Engaging Play

06/09/2026

Tuesday Tip! Every Meeting Needs a Job.
You've probably sat through a meeting where people spent 45 minutes talking and nobody was quite sure what they were trying to accomplish.

One of the simplest ways to improve a meeting is to define its job before it starts.
Is this meeting designed to:
share information?
make a decision?
solve a problem?
build connection?

Those are very different meetings, and they require very different structures.

If people seem confused or disengaged, the problem may not be the participants - it may be that the meeting doesn't know what its job is.

This week, look at your recurring meetings. Can you clearly identify the job of each one?

06/08/2026

Monday Musing! Most leaders think of meetings as a scheduling problem.

I think they're a culture problem.

Every meeting teaches people something:
What matters.
Whose voice gets heard.
How decisions get made.
Whether collaboration is valued.
Whether accountability actually exists.

That's why one of the fastest ways to improve culture is to improve meetings.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing ideas on why so many meetings frustrate us - and how leaders can make them more useful, engaging, and effective.

What's the biggest complaint you have about meetings?

06/03/2026

If your team feels slower, more cautious, more siloed, or more exhausted than it should, it may not be a people problem.

It may be a trust design problem.

That phrase has been rattling around in my head lately because so many leaders are trying to solve trust issues by focusing on individuals when the real issue is often the environment people are working in.

How are decisions made?
How is disagreement handled?
Does feedback go anywhere?
Do people know what they're allowed to decide?

These small moments shape trust far more than most leaders realize.

I wrote more about it in my latest article, along with four practical things leaders can do to create conditions where trust can grow.

Trust doesn't happen by accident. Learn four practical ways leaders can create the conditions that build trust, improve communication, and strengthen team culture.

06/02/2026

Tuesday Tip!
Inconsistency doesn’t just frustrate your team -
it erodes trust.

When people aren’t sure how you’ll respond, they start managing your reactions instead of focusing on the work.
They hold back ideas.
Avoid hard conversations.
Play it safe.

And safe rarely leads to innovation, ownership, or honest collaboration.

The leaders who build the strongest teams aren’t perfect.
They’re predictable.
Especially under pressure.

People need to know:
Can I disagree here?
Can I make a mistake?
Will this conversation stay constructive when things get hard?

Your team is answering those questions every single day based on how you show up.

Leaders don’t always see these patterns forming in real time. Helping teams rebuild trust, communication, and connection is a big part of the work I do.

06/01/2026

Monday Musing!
Silence in a meeting can look like alignment.

No pushback. No questions.

But often, it’s people doing the math:
Is it safe to say this?
Is it worth the risk?

When the risk feels too high, people stay quiet.
Not because they agree, but because it doesn’t feel safe to speak.

That’s not alignment. That’s self-protection.
Real alignment includes questions, challenge, and clarity.

If your meetings feel a little too quiet, it’s worth paying attention.
This is something leaders can design for.

If you need help working through trust issues in your team, DM me or reach me at [email protected]

05/26/2026

Tuesday Tip! Trust grows when people feel seen.
And most leaders move too fast to create space for that.

This holiday week is actually a great time to slow down a bit and reintroduce the check-in. I’ve written about this before because honestly, it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to build connection and understanding on a team.

Take the first 10 minutes of a meeting and have people check in. Use something easy and structured like Rose, Bud, Thorn… an emoji prompt… or even a fun question like, “What did you have for breakfast today?”

It’s not really about the question. It’s about creating small moments where people share something human.

If your team has been feeling a little disconnected lately, a simple 10-minute check-in at the start of a meeting can go a surprisingly long way toward rebuilding trust.

What are your favorite check-ins? Drop them in the comments below!

And if you’d like more simple, practical ideas for growing trust on your team, reach out. I’m always happy to share ideas.

05/25/2026

Happy Memorial Day!

Wishing everyone a day filled with sunshine, good people, good food, and a little time to pause and remember what today is really about.

Grateful for those who served and sacrificed so the rest of us get to enjoy moments like these. ❤️🤍💙

05/22/2026

Happy Friday and happy holiday weekend!

Spotted this in traffic and honestly… it feels like the official vibe of Memorial Day weekend. 😂

“Bumpah Stickah.”
No notes. Perfect.

Wishing you a weekend with good people, good food, minimal email, and absolutely no unnecessary meetings.
Go recharge a little. Your team needs the version of you that actually took a break.

05/21/2026

I’m headed to Atlanta next week and would love to connect with old friends, new friends, leaders, facilitators, creative humans, and generally interesting people. ☕️

I’ll be around on Friday, May 28th and plan to camp out at a centrally located coffee shop for a few hours.

If we’ve been meaning to catch up, if we’ve only met online, or if we’ve never met but enjoy each other’s posts… let’s fix that.

Coffee (or tea!) is on me. 😊

Message me if you’d like to meet up!

05/20/2026

The Hidden Exhaustion of Low Trust - I discuss how exhausted teams don’t always need less work.
Sometimes they need less uncertainty.

Low trust creates emotional labor:
second-guessing, over-explaining, careful communication, and constant self-protection.

In this short Live, I’ll explore why many teams are experiencing “trust fatigue” — and what leaders can do to reduce the hidden exhaustion that slows performance and drains energy.