I’m not doing it right, but I’m going with progress over perfection on this one. Because of my background, friends, and family, I’ve spent far too many years being silent about an injustice that I didn’t realize was mine to make right: racism. So here I am, imperfectly moving forward.

Are you considering making your team more diverse? As you probably already know, diversity on teams, and throughout organizations, is essential for sustainable success, especially in uncertain, changing, and ambiguous times. Why?

Right now, are you asking, “what can I do to help?" The number one question I have gotten in the past week is "What can I do to help?" Many people want to respond to the immediate needs of neighbors who are without access to grocery stores, clean water, and medication.

“What can I do to help?” is the question I am hearing from so many people right now who want to respond to the immediate needs of neighbors who are without access to grocery stores, clean water, and medication. And who are even having to clean up their burned down, looted, and vandalized businesses. Not to mention the deep desire to respond to the long-term needs of people of color (POC) who have long been oppressed by systems built by white people to profit white people in the United States.

Are you one of the countless people trying to figure out how to keep meeting your customers’ or clients’ needs during this truly uncertain time?

When we are clearly in changing, uncertain, and ambiguous times it can be really challenging to know how to continue to meet (and even exceed) our customers' expectations. This can be especially true if we can’t see them face-to-face. That is unless we know how to exceed their expectations no matter what’s going on in the world.

As I read people’s posts in my feeds from all different sides of this virus, I’m reminded of what my dad’s grandpa would tell him when he remarked about an issue “there’s more to the story, Tommy. There’s always more to the story.” So, as I sit here months into lockdown, I’m wishing I could be sitting next to you on your front steps. And if I could, here’s what I would tell you with misty eyes.

This dream took an immense amount of discipline, focus, and sacrifice. And let me just say that life does not stop when you set an ambitious goal like getting your Doctorate. I was two months pregnant with my first son when I started my Doctorate and had my second son one month after completing my doctoral work. And in the middle of it all my dad unexpectedly passed away. Not to mention countless other moments in between.

What are your go-to practices for making sure you engage your audience every time you present, teach, preach, or lead a meeting online? Here’s the secret I’ve learned to presenting to people online: it doesn’t have the same impact as it doesn’t when you are talking to them in person without making some essential tweaks.

While nothing can replace in-person gatherings and community (I can’t be the only one that jumps up and down when someone says they’re going to stop by and talk to us through our dining room window), engaged communities can absolutely be created and fostered virtually. And even lead meeting IRL (in real life), which we know will happen again some day. Here are 4 ways you can create an engaged community beyond using Zoom calls and meetings.

Most of us are really thankful for teleconferencing software that lets us see and talk to people “face-to-face” in real time. But let’s face it, there’s a start and end to our Zoom conversations and an exclusivity about them that while appropriate at times, definitely leaves us craving more community engagement.

It’s officially a crazy time. For most of us, this is the most uncertain our jobs, finances, and schedules have ever been in our lifetime. Almost everyone is working from home and for a lot of us, this is the first time we’re working from home AND needing to care for our kid(s) at the same time.

When my husband Jake and I both need to stay home to take care of our son AND still work, we’ve found some ways that enable both of us to provide great care for our kiddo AND get all the essentials done for work that we both need to. It just takes some planning, intentionality, and flexibility on our parts. But we’ve done it numerous times and made it work successfully for our whole family.

Let me ask you a personal question: how involved are you in your team’s decision making? Does your team’s success hinge on you being involved in every single detail and decision? Now, be completely honest. IF your team’s success is more dependent on you than them, this tells me a few things about you and your team members.

Let me be brutally honest with you, if your team’s success hinges on you being involved in every single detail and decision, it’s simply not a team effort. You’re not working with and through your team; you’re simply using individuals on your team to do tasks that you don’t want to do. This doesn’t require trust, it doesn’t require creativity on the part of others, it doesn’t require a team.

When you work with people (ah-hem, most of us!), there are going to be times when you get hurt or offended by others. Either the people you lead, your peers, or those leading you are going to offend you. Even if you are easy going and it takes a lot to offend you, it will still happen. None of us is immune to this. When this happens, do you handle it in a productive way?