DeepSummary
Jennifer Brown interviews Charlie Gilkey, author of the new book 'Team Habits', about redefining how we view teams, leadership, and inclusion in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss the challenges of remote collaboration, shifting paradigms of belonging, and innovative approaches to building inclusive team dynamics.
Gilkey emphasizes the need to understand the true meaning of 'teams' as small groups of 4-8 people who work together closely. He shares insights on fostering psychological safety, addressing biases and microaggressions, and normalizing open conversations about identity and inclusion within these intimate team settings.
The conversation also explores the evolving role of leaders in facilitating team habits, drawing boundaries between institutional power and interpersonal dynamics. Gilkey advises leaders to know when to be 'intrusive' in guiding teams through challenges, while allowing teams autonomy to develop their own rhythms and participation styles.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Redefine 'teams' as small, tight-knit groups of 4-8 people who work closely together.
- Foster psychological safety within teams to have open conversations about identity, biases, and microaggressions.
- Normalize team members occasionally struggling or 'falling down', and support each other through those phases.
- Allow teams autonomy to develop their own 'team habits' and rhythms for participation and inclusion.
- Leaders should be 'intrusive' only when essential, guiding teams through key challenges while enabling self-direction.
- The pandemic disrupted established 'workways', forcing teams to rebuild norms for remote/hybrid collaboration.
- Younger generations have different perspectives on workplace dynamics due to greater transparency enabled by the internet.
- Build trust and commitment within teams by actively caring about teammates' experiences and circumstances.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “What Covid did is took all of our workways and broke them and just dumped them out, pushed them off the table, and we had to start figuring out how we were going to work with each other.“ by Charlie Gilkey
- “Here's the thing that older generations need to understand. When we grew up, when Jennifer and I grew up, if we had, if our family and our parents had issues at work, one, if they talked about it, that was great because we knew. But two, we thought it was with our family, right? Well, there's a younger generation that has grown up on the Internet that has seen that the absurdity of work is universal, right?“ by Charlie Gilkey
- “I'm of the mindset that we need. We don't need more people practicing the subtle art of not giving a fork, actually. We need more people in their teams giving all the damns right, and actually caring.“ by Charlie Gilkey
- “The best leaders do the least, but do what's essential.“ by Charlie Gilkey
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Episode Information
The Will To Change: Uncovering True Stories of Diversity & Inclusion
Jennifer Brown
8/18/23
This episode features a conversation with author Charlie Gilkey, as he discusses his new book Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. Charlie discusses the need to redefine the way we view teams, leadership, and inclusion in the wake of the pandemic and unprecedented challenges. He also shares insights about how remote collaboration, shifting paradigms of belonging, and innovative approaches to inclusion have reshaped the team dynamics landscape.