What if the friction on your team has nothing to do with personalities? What's the real difference between a team full of talented people and a team with genuine collective intelligence? How does a leader coach a team when they're also carrying a full individual workload?

In this episode of Team Lab, Angela puts Cori Caldwell in the guest seat to explore the leader as team coach. Cori brings her experience as a former people leader, individual and team coach to the middle managers who sit inside highly matrixed tech organizations, absorbing ambiguity from every direction while keeping their teams moving.

Most leaders learn to coach one person at a time — schedule the 1-on-1, develop the individual, and support them in meeting their goals, repeat. That model breaks down the moment a leader realizes that there’s a bigger impact to be had once they can tap into the collective intelligence of not only their team, but that of their stakeholders across the organization.

In this solo episode, Angela and Cori unpack what it actually means to coach a team who are a critical part of a larger system, not simply a collection of individuals. They cover the shift from an individual to collective intelligence, why a clash between two people often points to a potentially larger issue in the system, the reality of coaching while still carrying a full project load, and the clear signals that tell a leader it's time to bring in outside support.

You’ll leave with a few simple practices you can implement with your team this week.

Key Takeaways

• Look at the system around the individuals. Recurring problems such as duplicated work, exclusion from strategic meetings, and finger pointing point to how the work is connected across the organization.

• Coach the relationship. When two people clash, bring in the other team members and ask what the wider system is calling the team to solve collectively.

• Start outside-in. Learn what stakeholders and partner teams need from you, align on shared KPIs, then bring that clarity to your team so everyone moves in the same direction.

• Have the hard conversation. Ask the stakeholder who causes your team the most dread, "How can we partner better together?" One conversation can reset the relationship.

• Check your hub and spoke. Look at how communication and decisions flow on your team. Does everything route through you, or do people talk to each other to decide?

• Build short reflection habits. Run a 15-minute after action review at the end of a project or launch, and add a pre-reflection before a big meeting.

• Know when to call in an outside coach. Signals include being too close or implicated, a team that does not see you as objective, a pattern that repeats despite your efforts, and a team that keeps falling back on you for every answer.

• Point your 20% at the highest leverage. With limited bandwidth, focus on purpose, clarity, and the team's relationship with each other and with key stakeholders.

Resources

• Take the Team Doctor assessment (8 questions, mapped to the eight foundations of healthy teams)

• Center for Creative Leadership stat on new-manager training, via Wharton Executive Education

• "7 Habits of Healthy Teams" self-check infographic

• Related episode: Navigating Polarities (on repeating patterns and structural tension)

• Book a discovery call with Distinctive Teams

About Team Lab

Team Lab explores the power of teams, the science and art of collaboration, and the magic of thriving relationships at work. Hosted by Angela Migliaccio and Cori Caldwell, this podcast brings you inspiring stories and insights to help you build trust, foster alignment, and unlock creativity in your teams.Follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe/follow to never miss an episode!

How do you identify the one belief that's blocking a team's results?

Why do departments typically compete instead of collaborate, and what breaks the pattern?

Dr. Jessica Kriegel joins Team Lab to unpack these questions and we dig into the central paradox of her book Surrender to Lead: that letting go of control is what actually produces it. She explains how the very human pattern of controlling outcomes to avoid discomfort shows up in how leaders manage their teams. She also covers the steps to dissolving the department rivalry (SILOS!) that shows up in nearly every organization.

Our conversation moves through her SHIFT model for decision-making and a live walkthrough of how beliefs (not actions) are the real lever leaders can pull. Jessica shares that a leader's REAL JOB is designing the experiences that move a team toward the belief that drives the result.

Dr. Jessica Kriegel is a change activation expert at Culture Partners and the #1 USA Today best-selling author of Surrender to Lead, co-written with Culture Partners CEO Joe Terry. Her previous book, Unfairly Labeled, challenged the conventional wisdom on generational stereotypes in the workplace.

A regular contributor to CNN, CNBC, and Fox Business, Kriegel researches how leaders can trade command-and-control management for results that actually last. She also publishes This Week in Culture on LinkedIn and co-hosts The CEO Daily Brief, a five-minute daily podcast briefing executives on what they need to know.

Resources & Links

Books: Surrender to Lead | Unfairly Labeled

Culture Partners — culturepartners.com

Jessica Kriegel — jessicakriegel.com

This Week in Culture newsletter — LinkedIn

The CEO Daily Brief podcast

How do global teams maintain trust and connection when geopolitical shifts shake the ground beneath their feet? What does it take to lead across cultures, borders, and varying levels of technological access without relying on outdated hierarchies? How can leaders move from standard mentorship to active sponsorship that opens real doors for the next generation?

In this episode of Team Lab we sit down with Jillian Foster, founder and lead researcher at Global Insight. With over 20 years of experience navigating global research projects and geopolitical complexity, Jillian brings a grounded perspective on what it means to lead international teams with empathy, sensitivity, and structural resilience.

Join us for an insightful discussion on navigating cross-border tensions, why instituting durable organizational change takes a key tipping point of collaborators, and how human connection remains the ultimate anchor in a high-tech world.

About Jillian J. Foster

Jillian is a Gender, Peace & Security expert and doctoral researcher in Political Science at Yale University. With over a decade of experience spanning data science, political violence research, and mixed-methods fieldwork across 12 countries, Jillian sits at the intersection of rigorous academic inquiry and practical global strategy. She is the founder and principal investigator of Global Insight, an international consultancy specializing in empirical, gender-sensitive research in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Moving from measuring what happens to supporting leaders understand what the data means—and what they should do because of it. Jillian is also a Chief Member Advisory Council, a Fractional COO

• Connect with Jillian: LinkedIn

• Explore Jillian's advisory work: JillianJFoster.com

• Learn more about Global Insight: G-Insight.org

• Network & Executive Community: Chief

Resources

• Recommended Reading: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

About Team Lab

Team Lab explores the power of teams, the science and art of collaboration, and the magic of thriving relationships at work. Hosted by Angela Migliaccio and Cori Caldwell, this podcast brings you inspiring stories and insights to help you build trust, foster alignment, and unlock creativity in your teams.

Follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to never miss an episode!