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What do these words have in common? They’re all used to describe the qualities of a “good team member.” Respondents consider a “good team member” to be: 🔺Effective Communicator 🔺Willing Collaborator 🔺Reliable 🔺Accountable Worker But knowing what teamwork should be and knowing how to be a good team member are two different things. Research finds large disparities in what respondents think is important when working on a team. There is disagreement about whether to keep your head down and focus on your own work, as opposed to questioning others’ approaches and methods, as well as whether it’s important to achieve group consensus on decisions, instead of committing to decisions that you disagree with. This uncertainty speaks to how little most employees know about what good teamwork requires. With The Five Behaviors®, we have found that successful team members trust and can be vulnerable with one another, engage in healthy conflict around issues while ultimately committing to decisions, and hold each other accountable to achieve their best results. If you want to find out how #TheFiveBehaviors can help bridge this gap, send me a message to get a copy of the report or to talk about how 5B can help your team. #Leadership #Teamwork #Culture

With our remote and hybrid workplaces, we must employ even more intentionality to connect. 🔗 📈The time spent on connection will boost productivity in work time. Research shows employees with a strong connection perform better at work, with up to 20% higher productivity. Think how easy it is for your team members to quit or walk away when they have not connected with other team members and their leaders. I know I had a role where connecting with other team members seemed nearly impossible, and I quit in under 3 months. I felt alone. As leaders, we must be intentional with it and create that time to connect that works for your workplace and your team. You can create formal ways to foster connection – such as a check-in at the beginning of a meeting. I’m a fan of Brené Brown’s 2-word check-in. It works in person and virtually. At the start of every meeting, each person shares two words that describe how they are feeling that day. It’s brief, but impactful to each person and the team. It also allows for further connection later, with any follow-up conversation based on what was shared in the check-in. These check-ins foster connection and also show vulnerability, safety and trust-building. This is just one way of connecting. We would love to hear ideas from you: ➡️How do you intentionally connect with your team? #MotivationMonday #Leadership #Connection

As we step into the new year, let’s remember that growth doesn’t have to come from pressure. Resolutions can feel like a lot—especially in the workplace—but they don’t have to be about drastic changes. Instead, think of this time as a chance to reflect, reset, and refocus. 💡 Here’s your reminder: 🌱 Growth happens one step at a time. Celebrate small wins! 🏆 Take a moment to reflect on the achievements you and your team crushed last year—big or small, they deserve recognition. Those wins are the foundation for even greater success this year! 💬 Open dialogue fosters fresh ideas and collaboration. 💆♀️ Stress less about doing it all and focus on doing it well. The new year isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress. Let’s embrace challenges as opportunities and mistakes as lessons. Remember to look back at how far you’ve come while planning where you’re headed. Here’s to new beginnings, big and small. 🥂 Let’s make this year one of connection, innovation, and success—together! Happy New Year! ➡️What progress (or win) are you celebrating today? #FeelGoodFriday #Growth #NewYear

We can only change once we are aware. 🪞Reflection provides the opportunity for each of us to become aware. Reflection also provides the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments too! 🎉 I will be making time this week for my own reflection, which includes my personal and business reflections. It’s great to use the quieter time in this transitional week for this. I get to celebrate what I did and begin the plans for what I want to do next year. As we are wrapping up this year, I offer two ways to reflect: 🔸Reflect back on this year and celebrate 🔸Look forward to next year; set your intentions for what you want to be reflecting on and celebrating at this time next year. Here are some questions to assist with your reflections: ☑️ What knowledge and skills did you learn this year? ☑️ What are you doing differently based on what you have learned? ☑️ How is what you are doing differently impacting your work and life? ☑️ What would be helpful as you continue to grow? ☑️ What do you want more of or less of? ☑️ What new perspectives emerged? Give yourself the gift of time, and allow yourself to reflect. It can also be a great to do as a team….set aside time for everyone to do this individually and then make time to share with each other. ➡️What’s one thing you learned this year? #MotivationMonday #Awareness #Reflection

As the year winds down, we want to take a moment to celebrate everything that makes this season so special. From the warmth of connection to the joy of reflection, the holidays remind us of the importance of gratitude, community, and shared success. To our clients, thank you for trusting us to be part of your journey! Whether we’ve helped you navigate workplace challenges, create healthy and inclusive cultures, or empower your teams, it’s been an honor to support your growth. To your incredible teams, we celebrate you. Your dedication, creativity, and resilience make your workplaces thrive. Let this season serve as a well-deserved pause to recharge and reflect on all you’ve achieved. As we step into the new year, we look forward to continuing to partner with you to make workplaces better together. Let’s bring fresh energy, big goals, and meaningful impact to 2025! Wishing you and yours a season full of love, laughter, and everything that fills your cup. Here’s to brighter days ahead! 🎄✨❄️ Cheers to the holidays and a new year of possibility! ❄️✨🎄

We are continuing to share stories from our team, with this story from Kelly Brandewie, HR Consultant. The simple and common check-in meetings and evaluations at my past employer were made into an impactful and positive experience every time, even when I got negative feedback. 🪴The focus was always on growth. It was positive and strengthened my relationship with my managers because they would: ✅Ask questions and engage with my answers ✅Work with me to find solutions together ✅Respect me and my work without making their feedback sound disingenuous Having a genuine relationship with my managers (and colleagues too) truly made any team building activity a holiday celebration. ➡️What's an example from your workplace that is positive? #FeelGoodFriday #Leadership #Culture

Winter can feel like productivity’s frosty enemy, but a single kind word can be the spark that keeps the workplace warm all season long. ❄️✨ Encouragement, genuine compliments, and small moments of support cost nothing, yet their impact lasts far beyond the moment. When the days are short and motivation feels scarce, remember: your words have the power to light up someone’s mindset, their mood, and maybe even their month. 🌟 Let’s not underestimate the warmth we can give each other. ➡️Share one kind word with us! Feel free to tag someone you want to share the kind word with, or someone who said a kind word to you recently. #WellnessWednesday #Kindness #Workplace

As leaders, it can be frustrating to lose employees. And yet it is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to learn what caused them to leave. It’s an opportunity to make change and reshape the culture and experience so you don’t lose more employees for the same reasons. Otherwise, you might be leaving your workplace culture up to chance, and you are likely leaving your results up to chance too. Culture needs to be defined and shaped so that everyone within the organization and anyone you want to hire know what the organization stands for and what the experience employees have who work there have day in and out. A great workplace culture: 🔸retains employees 🔸produces results 🔸sets expectations 🔸values employees A great workplace culture is a successful workplace. 🌟 If your workplace is struggling to retain or recruit employees, or struggling to produce results, take a look at culture. Invest the time in defining it, or redefining it. Then spend the time cultivating it and ensuring alignment throughout the organization and notice what changes and how it impacts your results. Sometimes these are little changes that make a big impact. It could be working on trust or communication. It could be realigning to values. It could be training your leaders. There are many options and reasons, and you don’t know what is going to be impactful to your people and your business unless you ask and explore. Don’t lose more team members for the same reasons, ask questions and be willing to make changes. #MotivationMonday #culture #success

A great leadership learning lesson for me was when I had to make the decision on whether to terminate an employee with many years of service, who also happened to be a well-liked person among his peers but was struggling personally and it was impacting his work. I had been working with him for the better part of a year to get him help through our Employee Assistance Program (EAP). He made progress a couple of times but kept regressing. I felt empathy for him because I knew he had a family to support, and he was good at this job. I sought council from a mentor of mine. He advised me not to be an enabler. I listened to my mentor and proceeded with the termination. Years later I received a letter in the mail from that former employee. ✉️ He wanted me to know that, though he was mad at me at the time, he wanted to thank me for being the person that helped him take some tough steps to help himself and now had a good job and can support his family again. This experience was valuable because it engrained in me the value of having mentors who will share their experiences to help you be a better manager. It also made me a better mentor for other managers who were going through similar challenging situations. -Ed Donnelly, Sr. HR Consultant ➡️ How has a mentor helped you grow in your leadership? #FeelGoodFriday #Leadership #Growth

Winter often feels like the world is pressing pause—shorter days, slower rhythms, and a blanket of stillness all around. But beneath the surface, winter is working. It's a season of sacred balance, reflection, and preparation for what’s next. In our work lives, we can take a cue from nature. Instead of forcing constant growth, winter invites us to slow down, reflect on our accomplishments, and find gratitude for the journey so far. This isn’t a time to hibernate your ambitions, but rather to rejuvenate your energy, refine your goals, and set a foundation for the spring of new ideas and fresh opportunities that lies ahead. Winter teaches us that productivity doesn't always look like hustle and movement. When we honor this balance, we become more aligned, more intentional, and more ready for the growth to come. So embrace the quiet, lean into the lesson, and remember: Even in the stillness, there is progress. ❄️💙 ➡️What's your favorite winter activity? #WellnessWednesday #SelfCare #Workplace