Leading Small Teams

Carole Welborn is a leadership coach, consultant, and former small-team manager with over twenty years of experience across software, professional services, and nonprofit organizations. She began her career as a software engineer, then spent a decade leading technical teams of three to nine people in startups and mid-sized companies. That frontline experience taught her that the most effective leader of a small team is not the loudest or busiest person in the room, but the one who listens, clarifies, and brings out the best in others.

After transitioning into organizational development, Carole has worked with hundreds of first-time managers in industries ranging from healthcare to financial technology. She designs practical workshops, facilitates team offsites, and coaches individuals one-on-one to help them navigate the tricky move from doing the work to leading the people who do the work. Her approach is grounded in everyday reality: no hype, no jargon, just clear tools and honest conversations.

Carole is a contributing writer for several leadership publications and a regular speaker at conferences on topics including team trust, feedback, delegation, and managing remote teams. She holds a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from the University of Denver and is certified in several leadership assessment tools, including DISC and the Hogan Assessment Suite.

She lives in Austin, Texas, with her partner and two dogs. When she is not coaching or writing, she volunteers as a mentor for a local entrepreneurship program and spends as much time as possible hiking the Texas Hill Country. *Leading Small Teams* is her first book, born from a growing stack of notes and stories collected over many years of helping ordinary managers become extraordinary team leaders.