We share real-world examples from recent events and provide a practical framework for understanding and talking about these optimization goals with our teams. The episode highlights why acknowledging these differences is essential for effective leadership, how to surface hidden motivations, and why conscious tension leads to better outcomes than underground misalignment.

Five Key Learnings

1. Everyone on your team is optimizing for something—stability, recognition, autonomy, craft, efficiency, income, comfort, or meaning—and not always the same thing.
2. The unseen tension in organizations often stems from people “playing different games at the same table,” keeping score in different ways.
3. None of the motivations or optimization goals are wrong; diverse goals can create necessary, creative tension when acknowledged openly.
4. As leaders, it’s vital to name our own optimization drivers, get curious about those of others, and foster team conversations about what each person is optimizing for.
5. The goal isn’t to demand uniformity, but to make tensions conscious and productive—this balanced diversity ultimately improves the team’s performance.

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First a few ground-rules. Do not steamroll your team with these and if you're a team member, don't barge into your manager's office demanding to have these conversations. This is about relationship and relationship is about empathy, trust and commitment. If we're going to have these conversations, we must be committed to the results, even if they're not what we wish for. We have to be willing to hear the truth and act on it even when we dislike it.

One more quick ground rule. You need to be having these conversations both on a team level and an individual level with your team members. Some team members might not feel comfortable expressing themselves in a larger group, but they might have insights that can help you engage in a more healthy way if you give them space to talk. You need to formalize your conversations. In the words of management guru Peter Drucker, "what gets measured gets done." You need to have a system for these conversations and not just wait for the opportune time to occur. It never will.

1. The Clarity Conversation

This conversation is all about bringing alignment and combatting dissonance with our teams. It's about making sure that what we SAY we're about is what we're actually about. It's about making sure that we understand the objectives of our projects, our teams and our organization's reason for being.

– Do what/why add up? In other words, is what we SAY we're about what we're actually doing? One way to ask this question is "is there anything we're doing right now that seems out of character for us?" Step back and allow the conversation to ensue. Don't get defensive and don't feel the need to argue. This is not about being right, it's about discerning and identifying problems within the team.

- Do you understand the objectives? Are they clear? Is there anything you're unclear about? Sometimes people won't speak up because they assume that everyone else gets it and they're the only idiot. This kind of isolation is a lie and it countermands creative effectiveness. The more we discuss the objectives until everyone is crystal clear, the better off we'll be.

Clarity is critical to healthy team creating. The more clear we are about the problems we're trying to solve, the more effective we will be in that creating. But the less clear we are about aligning the why and the what, the more our process will dissolve into chaos.

2. The Expectations Conversation

This very simple conversation is designed to neutralize the victim mindset. By calling out and allowing conversations about expectations we can be certain that we're not allowing confusion to grow, which can lead to finger-pointing and self-protection rather than generosity and trust.

– Do you know what’s expected of you? Get the artist to express their understanding of expectations directly and simply.

– What do you expect from me and am I falling short? Again, don't be defensive and try to defend yourself. If the stated expectations are unrealistic, have that conversation, but it's important that you realize that your role is to serve, not to be right.

3. The Fear Conversation

This is the most nebulous of the conversations and is one of the more difficult to get people to open up to, but it can be one of the most powerful if we have the guts to engage in it. This is all about shining light into dark, unspoken places and neutralizing emerging fear.

– What are you afraid might happen and why? In other words, what makes you "gun shy" in your creating?

– Do you feel free to take risks? If so, why? What environmental cues are leading you to that?

4. The Engagement Conversation

This conversation is all about identifying patterns of engagement/energy/enthusiasm on the team. Creativity is rhythmic, both on an individual and team level and we have to take that into account as we're planning our work. This conversation helps you - as the leader of process - to gauge where the team is in terms of energy and engagement and plan accordingly. It also helps the team - in a collective sense - to gain a better understanding of where each member is in terms of inspiration and energy level.

– What’s your energy level/enthusiasm?

– What’s inspiring you?

– How do you feel about the work you’re doing?

– What’s the best thing we’re doing and why?

5. The “Final 10%” Conversation

This conversation is all about neutralizing - as my friend Ben likes to call them - "whispers in the hallway." These are the conversations that emerge when a small group of people want to commiserate but they don't have the guts to speak their thoughts to the organization either because they're spineless or because there isn't a culture of trust. Either way, you are WAY better off having these conversations in a team context and one-on-one than allowing them to fester and create dissonance and fear. So what you're going to do in this conversation is ask them to tell you the "final remnant" of feedback that they're not going to volunteer unless you ask for it.

- What’s the dumbest thing I/we are doing right now?

– What’s the smartest thing I/we are doing right now?

– What something obvious that you don’t think I’m seeing?

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However, this is not driven by a desire to do what’s in the best interest of the team, but by the neediness of the leader. They don’t want to deal with the discomfort of wading through the murky grey waters of uncertainty. It’s much easier to deal in black and white, so they paint the situation as much more simple and positive it really is. The dissonance team members feel between words and reality causes a major breach in trust. (By the way, your team is smart.)

Have you ever met that person who always puts a positive spin on everything? The world could be falling apart, cats and dogs living together in harmony, and fire and brimstone falling from the clouds, but somehow they still muster a smile and say it’s going to be OK? You’ll hear many gurus and leadership experts touting the importance of optimism and the strategic value of always keeping a positive mindset. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this advice, except that it’s taken to an irresponsible extreme. When your optimism is decoupled from reality, you risk losing the trust of your team and your perspective on what needs to be done.

That person who always puts a positive spin on things? You probably don’t trust them. Not fully, anyway. They might be fun to hang out with, and they might be able to turn around a bad night out, but it’s doubtful that you’d go to them first when you need serious advice about an important decision. You simply can’t trust that they’ll give you a realistic viewpoint. They are too clouded by their unrealistic “future’s so bright I gotta wear shades” mentality.

If you aren’t realistic with your team, then you risk losing their trust. They’ll listen to you, but they won’t believe you. As legendary leadership expert Warren Bennis said, “Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.” If your team suspects that you’re putting a glossy overtone on everything, they’ll soon stop paying attention and will seek out a truth teller. Your organization will become dysfunctional.

Yes, informed optimism is the fuel of change, but naive optimism is deadly. Wishing and hoping is never a solution to actual problems. If you want to effect change, you need to pair your optimism with realism and skill.

The same principles apply to your team.

Don't fall for the temptation to put a glossy coat on everything. Your team will trust you more, and will follow you into the uncertainty, when they believe that you're telling them the truth.

Because of the risk involved, many leaders unknowingly become less than clear about their expectations for the work or of the team. They might speak in vague terms or give opaque direction because they themselves are not certain of the right decision. They know the team needs to move forward, but it’s not clear to them yet what forward actually means. They want to protect themselves from a mistake, so they lack precision.

The problem with this is that their lack of precision and clarity has a trickle-down effect within the organization. Direction diffuses. Things don’t become more clear as you get farther and farther from the decision-maker, they become less so. Thus, a few team dynamics emerge:

1. Because they don’t want to waste their time, team members just wait until you tell them what to actually do before starting their work.

2. Dissonance emerges as each team member interprets what you want, sometimes leading to misalignment and disjointedness among those responsible for executing on the work.

Team members need leaders to be precise about expectations. They don’t need you to be right, but they do need you to be clear even when you are uncertain. Here are a few areas where you need to ensure you are being precise:

Precise Language. When sharing your decisions or expectations with the team, speak in nouns and verbs, not lofty adjectives and adverbs. Be a laser, not a lighthouse. A lighthouse tells you what not to do by pointing out danger areas, but doesn’t really give you a clear path forward. A laser is precise and focused and points you to a desired outcome. You should aim to use precise language when speaking with the team. Don’t use industry buzz-phrases or metaphors. Find a clear, compelling, precise way to communicate what you want, even if you’re uncertain you’re correct.

Precise Expectations. Be very clear about what you want, when you want it, who will do it, why it matters, and what the outcome will be if you are successful. Don’t leave room for vague interpretations of when the work is needed, who the responsible parties are, or why any of it matters to begin with. All effective expectations include assignment of responsibility, articulation of timeline, and accountability for results. If your expectations don’t include all three, you aren’t being precise enough.

Precise Objectives. Where are you leading the team? How will you know you’ve arrived? Why will any of it matter? Many leaders speak in lofty, vague terms about their vision for the work or the team because they aren’t really certain about their own intuition. Team members need to know that you have clear objectives in mind, that you are aware of the obstacles you will encounter along the way, and that you have a plan to overcome them. You must be clear about where you are leading the team in spite of your personal insecurities.

Leaders, be precise in how you communicate with your team. You owe them that. Once your team members have clear bounding arcs and a solid objective in mind, they will reward you with more consistent, aligned, imaginative work.

Want to explore this topic more? Check out my book Herding Tigers.

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Much of this blame-shifting is in the effort to protect ourselves. We don’t like being seen by others as a failure, or as lacking self-control. There are sometimes consequences for failure that affect our job, our family and even our health. We also don’t like to see ourselves as a failure, and we do everything we can to protect our desired self-image.

When a culture of blame infiltrates your team, it can be devastating.

On today's episode, we share a few ways to identify a culture of blame, and several principles for dealing with it.

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Lisa Johnson has spent years studying the elements of effective storytelling and has become a sought-after consultant by some of the world’s largest brands. She believes that one of the best ways for leaders to show themselves to their team is through telling stories. Specifically, she says that leaders should tell stories that reveal something about themselves that the team may not have previously heard.

On this episode, we share are a few kinds of stories that Johnson recommends leaders tell. This episode is excerpted from the book Herding Tigers.

Today's episode is sponsored by the Herding Tigers Workshop, and live event for you and leaders just like you. Check it out at HerdingTigersWorkshop.com

However, leadership is also a tremendous opportunity. You get the privilege of helping others unleash their best work, and you get to have a level of influence on decisions that will often determine the success or failure of the organization.

When the pressure is on, and uncertainty is rearing its ugly head, there are traps that even the most experienced leaders fall into. When you fall into one (or more) of these traps, you put an impediment in your team’s path, and introduce dissonance into the organization.

On this episode, we share four common traps that leaders fall into when the pressure is on: deferring, blaming, bending, and hovering.

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This episode is brought to you by the Herding Tigers Workshop, a live event for you and leaders just like you that's designed to help you be the leader that creative people need.

Learn more about Herding Tigers.

Learn more about Herding Tigers at HerdingTigers.net.

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Today's episode is brought to you by the book Herding Tigers: Be The Leader That Creative People Need.

Learn more about Herding Tigers at HerdingTigers.net.