Leadership & Learning w/Dr. JBT

When everything is changing at once, leaders often focus on managing the logistics of change: the timelines, the rollout plans, the communication strategies. But what your team needs most isn't a better plan. They need to feel heard. In this episode, we explore a simple but powerful approach to leading your team through multiple changes at once, one that starts with a single question in your weekly meeting.

• Why change fatigue hits differently when multiple changes happen simultaneously
• The one question to ask your team every week during times of change
• The neuroscience behind why naming emotions helps people move forward
• How to listen to your team's emotions as data, not just noise
• How to hold empathy and momentum at the same time without slowing things down

1. Managing change is managing people. Understanding why a change is happening and being emotionally okay with it are two very different things. Leaders who focus only on the logistics miss the most important part.
2. Create a regular space for emotions. In your weekly team meetings, ask: "What are you feeling about the changes this week?" Even ten minutes changes the dynamic.
3. Name it to tame it. When people put words to their emotions, it literally reduces the emotional charge they're carrying. You don't have to fix the feelings; you just have to make space for them.
4. Emotions are data. Anxiety may signal communication gaps. Frustration may point to a fixable process problem. Grief means something valued was lost. Resistance might be wisdom. Listen with curiosity.
5. Empathy and momentum belong together. Teams move faster through change when they feel heard, not slower. The language to hold both: "I hear you. And we're moving forward. Here's how I'll support you."

• When did I last ask my team how they are feeling about the changes, not just how the work is going?
• What emotions have I been noticing in my team lately, and what might those emotions be telling me?
• Am I holding empathy and momentum together, or am I choosing one at the expense of the other?

In your next team meeting, ask this one question: "What are you feeling about the changes this week?" Just ask it. Hold the space. Listen with curiosity. See what you learn.

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with a leader in your life who's navigating a season of change. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of the Leadership and Learning Podcast.

🎙️ Leadership & Learning with Dr. JBT Designing Onboarding That Actually Works with Lindsay Powell

In this episode, I sit down with Lindsay Powell, Manager of Learning & Development, to unpack one of the most underestimated leadership levers in any organization: onboarding.

What quickly becomes clear in this conversation is that onboarding is not an event; it's a signal. A signal about culture. About expectations. About leadership. And ultimately, about whether someone sees a future in your organization.

Lindsay brings both strategic clarity and practical insight as we explore what it really takes to design onboarding experiences that move beyond checklists and compliance and instead create connection, clarity, and contribution from day one.

💡 5 Key Takeaways

1. Onboarding Is More Than Orientation—It's Integration The most common mistake leaders make is treating onboarding as a short-term administrative process. Effective onboarding is about helping people understand how to succeed, how to build relationships, and how to navigate the organization beyond the org chart.

2. Culture Isn't Caught by Accident—It's Designed on Purpose Onboarding is one of the most powerful moments to intentionally shape culture. What new employees experience in their first days and weeks communicates far more than any stated values.

3. Managers Make or Break the Experience Even the best-designed onboarding programs fall apart without strong manager engagement. We discuss the critical role managers play and how organizations must equip them to lead onboarding effectively.

4. Small Moments Create Lasting Impact Feeling welcomed, seen, and supported doesn't require large budgets or complex systems. Often, it's the small, intentional behaviors that shape whether someone feels like they belong.

5. If You're Not Measuring It, You're Guessing From time to productivity to retention and engagement, Lindsay emphasizes the importance of aligning onboarding metrics to broader organizational goals and using that data to continuously improve.

🎯 Closing Reflection

Onboarding is one of the earliest and most defining leadership moments in the employee experience. It shapes trust, engagement, and long-term commitment faster than most leaders realize.

If we got onboarding right across organizations, we wouldn't just see faster ramp-up, we'd see stronger cultures, deeper alignment, and more people choosing to stay and grow.

The mindset shift? Stop thinking of onboarding as a process to complete… …and start seeing it as a strategic opportunity to lead.

🎧 Listen in and rethink how you welcome, develop, and retain your people from day one.

Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of HR with Joe Baffa — Part 2

In this second part of my conversation with Joe Baffa, we move beyond frameworks and into the realities of leadership—where culture, judgment, and character shape outcomes far more than policies or processes ever could.

What stands out most in this conversation is Joe's unwavering focus on the human side of leadership. Whether we're talking about avoiding litigation, making tough decisions, developing talent, or navigating complexity, the common thread is clear: leadership effectiveness is built—or broken—in how we show up with people every day.

From tone and trust to role clarity and hiring decisions, Joe challenges leaders to rethink what actually drives performance and organizational health. This is not about theory. It's about the accumulated wisdom of decades in the field—where the stakes are real and the consequences are lasting.

1. Culture is Built on Respect—Not Policy Most workplace issues don't start as legal problems—they start as people feeling unseen, unheard, or undervalued. Respect shows up in how leaders communicate, how they handle disagreement, and whether they create environments where people feel both supported and challenged.

2. Tone and Self-Awareness Are Leadership Multipliers You can be right and still be ineffective. Leaders who lack awareness of their tone often undermine their own message. The ability to self-correct, seek feedback, and communicate with intention is a critical differentiator.

3. The Middle Drives the Organization Sustainable success doesn't come from focusing only on top performers. The "middle 60%" is the operational backbone—and often the most overlooked source of future leaders. Great leaders invest broadly, not selectively.

4. Pride is the Silent Killer of Good Decisions When leaders stop listening, organizations stop improving. Seeking counsel, inviting perspective, and being willing to challenge your own thinking are essential to sound decision-making and healthy leadership.

5. Hire and Lead for Character, Not Just Competence Skills can be developed—character is harder to build. The best leaders look beyond resumes to assess teachability, integrity, and how individuals show up in moments that matter.

This episode is a reminder that leadership is rarely about having the right answer—it's about creating the kind of environment where the right outcomes can emerge.

And that starts with something simple, but not easy: how we treat people.

Baffa, Joe. XR: A Real and Sometimes Humorous, and Somewhat Irreverent Look at Human Resources.

Praslova, Ludmila N. (2024). The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of HR with Joe Baffa - Part 1

In this episode of Leadership & Learning with Dr. JBT, I sit down with Joe Baffa to discuss his new book, XR: A Real and Sometimes Humorous, and Somewhat Irreverent Look at Human Resources.

Joe brings decades of experience across industries, and he doesn't hold back. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the real world of HR: messy, complex, and deeply human. With a mix of candor and humor, Joe challenges traditional thinking and invites leaders to rethink how they engage people, navigate tension, and operate as true business partners.

• Why HR Gets a Bad Reputation Joe explains how compliance-driven mindsets, lack of operational exposure, and over-identifying as employee advocates can position HR as the "Office of Business Prevention", and what it takes to shift that perception.
• From Rules to Relationships: The "XR" Mindset A compelling case for moving from "letter of the law" to "spirit of the law," emphasizing judgment, partnership, and business alignment over rigid rule enforcement.
• The Power of Business Immersion Practical advice for leaders: get into operations, learn the language of the business, and align your goals with organizational priorities to build credibility and influence.
• Performance Management Reimagined Joe challenges traditional models and encourages leaders to focus on coaching, development, and future aspirations, not just evaluation. Creating space for employees to talk about their dreams (inside and outside the organization) can unlock engagement and performance.
• Leadership and Self-Awareness From redefining the "Peter Principle" as finding your "sweet spot" to understanding personal limitations, Joe emphasizes the importance of aligning roles with strengths to maintain effectiveness and credibility.
• Hiring, Onboarding, and Letting People Go A candid look at the realities of talent management:
  • Hiring is often imperfect, even on the best day
  • Onboarding is undervalued but critical to long-term success
• The Leadership Responsibility in Failure One of the most powerful reminders in this conversation: many employee failures are actually leadership failures. Leaders must invest in developing others or risk perpetuating cycles of turnover and disengagement.

• Leadership requires judgment, not just policy adherence
• HR, and leadership more broadly, must operate as a strategic partner to the business
• Coaching and development should outweigh evaluation in performance management
• The best leaders understand their sweet spot and build teams accordingly
• Culture is shaped not just by who you hire but by how you onboard, develop, and exit people

Baffa, Joe. XR: A Real and Sometimes Humorous, and Somewhat Irreverent Look at Human Resources.

We talk about ethical leadership often, but it's not defined in the obvious moments. It's revealed in the gray.

In this episode, Dr. JBT uses a framework from Gary Yukl (Leadership in Organizations) to break down eight practical criteria that distinguish ethical leadership from unethical leadership through everyday decisions, not just intentions.

The 8 Criteria of Ethical Leadership:

• Power & Influence — Serving others vs. serving self
• Stakeholders — Balancing voices vs. playing favorites
• Vision — Built with people vs. imposed on people
• Integrity — Alignment vs. expedience
• Risk — Courage vs. avoidance
• Communication — Clarity vs. distortion
• Dissent — Inviting challenge vs. silencing voices
• Development — Building others vs. creating dependency

Key Takeaway: Ethical leadership is a daily practice. And the greatest risk isn't obvious failure, it's the slow drift into the gray.

Your Challenge: Pick one criterion. Ask yourself: Where am I out of alignment? Then take one action this week to close the gap.

Reference: Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations (8th ed.). Pearson Education.

In Part 2 of this conversation with Dr. Turgeon, we dive deeper into one of the most critical elements of effective leadership during difficult seasons: communication.

When organizations face crisis, uncertainty, or rapid change, leadership is tested in profound ways. Yet many crises are not worsened by the event itself, they are worsened by how leaders communicate, respond, and create (or fail to create) an environment where people feel safe to speak up.

In this episode, we explore why some leaders struggle during crisis situations and how communication can either stabilize a team or amplify fear and confusion. Dr. Turgeon shares insights on the common mistakes leaders make, including shutting down dissent, reacting defensively to concerns, or unintentionally discouraging transparency.

A central theme of the conversation is the importance of psychological safety. Strong leaders cultivate cultures where team members feel safe raising risks, surfacing problems early, and sharing difficult information. When leaders respond with curiosity instead of punishment, they create an environment where potential crises can often be identified and addressed before they escalate.

We also discuss the role of emotional self-awareness in leadership. During moments of uncertainty, teams instinctively look to leaders for cues on how to interpret what is happening. Emotional contagion is real; a leader's emotions often become the organization's emotions. When leaders react with panic, frustration, or defensiveness, those emotions quickly spread. But when leaders demonstrate steadiness, thoughtful reflection, and emotional discipline, they create stability for the entire team.

Dr. Turgeon emphasizes that effective crisis leadership requires leaders to manage their own reactions before responding publicly. Self-awareness allows leaders to pause, regulate their emotions, and communicate in ways that build confidence rather than amplify anxiety.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why communication often determines whether a crisis escalates or stabilizes

• The most common reasons leaders fail when managing difficult situations

• How defensive leadership behaviors can silence important information

• The role of psychological safety in effective leadership

• Why leaders must become the person people feel safe bringing concerns to

• The impact of emotional contagion and why leaders must manage their own reactions

• How trust and transparency strengthen organizations during uncertainty

Crisis reveals leadership. The leaders who navigate it well are not necessarily the ones with all the answers; they are the ones who create the conditions where the truth can be spoken, problems can surface early, and teams can move forward together.

Reflection Question: As a leader, do the people around you feel safe bringing you difficult information or do they hesitate because they fear the response they might receive?

Crisis Leadership — Leading Before, During, and After the Storm (with Dr. Paul Turgeon)

Crisis doesn't create leadership; it reveals it.

In this episode, Dr. JBT interviews Dr. Paul Turgeon about what it truly means to lead when stakes are high and uncertainty is real. Early in the conversation, Paul defines crisis, distinguishing it from normal operational stress. A crisis is a disruptive event that threatens the safety, stability, reputation, or viability of an organization and requires immediate, coordinated response.

This episode centers on what leaders must build before disruption ever occurs.

Dr. Paul Turgeon is a crisis leadership and business continuity expert with extensive experience helping organizations anticipate, prepare for, and respond to high-impact disruptions. His work focuses on crisis prevention, risk mitigation, leadership visibility, and building organizational resilience so teams can respond with clarity and confidence when pressure rises.

1. Expect Crisis Crisis is not an "if," but a "when." Leaders must anticipate risk, assess vulnerabilities, and prepare to avert or mitigate impact.

2. Be Visible Silence fuels anxiety. During crises, leaders must increase visibility, communicate consistently, and model calm resolve.

3. Build Trust Early Credibility cannot be improvised mid-crisis. Trust built over time becomes the foundation teams rely on when pressure rises.

4. Crisis Requires Different Skills Leading in volatility demands rapid decisions, clear prioritization, emotional regulation, and steady communication — competencies distinct from routine operations.

5. Develop Crisis Competency Prepared organizations identify warning signals, clarify roles in advance, and build a response culture before disruption hits.

Paul recommends Blindsided by Bruce T. Blythe.

In Blindsided, Blythe explores how leaders often miss early warning signs and provides practical frameworks for crisis prevention, response planning, and communication when the stakes are highest.

Crises are inevitable. The real question is whether you're prepared when they arrive.

In this episode of Leadership & Learning with Dr. JBT, Dr. Jamie Brownlee-Turgeon explores what it means to lead through disruption — not with heroics, but with discipline.

Drawing on the research of Dr. James and Dr. Wooten, authors of Leading Under Pressure: From Surviving to Thriving Before, During, and After a Crisis, this episode walks through the five stages of crisis leadership:

• Signal Detection – noticing early warning signs

• Preparation and Prevention – building resilience before impact

• Damage Containment – leading with clarity during chaos

• Business Recovery – bouncing forward, not just back

• Reflection and Learning – turning disruption into growth

Crisis leadership isn't developed in the middle of chaos. It's built in the quiet through awareness, preparation, communication, and intentional learning.

This episode sets the foundation for a deeper conversation next week with a leader who lives this work every day.

📚 Referenced: James, E. H., & Wooten, L. P. (2010). Leading Under Pressure.

Reflection Question: If disruption hit tomorrow, what leadership habits have you already built, and what would you wish you had?

In this episode of Leadership & Learning with Dr. JBT, Dr. Jamie Brownlee-Turgeon reflects on an early leadership experience that reshaped how she understands change.

What began as a seemingly simple workflow adjustment—changing how a team managed a shared email inbox—quickly unraveled into confusion, frustration, and resistance. The logic of the change was sound, but the outcome was not.

Why?

Because change doesn't fail at implementation. It fails when leaders underestimate readiness.

Drawing on the Anatomy of Change model, this episode explores the human side of change leadership and why even small shifts can provoke big emotional responses. Listeners are guided through five foundational conditions that must be present for change to succeed—not as a checklist, but as lived experiences that shape how people respond to uncertainty.

• Why all change, big or small, creates emotional disruption

• How confusion, anxiety, frustration, and false starts signal missing readiness

• The five conditions people need to move through change successfully:

  • A clear sense of direction

  • Confidence in their ability to succeed

  • Understanding the personal benefits of the change

  • Adequate support and resources

  • A clear, shared path forward

• Why readiness is relational, not procedural

• How leaders can prepare people for change rather than pushing change onto them

Successful change is not something leaders announce. It's something they prepare people for—intentionally, patiently, and humanely.

This episode is a follow-up to conversations on leading change and offers a critical reminder: the pace of change is set not by strategy, but by people.

Before launching your next change initiative, ask yourself: Am I assuming readiness because I feel ready or have I truly prepared my people for what's coming?

Today's conversation is part 2 with Sharon Ayala, a leader who doesn't shy away from the real work of leading change. Sharon has stepped into complex environments where expectations are high, priorities are competing, and the pace is relentless. And she's honest about what that actually feels like.

In this conversation, Sharon shares openly about the challenges leaders face when everything feels urgent, and everyone needs something. She talks about how she thinks through priorities, how she makes tough decisions without losing sight of the people doing the work, and how she stays grounded when change is constant.

What stood out most to me is this: no matter how intense the pressure, Sharon refuses to sacrifice psychological safety. She believes trust isn't a "nice to have" during change; it's the foundation that makes change possible.

If you're leading in a season change, this conversation offers grounded insight into how to move forward without losing your people.