When team members hesitate to ask for help, problems compound and time gets wasted. Lia’s three-step Problem Framing Framework teaches your team to come to you with a clear ask, what they have already tried, and a specific request for feedback, so you can coach them in minutes instead of an hour. This episode is most useful for owners and managers whose teams either over-ask or under-ask.
The real risk is not investing in your team and keeping an underperforming, disengaged person on staff indefinitely. Lia reframes the classic objection by flipping the question: instead of worrying about training someone who leaves, ask what it costs to leave someone untrained while they stay. This episode is essential for any owner or leader who has hesitated to spend on team development because the ROI felt uncertain.
Motivating a team under tight deadlines comes down to shared context, early visibility, and a culture where people feel seen beyond their project output. Alison Curtis and Janessa Mason, leaders at creative agency Skona, share how they align client services and creative teams through transparent communication, collaborative timeline-setting, and deliberate relationship-building at every level. This episode is especially useful for founders, agency leaders, and anyone managing across departments that can feel like they have competing agendas.
You should step in whenever a mistake will impact the bottom line, a customer, or other team members. The move is not to take over silently but to assess what the team member already knows, offer guidance, and have them shadow you so they can handle it alone next time. This episode is for anyone who has delegated something and then watched it start to go sideways.
Treating your team like a professional sports team means paying for top talent, fully utilizing every player, and investing in coaching as a non-negotiable. Lia walks through three lessons from pro sports that directly raise performance, reduce turnover, and build a team that can win when it counts. This episode is especially useful for founders and corporate leaders who keep wondering why results are not improving year over year.
Managing former peers and friends is genuinely hard, and pretending nothing has changed is the fastest way to make it harder. Lia walks through three moves: name the relationship shift out loud, co-create norms for feedback and hard conversations, and own your authority instead of downplaying it. This episode is especially useful for new managers who got promoted from within their own team.
Asking your team for feedback is just as important as giving it, and most leaders never do it well because they ask yes-or-no questions that put people on the spot. Lia’s fix is to lead with a specific example of something you are working on, frame it as an open invitation (now or later), and keep reopening the door. This episode is especially useful for any leader who wants to build psychological safety and stop getting only indirect feedback like turnover and disengagement.
89% of leaders think their team is thriving, but only 24% of employees agree. That 65% gap closes when you ask better questions and listen for what your team member actually means, not what you would mean in their shoes. This episode is essential for any leader who suspects something is off but is not sure how to surface it.
Hiring well starts with knowing exactly what you want before you ever talk to a candidate. Lia walks through four practical moves: defining the role clearly, identifying your non-negotiable values, asking behavioral questions that reveal character (not just skill), and paying competitively so your best hire does not walk out the door three months later. This episode is essential for any owner or leader who has ever left an interview thinking “I still have no idea if that person is the right fit.”
Getting promoted or hiring a team does not come with automatic buy-in. Lia breaks down three concrete moves that establish real authority: building genuine relationships, leading with a clear framework, and setting explicit communication norms from day one. This episode is especially useful for new managers, promoted leaders, and anyone managing former colleagues or friends.
