When we create a hierarchy at work it can easily become more than just an HR-necessity to make line management functions have clear ownership. Too often it becomes indicative of how we work and think, placing ourselves mentally in a small group that reports to and interacts with the business via a single channel. Teams need to accept that the HR org-chart is useful only in the few cases where a direct single-person reporting line gives them clarity, a sense of safety, and of being cared for. Outside of that limited set of situations I want them to act as if we were a flat team without the hierarchy.

Are we focusing on the right questions? Build a culture of work from anywhere. What that looks like may be different depending on the team or department, but at the end of the day they are best positioned to self-organize and determine what makes sense for their contribution to the value you are bringing to your customers. And remember that while the pandemic forced a solution upon us, what happens going forward is within your control to guide and shape with the end goal to create safe spaces for high performing teams who can focus on delivery value.

Our leadership goal should be to allow people to experience joy and to flourish. Everything we think and feel has a need to be recognized. However, when we are able to hold everything more lightly, our sense of being wronged will fade. We need to feel compassion for ourselves, because without it we can never forgive and heal from the mistakes we will inevitably make. Acceptance is our way of letting go. It is about relinquishing the control we never actually had over the outcomes. Our ills and troubles can accumulate into insurmountable challenges if we let them. There is so much outside of our control, and yet the most important things of all are always freely given and only we can give them away: our ability to think and the actions we choose to take.

After a year of pandemic changed work cultures, the debate is on. Some companies have fully embraced new ways of working and others are salmon swimming upstream trying to get back to a comfortable normal that is never going to return. The pandemic knocked companies on their heads and exposed the ugly secrets lurking within in many cases but remote work is not a fad or a passing fancy.

Write your own story and read it aloud if you can. Read the stories of others and come to know how close we all are; how superficial the differences we see when we don’t have the time or shared perspective to learn otherwise. Stories allow us to heal and become stronger by providing a safer place for us to re-live the hurt, to understand and to see the opportunities that exist despite the suffering. They help us see the joy that exists.

How can an organization employ an agile mindset if there is still inequality between genders, races, and even geolocations? This has proven a difficult conversation, but for a global enterprise to be truly agile and have high-performing teams then they have to talk about global pay equity, remote work, the future of diverse teams without the constraints of borders. So why is there so much resistance to this change? There is a long history to overcome and new ways of thinking to incorporate by those in positions of power and leadership.

In today's live, Agility for All's Founder and CEO, Indra A. Books, walks us through how to approach tough conversations. While we can't control how others receive what we share, we can control how we show up and deliver the message with mindful intent. This is S04E06 in the series on Leadership Next Level.

In today's live, Agility for All's Founder and CEO, Indra A. Books, will explore the idea of weakness vs opportunity. We often hear the expression thrown around "It is not a weakness it is an opportunity for improvement." Is it one or the other? Is it neither? This is S04E05 in the series on Leadership Next Level.

We are in the era of change or perish. Not just because a pandemic that has rocked the world’s economy, but because we are in an era when customers want services and products on their terms. They don’t want to knock around a website looking for answers. They want rapid fast service with a smile and apps that respond to their needs as well as security and optimization of their mobile devices.

In today's live, Agility for All's Founder and CEO, Indra A. Books, talks about how to encourage innovation through experimentation within an organization as part of not only psychological safety but in creating an environment of empowerment. This is S04E04 in the series on Leadership Next Level.