“As team members, we want to be able to show up and be authentic within reason. But when you also have the power differential, there is much more need and responsibility for you to think about how you’re impacting people around you.” 

In this episode, Ethan and Mike continue their conversation on psychological safety. Part 1 explores what it is, why it matters, and some barriers to creating it. In part 2, the discussion turns to another significant barrier leaders face to creating high levels of psychological safety on their teams: the power differential. This episode explores the outcomes of exaggerating or eliminating one’s power and how mitigating it with tact can create the conditions for a team characterized by high levels of collaboration and performance.

Show notes:

-Episode on the power differential

-Episode on how to give feedback

-Episode on how to receive feedback

-Episode on how to listen really well

“We all bring different past experiences around psychological safety into our current workplaces. An important practice for every individual on a work team is working to gain some awareness about the transference you might be bringing into that situation.”

This episode (and the following episode) is all about psychological safety. Psychological safety is not a “safe space,” nor does it mean everyone gets a round of applause for everything they do. It’s a very real and critical ingredient of high-performing teams, and this is backed by research. It’s the ability for people to speak up and make mistakes without fear of being rejected or “punished,” leading to innovation, creativity, engagement, and more. Mike and Ethan Nash take a tour of psychological safety: what it is, its relationship to trust, why it matters, where it comes, barriers to creating it, and how to start building it among your team. Don’t skip this one.

Show notes:

-Episode on how to give feedback

-Episode on how to receive feedback

-Episode on how to listen really well

“There are these six things we’ve been training managers for years to get on their radar…because they’re  game-changers.”

Welcome back to the show! After a slight hiatus, Mike and Ethan are back in action with Season 3, and oh, do we have much in store for you. In this kick-off episode, the duo goes back to the foundation of management to discuss “the manager’s radar.” As you’re preparing for a day of work, you’re naturally thinking about the tasks that need to be accomplished for the day. That’s fine. But if you can get these six additional things on your radar every day, it will be a game-changer for your ability to lead with mind and heart and build teams characterized by high morale and engagement.

Show notes:

-Check out our Managing with Mind & Heart leadership development program

-Our episode on self-compassion and the growth mindset

-Boise State research paper on the “growth mindset” for HR development

-Google study on psychological safety

“We are now having to manage much more towards results instead of managing the process.”

If you haven’t already, we recommend going back to listen to the first part of this series, episode 51.

Hana joins Mike back on the podcast for a round two conversation all about managing hybrid and remote work teams. Now that so many of us find ourselves supporting some or all of our employees in a variety of remote and in-office situations, we need to learn to flex a new set of management muscles.

For more information on Nash Consulting and our remote management workshops, visit our website at www.nashconsulting.com

Ethan and Mike conclude their series on building a healthy leadership team by discussing the interconnectedness between trust, conflict, commitment, and accountability. It’s the combination of these important team skills and behaviors that work together to produce valuable results. Using ideas from the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team model, the guys discuss practical and actionable ways to gain team commitment towards goals and behaviors, and how to hold one another accountable in ways that build psychological safety and produce the desired results. For more information on Nash Consulting and our remote management workshops, visit their website at www.nashconsulting.com

Tom Keziah, a consultant and coach with Nash Consulting, is a terrific listener. Listening well really matters – whether it’s in professional or personal relationships. The act of listening with care, respect, and attention is how you build relationships and cultures based on psychological safety. Tom and Mike take us on a tour of best-practice listening skills and behaviors and shows them in action through an experimental demonstration. Whether you are a manager, team member, parent, partner, or friend, there is something to learn here for everyone. Listen in. For more information on Nash Consulting and our remote management workshops, visit their website at www.nashconsulting.com

“It’s not the topic of conflict that’s really the issue or the problem, it’s how we do conflict. We can grow towards learning how to do conflict in a way that really meets the needs of everyone in the group and helps us achieve our goals” Ethan and Mike continue their series on building a healthy leadership team by diving further into the topic of conflict. Conflict among a leadership team isn’t bad…in fact, the ability to authentically engage in conflict is a key behavior of a cohesive and effective leadership team. The cohosts get into a range of topics relating to mastering the art of conflict including what healthy conflict looks like, how to encourage and reward it, and how it can inform and enhance decision-making.

Show Notes:

Episode 28 – The Art of Decision Making at Work

Episode 35 – How to Do Consensus Decision-Making

The Table Group

“The main bias that can get in our way while managing a hybrid workforce is this thing called distance bias. If I have half of my people in the office and they are available, I’m just going to go talk to them more. And unintentionally I will create a fairness issue.” In this episode, Mike is joined again by consultant and coach extraordinaire Hana Butler. Hana, one of our colleagues at Nash Consulting, has taken a deep dive into all things remote and hybrid management. Mike and Hana navigate through some of the big and scary challenges leaders face while learning to adapt to the new realities of work.

“We don’t know what we don’t know.”

In this mini-episode, Ethan discusses the Johari Window model and what it can show us about personal growth as leaders, managers, and humans in the world.

For more information on Nash Consulting, visit their website at www.nashconsulting.com

Show Notes:

• Ep. 36 – Developing a Growth Mindset Through Self-Compassion
• Kristin Neff’s self-compassion website
• Ep. 38-Ep. 44 – Series on the Top 15 Management Skills
• Ep. 13 – How to Have One-On-One Meetings That Don’t Suck
• First, Break All the Rules
• Awareness 

“The resolution of conflict is predicated more on how people approach conflict than it is on the nature of the conflict itself.”

If a group of people makes key organizational or departmental decisions together, that group of people needs to be healthy before they can expect the rest of the department or organization to be healthy and achieve sustained positive results. In the first and second parts of this series, Mike and Ethan broke down Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team model for creating a healthy and cohesive leadership team and introduced the concept of building trust. In this episode, consultant and coach Andrew Cline joins Mike to discuss the art of mastering conflict.

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For more information on Nash Consulting, visit their website at www.nashconsulting.com