Charlie Gilkey on Team Habits: How Small Actions Create Better Teams and Better Work
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
Erik Fisher
4.5 • 877 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Charlie Gilkey on his book, Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that helps professional creatives, leaders, and changemakers take meaningful action on work that matters. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on productivity, planning, strategy, and leadership, and is also the author of Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done and The Small Business Life Cycle. Charlie is also an Army veteran and near-PhD in philosophy.
In this conversation, we cover:
- The Power of Team Habits: Charlie explains why great teams aren’t built by simply adding talented people, but by developing intentional habits and systems that shape how people work together.
- Small Problems, Big Consequences: We discuss how seemingly minor issues inside a team can compound over time, affecting morale, communication, trust, and the overall health of the workplace.
- Improving Systems Instead of Blaming People: Charlie shares why leaders should focus on changing broken team dynamics and processes rather than trying to “fix” individual team members.
- Better Communication and Collaboration: We explore practical ways teams can improve meetings, expectations, feedback, and everyday interactions to create more productive and enjoyable work environments.
- Creating Humane High-Performing Teams: Charlie discusses how teams can balance excellence and accountability with empathy, understanding, and respect for the people doing the work.
Charlie’s insights offer a practical roadmap for anyone looking to create healthier, more effective teams. Whether you lead a team, work within one, or are trying to improve how people collaborate around meaningful work, this conversation is packed with strategies for building better habits that lead to better outcomes. Learn more about Charlie and his work at ProductiveFlourishing.com, and check out Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results wherever books are sold.
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Transcript
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| 0:48.3 | Thank you. Hello and welcome back to Beyond the To Do List, a podcast about productivity. |
| 1:09.8 | I'm your host, Eric Fisher, and in this episode, |
| 1:12.0 | I am thrilled to revisit a conversation I had with Charlie Gilke. He's the author of Start |
| 1:18.1 | Finishing, How to Go From Idea to Dun, and founder of productive flourishing, a company that |
| 1:24.1 | helps professional creatives, leaders, and change makers take meaningful action on work that matters. |
| 1:31.0 | This conversation, in this conversation, we are revisiting a deep dive conversation we had on his book, |
| 1:36.6 | Team Habits, How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. |
| 1:41.7 | In this, Charlie shares his insights on the power of teamwork and his |
| 1:46.6 | fresh perspective on improving team productivity. We talk about team dynamics, overcoming challenges |
| 1:53.0 | and mistakes, and the impact that small issues can have within a team and highlighting |
| 1:58.1 | the downstream effects of broken systems on morale and camaraderie and |
| 2:03.3 | even the impact of adding new team members and needing to focus on improving team habits |
| 2:08.6 | rather than changing individual team members. It's like microculture inside of an organization |
... |
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