A short book by Jamie Lord · JammTrain
Most teams don't fail on talent. They fail on the small habits of hiring and leading. Love Letters at Work is eight practical ways to hire better, lead with clarity, and build teams that actually stay.
Over sixteen years of training, coaching and developing people, JammTrain has learnt something uncomfortable. You can coach. You can motivate. You can send someone to a leadership programme. But if a person's natural characteristics and motivations clash with what the role actually requires, everyone ends up working uphill: the employee, the manager, and you.
So the book follows one simple order:
Attract first. Assess first. Then develop.
Each one is small. Each one compounds. Every chapter ends the same way: one thing you can do today to move the needle tomorrow. Pick one and start this week.
You can't write love letters to your team from an empty pen. Six focused minutes on waking: Let's breathe, One affirmation, Victories yesterday, Visualising today, Exercise, Read, Send gratitude. Six to sixty minutes, depending on the day. The six minutes are borrowed, with thanks, from Steve Chandler's Time Warrior.
Today: tomorrow, before you touch your phone, run all seven, even at the six-minute pace.
Hiring is not an inspection. It's a two-way alignment of expectations. Traditional recruitment starts with a dance of exaggeration: the employer oversells the role, the candidate inflates their past. Both focus on winning the courtship rather than surviving the marriage. Replace it with radical clarity. Sell the truth of the role, not the glamour.
Today: in your next hiring conversation, ask: "What part of this role might frustrate you, and how would we navigate that together?"
Ditch the three-page job description. Name the three to five Most Valuable Priorities that actually define success. "Responsible for managing client relationships" becomes "Achieve a 95% client retention rate across Q3 and Q4." Alongside sits the Joy Agreement: what the person needs to feel fulfilled, supported and energised. It's the first place the relationship stops being transactional.
Today: strip the fluff from one role and write its top three MVPs for this quarter.
A weekly fifteen-minute one-to-one that checks in, not up. It's theirs, not yours. The best manager Dr Terry Paulson ever had took him for a walk every Wednesday at 3pm and asked the same question: "What's working for you?" The first time, Paulson thought: nothing. By the third week he was collecting small wins all week just to have an answer ready.
Today: book a recurring 15-minute walk with one person, same time weekly, and ask what's working for them.
The You-Meeting is a private letter. ALOVE is the letter your whole team writes together, once a week.
Today: at your next team meeting, acknowledge someone in the room, then ask: "What progress did we make last week that we haven't said out loud yet?"
Move past "good job." Vague praise is a warm handshake that leaves no fingerprint. Name what they did, how, for whom, why it mattered, and how the team benefited, so the behaviour repeats. Jamie learnt these five steps in person from John Hersey.
Today: recognise one person this week with the full five steps instead of a throwaway thanks.
Replace the dreaded annual review with a twice-yearly conversation that's 80% about the future. Glance back briefly for lessons, then look forward with three questions: Hope, Fear, Learn. Then co-create the roadmap.
Today: put a 45-minute Performance Preview in your calendar with one person. Five minutes on the past, then pivot forward.
Across all of it, one move comes first: acknowledgement. See the person before you talk about the work. That's where love at work begins.
Here's a note Jamie wrote to Paul, a member of his own team, after Paul ran a class while Jamie was on leave. Watch it move through all five recognition steps.
The words cost nothing. But Paul now knows exactly what he did, why it mattered, and that he should do it again.
The Executive Field Guide walks the whole arc, from the first job ad to the twice-yearly conversation that keeps your best people staying. Every tool comes with one move you can make today.
"Supported our Gold Medal Win at the 2023 Australian Training Awards. Revenue is up. Staff retention is up. Thank you JammTrain."Paul Kahlert, CEO, All Purpose Transport
"We've worked with JammTrain for almost 15 years. The best partner we've had for understanding and developing our staff."Russ Egan, CEO, Superior Care Group
"Jamie's team are a force for good. We're already on target to achieve our annual goals."Adrian Gonzalez, Head of Strategy, Geoscape Australia
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Get the hire right, and the You-Meetings, the recognition and the previews all have something to build on. If you're hiring a critical role, or wrestling with an appointment that isn't working, let's have a 20-minute chat.