There’s something about the summer-time—longer days, summer vacations, and a subtle shift in pace—that creates space to step back and reconnect with what matters most. It’s a season that invites more connection, especially with the people we love. For many of us, that means more time with family. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve likely noticed that as your kids get older, that time together doesn’t happen as naturally as it once did.
Everyone has their own plans, their own interests, their own version of fun. And while that independence is something to celebrate, it also means that creating meaningful family moments requires a bit more intention than it used to.
That’s where something we call forced family fun comes in.
In our family, forced family fun isn’t about obligation—it’s about intention. It’s about creating moments that wouldn’t happen otherwise unless we made the effort. Sometimes it’s something simple, like a night at the pool hall followed by sushi. Other times, it’s planning a long weekend or a short getaway.
This year, my family took advantage of the Fourth of July falling on a long weekend and headed out to Colorado together. No friends invited, no splitting off into different directions—just time for us to reconnect as a family. While it may have started with a little resistance due to competing plans and a few questions about why we have to do this, it didn't end that way. What we’re really doing is creating space for connection and once we’re in it—laughing, sharing stories, being present—that initial resistance fades, and what’s left is something much more meaningful.
That idea—of intentionally creating connection—has been sitting with me lately, not just in my personal life, but in the work I do with leaders and teams.
I believe this same dynamic is playing out in the workplace.
The way we work has changed dramatically over the past few years. Hybrid and remote models have created flexibility and autonomy, which many employees value, but they’ve also introduced a new challenge—one that isn’t always immediately visible.
Connection no longer happens organically the way it used to.
And it's not just because people are working remotely. Even in organizations where employees are physically together, many spend their days moving from one back-to-back meeting to the next, often joining virtually from behind their own desks. Increasing workloads, competing priorities, and the constant pressure to keep up can leave little time for anything beyond heads-down execution.
As a result, the informal conversations, spontaneous brainstorming, and moments of shared laughter between meetings—those small, everyday interactions that quietly build trust and relationships—have become far less frequent. In their place, we have more structured communication, more scheduled meetings, more transactional exchanges. And while work is still getting done, something is missing.
Leaders are feeling it in the form of lower engagement, slower alignment, and teams that don’t quite feel as connected as they once did. It’s not that people don’t want connection. It’s that connection doesn’t just happen anymore. It has to be created.
That’s why so many organizations are investing in bringing their people together again.
In fact, according to a recent Korn Ferry commentary on workplace trends, nearly all companies are now hosting off-site events—far more than before the pandemic. At first glance, this might seem surprising, especially in a time when employees value flexibility and autonomy. But when you look a little deeper, it makes perfect sense. Organizations are trying to rebuild something that used to happen naturally—connection, trust, and a shared sense of purpose. In many ways, these off-sites are the workplace version of “forced family fun”. They are intentional moments designed to bring people together, even when it might feel inconvenient or unnecessary at first.
And just like at home, not everyone shows up fully on board. Some employees question the value. Others feel the tension of stepping away from their workload or personal responsibilities. There can be a quiet sense of skepticism—this better be worth it.
Over the course of my corporate career and now in my work with leadership teams, I’ve seen both sides of this.
I’ve experienced off-sites that felt like a nice break from the routine but didn’t create any lasting impact. People connected on the surface, enjoyed the experience, and then returned to work exactly as they were before. I’ve also been part of gatherings that were truly transformative. The difference wasn’t the location, budget, or even the agenda, it was the intention behind it.
When leaders are clear about the purpose of bringing people together—whether it’s to build trust, align on strategy, or create space for honest conversation—the experience shifts. It becomes more than just time away from the office. It becomes a catalyst. Trust, alignment, and connection aren’t built through email threads or status updates. They’re built through shared experiences, meaningful dialogue, and moments where people feel seen and heard. Those outcomes may not show up neatly in a spreadsheet, but they show up everywhere else.
In how quickly teams make decisions.
In how openly people communicate.
In how willing individuals are to support one another and move forward together.
What I find most interesting is how closely this mirrors what happens in our personal lives.
At home, we can’t assume connection will happen as our lives get busier and more complex. We have to create it. We have to make the time, even when it’s not the easiest option. And the same is true in leadership.
We can’t rely on connection to happen organically in today’s work environment. We have to be intentional about creating opportunities for it.
That doesn’t mean every team needs a large-scale off-site. It might be a smaller gathering, a team dinner, or even a well-designed working session that prioritizes meaningful interaction over just getting through an agenda. What matters most is the clarity of purpose.
Why are we bringing people together?
What do we want them to walk away with?
How will this experience help them show up differently afterward?
When those questions are answered with intention, the return becomes clear.
As you move through the summer, I invite you to think about where you might need to create more intentional space for connection. Maybe it’s with your family—planning that trip or that evening together that might not happen otherwise. Maybe it’s with your team—bringing people together in a way that goes beyond the transactional and into something more meaningful. The moments that feel a little forced at first … are often the ones that matter the most.
If you’re thinking about how to create more meaningful connection within your team or leadership group, I’d love to support you. Whether it’s designing an intentional off-site, strengthening alignment, or building trust in a more hybrid world, let’s start a conversation.
Reach out and let’s explore how you can create moments that truly make an impact—for your team and for yourself.
Ever feel like you’re racing to keep up with technology that seems to advance faster than you can blink? I’ve been there. In the early 2010s, my organization faced a digital transformation that felt like navigating a Titanic through a fleet of speedboats. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t keep pace, and the company filed for bankruptcy just 11 months after my departure.
Today, many of my clients are facing a similar challenge with AI. The technology is advancing at breakneck speed, and organizations are under pressure to either leap into the AI revolution or carefully measure their steps.
But here’s the critical insight… the real differentiator isn’t just the technology itself; it’s how we lead our teams through this change. And that’s where soft skills become indispensable.
In a world where technology evolves faster than we can keep up, soft skills have become the new hard skills. As technical skills are increasingly about “just-in-time” learning, people’s characteristics and capabilities truly set organizations apart. Here are some essential soft skills that are more crucial than ever:
The rapid pace of AI advancement is a clear example of why soft skills are so crucial. The book "The AI Savvy Leader" provides powerful insights into this reality. It emphasizes that success isn’t just about embracing the latest technology—it’s about empowering teams to evolve alongside it. Leaders who prioritize their people’s adaptability and growth will be the ones who thrive in the AI era.
Understanding why soft skills are vital is just the beginning. The next step is applying these skills to develop leaders who can guide organizations through change effectively.
Here’s how focusing on these skills translates into building change-capable leaders:
1] Building a Flat Communication Culture
Creating an environment where communication flows freely in all directions is crucial for navigating change. For AI adoption:
2] Gaining Buy-In Through Human-Centered Leadership
Human-centered leadership focuses on the people side of change:
3] Modeling Commitment to Change
Leaders must visibly commit to the change they are driving:
In the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and beyond, it's clear that soft skills are more critical than ever. Leaders who excel in these skills and can nurture and develop these traits in others will be better equipped to drive change effectively. These change-capable leaders will foster a culture of open communication, lead with empathy, and demonstrate unwavering commitment to change. By prioritizing these areas, you can position your organization to navigate AI adoption and other significant transformations confidently and successfully.
How is your organization gearing up for this next big transformation? Let’s chat about your team's soft skills and developing change-capable leaders to navigate the uncomfortable in this new era successfully.
Join the community of other heart-leaders as we explore the exponential power of intentional practices in today's leadership.
After over a year of working from home, avoiding family gatherings, and checking in with friends and coworkers over Zoom, we’re exhausted. We haven’t hugged our loved ones or spent quality time with our friends or colleagues in person. The mental, emotional, and physical toll of our collective isolation is significant. But we have also discovered that we are more resilient than many of us even thought possible.
We have created a new integrated life, where work and home became a unique blend for many of us. We’ve discovered unexpected blessings, new priorities, and positive experiences amidst the chaos of pandemic life.
It is now time to decide what served us and be deliberate and intentional about what we carry forward into the next normal.
I often hear from my clients, friends and family that they are anxious to "go back to normal." The truth is, we can’t ever go back. Things have fundamentally changed: in public spaces, work environments, and social settings. There will be no “going back to normal” at any point.
But this isn’t as dire as it sounds. In fact, I believe we all have a rare chance to live life with great intention, as we move into the next “normal.”
We shouldn’t want to go back. Remember that hamster wheel of life that was constantly spinning – late nights at the office, over-committed calendars, making time for everyone but ourselves? We have had a year (or more) to adjust and leave much of that life behind, and if we are intentional about moving forward, we can avoid ever falling back into those toxic patterns.
Despite the stress and disruption of a year-plus of COVID-restricted life, there are a whole host of positive things we can bring with us into our next normal. The key is in taking time to reflect on what we have learned about ourselves and truly come to appreciate since March 2020.
Living life with intention as we move forward is the only way to avoid falling back into bad habits. It took us over two months to adjust to social distancing and COVID restrictions, but we can fall back into our “old normal” way of life in as little as two weeks if we aren’t diligent.
Examine your life now:
Once you are aware of these shifts and the positive things you would like to keep, you can take steps to ensuring they remain part of your life.
You have reflected on your life since March 2020 and identified the changes, routines, and expectations you’d like to keep. Maybe this looks like closing your laptop at 4:30 and spending half-an-hour with your kids before you start dinner prep. Maybe it means keeping your morning walk. Or maybe you’ve fallen in love with having small blocks of unscheduled time in your week that you want to protect!
Learning to set boundaries will help you protect the things that serve you.
Boundaries are limits we set with others that establish what behaviors we will allow and what we will not. Setting healthy boundaries can feel uncomfortable if you’ve never really used them before, but boundaries actually help us enjoy our relationships and avoid stress, anger, and conflict.
We can’t ever go back to life before COVID, but we can create boundaries to protect the things we have gained and come to appreciate since experiencing quarantine, social distancing, and COVID restrictions. You owe it to yourself to move into the next normal as strong, healthy, and balanced as possible.
I know that learning how to set boundaries can be challenging, which is why I created this helpful resource designed to help you determine your personal standards and then set healthy boundaries to protect those standards.
I invite you to download this resource and spend some time working through it. You’ll be amazed at how your healthy boundaries will help you create and protect a life that serves you and your highest values.
The United States is in a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If your organization wasn’t already crisis planning, they certainly are now.
For the past year, I have been watching the “message from our CEO” emails, the social posts, the news (now that is enough to scare anyone!) and can’t stop thinking about how much we learn about people during times like this…how much we learn about our leaders.
There is no doubt that the impacts of this situation are far-reaching as organizations pull back spending, freeze travel, update work-from-home policies and look to protect the health and safety of their employees and customers.
It is the right thing to do. Some leaders have managed their organizations through crisis before and for others, they lack the experience.
I have experienced it before, and I am seeing it with my clients now. It is times like this when intentional leadership is needed most.
Show up with a sense of responsibility and commitment to your organization and role model the behavior you want people to follow.
Engage personally with people, listen to their fears, and communicate openly and transparently. Acknowledge the challenge and help people know that you have their best interest at heart.
Most crises come on quickly and it is critical to jump into planning, make swift decisions, move people to action, address the external constituents.
But it is also critical to take a breath and think through the plan to lead your people through the situation.
Here are four things you can do as an Intentional Leader. Show up as your best self and as the leader your employees need you to be:
The worst thing you can do is overreact which brings fear, panic, and self-interest into the picture. All eyes are on you so maintain self-control by projecting a sense of calm.
Don’t minimize the situation as you can come off as inauthentic but use facts (not fear) to balance the reality of the situation with the emotions of the people.
In absence of information, people fill in the blanks. Be visible and explain the steps being taken. Be transparent, clear, and timely in sharing information.
Recognize the fluidity of the circumstances and commit to regular updates that keep everyone focused forward together.
Help your people see the bigger picture…the world on the other side of the crisis. Remain positive and encouraging as your organization pushes through the discomfort and uncertainty.
When necessary, stand back from the action and reassess. Solicit input within the organization but pull in outside advice when necessary.
Don’t waste the crisis! When the challenge is finally over, it is important to de-escalate and restore operations but that doesn’t always mean “business as usual”. Ask for feedback, capture lessons learned, and identify long last improvements that can be made.
Most importantly, explicitly thank and recognize people for what they achieved. Acknowledge the disruption and express gratitude for their continued support, focus, and commitment during a difficult time.
As painful as it is, a time like this is an opportunity to practice the type of leadership that is needed. To effectively and successfully lead through the most difficult and uncertain situations.
– inspirational, connected, present, mindful –
Embrace the challenge, be intentional in your how, and new ways of thinking will arise. You will get past it with an understanding that you can face a crisis, like COVID-19, head-on, and be a better leader for your organization in the long run.
Tricia is a global business leader, author, and certified executive coach. Her unique corporate background gives her a clear understanding of the personal and professional challenges that senior business leaders face today.
She brings real-life expertise around talent, culture, and leadership to every coaching engagement and is committed to helping individuals, teams, and organizations accelerate performance.
Tricia believes this can be done with authenticity and by staying true to personal values, beliefs, and leadership styles.
