Workday Playdate

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Laurie Jadick to explore what it really takes to lead people through change in today's rapidly evolving workplace. With decades of experience in human resources, leadership development, and executive onboarding, Laurie shares why successful transformation is about people first.

If you've ever struggled to help your team embrace new ways of working, this conversation offers practical wisdom and a refreshing reminder that human connection remains at the center of great leadership.

Inside This Episode:

• Why Change Starts with Trust: Laurie shares why trust is the foundation of any successful transformation effort and how leaders can build credibility during times of uncertainty.
• The Human Side of Change Management: Organizational change often focuses on systems and strategy, but Laurie explains why understanding emotions, resistance, and individual experiences is equally important.
• Creating Meaningful Onboarding Experiences: Drawing from her extensive work in executive onboarding, Laurie discusses how intentional onboarding experiences can accelerate impact, strengthen culture, and set leaders up for long-term success.
• Leading Through Uncertainty: Erin and Laurie explore what leaders can do when they don't have all the answers and why transparency, curiosity, and adaptability matter more than ever.
• Why Learning Never Stops: The conversation highlights the importance of continuous learning, reinvention, and staying open to new ideas throughout every stage of your career.

What to Do Now:

1. Assess Your Change Communication: Think about a current change happening on your team. Are you communicating only the "what," or are you also addressing the "why" and the emotional impact?
2. Schedule a Connection Conversation: Set aside time this week to check in with a colleague or team member not to discuss tasks, but simply to understand how they're doing and what support they need.
3. Reflect on Your Learning Edge: Identify one new skill, mindset, or area of growth you'd like to develop over the next month and take one small step toward it this week.

About the Guest

Laurie Jadick is a seasoned human resources and talent leader with more than two decades of experience helping organizations navigate transformation, leadership development, and employee experience. Throughout her career, Laurie has led global learning, leadership, and onboarding initiatives for large organizations, with a particular passion for creating people-centered experiences that drive both business results and human connection. She currently serves as a leader at Publicis Sapient, where she focuses on executive onboarding and leadership integration, helping leaders thrive from day one. Laurie is known for her thoughtful approach to change, commitment to continuous learning, and belief that people are at the heart of every successful organization.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

Connect with Laurie Jadick

• Laurie’s LinkedIn

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with workplace researcher, organizational psychologist, and meeting culture expert Rebecca Hinds to tackle one of the biggest drains on modern work: bad meetings. If you've ever stared at a packed calendar or wished collaboration felt more energizing, this conversation is packed with practical ideas to help you reclaim your time and redesign how your team connects.

Inside This Episode: 

• Meeting Doomsday Is Coming: Rebecca introduces the concept of "meeting doomsday" and explains how a simple 48-hour calendar cleanse can help organizations break free from unnecessary meetings and reset workplace norms.
• Why We're Meeting More Than Ever: Learn how meeting hours have exploded over the past several decades, why calendars became the default communication tool, and the hidden costs of constant collaboration.
• The 4D CEO Test: Before scheduling your next meeting, Rebecca shares her simple framework to determine whether the goal is to Decide, Debate, Discuss, or Develop—and whether a meeting is actually necessary.
• The Visibility Trap: Discover how visibility bias keeps unnecessary meetings alive and why being busy isn't always the same as being productive.
• Design Meetings People Actually Want to Attend: From intentional titles to clear outcomes, Rebecca shares practical ways to create meetings that foster connection, collaboration, and momentum.

What to Do Now:

1. Audit Your Calendar: Review your recurring meetings and ask: "Does this truly need to happen, or could it be handled another way?"
2. Use the 4D Test: Before scheduling a meeting, identify whether the goal is to Decide, Debate, Discuss, or Develop.
3. Title Meetings with Intention: Replace vague meeting names with clear, outcome-driven titles that tell attendees exactly why they're there.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

About the Guest

Rebecca Hinds is an organizational psychologist, workplace researcher, and leadership strategist who helps organizations create healthier, more effective ways of working. She serves as the Head of Asana's Work Innovation Lab, where she studies collaboration, productivity, workplace culture, and the future of work. Rebecca's research has been featured in major publications and helps leaders rethink how teams communicate, meet, and thrive. Her work focuses on helping organizations reduce friction, improve collaboration, and build work environments where both performance and wellbeing can flourish.

Connect with Rebecca Hinds 

• Rebecca’s LinkedIn
• Rebecca’s website
• Rebecca’s book: Your Best Meeting Ever

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Meredith Stepien to explore how small moments of joy can become anchors during life's most chaotic seasons. Known for her work as a performer, writer, musician, improviser, and creative leader, Meredith shares why chasing massive life-changing moments isn't always the answer, and how cultivating sparks of delight can help us stay grounded.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the pace of work or simply being human, this conversation is a reminder that joy doesn't have to be earned. Sometimes it's found in the smallest moments hiding in plain sight.

Inside This Episode:

• Why Small Joys Matter More Than We Think: Meredith shares how tiny moments of delight can help regulate our nervous systems, shift our perspective, and create steadiness during difficult times.
• The Myth of Waiting for Happiness: Many of us postpone joy until we hit a milestone, solve a problem, or achieve a goal. Meredith discusses why joy is something we can practice now—not something we have to wait for.
• Creativity as a Survival Tool: Drawing from her background in performance, music, and improv, Meredith explains how creativity helps us navigate uncertainty and stay connected to what makes us feel alive.
• Finding Presence in the Everyday: The conversation explores how paying attention to ordinary moments can create extraordinary meaning, even when life feels overwhelming.
• The Connection Between Play and Resilience: Erin and Meredith discuss why play is a critical tool for maintaining energy, perspective, and emotional well-being.

What to Do Now:

1. Create a Tiny Joy List: Write down five small things that consistently bring you joy. Keep the list somewhere visible and intentionally seek out one of them each day this week.
2. Practice Noticing: Throughout your day, pause and identify one moment that makes you smile, laugh, feel curious, or experience gratitude. The goal is to increase awareness of the good that is already here.
3. Schedule Play on Purpose: Block out 15 minutes this week for something that feels playful, creative, or energizing with no productivity goal attached.

About the Guest

Meredith Stepien is a Chicago-based comedian, musician, writer, producer, and improviser best known for her work with the musical theater company Team StarKid. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a BFA in Acting, Meredith has performed in numerous StarKid productions and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the cult-favorite musical Firebringer. She is also a creative producer, podcast host, and longtime improviser who brings humor to everything she does. In addition to her performance and creative work, Meredith serves as a facilitator for improve it! workshops, helping individuals and teams build stronger confidence through the power of improv.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

Connect with Meredith Stepien

• Meredith’s Instagram
• Meredith’s YouTube
• Meredith’s LinkedIn

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! 

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin tackles AI anxiety and how to address it on your own and with your team at work. If you've ever wondered whether AI is coming for your job, felt overwhelmed by new technology, or weren't sure where to begin, this episode offers a practical, human-centered approach to navigating AI with confidence. Erin shares a simple framework to help leaders and teams embrace AI without losing the creativity, connection, and humanity that make work meaningful.

Inside This Episode:

• Why AI Feels So Scary Right Now: Erin breaks down the most common fears surrounding AI, from job displacement to information overload, and explains why uncertainty (rather than technology itself) is often what makes change feel uncomfortable.
• Leadership's Role in the AI Era: Every major workplace shift requires leaders who can guide people through ambiguity. Learn why curiosity, transparency, and empathy are essential leadership skills in the age of AI.
• The Four-Step "AI Scene" Framework: Inspired by improv, this practical approach helps leaders and teams navigate AI adoption with less fear and more confidence:
  • Accept the Scene: Acknowledge that AI is here and part of the workplace conversation.
  • Improvise Your Entry Point: Start small by choosing one task where AI can support your work.
  • Build the Scene with Your Team: Create shared learning experiences and normalize experimentation.
  • Take Your Encore: Integrate AI intentionally in ways that enhance human creativity and impact.
• How to Create an AI Playground at Work: Discover how low-stakes experimentation can reduce fear and build confidence. Erin shares ideas for creating safe spaces where teams can learn, test, and explore together.
• Small Experiments Create Big Confidence: Forget mastering AI overnight. Learn how simple 15-minute AI labs can help you build skills, uncover opportunities, and reduce overwhelm one step at a time.

What to Do Now:

1. Start With One Task: Identify a single repetitive task you do each week and explore how AI could support or streamline it.
2. Create a 15-Minute AI Lab: Set aside fifteen minutes this week to experiment with an AI tool. Just for curiosity and play!
3. Build an AI Playground: Invite your team to share wins, lessons learned, and questions about AI in a judgment-free environment focused on learning rather than perfection.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Kelly Burlage, Chief Human Resources Officer at Lineage, to explore how our relationship with failure changes as we grow in our careers. From early-career mistakes that feel world-ending to high-stakes leadership decisions that impact entire organizations, Kelly shares why failure is something to learn from.

If you've ever found yourself replaying a professional setback or questioning whether you're ready for the next level, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on resilience and leading through uncertainty.

Inside This Episode:

• Why Failure Evolves as Your Career Grows: Kelly shares how her definition of failure has shifted throughout her career and why the challenges that once felt devastating often become the foundation for future success.
• The Leadership Lessons Hidden Inside Setbacks: Not every failure feels productive in the moment. Kelly reflects on how some of her most difficult professional experiences ultimately accelerated her growth and strengthened her leadership.
• How to Lead Through High-Stakes Misses: As leaders advance, mistakes become more visible and carry greater consequences. Kelly discusses how to navigate setbacks without losing trust, momentum, or confidence.
• Balancing Innovation with Smart Risk-Taking: Growth requires experimentation, and experimentation comes with the possibility of failure. Kelly explains how data, curiosity, and calculated risks help organizations move forward without becoming paralyzed by fear.
• Creating a Culture Where People Can Learn from Failure: In industries where precision matters, psychological safety still matters. Kelly shares how leaders can create environments where people feel empowered to take ownership, learn, and improve.

What to Do Now:

1. Revisit an Old Failure: Think about a professional setback from earlier in your career that still makes you cringe. What lessons did it teach you that success couldn't have?
2. Audit Your Current Response to Failure: Ask yourself whether you're approaching today's challenges with outdated fears or limiting beliefs that no longer serve you.
3. Look for the Lesson, Not the Label: The next time something doesn't go as planned, resist the urge to immediately call it a failure. Instead, ask: "What is this experience teaching me?"

About the Guest

Kelly Burlage is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Lineage, the world's largest and most innovative temperature-controlled logistics provider. She leads enterprise-wide people strategies that align business growth with operational excellence while fostering a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and high performance. With more than two decades of global HR and talent leadership experience, Kelly has built and scaled high-performing teams across complex, high-growth organizations. She is known for delivering innovative, data-driven people strategies that drive meaningful business results. Kelly is a Korn Ferry Certified Coach, a Leading Women Executives alumna, and has been recognized among TAtech's Top 100 Most Influential Talent Acquisition Thought Leaders.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

Connect with Kelly Burlage

• Kelly’s LinkedIn
• Lineage’s website

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with wellness expert, bestselling author, and intuitive healer Inna Segal to explore the powerful connection between emotional wellbeing and physical health. If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, burned out, or disconnected from yourself, this conversation offers practical tools to help you unlock your body's innate ability to heal.

Inside This Episode:

• Your Body Is Talking: Inna explains how physical symptoms often carry emotional messages and why learning your body's language can lead to greater self-awareness, resilience, and healing.
• The Hidden Link Between Emotions and Health: Discover how stress, grief, trauma, and unresolved emotions can manifest physically, and what you can do to release what's been weighing you down.
• Healing Starts with Connection: From visualization and color work to movement and breath, Inna shares simple practices to help you reconnect with yourself and access your body's wisdom.
• Why Slowing Down Is a Superpower: For leaders, parents, and high achievers, Inna reveals why creating moments of stillness can unlock clarity, energy, and emotional balance.
• The Stages of Healing Explained: Learn how healing evolves over time, why discomfort is sometimes part of the process, and how to navigate change with more trust and self-compassion.

What to Do Now:

1. Pause Before You Push Through: The next time you feel stressed, exhausted, or overwhelmed, ask yourself: "What is my body trying to tell me?"
2. Create Five Minutes of Stillness: Take a few intentional breaths, slow down, and notice what thoughts, emotions, or sensations are asking for your attention.
3. Experiment with Color and Visualization: Try using color, movement, or imagery to shift your emotional state and release tension.

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty?

Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.



Connect with Inna Segal

• Inna’s website
• Inna’s books
• Inna’s LinkedIn

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Rosie Moan to talk about one of the most challenging combinations many women face: becoming a new mom while navigating uncertainty in work, identity, and life. If you've ever felt like you're simultaneously capable and completely overwhelmed, this conversation offers a refreshing reminder that confidence is about trusting yourself through the unknown.

Inside This Episode: 

• Why Confidence and Uncertainty Often Arrive Together: Rosie shares how some of life's biggest growth moments happen when we feel both competent and terrified at the same time, and why that tension is often a sign we're expanding into something new.
• The Identity Shift of New Motherhood: Becoming a parent can reshape how we see ourselves. Erin and Rosie discuss the emotional and professional adjustments that come with this transition and how to navigate them with more self-compassion.
• Improvisation as a Tool for Real Life: Drawing from her background in improv, Rosie explains how embracing a "yes, and" mindset can help us respond to unexpected challenges, uncertainty, and change with greater flexibility.
• Learning to Trust Yourself Again: The conversation explores why confidence isn't about having every answer. It's about building trust in your ability to figure things out as you go.
• The Power of Letting Go of Perfection: Rosie shares insights on releasing unrealistic expectations and creating space for growth, learning, and grace during demanding seasons of life.

What to Do Now:

1. Ask Yourself a Better Question: Instead of asking, "What if I fail?" try asking, "What if I can handle whatever comes next?"
2. Practice "Yes, And" This Week: When something unexpected happens, look for one way to accept reality and build forward rather than resist it.
3. Celebrate Evidence of Your Resilience: Take a few minutes to write down three challenges you've already navigated successfully. Use them as reminders that you've handled uncertainty before and can do it again.

About the Guest

Rosie Moan is a Chicago-based actor, improv performer, coach, and acting coach who has spent more than 15 years helping people build confidence, take creative risks, and trust themselves on and off camera. A graduate of Emerson College, she performs, teaches, and coaches within Chicago's renowned improv community and facilitates workshops designed to strengthen communication, collaboration, and personal growth. Her work centers on helping people move past self-doubt and step more fully into their potential. She is also a lead facilitator for improve it! 

Your Freebie

How do you lead through failure and uncertainty? 
Today’s workplace demands adaptability, creative problem-solving, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty without freezing in perfectionism.

This quick quiz will reveal your unique approach to failure and uncertainty, plus give you simple ways to strengthen your adaptability muscles and help your team thrive when things don’t go according to plan.

Connect with Rosie Moan 

• Rosie’s website
• Rosie’s Instagram
• Rosie’s LinkedIn

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin explores why the best leaders are the ones creating connection, recognition, and growth for the people around them. If you’ve ever wondered how to become a more impactful leader without forcing authority, this episode is your reminder that leadership is built in small moments of recognition.

Inside This Episode:

• Why Titles Don’t Create Great Leaders: Employees rarely remember your title. They remember how you made them feel. Erin breaks down why connection-based leadership creates stronger teams and better workplace culture.
• Recognition Is a Retention Strategy: With 66% of employees leaving jobs without feeling appreciated, Erin explains why genuine recognition directly impacts employee engagement, retention, morale, and performance.
• The Lyft Method Makes Leadership Actionable: Erin introduces her four-step, improv-inspired leadership framework to help leaders create more collaborative and human-centered workplaces: Look for the good, Initiate the scene, Follow their lead, Tag them in.
• Leadership Happens in Small Moments: Learn how everyday interactions shape trust, psychological safety, and team culture.
• Empowering Others Creates Better Teams: Erin shares practical ways leaders can spotlight strengths, share opportunities, and help team members grow into leadership themselves.

What to Do Now: 

1. Practice the Spotlight Swap: Choose three people on your team this week and intentionally recognize something specific they contributed.
2. Customize Recognition: Pay attention to how each person prefers to receive appreciation instead of using one-size-fits-all praise.
3. Share the Mic: Find one opportunity this week to invite someone else into visibility, ownership, or leadership.

Your Freebie

What’s your leadership style and next business move? Find out by taking a fun little quiz here.

And thank you to our sponsors Intuit Quickbooks Payroll.

To learn more visit:   https://quickbooks.intuit.com/workforce/

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! 

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Lily Zheng to unpack why traditional DEI efforts keep falling flat. Lily and Erin discuss what leaders can do instead to create workplaces that are actually fair, inclusive, and built to last.

If you’ve ever wondered why diversity trainings, performative culture initiatives, and “quick fix” belonging strategies rarely create real change, this episode is your invitation to rethink workplace equity through a practical, people-first lens.

Inside This Episode:

• Why DEI Efforts Keep Missing the Mark: Despite decades of workplace initiatives, discrimination rates remain shockingly high, and many solutions are still surface-level.
• The FAIR Framework Changes the Conversation: Lily shares a practical, problem-solving approach to building inclusion that focuses on fixing real workplace barriers.
• Belonging Is Measurable: Learn how employee experience connects directly to retention, engagement, performance, and long-term business success.
• Middle Managers Have More Power Than They Think: Practical ways to influence leadership, advocate for change, and create safer workplaces from any level.
• Human-Centered Leadership Creates Lasting Change: Why authentic leadership, psychological safety, and consistent action outperform performative workplace culture efforts every time.

What to Do Now:

1. Audit Your Workplace Culture: Ask whether your organization is solving real employee problems or simply signaling values externally.
2. Translate Human Issues Into Business Metrics: Use turnover, burnout, retention, and engagement data to advocate for meaningful workplace change.
3. Create One Honest Conversation This Week: Invite feedback without defensiveness and focus on listening before fixing.

Your Freebie

What’s your leadership style and next business move? Find out by taking a fun little quiz here.

And thank you to our sponsors Intuit Quickbooks Payroll.

To learn more visit:   https://quickbooks.intuit.com/workforce/

About the Guest:

Lily Zheng is a DEI strategist, consultant, speaker, and the author of Fixing Fairness: A Framework for Equity and Organizational Change. Lily works with organizations to move beyond performative diversity efforts and build measurable, sustainable systems for fairness, inclusion, and accountability. Their work focuses on practical, problem-solving approaches that help leaders create healthier workplace cultures rooted in trust, transparency, and real human impact.

Connect with Lily Zheng

• Lily’s LinkedIn
• Lily’s website
• Lily’s book Fixing Fairness: 4 Tenets to Transform Diversity Backlash into Progress for All

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.

In this Workday Playdate, Erin explores what human-first leadership actually looks like in a workplace shaped by AI, uncertainty, and nonstop change.

If you’ve ever wondered how to lead when technology is evolving faster than your team can adapt, this episode is your reminder that human skills are the future-proof skills.

Inside This Episode:

• Human-First Leadership Isn’t Soft, It’s Strategic: Why leaders who prioritize connection, curiosity, and psychological safety are outperforming those who rely on authority alone.
• AI Can’t Replace Human Trust: As automation increases, employees are craving authenticity, communication, and leaders who know how to create belonging.
• The Best Leaders Create Space, Not Pressure: Why innovation happens when teams feel safe enough to experiment, fail, and speak honestly.
• People Support What They Help Build: Collaborative leadership creates stronger buy-in, better ideas, and more resilient teams.
• Adaptability Is the New Leadership Superpower: The leaders who thrive aren’t the ones pretending to have all the answers — they’re the ones willing to evolve in real time.
• Burnout Doesn’t Build Better Teams: Sustainable performance comes from leaders who understand energy, trust, and human motivation — not constant hustle.

What to Do Now:

1. Audit Your Leadership Style: Ask yourself whether your team feels managed or genuinely supported.
2. Create One Moment of Psychological Safety: Invite honest feedback this week without defensiveness or fixing.
3. Prioritize Human Connection: Schedule one conversation this week that isn’t about productivity, but about the person behind the role.

Your Freebie

What’s your leadership style and next business move? Find out by taking a fun little quiz here.

And thank you to our sponsors Intuit Quickbooks Payroll.

To learn more visit:   https://quickbooks.intuit.com/workforce/

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Leadership Playground online membership community
• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s TikTok
• Erin’s LinkedIn
• improve it!’s website
• improve it!’s Instagram

For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Connect with Erin Diehl

🌟 Learn more about Workday Playdate: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/podcast-page
🎤 Book Erin to speak: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/keynote-speaker
📚 Workshops & Team Experiences: https://www.learntoimproveit.com/experiential-training
💌 Learn more about Erin: https://www.itserindiehl.com/meet-erin
📱 For more information on improve it! visit www.learntoimproveit.com.

Loved this episode?

If this conversation made you think differently about work, leadership, or building joyful teams, please follow Workday Playdate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use more play in their workday.