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Do you have a nagging concern about your team’s effectiveness?

Maybe meetings feel flat, with little engagement or shared purpose. Maybe your team generates plenty of ideas, but struggles to decide what to do next. Or perhaps new initiatives get launched, only to lose momentum because no one can sustain them.

Something just isn’t clicking… and you can’t quite figure out why.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

And here’s the surprising truth: Most team challenges aren’t caused by a lack of talent, commitment, or effort. They’re caused by misalignment.

In many teams, people are consistently asked to do work that drains them instead of work that energizes them. Over time, that leads to disengagement, frustration, and underperformance, even among highly capable individuals.

That’s exactly the problem Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group set out to solve with the Six Types of Working Genius.

For leaders of mission-driven organizations, keeping a hopeful attitude is critical to meeting the inevitable challenges that arise. But how do you keep your attitude positive when things aren’t going your way?

In “Imaginable” by Jane McGonigal, the author introduces the concept of “urgent optimism.” In this state of mind, it’s possible to be realistic about the issues and risks ahead, while also keeping an open eye and heart as to how you can help to solve those issues and address the risks.

What are things you might stop doing that could improve the quality of your day-to-day life? Harvard professor and researcher Arthur Brooks calls this a “to don’t” list: things that you find yourself doing out of habit or obligation even though they lower happiness and productivity.

As you consider your own list, I encourage you to try the following:

One of our axioms is “Keep learning, stewarding, and sharing.” We’re big believers in the power of books.  

Sure, we’ve got a few good suspense and historical fiction novels on our bedside tables, but today we’d like to share a few non-fiction gems that have inspired us for work – and life.

A few times a day, my Apple watch reminds me to breathe.  Like many, I googled this feature when I started receiving these notifications at the most inconvenient times. Before I can hit dismiss, my watch steals my attention and I am momentarily captured as the animated flower fills the tiny screen and slowly expands and contracts.

How ironic is it that a year of forced isolation has actually provided us the ability to connect with each other in a deep, meaningful and global scale? 

“How are you doing?” has shifted from a casual greeting to a meaningful invitation to connect through a common, shared experience.

A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting of non-profit leaders struggling through a slump in their capital campaign.