Why Teams Struggle with Alignment (And How to Fix It with Better Leadership and Strategic Planning) | #1

Who supports the leader when everyone else is looking to them for answers? Leadership can be rewarding, but it can also feel incredibly lonely. Whether you're managing a small team or leading an entire organization, you're expected to make decisions, solve problems, motivate employees, and guide your team through challenges. But who is supporting you? In this episode of the Build Better Teams Podcast, host Shannon Russell explores why even the most successful leaders need mentorship, peer sup...

What does company culture really mean? It isn't free snacks, casual Fridays, company happy hours, or the values written in an employee handbook. Company culture is the experience your employees have working together every day. It's how people communicate, how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, and whether team members feel supported, respected, and heard. In this episode of the Build Better Teams Podcast, Shannon Russell explores how leaders can intentionally build a stronger ...

Tired of networking events that consist of name tags, awkward small talk, and the same old question: “So, what do you do?” There’s a better way to help people connect. In this episode of the Build Better Teams Podcast, strategic leadership and team-building facilitator Shannon Russell takes you behind the scenes of two recent interactive networking events where participants skipped the traditional introductions and instead built LEGO® minifigures that represented who they are. The result? Peo...

Planning a leadership retreat or executive offsite? Don't bring your leaders together just to spend eight hours sitting around a conference table listening to presentations. In this episode of the Build Better Teams podcast, strategic leadership and team-building facilitator Shannon Russell shares creative leadership retreat ideas and activities designed to get leaders out of their seats, away from their screens, and actively communicating, collaborating, problem-solving, and planning for the...

What happens when we stop using our imagination at work? After recently stepping onto the TEDx stage, strategic leadership and team-building facilitator Shannon Russell is reflecting on the idea at the center of her talk: The Imagination Recession. As adults, we become focused on productivity, efficiency, deadlines, and getting more done. Somewhere along the way, many of us stop making time to play, experiment, create, and imagine what else might be possible. But organizations still expect em...