INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on change and discovering how it impacts you. So, here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I’ll explain the difference between inner and outer change

2 – Then in the second segment you’ll learn how to lean into change  

3 – And in the last segment you’ll learn about the change adoption curve

So get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1 

You either love change or hate it. There’s no in between. I learned this years ago doing my personality workshops – some of us are just wired for change and things to be different. We embrace it and it comes naturally to us. To best understand change we need to learn the difference between inner and outer change. Inner change is change we initiate on our own, for example a change in job, a change in where we live, whereas outer change is change that happens to us, that we didn’t sign on for.  For example losing a loved one that’s a shock losing your job having to move halfway across the world losing money unexpectedly, losing your health losing a friend these are types of change that are unexpected and we don’t adapt well to them because like I said they happened to us not us initiating them that’s the biggest difference here is whether we initiate a change or the change happens to us. It’s important to understand that there are these two different types of changes, and if we don’t do well with change to start, external change can be really, really hard. So really think about external  change in terms of your life and I want you to right now think of three changes that you didn’t initiat, three internal changes. Can you think of them??? _____ How did they come about? How did you handle them? Did you feel in control or not? Now I want you to think of 3 internal changes, things you chose and quite simply three changes that you initiated. Can you think of 3? ____ Was it easier to come up with these ones? Those in the internal changes versus the external changes or the changes that happened to you that were initiated by someone else or were outside of your control. Not that you initiated so go ahead right now and think of three things got it OK all right now we’re gonna think about the extra time to think about the external changes and what are the changes that you had happened to you. over you it’s not change you initiate it’s typically not change that you want but sometimes it ends up being we usually are able to look over our shoulder after we’re through a lesson and see that the change was actually good for us…… but let’s be honest there are some changes that just are really crappy and stay crappy like the loss of I loved one is a really good example of an external change,

However, let’s not get carried away and make these two types of changes mutually exclusive. Sometimes external changes are exactly what we need for a kick in the but, or to deal with our analysis paralysis and we have to trust the process, bc we wouldn’t have made the change ourselves. This concept has been named by my clients as the trampoline effect. I love this term and wish I had come up with it. Let me share a story where it all happened. I was working with this awesome team at RBC, and they started to notice a pattern with an exercise they were doing. As they plotted out a retrospective of their lives and all the positive and the negatives they had been through, it was a common theme that a really low, low was followed by a high high, even higher than they were before. Many people had this pattern and they started to name it the Trampoline Effect, bc they knew they had to journey through a hard time to boost them to an even higher place. I love it, and I’ve been using this term, Trampoline Effect ever since. So while some external changes like the unexpected loss of a loved one can be very painful. They can also be very positive, bc they take us somewhere we might not have pushed ourselves to. Ok that wraps segment 1 and learning about internal Vs external change.

SEGMENT 2 

In this segment I’ll share 2 great ways to use change as a tool with your team. The most important thing to remember is that not everyone will respond like you will to change. You may love change, but your team member may not. There is no right or wrong here, just awareness. There are many different change curves, I like to use a visual one with triangles. So take a second to visualize this with me and I’ll teach it to you so you can use it with your team. If you can, start to visualize three sides of a triangle and the space between the left and the right.  Let’s label the left side and right side. For clarity, primary is the place on the left and then secondary is a place on the right. This is like having a starting point before the change on the left, and an end point on the right. The right, is where we are headed. If the triangle is narrow it indicates that the change happens quickly, meaning there is a small gap between primary and secondary. However if the gap is wide it means the change happens over a longer period of time. This is relevant bc it helps us understand why in most instances quicker changes with less space between primary and secondary are harder and have a steeper trajectory. Think of the incline of a treadmill. This isn’t always the case, but it really mostly is. Wider triangles at the bottom mean the change takes longer, and is easier bc we have time to prepare. So recognizing different shapes of triangles can help you understand and normalize the change that your team members are going through. For the 2nd part of the model, we start to think about the many different ways to cross over that triangle or go through the change from primary to secondary and so again come back to our visual of a triangle and we’re starting at the left which is today your present reality so that’s our primary and then we’re moving over to the right which is the secondary the future state of where we want to be so you can think of it as primary secondary current state future state however you want to have that frame of reference it’s fine but what I want you to remember is that there are many different ways to get from your primary state to your future state and I’m gonna give you a few of those examples right now. The first one is to visualize, imagine what the secondary will be like, which can encourage us. The second one is to talk to someone who’s already been there so if you’re thinking about a more senior job going to have a conversation with a mentor or someone you admire who is doing what you want to do that’s a great way to find out what it’s like over in that secondary state. This is an education or research strategy. Another way is to map out baby steps and break things down, which makes it more manageable. Another more high risk, leaper way is to take a big leap like a Hail Mary and just take a deep breath and jump over and do it right away like rip the Band-Aid off. OK so there you have some different ways you can use change as a leader. The first example I shared is to understand the change adoption curve and 5 categories. You need to know what each of your team members are. And this 2nd tool I just taught can help you understand the change they’re going through and give them a frame of reference. That wraps up the 2 leadership change resources you can use with your team.

 SEGMENT 2 

And lastly - I really Can’t talk about change without talking about growth hangovers because they are the epidome of CHANGE. A growth hangover is when you make a grand gesture or spend a disproportionately amt of time outside of your comfort zone. For example and grand gesture could be asking for a raise or giving hard feedback. It’s a single action and that is exactly what change can feel like too. it requires us to exert a large amount of energy either because we are doing something new or because we are doing something that is intimidating to us. The other type of growth hangovers is when we spend a large quantity of time outside our comfort zone, like at an offsite, team meeting, or sometimes even multiple days like a big conference, say working a booth. Growth hangovers are very real, and they affect us physically and emotionally, and most importantly I want you to be compassionate with yourself when you have one. Think about what happens when you have a food hangover, or a hangover from drinking too much, what happens to you physically? You’re likely tired, you’re not at peak performance. So you might take it easy that day, rehydrate and take it easy on your body. And the same thing applies to a growth hangover. You need to acknowledge what you’ve gone through and then to give yourself the chance to recover. To take it easy, to relax and recognize what you’ve just gone through. If it is something really intense that you’ve just gone through, then once the adrenaline leaves your body, you’re going to feel pretty tired. When we’re doing things that are new or that challenge us we use up more energy, a simple task we do normally might expend 2 units of energy, but something new that we’ve never done before might require 10 units of energy. Because there’s new elements to the task, we might require more focus and attention. And if you’re doing anything that is outside of our comfort zone, well – get ready for a really big growth hangover. Because your sneaky little Saboteurs (aka the negative, disruptive voices inside your head that tell you you’re not good enough) will always show up the most and THE loudest when you are on the cusp of big growth. And growth is always present when change happens. Our Saboteurs always show up the most and THE loudest when you are on the cusp of leaving your comfort zone and heading into your growth zone.  So not only are you doing something new, but you’re battling your Saboteurs while you’re doing it. They’re like gatekeepers, that challenge you, and question you and try to negotiate all these reasons WHY you should just relax and play it safe and stay small. So, a growth hangover happens when we spend a disproportionate amount of time outside of our comfort zone, requiring us to exert a large amount of energy either because we’re doing something new or something that is intimidating to us. OK so that wraps up the refresher on growth hangovers. Remember, whenever you are going through a change, you are most likely going to be left with a big old growth hangover, so do yourself a favour and be prepared for it.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on Change. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a chat with me directly to discuss change or coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on the  that leaders make. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment we’ll introduce you to powerful questions and when to use them

2 – Then in the second segment we’ll explain the main categories to use them

3 – And in the last segment I’ll share the best powerful questions to ask in certain situations

So, get out of your head and into your heart, and let’s dive right in shall we?

SEGMENT 1  

 Do you ever wish you had a truth serum pill that would get people to tell you what they really want, reveal their truth. Well you do and it’s asking powerful questions.  They will get people to reveal their truth. You can use them when you want people to open up, be more introspective and consider aspects of themselves they’ve never done before. So what distinguishes a regular question from a powerful question? A Powerful question will get people to stop and think. It disrupts them from unconscious thinking and patterns and makes them think deeply about their answers. Powerful questions have these 3 qualities or aspects: 1 – they’re short. The shorter the better in fact. We sometimes have the bad habit of wanted to use these  questions to make ourselves sound really intelligent, so they end up getting long and complicated. 2 They should be simple, dare I say, bordering on dumbed down, only one dimensional. 3 they should be neutral and not leading and not specific to our target.

How do we ask them in a way that we have success with them?

Be confident when asking, sometimes they don’t have an answer right away, and that’s ok. Allow for silence and space after you ask so your employee can reflect.

Don’t have an agenda and predetermined answer you’re hoping to hear. Don’t be leading or make it about you. Use them in “real-time during the conversation and ask them one at a time. This is an advanced use case if you’re real-time solution finding.

SEGMENT 2

 Why do powerful questions work so well? There’s a few reasons. They give the power to the other person, let them be the expert for a turn. They also force them to get in their head and think and reflect. And because they’re so simple, it gives them a chance to be in the drivers seat for a change. There are two main reasons to use them, First in a premeditated state and second is in the moment. Let’s start with the premeditated situation. This is a situation that you know is going to happen and creating a powerful question helps to prepare you. It’s like. It’s like a situational blueprint – like a job interview, or if their unfulfilled at work, or want to have a conversation about their career planning or finding their life purpose. What makes this scenario unique is you usually have a SET series of questions that you ask all the time. So for a career planning discussion you would ask them where they want to be, what is important to them, what makes them feel fulfilled? For a job interview you might ask the same series of boring questions – what are you good at? Where have you failed? What are you proud of. The other situation with powerful questions is where the situation is a surprise and you just wing it. An example would be conflict at work, or disengagement, or your employee has a death in the family. These scenarios can feel hard bc we don’t have a playbook about what to ask or why. So then we go back to the list of powerful questions and ask from there: they might feel more personal, but it’s what the employee needs, Who are you becoming, what are you needing here. What’s coming up for you?

SEGMENT 3

In this segment I’m going to give you access to some common questions to ask in different situations

Here’s some questions for employee checkins

Do you love what you do? 

What makes you tolerate that?

What makes you come alive?

Tell me about what is going well?

What do you need?

Questions for Life Purpose

What is your big game?

What are the objectives of your game?

If you were to wave your magic wand what would be your one wish.

If money were no object and you could do and/or be anything in the world, what would your life look like?

What exactly do you believe is preventing you from becoming the person you've always wanted to become?

What are some simple changes you could make today that would get you one step closer to the person you want to be and/or reaching your goal?

Questions for employee conflict

How committed are to resolving this?

How could you make this work for you?

What else could you do to make it better?

What do you want to be remembered for?

What would you like your Gravestone to say?

What do you avoid by doing what you usually do?

What would like to change right now?

What are you feeling right now?

If you want to change people what would you become?

What is the one question I didn’t ask you today that I should have?

What is a question you are not asking yourself?

What is one thing that if it happened would change everything?

Do you believe that?

What was your biggest success since we last talked? What was your biggest challenge?

Interview Questions

Is the life you're living, the life that wants to live in you?

If you spent 80% of your waking time doing 1-2 things, what would they be?

How would you describe the "best work in the world" and "I get paid for it”

What games did you play as a child that still show up some way in your life today?

(I played Fairy Godmother in imaginary Cinderella play. As coaches we don't use magic wands and wouldn't, but we do delight in seeing

Are you truly happy where you are in your life right now?

What would you change if you had the power?

What is stopping you?

Why are you waiting?

When will you be ready to begin?

How will you realistically do it?

Who could help you?

What are you learning about yourself?"

"Where else can you use this?"

What successes have you had since our last session?

What do you want more of? Less of?

What's missing?

What do you want to declare moving forward?

How does that serve you? (often into) What would serve you better?

How you can make this a winning game?

What aren't you letting go of, that prevents you from moving forward?

What do you need to do less of ?

What would you be doing?

What days/hours would you be working?

Where would you be working?

What's stopping you from having that dream job?

What is working well for you?

- What 3 changes would you like to make in your life?

What do you want to achieve?

Saboteur questions

2.) What stops you from taking action?

3.) What would accomplishing this goal mean for you?

4.) What will help you be most comfortable by taking this path?

5.) What do you like about the option you are considering?

6.) What tells you that this is what you would achieve?

7.) How will you know when you have reached your goal?

What are you ready to learn?

Unlocking Potential

Here are questions that are more situational, and you would standardly ask together

-What would you do if you were 20x more confident?

-Who would you be if you weren’t afraid?

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on how powerful questions. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss your leadership or about coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on the biggest mistakes that leaders make. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn  today

1 – In the first segment I’ll reveal the 3 biggest mistakes

2 – Then in the second segment we’ll talk about your leadership legacy

3 – And in the last segment I’ll give you a 3 step process to start defining your leadership brand

So get out of your head and into your heart shall we?

SEGMENT 1  

For those of you who are managers I know you’re striving to be the best manager you can be. There’s no end to the number of articles, blogs and books about Leadership, but most of them are overwhelming and theoretical. So today I wanted to do something different. I wanted to give you real advice from my real clients about what they really want from their managers. No theory today, just real world practical advice you can translate into action immediately. And we’re going to start off by talking about the biggest complaints that people share about their managers. Remember every day all day, I’m working with clients and I get to hear what they really want and what they’re most frustrated by. Do you have an idea or a guess about what it could be? OK I won’t leave you in suspense any longer, here they are, the top 3 mistakes that managers make. Starting with #1 not giving enough feedback, the 2nd is not having proper career conversations, and the 3rd is Lacking vision and confidence. How did those land with you? Any surprises in there. Well there shouldn’t be. At the end of the day people just want to be seen and heard. They want to know you’ll stand up for them and they want to know you care. Great leadership isn’t complicated, but it is time consuming and it does require consistency. Before we dive in deeper to each of these 3 I want to check in with you. Do you feel like you’re guilty of any of them? What about your employees, what would they say? Would you have the courage to check in and ask them? OK let’s start by talking about feedback, it’s a delicate balance of how to give it just right. So I’ve gathered a long list of ways we screw up when we give feedback. Buckle your seatbelt bc this is a list of 5 ways we screw up when we give feedback, then at the end I share a couple tips of how to give feedback correctly – OK< the first way we screw up when we give feedback is - We don’t give enough feedback. Our team members want to hear from us, they’re craving feedback and they want lots of it. Feedback helps them to know if they are on track with their goals. It helps them know if they are delivering in alignment with what is expected of them. It helps them to know if they are growing in the right ways. We also screw up with feedback when we don’t give the right context or situation of what happened. Brene Brown is famous for saying being clear is kind. So that means be really specific about the environment our employees were in, and the circumstances they were in and the people they were with. We screw up with feedback if we don’t give both positive and negative feedback. Usually we’re hard wired for one or the other based on what our manager did with us.  It’s just as important to deliver the constructive feedback as it is the positive feedback. So be thorough and use the full spectrum when you give feedback. We also screw up if we are not authentic or sincere, because this distracts people from really absorbing what we need to tell them.  ∫p when we don’t follow up on the feedback we give. It’s not enough to just have a productive conversation, in most circumstances it is important to circle back and have a follow up discussion so we can see if we’ve made progress, or have any other questions. Here's a scenario about not giving enough feedback that I hear from time to time. That people are actually surprised when they are fired for non-performance or put on a PIP. When the truth here is that their leader should be bearing some of the responsibility for the lack of performance. Tough Love – if your employee is surprised when they’re fired for being an underperformer, it actually says more about your performance as a leader than their performance as an IC. It’s time to hold up the mirror and take a good hard look at yourself. Now I’m not talking about layoffs or redundancies or reorgs, I’m talking performance. Your team members are actually supposed to know where they stand at all times, and as a leader that is YOUR responsibility to communicate this to them, whether it’s comfortable or not. So if they’re surprised when they’re put on a PIP or fired, that’s bc they’re wasn’t enough feedback given prior to that. And lastly I want to share a few tips for giving feedback. Remember not everyone loves receiving feedback the way you do, so it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re getting through. This applies to constructive, tough feedback. You want to watch for your employees’ Edge behaviour to know how they are receiving what they’re saying. Do they look like their absorbing it? Or are you seeing edge behaviour of shutting down or getting defensive. To confirm this you can use the playback tool, which looks like this. I want to make sure you’re getting everything we talked about today, can you play back what you’re taking away for me? And if you notice there’s any resistance on the feedback, make sure you’re not being absolute with it, you’re explaining it as situational. What I mean is, if you give tough feedback to someone that they can be guilty of using a harsh or negative tone of voice, that might make them defensive to accept that feedback. But if you use the SBI framework or qualify the feedback with “sometimes you use a harsh tone” then they’ll be more likely to accept it. So that’s enough talk about feedback, let’s move on to talk more about ways that we screw up when we don’t prioritize career development conversations. I could really summarize this entire conversation with one statement. At their core, people just want to be seen and heard. They care about their future and they want you to care about their future too. A lot of managers avoid this conversation bc they’re scared they’ll find out their employee wants to leave their organization for somewhere else, or that their dream job is in another industry, but this is a gift you should welcome bc sometimes there isn’t a logical future career job for them and they have nowhere to go in your org. But in the meantime, they’ll be extremely loyal and focused to you. And let’s be honest, things change over the years. By the time two years rolls around things could be vastly different. Also in tech, the average time spent at a job is 2 years, so you really have nothing to worry about. Do your best to make your employee’s dreams come true, whether they’re at your company or elsewhere. Remember, people want to learn and grow, and you want to be the one who facilitates the growth. And remember, it’s not up to you to have all the answers, you just need to be a good listener. Career conversations are really personal development conversations, so dive right in. Now let’s move on to the 3rd biggest mistake leaders make – not having vision and confidence as a leader. Employees want to work for someone who will inspire them and stand up for them. This is the factor that makes your employee loyal and want to go above and beyond in their performance. Confidence allows us to make decisions in a timely manner and it makes people want to follow us. Having a vision for the team and where the team is going and being able to eloquently share that vision is so important. These days we wrap all this up into the buzzword storytelling, or I sometimes call it vision casting. I don’t care what you call, so long as you do it regularly and your team members believe in your vision! OK let’s wrap up segment 1 here – the 3 biggest mistakes that leaders make are not giving enough feedback, not having regular career conversations and lastly not having vision and confidence.

SEGMENT 2

In the first segment we talked about all the mistakes that are made, and now I want to give you an option of how to redirect your energy and make sure you avoid the mistakes. its time to dive into one of my favourite topics, leadership legacy. Your leadership legacy is the culmination of every single interaction you have with others. Becoming intentional about your leadership legacy is perhaps the most important mindset shift you need to make as a leader. However, most leaders don’t spend any time thinking about it, or they misunderstand what it really means. They mistakenly think of legacy as what we leave behind after we’re gone, or how people will remember us. What will be dedicated to us after we’re gone? A park bench? A hospital wing, a scholarship or bursary? Or you might think about legacy as, how many people come to your funeral to pay tribute to you? What will your obituary say? these are all legacy, absolutely, 100%. But, this is a very narrow-sighted way of thinking about our leadership. We have to understand that legacy is so much more than that. It’s more than just how we are remembered after we’re gone. It’s about how we make people feel. It’s about what we teach them. It’s about how we treat them in each and every interaction that we have. Your leadership legacy is the culmination of every single interaction you have with people.   What is your impact on others as a leader? Here’s a definition: Your leadership legacy is the culmination of every single interaction you have with others and the impact you have on who they become as leaders. You have a massive opportunity every single day, through every single interaction you have with others. Who do you choose to be? What kind of impact do you want to have? When we start to think about legacy in this way, it really helps us understand and boost our confidence to realize exactly how powerful we really are. A CEO I coached once articulated this really well to me. He said that because of his role, people just naturally looked to him for reassurance about the company and how they were doing, and it wasn’t just in formal meetings or emails he sent out, those intentional “teachable moments”, it was in everything he did, said, wore, reacted to, it was in what he wore, and how he spoke. He said the moment I step off that elevator in the morning, I am ON, and people are looking to me for data and information. Sometimes we mistakenly think people are only learning from us during the teachable moments we choose, BUT, the truth is, they are learning all the time, even when we’re screwing up. I love to use the flight attendant example – no not the oxygen mask one, this is a different one. If you’re ever on a flight that hits turbulence in a big way, what is the first thing you do? Think about it. You look up at the flight attendant to see how they’re responding, and this is your north star. So often, this is exactly what leadership is, people are looking at you to see how you are responding. What will they see when they look at you? I want to share a story about leadership legacy from my career. I have a leader who had a massive impact on my career. He wasn’t originally my direct leader, he worked in another area of marketing. But he called on me many times to do projects for him and take on extra work, which I always did and said yes to. So fast forward two years later when the company underwent a massive reorg and layed off a bunch of people. He let go his entire team and hired me to be the only person in his department, and let me tell you, we did some amazing things together. And in the short time I worked for him, he had such a massive impact on me, and his actions still resonate with me today. I feel like this was one of the first times in my career that I had a manager who really made the effort to appreciate, and value me. He taught me many things in those years that I worked for him, but most important that it’s ok to take risks and make unpopular decisions and TRUST YOUR GUT, that is the legacy that he instilled in me – always trust your gut. It was not a popular decision for him to clean out his whole org and then bring me over to rebuild it, but he did it bc he trusted me and trusted his gut that said I was to the right person for the job, Part of his legacy is believing in people and taking risks, and he passed that lesson down to me. So many times in my career I have made unpopular hiring decisions, just because they felt right. I could never logically justify them. And they always, always paid off. That is his legacy alive and thriving in me. OK we’re wrapping up segment 2 here and our discussion on Leadership Legacy. It’s not about how we’re remembered when we die, it’s about the opportunity every single day, through every single interaction to teach and impact others. Let’s wrap this segment with the definition of leadership legacy, Your leadership legacy is the culmination of every single interaction you have with others and the impact you make on who they become as leaders.

SEGMENT 3

If you want to avoid making these leadership mistakes, the SECRET isn’t just about what to avoid doing, it is much more powerful for you to focus on how you want to show up as a leader and what you do want to do. This means having a clear vision for who you want to be as a leader, and this means developing a leadership brand. And you build this brand through a distinct 3 step process. Step one – determine primarily the first impression you want to have as a leader. This is quite literally boiled down to summarize how people would describe you as a leader. To do this, start by making a list of least 5 leaders you admire. And this can be someone real who you actually worked for, or a coach or author you don’t know. It can also be a leader expert like a Brene Brown, Oprah, Reed Hastings, James Clear, Tim Cook, Sheryl Sandberg; Bill Gates; Warren Buffet, who is famous and you’ve never actually met. But you need at least 5 people. Write out a list of 5 names and write out the positive qualities they each have. Then go through and circle the items that are in similar, coming up with at least 3-5 qualities that you want to embody as a leader. Then it’s gut check time. Is this the impact you want to have as a leader? Or when you make a short list, it may help you discover that you want to impact people with different things. Either way, go through the process and end up with 3-5 important qualities you want to embody as a leader.   Step 2 of determining your leadership brand is thinking about impact. Make a list of 5 – 7 of your greatest accomplishments or projects. Big or small. It could be something you worked on for a day, or for 2 years.. Write out the list and then analyze the list to determine WHAT you are known for. Be introspective and list 5-7 of the most common compliments you receive from others, whether you agree with them or not. Then review the list and either pick one you believe to represent your greatest strength, this is your impact. Step 3 of determining your leadership brand is coming up with your unique or quirky quality – this can be something you’re known for, or do regularly in meetings like start each meeting with a personal check in, or a meditation or signing off your emails in a unique way, or how you interact with others. This is where you need to figure out what your freak flag has on it, and let it fly. It can be a small, tactical thing like a meeting protocol or a big thing that is more philosophical like how you manage employees. And there you have it, that wraps up segment 3 - we’ve just started to define your leadership brand with these three things, defining your strengths, the Impact you have on others and creating your freak flag.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on how to aboid the biggest mistakes managers make. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss your leadership or about coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on Micro Cultures and discovering whether or not you have one or maybe even need one. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I’ll explain why you would build one and what it actually is

2 – Then in the second segment I’ll explain the advantages of building one.

3 – In the third segment I want to make a note about loyalty

4 - And in the last segment I’ll explain how to build one

So, get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

I think the best way of describing a micro culture is explaining why you might want to build one. Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong to the rest of your organization? Ever felt like the Black Sheep, or the rebel. Maybe you felt like the one person who constantly viewed things through a different lens. These feelings of not belonging may have led you to define your own team brand, core values, purpose, and vision that feels different from your boss and the greater company. This could have been caused by many different reasons. Your boss doesn’t respect or appreciate you or the work your team does. Or vice versa because you don’t feel like you respect them or their work. It could be because you feel like you value and appreciate things that aren’t really important to them, or they’ve taken actions that you don’t respect. Either way, over time, in order to survive or thrive you and your team have developed your own code of conduct and no longer want to be dictated by the typical company culture and be stuck with values that don’t align with you. This is building a microculture, and it serves two purposes. First, you’re responding to the fact that you don’t agree with what they’re pushing as culture and second, you are organically creating something that fits more with you and your team. It    create the type of environment that allows them to thrive, be the best version of themselves and contribute to creating the most fulfilling environment to do their best work. Whereas the main company may find it difficult to attract an employee or retain an employee, a microculture allows them to thrive, which results in you establishing a very loyal and hardworking environment. In many instances a microculture is established by a team that is disenchanted with their greater company at large, thereby creating an environment whereas a microculture retains them and makes them stick around. Another scenario when a micro culture may be created is through a merger or acquisition. I had this experience years ago when we were acquired by a large corporation. I remember the day when the announcement was made, and the CEO looked me in the eye, then proceeded to scan the rest of the room and said he was excited to work with us because our cultures were exactly the same. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. We had flexible hours and casual work from home culture. He did a 9:00am walk around to make sure that everyone is at their desk for core working hours. It couldn’t have been further from our culture. So we unintentionally kept our company culture and traditions alive to honour this great business we had built, we were creating a microculture. We held on as along as we could, then they eventually just consumed us. That wraps segment 1 on explaining what a micro culture is.

SEGMENT 2

So, I promised to share some of the advantages of building a micro culture, and here they are. It helps to build loyalty to you as a leader. You’ve likely heard the saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave bad managers. I also believe the opposite to be true, that people are extra loyal to good managers. Another advantage of a micro culture is that you can avoid a lot of wasted time shielding your team from bad politics, you give them a vision and a purpose to direct their energy into instead. I always feel bad for people managers who are constantly giving out their great leadership and guidance, but they’re not receiving the same great leadership from their boss. Imagine having your 9 o’clock meeting with your manager and being yelled at and disempowered by your manager, then having to turn around, dust yourself off for your 10am, and shift gears back to your regular motivational self to meet with your team and give them the great leadership and guidance that they deserve? That’s hard and frustrating to be in an environment like that. Here are some other advantages you may experience. You draw in the great talent, and also get to keep them too. It’s like being the cool team in town that everyone wants to be a part of. It gives you hope and a stronger sense of control over the people you are grooming, product you are delivering and work you are producing. You are largely insulated from the toxic behavious that permeates the rest of the organization. OK, wrapping up Segment 2 and all the advantages of a micro culture.  

SEGMENT 3

Let’s dive into segment 3, and talk about Loyalty, which some of you may be thinking about. Are any of you wondering if building a micro culture might be more destructive to than helpful to the greater company, because rather than abiding to the main cultural norms and towing the company line, you’re putting energy into something else. This isn’t what I learned in business school, we were taught that a company had to be built up as a team of abiding robots. I need you to start to see this as a conditioned thought that makes us believe that a single culture is advantageous for us. Here’s a perspective from Simon Sinek, who is the famous author or Start with Why, and famous for his work done on finding purpose. Reading his latest book Find your Why really helped me to see micro cultures in a whole new way. This perspective is taken from his book where he talks about individual departments in a company doing their own “”Why Discovery sessions””. He says that the great thing about a why discovery for a subgroup or a microculture is that it can influence the whole organization to want to find its why. When a single division starts to think, act and communicate based on it’s Why, good things happen. Performance tends to improve, innovation tends to rise, employee turnover tends to decline. Senior management notices these developments. Employees in other divisions notice as well because the people in the why group tend to enjoy coming to work more than before. After Simon did a tribe wide discovery for one small team at a team he was working for , the phone started ringing in other areas of the company and people started asking if there were any positions available on that team. In that way, the tail can wag the dog. A small group of inspired and engaged employees can have a positive impact on the entire organization. I want to make sure you catch that last sentence, because that’s the most important part: In that way the tail can wag the dog. A small group of inspired and engaged employees can have a positive impact on the entire organization. That’s the power of micro cultures. So as you can see, a company can really benefit positively from having different micro cultures. And that’s a wrap on segment 3

SEGMENT 4

So after listening to my description and my stories, are you inspired to actually build a micro culture with your team? Well, I wish I had a 5 step formula you could follow to create one, but unfortunately they’re not usually created like that, they’re more organic. So, here’s a list of distinguishing factors for a micro culture. 1: Functioning as a system: Participants often function like a system which is a collective group of people with a common identity or purpose. It’s a connection on a deep level. 2 – Holding a shared purpose: participants feel like they’re part of something that is greater than themselves 3 – Sharing power: there is often shared power and less reliance on hierarchy. Your team members want to feel like they have a say in all matters, and you definitely want to hear what they think, and encourage them to get involved in things 4- A collective pride of ownership. There is a clear pride of ownership for the work they do, as it is a direct reflection of them. Are you inspired by that list of distinguishing factors for a micro culture. I’ve also had the distinct experience of working with clients who have built a microculture. Some of them intentionally and some by accident. Firstly, there’s Simon who works in finance and had a very unique group of specialty trained employees. For years he struggled to retain them because as a team they just never felt like fit into the mainstream culture of the organization. This made it hard for him to draw new talent and retain new talent. It also impacted their productivity, and every time they had an innovative idea, they felt like someone was shooting it down. Morale on his team deteriorated, and he felt like he was burning out from constantly trying to motivate everyone and physically hold their spirits up. Finally they started to build their own micro culture and stopped trying to force their way into the larger organization. Looking at them today, Vs who they were 2 years ago, it’s like they’re a completely different team. I’d also like you to meet Claire, both her and her team felt disrespected by their senior leadership team. Do they care? Are they watching? Do they even know who we are? Over the course of our 6 month engagement Claire and I did many exercises and offsites with her team to give them hope, and…. It worked. Although the team was always productive, they weren’t always happy and didn’t feel like they had a clear vision, so why should their work matter. Through Claires patience and positivity, she was able to create an environment where her team actually got what they wanted and they are thriving. Ok let’s recap those 4 distinguishing factors of a microculture: 1: Functioning as a system: 2 – Holding a shared purpose: 3 – Sharing power: there is often shared power and less reliance on hierarchy. Your team members want to feel like they have a say in all matters, and you definitely want to hear what they think, and encourage them to get involved in things.

4- A collective pride of ownership.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on building a micro culture. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss micro cultures or coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, especially a fear fantasy, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

He really just got me - he knew that travel was my love language and it was the ultimate thing he could do to motivate me at that point

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being, I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on employee motivation and how to apply this to your team. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I’ll explain the biggest mistake leaders make

2 – Then in the second segment I’ll explain the AMP model

3 – And in the last segment I’ll share the motivation model I share with all my clients

So get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

One of the most common requests I get from leaders is that they want their teams to work harder. They don’t want to make any changes themselves or do anything different. But they want their employees to be more engaged. I hear it all the time, “Julie I don’t want to do any of that touchy feely stuff or change anything, but I want my team to deliver more.” I find this really strange, because A – I love the touchy feely stuff. And as a leader part of your responsibility is to be involved with your team, so how can you possibly get them to change their behviour without you being involved in some way? As a leader it’s always important to be authentic, and never ask your team to do anything you wouldn’t do. But this isn’t the big mistake that we see leaders make. The big mistake is trying to motivate their employees with financial incentives. You see, many studies have proven that employees don’t actually respond to financial incentives, and it can actually have the opposite impact we want it to. The London School of Economics found that financial incentives can actually demotivate employees and have the opposite impact we want them to have. Let’s see how this played out with Amanda. She had very aggressive career goals and had many conversations with her boss about building out a team and getting to the next level to be a manager. Whenever she brought it up with her manager, he was very dismissive about the whole thing. He said he’d get back to her by the next promotion cycle. This was really important to her, she trusted him and just assumed that because he made that promise, that he would follow through on it. This my friends is a heartbreaking mistake I see over and over again. Assuming that promotions will just happen bc we want them or we deserve them. I wish we lived in a world where promotions were just handed out to people who were deserving of them, wanted them and were ready for them but sadly we don’t live in that world. There are a few organizations I’ve come across where HR initiates this, but it’s very rare. If you want a promotion, it’s up to you to initiate it and make it happen. Long story short, when it came time for Amanda to be promoted, she actually wasn’t included in the promotion cycle, and she was very disappointed. Recognizing this, her boss put a proposal forward to top up her salary and stock options. And although she was really flattered, she was really disappointed, bc it wasn’t money she was after, it was about furthering her career. So Amanda said she appreciated the salary increase, but it really wasn’t what she was after. She tried many times over 2 months to have this conversation with her boss, but he didn’t make himself available to meet or make it a priority. In the meantime, while Amanda’s boss had his head in the sand, Amanda received a call from a recruiter offering her exactly what she wanted - a leadership role getting her to the next level of her career and managing a team. When her boss found out about the opportunity, he said oh well, I’ll just offer her even more money for her to be incented and stay around, but it was too late, Amanda was already committed to the new role and the new team. Twice he had made the mistake of trying to motivate with money and both times it failed. He was severely out of touch with his team and what they wanted and it backfired on him. So bottom line here. With Amanda, as with so many others we can’t just throw money at problems to fix them, we have to understand what our team wants and what drives them. OK so let’s wrap up Segment One here - bottom line – money is NOT the #1 motivator for everyone in all situations. You have to know your team, know what they want and be ready to motivate them with appropriate incentives.

 SEGMENT 2

OK welcome to segment 2 where we actually dive into AMP. This is a 3 segment model that stands for Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. It was developed by Dan Pink, Author of many books including Drive and to Sell is Human. Here’s an insider tip though, you can learn all about his concept of AMP in his Ted Talk, The Puzzle of Motivation, just in case you don’t have the bandwidth to read one of his books right now. Let’s break down each element of the AMP model. Autonomy is the urge to direct our own lives, Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters and Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Basically what he’s saying is that money is NOT the be all and end all to engage our team members, we need to look at these 3 components for our team members. Think about Autonomy, it’s the opposite of micromanagement, which is often the biggest complaint I hear from employees, that they’re frustrated when they don’t feel like they have the space or ability to do anything on their own, they don’t feel like their ideas are being seen or heard, which leads them to not feeling valued or appreciated in the workplace. Each day you make a colossal investment at work and you want to make sure your investment is being appreciated. How many hours of each day do you spend working? It’s likely more than any other aspect of your life, especially if it’s a full-time job. You want to know that the time is being invested wisely, that it’s being appreciated, and I can totally respect that. When I think back to jobs that I’ve had in the past, it’s always the ones where I had lots of space to do my thing, express my creativity that have worked the best. One of the best quotes I ever heard from a manager was, I’m going to give you enough rope to hang yourself. The meaning of the saying was kind of morbid, and I wished he had picked a different way to say it, but the intention was there, and I knew exactly what he meant. And what translated through that was, I trust you, and I know that you’re mature enough to do what you need to do. And it was amazing to see the levels of productivity in that company. People had a “do whatever it takes” attitude and always got things done. There was no checking in on us to see what and when we were working. We just did the work. And I have to say hands down it was the most productive company I ever worked at with the highest levels of Ownership. I sincerely hope that you have had or will have the opportunity to work at a company like that someday. OK that’s the summary of Autonomy. Let’s take a closer look at Mastery now. Mastery is the desire to get better at something that matters. That’s important, I’ll say it again – Mastery is the desire to get better at something that matters. The important part of this definition is the “that matters” part. It’s not about improving at anything, it’s not about improving at something you don’t want to do, don’t believe in or doesn’t align with your values, progress in a direction you don’t want to be going isn’t real progress, it’s just like moving rocks around in different piles. True fulfillment comes from true mastery, and that is doing things you love, not things that suck your soul. And when we improve at things that matter to us, that align with what we believe in, this makes inspired and motivated, the ultimate formula for employee motivation. So that is the 2nd component of AMP – Mastery. The 3rd component of AMP is Purpose, and we talk about Purpose a lot. Purpose is the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Again - Purpose is the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. This is so core to who we are and why Books like Start with Why are such critical reading material for us. The significance of something bigger than ourselves is that we need to visualize something to grow into so that we at a personal level can expand and grow. This is part of the continual improvement process, we need to be upleveling and bringing in new information at all times. And we all know that we can’t expand if we just sit around and do the same thing all the time, purpose is about doing something new and inspirational. OK let’s wrap up this 2nd segment by defining the 3 different components of AMP. Autonomy is the urge to direct our own lives, Mastery is the desire to get better and better at something that matters and Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

SEGMENT 3

OK I promised to share the motivation model that I give to all my clients, and here it is. So the context is that this isn’t a stand-alone tool or resource, it’s actually part of my Relationship Design tool that I share out with leaders to use with their team. Relationship Design is hands down one of the most robust and valuable tools I give to clients, It’s a tool to use at the start of the relationship that sets out the norms of how you are going to be working together, preferences, working styles, And within the Relationship Design, there’s a dedicated section to motivation. Because leaders often come out and ask me, how to motivate their employees, because they don’t know the aspects of what specifically motivates them, and I tell them the simple truth, the easiest way to motivate your employees is to have a conversation with them and ask them what motivates them. And this is a situation where an open-ended question probably won’t serve you, so what I’ve created in my model is a list of 4 different items, then your team member has a starting point to rank these items in order of importance. Here’s my suggested list of the 4 motivators – 1-Having an impact, 2-Personal growth & development, 3-Salary/bonus, 4-Advancement & title. Ask your employee to rank these items in order of importance for them. Remember, there is no right and no wrong, this is by no means an extensive list. It’s just a start. it’s simply about understanding what is important to them. The order of their list might be different than your list, and that’s ok. This is a process of understanding your team member, and what makes them tick individually. I remember years ago being given a gift of appreciation, and the person, of note was a female, bought me one of those charm bracelets, I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was a chain retail store here in Canada, and their model was that you start out with the charm bracelet and you keep adding to the charms over the years for special occasions, until it weighs about 10 pounds and you feel like people can hear you entering the room with all your jingle/jangling. Just kidding. Now there’s nothing wrong with these charm bracelets, I think they’re a great idea to be honest, BUT if anyone knows even a little bit about me, they know that I am a minimalist and this doesn’t align with who I am at all. Which is why I was so shocked when I received it to be honest. But the interesting thing is, the person who ended up buying it for me, had one herself and she loved it – loved the jingle jangle. So that’s a perfect example of buying something that is NOT for me and not aligned with who I am. I’ll contrast this with another example of a boss who knew exactly who I was and how to motivate me. Whenever I would finish a great event, launch, party or campaign, he would always proudly come up to me and say well that was phenomenal, I want you to get on the phone tomorrow and contact the travel agent and book yourself a trip – anywhere I wanted to go. You see, he knew that travel was my love language and it was the number one thing that I wanted and to be able to book trips through work and be covered by work was a brilliant perk. I don’t think I’ve ever received a better perk than that. He understood the motivation, knew what I wanted and delivered on the promise. What a brilliant leader, who followed great guidelines of employee motivation. So far we’ve been talking about core motivational principles. I’ve shared a list of a lot of big things you can do for your employees, things like compensation are really big factors, for motivation, as are career development. but remember there are many, many regular day to day things you can do as a leader that are going to motivate your employees. Remember that saying from Maya Angelou, I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” And the feeling is really what creates the loyalty and connection. So here’s a list of 5 motivation investments you can do to motivate your employees on a regular basis. 1 - Listen 2 - Be consistent, 3- Push them 4 – Appreciate them 5 – Hold their vision. Let’s go through each of these more clearly. The first one is Listen– be enamoured with their ideas, be interested in their perspectives and care about their opinions. Our core need at work is to be seen and heard, so that a leader isn’t organized and doesn’t know what they’re doing honour that. The second one is Be consistent. No one wants a Manager who is constantly moving meetings around and changing priorities. Inconsistency sends a message, and these are not the people we want to be working for. The third I’ve listed here is “Push them”, meaning push them out of their comfort zone, hold up their potential in the mirror and make them step into it. People will never forget those who are associated with their growth and expansion, it’s a magical feeling and you’ll be lucky if they remember you every time they think of it. The fourth motivation investment is Appreciate them. Remember, you can never, ever, ever acklowdedge someone’s greatness too much. Give compliments, give acknowledgements, it never gets old and you can never give too many. The fifth to dive into here is Hold their vision. What an honour to be able to hold their vision – no matter how big or small, whether it is work related or personal, it can be a career plan, qualification, personal financial goal, family goal. Doesn’t matter what it is, if its important to them, it should be equally important to you to cheer them on and help bring it to life. OK, let’s recap those 5 5 motivation investments to encourage your employees on a regular basis. 1 - Listen 2 - Be consistent, 3- Push them 4 – Appreciate them 5 – Hold their vision. 

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on Employee Motivation. As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss motivation or coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

Intro Teaser

Today I want to tell you about Kate and her Fear Fantasy. She was an IC at a large mortgage company, had been there for years, she worked hard, harder than her colleagues and at most times harder than her boss. And every year when it was time for her performance conversation, she would pump herself up to have a conversation with her boss.  She knew she deserved the promotion, BUT she was consumed by the fear, potential rejection and judgment she thought her boss would have waiting for her if she brought it up. This perceived fear consumed her and held her back from getting what she truly deserved. Welcome to Kate’s Fear Fantasy.

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! Because you are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on Fear Fantasies and discovering whether or not you have one. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today 

1 – In the first segment I’ll explain exactly what a Fear Fantasy is

2 – Then in the second segment I explain how they are so paralyzing 

3 – And in the last segment I’ll share how to overcome your Fear Fantasy, so it doesn’t completely keep you stuck

So get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

Fear fantasies are stories we create that allow us to stay small and stay stuck. They justify us not acting and allowing our fear to be greater than our desire. I want to start by telling you a story about Kate and her Fear Fantasy about asking for a promotion. You see, Kate was in her role for years. She was an IC at a large mortgage company and had been there for years. She worked hard, so very hard, harder than her colleagues and at most times even harder than her boss. And every year when it was time for her performance conversation with her boss, she would START with the same excited thoughts running through her head. This is the year that I am ready for a promotion. I know I’m ready, I deserve it, I can do the work and I’m ready to break through to the next level. And yet every year, no matter how much she pumped herself up, she never actually went through with it and initiated the promotion with her boss. She never had the conversation with her boss about getting promoted, or if she did, it was watered down and lacklustre and she didn’t even really try. She was consumed by the fear, potential rejection and judgment she thought her boss would have waiting for her if she brought it up. This perceived fear consumed her, and she held onto it so tightly. This was her Fear Fantasy. It’s as if the disappointment of being stuck and not asking for what she wanted became more familiar and more comfortable to her, it was part of what kept her stuck. Fear fantasies are normal and more common than we think. It’s so easy to spot them in other people and call them out, but when they’re our fear fantasy, they feel real and all consuming, we don’t feel like we have any other options.

Common fear fantasies happen around promotions and career, around pitching or sharing an idea in a meeting, around asking for people to be our champion or advocate on our behalf. It boils down to advocation on our own behalf or asking someone else to advocate for us. As leaders it’s so easy and second nature for us to champion our team members, but when it comes to self-promotion, we often struggle, and haven’t always built the same muscles.

So, coming back to Kate, it took us months of coaching to excavate through her fear fantasy and start the conversation process with her boss. And that’s the thing with a Fear Fantasy, it isn’t just a one-off thought of what might happen, it’s a long range committed narrative that we create about how we are convinced things are going to play out in a negative way for us, and we’ll be rejected. Some of the scaffolding she created to hold up the story was that her boss didn’t actually believe she was ready for promotion, and that if she was put in that role she wouldn’t actually be able to handle it. Logically she knew she was ready, but as part of her story she had created so much self-doubt over the years, that the self-doubt took over and she couldn’t move forward to action. So, part of our work together was to schedule conversations with her boss and make sure those conversations happened. I urged Kate to find a mentor internally who could help her pursue this promotion. I also had her talk to other colleagues who had recently been promoted and find out what it was like in their new roles. Basically, we started to find her evidence all around her that this was possible, which would propel her to take action and chip away at her Fear Fantasy. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an easy path, it took many conversations, but in the end Kate was successful with her promotion and has been happily in her new role for more than a year now.

This leads me to another conversation with a client and another fear fantasy where we discussed his desire to leave his current job and find a new role in a different industry that is more aligned with his core values and passions in life. How exciting to claim this vision and really be clear on what he wants and do what he is passionate about. Great, so I dive into starting to help him create an action plan, and he presents with a long list of reasons why he can’t actually dive into this dream right now, aka a fear fantasy. Some of the excuses include that people are going to laugh at him and poke fun because he doesn’t actually have experience in that new industry and he’s not actually qualified. So as much as he really wants to start working there, he’s made up a story telling himself he can’t because other people’s opinion of him, dominate his actions. And the last example I want to share of a fear fantasy is a client who is a big picture thinker and a brilliant problem solver. Every year she wants to pitch her boss and his team a resourcing solution to face the same issue that comes up. She knows the problem, sees the problem, and has run all the numbers. But every time she envisions herself as the person speaking up to fix it, she pictures everyone just laughing at her and not taking her seriously. Why would she put herself out there if no one is really going to hear her, and people will just mock her? Each of these stories are fear fantasies playing out and they’re all examples of how we hold ourselves back from reaching our full potential because we have made up a story about how a specific scenario will play out and how that will make us look. We’ll share an idea, and people will shoot it down. We’ll talk about our future career plans, and people won’t take us seriously. We’ll put ourselves out there to share our dreams, but people will just laugh at us. It’s as if we have fully scripted the entire scenario, and how it will play out for us, and we haven’t left any other wiggle room for different scenarios to happen. This is why Fear Fantasies are so dangerous. And I want to share one more fear fantasy before we wrap up this segment. And I’m going to actually contradict myself here slightly, because what I’ve been saying is that Fear Fantasies are irrational and if we name them, they won’t come true. Well, I would be wrong if I said they never come true. Sometimes they do come true, and this is an example of when one of MY fear fantasties came true. When I left my last full time gig 12 years ago I created a fear fantasy that my old colleagues making fun of me for starting my own business and becoming a  coach. I had no experience, I only had marketing expertise, and I was worried they would make fun of me for that. And guess what? They did. They did make fun of me. And guess what else? I survived. This played out about 2 years in, and one of them revealed to me that they often watch what I post on LinkedIn and make fun of what I’m doing. Full stop. That is the end of the story. It shows more about how small minded they are, and petty, and the fact that they told me to my face probably means there’s a little bit of jealousy there. So to wrap up here, Fear Fantasies are real, they hold a lot of power, sometimes they come true and sometimes they don’t. But we must never, ever, ever, allow them to dictate our life.

SEGMENT 2

So why are fear fantasies so dangerous? Well quite simply they put us on a very challenging one-track mind about how a scenario will play out, and they don’t give us room to see other options or for things to play out in a different way. We end up making stories about other people, how they see us and quite often this includes limitations. It also takes away our ability to wonder and play out other scenarios. Too often we get tied down in our own limitations of our mind, and our Fear Fantasy becomes a way for us to stay stuck in our one-track mind. We’ve created this story, we’ve told it over and over so many times in our head, we’re almost invested in it all playing out. Almost to the point, that if it didn’t go our way, we would be disappointed in it not playing out the familiar way. Yes even catastrophizing something can be a comfortable and welcome thing, because it gives us a sense of knowing and being right. Familiarity for us is a positive thing,if it is negative or if it is positive. But bottom line, Fear Fantasies must be tackled. This concept of a Fear Fantasy is very similar to Upper Limiting that Gay Hendricks talks about in his book called The Big Leap. Here’s how he sees it. He names it the Upper Limit Problem: it’s our tendency to sabotage ourselves once we exceed the artificial limit that we place on ourselves. All of us have an internal thermostat that sets an upper limit for the levels of success, love, creativity, happiness, and well-being that we allow ourselves to enjoy. Once we exceed this limit, we tell ourselves “This is too good to be true” or “I can’t possibly have it all”. We unconsciously sabotage ourselves and fall back within our self-imposed limits. Our internal thermostat sets an upper limit for the levels of success of love, creativity and happiness we allow ourselves to enjoy. Once e we exceed this limit, we unconsciously sabotage ourselves to fall back within our self-imposed limits. To understand how to tackle the upper limiting, or self sabatogue, we must understand that there are  4 underlying fears or beliefs behind it. #1 - Feeling flawed and unworthy of success #2 - Fear of disloyalty and abandonment #3 - Fear of the burdens from success, and #4 - Fear of surpassing others. Such fears are so damaging because we believe them to be true. Once you’re aware of where they come from and how they affect you, it reduces their power over you. It’s like shining a light to dispel the darkness. 

Once you recognize your inner fears and self-imposed limitations, you can learn to spot when you’re “upper-limiting” yourself. Pay attention to the following ways that you might be choking off your flow of positive energy. 

SEGMENT 3

How do we destroy our Fear Fantasies? Well, there are 5 Steps to Crushing your Fear Fantasy. Step 1 is to make it conscious, make it real and know that it is there. Only then can we start to take the power out of it. It’s like having an invisible enemy. If we don’t really know about our Fear Fantasy, it’s going to be pretty hard to tackle and dismantle it. Step 2 is to acknowledge that it was us that created the Fear Fantasy. Then we can have a little more compassion for ourselves in this situation, and also feel a little more empowered to destroy the Fear Fantasy. Step 3 is to imagine different outcomes or scenarios play out instead of the fear fantasy. Imagine how it is going to feel like when you do conquer your fear fantasy. What will be possible? Who will you be? Step 4 is to talk to someone who can help us reveal exactly how irrational the fear fantasy is. This could be your coach, a mentor, a colleague or a friend. So long as it is someone who is going to respect how you feel and not make you feel wrong through this process. We just want them to help get us out of our own way. Step 5 is to look for outside proof that this isn’t our destiny. Who do we know around us, either in the company or at another organization who has beat this kind of situation? What risks did they take and how were they rewarded? Before we wrap up here about Fear fantasies I want to leave you with 3 truths about about fear fantasies. #1 – the longer we hold onto them and keep them to ourselves, the stronger they become. Deep down, we know that the fantasy is ridiculous, so our Saboteurs step in here and protect it so that no one can dismantle it. The 2nd truth I mentioned earlier, sometimes Fear fantasies actually do come true – as in the case of my example of my old colleagues. I worried they were making fun of me, and they were. Did it destry me? No, I truly felt sorry for their sad little lives. And just to be crystal clear, because I consider myself a pretty classy person and not a trash talker. This incident played out with only 2 of my previous colleagues, no one else was involved. And quite frandly most of my previous colleagues were actually supportive of what I created and were proud of me. And the 3rd truth about a Fear Fantasy is that they’re reinforced by the RAS, the reticular activation system. Which means, if we work really hard to find evidence that something is true, we’re going to find it. The RAS explains why when we’re in the market to buy a white Tesla, that is literally all we can see around us is white teslas. Where your attention goes, energy flows and your thoughts literally become things. OK let’s wrap up this segment by giving you a summary of the 5 Steps to Crush your Fear Fantasy. Step 1 is to make it conscious, make it real and know that it is there. Only then can we start to take the power out of it. It’s like having an invisible enemy. If we don’t really know about our Fear Fantasy, it’s going to be pretty hard to tackle and dismantle it. Step 2 is to acknowledge that it was us that created the Fear Fantasy. Then we can have a little more compassion for ourselves in this situation, and also feel a little more empowered to destroy the Fear Fantasy. Step 3 is to imagine different outcomes or scenarios play out instead of the fear fantasy. Imagine how it is going to feel like when you do conquer your fear fantasy. What will be possible? Who will you be? Step 4 is to talk to someone who can help us reveal exactly how irrational the fear fantasy is. This could be your coach, a mentor, a colleague or a friend. So long as it is someone who is going to respect how you feel and not make you feel wrong through this process. We just want them to help get us out of our own way. Step 5 is to look for outside proof that this isn’t your destiny.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on discovering your Fear Fantasy. How has this been for you? Has it been a real eye-opening episode? Have you learned a lot about the fears that have held you back? Do you feel like you’re not able to spot fear fantasies in yourself and in others now? Did my story about Kate resonate with you? Did you like hearing about my fear fantasy where 2 of my colleagues were making fun of me? As always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share this episode with a friend, colleague or on social media. You can also subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com. If you want to book a time to chat with me directly, to discuss fear fantasies or coaching in general you can find my booking link on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. And as always, remember, that any fear, especially a fear fantasy, or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your greatness in disguise.

So this is the story of Sean and her high profile career as an IC at a high-profile law firm. She wanted so much to become a people manager but as with all people taking that step there were two major barriers standing in her way – one was actually getting herself into the role, and the second, more challenging barrier is learning how to be the great leader you envisioned yourself actually being. I’ll be the first to confess that eadership is so much easier on paper. We all know WHAT we need to do, but the actual doing of it, getting out of the weeds and giving away the LEGO – that is always the hardest part of being a new leader. Little did she know it – Sean helped me create the perfect model to master the skill she needed most, and now clients around the world, now including this podcast, will benefit from her brilliance and creativity.

INTRO:

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, this is your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and in your other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! You are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING, well that is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on the Circle of Control model and learning about other models that are easy to use. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I’ll introduce you to the powerful world of models

2 – Then I share my favourite models that I use all the time

3 – In the last segment I’ll share how to use the Circle of Control with your team and others

So get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

The other day I was walking a client through a model and I realized that this is something I really want to do more of because she was really grasping it quickly and excited to use it with her team. Models are powerful and share an outside perspective to understand our current situation, which inspires us to take action in new ways. I want to use them more and knew that you’ll benefit not only from understanding HOW to use them more, but walking away with a couple really good ones in your pocket you can use right away. There are so many different types of models, some are really complex and have a number of components and some just contain 2 components and are really easy to use and teach. But let’s start by talking how they work. Models give us an outside perspective of looking at our current situation. So often when we’re looking at a difficult situation, we get in the habit of trying to approach it the same way we always have – it’s like that great Einstein quote, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” We have to bring in fresh information perspectives and ideas. To be honest this is a big part of what we do in coaching, we challenge people to look at their situation differently. This can be in real-time where we look at different options available us. It can also be done as a tool, in advance of the situation where we create a variety of different perspectives and call upon them on an as needed basis. Let me share a few personal examples. We’ll start by talking about using the real-time options available to us in the moment. I talked a few episodes ago about being given the archetype of the Dominatrix, and while it is primarily something we would use as an archetype, it really offers us a perspective of how to approach things in a different way. Examples of this would to be more confident, stronger, demanding and louder. Other examples of common archetypes we turn into perspectives to really open people minds are Motivational Speaker – which puts people into the mindset of being more confident and self-aware where they believe they have a message to share and it helps them to focus on their personal brand and really be seen and heard in a powerful way. Another popular and highly resisted archetype is the Flower Child or Hippy, no one ever wants to be given the hippy archetype. It may not feel like it applies to the corporate world so much and yet here’s how and why we need it so much. We are all programmed to go to work suited up and in our corporate armour to be protected. Before Brene Brown popularized it, vulnerability wasn’t really a thing, even though now many of us see it as a strength. It’s something we need to build the muscle of. So the Dominatrix, Motivational Speaker and Flower Child are all examples of temporary perspectives we might use tap into new wisdom that we can use easily and in the moment. Here’s some examples of more permanent perspectives you can access and draw upon on a more permanent basis. The first example is connecting with a time in your life when you felt really powerful and in control – like a trip, adventure, being part of a team that did really amazing things. This experienced likely awakened a part of you that you weren’t always using and can feel really good. I call mine Power Julie – and she is really strong and does kick ass things. The primary way I access her is to imagine myself at the gym lifting heavy weights – because this always was a place I felt resourceful, confident and strong. I was new intimidated by others, especially men at the gym. Another permanent perspective I draw upon a lot is called London Julie, which represents the 3 years I lived and worked there, I was constantly exploring and saying yes to new adventures, trying new things and taking big risks. This perspective serves me a lot and helps me to try new things when I may be feeling a little hesitant or intimidated. So let’s recap essentially at their core of how models work, they bring in new information, so we can realize we have different options and perspectives available to us, and help us make more empowered decisions

SEGMENT 2

I have a bunch of different models I use with clients, that I want to walk you through, so why don’t you top up your coffee, pull up a chair and I’ll explain how to use them and what they will each give you. Let’s start with the most complicated one – Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. This is a really powerful one and I’ve used it with teams many times over the years and it really helps them to pinpoint what is going on in the relationships dynamic of the team and tell you what your team needs to do to move closer to trust. To visualize the model, picture a triangle in front of you with 5 different layers. At the bottom or the widest layer is Trust, then there is Conflict on the next level, Commitment above that, next is Accountability and at the top is results. This model allows a team to visually see where they are thriving and where they are having challenges. There is an actual survey that goes along with this model, so you get hard data to accompany it. Each layer represents a different behaviour of a cohesive team, and it’s something that is dynamic and constantly changing over time. The thinking here is that we have to be able to function at the lower levels, ie Trust, in order to move up the chain to be able to deliver results. This is a 5 component model and I would highly recommend it, along with Lencioni’s fable book called the five dysfunctions of a team. Next up, I want to share a 4 component model, which you’ve likely seen over the years, it’s called the Four Staged of Competence, and it represents the 4 different levels of learning we go through when we are learning about and subsequently mastering a new skill. It will help you understand where you are situated in the process of mastering a new skill and teach you patience and compassion. At the bottom of the model is Unconscious incompetence, where we don’t know what we don’t know – ignorance is really bliss here. At this stage you do not understand how to do something, and it does not even necessarily register as a deficit in your realm because you don’t value or acknowledge the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize both their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next level. The next layer on top of that is Conscious Incompetence – and this is where you know something exists, but you don’t know how to do it yet. This is essentially an unlearned or unobtained skill. In the third layer we have Conscious Competence. This is where the individual understands or knows how to do something, but it may need to be broken down into steps for them to perform, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill. And then lastly at the top we have conscious competence, where we practice a skill all the time unconsciously and don’t even know we’re doing it. We’ve basically mastered the skill and it is second nature to us. The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned. OK those two are on the more complicated end of the spectrum, now I want to share two small but mighty models each with only two components. While these models each only have 2 components, do NOT, I repeat do not underestimate the power of these bad boys, they may only have two components but in a way it makes them somehow even more powerful. The first one, the growth model is from the Centre for Creative Leadership and it has a horizontal line in between the two components. It gives you the opportunity to help people recognize if they’re either in a growth or fixed mindset. The thinking is this – you can only ever be operating above the line or below the line. When you’re operating above the line you are committed to growth, and when you’re operating below the line you’re committed to being right. When you are above the line you are committed to growth, and when you are below the line you are committed to being right. This one is so simple and obvious, it is genius in it’s simplicity – because it doesn’t give anyone any wiggle room even. It’s the ultimate in Tough Love and you can ask people, where do you think you are operating right now – above the line – committed to learning or below the line, committed to being right. The one top I’ll share with this model though is to be compassionate with it, we don’t want to be arrogant when we’re calling people out about it. Just because it is something obvious to us, it might not be obvious to them. So exercise a lot of curiosity and compassion, instead of calling someone out. If I know someone is really going to have a problem owning something at 100%, I might break it down to be more palatable and easier to own by asking them, what percentage of you is operating at committed to being right in this moment, then you can usually have a fruitful discussion from there. We sometimes access this as the 2% truth ownership question – if they’re really resistant. We ask them. I know you’re not fully below the line here, but what is the 2% trust that you are. That has always proven to be a guaranteed way for people to own something. And then the last model I want to share with you is one I created with a client years ago – and it’s about trust and control. I actually created it before I learned about the It’s set up very similar to the above/below the line one I just talked about the Centre for Creative Leadership’s model, but visually it is set up similar, except I never anchored trust at the top or the bottom, I simply introduce it like two sides of the same coin – when you are operating in trust you don’t need to control and when you are operating in control you are UNABLE to trust someone. So this is clearly a model about how we lead and manage relationships with others. So let me back up and tell you this story about Sean and how we ended up creating this model together. She had a great career as an IC at a high-profile law firm and she was ready for the next level in her career, she wanted to become a people manager. But as we all know there are two major barriers to becoming a people manager. The first is actually getting yourself into the role, and sometimes the harder more challenging barrier is learning how to be the great leader you enisionsed yourself actually being. Why is it that leadership is so much easier on paper, right? We knew WHAT we need to do, but the actual doing of it can be the hardest part of all - stepping into the role and having the people report to you. This was especially in a role like Sean’s, because you see, Sean was the head of the of the PMO, what we call the Project Management office, and her job is all about details, a lot of details for example if the company is opening up a new office location it’s Sean’s job to make sure all the details happen and things stay on schedule. Any new project that requires many details to simultaneously go right fell under her. So, while it is often hard for ALL of us to get out of the “so called” weeds when we hand off our IC role and step into managing that people that used to perform our tasks, it was especially challenging for Sean. So over a serious of coaching sessions and conversations I developed this example of trust and control being two sides of one coin, and you can only ever occupy one of them at a time, and every single time we came back to it she kept getting the context she needed, and voila, the model was born. It completely changed the way she looked at her team. It was almost as if, as soon as we developed the model, she didn’t even have any more need for it – because she quickly developed the Unconscious Competetence with it. But I still use it all the time with clients, and they love it – there is so much power in it’s simplicity. So that’s an overview of four of my favourite models and as you can see they all vary in complexity. Let’s recap each of these four different models before closing this segment and I want you to think about which one you’re going to try out first and WHO you’re going to use it with: Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, 2 – the Four Stages of Competence, The Centre For Creative Leadership’s Above/Below the line model AND last but not least the Model for Trust and Control. 

SEGMENT 3

Now let’s talk about the Circle of Control, the title of this episode, which is a 3 component model. I’ll manage your expectations by telling you that it is a widely popular model that is taught and used a lot. To visualize it, it is a set of 3 concentric circles, the one at the inside at the bottom is called the Circle of Control and it represents everything that we have control over. Then we move out to the next level – the circle of influence, this is where we have some ability over what happens. Then we move to the outer circle which is called the circle of Concern. And within the circle of concern we don’t have any control over things at all. This model is a great way to look at certain situations and understand what you can impact and what you can’t impact. A situation might be when you are feeling completely overwhelmed by a situation and you feel emotionally flooded. This is normal and it happens to the best of us. So what we do is sit down with the model and use it to help dissect the different parts of what is going on. I like to start with the circle of control. So you inquire with yourself and say, what in this situation do I have control over? This gives you clarity over your areas of control and you can either name or write them down. Then we start to make our way outside of the influence. The second level, which is influence we have some ability to impact and so we start to draw apart what we can influence. Then lastly we name the things we have no control over at all. The beauty here is that you now have the situation broken down into 3 parts and you have clarity over where you can and can’t direct your attention. The best way for you to learn how to use this model is to teach it to someone else. The first and most important step is always, always always asking permission to introduce it. We never want to create an environment where our team member feels like they don’t have their act together, or make them feel like we don’t think they can navigate their current situation. The powerful way to move forward here is to introduce to them that we have a really powerful model that we think would be beneficial to them right now, and asking them if they’d be interested in learning more. Then once we have their permission, we introduce the model. It’s best to introduce it with a personal example of how we use it and understand it and walk them through our process, don’t be afraid of explaining how you customize it. What you like about it and how you uniquely make it yours. Then once you’ve gone through it all, ask them if they’re curious about anything and if they’d like to try and use it in their current situation. And this is where using your good powerful coaching questions is going to be helpful for you. As much as possible, prompt them to start making this model their own as quickly as possible. use questions like “where would you start with this model” or what is the best approach here to apply this to your situation? And as much as possible, get them to own it and walk through it. So this is a very obvious way to use it, because your team member has a real time example where it can be applied, but another great example of how to use this model is in your 1:1 meeting as a generic resource for them to keep in their pocket and use in the future. And to be honest, sometimes learning models and practicing them in a non-charged or non-urgent way can be a better way to learn them and understand them more deeply. We tend to absorb them better because there’s no emotional charge or hijacking going on. Then when we have the situation to actually use them, we can pull them out as needed and use them. So bottom line, you can use them with a colleague in a few different ways, first to explain a situation you’re navigating, second to navigate a situation they’re navigating, or lastly when you’re not actually in a live situation navigating anything, you’re simply sharing a teachable tool. OK let’s recap this segment by looking at the circle of control – it works by identifying what you can control. It helps give you perspective and it’s a great one to teach to your team to always give them perspective.

WRAP UP

OK it’s time to wrap up this episode on leveraging the circle of control model. Aren’t you excited about using either the Circle of Control or one of these other new models with yourself or with a team member? Which one really resonated with you? Which will you use first? I’m secretly hoping that even if you haven’t put a lot of thought into models in the past. Or like me maybe felt a little bit intimidated by them, that you’re able to step over that and try one out soon. You will learn so much about yourself and about others and trust me it will get easier each time you use them and learn a new one!! And as always, if you’re inspired by the content today, please share it with a friend, colleague or on social media. You’ll also want to subscribe to this podcast on my website at thecorporateyogi.com, or if you want to talk directly with me about coaching or using models with your team you can book time in my calendar for a 1:1 session – the link to book a chat can be found either on LinkedIn or Instagram @thecorporateyogi. I look forward to seeing you in two weeks for another brilliant episode, and as always, remember, that any fear or resistance you hold inside of you, is simply just your...

INTRO

Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Corporate Yogi podcast, I’m your host Julie Zuzek. This pod is YOUR dedicated time for growth, developing practical tools to use with your team and in your other relationships and to learning deeply about who you are and what makes you tick! You are a brilliant and powerful being and I want you to invest more time reflecting on WHO are being, not just WHAT you are doing. Doing is awesome, but BEING is where the magic happens and what makes you truly feel fulfilled. You’re going to love this episode on creating intimacy at your next team offsite with a Designed Alliance. So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today

1 – In the first segment I share a story of why this is such an important tool to use at your offsite and what can go horribly wrong if you don’t have one

2 – in the second segment I’ll share what a Designed Alliance is and how it works

3 – in the third segment I’ll share the 5-step process to create one

4 – and in the last segment I’ll explain exactly what you want to build into yours

So get out of your head, into your heart and let’s dive right in, shall we.

SEGMENT 1

I wanted to create this episode for you because we are in the peak of offsite season right now and as a facilitator I have so many resources that I’ve developed over the years, and this one in particular is a very simple, yet very valuable one to use. I personally use it at every single offsite I run and it has never let me down. But before I dive in to sharing it with you, I want to tell a story about a time when it wasn’t used and the dumpster fire that ensued without it. If I had to name this story it would be – Here’s everything NOT TO DO at your next team offsite. So let me back up and set the tone here, we’re rewinding back to 2010 when I was working for my last company as Director of Marketing. Our CEO wanted to organize a team offsite for the senior leadership team– which we did at least once a year. I’m always surprised how teams function without doing doing offsites. I wanted to start by saying I am so grateful for all the experiences I had in this last role, which was my last full time gig before becoming a coach and setting up my own business. This was such a transformative chapter in my life and I learned so much in those 3 years I lived in England. I learned about the culture, about doing business globally and also about myself. As head of Marketing some of the cool events I got to organize were client events spending time with Gold metal Olympian sailors, I also held a massive launch event in the city of London and a splashy cocktail party in the top floor of the Gherkin building. We took clients to Cowes sailing week in the Isle of Wight for a VIP client day out on a massive 72 foot yacht, we also went to a high-performance car racing of luxury cars on the track. My employer was an enterprise software company, so we had deep pockets and it was always my job to make sure we had the best of the best. It was a good life. Aside from the splashy client events, we also did the best team building events with our employees and senior leadership teams and I really valued this bonding time with peers. The specific event I wanted to share with you today was a team event with a navy simulation exercise for team bonding, which was hosted by Britain’s Royal Navy. Hands down, this was the most unique event of my life. I would give this one a 12 out of 10. The gist of the event was that it was a simulated experience where we made contact with an enemy ship, started to take on water and had to work together to prevent our ship from sinking. The day started with a debrief with the Naval officers. They walked us through the exercise, how the simulation would work and what to expect. And as I scanned the room, I could see half of my teammates were excited and ready to go and the other half with the fear of god on their face. Either way, it was go time, so we got ourselves dressed up in head to toe hazmat looking suits and made our way across the platform, and into the simulation ship. The joking and name calling of the morning started to dissipate once we suited up and as we say, it got real as we were now literally minutes away from whole simulation experience going down. We were each emerged in our own thoughts (fear or excitement) as our steel toed boots walked us down the vertical metal grated staircase onto the bridge of the simulation ship. We must have looked like the team of ghostbusters heading out on a reconnaissance mission, but we didn’t have plasma guns, a souped-up ghost buster car and our suits were bright pylon orange, zipped head to toe to protect us from the freezing cold water. The simulation exercise started out ok, the siren went off, like they warned us it would, which represented us making contact with the enemy ship and slowly the cold water started to trickle it’s way onto the bridge. It was just a bit of water, we were prepared for this. THEN things dialed up a bit, the emergency siren went off, the lights went off, and the slowly trickling water came in faster… and before we knew it we were waist high in freezing cold water. The mission, whether we accepted it or not, was to hammer wooden shimmies into the ship (yes an old school approach) to stop the water coming in. and because the water was so deep the team development element was holding your partner under the deep cold water, and keeping them down there as they hammered the wedges in. Somehow you were just logically supposed to know when they were done and ready to come back to the surface. They told what to do in the training, but not HOW to do it. Needless to say, it was emotionally charged, high stress and really intense. It went on for about 15 minutes, but felt like forever. Once the exercise was over, we took the requisite picture in the waist high water to capture this unique team experience. We continued the day with a nice splashy lunch, some good wine, and we were able to reflect at the experience. Even though most of us were able to laugh off the experience, something happened in that freezing cold water that day. Fear took over, people lost their cool during the simulation. I don’t blame them really. I personally have a penchant for extreme experiences, so I enjoyed it. But it’s not for everyone. I know my relationship with the colleague I was partnered up with was never the same again. He hadn’t expected to melt down and start freaking out in front of me. It’s so unfair for men, I feel for them really and all the “be a man” toxic messages they’re sent. They’re always programmed that they have to be the tough, strong protector, and when he wasn’t able to do that, something changed in him. And that’s the opposite of what you want to accomplish during an offsite. Needless to say, when it came time to plan the next offsite and it was slowly revealed that we were doing another Navy simulation exercise, this time a helicopter drowning simulation, not a ship, and members of the team put their foot down and said NO WAY – not going through that again. So, we opted for a more civilized team offsite in a meeting room with coffee cake flip charts and sharpies. Bottom line - Although extreme events make for great tv, they don’t always make for great teambuilding. If there’s an existing lack of trust on a team, like an employee not pulling their weight, or tension between two employees that don’t get along, there is no amt of zip lining, bungee jumping or tree top trekking that is going to fix that lack of trust, and in most cases it makes it worse. So that’s my example of what NOT to do at a team offsite. Don’t scare the crap out of your employees, or cause trauma or shame in them. Know your audience. If you’re the leader, an experience may seem exciting for you, but is it going to land with everyone on our team? Will it push them too far? Remember to consider your audience and plan accordingly.

SEGMENT 2

What exactly is a Designed Alliance? While leaders often prepare an agenda for WHAT they want to accomplish during their offsite, a Designed Alliance sets guidelines for HOW everyone will show up and participate during the day while you are working together. It outlines acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. It works by setting expectations, creating an intention, and removing ambiguity.

It’s an agreement about how everyone will show up and what we commit to

It’s simple and yet so powerful. One of the main reasons it’s required is that some people are nervous about spending this much time getting up close and personal with their colleagues. Let’s face it, some offsites can be vulnerable, and push us out of our comfort zone and in the days and weeks beforehand people often make up all sorts of stories of what might happen and how they will need to participate, what they might get asked to do. How are they going to act. Are they going to feel safe enough to bring up that ongoing issue with a colleague so it can be addressed out in the open? Let’s face it, it can feel downright scary. So, when we address the scariness and concerns people have on their mind right at the start of the offsite, it level sets the room and allows us to get deeper into the good stuff that will really move the dial. Now I know we throw around the terms offsite and team development all the time, so I want to take a minute here to explain the different types of offsite, so you can pick what is right for what you need right now. The first type I’m going to name is “Extreme adventure”, which is typically held offsite like my Navy simulation exercise I just shared. Other examples are white water rafting, ropes courses, rock climbing. Basically it’s where people are physically pushed out of their comfort zone. The goal here is to get people to bond together through a shared physical experience of being pushed out of their comfort zone. It works for some, but not for everyone, and as I mentioned, it can backfire depending on who is on your team. The second type of offsite is a “Group Experience”, also often held offsite but less intense like bowling, wine tasting, escape rooms, cooking classes and axe throwing. For convenience the wine tasting, and charcuterie board variations can probably come to you. The goal is to get people out of their typical environment and learn more deeply about their colleagues. The advantages here are to create fun bonding, and get colleagues to know each other more on a personal level. I actually approve of these events, not as a full day thing, but if you did a half day, or were looking for something fun to add in the evening – these activities are great, but don’t have enough substance on their own. The third option is an offsite held in a meeting room, and is called a “Problem Solving” offsite, like building a structure out of Marshmallows and spaghetti, collectively discovering a code to a locked black box. These are about getting people to know each other more deeply, but still in a sterile environment, people don't have to open up and share details of themselves, they still wear their corporate armour all day and don’t have to open up, they just need to contribute their brainpower and problem solving to the group. I’m not a fan of these, at all and don’t believe they add any value because they keep people in their comfort zones, womp womp, and we don’t create space for change to actually happen. The fourth type off offsite is a “Strategic Planning” offsite where you review what got done and then plan for what you want to get done in the coming year. These are fantastic and have a very specific purpose and you’re walking away with specific deliverables. My only observation here is to sprinkle in something where the team gets to bond and know each other at a deeper level, because it will make the planning that much more valuable. This leads us with the fifth option and my personal favourite – a “Facilitated Team Development”. This is what fast tracks intimacy and trust and develops the greatest value that will yield results when you get back to the office. However, it’s the most squishy and likely hardest to pull off as a facilitator – which is WHY I’m sharing the Designed Alliance tool. If you do this at the beginning – you’ll be golden and won’t have any problems at all. This style is where participants spend time together getting to know each other, at a deeper level and find out what makes them tick, who they really are and we address real-time issues and have vulnerable conversations not only about who we are, but about the actual problems we are facing. This is the space where you talk about being disappointed or where you feel there are major structural issues or gaps in the team. This is time to capture all those thousands of moments throughout the year in regularly held meetings where you say, ok let’s take this offline for a solve, but you never actually do because of time, fear or lack of courage. This is where courageous conversations and growth happen, and in my humble opinion the true heart of what an offsite should be. Then you can top and tail it with some of these other activities I have mentioned. OK let’s recap this segment by explaining exactly what a Designed Alliance is - while leaders often prepare an agenda for WHAT they want to accomplish during their offsite, a Designed Alliance sets guidelines for HOW everyone will show up and participate during the day while you are working together. It outlines acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. It works by setting expectations, creating an intention, and removing ambiguity.

SEGMENT 3

Now that you’re bought into creating a Designed Alliance, how do you create one? Well, here’s a 5 step process for you to follow to create a Designed Alliance with your team. So, grab a marker or open the notepad on your phone and write down these 5 steps. Step 1: Introduce the tool to your team at the start of the day. This is important because people likely haven’t done it before, so the concept might be new to them. You don’t want them to feel vulnerable and confused. So give them some context and explain this tool is for them to help them feel more comfortable through the day. Step 2: Invite everyone to make suggestions of what they do and don’t want included in the Designed Alliance. You may need to draw some people out here because they might not be volume contributors. An option would be to hand round some post-its and a pen to everyone before you start capturing ideas on the flip chart and give them a few minutes to think about it– which guarantees inclusion of your introverts, but it’s your judgment call to do this. Step 3: Get agreement from everyone that they’ll follow the guidelines in the Designed Alliance for the day. Once everyone has contributed ideas, ask for a show of hands, and ask them, who is willing to agree by this for the day. Make sure everyone agrees. Step 4: Post it somewhere visible in the room and keep it handy in case you need to reference it throughout the day. Step 5: Add to the agreement as needed. If something new comes up you can add it in. If someone violates one of the shared agreement items, you can reference it for context. Here’s how that might look – I know in our Designed Alliance we committed to One Voice, but I keep hearing side conversations which seem to be distracting Sherry from sharing her ideas. Can we refresh ourselves on having one voice and remember how important it is to follow this agreement today. And I want to share a quick note here about mindset and owning the room. Sometimes as I plan offsites with clients they have a tiny little bit of hesitation around, “Oh I don’t know if the team is ready to do that exercise or if they will actually participate”. And this is where I want to remind you that this is likely YOUR saboteur at play here. If you’re taking them to a vulnerable place, you have to buckle into that vulnerability drivers seat and own it, believe that they will participate and do personally what you need to model and permit that behaviour. You need to bring your confidence and believe in your team’s capacity to handle a certain exercise, because if you don’t, they won’t lean in and show up. I’ll share my favourite metaphor about flight attendants. I know we like the oxygen mask analogy with airplanes. But when it comes to leadership, I like the metaphor of hitting turbulence. When turbulence happens what is the first thing you do as a passenger? You look to the flight attendants to see if they’re freaking out or not, and if they’re calm then you’re able to be calm. This is exactly what it means to be a leader, people look to YOU to decide how they should respond. If you walk in that room and own the Designed Alliance and create it with confidence you are setting the tone for the day and people will drink whatever you serve up. If you’re nervous, hesitant or questioning yourself, they will pick up on this energy and match it. So let’s recap those 5 steps to create a Designed Alliance. Step 1: Introduce the tool to your team at the start of the day. Step 2: Invite everyone to make suggestions of what they do and don’t want included. Step 3: Get agreement from everyone that they’ll follow this for the day. Step 4: Post it in the room. And Step 5: Add to the agreement as needed

SEGMENT 4

So what should we add into the Designed Alliance? Here's a few suggestions of what you might want to include – Honesty; Vegas Rules: everything discussed in the room stays in the room (don’t share personal stories or details that people share today); Ask anything - because there are no bad questions; Everyone has an equal voice, regardless of hierarchy; Be present and don’t use your phones or laptops; No judgment; Have a beginner’s mind and be here to learn; Have fun -One voice: only one person talks at a time and we all give them our singular attention; respect everyone in the room; swearing is ok and/or strongly encouraged; it’s ok to be uncomfortable. As a facilitator always print this list and bring it with me to make sure I don’t forget anything to include. However, I don’t just write this list out when I get there, I start by asking the team to name things they want. This is more authentic and inclusive. Then as I you feel suggestions tapering off, you can refer to your list and make additional suggestions if you think something important was missed– what about authenticity, do we want authenticity in the room? Let them decide yes or no. I also want some common questions I get asked about a Designed Alliance, which might be floating around on your mind. Can I reuse it with my team? For example, let’s say you have a rockstar team and you do team sessions each quarter or twice a year. It might feel redundant to create a Designed Alliance each time. But, chances are that there’s new people on the team, new topics or themes and it’s important to creative something that is real-time and in the moment. Remember, every time you add a person to your team you are essentially changing the system – the collective of people with a common goal or purpose, so be sure to respect those changes. Question 2 - Who gets to add to add items to the Designed Alliance? Everyone in the room, there should be no hierarchy. I would encourage you to get everyone to contribute so they feel involved. Question 3 - Do we add things we want or only things we don’t want? We add both. For example, you’ll want to add honesty, but you can also name things you don’t want like no judgment. Question 4 - What if you don’t agree with something someone wants to add or if two people suggest things that contrast each other. This happens sometimes and where you earn your keep as facilitator. It’s a great opportunity for a dialogue to clarity what you really want in the room. Keep asking good powerful coaching questions...

INTRO:

Hey, it’s Julie Zuzek and welcome to the Corporate Yogi podcast. How the heck are you? I am very excited to be back in action with the podcast for this special episode to kick off the new year. For you regular listeners you know I had to press pause on the podcast during my maternity leave and there were a number of personal things that took all my time and attention. I’m happy to report, I’m back in action, have a wealth of new content to share and will be publishing bi-weekly episodes going forward. And really, what better way to start a new year than starting back with fresh new energy and inspiration to share with you. I have to confess, I’ve missed the podcasting. My daughter is almost 2 years old now, and while I’ve enjoyed spending every single moment of being at home with her and transitioning her into daycare, I’ve really missed this time dedicated to curating my best ideas and content from clients into regular episodes for you. New episodes will be available every other Tuesday, on your usual podcasting platforms, the format will remain the same, and for those of you who are keeners and want the episode early, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter on my website where you’ll get access to that month’s episodes in advance.

When it comes to goal setting you’re either in 1 of 2 camps. You are a firm believer like me of investing the time and energy to gain clarity around what you want, you drink the Kool-Aid so to speak and you don’t need any convincing at all about why this is important. And for those of you in the other camp, you’re somewhat skeptical about why you should invest the time to do all this work and you’re not quite sure how it will add value to your life. If you’re a member of camp Kool-Aid you’ll be happy to know that my 2024 Goal Setting Program is now live and available for download. It includes all the great features from before, but this year I’ve added in something NEW that will take your goal setting to the next level. I’ll share what that is in the last segment today. For those of you skeptics, I guarantee that by the end of this episode you will be inspired and ready to set goals for the new year and understand why this process is such a critical game changer

So here’s a look at what you’re going to learn today:

1) First, we’ll talk about the biggest mistakes people make when goal setting

2) In the 2nd segment I’ll explain why exactly it’s so important to set goals if you want to live a fulfilled life

3) And in the 3rd segment I’ll share a somewhat vulnerable perspective on my top goal for 2024

4) and in the last segment I’ll explain the HOW of goal setting. I’ll walk you through my program, what makes it unique different and why it’s designed to deliver big results.

So get out of your head and into your heart and let’s talk about goal setting.

SEGMENT 1:

I want to share with you now the biggest mistakes people make when setting goals. I see these mistakes all the time and want to make sure you avoid them.

Mistake #1: They set too many goals

They take a “more is better” approach and bite off more than they can chew. They take on too much instead of getting clear about what really matters. Think of the analogy of watering plants. If you only have one dedicated watering can, do you really want to split it across 100 different plants? If you do this, none of them will thrive, none will get the time and attention they really deserve to make it. A better approach is to be more selective and just pick 5 plants to water – 5 goals, this way you’ll ensure they get enough water, love and the right attention. When it comes to goals, more is not better, more is just more. Focus and alignment are key here – you need to pick things that will make you feel fulfilled. So that’s mistake #1 – setting too many goals.

Mistake #2: Setting Should Goals or OPGs – Other people’s goals.

This one might land for any of you who are people pleasers and love dedicating your life to the happiness of others. It’s a guaranteed recipe for misery. An example of a common should goal is, I really want to lose 10 pounds this year. Now, don’t get me wrong – I value the importance of investing in your health, but if your goal feels like an obligation, and doesn’t bring you joy, you won’t be inspired to achieve it. An easy way to spot a Should Goal is that it often becomes a Recycled Goal – meaning it shows up on your list year after year, and trust me it doesn’t get any more exciting each time it shows up. I would argue there is less chance of making it happen the more times it shows up on your list. The OPG is a different type of obligation – it’s the perceived obligation to make other people happy. Like your mother, or society, it’s about comparing ourselves to others and thinking we need to do something that will bring us happiness. So mistake #2 is setting should goals or OPGs.

Mistake #3: Picking goals that are better served as habits

You have a unique opportunity to set 3-5 goals that will really move the dial in life, don’t waste them on low level things. An example here might be – reading more, starting a meditation practice, or getting up early each day to start a morning routine. These are all fantastic things which I fully support, but they’re really more about setting up habits that are non-negotiable than they are around goals. Goals should leave you a little bit breathless, they should excite you, there should be a little bit of adrenaline as you get excited and wonder, how am I going to achieve that? What will be possible when I do and how will life be different. Focus on the things that will move the dial – the big boulders, not the tiny stones. The other reason I peg these as habits is I don’t want you to just do them for a short period of time in your life – I want you to make the permanent changes in your life that will allow you to do them forever, which is why they’re better served as habits, not goals. So mistake #3 is setting goals that are actually better served as habits in your life.

Mistake #4: Setting goals that don’t align with your vision

The goals you set should really align around a common vision of where you are heading and who you want to become in the process. This is the secret to making sure they will be fulfilling for you. Too often people lack the clarity of what they really want, and it’s because they don’t have a vision. If you don’t know where you’re heading and what will make you happy, how will you know if you’re goals will support who you want to become? Your vision is your guiding North Star for what you want, and you have the choice to set goals that will either accelerate you getting there, or taking you off course. For example, if you have a passion of becoming a people manager and building out a team, you know what logical steps you can take to get there. You won’t be distracted by investing your time into other things that don’t support you in achieving that goal. Your goals should be like signposts of achieving your vision for where you want to be, and this will make you feel fulfilled and happy, because your vision is the culmination of your values and your purpose statement. And when you stick with those things, you are unstoppable. So mistake #4 is setting goals with don’t align with your vision.

Mistake #5: Setting goals without reflecting first

This is perhaps the biggest mistake people make is sitting down to set goals for the new year without reflecting on their previous goals to see what they actually accomplished. How will you ever master the process of setting goals if you don’t measure your goals. Right? You can’t have goals without accountability. Did you meet your goals? Did you set the right goals? Do you need to do something differently this year? But it’s so much more than just reflecting on last years goals. It’s about reflection in general. And I’ll let you in on a little secret, reflection is a superpower. It really is. And not just for tracking your results, but for APPRECIATING all that you’ve accomplished. You are building integrity with yourself as you grow and learn – it’s all part of the process. We can reflect on our core values and life purpose statement, and on our vision of where we are heading. Sometimes these things change over time. I know for me, becoming a Mom caused me to change so many things in my life. I no longer have the novelty of working 10-12 hour days, I have 6 hours to work each day. And I have to use that time wisely. It’s a choice, I could have my daughter in daycare for longer days, but with family as a core value right now, I choose the shorter, more flexible days, I love having time with her in the morning and in the evening. So reflection serves many different purposes in our lives.

Ok let’s recap those top 5 mistakes people make when setting goals:

1 -  They set too many goals

2- Setting Should Goals or OPGs

3- Picking goals that are better served as habits

4- Setting goals that don’t align with your vision

And #5 - Setting goals without reflecting first

SEGMENT 2:

OK so now you know exactly what mistakes to avoid when setting goals. Let’s talk a little big about WHY we want to invest time in this annual process. Why is it important to set goals?

The main reason we want to set goals is to feel fulfilled and proud about who we are. So often I hear people complain about the daily grind, they feel as though each day is just a carbon copy of the previous one, wake up, go to work, battle the dumpster fires, come home, have dinner and numb out on Netflix, of whatever people are watching these days. I’d have to agree, that’s not very inspirational to me either. As humans, we’re meant to learn, grow and evolve. To become better versions of ourselves. We feel the most alive when we are pushed out of our comfort zone. Why? Because that’s when we grow the most and that’s when we feel the most alive. Having goals forces you to grow, it forces you to get clear on what you want out of life and to have an impact on others. That’s what fulfillment truly is. I like to say that we set goals not simply for progress, but for who we become in the process of accomplishing them. But it requires you to be hungry for life, hungry for change, hungry to learn.

Oprah has a great way of framing this, she says

People get to where they want to go because they know where they want to go.

Most people are driven by what they think they should do, and what they think others want them to do.  

The most important question is to ask yourself, What do I really want?

Once you can answer that, every choice you make will force you in the direction of what your vision is, and when you do that – the forces of life rise up to meet you.

The reason most people have chaotic lives is because they live in chaos in their head, and as soon as you get clear – it clears up.

And once you have clarity over where you want to be in life, your goals will make sure that you get there. I like to use the GPS analogy. If you have a GPS in your vehicle, it can help you take you anywhere you want to go. But having the GPS alone is not enough, you have to actually program in where you want to go, you have to plug in that address and only then will it take you there. The address is your Vision, your North Star of where you want to be in life and your goals are the sign posts along the way that make sure you get there.

Did you know that only 3% of adults have clear, written goals. And as a result, they accomplish up to 10 times as much as people who have never taken the time to write out exactly what they want.

According to a Harvard Business Study, people who write down their goals are 30 times more successful than those who don’t set goals at all. Yes, you heard that right, the simple act of writing down your goals, brings them to life. We are manifesters and need to remember that the Law of attraction is always working for us, whether we want it to or not. So it’s important to be clear and intentional about what we’re drawing in. Writing goals down keeps you in integrity with yourself, it keeps your goals conscious and top of mind. All this attention helps you bring your vision to life. I know for most people they have a rough idea of what they want and they think it’s good enough to just keep these ideas swirling around in their head, but it’s not. You have to make it real by extracting it from your head and putting a stake in the ground that this is what you’re going to do.

Let’s recap this segment with the Oprah quote:

People get to where they want to go because they know where they want to go.

SEGMENT 3:

Now I want to share details of my top goal for 2024

And before I dive in I’d like to share a Trigger warning - this segment  shares stories of my cancer journey and may be upsetting if you or a loved one has dealt with chronic disease.

As we’re on the cusp of 2024, I’ve naturally carved out time for my personal goal setting for the year. My #1 goal is to heal all cancer from my body. Yes, I’ve been on a cancer journey since last year and I’m ready to share the details with you. As with most challenging personal situations, there isn’t a playbook about what to share, when to share and how to not overshare. But what I do know is that I’ve always committed to being 100% authentic and telling the truth about what and where I’ve been and who I am becoming – so it feels important to share that with you now, as I start releasing this podcast again.

So, two and a half months after Mary was born, I received the scariest and most devastating plot twist of my life. A lump in my stomach was confirmed as cancer in my right kidney. I had to have surgery to remove the tumour and my right kidney. It was terrifying, and shocking, and my ego was in overdrive. Me with cancer? Seriously? I meditate, do yoga, am vegetarian and don’t drink.

After the surgery I spent 6 months normalizing life with Mary, then through a scary incident I discovered the cancer had spread. Next steps were radiation treatment and in Feb of this year brain surgery to remove a tumour.

Since then, my treatment has looked like drug therapies, immunotherapy, natural treatments like Vit C therapy and mistletoe, supplements, and lots of metaphysical work to clear trauma. Louise Hay would be proud. My typical A Type researcher tendencies & desire sprung to action.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is EQUANIMITY, because resistance only brings more pain. In most cases, our suffering doesn’t come from WHAT we’re going through, it comes from our resistance to accept it.

I’m sure in the future I’ll share more details, but for now I wanted to be authentic and get you up to speed. My imposter syndrome was telling me I couldn’t return fully to work and the podcast until I had all this disease wrapped up in a perfect hero’s journey with a picture perfect ending. But I can’t control how long that’s going to take, AND I also know that others receive tremendous value when we share our Messy Middle  - more than when we share our perfection. So fuck perfection and predictability, that never made anyone more interesting.

I want to share an enormous thank you here to all my friends and family who have helped me in countless ways on this healing – helping and supporting me and Mary and being so positive and supportive in all of my decisions along the way. I am a friend and family millionaire, and have been blown away by all the love and support.

So far as I know, there’s no playbook for navigating these plot twists, but I have the greatest reason for driving forward. My beautiful daughter needs a healthy strong Mama to teach her strength, courage, positivity, and love. I’ve always known that kids pick their parents, & she knew this entire shit storm was in my path and signed on despite it. Thank you for choosing me Little One, we’re stronger together and I won’t let you down.

I’ve shared more details and perhaps too many pictures on in an Instagram post on December 13. It starts with a picture of me power posing over the ginormous Cyperknife radiation machine. And shows my surgery progress and healing, you can follow me @thecorporateyogi.

And if my story resonates with you and you feel compelled to reach out and share your story or experience, I would love to hear it. This disease is hard, scary and a big blow to the ego. When you think you’ve invested in health, it humbles you in many ways and challenges you to hold on to what you know is true and what you’ve been learning metaphysically your whole life. As a good friend said to me after my diagnosis, you’ve been preparing for this your whole life Julie – I feel like this is my Rocky moment – running up the stairs and believing in myself at a level like I never have before.

SEGMENT 4:

And now it’s time to talk about HOW the goal setting program works. And I want to point out that I’ve been doing this process with clients for over 10 years, so goal setting is kind of my thing. The program is broken up into 3 different sections. As I talked about, we start off with Reflection, and I’m going to warn you, its thorough. There’s more than 6 pages of reflection that happens. The reflection is just as important as the goal setting is. We reflect in a bunch of different ways. We reflect on which goals from last year you accomplished and which you didn’t. We reflect with questions like – how were you brave? What are you most proud of? What sucked your soul? What do you wish you’d done differently?

We reflect with a personal report card where you rank each area of your life and how satisfied you are with it – your career, money, health, fun and more. We reflect on your Core Values to see if they’re still accurate. We reflect on your life purpose, and we reflect on your theme that you entered the year with. Did it play out the way you intended or were there lots of plot twists? 

In the 2nd section we actually set the goals. And to do this it’s necessary to check in on your 5 year vision. Remember the GPS analogy. You can’t just get in the car and randomly drive around, you have to know where you’re heading. Then we do a goal brainstorm where you right down everything you think you could do. This is important because I know we all start off with too many things we think we need to be doing. So write them down and then start sifting through them.

Then based on the vision of where you want to be, you set a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 goals. This is a hard process for most people, because like I said earlier, we are programmed to think that more is better. But more just dilutes our attention.

Then section 3 is the implementing section where you take time to think about the habits, beliefs and behaviours that will help you accomplish these goals. This is important because this is the personal growth part. This is about asking yourself – who do I need to BECOME to bring these goals to life. Or in the case of limiting beliefs – what do I need to let go of to accomplish this goal. Then we update our Core Values and Purpose statement, which sometimes needs to be updated based on changes in our life and lastly, we pick a theme for the year.

There is also a feature of long-term planning where you can make additional notes and capture important things. For example you address your long-term goals, things like your bucket list items, your travel wish list, training and education you want to take part in. This is essentially your long-range planning.

That’s it – that is the 3 step process for goal setting

Reflection, goal setting and...

This episode is dedicated to all growth junkies who love to learn and grow. There is a downside to growth though, when we spend all our time learning we start to feel a little burned out or exhausted. I call it a growth hangover and it happens when we spend a disproportionate amount of time outside of our comfort zone. So, get out of your head, into your heart and let’s talk about growth hangovers.

This episode is dedicated to doing less and achieving more. In our culture of hyper consumerism and excessive consumption we are a society that loves to have more, acquire more, do more, be more and collect more. But is more always better? Find out the answer in this episode. So, get out of your head, into your heart and let’s talk about the art of subtraction.