Jacqui d'Eon - Blog #development

Life Feel Off? Check Your Compass

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:16:11 -0400

For years, I thought I knew my core values. I could list words like honesty and integrity and feel satisfied. But deep down, I wasn’t really living by them. I hadn’t taken the time to articulate what truly drives me, or what really matters when life gets messy.

That changed when I discovered Robert Glazer’s book, The Compass Within. It showed me that understanding your core values isn’t just a feel-good exercise - it’s a tool for making better decisions, finding alignment, and even recognizing when life or work is out of sync.

On the surface, the book reads like a simple parable about a young man reflecting on who he is. But underneath, it’s a step-by-step guide for discovering what genuinely matters - and how to let it shape your choices.

Glazer explains that a true core value has three defining traits:

Non-negotiable principles you already live by (even if imperfectly)
Stable across time and situations
A source of both pride and friction

The Compass Within is more than just a book; Glazer developed an AI tool that guides you through the process yourself.

It’s simple to use, but the insights it delivers can be profound.

The AI asks tough questions, helping you spot patterns in your behaviour and uncover truths you might have overlooked.

Why bother? Because when your life or career is out of alignment with your values, it manifests as stress, frustration, or a sense that "something’s off."

Your values can act as a compass, pointing out where adjustments are needed and guiding your next steps.

Glazer suggests testing your values with these questions:

Can I use this to make a decision?
Does its opposite create discomfort or anger?
Is it a phrase, not a buzzword?
Can I honestly rate myself on it?

Here are my core values:

Create clear, functional structure so things and people can work well
Make clear commitments and follow through - mine and others
Honour the trust placed in me by choosing responsibility consciously and carrying it fully
Pursue meaningful progress, not stagnant routine

Truthfully, I would never have come up with this list on my own, but it feels right.

Now I’ll ask you: Does this align with the Jacqui you know?

If you want to try this yourself (and I highly recommend it), read The Compass Within and then use Glazer’s AI tool, which is free and carries no obligation: https://robertglazer.com/compass/.

You’ll be glad you did.

Your Culture Lives in the Middle

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:22:02 -0400

You have the posters. Your mission statement is a masterpiece. Your organization has a culture manifesto. Yet, day after day, the way work actually happens tells a different story.

Culture isn’t what you write on the walls—it’s what people live every day. And the people who shape that lived experience are often your middle managers.

They lead teams, run projects, train new employees, and translate the tone set by the C-suite into daily reality. They are the real guardians of your culture.

Consider this example: a middle manager in a growing firm noticed that her team was routinely skipping debrief sessions because deadlines were tight. The culture document emphasized collaboration and learning, but pressure from above made it feel impossible to honour that value. She decided to push back. She convinced her director to allow her team to take time for retrospectives.

The result? Problems were caught earlier, meaningful conversations happened, work processes streamlined, and productivity actually improved.

That’s culture in action: small, deliberate choices that reflect the values you’ve set when middle managers have both permission and support to uphold them.

If middle managers don’t experience the culture you intend or don’t have the power to influence it, your organizational values exist only on paper. Instead of a cohesive culture, you get a fractured mosaic: work gets done, yes, but engagement, morale, and long-term performance suffer.

This isn’t about middle managers being unwilling or ill-intentioned. It’s about pressure. They are tasked with delivering results while absorbing expectations from above. Structural barriers often prevent them from nurturing culture, and when no one rewards that effort, they make the pragmatic choice: prioritize tasks over people.

The solution is simple in principle but requires commitment: if you want a high-performing organization where culture thrives, you must support the middle managers who make it real.

Here’s how:

Define expectations clearly: Spell out the behaviours you want managers to model and the acceptable compromises.
Coach to succeed: Equip managers with the skills to handle tough conversations, performance issues, and team challenges.
Measure and reward behaviours that matter: Evaluate managers not just on results, but on how they lead, develop people, and uphold culture.

Supporting middle managers doesn’t just protect culture; it amplifies it.

When they have the tools, permission, and recognition to uphold values, every decision they make reinforces the culture you’ve declared, turning your vision into everyday reality.

Culture isn’t a poster on the wall. It lives in the daily choices of your middle managers, and in the support you give them to make the right ones.

Most Leadership Training is a Waste of Time and Money

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:52:55 -0400

I’ve been trained. I’ve delivered training. And I’ve learned a hard truth: training alone doesn’t work.

Let me explain.

Before any training begins, there should be a clear answer to one simple question: What will this person be able to do differently after the training?

Without that clarity, training easily becomes an event rather than an investment. I can tell you that in my case, clarity of objective was rarely set, especially for leadership training.

Of course, people do need to learn new skills. Training can introduce ideas, frameworks, and techniques. But learning is only the first step. Real improvement requires practice, feedback, and repetition.

Think of a young curler trying to improve their delivery. They attend a clinic with an expert and learn the proper technique. Afterward, they schedule practice time. But they practice alone.

Without a coach watching and correcting them, they don’t necessarily improve. Instead, they may repeat small mistakes until those mistakes become ingrained in muscle memory.

Leadership training often works the same way.

We send aspiring leaders to programs where they gain new insights and approaches. They return to the workplace with good intentions and knowledge. But the environment they return to hasn’t changed.

There is no structured practice. No coaching. No regular feedback.

Over time, the ideas fade, and behaviour remains largely the same.

Organizations invest significant time and money in training their people.

And organizations are not the only ones investing. Many professionals pursue courses, certifications, and degrees at their own expense. They give up evenings and weekends, sometimes invest thousands of dollars, because they believe the learning will help them grow and advance.

Both the organization and the participants deserve a return on that investment. That return only happens when new knowledge becomes new behaviour.

If organizations want training to really produce change, several things help:

Start with a clear goal for what success will look like after the training.
Provide follow-up coaching and support so people can practice the new skill.
Send a critical mass of people so they can reinforce the learning together.
Create opportunities for participants to teach what they learned and how they plan to apply it.
Measure the behaviours you want to see. Even so-called soft skills can be observed and tracked.

When training does not lead to meaningful change, ask:

Was it the right skill to develop?
Did we send the right person or was this right for me?
Was the training itself effective?
What support existed to help the person apply what they learned?

Training can introduce new ideas. But the real work of leadership development happens afterward—when people have the space, support, and accountability to practice those ideas until they become habits.

You Inherited a Weak Link. Now What?

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:11:00 -0500

You didn't choose them. But here you are.

Maybe they were once a solid performer who got promoted one level too far. Maybe someone handed you the team and said "good luck" under their breath. Or maybe they really wanted the job you just got.

Whatever the backstory, you're now responsible for a leader who isn't quite cutting it.

Here's how to handle it without losing your mind (or your team's respect).

Accept the Reality

Stop waiting for a dramatic turnaround. If someone is genuinely in the wrong role for their skill set, hoping they'll magically grow into it isn't a strategy.

What is a strategy is figuring out what they're actually capable of and building from there.

A great place to start is by creating a User's Manual together — a simple, honest document that captures how they work best, what they need, and where they need support.

Stabilize Before You Optimize

Before you think about getting more out of this person, focus on not losing more ground. Tailor your approach to the leader you have, not the one you wish you had.

That means investing time upfront in their decision-making process so small problems don't snowball. Help them recognize when to bring you in.

Encourage the basics too - rest, stress management, focus - because when someone is already stretched thin, burnout makes everything worse.

Play to Their Strengths

Every person on your team has something to offer. Your job is to find it and point them in that direction.

If this leader is a stronger individual contributor than a people manager, adjust their responsibilities to reflect that.

Check in regularly, co-create plans for managing their workload, and keep the feedback loop short and consistent.

Redistribute the Load

Some of their responsibilities may need to find a new home, at least for now. Look for tasks that can be shifted to other team members or timelines that can be adjusted.

This isn't about dumping work elsewhere; it's about keeping your team's momentum while you work the longer game.

Be Specific (Not Just Clear)

Vague direction is the enemy here. The more specific and concrete your instructions, the less room there is for misinterpretation.

Follow up. Ask guiding questions if something comes back unclear. Don't assume understanding. Confirm it.

It takes a bit more time upfront, but it saves you from cleaning up messes later.

Bring in Backup

You don't have to carry this alone. If supporting this leader is stretching your capacity, bring in an executive coach, a consultant, or a trusted colleague who can share the load.

There's no award for going it solo. Getting the right support in place is smart leadership, not a sign of weakness.

Keep the Bigger Picture in View

With the right support, adjusted expectations, and a role that fits their actual strengths, this person may still have a meaningful contribution to make.

Managing them well protects your team's performance and sends a message to everyone watching that you lead with both accountability and care.

You didn't choose this situation, but how you lead through it is completely up to you.

Need help leading your team and getting the most out of the people around you? Let's talk .

Make Your Message Matter

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:25:00 -0500

If you’re stepping into a new leadership role, here’s the truth: communication isn’t a "soft skill" add-on; it’s one of the main levers you have.

McKinsey even put it on their new-CEO checklist: item 8 asks, "Have I thought through my communications plan—internal and external?"

Start with what you stand for

In the early days of a new role, it’s normal not to have your full strategy baked yet. (If you do, please share your secret.)

McKinsey’s "Letter to a newly appointed CEO" makes a great point: message consistency matters, and it can be smarter to anchor your communication in what you believe and what you stand for early on.

Those beliefs become the themes people repeat about you, long before they can quote your five-year plan.

Build your communication plan

As someone who’s served seven different CEOs as a communications advisor, one pattern shows up every time: leaders who treat communication as strategic tend to build trust faster.

A practical plan doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should answer:

What do people need to hear from you in the first 30–60 days?
What are you going to say (and say again)?
How will you know it landed?

Partner with your "microphone holder"

If you have a Chief Communications Officer (or a comms lead), make that relationship a priority.

They’re often your best window into what people are thinking, and they help you reach the organization with clarity.

A few ways that help:

Share your style (speaker, writer, small-group connector).
Be honest about what feels awkward so you don’t over-rely on the one channel you like most.

Choose the right channels

Different organizations trust different communication vehicles, and what worked at your last company may not work here.

Before you default to "Let’s do a video!", take time to learn what channels people actually pay attention to in your new environment.

Remember: every encounter is an event

Every meeting, hallway hello, or quick check-in is "an event" for the people you lead, especially when you’re new.

You don’t need one perfect speech. You need consistent moments.

Communicate. Follow through. Measure. Repeat.

This is the simple discipline that builds credibility:

Communicate
Follow through
Measure what’s working
Repeat

New Year, New Role? 4 Tips for Starting on the Right Foot

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:05:00 -0500

If the New Year has you taking on a new role, you need to know that it’s not all in the title. It is a fundamental shift.

It can feel exhilarating one minute and completely overwhelming the next.

Here are some tips to get you moving forward in the right direction.

1. Know your biggest challenges

As you step into leadership, a few challenges tend to show up on repeat.

Navigating the shift from peer to leader without losing trust or trying to be “everyone’s friend”.
Setting realistic priorities so you do not overcommit and burn out trying to prove yourself.
Understanding the scope of your role and the ripple effects of your decisions on people, projects and culture.

2. Continue your growth

Leadership is a practice, not a personality trait. Staying curious and coachable keeps you effective and sane.

Work with a mentor, peer coach or leadership coach who offers perspective, feedback and a safe place to think out loud.
Commit to ongoing learning through courses, reading, podcasts or industry events to stay current on leadership skills and best practices.
Delegate thoughtfully so you can focus on what only you can do and give your team room to grow.
Invest time in building your team so that strengths are clear and work is balanced.
Develop your Emotional Quotient (EQ) so you can read a room, manage your reactions and handle conflict without dodging it.

3. Avoid common mistakes

A few missteps can make leadership feel much harder than it needs to. Do not:

try to do it all yourself; overextending is a fast track to exhaustion and resentment
avoid difficult conversations; delayed feedback usually becomes a bigger problem later
drift away from the culture and values; they are the glue that keeps people aligned and motivated

4. Chart your course

You will never have total control at work, but you can choose how you lead.

Be clear on how your performance will be measured and valued, and what success means to you.
Set clear expectations so people know what success looks like and how decisions get made.
Create an environment where honest feedback is welcomed and safe, in all directions.
Protect your time to think, not just react, so you can make intentional choices and then follow through.

Enjoy the journey, keep learning, and give yourself credit as you grow into your full potential.

Need some help achieving your professional goals? Let’s talk.

Take Charge of Your Leadership Journey

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 07:35:00 -0500

If you’re a manager or aspiring leader, waiting for someone else to "discover" you is a slow and frustrating strategy. The leaders who move up are usually the ones who quietly decide, "My development is my job", then act on it day by day.

Your goal is simple: use your time, your team, and your learning so intentionally that people can’t help but notice the difference.

Make your time work for you

Productivity isn’t about cramming more into your calendar; it’s about making room for what actually matters. A few small shifts can give you back hours of meaningful work time each week.

Treat meetings like investments: Only attend or schedule them when there’s a clear purpose, an agenda, and decisions or actions you’re driving toward.
Protect your focus time: Block out concentrated work sessions and silence email, chat, and notifications so you can finish real work instead of juggling half‑done tasks.
Move the long game forward: Think of your big goals like a creative project. Add a little progress every day, and you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve built over a few months.

Free your team to do their best work

One of the fastest ways to get noticed as a leader is to make your team more effective. When your people have more time and fewer obstacles, your results start to stand out.

Go after blockers: Ask what’s slowing people down, then fix what you can, including any delays that might be coming from you.
Give time back: Cut low-value meetings, trim invite lists, and stop producing reports or data no one uses so your team can focus on real priorities.
Upgrade the "boring stuff": Look for tools, processes, and smart use of AI that reduce repetitive work, and drop anything that doesn’t actually help.
Tap the brain trust: Treat your team as your idea lab and invite them to suggest improvements, experiments, and better ways of working.
Address toxic behaviour early: Even high performers can damage the culture if they drain trust and morale, so deal with issues instead of working around them.

Grow into your best leadership self

With your time and your team working smarter, you can focus on your own growth as a leader. This is where you shift from "good manager" to "intentional, memorable leader".

Own your learning: Seek out courses, books, and stretch assignments, including volunteer roles that let you practise new skills in a lower‑risk environment.
Study other leaders: Notice what different leaders do well (and not so well) and build your own list of "steal this" and "never do that" behaviours.
Debrief your wins and misses: After big moments, reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what you’ll do differently next time so every experience moves you forward.
Design your leadership model: Define the kind of leader you want to be, then experiment with different approaches and keep the ones that fit your strengths and values.

Your next small step

You don’t need a new title or a big budget to take control of your leadership development.

You just need to start making deliberate choices about your time, your team, and your growth.

Pick one idea from above, try it this week, and let the results nudge you toward your next leap in leadership.

Earning Your Seat at the Table

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:20:10 -0400

Having a leadership title doesn’t guarantee influence. I’ve seen many leaders arrive at the executive table only to feel like outsiders. They’re responsible for their own area, but struggle to shape conversations or decisions beyond it.

The truth is, influence doesn’t come from authority alone. It comes from being seen as a strategic partner who understands the business as a whole. Leaders who can connect their function to the organization’s broader goals are the ones whose voices carry weight.

Beyond Your Own Department

It’s natural to focus on your own team’s results, but if you want a real seat at the table, you need to speak the language of the entire organization.

That means knowing more than your budget line. You need to understand finances, operations, stakeholders, and the environment you’re operating in.

Over the years, I’ve found a simple self-check to be useful. If I can answer these questions, I know I’m ready to contribute at the highest level.

What’s our organization’s vision or mission?
Where does most of our funding or revenue come from?
Who are our three biggest competitors, or, if not competitors, what alternatives do our stakeholders or customers have?
What’s our most successful program, product, or service and why?
What are three priorities from our current strategic or operating plan?
What headline or key takeaway came out of our most recent financial or performance report?
How is our sector or industry performing right now?
What measure best reflects whether we’re delivering value (e.g., member satisfaction, service levels, community impact)?
What’s the biggest barrier to achieving our objectives this year?
How do external trends -- economic, social, or regulatory -- affect us right now?
Who are the stakeholders we can’t afford to disappoint, and why?
How does my role and my team’s work directly support organizational goals?

Why It Matters

You may not have all the answers right now, and that’s okay. The point is to start building this knowledge. When you do, you stop being just “the head of X department” and start being recognized as a leader of the whole organization.

Because at the end of the day, leadership isn’t about defending your patch of turf. It’s about seeing the bigger picture, aligning with it, and using your voice to shape the direction of the organization.

That’s how you move from having a seat at the table to having a say in where the table goes.

Leaders Lead More than People

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 12:34:44 -0400

Strong leaders don’t just manage people; they also ensure that systems run smoothly. Understanding and optimizing your organizational processes is an essential practice of effective leadership.

Here are five key steps to strengthen your workplace processes:

1. Engage with Direct Reports

Ask each direct report to walk you through their workflow. By listening and observing, you gain real insight into daily challenges, spot inefficiencies, and offer more targeted support.

2. Facilitate Collaboration

Bring together employees with similar tasks to analyze their workflows collectively. Combining best practices into a shared process not only improves efficiency but also builds ownership and teamwork.

3. Document with SOPs

Turn the optimized workflow into a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). A clear, step-by-step guide ensures consistency and quality, and saves time onboarding new team members.

4. Build Accountability

Hold staff accountable for following the SOP. Regular check-ins and feedback sessions reinforce consistency while creating space to address challenges early.

5. Review and Refine

Spend time observing the new process in action, gather feedback after 30 days, and make adjustments. Updating SOPs regularly keeps processes aligned with reality and supports continuous improvement.

Healthy leadership means treating process improvement as an ongoing habit, not a one-off exercise.

By engaging your team, fostering collaboration, documenting clearly, ensuring accountability, and reviewing progress, you create a culture of both efficiency and empowerment where people and processes thrive together.

Ask Better Questions

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 11:05:22 -0400

Great leaders don't just have answers – they ask better questions. As a leader, the questions you pose will shape your organization’s conversations about the future and unlock the innovative potential of your leadership team.

Ready to move beyond mediocrity? Here are 10 strategic questions that can transform your next leadership meeting.

Questions That Drive Innovation

1. What are your leaders’ unrealized aspirations for the company?

Often, the best ideas are hiding in plain sight during leadership retreats and casual conversations.

2. What seemingly crazy ideas could double your profitability in three years?

Sometimes the most outlandish suggestions contain kernels of breakthrough thinking.

3. Which company departments or industry niches offer disproportionate revenue opportunities?

Not all areas are created equal. Identify your hidden goldmines.

4. How can you transform status-quo-loving leaders into creative innovators?

Even your most traditional colleagues have untapped creative potential.

5. What past successes do you need to unlearn or discard?

Yesterday's winning strategies might be tomorrow's limitations.

Client-Centred Strategic Thinking

6. If your most demanding clients ran your company, what experiments would they launch?

Your toughest clients often see opportunities you've missed.

7. How can you gain breakthrough insights by truly seeing through your clients' eyes?

Empathy isn't just good service – it's strategic intelligence.

8. What new ways can you facilitate client collaboration to identify bigger challenges?

Your clients' networks might reveal your next big opportunity.

9. How can you anticipate client needs they don't even know they have yet?

The most valuable advisors solve problems before clients realize they exist.

10. What unique, missing feature can you create that competitors don't offer?

Differentiation is everything in a crowded market.

The Implementation Challenge

Here's the hard truth: even brilliant strategies fail during execution. Before you get excited about your next big idea, ask yourself two crucial questions:

What are the key reasons our best strategic ideas fall apart during implementation?
How will we absolutely ensure we stop allowing that to happen?

Remember, procrastination is where strategic dreams go to die. The difference between organizations that innovate and those that stagnate isn't the quality of their ideas; it's their commitment to turning questions into action.

The strategic mind is a questioning mind. Start your next leadership meeting with one of these questions and watch how it changes the conversation.

Jacqui d'Eon - Blog #development

Life Feel Off? Check Your Compass

Your Culture Lives in the Middle

Most Leadership Training is a Waste of Time and Money

You Inherited a Weak Link. Now What?

Accept the Reality

Stabilize Before You Optimize

Play to Their Strengths

Redistribute the Load

Be Specific (Not Just Clear)

Bring in Backup

Keep the Bigger Picture in View

Make Your Message Matter

Start with what you stand for

Build your communication plan

Partner with your "microphone holder"

Choose the right channels

Remember: every encounter is an event

Communicate. Follow through. Measure. Repeat.

New Year, New Role? 4 Tips for Starting on the Right Foot

1. Know your biggest challenges

2. Continue your growth

3. Avoid common mistakes

4. Chart your course

Take Charge of Your Leadership Journey

Make your time work for you

Free your team to do their best work

Grow into your best leadership self

Your next small step

Earning Your Seat at the Table

Beyond Your Own Department

Why It Matters

Got a Minute?

Leaders Lead More than People

1. Engage with Direct Reports

2. Facilitate Collaboration

3. Document with SOPs

4. Build Accountability

5. Review and Refine

Got a Minute?

Ask Better Questions

Questions That Drive Innovation

Client-Centred Strategic Thinking

The Implementation Challenge

Got a Minute?