Team Truths
We talk endlessly about great leadership—but rarely about great team members. Strong teams aren’t built by leaders alone; they’re shaped by individuals who take ownership of how they show up, engage, challenge, and contribute to the collective.
S.P.A.C.E. to Lead
The colleague who always fixes things may look like the team’s strength. Yet over-functioning often signals a deeper pattern: a system that quietly shifts responsibility to one person. Understanding that pattern is the first step toward healthier teams.
S.P.A.C.E. to Lead
Emotional intelligence is widely celebrated in leadership, but it also has a shadow side. When one person carries the emotional load, when empathy replaces accountability, or when awareness becomes manipulation, EI can quietly hold teams back instead of helping them grow.
Team Truths
Teams don’t avoid conflict because they dislike disagreement. They avoid it because they don’t trust the aftermath. What happens after tension, repair or residue, determines whether conflict strengthens a team or quietly erodes it. The real work isn’t the argument. It’s what follows.
S.P.A.C.E. to Lead
The most important work in public life is often invisible. Clean trails, quiet safety, a simple nod. Parks don’t just offer space — they hold stories. And the people who care for them shape belonging in ways most will never see.
Team Truths
When someone says something uncomfortable, watch what happens next. That brief pause reveals more about team culture than any strategy deck. This article explores why the smallest moments—handled well or poorly—shape trust and long-term performance.
S.P.A.C.E. to Lead
When work becomes painful, we often need someone to be wrong. But it’s possible to struggle deeply with a boss and still acknowledge they may be effective elsewhere. Holding both truths doesn’t erase harm, it simply widens the story beyond blame.
We talk endlessly about great leadership—but rarely about great team members. Strong teams aren’t built by leaders alone; they’re shaped by individuals who take ownership of how they show up, engage, challenge, and contribute to the collective.
Emotional intelligence is widely celebrated in leadership, but it also has a shadow side. When one person carries the emotional load, when empathy replaces accountability, or when awareness becomes manipulation, EI can quietly hold teams back instead of helping them grow.
Team challenges are rarely individual problems. They are patterns shaped by unspoken agreements that protect comfort, power, and stability. This article explores why naming these dynamics is the first step toward healthier, more accountable teams.
When pressure rises, it’s easy for leadership to become transactional. Yet today’s complexity calls for balance: clear accountability alongside presence, judgment, and relational leadership. Leading well isn’t about doing more. It’s about leading differently.
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After years of trying to help our beloved cat heal, we learned she needed a different environment to thrive. Watching her flourish elsewhere taught me something about leadership: struggling in a role isn’t always failure. Sometimes it’s a mismatch — and letting go can still hurt.
Psychological safety is often treated as a leadership responsibility. In reality, it is co-created—or eroded—by teams in small, everyday moments. This article explores how safety lives in the space between people, not at the top.
Team challenges are rarely individual problems. They are patterns shaped by unspoken agreements that protect comfort, power, and stability. This article explores why naming these dynamics is the first step toward healthier, more accountable teams.
When pressure rises, it’s easy for leadership to become transactional. Yet today’s complexity calls for balance: clear accountability alongside presence, judgment, and relational leadership. Leading well isn’t about doing more. It’s about leading differently.
Most team challenges aren’t caused by individuals — they’re sustained by patterns no one names. Team Truths is a weekly series that surfaces the unspoken agreements, systemic dynamics, and emotional undercurrents shaping team performance and culture.
We use the word authenticity often, yet rarely mean the same thing. This article unpacks the competing definitions — from true self-expression to performative “realness” — and why teams need a more grounded approach.
A reckoning in the literary world raises deeper questions for settlers in coaching. As a gay white male practitioner, I explore how we navigate responsibility, avoid taking space that isn’t ours, and meaningfully support Indigenous leadership.
SPACE to Team helps groups slow down, see themselves more clearly, and act with intention. By creating Stillness, expanding Perspective, Assessing patterns, Clarifying decisions, and Engaging purposefully, teams build trust, alignment, and sustainable performance.
Teams don’t move through neat stages—they flow like waves. Just as a body surfer reads the ocean’s rhythm, leaders must sense the patterns beneath team dynamics. Tuckman’s model still guides us, but today’s teams evolve continuously—riding change with awareness, adaptability, and trust.
Every month, we listen to leaders, teams, and coaches navigating complexity — and together, we notice patterns. The rise of performance pressure. The call for more space to lead. The desire for deeper connection in systems that move fast and expect more. These aren’t isolated stories; they’re signs of
High performers often get rewarded with more work, not more support. This “performance punishment” turns success into strain — promoting doers into leaders without space to lead. It’s time to rethink reward systems and help our best people grow, not burn out.
Leadership isn’t about control—it’s about behavioural intelligence. In Being BRAVE® as a Strategic Advantage, Cindy Benning reframes strength as awareness, showing how composure, vulnerability, and authenticity create trust, alignment, and lasting performance.