Even excellent employers and managers make the mistake of leaving instructions unintentionally vague. It’s valuable to have an outside perspective to identify when this happens.

I still consider the risk to be worth it. The greater risk to me would have been to breach confidentiality, which is essential to an executive coaching relationship.

We've done this work many times, but it's safe to say we are the ones learning here. In Botswana, there’s a commitment to kindness and respect like no other culture I’ve seen, and because of that, speaking straight is a struggle.

Acknowledgment, as research suggests, is a cornerstone in retaining valuable employees, and witnessing genuine recognition in action was heartening.

I believe that so many of our other key fundamentals are rooted in integrity, for example:

• Honor commitments

• Be accountable

• Respect confidentiality

• Practice blameless problem solving

• Fix problems at the source

• Appreciate and acknowledge

• Speak straight, respectfully

• Always do your best