So what’s the connection to business? For you to succeed in your role, to be a difference maker to your colleagues and to your clients, you have to believe. Yes, you must have a baseline of technical skill and proficiency that’s laid down through years of education and training, but for the next presentation, for this sales pitch, for this budget defense, put in the work and then believe in yourself and the capabilities of your team. Have their backs so they have yours. Timidity and self-doubt at both the individual and team levels represent the fast-pass to mediocrity and disappointment.

This week, we’re going to continue the discussion on the cultural impact of return-to-office policies and their impact on employee engagement by looking at the other side of the coin—the actions of employees. When talking about organizational culture and employee engagement, it’s critical to recognize that employee engagement is a two-way street.

Nothing says “I don’t trust you” more than draconian HR policies that are spread like peanut butter over the employee population in an attempt to snare a few bad apples who are likely disengaged and working against the best interests of the company and the rest of the team. The solution? Improve the skill level of managers across the organization through intentional learning and development programs and make it clear through incentives that excellence is rewarded and poor performance/disengagement are not. The bad apples will opt out and head for more fertile pastures to apply their mediocre skills and display their poor work ethic for all to see.

Today we’re going to continue our exploration of the growth trap. I define the growth trap as seeking business growth for the sake of business growth with little regard for operational or cultural implications.

However, like the budgeting process, c-suite magical thinking poses the biggest threat to value addition in M&A and can quickly turn what on the surface looks like a great idea and a big value-add into a transaction that ends up destroying corporate value.

The question today is this. Is bigger always better? In zucchini, the answer is a resounding no. In business, the answer is a bit more nuanced, but bigger is certainly not always better.

As leaders, we routinely fall into what I like to call the growth trap. The growth trap shows up in various forms, but it can be a huge morale killer and represent significant risk to the business.

My advice is instead of looking down your nose and denigrating members of the generations that follow you, lend a hand. Use your gifts to mentor, lift up, and inspire those who are less experienced than you are.