In this episode, Tim and Junior introduce five simple but powerful questions to align teams and get everyone on the same page. They explain why alignment is critical yet often neglected, review the high cost of misalignment, and provide a practical framework to drive shared understanding and commitment among team members. 5 Key Points Alignment ensures strategies, goals, processes, and people are working together effectively (0:04:28). It is a matter of degree, not binary.Misalignment...

In this episode of the podcast, Tim and Junior dive into the critical leadership skills of accountability and critical thinking. They discuss why these competencies are important for leaders and team members to develop, define what accountability and critical thinking mean, explain the vital interrelationship between accountability and critical thinking, and share thoughts on how we can effectively build these skills in ourselves while also transferring them to others. Tim and Junior...

In this episode, Tim and Junior conclude their series on emotional intelligence (EQ) by discussing practical ways to improve it. They explain that EQ is a learnable skill that requires deliberate practice focused on improving behaviors. The key is consistently gathering feedback, monitoring your progress, and making incremental improvements over time. 5 Key Takeaways with Timestamps EQ is a learnable skill, not a fixed trait (0:02:46) - Unlike IQ which is relatively stable, EQ can be...

In this episode, Tim and Junior delve into what they term the 'core logic'—a vital exploration of how EQ is not just an individual trait but the cornerstone of collective team intelligence. As they unpack the causal chain, they reveal how EQ is the linchpin in cultivating a safe space for vulnerability, ultimately steering both personal growth and organizational success.  Key Points The Importance of Assessing Emotional Intelligence [00:03:12]Junior underscores the importance of measuring...

In today's episode, Tim and Junior will continue our series on emotional intelligence. If you joined us last week for our kickoff of this series, you'll know that we answered the question, what is emotional intelligence? We shared our unique definition of emotional intelligence, which is the ability to interact effectively with other people. Today, we'll continue the discussion by answering the question, why is emotional intelligence central to competitive advantage? Be sure to check the show...

This week we're kicking off a new series on emotional intelligence. Our approach to EQ is different. There’s the mainstream idea of EQ, and then there’s ours and this episode will give you an inside look into how you can make EQ practical and actionable for the individuals and teams you work with.  Emotional Navigation [0:06:00]: Tim delves into the core concepts of emotional intelligence, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and self-management in personal development and...

Here at LeaderFactor, we're all about helping our clients take the theories behind psychological safety and culture and turn them into actual practice inside their organizations. Our goal is to make our content and frameworks as actual as possible, and that's what this episode is all about. We've taken some recent favorite practical moments from Tim and Junior and compiled them together. We'll have three segments from a few different episodes, each ranging from 10-15 minutes. 

In this week's episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior dive into what it means to create cultural accountability in an organization. Our definition of culture is the way we interact. At an individual level, cultural accountability is being accountable for the way you behave and interact with others. High performing organizations have high cultural accountability. As always, we move from theory into practice, and Tim and Junior share tons of practical and actionable examples to help...

How are you measuring your organization's culture? In this episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior are discussing just that. This is a fantastic episode for individuals who really care about being cultural architects and being practitioners in their roles, not just theorists. Tim and Junior will dive into the fundamentals of culture, the different ways we measure culture today, and what metrics give you the most actionable and practical insights on how to improve your culture.  What is...

In this episode, Tim and Junior discuss how high-performing teams are formed and maintained. The quality of an organization is a reflection of the quality of its teams, and high-performing teams have patterns. Although there are many patterns, Tim and Junior will focus on a core four in this episode, including how high-performing teams (1) connect, how they (2) improve their skills, how they (3) view transparency and autonomy and how they (4) continuously seek innovation. The benefits of...

Today's episode is the final part of our four-part series on the change management principle, behave until you believe. This is our final episode in the series, and it's on challenger safety in practice. Tim and Junior will discuss why innovation requires deviation, why an environment of high challenger safety is not the default, and they'll give you practical behaviors for you to put challenger safety into practice. If you like this episode, go ahead and listen to the rest of the series. As...

During this episode of Culture by Design, we're continuing our four­-part series on the change management  principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and, this week, Tim and Junior tackle Stage Three: Contributor Safety. During the episode, they'll discuss our innate need to make a difference, the relationship between autonomy and accountability, and relevant examples and behaviors that will...

Today's lesson:Beware the Tyranny of Your Expertise Key Points:Expertise is a double edged sword. On one side, it’s knowledge, it's useful, and it’s leverage. On the other side, you can become insulated and you can lose touch with context. "The danger of the expert is that he often becomes a prisoner of his own expertise." -Peter Drucker. There is no field of knowledge that is static or complete. Nothing is in a state of true equilibrium, so if you don’t move with the unfolding of knowledge...

Today's episode is part two of our four-part series on the Change Management Principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and focus on the key principles and behaviors that will help you foster an environment of high psychological safety. This week, Tim and Junior talk about what learner safety is, the two domains of learning, why learning is error-driven, and their top 3 picks from the 4 Stages...

Today's lesson:The 21st century requires Mission-type or mission-command orders Key Points:Mission-type orders include a clear statement of the superior commander's intent and state each unit's tasks in terms of operational effects to be achieved rather than specific commands. A mission-type order only works when your junior officers have the capability to do the job, including the critical and strategic thinking capability. If they don’t, the mission-type order is more dangerous than a...

In today's episode, we're kicking off a new four-part series on the Change Management Principle, Behave Until You Believe. These episodes are focused on the practical application of each of the four stages of psychological safety and focus on the key principles and behaviors that will help you foster an environment of high psychological safety. To kick off this series, Tim and Junior will talk about what it means to behave until you believe as a principle, then move into Stage 1, and...

Today's lesson:Excavate Your Talents Key Points:The National Endowment for the Arts tells us that the average person possesses 500-700 different skills and abilities. Yet, Gallup tells us that only 10% of people are able to identify their natural talents. Everyone has special gifts, talents, and aptitudes– areas where their potential ability is two or three standard deviations from the mean. The problem is, many of us can’t see them because they are not obvious. No one comes with a list of...

In this episode of Culture by Design, we're talking about building a culture where employees feel free to speak up. This episode comes to you from an article Tim published recently on HBR with the same title. You can't just speak a speak-up culture into existence. Doing so in the absence of psychological safety is actually an abdication of leadership and an admission of failure. Tim and Junior talk about the four separations presented in Tim's article that create the conditions to give all...

Today's lesson:Use Minimum Necessary Intervention to Liberate Talent Key Points:One of the hardest things for leaders to learn is when to be more or less directive, when to tighten down and when to loosen up. Too little intervention and you’re an absentee landlord. Too much, and you’re micromanaging. As humans we yearn for autonomy in our contribution. We want to create, we want to affect reality in a way that is uniquely ours and in order to do this, we need room. Today's key action:Next...

In this week's episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior discuss The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety in a way you might not expect. Using social exchange theory, they'll do a deeper dive to add some color to The 4 Stages model and give you additional tools and frames to use when you look at psychological safety. What is social exchange theory? (01:47) According to social exchange theory, people are motivated to engage in social exchanges that they perceive as beneficial. Tim and Junior...

Today's lesson:Adversity is an Opportunity for Beauty Key Points:There’s tremendous incentive to make things as easy as possible but adversity is a constant. "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not...

Psychological safety has been found to be the number one variable in team performance, and in recent episodes we've discussed the most important variable for psychological safety was the leader of the team. As a manager, as a leader of people, you either lead the way or you get in the way. Much of what dictates whether you're leading the way or getting in the way is the way in which you integrate or don't integrate psychological safety into your work. In this episode of Culture by Design,...

Today's lesson:Proximity Prevents Hostility Key Points:"There’s a lot of hatred, prejudice, discrimination, and contention between and among people who don’t really even know each other. Humans tend to fear difference, especially at a distance." -James Baldwin 1963 “Many of our society's greatest problems are created by people who don’t feel seen and heard.” -David Brooks “Prejudice and ethnic strife feed off abstraction” --Alain de Botton  Today's key action:Here it is: Spend time in the...

Today Tim and Junior will be discussing coaching and accountability. These are two of the most important tactical levers a leader has and they always go together. If we do these things well, we’ll be able to effectively transfer two things to our people: 1) Critical thinking and 2) Ownership. In this conversation, Tim and Junior will reference the coaching and accountability matrix created by Dr. Clark which we have included below. (01:52) Coaching and accountability are connected. "You...

Today's lesson:Urgency is a Catalyst, Seldom A Sustainer Key Points:Urgency is good, but only in doses. If we rely consistently on urgency, what do we get? Stress, poor decision-making, and decreased creativity. Urgency has a short shelf-life, it relies heavily on emotion and that emotion dissipates, so in the long run you should rely on vision and discipline to keep you going over a long period of time. Today's key action:Here it is: Keep your sustainability/urgency ratio higher than 3:1....