Have you poured months into a strategy your team couldn't bring to life? Or watched capable people work harder than ever, and still struggle to pull together as a team?
High performance isn't about a better strategy, more talent, or longer hours. It's about how your team works together, every single day.
Karina Mangu-Ward, author of Teams That Meet the Moment, has spent more than a decade helping complex organizations redesign the messy day-to-day of how people actually get things done together. Her belief: good everyday teaming habits are both good for people and good for results. You don't have to choose between them.
Making this real doesn't require a reinvention. You just need the right structure and the intention to show up differently. In this episode, Karina shares simple, tangible practices you can use in your very next meeting or strategic project.
You’ll Learn:
- The three lies leaders tell themselves about teamwork, and why believing them holds your team back
- How the framework of the "Even Over" ends the swirl when your team is stuck choosing between two competing options
- Why creating a "Safe to Try" process gets a team unstuck when you're chasing consensus and certainty
- What a steady team cadence unlocks when everything around you feels like an emergency
- The instinct nearly every high performer has to unlearn before they can build a team that thrives
ABOUT MY GUEST:
Karina Mangu-Ward is a partner at August Public, an organizational change consultancy that helps large, complex organizations build more human-centered ways of working, whose clients include PepsiCo, Planned Parenthood, and Sundance. She's the author of Teams That Meet the Moment: 9 Practices for Unlocking Performance and Growth in Uncertain Times. Karina's passion is helping groups navigate complexity, gain insight, and unlock highly complex challenges.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:03:01 Why great strategy still fails
04:13 The hustle culture myth that's burning teams out
05:20 Everyday habits drive extraordinary teams
07:11 Meeting the moment in uncertain times
09:13 The "Safe to Try" mindset that breaks gridlock
11:18 Setting guardrails without limiting innovation
12:06 Why small bets outperform big risks
13:29 Unlearning the need to have the answer
15:17 Why sticky practices beat complicated frameworks
17:16 Simple retrospectives that strengthen learning
20:19 The surprising cost of treating everything like an emergency
22:09 Using "Even Over" to make better trade-offs
25:28 Intention over reaction in decision-making
30:32 When perfection becomes procrastination
31:53 Why working in public accelerates learning
34:22 The power of stories over instruction
37:08 Intention + practice = better leadership
39:14 What trade-off do you need to make?
What is Chain of Learning: Leadership Strategies for Transforming Culture, Developing People, and Getting Results?
Chain of Learning® is the leadership podcast for leaders and change practitioners who believe that people, not tools, are the foundation of lasting results.
If you're working to transform your organization's culture, develop leaders at every level, and build teams that are capable, confident, and empowered to solve problems and innovate, this podcast is for you.
Hosted by Katie Anderson, award-winning author of "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn" and globally recognized expert in people-centered leadership, Chain of Learning explores how leaders break free from the Doer Trap™, where they do more and their people develop less, and build a vibrant culture where impact is exponential.
Each biweekly episode offers practical insights, reflective questions, and real-world examples to help you:
- Develop leaders at scale, not just one at a time
- Build high-performing cultures of continuous learning, grounded in psychological safety, trust, and empowerment, that thrive and grow
- Lead culture transformation and change leadership with intention
- Strengthen coaching culture, problem-solving, and leadership development across your organization
- Move from managers who focus on outcomes to leaders who develop people, improve performance, and get results
Grounded in human-centered leadership and adult learning practices, and informed by principles of the Toyota Way, Lean thinking, and operational excellence, Chain of Learning features conversations with influential thinkers and leaders shaping the future of leadership at scale and organizational learning. Past guests include Carol Dweck, Michael Bungay Stanier, Rich Sheridan, Barry O'Reilly, Steve Spear, Jim Womack, Gene Kim, and Larry Culp.
Subscribe and follow Chain of Learning® to deepen your impact. Share this podcast with your colleagues, fellow change leaders, and friends so we can strengthen our Chain of Learning together.
Podcast website: ChainOfLearning.com
Katie Anderson’s website: KBJAnderson.com
Connect with Katie: linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson
Read Katie's Shingo Publication Award-winning book: LearningToLeadLeadingToLearn.com
Download the KATALYST™ Change Leader Assessment: KBJAnderson.com/Katalyst