Practical advice for managing teams

At least one in five people on your team is likely neurodivergent, and most will never disclose it, so the best strategy is to build inclusive practices for everyone. Margaux Joffe, co-founder of the Great ADHD Reset Program, walks through a strength-based approach, clear expectations, and feedback adjustments that remove barriers for neurodivergent employees while making the whole team stronger. This episode is most useful for any manager who wants practical, low-lift ways to build a more accessible and effective team.

Asking your team for feedback works when you stop asking vague yes-or-no questions and follow a three-step framework: set the tone, plant a seed, and consider the value. Lia walks through exactly how to scope the conversation so team members feel safe enough to be honest, even about hard things. This episode is especially useful for managers who want feedback to flow both ways but keep getting silence or deflection.

Leading with love is not softness. It is the deliberate practice of putting your team’s humanity first so they feel seen, stay accountable, and perform at their highest level. Chris Hartley, VP of Sales at K. Hovnanian Homes, shares the frameworks he uses, from “heartbeat checks” to “let it go” jars, to build psychological safety that actually moves the sales needle. This episode is essential for any leader who wants practical ways to operationalize empathy without sacrificing standards.

Making fewer decisions is one of the fastest ways to reduce micromanagement, increase team engagement, and stop being a bottleneck in your business. Lia walks through a one-way door vs. two-way door mental model for sorting which decisions to keep and which to hand off, then shares four steps for delegating decisions in a way that actually sticks. This episode is especially useful for owners and team leads who find themselves approving everything from social media copy to color swatches.

A missing onboarding plan does not just hurt your new hire’s experience, it costs you real money every hour they sit idle and signals from day one that they are not a priority. Lia shares three things you can do immediately: block 15 minutes at the start and end of day one, send a welcome email to the team, and tell the new hire exactly what success looks like in week one. This episode is essential for any owner or team lead who hired someone before building the system to support them.

Leading well right now means showing up with transparency, authenticity, and genuine participation, not just having the right answers. Farah Bernier shares her TAP framework (Transparency, Authenticity, Participate) as a practical tool for rebuilding trust and morale when teams are stretched thin. This episode is especially useful for mid-level and senior leaders navigating reorgs, hybrid work, and disengaged teams.

The context a team member brings from their previous industry and role quietly drives how they communicate, make decisions, and respond to feedback on your team. Lia walks through three moves: recognize the context, leverage what is valuable from it, and coach the person into what success actually looks like in your organization. This episode is especially useful for owners and leaders who have hired across industries or are onboarding someone whose background looks nothing like their own.

Becoming a better manager does not require a complete overhaul. Lia shares the Thriving Team Scorecard, a list of 20 concrete actions organized across three areas (self, team, and company) that you can complete in a single month. This episode is ideal for any owner, founder, or manager who feels stuck and wants a practical, accountability-driven starting point.

When a team member comes to you with a problem, the single most useful thing you can do before taking any action is ask what they actually need from you. Lia walks through three frameworks: distinguishing venting from a real ask for help, resetting expectations before escalating a performance issue, and rebuilding trust after inheriting a team burned by manager turnover. This episode is especially useful for leaders who feel the urge to immediately jump in and solve every problem their team brings them.

Most leadership communication fails because we assume everyone is motivated the same way we are. The Enneagram gives leaders a framework for understanding the core motives and fears of each person on their team, so feedback lands, conflict resolves faster, and people actually feel seen. This episode is especially useful for owners and leaders who keep hitting the same communication walls no matter how hard they try.