Embracing Individuality and Autonomy in Work

If you’re leading a team, you know how hard it is to facilitate collaboration – especially when they don’t know each other well or may never meet in person. When people struggle to work together, it can harm productivity, morale, and talent retention.

But New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham argues that you can improve your team dynamics if you understand the people you manage: how they learn, what they love, and how to bring out their strengths.

“[W]hen you first join, [Lululemon] want to know all about your goals and aspirations and dreams,” Buckingham, head of research on people and performance at ADP, tells IdeaCast host Alison Beard. “So right from the get-go, they’re like what’s inside you?”

In this episode, you’ll get step-by-step advice for improving collaboration on your teams from day one. You’ll also learn how you can balance your team members’ unique strengths and interests with your business goals.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, talent development, psychology,  organizational culture, managing people, team building, team joining, onboarding, employee engagement.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Get My Team to Love Work? (2022)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.