We recently connected with Christina Salerno and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

An inclusive workplace (to me) means that each person has the freedom and support to thrive. They are encouraged to work in the ways that work best for them. They can collaborate with others who have complementary strengths and are safe to have gaps and be imperfect.

Companies use structure, hierarchy, and rigidity with the goals of creating results, holding people accountable, and scalability. It works, but at the expense of its people.

Instead, build a company culture that empowers each person by allowing them to speak their own commitments and then holding them accountable to delivering on it.

Each individual has different needs, which means leadership must broaden their mindset and rethink what’s truly required.

Yes it takes a lot for a paradigm shift. The effort of building an inclusive workplace is front-loaded, but the ROI is thriving team members which leads to higher retention, efficiency, and increased results.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a small business expert with over 15 years of experience in operations, team dynamics, and organizational psychology. I’ve helped hundreds of growing companies unlock their full potential.

Currently leading my 8th business, as founder and CEO of Magical Teams. where I help organizations build extraordinary teams that consistently deliver breakthrough results.

I’m passionate about creating teams oriented around kindness and empowerment with a DEIB and people-first approach.

Magical Teams is a premium operations consulting agency for small businesses, nonprofits, and startups with expert strategic and implementation support that embeds as a part of your team.

Helping founders get out of the weeds and to build a sustainable business that runs like a well-oiled machine while putting people first.

Magical Teams provides a “team built for you” using a unique pod model while managing it all — truly freeing up the founder to be the CEO.

Any advice for managing a team?

Team members want to be treated with respect, to learn through collaboration around interesting challenges.

High-performing teams need to know target metrics and outcomes so that they can deliver on expectations.

Things can’t go smoothly and be positive all the time. Transparency about the difficulties and what’s being done by leadership to carve a path forward can be highly motivating.

Model how it’s ok to make mistakes and that it’s more important what happens after in the repair and resolution.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My life has been a never-ending series of pivots. Iterative experiments with the goal of learning quickly and building a life that’s suited for my unique needs and preferences.

I brought this into building Magical Teams by focusing on one thing at a time. By having one primary objective and tackling it full on, I was able to rapidly address and resolve each important challenge so that now we have clarity with streamlined infrastructure to back it up.

Often, founders try to get clarity and then action it fully. Think of it more like stepping stones. Pick a direction, be ruthless about saying no, eliminate what’s not working, and amplify what is working with focused dedication of resources.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.magicalteams.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/magical-teams/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinasalernohello/