Lilith Christiansen | Episode #486

The Team Engagement Podcast – Season 6, Episode 486: Encourage Curiosity

In this episode, Shawn Richards welcomes Lilith Christiansen, Founder and CEO of HumanGenuity, LLC, for a conversation about psychological safety, curiosity, growth, and the human side of scaling a business.

Lilith explains that psychological safety is essential to a thriving culture and starts with consistent leadership behavior. She encourages leaders to actively invite dissent before decisions are made, ask probing questions when everyone seems to agree too quickly, and provide the context behind decisions so teams understand not only what is happening, but why.

Shawn and Lilith also discuss the importance of clarity around decision rights and accountability. When leaders say one thing but behave differently, trust begins to erode. Consistency between expectations, decisions, and behavior helps people feel safer contributing different ideas and perspectives.

When it comes to growth mindset, Lilith prefers to frame the conversation around curiosity. Rather than focusing solely on whether an outcome was successful, she encourages leaders and team members to ask what they can learn from every experience. Challenges, setbacks, and unexpected results become opportunities to gather new information and adjust the next approach.

The conversation also explores emotional wellness. Lilith emphasizes that leaders must make their own well-being a genuine priority and find practices that work for them personally. She shares several approaches, including coaching, meditation, journaling, exercise, sleep, and her own nightly gratitude practice.

She closes with memories of attending Richmond Braves games after moving to Virginia as a child. Following players as they progressed from Triple-A baseball to the Atlanta Braves helped create one of her earliest connections to supporting a team and being part of something larger than herself.

⭐ About Lilith Christiansen

Lilith Christiansen is the Founder and CEO of HumanGenuity, LLC, where she focuses on the human side of growing businesses.

She works with growth-stage companies that have reached the point where the practices that helped them succeed earlier are no longer enough. Her work helps organizations identify sources of friction, improve clarity, strengthen decision-making, and create the conditions teams need to continue growing effectively.

Connect with Lilith

Website: https://human-genuity.com