Building Trust Beyond Borders: Navigating Team Dynamics in the Remote Work Era
What did the pandemic do for workplace team trust?... Way, way back in our history, humans realized that we can get more done if we combine our efforts and work as a team. This is how we start families, scale businesses, run countries, and everything else that matters. Teamwork is a building block of civilization. But it wasn’t long after we realized the power of teamwork that we also realized the knife cuts both ways – and that bad team dynamics can keep us from getting anything done. Working together successfully requires powerful trust, and powerful trust requires effective communication, and that requires psychological safety in the workplace, which requires – well, let’s just say, when it comes to a healthy team, everything affects everything else. It is a delicate balance to strike. And that’s when everyone is in the same place… When the pandemic scattered our teams, many businesses discovered a new challenge: keeping teams successful when they’re remote. Suddenly team members...
Decoding the Silent Signals: 5 Insights Your Team Expresses Non-Verbally
Florin LunguIt's a widely acknowledged fact: a mere 7% of our communication is rooted in the words we utter. The true essence of our message often lies in our body language and the nuances of our vocal tones. When this concept was introduced to you, it was likely framed within the context of your leadership and communication style. It's a crucial reminder that leaders need to be attuned to the silent messages they send. Yet, it's easy to overlook that this principle isn't exclusive to leadership—it's universal. True leadership isn't just about instructing, coaching, or guiding. It's equally about active listening—tuning in not just with our ears, but with our eyes and heightened emotional intelligence. Your team is in a constant state of communication, a wellspring of invaluable insights. While they might not always verbalize their thoughts, it's imperative for leaders to decipher these unspoken cues. By reading between the lines, you gain a deeper understanding of the underlying...
Mastering the Art of Conflict: Lessons from Pixar’s Braintrust for Transformative Leadership
Florin LunguWhen we are talking about animated movies – and not just any animated movies, but the best animated movies made by anyone, anywhere – what is the first studio to come to mind? Of course, it’s Pixar. If you have spent any time watching animated films, you’ve probably got a favorite Pixar movie. They have certainly established themselves as a powerhouse in the entertainment industry. Popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reflects that, on average, nearly 90% of those who watch Pixar films walk away having enjoyed themselves. The studio has also earned an Academy Award, the highest honor in American cinema, 23 times since its first release in 1995. This is not to mention its average gross income of more than $500 million per film. To what does Pixar attribute their incredible success? Some say it’s their innovative approach to filmmaking. Others credit their commitment to technical and artistic quality. And both assessments have their value. But one quality that often...
The Leadership Shift: Equipping Others for Collective Growth.
Florin LunguI find that a good question can challenge, inspire, and prompt all at the same time. And today’s powerful query is, What are you doing to equip your people? As a leader, this question moves me… it refocuses my efforts, reminds me of what’s important, and redirects me to something bigger than myself. But that’s not the only reason why. You see, for the first few years of my career, I was pursuing a technical trade. I spent my days in workshops tending to vehicle systems. This is how I expected to spend the rest of my working years – I had planned to become a technical expert. That changed when our department head, Eric, promoted me. I was shocked! Leadership was a completely new direction for me – one that didn’t make sense to me at all. But Eric saw something in me that I didn’t see. He told me that he noticed I was good with the team – not just in my role but in helping them collaborate and communicate and excel – and that I could go beyond just the technical parts that...
From Retention to Inclusion: A Transformative Approach to Keeping Top Talent
Florin LunguMany leaders live, work, and lead in fear of one word… “Retention.” It is one of the corporate world’s greatest struggles - trying to hold onto top-performing talent. “Retention” is a feared and dreaded world. It carries with it a bad connotation. It can feel less like retaining and more like detaining, like we are holding onto our people as tightly as we can. Understandably so. It can cost a business anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them. And that does not even take into account the lost potential in ideas and insight, and turnover’s dramatic hit to morale. But this fear-based approach is actually killing retention! Even with so much to lose, leaders cannot fear losing their top performers. Especially with so much to lose. Fear blinds, deafens, and distracts. Fear keeps us from asking questions whose answers we may not want to hear, even if they will build an important bridge. And if we are going to keep our best team members leaned in,...
Mastering the Recipe for Team Success: Why You Need More Than Just Chefs
Florin LunguImagine what life would be like if the world was full of only chefs. Every child would be born with a bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other. We would learn to flambé at the same time we would learn to walk. Every man and woman would graduate from culinary school to serve in the world’s finest dining establishments… every meal would be a five-course spectacle. There’s only one (huge) problem… If there were only chefs, there would be no farmers to harvest their ingredients… no drivers to transport the food, either… no inventors to design or manufacturers to produce their cooking equipment… no decorators to furnish or managers to run their restaurants… and no finance officers to make sure anyone got paid for their trouble! And that’s just in the dining industry – there would be no travel, no housing, no medicine, no technology, no government… (which, I suppose, means not politicians – so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all!)... Of course, this is a pretty far-fetched...
Soft Skills, Hard Truths: The Unseen Challenges of Tech Leadership
Florin LunguMore than likely, you are familiar with the phrase, “Like a square peg in a round hole.” Generally, this phrase is used to refer to someone or something that doesn’t fit in at all with its environment – like a fish out of water. If something is a square peg in a round hole, by its very nature, it doesn’t belong there. Now, of course, no one would ever knowingly try to place a square peg in a round hole… but what if we don’t know that’s what we’re doing? Meet Sarah, a coding engineer at a high-performing tech company. She has risen to the top of her profession. With natural talent honed by years of dedicated study, she is a master of the coding craft. She is always the first one to step up and solve complex coding challenges. Her practical talent and naturally excellent work ethic have driven her to become a standout on her team, and her success does not go unnoticed by her leaders. In fact, one day, they decide to reward Sarah with a promotion. But to her leaders’...
Turning the Tide: How One Skill Rescued a Failing Team
Florin LunguImagine you are dealing with some of the worst team dynamics of your leadership career… Your numbers are way under projection because your team is struggling to perform. Project progress is slowing as more and more team members call in sick every month. No one is communicating. No one is contributing. Morale is so low, you have to bend over and squint to see it at all! Maybe you don’t have to imagine. Maybe this is exactly what you are dealing with in the workplace right now – or you have seen situations like this in the past. Unfortunately, one of my clients – we’ll call him John – didn’t have to imagine, either. For a while, this was his daily reality. People calling out, checking out, zoning out… and one of them even began burning out. Not only was he concerned for his people, but the bottom line, as well – after all, results had come to a halt! Now when I first met John, he reminded me very much of myself. I was raised by a strict mother – an authoritarian who...
From Failure to Triumph: The Resilient Leader’s Tips to Navigating High-Stakes Challenges
Florin LunguYou may have heard the phrase, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” It creates this image of a lumbering, towering figure toppling over, falling to the ground in slow-motion, its great weight crashing down and causing the very earth to shake underneath it… And it is often used to make success seem like a burden – like a bar hard won to pass but if fallen short of, will leave us absolutely devastated. It turns the joy of success into intimidation and makes the temporary phase of failure seem like a death blow. And here’s the thing – this phrase works like a charm. These days, we are living in a fast-paced corporate world. Constant pivots. Tight turnarounds. The internet has made the world smaller than ever, which means more competition – higher expectations – and more than anything, more pressure to perform and produce. As leaders in this environment, even our day-to-day tasks can feel high-stakes. It can feel like even a minute is the difference between life and...
Unlocking the Language of Leadership: The Role of Communication Styles in Team Dynamics
Florin LunguBefore we get into the article – if you’re short on time, scroll to the bottom for a free assessment that will help you multiply the impact of your leadership and productivity of your teams! How many languages do you think you could name if you tried? If you’re like most of the world, then you speak at least two languages – so, there’s two right there. Maybe you are exceptional and you speak four or five languages. Then, you could probably name 15 or 20 beyond that – but surely not 50 languages, just off the top of your head? In that case, it might surprise you to know that today, there are more than 7,100 languages being spoken throughout the world – 7,117, to be exact! Some of them share alphabets; some have the same parent language; some of them borrow words from each other… but despite their common elements, they are distinct from each other. They have their own rules of grammar, their own vocabulary… They have their own sound and their own subculture that those who...
Beyond the Pandemic: A Leader’s Blueprint for Change in Uncertain Times
Florin LunguChange… The pandemic was one of the most impactful world events in recent history. People had to stay inside and couldn’t work; businesses closed and couldn’t make money; the world had to learn a new way of working. Since then, it feels like all we talk about is change and how to cope with it for fear of another blindsiding, world-changing event beyond our power to affect. But then, why are we still so unprepared to deal with change? One recent report by WalkMe, a digital adoption platform, indicated that only 34% change initiatives succeed. That’s barely one out of every three. And unfortunately, because of the pandemic – and because this is just the world we live in – our organizations must continue to launch change efforts all year round. Are you prepared to fail ⅔ of those efforts? Waste ⅔ of those resources? Frustrate and disappoint your team members ⅔ of the time? If you are taking the time to read this email, I can’t imagine that you are! So then, consider this...
Success Through Failure: Cultivating a Failure-Friendly Corporate Culture
Florin LunguHot and cold… Light and dark… Black and white… These opposites stand in contrast to each other, but they also help define each other. Think about it: try to describe darkness without using the word “light.” Try to think about feeling cold without wishing for warmth. It’s very difficult, if you can at all. Even as two opposing ideas, they exist on the same spectrum. In understanding one you understand the other. And given this relationship, it is interesting why there is not more talk of failure in the leadership development space. Or, at least, why there is not more positive discussion of failure. Famed inventor Thomas Edison knew that failure had made invaluable contributions to his success. In an interview for American magazine, Edison stated, I never allow myself to become discouraged under any circumstances. I recall that after we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates, after we had conducted the...
Becoming the Best Leader You Can Be: A Guide to the Power of Mentorship
Florin Lungu“Before working with Florin I had little to no hope of turning around the situation I was facing at work. During the 12 months of Florin's mentorship, my hope returned, as well as the strength to face the work obstacles I had ahead of me.” “Without Florin's mentorship, I would not have had the same leadership tools and self-insight in my backpack that I have today. Florin has moved me, pushed me and piqued my curiosity to seek new paths and new methods to become an even better version of myself, and as a strategic and operational leader.” This is just some of the kind feedback I have received from some of my mentoring clients. Now, I don’t share these testimonials to brag (although, of course, I am proud of my clients and what they have accomplished in our time working together). But rather, I want to communicate something crucial to you today… Every leader needs a mentor. If I were reading the words of my clients I might find it hard to believe that something like...
Driving Change: How Alan Mulally’s ‘One Ford’ Vision Rescued an Automotive Giant
Florin LunguIf you have ever belonged to an organization holding on for dear life, you know what the atmosphere was like in Alan Mulally’s first meeting as president and CEO of the Ford Motor Company. Mulally had taken over in September 2006. The organization had one of the most legendary names in American industry, but its stock price had fallen nearly $10 in the few years prior. Ford was headed toward its largest-ever annual loss – $12.7 billion – and was not expected to profit again for the next two years. Needless to say, things were dire, and the pressure on Mulally was high. In the meeting, the air must have been abuzz with anticipation. Some in the audience were likely hopeful. Others were probably more skeptical – others, like the man who brazenly asked of the organization’s new CEO, “How are you going to tackle something as complex and unfamiliar as the auto business when we are in such tough financial shape?” Without skipping a beat, Mulally answered, “An automobile has...
The Emotional Side of Leadership: Why Empathy Matters More Than Ever
Florin LunguJohn Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Now, if you’ve been reading my emails long, you certainly know the name John Maxwell – and even if you haven’t, you might very well still know the name. He is one of the world’s foremost leadership experts. But still, it is difficult for many leaders to take a relational approach to getting more from their teams. Why? Well, some leaders have a more task-oriented or results-oriented leadership style. These leaders might not consider a relational approach practical. Others might think that they might not be able to have much empathy for their team because leaders must sometimes make unpopular decisions. Some see empathy as avoiding confrontation or criticism, and still others feel they just aren’t able to emotionally invest in their teams. But at the end of the day… …empathy is one of the greatest ways that leaders can get more from their teams. Think about it like this: What’s the...
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