a vision for change, but lack the resources, time or planning instincts needed to execute it effectively. I believe that a vision, no matter how compelling, will only lead to true results if there is just as much, if not more time and energy put into implementation planning as there was for the initial visioning. Check out my blog post where I highlight a first hand experience I had with this challenge, and outline the ways in which my practice supports organizations through similar experiences.

I believe we each have a personal responsibility to say what we are actually thinking, even if our opinion is unpopular. It moves the conversation forward and enables us to get to the true root of complex problems. At the same time, those in leadership roles need to create conditions that allow for tough, open conversations to take place. We cannot move from platitudes to depth unless leaders ask for others’ opinions with authenticity and respond with curiosity rather than ego.

“I know I just need to delegate more” said pretty much every manager I’ve ever encountered. While managers are often aware of the need to delegate better, they often miss the mark in thinking through what it actually takes to do that well - thinking of delegation as the need to assign more tasks keeps managers as the drivers of a team’s work. It creates bottlenecks and disempowers capable team members from investing in the big picture. Check out my blogpost on the art of delegation for some alternative ways of approaching delegation and let me know what you think.

For me, becoming a mother of two and the challenges I faced balancing that role with work was a huge factor my decision to make a career transition. I took women’s history month as the opportunity to share my own experience and hear from other moms in my life about theirs. Working moms know what they need to be supported. Ask us, listen to our responses, and do something about it.

Check out my other project, Listen to Your Mothers, to learn more about what we are doing to support this effort and take a look at my blogpost for a compilation of ways to provide a more supportive work environment to parents.

Change is hard. It requires an openness to new ways of thinking and ways of doing business and can create feelings of instability and uncertainty. When we kick off a big change-making effort by restructuring an org chart, we risk exacerbating these feelings and closing down staff interest and buy-in for the change itself. At the same time, once an organization has gone through a significant shift, it is important to reassess existing staffing structures to be sure that organizations are set up to sustain changes for the long term. Check out this blog post more on this topic.

Trying to get to know someone that you work with better? Have a 1 on 1. Wondering how someone stands on an issue? Have a 1 on 1. Worried that you are not on the same page as a colleague? Have a 1 on 1. You get the point…it sounds simple but 1 on 1s are my go to for almost every work situation. They take much more time than group meetings and emails but I’ve honestly never regretted having one. Initiating 1 on 1s shows people you care about them and their opinions as individuals, creates spaces to go deeper than people are likely to go in bigger groups, and most importantly, develops the relationships and trust needed to move forward on work authentically and inclusively.

We put a lot of energy towards hiring. Making sure we’re screening candidates well, asking the right questions, and identifying a person with the right qualifications for the job. While this is all important, to be sure, it is not enough. A team can have the most skilled individuals in the world, but if it’s missing key perspectives, experience, skill sets, or connection, it will fail.

“Oh well…we wouldn’t want to set a precedent”. How many of you have heard that phrase from management when you are asking for an accommodation that would make it easier for you to do your work effectively? I, for one, as a working mother trying to keep up with the impossible balance of work and motherhood, can certainly say I have. And my question back is, why wouldn’t we want to set the precedent? If this is an accommodation that I’m asking for, can’t we likely assume that it would benefit others as well? And isn’t that a good thing? If we truly want to achieve equity like so many organizations nowadays say we do, we are going to need a reframe on this phrase. Rather than seeing precedent-setting as something to avoid, let’s search high and low for places where new precedents should be set, and get moving on setting them!

No matter how fancy, nice-looking or functional a new data system is, adopting one can be a major source of stress. We should anticipate resistance and put just as much energy into developing buy-in for a new product as we do providing tutorials and developing the system itself.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of listening to the loudest voices in a room for no other reason than well…they’re loud. But I find that those who aren’t talking are usually the ones who have the most to say. The key is fostering environments that build trust, structuring meetings to encourage diverse communication styles, and taking the time to follow up.

While it can feel uncomfortable to ignore all the unread emails and list of never-ending “to-do’s”, I think it’s important to set aside time for reflection every so often. Here are some of the questions I try to ask myself:

-What type of work did I like the most/least this past year, why?

-What impact did my work have?

-What do I want to do more of/less of?

-What new skills have I acquired? What new skills do I want to develop?

-In what ways do I want to expand my network?

-What direction do I want my work to take in the coming year and beyond, and how do I get there?

Goodbyes don’t always have to be sad.

As the season changes and I’m thinking about my next slew of projects, I've been reflecting on the art of farewells – how do we know when it’s time to say goodbye, and how can we reframe the notion of goodbyes as a positive, reenergizing, and hopeful?

Check out my blog post on the signs to look for as you consider making an exit, and some crucial questions to ponder.