Coaching for Leaders Dave Stachowiak

David Burkus: Best Team Ever!

David Burkus is the bestselling author of four books about business and leadership which have won multiple awards and been translated into dozens of languages. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, the Financial Times, and many other media outlets.



Since 2017, David has been ranked multiple times as one of the world’s top business thought leaders. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over two million times. He has worked with leaders from organizations across all industries, including PepsiCo, Fidelity, Clorox, Adobe, and NASA. He's the author of Best Team Ever!: The Surprising Science of High-Performing Teams*.



There are many things that help teams work well together, but perhaps you haven’t thought of this one: clarity. Knowing what is being done and who’s doing it often helps a team achieve more. In this conversation, David and I discuss the practical steps to surface more clarity and drive better performance.

Key Points



Casting a leadership vision is important, but insufficient. It’s not helpful to expect a team to figure out roles and responsibilities on their own.

Teams work best when they understand how each individual works best. Clarity increased performance.

Hold huddles using these three questions: (1) What did I just complete? (2) What am I focused on next? and (3) What is blocking my progress?

Consider communicating in bursts to allow for people to retreat into less interrupted time for deeper work.

Establish priorities and consistently make those priorities clear so they are obvious and apparent to the team.



Resources Mentioned



Best Team Ever!: The Surprising Science of High-Performing Teams* by David Burkus



Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes



An Astronaut’s Guide to Life On Earth, with Chris Hadfield (episode 149)

How to Make Deep Work Happen, with Cal Newport (episode 233)

How Great Teams Find Purpose, with David Burkus (episode 481)



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Heather Younger: The Art of Active Listening

Heather Younger is an experienced international keynote speaker, best-selling author, CEO, and Founder of Employee Fanatix. Known as The Employee Whisperer, Heather harnesses humor, warmth, and an instant relatability to engage and uplift audiences and inspire them into action.



She is a Certified Diversity Professional, certified in Emotional and Social Intelligence and DiSC, and is also the author of three books. Her previous best-selling book, The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading with Heart Uplifts Teams and Organizations, was praised for offering powerful insights for developing authentic, thoughtful, and purposeful leaders and change-makers. She's the author of The Art of Active Listening: How People at Work Feel Heard, Valued, and Understood*.



When you know how to listen, people will share more. We may or may not always be able to resolve every concern, but we can be sure others are heard. In this conversation, Heather and I discuss how we can shift from listening for what we want to hear towards listening for what we need to learn.

Key Points



Some issues can only be resolved through better listening. That alone makes this a critical skill for leaders.

When you know how to listen, people will bring things to you. Listen for not what you want to hear but what you want to learn.

Listening is not just about what’s been said, but also about what is seen. Get beyond simply, “What I hear you saying is…”

Some leaders have a fear about the direction that a response might take a conversation. Remember that often people first and foremost want to be heard, regardless of what happens next.

Nobody is ready to listen at every moment. Taking time to center yourself for a conversation in a few minutes or later in the day can be helpful for both parties.



Resources Mentioned



The Art of Active Listening: How People at Work Feel Heard, Valued, and Understood* by Heather Younger

Art of Active Listening Certification



Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes



The Way to Have Conversations That Matter, with Celeste Headlee (episode 344)

Four Habits That Derail Listening, with Oscar Trimboli (episode 500)

How to Help Others Be Seen and Heard, with Scott Shigeoka (episode 654)



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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Sheila Heen: Difficult Conversations

Sheila Heen is the Thaddeus R. Beal Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, a Deputy Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, and a founder of Triad Consulting Group. She often works with executive teams to engage conflict productively, repair working relationships, and implement change in complex organizations.



She has published articles in The New York Times and the Harvard Business Review and appeared on Oprah, CNBC’s Power Lunch, and NPR. She is coauthor along with Douglas Stone of The New York Times bestseller Thanks for the Feedback and also now, in its third edition, co-author with Douglas Stone and Bruce Patton of the iconic bestseller, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most*.



When our intentions are good, it’s hard to appreciate how we could have had such negative impact on someone else. It’s equally challenging to navigate a tough conversation when someone else’s words or actions have wronged us, even if that’s not what they intended. In this conversation, Sheila and I discuss how to shift just a bit to help our difficult conversations go better.

Key Points



Intent does not equal impact.

It’s a mistake to assume that we know the other party's intentions.

It’s a mistake to assume that good intentions erase bad impact.

Prevent the first mistake by attempting to separate intent from impact. Use these three questions:





Actions: What did the other person actually say or do?

Impact: What was the impact of this on me?

Assumption: Based on this impact, what assumption am I making about what the other person intended?





To present the second mistake, listen first for feelings before sharing intent. It’s helpful also to reflect on your own intent, which may not always be as pure as initially recognized.



Resources Mentioned



Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most* by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen



Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes



How to Get Way Better at Accepting Feedback, with Sheila Heen (episode 143)

How to Begin Difficult Conversations About Race, with Kwame Christian (episode 594)

How to Deal With Passive-Aggressive People, Amy Gallo (episode 595)



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Scott Shigeoka: Seek

Scott Shigeoka is an internationally recognized curiosity expert, speaker, and author. He is known for translating research into strategies that promote positive well-being and connected relationships around the globe, including at the UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and through his popular courses at the University of Texas at Austin.



Scott implements his curiosity practices with leaders in the public sector, Fortune 500 companies, Hollywood, media organizations, education institutions, and small businesses. He is the author of Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World*.



Often we think about curiosity as a way to get information. And yes, it does do that, but there’s a much bigger opportunity that many leaders miss — taking the next step with curiosity to actually help connect better with others. In this episode, Scott and I highlight four phrases that will help you do that better.

Key Points



It’s a mistake to limit the purpose of curiosity to only information gathering. Deep curiosity can be one of the best ways to create connection.

Saying, “I don’t know,” may elicit fear in a lot of us, but leaders who can do this are often perceived and more competent in their work.

The invitation to, “Tell me more,” is a way to respond to a bid from someone for attention that opens to door to feeling seen and heard.

Even if you don’t literally say the words, “I understand that you're more than your job,” making that clear in your conversations helps limit work-life conflict and uncovers better ways to support others.

We tend to have a bias in the workplace for the people who traditionally have the “answers.” Asking, “Who else?” opens the door to surfacing the best ideas, regardless of who they originate with.



Resources Mentioned



Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World* by Scott Shigeoka

4 Phrases That Build a Culture of Curiosity by Scott Shigeoka



Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes



How to Be Present, with Dave Crenshaw (episode 511)

How to Inspire More Curiosity, with Shannon Minifie (episode 520)

How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590)



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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Adam Bryant: The Leap to Leader

Adam Bryant is Senior Managing Director and Partner at the ExCo Group, where he works with hundreds of senior leaders and high-potential executives. As the creator and former author of the iconic “Corner Office” column in The New York Times, Adam has mastered the art of distilling real-world lessons from his hundreds of interviews and turning them into practical tools, presentations, and exercises to help companies deepen their leadership benches and strengthen their teams.



Adam works with executive leadership teams to help drive their transformation strategies, based on a best-practices framework he developed for his widely praised book, The CEO Test. He's also the author of The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership*.



Many of us have our career trajectories planned out in our minds. While we know it’s not going to happen exactly the way we’ve planned, it’s still jarring when we find ourselves on a different path — or presented with a different opportunity — than we anticipated. In this episode, Adam and I discuss the mindsets and actions that will help you take the next step in your career.

Key Points



There can be a large gap between how assertive you are and how people perceive you.

Think about your career like a pyramid — building a strong foundation across many areas of practice. Bloom where you are planted.

Don’t just solve the problem your manager tells you to solve. Find (and start solving) the bigger problem that isn’t even on the radar screen of senior leadership.

Use these words: “I need your help.” When seeking advice in the context of someone that might mentor you, make your ask specific and then loop back to share what you did with their advice.

When someone asks how you are, instead of just saying “fine,” tell a story about what you’re working on.

Peer relationships are a common blind spot. Early promotions may come from your manager, but higher level promotions comes moreso from the relationships with your peers.



Resources Mentioned



The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership* by Adam Bryant



Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes



How to Nail a Job Transition, with Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (episode 555)

How to Start a Big Leadership Role, with Carol Kauffman (episode 617)

How to Start Better With Peers, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 635)



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Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Listener Questions



Tony asked our opinion on his plan to have the team provide feedback to each other directly.

Lean wondered about alternatives to the nine box talent mapping framework that some organizations use.

Qasim noted that leadership can sometimes feel thankless and asked if we had any rituals to help minimize this.



Resources Mentioned



FeedForward: Coaching for Behavioral Change by Marshall Goldsmith

What Is the 9-Box Model? by Brian Anderson

Warning: This Is Not Your Grandfather’s Talent Planning featuring Kim Scott



Related Episodes



How to Get Way Better at Accepting Feedback, with Sheila Heen (episode 143)

How to Process Your 360 Feedback, with Tom Henschel (episode 341)

Your Leadership Motive, with Patrick Lencioni (episode 505)



Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.