“Our common sense way of dealing with others’ expectations of us is based on fairness, yet it often leaves us kicked out of roles and feeling dejected, powerless, confused, resentful, righteous, or defensive. It isn’t workable.” -Kari Granger Others have expectations of us. Sometimes […]

 “In an effort to survive the constant inbound and to deal with unreliable others, we fall into a default escape strategy — an automatic mood, assessment, and pattern of behavior — that likely won’t get us to the future we want to create.” – […]

 “The information must show up for you in a way that has you take the action when you need to take the action.” – Kari Granger How often do you count on your memory to record the tasks and activities you intend to do? […]

 “When you manage another person’s commitments for them, you rob them of the opportunity to manage their own.” – Kari Granger Sure, we’re happy to engage in partner-based leadership when things are going well…but as soon as something goes wrong we slip right into […]

 “Stop holding people accountable and inspire accountability.” – Kari Granger What if there were a way to have your team’s performance improve without “holding them accountable” or “holding their feet to the fire” or “enforcing standards”? There is a more effective and less painful […]

 “With a request, you can decline freely. With a requirement, you can decline, but there will be a significant cost.” – Kari Granger Fundamentally, humans are not awesome at distinguishing between requests and requirements. That point of miscommunication easily erodes trust in relationships and […]

 “People hear curiosity differently. It’s biological.” -Paul Adams How do we create a breakthrough with anyone, anytime, anywhere? How do we have tough conversations? How do we get out of tough situations that are intractable? It all starts with one key — and with […]

 “’Why’ questions get us to the outcome or purpose. ‘What’ questions get us to the action.” – Kari Granger Curiosity levels up any professional’s ability to address problems without causing others to become defensive. And, it turns out what we get curious about makes […]

 “If I think loyalty is only to a person, then it’s always going to show up as a conflict for me.” – Kari Granger Like curiosity, loyalty is another key to accountability. This may seem counterintuitive — afterall, isn’t our loyalty to others what […]

 “The difference is in how we operate — with the accountability spheres mindset, we ensure high levels of communication and coordination.” – Kari Granger “It’s not my job!” When silos run workplace dynamics and the “not-my-job” mantra leaves projects disconnected, the likely culprit is […]