A counterintuitive empowerment and leadership tip that works? Pay attention to nuance. Spend time simply noticing. Then, if something is out of alignment, not firing on all cylinders, not feeling good (even if it's aligned with strategy or development), ask what it would take to change it. Ask your team. Ask yourself quietly. Then listen. Create possibilities and make them real by focusing on what it would take to get there. It's a simple but powerful question, what would it take.

Most often, we create possibilities from the box we're already in. This can feel limited, closed, and make us shut down or feel too stuck to move forward. We get stuck in stories about why we can't do x, y, z. Creating possibility requires playing a bit. It requires a what if. Constantly asking what if can sometimes leave us feeling perpetually unsatisfied in personal relationships so this is not to be used indiscriminately. But sometimes change is called for. And making a change requires thinking of something that doesn't current seem to exist and then finding ways to take the idea of change and ground the change in in real things.

What do you want to change or create? What would it take to get there?

The answers you and your team come up with might surprise you. Try it!