🌟 While we no longer record the Q&A discussions during our Leadership Strategy Sessions, we continue to record the opening teaching. Enjoy a special preview of what I shared about leading through July's rhythm disruption. If you'd like to view the full video and participate in upcoming sessions, consider upgrading your subscription to join us live.
The calendar is not rational.
On paper, July should feel like a fresh start. Second half of the year, new quarter, time to execute. But in practice? June ended in a haze, the Fourth split the month, and rolling vacations are making collaboration clunky and uncertain.
How do you lead through this mismatch between where your calendar says you should be and where your team actually is? I covered these three key strategies during our call, and paid subscribers can watch the full teaching above:
Assess your team's actual capacity and start there rather than what the calendar suggests should be happening. Remember, you've been thinking about work during time off, while they actually disconnected, so give them time to catch up to where you already are.
Be their external memory and resurface the July plans you discussed weeks ago. Help them get reoriented without judgment.
Honor transition time as transition time. You can't expect peak performance during reentry weeks. Create space for your team to get back in the groove without pressure.
This month, we also covered:
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Helping you (and your team) overcome the fear of falling behind. Build trust in both internal signals and external data to know when you've/they've done enough.
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Break the “busy badge” culture. Challenge arbitrary deadlines and the manufactured urgency that keeps teams spinning.
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Create a team habit of asking who owns the question. The owner builds consensus while staying accountable by keeping the question alive until agreement is reached. (You can find more on democratizing decision-making in chapter 4 of Team Habits.)
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Document team habits during busy seasons. Busy periods are actually the best time to capture what's not working because teams feel the friction most. Anyone can take this on, not just managers.
Our next Leadership Strategy Session will be on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. PDT, where we'll explore “Reboarding Without the Whiplash” — helping your team transition from summer mode back to focused execution.
Premium subscribers can find links to all the related resources shared during the call below. 👇🏽
