I was delighted to lead a workshop on “Diversity and Inclusion on Teams” for a class of engineering students at the University of Toronto last week. As part of the university’s Leaders of Tomorrow program, students can obtain a certificate in Team Skills.

Engineering. Leadership. Team Skills. Diversity and Inclusion. How remarkable! All these critical competencies offered in one program. More »

Chaos. Not knowing. Confusion. Uncertainty. These are not words that we typically include in describing the environment we want to create to solve problems. More likely these are often the descriptors we are actively seeking to eliminate. And yet, it’s at the edge of chaos and order that innovation lives. It is also the exact place where the practice of leadership lives. This Chaordic Path between chaos and order is where things are not fixed but rather flexible enough for new connections and solutions to occur. New levels of order become possible out of chaos if we’re able to stay on the path long enough to see what emerges. How do we do this? More »

Recently I was in a meeting with a few colleagues talking about co-developing a customized leadership program for a client. When it came time to decide how we’d actually create the program, one person said “well we all know the best way to develop a program is to lock yourself in a dark room and write it by yourself.” I was surprised (shocked actually) by this comment because this person is someone who works as a team and leadership coach and “knows” all about generating high-quality team experiences. As coaches and leaders, isn’t it important to practice what we teach?

My colleague is human however and unfortunately her gut level response is indicative of how many people feel when they think about working on teams. “Oh no! Not another team!” We envision complex to do lists, More »