Skill / Will Matrix

 

The worst leadership mistake I made?
Judging performance without context. 🙃

There was a moment I’m not proud of.
A team member kept frustrating me.
Sometimes, late to meetings. Othertimes, pushing back.

I labeled it quickly: “Not committed.”

If it were up to me back then, I would’ve let them go.

Then I learned what was really going on.
They were carrying something heavy and no one had asked.
Including me.

That stayed.

Because I realized:
I was judging performance without understanding context.
And that’s not leadership.
That’s assumption.

They had the capability.
But what they lacked was energy.
And what they needed was understanding.

That experience changed how I lead.

Now I try to pause before reacting and ask a different question:
Where is this person really at?

I often think in four modes:
💪 Empower → when they’re ready.
⚽ Coach → when they’re learning.
🔥 Reignite → when energy is low.
🤝 Realign → when it’s not the right fit.

Not everyone needs more pressure.
Some need clarity or support.
And others just need to be seen.

The best leadership decisions I’ve made came after I stopped reacting…
and started listening to all of them.

👉 When was the last time you paused to understand before judging?

https://lnkd.in/p/d_z2xqmr

How to Keep Your Leadership Team Aligned

 

Your leadership team is only as aligned as the two people leading it.

And they always know when you're not.

In EOS, those two people are a Visionary and Integrator.

Your Visionary sees the future of the business and keeps coming up with new ideas.

Your Integrator makes those ideas happen and holds everything together day to day.

These two people are typically wired completely differently, so some friction between them is normal. Healthy, even.

The trouble starts when that friction never gets dealt with and leaks out into the business instead:

→ Weekly meetings slow down.
→ Quarterly and annual planning drag on.
→ Your leadership team ends up stuck in the middle, picking up on tension nobody has named.

There's a line I use a lot when describing that relationship between Visionaries and Integrators: don't fight in front of the kids.

Your team always knows.

The answer is one meeting a month.

In EOS, we call it the Same Page Meeting™, and this is how you run it:

1. Book the meeting every month
↳ Two to four hours, outside the office, no interruptions. If you're done early, great. Most months you won't be.

2. Get the right two people in the room
↳ The Visionary and Integrator, even if your Integrator was hired and isn't a partner.
↳ If there are owners above that relationship, they need their own. Start monthly and move to quarterly once you find your rhythm.

3. Start with a genuine check-in
↳ Spend 5 to 10 minutes on how you're both actually doing, at home and at work. This goes deeper than your Level 10 Meeting® check-in.

4. Put everything on the Issues List
↳ Bring whatever's built up since last month and get all of it down before you solve anything.

5. IDS® one issue at a time
↳ Identify, Discuss, Solve, starting with the most important. If it needs action, give the To-Do one owner.

6. Don't leave until the list is clear
↳ The check-in and the list take about 15 minutes. Everything after that is solving, which is why some months run the full four hours.

(See the graphic below for the full breakdown)

A month is a long time to carry something you haven't said out loud.

Four hours is a small price for walking out on the same page.

Visionaries and Integrators, how often do the two of you sit down just to talk about the two of you?

https://lnkd.in/p/dvfEh6pm

How to Assess Your Team

 

Assessing your team shouldn't come down to a gut feeling.

These 2 objective tests take the guesswork out:

Perhaps you've been in this situation before...

You've been avoiding one conversation for months.
You know the person isn't quite working out.

But every time you go to raise it, it feels too personal, so you let it slide another week.

Then another...

The reason why this feels hard is that you're treating it as a verdict on them as a human being.

But the job was never to decide whether someone is good or bad.
It's to measure one thing: fit.

Once you make it about the seat, the charge drains right out of it.

Two questions do the measuring for you (which founders often wrongly blur into one):

1. Right person: do they live your Core Values?
2. Right seat: do they GWC it?

Here's how each one works...

Right person is about values fit.
Your Core Values aren't something you invent.
They're beliefs and practices that already exist.

Look at your best people and name the traits they share.
Then rate each person against it: plus, plus/minus, or minus on whether they consistently live it.

Right seat is about GWC.

Your Accountability Chart defines what the seat actually needs.

GWC tests whether the person fits it:

- Get it: do they truly grasp what the seat demands?
- Want it: do they want the seat itself, not just the title or the paycheck?
- Capacity: do they have the time, skill, and bandwidth to do it well?

One important thing: GWC isn't a score for how good someone is.
It's a yes/no filter for the seat. A single no means they don't GWC it.

Now the part that makes this stop being personal.

Put the two tests together and you get 4 outcomes, and the outcome tells you what to do:

🟢 Right person, right seat: keep them, back them, let them run.

🟡 Right person, wrong seat: shared values, wrong fit. Find a seat they GWC before you give up on them.

⚠️ Wrong person, right seat: great at the work, off on values. The hardest call, but still a no.

🔴 Wrong person, wrong seat: it's time to make the call.

And when it's time to talk, you coach, you don't ambush:

- Name it plainly and kindly, with real examples so they can see the gap.
- Give time to change. Raise it, allow around 30 days, extend once if there's honest effort.
- If nothing shifts, make the call.

Short-term discomfort beats long-term drag every time.
And the person in the wrong fit almost always ends up better off once it's resolved.

Credits to Mark O'Donnell, make sure to follow

Team Stagnation & Progression Cheat Sheet

 

Ever feel like you’re doing all the heavy lifting, but your team still feels stuck?

It usually comes down to subtle red flags:
• Decisions waiting on "group consensus" instead of a single clear owner.
• Mistakes met with "whose fault is this?" instead of "what process did we miss?"
• Endless busywork without momentum on strategic goals.

Progressive teams don't happen by accident they are built through clear decision rights, psychological safety, and predictable execution rhythms.

Save this cheat sheet for your next weekly check-in.
Choose one checkpoint to install with your team this week and watch the dynamic shift.

https://lnkd.in/p/dSTnwpz9

12 signs of top performing employees

 

Top-performers don't just happen by chance.

They develop these 12 habits:

1. Take Responsibility
→ Mistakes will happen; ownership is a choice.
→ Use the 3 R's: Recognize, Responsibility, Resolve.
→ Admit mistakes, offer answers, and fix the problem.

2. Focuse on Solutions
→ Problems are puzzles waiting to be solved.
→ Use the 5 Whys to find the real cause.
→ Focus on answers, not problems.

3. Put Team before 'I'
→ There's no team in I. Think Team First.
→ Your actions should help everyone, not just you.

4. Show Strong Integrity
→ Your moral compass guides you when no one's watching.
→ Make choices that you'll be proud of tomorrow.

5. Listen Before Speaking
→ In a world full of noise, be the listener.
→ Careful listening can solve more problems than you think.

6. Stay Open-Minded
→ Change is always happening. Welcome it with a Beginner's Mind.
→ Different views lead to better solutions.

7. Communicate with Honest Feedback
→ Care personally, challenge directly.
→ What you say matters. How you say it matters too.

8. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
→ Manage emotions to manage relationships.
→ Notice, understand, and handle emotions for better conversations.

9. Show Humility
→ Be humble. Accept that growth never really ends.
→ Give credit where it's due, always.

10. Get Things Done
→ Goals are dreams with deadlines.
→ Use the SMART method to bring these dreams to life.

11. Love Learning
→ Learning never exhausts the mind.
→ Welcome challenges as chances to grow and share your knowledge.

12. Show Empathy
→ A little empathy goes a long way.
→ Engage, empathise, encourage.
→ Be the support your team needs.

These behaviours are more than just actions.
They are a way of life.

Pick one behaviour each month.
• Focus on it.
• Improve it.
• Watch your career and life change within a year.

You can become world-class if you follow these tips.

Follow Véronique Barrot for more growth and self-leadership insights.

How to Coach Your Team

 

70% of people who receive coaching report better 

work performance.

And for your team, it can start with 4 questions and 
a one simple framework.

The GROW method gives leaders a way to coach in any 
situation or conversation.

Here’s what each stage looks like in practice:

G — Goal
→ Ask: “What are you trying to achieve?”
→ Let them define the target in their own words.

R — Reality
→ Ask: “What’s happening right now?”
→ Stay here longer than feels comfortable.

O — Options
→ Ask: “What could you try?”
→ Resist offering your solution first.

W — Will
→ Ask: “What will you do next?”
→ One specific action is all it takes.

The beautiful thing about coaching your team is that 
when they find their own answers, they remember them.

They act on them.

And they're more bought in.

Go down this route, and over time, you might notice: 

⭐ The conversations get lighter. 
⭐ The problems get smaller. 
⭐ The people get stronger.

Four questions. 
That’s where it starts.

Maybe you use all four in order.
Maybe you lean on one or two that fit your style.

There’s no single right way to coach.

In my experience, the right way is the one that helps
your people grow.

https://lnkd.in/p/dRnJwyht

How to Lead Every Personality Type on Your Team

 

Knowing your team's personality types is easy.

Leading to match their personality is the hard part.

The ones who build the strongest teams apply what they know.

Not as a templated style but tailored to each person and team.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

1. Match how you communicate to how they receive:

Drivers want the bottom line.
Thinkers want more context before the decision.

If you only work in one mode, you're losing half your team.

Action: Before your next 1:1, ask yourself, "Am I communicating in a way that suits them?"

2. Adjust how you share feedback to how they process:

Some people need to reflect on the feedback - in their own time.
Others want to talk through it at the moment.

Action: Observe and respect each person's preferred style. If they are quiet, ask if they would like to talk through it the next day.

3. Know how each person acts under pressure:

Everyone has a default different response to stress.

Some overwork, some overcompensate, and some need space.

When you know what pressure looks like on each person, it helps you notice it early.

Action: When you notice a team member under pressure, ask how you can support them.

4. Stop motivating everyone with the same thing:

Everyone wants (and deserves) to be valued.

But besides that, people have different needs: autonomy, promotion, being included in decisions, etc.

Find what drives each of them.

Action: Pick one person on your team and ask what motivates them.

5. Build your 1:1s around what each person needs:

A 1:1 shouldn’t be the same conversation with every person.

Some need space to think. Others need coaching, direct feedback, or help removing obstacles.

Action: Pick one team member this week and run your next 1:1 the way they prefer, instead of the way that feels natural to you.

Leadership is not one-size-fits-all.

People trust leaders who take the time to understand them and know how they work best.

The part I couldn't fit here: how to adapt your leadership style to each person without lowering your standards or looking inconsistent.

An incredible resource from my friend Cicely Simpson 🔥 (give her a follow)

https://lnkd.in/p/dsAkqVg6