Episode 147: Joyful Teams, Real Results with guest, Michelle Chambers

Joy isn’t a perk. It’s a competitive advantage. We sit down with executive and team coach Michelle Chambers to unpack how collective joy fuels psychological safety, deeper alignment, and reliable results—even when teams are under pressure. If “joy at work” sounds woo-woo, Michelle’s stories and tools will change your mind fast.

We start by spotting the early signs that joy has gone missing: flat energy, thin trust, and conversations that feel purely transactional. From there, Michelle draws a clear line between short-lived happiness and durable, collective joy grounded in purpose, belonging, and contribution. You’ll hear how a CFO put joy into a hospital’s strategic plan and why that bold move improved resilience and collaboration across departments.

Michelle shares practical rituals you can use this week: build a wall of pride to surface progress, end meetings with appreciation circles, and revisit the team’s purpose to re-center focus when the stakes rise. A powerful case study tracks a nonprofit team through leadership turnover, audit failures, the pandemic, and even ransomware—then shows how consistent practices rebuilt trust and momentum. For one-on-one coaches and leaders, we connect the dots to systemic impact: model joy visibly, make it measurable, and protect space for it in the cadence of work.

If you care about team performance, culture change, leadership development, and psychological safety, this conversation will give you actionable steps and language to make joy part of how you operate. Subscribe, share with a colleague who shapes team culture, and leave a review to tell us which ritual you’ll try first.

Watch the full interview by clicking here. 

Find the full article here.

Learn more about Michelle here.

Grab your free issue of choice Magazine here - https://choice-online.com/

Transcript

Welcome And Joyful Focus

Garry Schleifer 0:07

Welcome to Beyond the Page, the official podcast of choice, the magazine of professional coaching, where we bring you insights and in-depth features that you just won't find anywhere else. I'm your host, Garry Schleifer, and I'm excited to expand your learning as we dive into this latest article, have a chat with this brilliant author again, and uncover the learnings that are transforming the coaching world. When you have a chance, join a vibrant community of coaching professionals as we explore groundbreaking ideas, expert, share expert tips and techniques, and what we all love to do, make a real difference in our clients' lives, which makes a difference in our lives. This is your go-to resource for all things coaching.

Garry Schleifer 0:49

In the meantime, let's dive into our podcast. In today's episode, I'm speaking again with executive and team coach Michelle Chambers, who's the author of an article in our latest issue, Coaching to Unlock Joy. Her article is entitled Joyful Together: Coaching to Unleash Collective Joy and Teams. What else would we call it, right? Joyful Together.

Garry Schleifer 1:12

A little bit about Michelle. She holds an MED, she's an ACTC, of course, a PCC with ICF, so is the ACTC actually, CRHL, CTDP, CSODP, and is an award-winning executive and team coach, OD consultant, and thought leader with more than 30 years of global experience in leadership, culture, and organizational transformation. A frequent conference speaker, including the recent ICF Converge, and contributor to global publications like ours, Michelle is known for helping senior leaders and teams achieve sustainable transformation, measurable results, and lasting cultural shifts. And, congratulations, in 2022 she was awarded an ICF Prism Award for her work in leadership, team coaching, and in 2025 was a finalist for the Global Change Leader Award. Michelle, thank you so much for joining us yet again. You are one of our favorite writers and one of our favorite guests. Welcome back.

Michelle Chambers 2:13

Oh, thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to be here. And kudos to you and your team for even thinking about having an article and having the whole magazine featured around joy. I don't think it's something we talk enough about in the workplace.

Joy As Strategic Resource

Garry Schleifer 2:28

We definitely don't talk a lot about it. And I'm finding that a lot of the results of the articles are is very scientifically based, results-based, based on having joy or creating joy in the workplace. And you're inspired by team coaching, which isn't a little bit different. I mean, a lot. I mean, we think we like to inspire one person, which ripples the other, but you get all these one people in a room and you work at it together. So that sounds really great. And we're gonna delve into that today.

Michelle Chambers 3:01

Lovely. Looking forward to the conversation, as always.

Garry Schleifer 3:04

As always. Now, okay, and we've talked about this in other calls. We talk about it. Joy could have been considered woo-woo, but now that we have neuroscience and results behind it, we no longer think of it as a soft emotion like you mentioned in your article, but as a strategic resource. When you look at the teams you coach today, what's the first signal you notice that joy has gone missing?

Michelle Chambers 3:32

Great question. I think when you see teams that are acting under stress, they don't feel their psychological safety, they're not developing intentional and relational communications with one another. When you ask them, you know, the typical coaching question, you know, how's the weather in the room? And it just falls flat, right? You can almost notice when you walk in to a team setting where their level of energy is. And that's really important to look at because as I said, it's not just a soft skill, it should be a strategic resource. And when that's absent, then we know that teams aren't necessarily aligned, they're not feeling connected to their purpose, they're not feeling energized. And I think in today's complex world, we need to have that resilience to move forward.

Garry Schleifer 4:26

Well, and so we you know what it's like when it's missing. How do you know when it's returning?

Michelle Chambers 4:31

Yeah. Well, you know, I think sometimes you'll see like moments of happiness in a team, but happiness isn't like self-sustaining. It's usually like great, we achieve this and it's like a fleeting moment and it's gone, and the team's moved on, right? Like you see a quick smile, and then they're already diving into the next strategic goal. So I think the key is that as coaches, we have an opportunity to unveil it and to help a team actually reconnect with their joy and intentionally make some time to talk about it. Believe it or not, I actually had a CFO of a healthcare organization, a CFO, first of all, who embraced coaching. Woo-hoo.

Garry Schleifer 5:11

Okay, chief financial officer. So money.

Michelle Chambers 5:14

Yeah, exactly. And get this, his mantra is he wanted to bring joy to the organization. I honestly I was floored.

Garry Schleifer 5:22

Uh yeah, I'm floored just hearing that.

Signals Joy Is Missing

From Happiness To Sustained Joy

Michelle Chambers 5:25

When I first, you know, got the referral for this gentleman, and he actually through coaching, he actually brought it into the hospital's actual strategic plan where they actually started to work at it. Because although we may be talking about it, we're not really bringing it in to values and other things, right? And I think there's only been a book written about 10 years ago about kindness in the workplace. And these are still novel topics, and I think it's important to realize that when it is there, it's great. We need to celebrate it. And I think we need to build on it. And so there's a couple of tips in the article. So one is you can create like what we call this wall where people post all of their celebrations, and that helps show like joy through time and how a team might be, you know, resilient and all of the challenges they're overcoming. And you know, you might say, and I have to say, I struggled with the wording in this article, joy can actually come through collective suffering because suffering sounds so heavy. But when I think about it, there are a lot of teams going through that. And I think about actually the team that I received the ICF Prism Award for, they were an incredible team, they did an incredible amount of work. They were a not-for-profit dedicated to bringing intellectually challenged individuals into the community. And they were a team that was fractured, they didn't have all their board members, they had a lot of changes in their executive director, someone senior had been let go. Anyways, there was a lot going on for this team. They weren't gonna get their ministry funding, they failed their audits. We'd only begun coaching for three months, and results were starting to happen when COVID hit. And of course, that's all against their values of trying to get people in the community. Now they've got eight group homes. How do they manage that? And then two months later, they had ransomware. And so there are teams out there that are going through significant challenges. Maybe that's a little bit at one extreme, but you know, I still see this team from time to time. And they are a team that really focuses on joy now. They may not call it joy, but they realize that they need to appreciate one another, they need to maintain that psychological safety where they can ask questions, they can make mistakes, they can learn together, and and they recognize it takes an intentional effort because I'm no longer coaching them. So they need to maintain this on their own, right? It takes an intentional effort for them to make the time to surface the joy. And so another exercise that I often do with teams is called a wall of pride. It's based on appreciative inquiry principles. And I remember coaching a senior leadership communications team in a municipality, and they had an awesome leader. Like she actually had a social work background, so kind of like the ideal person for us as a team coach to work with, because they get it. Right. And she was a very positive person. And I could just see, like, the team was down low. She was down low one time when I came in to coach. Like you could just tell everybody was exhausted. And I thought, okay, we're gonna switch things up. And I checked in with them. I said, you know, why don't we do this wall of pride? So basically, it's a very easy exercise. I want everyone to capture all their proud moments, write them all on stickies, one idea per sticky, and let's post them up on a wall. And as soon as they started to see that, and they started to call out loud and see all the good things that were happening within their team, the projects they were accomplished, the partnerships they were forming, what a shift in energy. There's nothing else I could have done, even with a whole coaching session, that would have accomplished that. But in 10 to 12 minutes, all of a sudden, feeling rejuvenated, re-energized, re you know, reconnected with their purpose. And I think that's what joy is about. It's it's not just about individual joy, it's about the collective joy, the joy that exists between the people on the team.

Garry Schleifer 9:40

Wow. Great examples, great examples. Thank you.

Michelle Chambers 9:46

Have a few of those, you know me.

Garry Schleifer 9:49

What's that, Michelle?

Michelle Chambers 9:50

I said you know me. I might have a few examples to share.

Garry Schleifer 9:53

Exactly. Well, can you tie this in? I think you have, but I'd like you to wrap it up in a nice bow. Is you talk about the idea that teams generate deeper joy when they're able to process suffering together. So it sounds like you gave them the tool to get there, but were they suffering? Are they no longer suffering? Or at least are they now aware of it? Tell me more about that whole conversation about suffering.

Michelle Chambers 10:19

Yeah, so they definitely knew they were suffering at the time, right? And but they also knew that, and so we put a lot more intentional effort into enabling them to appreciate each other. So, for example, at the end of not only each team coaching session, but at the end of each of their meetings, they would hold an appreciation circle where they would share what I really appreciate about, you know, with some other member on the team. So they knew that they had to make the time to build that up, um, given all that was on their plate. And I think while I was coaching them, we also did some work around resilience. They developed accountability partners. We revisited the team purpose statement at the beginning of each team coaching session, again, just to reinspire them, remember why they were working towards what they were working. And truthfully, a lot of people in not-for-profits are very mission-driven anyway. So they're very connected with their purpose, which was sustaining them, but also celebrating every moment of joy. They had this great postcard that they made. And for example, it had all these great things you could do. It was very colorful. And when COVID lifted, one of their clients actually gave it to a school crossing guard when they were out and about walking. Oh, and so again, it was just bringing back, you know, so it lifted his day, right? It created joy day, and it was just, you know, incredible. And that's why I nominated them for the award because they're probably a team I have seen go through hell and back, basically. Yeah, so I still see them because I've coached a couple of members and I've coached some other teams in their organization. But they've incorporated those practices that we did in the team coaching sessions. They even made a playbook for new team members coming into their organization. I've never had any client do that ever.

Garry Schleifer 12:15

Wow.

Case Study: Crisis To Resilience

Michelle Chambers 12:16

And so it was basically like an orientation. We want you to be oriented to our team practices. And I was just blown away. They did it completely on their own, shared it with me. I said, Can I share that idea? I know a lot of other clients who could benefit from that but they've really taken the learning to heart and you know they're working intentionally on building that joy. And I think the other thing is they realize, and I'll wrap it up by saying this it's not a nice to have, it's not frivolous. It is really a strategic resource, and we can manage it in ways of which the client is maintaining positivity and productivity in their workplace.

Garry Schleifer 12:57

Yeah, no, well said. I have to breathe that thought in. Because seriously, when I first started the joy article, I thought, oh, really? This is kind of woo-woo now. Oh my goodness. Well, and you even mentioned it in your article, and I have a question around this. You say that collective joy is not about individual happiness, but shared purpose, belonging, and contribution. So you work primarily with teams. What about those of us who work one-on-one? How do we manage not just the personal insights, but the systemic joy?

Michelle Chambers 13:34

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, for most one-on-one leadership or executive coaches, those leaders have teams that they have to support, right? And so, you know, my questions would center around, you know, what intentional efforts are you making to unveil the joy within your team and coaching them how perhaps to do that, right? Even asking them what gives them joy in their work? Does your team even see that? Because as we know, leaders role model this. And then I think, you know, for even individuals who don't have teams, I think it's about coaching the system, as you said. So who else are they interacting with? Where do they get their joy and happiness from? And intentionally choosing to be around those people, and not, you know, even as an individual in your personal life, associating with those that don't give you joy and happiness.

Garry Schleifer 14:29

Yeah. What the heck's going on? Well, and one of the main things I've been learning throughout this uh process of putting this issue together is joy is a result of being in alignment with values, being on purpose, like your and mission, like your mission-driven organizations. Purpose, meaning, fulfillment, having doing something, anything that's fulfilling, like me doing coaching, like you doing team coaching, like I'm pretty sure we have a good level of joy. So, yeah, thank you very much. And to our listeners and readers, don't forget that uh Michelle has a list of practical tips for coaches, including what she just spoke about, Coach The System. But I'll let you go get the article from your issue or subscribe, as I'll tell you at the end of the conversation today. Michelle, another question, you alluded to this, and I want to tap into this, tip into it a little more. About you've said what coaches can do. What can we coach our leaders to do starting now to create collective joy?

Michelle Chambers 15:39

Yeah, I think that's that's really good. I would focus on maybe one or two practical suggestions from the article. And I think, you know, first of all, it's do you and your team have a purpose statement? And often when I assess teams, I'll ask them if they're aware of what their team purpose is and what their business goals are. And 90% of the time, they're not even aligned on that. And so that's a really good question. So if they don't have one, I would encourage them to develop a team purpose statement. What is unique about their team that no other team in the organization does? You know, what is it? And that would tap into their values as well, and what they're contributing as a collective to the organization. And I think the other thing that I would also start to do is intentionally create appreciation rituals. And they can search up, there's a number of ways, but the appreciation circle or people are standing up, they turn to the person on the left, they share something they appreciate, they say thank you, going around. It can even be tent cards. I've had people use their name tent cards and write something nice inside that tent card. So it's a tangible takeaway. Because let's be honest, we all have difficult days, but man, is it so nice to open up something tangible, right? And see how we're appreciated, see that feedback again, because it uplifts us, you know, for that day. And I think, you know, it's also acknowledging that the team is going to have different emotional fields. And when you recognize that the team is not in a you know, a place of connection or higher energy, acknowledge that okay, it's okay, we're here. What do we need to go back to our future desired state of the team we want to be? And are we doing enough around that?

Garry Schleifer 17:29

Well, on that note, I'm going to quote you from the article. "A coaches, we often enter spaces of tension, challenge, and transformation. But joy is not a distraction from the work, it is the work. It is what allows transformation to be sustainable. It is what encourages teams to stay in the game with hope, with heart, and with each other. " I love that.

Practices That Surface Joy

Michelle Chambers 17:52

Thank you. Yeah, you know, I've been inspired by all of the teams and leaders that I've worked with. And it's interesting because when I wrote that, I'm like, oh, I bet you there's a few people that would disagree. Some might see it as woo, but I thought, nope, I'm gonna speak from the heart on this one. I've seen it happen in teams, right? And and honestly, this was the whole reason I got into HROD and coaching over 30 years ago. Yes, I started at the age of five. Along with you, right? But it was back then. I remember back in the 80s at Uni, one of my professors was sharing research with us at the time that 80% of people didn't like their jobs. I thought that's insane. And that's when we used to work, like 40-hour work weeks, right? Now it's it's incredible. I was naive, you know. I was like, why would people stay with jobs not taking into account, like, you know, you've got commitments, mortgages, car payments, all those things. But even then, I'm still like, why would you do that? Why would you not find something that you really enjoy that makes you feel fulfilled? And I think that's really important because everyone in this world has something to contribute. We wouldn't survive as a system collectively without it. Everyone needs to be appreciated, from the janitor to the president. And I get that joy of actually unveiling it and enabling teams to recognize it in themselves. So it's a collective moment, which sometimes is more powerful even than a one-on-one aha moment.

Garry Schleifer 19:23

Big time. Well, I'll share one with you as well. I tend to take the issue to my coaching. So this time I'm coaching and asking questions around joy. I have the good fortune to be with a client this week, and I didn't have to say anything other than she is joy, like she is always on purpose, and if not, she knows how to get back there. She is fulfilled in her family and in her work life. And when I reflected this back to her, and she said, There you go, Garry, making me cry again. But it was true. If anybody, any one of my clients or anybody I know that exudes joy has just got it like tattooed on their heart, it's her. And then she turned around and shared, she texted me later, she said she turned around and shared that with her former boss, and the former boss said, Oh my gosh, that's so true, and gave her a big hug.

Michelle Chambers 20:23

Aw. And something see how see how it manifolds like itself through the system? And I'd like to share with you because I think you're in a unique position through your choice publication, and you've been doing this for a long time. And it's not easy to pick themes that are going to connect with your readers. And let's be honest, we talked about this. Joy might be perceived as you know, woo-hoo. And what does that mean, you know, for the issue? And so I'd like to appreciate that you have such diversity of topics in your magazine that it reaches such a diverse audience. And what you publish is also backed by research, it's you know, current, it's on trend, it's what people need to be talking about. And I know that through your podcast, when we've talked, I know when we've talked about personal coaching, you get and you create joy. So not only do you get it from your work, the impact that we have, but you create joy just like that story and others. And so I'd like to say thank you and appreciate you and your team for the work that you do because it's a lot of work to put a magazine together. I think it it creates the opportunity to make shifts, not just in individuals and teams, but in systems. And by putting it out there, you're on the leading edge. And I think that's really important. And I think from a human perspective, we need that more and more in this complex world. So thank you.

Processing Suffering Together

Garry Schleifer 21:53

Oh, my pleasure. And it truly is. It is a joy to do this work, and thank you for acknowledging the team because they're the ones that kick my butt every day and say, Have you done this? Have you done that? And I'm like, Oops. They've got my back, let's put it that way. And with a gentle way, they keep me on track and therefore keep the magazine on track. So, yes, I accept on behalf of myself and the team, I accept the award for joy. Good. Yeah, no. Michelle, thank you. Uh, anything else? You've given us lots of things to think about, things to execute. What else, if anything, would you like our audience to do as a result of the article in this conversation?

Michelle Chambers 22:35

You know, thank you. a really good question. And I think, especially moving into a new year, and and there's religious holidays for many, and we associate joy at this time of year. Let's continue to carry it on into the new year and let's make an intentional efforts, both as individuals, to reflect on and celebrate our joy and and to create opportunities for others to create joy and be connected to their purpose, be fulfilled. And let's unleash it. Let's make it okay to celebrate and see it as this is a strategic resource that's going to enable us to achieve those longer-term goals. Let's talk about joy in the workplace, like that CFO did. Let's be open about it. It's so important. And so thank you. I would just encourage all of us to make an intentional effort to focus on it.

Garry Schleifer 23:33

Well, I'll add to something another quote from your article, last paragraph. So everyone, I'm paraphrasing, everyone invite joy in, make space for it, measure it. And for the team aspect, reflect it back to the system. Let's not treat joy as a nice to have, but as a strategic imperative for thriving teams. Because when teams and individuals experience joy together, they not only perform, they flourish. Yeah. Oh my goodness, Michelle, I get goosebumps. Again, thank you so much for being with us today. What's the best way for people to reach you?

Michelle Chambers 24:14

Well, definitely through my website, so Chambers and Associates. Uh, also you can Google Teams Matter. It's Canadian, so it's.ca. It's mentioned in the article, so they can definitely reach out to me there and then and happy to connect with people, you know, to talk about. Would love to hear examples of where people are, you know, unleashing it and and making it safe for people to talk about joy in the workplace. So thank you.

Garry Schleifer 24:40

Oh, you're very welcome. And thank you for writing for us and for speaking to our audience today.

Michelle Chambers 24:46

My pleasure. Thank you, Garry, for creating the opportunities.

Garry Schleifer 24:50

That's it for this episode of Beyond the Page. For more episodes, subscribe to your favorite podcast staff, most likely the one that got you here. If you're not a subscriber to choice Magazine and you're watching this video, you can sign up for your free digital issue by scanning the QR code in the top right hand corner of our screen. If you're on listen only mode, driving carefully, you can go to choice- online.com at your next break and click the sign up now button. I'm Garry Schleifer. Enjoy the journey of mastery.