A MENU OF BITE-SIZED LESSONS ON HOW COMFORT CAN KEEP YOU STUCK, WITH AUTHOR AMIRA BARGER

Niceness can feel safe, but it often comes at a cost. As author and executive Amira Barger explains in her recent book The Price of Nice, choosing comfort over courage keeps teams silent, limits innovation, and allows inequity to persist. To help leaders move from comfort to courage, Athena has created a special page featuring QuickCoach microcoaching lessons with Amira, inspired by her book. If you'd like to learn more about Athena's learning solutions contact us today.

APPETIZER

How Being Nice Can Hurt Team Performance

When teams default to nice, things might look fine on the surface, but tension can simmer underneath. Feedback gets watered down. Disagreements go unspoken. Innovation stalls. In this coaching lesson, Amira Barger teaches you how to spot the signs of performative harmony and use three bold strategies to replace politeness with progress.

Three C's to Build Stronger Teams

Many teams struggle with miscommunication, lack of trust, and disconnection that hold back performance. In this microcoaching lesson, organizational expert Amira Barger shows how you can climb the ladder from communication to connection to cohesion. She will show you how to build stronger, more resilient teams that pull together and perform better.

MAIN COURSE

How Nonverbal Cues Hurt or Improve Communication

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Your body language can undermine even the most thoughtful words. In this lesson, expert Amira Barger coaches you on how nonverbal cues like posture, eye contact, and tone can make or break your communication. She shares three ways to align your actions with your message to strengthen connection.

Using Active Listening to Build Greater Connection

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When employees don’t feel heard, trust erodes and performance suffers. In this microcoaching lesson, Amira Barger teaches you three ways to use active listening to strengthen connection and improve team cohesion. You’ll discover how small shifts in how you listen can build respect and grow your influence.

3 Ways to use Anchoring to Build Team Trust

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Negative openings anchor your team in stress, even if your intentions are positive. In this short coaching lesson, Amira Barger shows how to set the tone through purposeful anchoring. You will learn how your first words shape mindset, and how a more intentional communication approach builds greater trust and cohesion.

Framing Feedback to Empower Your Team

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When messages are poorly framed, teams can feel blamed or disconnected. In this coaching lesson, Amira Barger explains how framing shapes perception and performance. You will learn three ways to frame communication more intentionally so your feedback, and change efforts build trust and team cohesion.

3 Ways to Check Your Negative Assumptions

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When you rush to judgment, trust breaks down and team dynamics suffers. In this lesson, Amira Barger coaches you on three ways to slow your thinking and check your assumptions. You’ll learn how to ask better questions, stay curious, and build stronger connections by climbing down the ladder of inference.

How Priming Shapes Team Behavior

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Subtle cues in your words, space, and rituals shape how your team behaves. In this lesson, Amira Barger coaches you on how priming influences trust and cohesion. You'll learn three ways to reframe language, environment, and recognition to create a workplace that builds connection, not compliance.

3 Ways to Foster More Candor and Ideas

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When your team stays silent, risks go unnoticed and innovation stalls. In this microcoaching module, expert Amira Barger shares three practical ways to create space for greater candor, open questions, and honest mistakes so your team feels heard, connected, and ready to contribute.

3 Ways to Strengthen Identity at Work

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When employees are boxed into narrow roles, it limits their growth and team connection. In this microcoaching module, Amira Barger shares three ways managers can shift positioning to strengthen identity, inclusion, and cohesion. She will teach you how to reframe team roles, individual reputations, and your own leadership brand.

DESSERT

Break Confirmation Bias for Stronger Teams

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When you unconsciously favor familiar ideas, your team stops contributing. In this short coaching module, Amira Barger coaches you on three practical ways to challenge your assumptions, rotate voices, and invite dissent to spark innovation, connection, and build stronger teams.

3 Ways to Reset a Toxic Team Climate

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You can feel it before anyone says a word. The tension. The silence. The fear of speaking up. When your team breathes a defensive climate, performance suffers. In this microcoaching module, Amira Barger helps you reset the emotional tone so trust returns, ideas flow, and team performance improves.

To learn more about microlearning solutions for your organization contact us.

To order Amira Barger's books for your organization.