Kendra J.

The Venned Group

The Venned Group specializes in cultivating the next generation of leadership. Through high-touch, cohort-based training programs, we partner with senior leaders to develop their mid-level counterparts. Our unique approach ensures that tomorrow's leaders are equipped with the necessary skills to effectively guide their teams, influence peers, and communicate seamlessly with top-tier executives.

What sets The Venned Group apart is our laser focus on personalized cohort-based training. Unlike generic, one-size-fits-all programs, we understand that each organization has its unique DNA. Our programs and workshops are adaptable, ensuring that your leadership challenges are addressed head-on, resulting in sustainable growth and improved organizational dynamics.

Founder

Boardy

Connector

Orion's Reach

Orion’s Reach is a Not-for-Profit organization comprised of passionate volunteers dedicated to helping aspiring professionals acquire the skills and knowledge required to REACH their career goals.

At Orion’s Reach our approach to mentorship is different. Professionals are looking to learn from different perspectives in-order-to transform into someone who is ready to REACH for the stars. As a result, we match each Mentee with multiple Mentors based on desired skills they would like to learn as well as interests. With this approach, individuals can develop leadership and presenting skills at the same time from two different experts. Our approach also provides the opportunity for individuals to learn about a specific industry from multiple perspectives.

Advisory Board Member

Chase Hospitality Group

•	Started as Event Coordinator, promoted to Event Manager in March of 2016
•	Corresponded with the client on all details of event from décor to food and beverage pairing
•	Worked closely with the Executive Chef to create custom menus; includes costing and idea formation
•	Coordinated any necessary rentals with preferred suppliers
•	Accommodated client’s provided event budgets ranging from $500 to $30,000
•	Lead, grew and motivated event 'team leads'
•	Executed events from start to finish
•	Accommodated client’s provided event budgets ranging from $500 to $30,000

Event Manager

Donaleighs Irish Public House

Managing all Social Media platforms and organizing annual events such as the Annual Golf Tournament and Charity Calendar production process from start to finish.  Handle all reservations and aid with large party catering requests.

Social Media & Events Manager

I’m bringing real human connection back to the workplace.

You've likely heard this before, but I’m not just talking about it—I’m making it happen. Here’s how ⬇️:

Four ways I can help you:

-> Tailored soft skills-based workshops for global brands
-> Curated events that bring leaders together to connect on soft skills-focused topics (DM me to see if we're coming to a city near you soon!)
-> Global speaking engagements on the power of soft skills to enhance hard skills and maximize performance
-> Our S.P.A.R.K. Assessment & 1-1 coaching to optimize working styles & improve collaboration

Why do I do what I do?

I care deeply about human connection. In today's tech-saturated world, the lack of genuine interaction is destroying performance, well-being, and efficiency across teams. That’s why I’m on a mission to help organizations maximize their potential by leveraging their existing resources.

Do you think we'd have a good chat? Send me a DM!

If my dad knows I'm driving somewhere, he asks the same three questions.
Did you gas up the car?
Do you have your phone charger?
Will you text me when you get there?

In my 20s, it used to drive me nuts.
"I'm an ADULT, Dad. I know these things."
I'd answer with the exact tone that communicated...I've got this handled, you can stop now.

But he never stopped.
Gas. Charger. Text when you arrive.
Every single trip, into my 30's it's something I proactively update him on now.

It took me years to understand what he was actually saying.
He wasn't asking if I had gas in the car. 
He was saying, "I need to know you're safe."
He wasn't checking if I was competent. 
He was managing his own worry the only way he knew how.

In one of our past cohorts, a CEO and her team sat down to review their S.P.A.R.K. assessment results.

Her entire team rated her as a 'definite' collaborative style, every single person.
The assessment showed she was 100% flexible in her leadership style, meaning someone who could read her team and adjust in real time.

The room went quiet when they saw the gap between her intent and their experience.

Then she told her side of the story...

"I care so much about you. I don't want you to burn out. I'm just trying to catch things before you're drowning."

She wasn't micromanaging. 
She was adjusting constantly to make sure no one fell through the cracks.
But because she never named it, her care landed as control.

Gas. Charger. Text when you arrive.
Did you finish the report? Do you need help? Are you sure you're okay?

Care has its own language.
And when we don't translate it, people hear something else entirely.

Every week, I write about these patterns for middle managers and the senior leaders who support them, like how care gets mistranslated and what it costs when we don't name what we actually mean.

Newsletter in the comments.

P.S. Tomorrow's my dad's birthday. Gift ideas from (or for) the fathers out there?

Kendra Johnson

Canada’s leading soft skills expert | Creator of The S.P.A.R.K. Method™ | 1900+ managers upskilled | The Peak’s 2025 Emerging Leader | Get weekly tips👇

I turned 35 this week, so here are 35 reminders I've noted throughout this past year.

1. People really do want to help you. Get out of your own way and ask
2. Learning what you want and stating it gets you farther much faster
3. Highs and lows are part of business. The more people you talk to, the more normal it becomes
4. Your mindset makes or breaks your day. Choose it intentionally
5. What someone does is the most boring thing about them. Why they do it matters more
6. The world is big. Get outside your bubble often
7. Stop building for the fantasy workplace. Meet people in the actual chaos
8. Clarity about guardrails beats confidence coaching every time
9. A good mentor changes everything. Find one. Be one
10. Your worst moment probably taught you more than your best one
11. People talk a lot. Be the one that takes action
12. Burnout is a choice you make by not saying no
13. Ask for what you need. State what you want. Watch how fast things shift
14. Simple acronyms beat complex systems every single time
15. Dogs will always say hello. People won’t. Be more like dogs
16. If a situation happens more than once, that’s a lesson. It’s up to you to change the pattern
17. Sometimes you really do just need a hug from your mom
18. As much as you might not want to, getting a good sweat will fix you right up
19. Finding the right partner will change your life
20. Maintain your individuality and let your partner do the same
21. Don’t mistake ignorance for malice
22. Dress for the type of day you want to have, not the way you feel
23. Skincare is important
24. The gap between theory and reality is where actual business happens
25. One-size-fits-all anything is corporate theater
26. Transformation happens when someone takes the time to actually know you
27. Sometimes the best leadership move is stepping back
28. There is always a solution, you just have to be willing to think outside the box
29. Say thank you more often
30. Record the small moments, those are the ones you’ll hang on to
31. A day of rest doesn’t mean you’re not productive
32. Knowing where your time and energy are best spent is a superpower
33. You don't have to hang onto things that no longer serve you
34. Every day can be a fun adventure if you let it
35. Smiling can change your mood, especially when shared

And as Ricardo Ulises Hernandez Gomez added, last but not least, wear sunscreen. 

Which of these did you need to hear today?

I recently married my favourite person in the whole world.

Speech after speech described who I am. Not who I think I am, who they've actually experienced over the course of my life.

There was a clear pattern.

My brain immediately went to: "They're exaggerating. They're being generous. That's not really me."

Then I realized: I'd been deflecting these exact words for many, many years.

That deflection isn't always modesty. 
It's neuroscience. 
Your brain is wired to dismiss praise and hunt for problems.

Which means the version of yourself you think your team experiences is also probably inaccurate.

They see you more clearly than you see yourself, and if you keep deflecting what they're trying to tell you, you'll never close the gap.

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Canada’s leading soft skills expert | Creator of The S.P.A.R.K. Method™ | 2000+ managers upskilled | The Peak’s 2025 Emerging Leader | Get weekly tips👇

People don't resist growth, they resist feeling decided for.

This is what Jessica Lewis understood when she brought Laura Lillie Goodridge and I in to talk about training and coaching.

She didn't start with the program content, she started by truly listening to her team. 

What did they actually need (across all levels)? 
What would make this valuable to them & to the business?

Once she understood that, she got intentional about how she'd bring people in. 

Not just about the curriculum, but also about the approach. 

→ Jess made sure her team knew the what, the why, and how it connected to them specifically. 
→ She communicated it clearly. 
→ She positioned it as strengthening what was already strong.
→ And most importantly, she created safety & trust first.

That's the difference between a program and a partnership.

→ Listen before you assume & design. 
→ Make intention unmistakable. 
→ Create safety before asking for change.

When you do that, people show up invested, as we saw with this exceptional group of leaders. 

Thank you, Jessica Lewis, for being such a strong learning partner and an excellent HR leader!

Last week, I watched a friend text someone a very simple question:

Are there any tickets left?
The response came back...

...Yes.

I watched the little frown as she typed back: How many?

She looked up and we both started laughing because for a split second, she was frustrated at them for answering exactly what she'd asked.

I see this happen all the time.

Leaders ask, Did you see my email?
What they mean is Did you read it and what do you think?

Leaders ask, Are you free Thursday? 
What they mean is Can you meet me at 2pm?

Leaders ask, How's it going?
What they mean is Are we on track, or should I be worried?

Then when people answer what was literally asked (yes, I saw it; yes, I'm free; it's going fine), there's the flash of that frustration.

Like they're being difficult. 
Like they should have known.

...But they answered the question.

We just asked the wrong one.

------
👋 I'm Kendra, and I help leadership teams stop asking the wrong questions and getting frustrated about it.

Finding skilled talent is hard.
Integrating that talent successfully is harder.

The Toronto Region Board of Trade recognized this gap and decided to address it directly. 

They brought together 90 employers & PSI's all there with the same intention, to run strong WIL programs and develop skilled talent pipelines. 

I ran a workshop focused on what WIL actually looks like and how to create a successful process from employer onboarding through to providing feedback to students.

Here were some of the key takeaways from the room: 

1. Soft skills are the gap.
Students come in with strong technical abilities. 
What they lack is how to communicate. 
How to problem-solve. 
How to navigate a workplace. 
That's what employers actually need to train.
You're not just training on a task, you're training on a culture.
How you show up, how you handle mistakes, how you receive feedback. 
That's what gets transferred whether you know it or not.

2. Know your capacity before day one.
Who's taking the lead? 
What does success look like at the end? 
What will they actually learn?
Answer these ahead of time and the whole engagement changes.

3. Managers need to get good at feedback.
This is where most programs fall apart. 
Managers hesitate or they soften the message. 
They don't know how to be direct without discouraging. 
When you improve this skill in your full-time staff, your WIL success transforms.

This applies whether you're onboarding an intern or hiring a new manager. 
The fundamentals are the same. 
Intentionality, clarity & communication.

Thank you to my fellow presenters Derek Newton, Amanda Brown, Jason Fung Architect Inc., Peter Odle, Andrew Bieler, and everyone in that room who came ready to think differently.

A big thank you to Saad Usmani, Anahid Najafizadeh & Laura Tocker for putting on an incredibly valuable program! 

Conversations like this are what strengthen a region.

--------------------
At The Venned Group we partner with organizations to upskill managers who can set expectations clearly, give feedback that lands, and create cultures where people actually want to show up. 

If this is on your priorities list for 2026, send me a DM with the word Spark.

Everyone can see when you're reading an email during the meeting.

Not just that you looked away. 
They see the exact moment your attention left. 
They watch your eyes shift, your face change, the pause when someone asks you something and you have to scramble back to presence.

We all thought the screen would create distance. 
That virtual meetings were more forgiving. 
That we could get away with divided attention because nobody would call us out.

The opposite is true.

The screen doesn't hide anything. 
It just eliminates every buffer you're used to relying on. 
Your face fills a rectangle on someone's screen. 

There's no conference room to fade into. 
No physical space to create variance in what people notice. 
Just you, front and center, broadcasting every moment you check out...

What people actually see:
→ When you mentally leave during someone else's presentation, your face shows it in real time
→ When someone asks you a question, and there's that pause, they already knew you weren't there
→ When you glance away to check something, your eyes give you away immediately

How you show up virtually is either building your credibility or quietly eroding it. Most people don't realize which one they're doing.

This morning's newsletter is about where the camera betrays you. 

There's real neuroscience behind why this is harder than it seems, and some adjustments that actually help once you know what the screen reveals.

Writing this made me realize I'm not holding myself to the standard I want to set. 
No more cozy hoodie for team check-ins. 
My team deserves to see I put care into showing up, and honestly, it changes how I show up for myself too!

Link in comments to get the newsletter to your inbox at 8:55am ET 👇🏼

There's a line in Hamilton that's been stuck with me.

'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.'

(Yes, it's a nod to Newton's third law of motion...but it's more memorable when sung)

I've seen that musical more times than I'll admit, and it's served as a constant reminder of how I'm showing up.

Over the years, I've become more and more aware of how my energy creates a response in those around me.

Ex. When I bring stress into a meeting, I feel stress reflected back.

If you're the leader, all eyes are on you.

Your team reads your energy before you even open your mouth.

I started asking myself three questions before every team meeting or client call:

1. What energy am I bringing? Clarity or chaos? Confidence or stress?

2. What do I want them to feel when we're done? Inspired? Clear? Confident? Name it, clearly.

3. Are my actions & my energy matching my words? Urgency & stress through a half-a**ed smile saying 'everything's fine' never lands well.

Many times, the reaction you're getting is information about what you're putting out there.

→ If you're facing resistance, consider how you're presenting ideas.
→ If there's confusion, check whether you're giving direction or just enthusiasm.
→ If there's disengagement, pulse check your energy first.

Self-awareness is never about being perfect OR (and let me be very clear) taking responsibility for everyone else's actions.

It's about recognizing when you're part of the dynamic, and choosing to show up differently.

This is your Monday morning reminder as you head into a fresh week to check how you're showing up. 

Your energy sets the tone. What an opportunity you have ahead of you!

in 2015, my boss asked me this after someone cried in his office...
What do I do?
Do I look at them?
Do I pat their head?

He was of course, half joking but also half serious. 
At the time, I shrugged because I genuinely had no idea what to tell him.

It's a moment so many leaders get caught in.
You can't therapize the conversation, you're not trained for that. 
But you also can't just move past it like nothing happened.
So you stand there, stuck.

That team member wasn't crying about what just happened in the room. 
She was crying about:
→ Three months of shift cuts no one explained
→ Feedback that felt personal
→ And unacknowledged stress that had come through the door with her

The moment someone cries isn't when the problem started. 
It's just when it becomes visible.

I've spent years learning how to read what's underneath the emotion. 
How to use my own emotions as data instead of liabilities (always a WIP). 
How to be present with someone else's emotions without trying to fix them or shut them down.

Tomorrow's newsletter breaks down both sides. 
→ How to use your emotions in a team setting. 
→ What to do when you're presented with someone else's emotions and have no idea what your next move is.

It goes out on Wednesday morning at 8:55 am ET. Link in comments to get it!

Ps. Shoutout to Moriah Bacus, CAPM Ⓥ for such a lovely email! I love when LinkedIn connections become 'off-LinkedIn' connections!

Most proposals die in polite silence.

We recently signed a new client because someone was willing to close the gap between almost right and actually right.

An initial conversation with one of their executives led to a meeting with the full leadership team. 
We presented our high-level proposal. 
It was almost there...solid work, the right direction...but something wasn't quite landing.

Then their president said, "Can I be honest?"

I've written hundreds of proposals over eight years. 
I know how to listen, how to diagnose, how to build something that fits. 
And still, the gap between what's on paper and what someone actually needs doesn't close until you're in the room together.

Most proposals die right here. 
Not from honesty... 
From politeness.

"Thank you, but it's not quite right for us."

No one says what wasn't right. 
No one asks. 
The vendor moves on. 
The client settles. 
The opportunity disappears.

Years ago, "Can I be honest?" would have terrified me. 
Now it's the only question that matters.

We sat in that room, worked through every concern in real time, and I came back with something that truly fit. 

Most opportunities don't die from rejection. 
They die from everyone being too polite to name what's missing.
You don't know what's possible (from either side) unless you ask.

We're starting work with this client soon, and I'll share more as we go!

But if you know your team needs training and you're not quite sure what that looks like, please don't just send me a simple proposal request. 

Send me a DM with the details, and let's work through it together. I've shared the list of important details in the comments!

The end of November and start of December mean crowded public spaces

→ Malls (yes, I'm a millennial... I still go)
→ Restaurants
→ Sidewalks
→ Streetcars

...And every single one of them is full of people walking while staring at screens.

If you're reading this on your phone while walking, put it away. 
Seriously, right now!

While you're reading this captivating post, you're missing:
→ The person trying to get around you with a stroller
→ The cyclist coming up on your left
→ The kid who just dropped their mitten
→ The patch of ice three steps ahead
→ Maybe even the poll you're about to walk into...

You think you're multitasking, but you're just creating obstacles in a space you're not even seeing.

Please look up. 
The world's still here.

Your friendly public space vigilante, 
Kendra

Ps. I am also absolutely guilty of this. 
So please take this photo of Edinburgh to remind all of us what's out there when we look up.

10 leadership habits we're kicking to the curb in 2026 
(I dig into #8 in tomorrow's newsletter...linked in comments!)

1. The contextless 'let me know if you need anything'. You just made them responsible for diagnosing the problem and asking for help while you wonder why nothing's moving. Tell them what you're checking on and when.

2. Using we to defer accountability. We stays an idea. We need to improve response times. Okay, who's improving them? Say it. Here's what I need from you, and here's how I can help.

3. Praising work that meets basic standards. Your high performers notice when you praise mediocrity. They're also the ones updating LinkedIn.

4. Assuming everyone is on the same page...surprise, they're likely not. Different mental models, different definitions of success, different ideas about who owns what. This is why January starts with problems you thought you solved in October.

5. Asking any concerns? in a room full of people. You get polite silence (shocking!), assume buy-in, then discover 6 weeks later that half the team saw this coming. Ask what breaks if we move forward and state why it matters.

6. Not clarifying decision-making authority. Your team is either waiting for approvals on things they thought they owned or making calls they don't have the authority to make. Both are expensive. Tell them where their authority starts and stops.

7. Saying I've got it when you mean I'll figure it out. Confidence isn't a strategy. If you don't have it yet, say so. Your team handles honest updates better than surprises.

8. Making people decode what you actually mean. You ask how's it going? when you mean are we on track or should I be reallocating resources. They answer literally. You follow up. Three exchanges later, everyone's annoyed. Ask the real question first.

9. Building work groups instead of teams. If your people only connect in meetings about deliverables, don't be shocked when they don't collaborate, don't cover for each other, and don't stay when it gets hard. Teams need more than shared Slack channels.

10. Delegating without giving context. You told them what but not why it matters or what success looks like. Then you're frustrated they're not thinking strategically. They can't read your mind

If your team is carrying any of these into 2026, you're making execution slower, turnover higher, and problems more expensive to fix.

Here are 3 ways I can help:
1. Weekly newsletter with practical tips for middle managers and the senior leaders who support them (link in comments).

2. Workshops built specifically for your leadership team's challenges.

3. Our S.P.A.R.K. Leadership program and assessment to uncover team patterns, reveal individual behaviours, and actually break these habits.

Would you tell someone their (not-so-great) outfit looked great just because you felt you should?

I would hope not.

Yet last month, a senior leader shared that she knew the work of a team member wasn't good, but felt like she needed to find something positive to say.

When you praise work that doesn't deserve it, the person believes you.
→ They walk away thinking they nailed it. 
→ They keep doing more of the same. 
→ They build their next project on the same approach because you told them it was "great work."

Then six months later, they don't get the promotion. 
Or the project gets reassigned. 
Or you finally tell them the truth in a performance review.
And they're blindsided...because you told them they were doing great.

You weren't being kind, you were being 'nice'. 
And now they're behind. 
Not because they couldn't do better work, but because you never told them they needed to.

Hollow praise doesn't soften feedback. 
It delays it until the stakes are higher and the damage is worse.

Praise should do 3 things:
1. Be reserved for work that exceeds your standard. 
Not work that meets it. 
Not work that gets done. 
Work that goes beyond what was required.

2. Be free of qualifiers. No "but," "however," or "one thing." 
If it needs a qualifier, it's not praise.

3. Be meant. 
If you don't believe it, don't say it. 
Your team can tell the difference.

When work misses the mark, say so, clearly. 
"This isn't where it needs to be. Here's what's missing." That's showing respect.

Save your praise for work that actually deserves it and when you do, it will land.

-----
👋🏼 I'm Kendra. I work with leadership teams to make feedback & expectations clear, consistent, and credible.

This morning I was unwillingly thrust into someone else's feedback conversation.

I was at a coffee shop, noise-cancelling headphones on, minding my own business...but when you can still hear every word of a performance conversation from three tables away, you've become an involuntary witness to a trainwreck.

The recipient sat with shoulders hunched, eyes down, trapped in a public space while strangers absorbed every detail of her professional shortcomings. 

The manager had her feet crossed under her on the bench, casual and comfortable, seemingly unaware of the damage unfolding.

Sentence after sentence, the same hedging pattern, "I'm not saying YOU do this, but just so you know..." Which of course means you absolutely do this, but I'm too uncomfortable to say it directly. 

Then came the gossip about someone else on the team. The unspoken message of, I'm on your side, we both know Sarah is the real problem here.

Most managers have never been taught that feedback starts with reflection, not delivery. 
What's your intent? 
What outcome are you trying to create? 
What environment supports that outcome? 

Skip this, and you end up hedging, gossiping, and performing care while your team member walks away confused about what actually needs to change.

A few takeaways:
→ Spatial awareness & etiquette matter as much as self-awareness. 
→ Difficult conversations belong in private rooms, not public stages. 
→ And direct, specific, depersonalized feedback isn't unkind, it's the kindest thing you can do.

The leaders I work with are often shocked to discover they've been "giving feedback" for years without ever actually giving it. 

Our S.P.A.R.K. framework starts with that reflection piece because without it, you get frameworks paired with coffee shop disasters.

How much clarity & progress is your team losing to feedback that never actually lands?
-----
Ps. This conversation didn't take place at Wallace Espresso as the photo suggests, but it IS one of my favourite places in the city for coffee & their seasonal London Nog.

You hired someone, gave them a role description, walked them through their responsibilities and by three weeks in, you're already frustrated...

They're not getting it.
Except what is "it"?

You told them what to do. 
You might have even told them how. 
But did you tell them what doing it well looks like in your specific environment? 

With your pace, your culture, your unspoken rules about what matters most when everything's on fire?
Probably not...

And now you're sitting with the disappointment, you engineered yourself.

This is the gap that kills placements, tanks new hires, and makes leaders assume they have a people problem when they actually have a clarity problem.

You can't course correct something you haven't defined. 
You can't praise progress toward a standard that only exists in your head.

In our S.P.A.R.K. Leadership Program, this is where we start. 

Not with 'how to provide difficult feedback' right away.
Not with simply naming expectations (any leader can do that). 
We dig into defining what measuring those expectations actually looks like. 

Building the criteria that turn "figure it out" into "here's what success is."

It's difficult work, especially for middle managers trying to translate senior leadership's vision into measurable criteria they can actually enforce. 

When they get this clarity right, their conversations become remarkably simpler. They finally have language for what they've been trying to articulate and an objective lens for performance.

The disappointment you keep running into is fixable. 
It just requires you to clarify the target before you ask someone to hit it.

Give your team the gift of clarity, this holiday season...send me a DM to see which of our solutions best suits your teams needs!

I've been thinking about something a lot lately, a universal phenomenon that surfaces in every boardroom and leadership team in some way. In speaking with a colleague last week, I decided it made sense to share this with all of you.
​
How many of you have been told at some point in your lives that you shouldn't show emotion at work?
Yes, same.
​
The funny thing is, we're all emotional...we just lie about which ones count.
​
We've created an elaborate fiction that anger, frustration, and aggression aren't emotions but rather intensity or drive or leadership presence, while simultaneously categorizing overwhelm, disappointment, and uncertainty as unforgivable weaknesses that disqualify you from the senior ranks.
​
In last week's newsletter, I dove into:
→ The awkward dance we do around emotions
→ How to use your emotions in the workplace
→ What to do if you're on the receiving end of someone's emotions

Check it out below!

You know what terrible year-end reviews feel like.
Your manager with notes going back to January. 
Praise from a project you barely remember. 
Critique of something from six months ago. 
All of it coming at you in one hour while you try to connect feedback to moments you can't quite place.

Now it's your turn... 
You're the one with the notes and the feedback you've been saving up since March.
And you're about to do the same thing to your team.

When you dump it all at once, nothing sticks. 
The praise doesn't land because they're bracing for criticism. 
The constructive feedback doesn't land because it's six months old. 
The development conversation never happens because everyone's buried.

Nobody leaves empowered. 
They leave wildly disoriented.

Instead, I teach leaders to use the DUST© principle. 

A light dusting of feedback throughout the year which should be
→ Direct
→ Useful
→ Specific
→ Timely

Helps people see where they've been and where they're headed. 
A 'dumped' list of feedback just buries them.

It's less work for you too. 
A two-minute conversation in the moment beats an hour reconstructing the year from notes. 

You think you're being thorough by saving it all up. 
You're actually making more work for yourself and getting worse results.

It's not too late to stop shovelling and start DUSTing.

Last week I was back in Calgary with a team I know well!

We took a full day to work through their client journey & explore change. 

There was plenty of disagreement, like who owns what, how things should work, what the client actually needs at each stage.

What I loved to see with this team was that there was no defensiveness. 
No "but I've always done it this way as an excuse." 

Just a team secure enough to be curious about something without it threatening who they are.

They worked through every difference until they found what actually served the broader team and the client. 
Not what protected their territory or made them look good.

Most teams can't do that. Disagreement feels personal, so people either dig in or shut down.

This team's already past that.

It's always a pleasure being back in the room with Expera Information Technology Inc.!

It’s only November and Q2 2026 workshop dates are already locking in.
That always tells me a lot about a company.

The ones planning ahead aren’t trying to “fix” leadership. 
They’re investing before cracks show up.

When learning is part of how a business runs, leaders stay aligned and spend their time on strategy instead of recovery.

The strongest cultures I see treat development like any other system.
Not a perk. 
Not a rescue plan. 
Just how they operate.

I'm curious, how often does your team make time to learn together?

(Poll below ⬇️)

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Kendra J.

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kendra J.'s LinkedIn Performance

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Kendra J.'s Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

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Kendra J.'s Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreKendra J.'s LinkedIn Performance

Kendra J.'s Best Posts (last 30 days)