Weirdos In the Workplace

Erin Patchell
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Weirdos in the Workplace is a podcast about building successful organizations through servant leadership, fostering creativity, high performing teams, and trust-based healing cultures. Join us to learn how embracing "weirdness" can lead to better workplaces.

  1. 2024-11-06

    Transforming LinkedIn Bullying Into The #DecideToBeKind Movement ft. Shelly Elsliger

    Intro: Shelly Elsliger, founder of Linked-Express, is a celebrated LinkedIn Trainer and Social Connection Maker. Founder of the #decidetobekind movement, she tackles online bullying and promotes a culture of kindness. Recognized by the National Women Speakers and a Forbes contributor, Shelly is a voice for diversity and psychological safety in the workplace. In her personal time, she enjoys pickleball and supports animal welfare in Nova Scotia. Writing a book, almost done, "From Connections to Protection: combating bullying on linkedin" - coming out in early 2025!   Stay in Touch with Shelly: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/selsliger To learn more about Shelly and her Services: https://linkedexpress.ca/   Bullying on LinkedIn is a little bit more discreet and it's not in your face like it is with some of the other social media sites you have to be very diligent. If you're dealing with a bully, don't think anything goes past them. And just remember that they can just come up like a chameleon and, and, and change their spots.   Welcome to weirdos in the workplace. The podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. I'm your host, Erin Patchell, and welcome to Shelly Ellslager, my friend. Hi, Shelly. Hi,  thanks for joining me.  Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Uh, Shelley Elsliger is the founder of linked express. She's a celebrated LinkedIn trainer and social connection maker, the founder of the decide to be kind movement, hashtag decide to be kind. She tackles online bullying and promotes a culture of kindness. She's been recognized by the national women's speakers and is a Forbes contributor.  She's the voice for diversity and psychological safety in the workplace and in her personal time. She enjoys Pickleball, uh, and supports animal welfare in Nova Scotia. And Shelley, I was so excited just right before the show that you're going to be an author soon in early January, February 2025. Um, book called From Connections to Protection, Combating Bullying on LinkedIn. That's amazing. You're so cool. I love you.  It's great to talk about it, actually.  Thank you.  Getting it out there early. I like that. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, no, no, no. Um, I mean, you're probably one of the most prolific LinkedIn,  uh, trainers that I've ever met. Um, so, you know, that's pretty, I think that's pretty neat. You know, you're, you've deep dived right in.  Yeah.  I don't know my life without LinkedIn, to be honest. I, I, it's just such a big part of what I do and what I help other people to do and achieve. So I just feel it's just a part of my regular everyday life. Every day, but.  I've been using and promoting LinkedIn for a long, long time. Yeah, I actually love LinkedIn. I am not a fan of other social media platforms, mainly because I think, you know, the discussion kind of we're, we're going to be talking a little bit about bullying and online bullying today and, you know, and just being a, just a. Big, big jerk all around, you know, people being jerks.  Um, but I find like, like Twitter or X, you know, even like Instagram, Facebook, uh, Twitter, YouTube's terrible nowadays. You know, you can't look at a comment section without. Without just having it turn your stomach anymore, you know, um, anyways, we're going to go down that rabbit hole, uh, further, but I want to know, like, how did you get so invested in LinkedIn? Like, tell me what that journey was like for you.  So it's interesting how you know my relationship with LinkedIn became more than just the average person I mean I, I was an educator as a career development specialist I mean still am in many ways but  that took up a big part of my career so there was.  LinkedIn had, like early on, had a contest and about what would you do, you know, if you were a LinkedIn trainer, how would you take LinkedIn and, and make LinkedIn something that would, um, improve, uh, somebody's, uh, life or a group of people's lives. You know what I mean? What would you do? And I had the idea that I.  Would create this workshop or series called LinkedIn and High Heels, and there's a story behind that by Hilton, but that I would create something for women business leaders called LinkedIn and High Heels  and, um,  to, to get them to rise up. So, you know, you can wear anything you want, but to rise up to the occasion, and how you could brand yourself effectively. On LinkedIn and get over imposter syndrome and really create a space, um, as a woman leader on LinkedIn.  And so when I presented this, and the funny thing is, is that I really didn't have an idea. So I presented it,  won the contest, went to Calgary,  ended up,  you know, at this conference, which was kind of like the, what I won, um, ended up at a coffee shop.  I'm standing in line. I see somebody with the LinkedIn.  jacket on. And of course, I know everything there is to know. So I decide that I'm going to pay  a latte forward. And I'm going to, all of a sudden I got this idea, I'm going to call it a LinkedIn latte.  So person orders  and I come up and I say, I'll pay  for that, you know, I'll pay that forward.  And so then I said, and here's your LinkedIn latte. And then anyway, we ended up sitting down and had an interesting conversation.  Two hours later, when we should have been at the conference and  networking, we were kind of like chatting. And then this whole idea came up that I, about what I had presented and why I had won and all of this. You know, the whole story behind it, and  it,  it just, let's just say that coffee, and I think coffee is so powerful in creating relationships and opportunities, and I, I use the LinkedIn Latte thing ever since, but, don't trust anyone who doesn't drink coffee, by the way,  yes, but it doesn't even have to be a coffee, it can be anything. It's just that whole idea of social, like I call LinkedIn Latte everything, um, you know, but the whole idea of just. Using something to create connection. And  with that coffee, I ended up being introduced to some key players at, at LinkedIn and people who liked my ideas and people who supported me and, and I ended up.  Just becoming kind of this. I don't, I don't want to say I was part of the LinkedIn team I wasn't at that point but it was somebody that they were looking at as  you know somebody as a speaker somebody they could trust, because at that time we got to remember this is quite a ways back it doesn't happen today. But they were looking for people who needed, who could,  you know, spread the word and help people learn about their LinkedIn, uh, learn more about their LinkedIn experience and their LinkedIn profile and optimizing their profile because that's not really what LinkedIn Canada does. It's not what they do either. Right.  They're for sales. That's how they make money. So anyway, so it transpired and it grew. And then I ended up actually working with LinkedIn, like working with LinkedIn as an external liaison for  University of Toronto for, um, uh, for a three, a three year period and actually working on LinkedIn learning and optimizing your profile. And so that was a significant, um, three year stint of working with LinkedIn, like working in that capacity. So, yeah, so that's how it all transpired. So that's quite a ways back. And ever since then, ever since being. Having the opportunity to present what I would want to do with LinkedIn, um,  ever since then, I, I've been a believer and I, I am  just promote it wherever it can go. And right now in 2024, it's no longer optional before it was, it's no longer optional today. No, I agree. I'm shocked that When I see people that aren't on LinkedIn, um, and I don't know how they, I don't know how they, they support their own careers, you know, I guess they're just happy with the job they have. And that's great for them. And I hope that they never lose it. No, like that. And that is the issue because many people think that they only should be on LinkedIn  for a job. If they're not looking for a job, then hey, let me get off LinkedIn and then go back if I need a job. And that  creates so much havoc with your space on LinkedIn. Mm-Hmm. , your, your algorithm. Mm-Hmm. , um, how your algorithm runs on LinkedIn  and, and actually you're not, you're doing yourself a disservice because LinkedIn is actually a networking site. So if you're only on there to find a job, then you're taking away all of the, all of what has to happen on LinkedIn to lead up to, to that, you know, you're not building those connections. You're not building trust. You're not showing your expertise. You're not working with the LinkedIn algorithm by, you know, only coming in when you think you should.  And that's just totally like a myth. It's just because  LinkedIn is at the end of the day, a net, a networking site and everything is grounded in.  You're like, let's put it this way. You're like ability score on LinkedIn is how well you network.  Right. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Um, and it's, it's, it's like, you know, demonstrating your expertise anywhere else in the world to, you know, LinkedIn is just, you know, it's, it's, um,  Kind of like a microcosm of the rest of the world, right? It's just like condensed into one space.  Um, so the opportunity is huge if you can take advantage of it by demonstrating your expertise and like sharing knowledge and ideas with people, you know, connecting with interesting people, getting curious. Um, I do find like, this is why I love LinkedIn so much. It's because it's, it feels like the majority of people there, Have like kind of that growth mindset that you, you want to cultivate with your, in your network, or at least I do. The people in my network, you know, tend to be doing interesting things. They're curious. They're starting businesses or starting interesting projects or volunteering. They're getting involved in their communities. Um

    53 min

  2. 2024-10-16

    The Art of Effective Leadership Coaching ft Laurie Fenske

    Welcome Laurie Fenske to "Weirdos in the Workplace"!  Laurie embodies a lifelong philosophy of learning from every experience, embracing each challenge as an opportunity for growth. In 2016, Laurie pivoted her professional focus towards her true passion—coaching. Today, as a MCC level ICF certified coach, she offers bespoke solution-based coaching across North America and Europe. Laurie's coaching sessions are energized and focused, aimed at significantly boosting productivity, enhancing leadership capabilities, improving team dynamics, and refining communication skills. Stay in Touch with Laurie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriefenske/ https://www.instagram.com/fscgroup/ For more on Laurie and her Services: http://www.fscgroup.ca https://www.facebook.com/FSCGroupIncorporated   Welcome to Weirdos in the Workplace, the podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. And I'm here with the lovely Lori Fenske. Say hi, Lori. Hi, Erin. Thank you for having me out here today. This is awesome. Awesome. Yeah. I'm super excited to have you on the show. Um, so Laurie embodies a lifelong philosophy of learning from every experience, embracing each challenge as an opportunity for growth. And in 2016, she pivoted her professional focus towards her true passion coaching today as an MCC level, ICF certified coach. She offers bespoke solution based coaching across North America and Europe. So I just want to pause there for a minute, Lori, because.  As an ICF certified coach myself, you know, as part of the board of the ICF Ottawa, I'm extremely passionate about coaching. And you know, that cause we've worked working together and we've been supporting each other and have known each other for almost eight years now. So almost since you started coaching, um, I just want to take a minute. To say congratulations for achieving that MCC level, because I know how difficult that really is. I've known people that have been going through that process and it is probably one of the harder things that you'll probably do, I think.  for recognizing that. Yeah, it was tough. Um, it,  it is what it is and I'm glad to be on this side of it for sure. Yeah, definitely. Um, and the, for those of you who are listening who don't know what we're talking about, MCC is a master certified coach level with the ICF, the international coach federation. Um, and you re you need at least 5, 000 hours in order to achieve that. 2500 hours, 500 coaching hours. Yeah. Um,  I feel like it's 40 continuing education credits. It's working with a mentor coach for at least 10 hours, um, for  preview, previewing your, your client, uh, recordings, how you show up and then an exam at the end of it. So yeah, it was, it was, um, it was a long journey, but, uh,  completely worthwhile. I'm so grateful that I, that I've completed that. Yeah. And I know from a few other people, friends who've, who've gone through it, they say that the 2, 500 hours is like the easy part,  you know, that's the easy part. It sounds like a lot of hours and it is, but really it's, um, it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to getting that certification, because you have to be like,  so good at demonstrating those competencies.  And, um, just, you know, in that same vein. So, after I got through it, I had some ideas on how to set people up for success, because it is, you know, grueling isn't an exaggeration. And so I actually put together an MCC mentorship program that isn't just about. The recordings, because that's often what mentor coaching is, is listening to the recordings, giving you feedback. But I've made it about everything, right? About the hours, the recordings, the exam, the competencies, all of it. Because I think that people should go in with eyes wide open. And I, I didn't necessarily, which I think was part of the, part of the big mountain to climb. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Your expectations need to be set, I think, in order to have the resilience you need to keep going. Yeah. Right. It's like, I don't know if I remember when I was like pregnant with my first child  example, some people can relate to maybe, um, I, you know, they say it's going to be nine months. And so, you know, you think that's the end date and then all of a sudden you're overdue and then like those last two weeks are literally torture. Right. But if anyone, everyone told you it was a 10 month process that nine and a half weeks wouldn't feel or nine and a half months wouldn't feel so bad. Right. Right. Yeah, exactly. Setting expectations. Yeah,  100%. So, um, okay. So folks, we're going to really talk today about Um, coaching, coaching leaders specifically, um, Laurie, I, I, you know, I, I introduced Laurie, but I really didn't introduce Laurie. So, you know, I've known Laurie for quite a while. We met, um, like I said, almost eight years ago. And Laurie, I think you're one of the most competent, um, driven coaches and resilient coaches that I've ever met, honestly. And I'm, I'm. I'm just, I'm not just saying that, you know, I don't just say stuff, right. Um, you have like a persistence and a, like, it's like a focus that very few people have, and I know that that's why your clients love you so much. So, um, I really look forward to hearing what you, what all your thoughts are around leaders of leaders.  Absolutely. Thank you so much. That means a lot. I have a huge amount of respect for you, Aaron. So that means a lot coming from you. So thank you.  I appreciate you. Um,  okay. So, you know, I'd love to like, let's begin with like the landscape right now, you know, um, we have a very complex world that feels like it's going very, very fast.  Um, I think a lot of people out there will resonate, you know, with that, like, You know, kind of like the constant scramble and we're always told, we're always like told that, you know, if we're not achieving some kind of work life balance, we're doing it wrong. Right.  Um, what are the, what are the challenges that you're seeing leaders come in to you with, like, what are they struggling with in their core?  Well, um, you talk about work life balance and actually, um, I call it work life harmony because I don't know that those two are ever in balance,  but if they can work harmoniously, so giving a little bit this week, getting it back again next week, and that for sure is something, and, and, um, You know, the craziness of remote. So I'm sitting here in Sherwood Park, you're sitting there in Ontario, um, and yet I feel like you're across, you know, my desk from me.  With that, um, with that remote work comes just this expectation of never turning it off, right? Never turning it off. And, and so I do see work life harmony a lot. And, um, I, I talk to people about, you know, um, Getting selfish, right? Like,  pre COVID, nobody expected you to work 14 hour days from, from your home office. You know, you were commuting, you were socializing, you were doing all of this. So, we do talk a lot about, about slowing down to, to kind of get forward.  But as it relates like to the executives or the leaders of leaders that I'm seeing, you know, there's kind of, um, I guess, five top competencies or skill sets that people seem to be really gravitating towards.  Emotional intelligence and, um, emotional intelligence isn't just a buzzword. You know, it's, it's something where people really need to know, um, how to manage their personal emotions. They, they need to know how they're showing up. They need to understand the dynamics of those in their, in their, in their life. In their circle, um, communication, you know, being a visionary and, and not only having the visionary, the vision in your own mind, but being able to communicate it transparently and get people energized by it, um, elevating performance, nobody wants to do poorly, but how do great leaders get the best out of themselves, their team, the organization as a whole. Um, I think self awareness is huge. The ability to really  understand, um, ourselves, but, but also how do we interact with others, then how are we showing up with them? Um, and then the resilience, uh, you know, I talk a lot about, you know, You want to work with a leader who can get through a storm,  but not  not know what to do after the storm is a fail, right? They need to have a strategy. They need to be forward thinking, um,  nimble, flexible to to really come out the other side with a plan in place that they can then communicate and, you know, get embraced and continue and continue forward.  What kind of feelings do leaders, um, at any level, any of your clients have when they're coming to you for support?  Um,  I think a lot is humility,  understanding that, um, there  is, you know, coaching is not psychology. I mean, it's, it's, it's not therapy. It's a partnership.  And my style of coaching is, uh, you know, through powerful questions, finding solution.  So people, I think first come with a sense of humility, um, having to reach out a bit of vulnerability, which I think is actually a very attractive characteristic in a leader.  Um,  and I wouldn't say hopelessness, but an, an awareness, like I can't keep doing what I'm doing. How do I find something new to do?  Right. Yeah, they found they've hit, they've hit the end of their capabilities or the capacities in some way. Yeah, they know they need help. Uh,  do they always know they need help? Not necessarily, not necessarily. Um,  in some cases I'm brought in to an organization and people are chosen to be part of a coaching program.  Coaching programs are often part of a reward system, a merit system. You're seen as an  overproducer, um, you're seen as a high producer or high achiever. And so coaching, you know, is put in front of you to just elevate you even more. But sometimes people come to it not understanding that, not understanding it's a time of cele

    40 min

  3. 2024-10-09

    #Throwback: The Truth About Executive Presence with Eleonore Eaves

    In this #throwback episode of Weirdos in the Workplace, Erin interviews Eleanore Eaves, a brilliant strategist, writer, and coach, about executive presence. Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction and upcoming podcast announcement 2:00 - Eleanore's background and introduction to executive presence 5:00 - Building and nurturing executive presence 9:00 - Eleanore's personal evolution and role models in leadership 13:00 - Diversity in executive positions 15:00 - Advice for accessing leadership positions 16:00 - The role of appearance in executive presence 17:00 - Closing quote and final thoughts Key Points: - Executive presence is about personal brand, confidence, strategic mindset, authenticity, and personal power - It's not just about appearance, but how you present yourself as a leader - Building executive presence requires honest self-assessment and identifying areas for improvement - There's no one-size-fits-all approach; executive presence should be tailored to individual strengths and organizational fit - The importance of diversity in executive roles and strategies for accessing leadership positions - The value of finding a sponsor who speaks about you in rooms of power - While character is crucial, appearance still plays a role in executive presence The episode concludes with a powerful quote: "She remembered who she was, and then the game changed," Don't forget to stay weird, stay wonderful, and don't stay out of trouble! Contact Eleanore Eaves: Website: eavescoaching.com Stay tuned for Erin and Eleanore's upcoming podcast on modern leadership and decision-making! Script Erin: [00:00:00] Welcome my friends to yet another episode of weirdos in the workplace, the podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our wacky and wonderful world today. I'm your host, Erin Patchell. And this week we're doing things a little bit differently. We are going to have a throwback episode. Back in 2023, your favorite episode was on executive presence with Eleanor Eves, the wonderful, inspiring. Amazing. Eleanor Eves, my friend, also one of my colleagues on the ICF international coach federation, Ottawa board amazing person. And we dive into the strategic side of executive presence how to be your full self in today's complex business environments. And I'm really even more excited to share with you that Eleanor and I are starting yet another podcast to be titled a couple months from now. We're going to be launching this and it's all about our modern [00:01:00] and complex leadership environments, how to make really hard decisions as leaders, and how to avoid the kind of herd mentality or echo chambers that, that sometimes As human beings, we can tend to fall into and really elevating the thinking and the context through which we're making really good decisions as business leaders. So that's what we're doing. I'm really excited about that partnership. And we're just going to be dripping out a little more information leading up to the launch. And I'll leave you with a quote as I often do on Weirdos in the Workplace. This one is by Lily Tomlin, the amazing Lily Tomlin. And Lily says, the road to success is always under construction. And isn't that true? So without further ado, stay weird, stay wonderful, and don't ever stay out of trouble.[00:02:00] All right, folks, let's get started. So Eleanor is one of the most interesting people that I know. She's a brilliant strategist, writer, and coach. Her resume includes 15 years working For profit and non profit organizations, London School of Economics, King's College London, and the Government of Canada. Eleanor founded her own consultancy, Eve's Coaching not that long ago. Hey? Correct. Yeah. Yep. And I like to think you do things a little bit differently. I like to think so too. So I'm really glad that you're here to talk about the subject executive presence, because, between my blue collar upbringing and my ADHD, I feel like I've definitely had to learn the hard way about the subject. And to be honest, I feel like I [00:03:00] still struggle with it a little bit, even though I've been in, and been in business development sales for a long time. To me, it is still, it's still like putting on a bit of a mask. So I love to just hear, how did you learn about this and how did it become such a strong focus for you? Eleonore: Oh, darling, come on down. No. You would be the perfect person to be covering this topic. In a nutshell, executive presence is not just about how you look or your background or any of that, right? It's your personal brand. It's your confidence. It's your strategic mindset. It's your authenticity. It's your personal power. It's everything combined and your background and anything, you might have experienced in the past That shouldn't really play into it unless it has made you who you are today in the form you want to be. So that's what we're going to be talking about when we discuss executive presence, is what kind of person do you want to project? What kind of leader do you [00:04:00] want to be? And what does that look like for you? Because everybody has to do this a little bit differently. And as you said, how did I come about today? to doing this? I always thought, growing up that executive presence was about a look, less Eleonore (2): about the character and less about the individual. But what did executives look like? To be perfectly honest, when we were growing up, not to age us, at that point in time, neither of us would have really made up the majority of executives. Unfortunately, we still do not today as well, but we're making some changes. Erin: Definitely. I want to Eleonore (2): be. Erin: Yeah. No, I was just going to say I'm really glad to hear you talk a little bit about like authenticity and bringing your personality into it because I feel like that's something that I definitely preach about a lot and I'm glad to hear that it's not just my imagination that this is, that this is [00:05:00] scaling into positions of power. Absolutely. Eleonore (2): Absolutely. This is why you'd be a great coach in this. I'm serious. You've absolutely mastered it from the very first day I met you. I remember just being in awe, right? You have this natural way of communicating with people and connecting. And that's all part of the executive presence. It's how you're presenting yourself. Erin: You are so sweet, honestly. Eleonore (2): No, I'm just very honest. I call it how it is. Erin: I appreciate it. Yeah, so obviously it's no secret that executive presence is really important to building a leader's credibility and, people listen to you differently and consider your opinions differently. So tell me a little bit about how to, how do you build that? How do you nurture that in yourself? Eleonore (2): First, take a look at your current state. Really have a very raw sense and understanding of who you are, [00:06:00] right? It really does require some honest self assessment and awareness. Because at the end of the day, you're only kidding yourself. Then with coaching with myself or any other executive coach, what we would really look at is to identify areas of improvement. And by that, who do you want to be? How do you want others to view you as a leader? And even if you're not a leader today, what does that look like for you down the road? Right? Eleonore: So Eleonore (2): even if you're not in an executive role today, but you want to be in the future, how do you project yourself so other people intuitively view you as the right fit? Not because of your gender, or your race, or anything like that, because I know we, that, that could be a completely different conversation as to, the executive makeup of all of that. But in terms of how you present yourself, what does that look like? Not just in terms of your clothing as well. [00:07:00] But what kinds of words are you using? What's your strategy? When people look at you, do they view you as being diplomatic? As being out there? What is the approach? So then we, based off of that, we find the areas that you could improve upon. We develop a strategy to get you there, an approach. We practice it, we tweak it as needed. Then we celebrate your successes once you get to that point that you are truly satisfied with it. Erin: That's very interesting, actually. I like I'd never really thought about. Aspiring to an executive role in terms of, your personal style. So just to clarify I've got a very unique personal style, so that I may not be suited to every executive role in the world or every. Organization in the world, but as a career coach I'm not a career coach, but I've worked with so many career coaches and I [00:08:00] know they're really focused on a best fit. So does that apply in this space as well? I assume. Eleonore (2): A hundred percent, right? No one is going to be a hundred percent great fit for everything. You have your friends, you have your nemeses, you have your allies, you have your detractors, you have different spheres of people. A person who could, a person like, let's say, Steve Jobs. Great at Apple. Fantastic. Might not be the best field hockey coach. You never know. Yeah. Erin: He's not alive anymore, so we'll count him out now. But maybe you never know. But yeah, I totally hear what you're saying, for sure. Eleonore (2): So it doesn't mean that one is right or wrong. And that's the other thing we need to take apart is there is no right or wrong. Our person shows up in an executive sense. Even if it's completely different, that might be what the organization needs at [00:09:00] that point in time. Because what have worked in the past won't always work in the future. And in fact, probably shouldn't. That means you're not evolving. That means your organization isn't changing. So every once in a while, you do need to shake things up. You need a rebel in there. Erin: I feel like that is so true now more than ever. Eleono

    20 min

  4. 2024-10-02

    Kim Tofin on Teamship and Leadership Synergy

    With over 30 years of experience in high-tech sales and marketing, Kim Tofin shares insights on the critical roles in forming high-performing and high-impact teams.  Through personal stories and professional insights, Kim explains how creating a safe space for authenticity and unique contributions can transform organizational culture and drive unparalleled success. Don't miss this in-depth discussion on fostering collaboration, bridging gaps, and unleashing the untapped potential within your teams! Stay in Touch with Kim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-tofin-38b0846/ For more on Kim and his Services: https://breakoutcx.com/   Within a team dynamic, the weirdos, the one or two or the three can start to feel psychologically safe because everybody allows that weirdness.  Welcome to weirdos in the workplace. The podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. My name's Erin Patchell. And today I'm super happy to bring on Kim Tofin.  Hello, Aaron. Nice to see you again.  Nice to see you as always, Kim.  So to introduce Kim, after 30 years in high tech sales and marketing, Kim began Breakout CX and has thrown himself extensively into the art and science of team coaching and team infused leadership, which I think is something that you coined. Is that right, Kim? Yes. Yeah. Awesome. So now Kim works with national and international companies to develop high performing teams and introduce and build a teamship culture. And today we're going to talk about how curiosity and maybe even a little bit of weirdness can make teaming possible among some other things that we'll get into as well. So nice to have you on the podcast finally, Kim. Yeah, finally, we got past the weirdo point. We got past the weirdness. Yeah. Um, I'd actually, let's, let's let, I want to ask you that question for sure, uh, because I think it's kind of, it's kind of cool, like the evolution of your thinking around the word weird. Um, but I'd love for people to hear from your mouth, like what you do, who you are, just a few minutes about, um, what you care about, why you care about this so much.  Yeah, that's a good question. It's a good place to start. I mean, I, as you said in the introduction, I worked with teams, uh, in my career for the part of three decades. And, um, I've worked with good teams, not good teams and terrible teams. Um, but I didn't know about  a teaming culture. I certainly didn't know about team coaching or a team ship. And along the way, I began to understand the importance of collaboration and it just stuck with me  in every aspect of the work that I did. And so this started to define me and I became sort of enamored with, um, with coaching as it began to emerge. And that was with leadership coaching. And it just has became, become a part of what I really Um, stand for it. In other words, we could say it's my stance of life, both personally and professionally.  It's amazing. So you've made it sort of a calling or it's become a calling for you. I did. And, and, you know, um, not to dwell on the matter, but I had a life changing event, uh, three years ago, my partner passed away. And it, and it just opened up an opportunity for me to, to reset, recalibrate my life and focus on what really matters to me and, and grab a hold of my passion and, uh, in a way, give back to, you know, my community, um, our country, um, and, and, you know, all the organizations, whether they're institutional, private, government, um, educational, not for profit, um, you know, It's just, I, I'm so committed to, um, sort of unleashing this potential around teamship and, and that's what I'm doing and I'll keep doing it, um, uh, even with people calling me weirdo.  Absolutely. And we're turning that word into, you know, that's the best thing you could possibly be as a weirdo. For the record. So, um, but yeah, there's no question that, um, something like that, like a life change in the death of a partner, you know, and I'm obviously I'm so sorry about that. Um,  but there's no question that that changes the way that you think about things, right? A traumatic situation like that, for sure.  Yeah. Yeah.  Um, you, you start to, um, you go,  it's a choice, but I found myself going inward. And  tapping into my presence, my core, my strengths, um, it's still a work in progress. Like I haven't got it all figured out, but I would rather be in that process than. either masking the grief or the healing or the pain, um, because it doesn't serve the teams that I coach very well if I'm not true to myself and authentic when I walk in those rooms or when I'm coaching a CEO one on one.  Um, it reminds me actually when you, when you just said that, uh, there was a quote from yesterday. I was in a grief and loss workshop, um, with an amazing coach from Ottawa, Dina, uh, Bell or La Roche.  And there was a quote that she said, and I'm going to see, I'm just going to do a little search here because I want to say it.  Uh,  we can't accompany our clients when we are where we ourselves dare not travel.  Um,  you know, yeah, in fact, I've come across that recently in the last few days and I think it's very powerful. Absolutely. Yes, it is. Yeah.  Okay. So today is all about team ship and specifically, you know, the power of curiosity, um, the The power of collaboration, the power of, uh, development, um,  Tell me a little bit more about specifically the work that you do like what is teamship? Sure.  Um,  initially, um,  you know, through all my training, my team coaching training, I was chasing down teams that were either dysfunctional or starting up. Or going through a lot of changes, a lot of, um, changes in personnel or changes in ownership and working with those teams became very clear to me that, that  teams have such power and such potential. That it's more than just the team, it's organizational impact. And so in the last year or so, I've sort of  described myself as a systemic team coach. In other words, it's more than just the team. Of course it is the team and every team has a starting and ending point. No two teams are the same as if the same as no two individuals are the same.  Um, and so  with that, um, teamship, this term started to evolve in my mind that teamship really should be at the same level as leadership.  Um, but it's not and and so it the time is right. I think to introduce this concept now. Teamship itself  is being, um, introduced and and exploited very positively by, uh, a handful of organizations, consulting firms in the U. S. And in Europe. Um, and I think there's a couple in Canada, but  it's still relatively new. Um, and I just coined this term. Um, Of teamship infused leadership because because leaders are are struggling today. You know, it's not working as it used to. And so my approach is to come in to the organization  and and look at what we can do with the organizational health.  Um, through empowering, uh, teams and getting teams moving from fundamental to high performing and ideally to high impact.  So it strikes me that, you know, your background in sales and marketing probably has a lot to do with the way that you think about business in general, and then how, how the team itself can be impactful. Would you say that's accurate?  Yeah. It's, it's an interesting, It's an interesting statement and question. I think, I think  we are all kind of salespeople. We're all trying to,  to, um, promote or push or sell our, our value, our brand, our ideas, our thoughts. Um, so, so I think that in sales and marketing and how we  position those, those, um, services or deliverables, um, yeah, has given me a lot of insights into the real fast movement of organizational dynamics, because everything happens around revenue in the private sector, but it's equally, it happens around government, for example, in, in service delivery. Thank you. Or not for profit in stakeholder value education as in education for the students, et cetera. So, um,  and in sales and marketing, there are a lot of teams because you're working directly or indirectly with all kinds of teams, operational teams, customer experience, teams, um, R and D teams, engineering development teams. And, and  in my experience, most of that were, you know, those teams were all working in silos. There was very little cross functional, um, value or benefits happening. And, um, the leaders weren't, you know, they weren't paying attention.  And so it's, uh, yeah, it, it, it weighs heavily on me and it's great to draw from all those experiences. And I'm actually quite happy that I worked with incredibly, incredibly successful companies, um, and not so successful companies because  I know what doesn't work.  Right. Yeah. And it's good to draw from that. For sure.  I feel like we're kind of leading, you're leading me down a path here that I like, which is towards the The conversation around weirdness, you know, especially, um, you know, when we start to talk about strengths based teaming, uh, or collaboration or breaking down silos,  part of me says, you know, well, the authenticity, you know, and having, having different people on a team, having a, um, a cross functional team, uh, makes a lot of sense, you know, and you can't have a cross functional team without a little bit of weirdness and authenticity. Um, tell me, tell, tell everyone, like, if you're comfortable sharing the story about like when I first approached you as a podcast, you know, weirdos in the workplace is definitely there's reasons why we decided to call it weirdos in the workplace, right? Because it does rub people the wrong way a little bit. And, and tell me a little bit about your evolution in like the last, you know, while, you know, as, as that's been kind of evolving.  It's a great story.  And I'm, um, I've come out the other end of it in a, in a much more informed,  um,  content, uh, sort of, you kno

    44 min

  5. 2024-09-25

    The Hidden Insights That Burnout Can Reveal About Our True Selves ft Jennifer Robb

    Intro: Jennifer Robb is an enthusiastic and strategic finance leader with over 15 years of experience in various public and private industries, including transportation, construction, and energy. A few years ago, Jennifer experienced burnout caused by what we would call "old school toxic management". Through recovery, Jennifer discovered hidden insights about herself and the workplace. She embraced mindfulness, ignited her passion for coaching, and developed innovative strategies to motivate teams in a positive way. Her story is a beautiful reminder that even our hardest moments can lead to valuable lessons and transformative change! Stay in Touch with Jennifer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-robb-cpa-cma/ For more on Jennifer and her Services: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-robb-cpa-cma/   Welcome to weirdos in the workplace. The podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work. And I'm here with the lovely Jennifer Rob. Say hello, Jennifer. Thank you. Hello everyone.  Awesome. Jennifer is an enthusiastic and strategic finance leader with over 15 years experience in various public and private sector roles, um, including in, uh, different industries, such as transportation, construction, and energy. And a few years ago, Jennifer experienced a burnout caused by what we might call, uh, old school toxic management. We're going to talk about that and the process of recovery has led her to discover herself for mindfulness and coaching practice and win win ways of motivating teams. So welcome Jennifer to weirdos in the workplace. Thank you. And thanks for having me. Yeah. My pleasure. Um, so let's share a little bit about yourself, please, so that everyone here can get to know you, get to know your background a little bit, and, you know, especially regarding this burnout, just if you can, if you can kind of lead us, um, on the journey a little bit. Mm hmm.  So, I am a CPA. Um, I also have a  I studied and worked abroad in different capacities. I'm also a mom of two, which is important,  because, you know, everyone has a life outside of work. Everyone is a full and complete human being. And sometimes a lot of these worlds collide, uh, for better or worse. And I went through this period of, um,  intense work where I was very capable of doing the work and unfortunately the work just get kept getting piled on. So through COVID there were some, you know, everyone had challenges, right? People were leaving the workplace. They were quitting through vaccine mandates. There were so many changes that were going on and that led, um, me to a position of covering a number of jobs. And it went on for such an extended period of time.  It was really hard for me to let go because I loved what I was doing. And I love doing things like innovating and process improvements and making things better. And I didn't see it  coming. I just eventually got to this place where  I was so burnt out and I was frustrated and cynical and I just didn't realize where I had backed myself into a corner.  And I really needed to make some personal changes, to take a break, to let myself heal.  When you are clinically diagnosed with burnout, which I was, it's, it's a tough situation. You know, we, we overuse burnout. Um, you know, we say at the end of the week, oh, it's Friday, I'm burnt out. But when you are clinically burnt out, that that's just a different level of burnout. It's one where you need, um, like psychological support and it's one where you need even, um,  Rest and recovery, not just physically, but for your brain. And that's really different place to be in. And I didn't realize what it meant until I was in it until it was too late. I think that that's actually really important. And I think you're totally right. We use burnout  often. I think people are tired. And they use the words burnout, you know, and I try to, I try to hold a strong line there myself. A lot of people are constantly concerned that I'm going to burn out because of the number of things, number of hats that I wear. Um, and I, what I always say is I might be tired sometimes, but I'm really good at managing my energy. I'm really good at making sure that I'm eating well. I'm exercising, I'm drinking water, I'm sleeping, you know, I'm seeing, I'm seeing my friends and, and I have support, like I'm okay, you know, um, and yeah, I might be tired sometimes and I'll let you know if I'm tired, but I'm not burnt out. Um, but I do think I, and I have, I have also experienced burnout in my twenties and it is very different. It's debilitating. Um, and so I, I, I do know the difference personally, but I don't think a lot of people do.  How did you experience burnout? What was the experience for you?  So  unfortunately it was, it was quite sad because I'm a very goal oriented person and I have a lot of grit, which is great. Like I can, I can like. really dig my heels in, be determined, accomplish my goals. But grit doesn't always serve you well. And what I learned was that,  uh, there was a book by Annie Duke called Quit. Yeah. And she, in a way, really changed my life. So thank you, Annie. Um, because she, In her book she talks about when is it worthwhile to grit through something and to bear down and get it done, and when does it not serve you enough, and for me, having my eyes set on these goals, because I wanted to accomplish them. It meant. Then I had to cut away everything else. So  sleep, you know, I don't, I don't have time to sleep right now. I've got to get this done. I don't have time to, you know,  make sure I'm fed with nutritious foods. I've got to have like protein bars in my drawer. And that's what I would eat all day long. I had an espresso machine in my office like, and come on,  it's great coffee. Um,  And I, I started working out really intensely as a coping mechanism and it wasn't healthy. When I look back on it, I did it because it was just so intense and it just allowed me to, to just release that energy, that negative energy I felt, but looking back on it now, it was just a coping mechanism. And what happened was at the end, um,  you know,  I left my job and I kind of collapsed and it was like this.  Collapse of physical tiredness, mental tiredness. I literally just stayed in bed for like days on end and my husband was quite worried about me and I tried to, you know, hide it as much as I could for my kids because I didn't want them to, you know, feel  as if their mom was going through something traumatic, but it really was trauma. In a way, because I had pushed myself to the extent  that I had lost control of  my mental composure. I, I, I lived almost on a different planet and I was so hypervigilant, you know, everything had a deeper meaning, everything was sort of out of control. And when I saw the psychiatrist who diagnosed me with burnout,  you know, initially I thought I had something like. Um, I was on the spectrum somehow, like I had ADHD or something and he's like, no,  you are so burnt out.  You need time and space to just calm your brain down, calm your body down and just stay with it. And it's been a long road. It's been.  Yeah, it's been like two years, and I'm still, you know, learning new techniques and learning new tools to keep me grounded. And through that experience, I did a lot of coaching, I did a lot of journaling, I did a lot of learning about mindfulness practices, and just being in tune with your body, and learning, you know, some painful lessons about  what do I value. Does this serve me or does it not serve me?  And it's, it seems quite simple.  It's also like a hard lesson to learn when you get there. Yeah. And I find that burnout often, um,  it often happens to people who are high performing. You're high performing, you know, that those type of personalities, right.  And, and I wanted to be, I wanted to achieve those goals. Like I'm a capable person. If I don't know how to do it, there's nothing that can stop me from learning how to do it. Um, I was, I was very much a person where I would say.  Okay, this is my task. I may not know how to do it, but I'm certainly going to figure it out. And I would be really happy with those big challenges. So it was really hard for me to take that step back. Uh, but what it, where it led me to was it, In the end, I wish I hadn't gotten so burnt out, but it led me to a place of learning about, you know, how all these things can benefit me and my leadership skills. So, you know, mindfulness, being, um, being aware and seeing people through not just their eyes and not their viewpoints, but seeing them through their whole lives and what's going on and having more compassion for other people and thinking. You know, that person doesn't seem themselves. They didn't react very well.  There's a logic to that and there must be something going on in their life. That's.  You know, and, and looking at people as other humans more than employees or, you know, team members, you know, there was a book that I read and I think it was called how, how to be human. I'll, I'll look it up so you can put it in the notes but it really talked about the human side of, you know, understanding what's behind everyone. And even the people that we know really well, we only know about 30%. of what's going on in their life. So there's this whole iceberg below the surface that we're unaware of. And keeping that in mind allowed me to be kind to myself  because I realized, you know, other people don't know what's going on with me and likewise. So it allowed me to approach a lot of things with more compassion and kindness and patience. Yeah.  And it also gave me permission  to forgive people, not, not because Of what they did necessarily, but in the act of forgiving people, I'm not saying I for said it was right what they did, or I'm not judging them. It allowed me to let go of that negative energy. And that wa

    46 min

  6. 2024-09-18

    Boldly Leading with Love in a Cutthroat Environment ft Sarah Boardman

    With 25 years of experience in HR, Sarah has dedicated her career to empowering leadership teams and coaching emerging leaders in competitive industries. Her unique approach combines bold leadership with kindness and compassion, creating environments where individuals can truly thrive. Get ready to be inspired as Sarah shares her vision of using compassion and humor to unlock the potential in others. Join us as we explore her insights and learn how we can all lead boldly in our own lives! Stay in touch with Sarah: www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-boardman To learn more on Sarah and her services: www.lightstonecoaching.com Script: Just putting put love out into the world and it's not about being perfect it's not about not using your horn or rolling your eyes it's about you know the intentionality of of looking and saying okay you know what there's a better way. Welcome to Weirdos in the Workplace, the podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. And I'm very excited to have Sarah Boardman on the show today. Welcome, Sarah. No, very excited. Wonderful. Okay, so I'm going to just do a little intro for you first. Sarah Boardman has spent 25 years in HR and now works with leadership teams to take their organizations to the next level. Her particular passion is coaching emerging leaders in competitive industries who wish to lead boldly, yet with kindness and compassion. Thanks for joining. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. Fantastic. Okay. So why don't you tell everyone out there exactly who you are, what you do, your life story and your purpose all in 30 seconds. All in 30 seconds. So actually the purpose part is actually the easiest part. So as part of the coaching process, you know, you do your work on yourself first. And, and the thing that they're sort of the two purposes that have emerged for me, there are my initial one was to be the light that illuminates the brilliance of others. So I love seeing that growth. And then as I started my master's journey last year, the first part of that program was, okay, what is your higher purpose? Like what is your research higher purpose? And, and what sort of came to me and like literally almost a bolt, a bolt of lightning was, um, to create understanding around the link between love and profit. So like love is, is, is the thing it matters. It's, it's not a dirty word at work it's not a four-letter word uh so those are really my purpose and if I actually look back at my life um it's it's been there since the beginning so my parents emigrated from the UK as sort of specifically to have us they had a technology here to fix my mom's infertility that they didn't have there. So, you know, they made this, this giant leap, a large part of it was so that they could have a family. So even though we were separated from our bigger family, we were, you know, we had this unit and my parents, I was just saying to a girlfriend this morning, like, I think my mother created the concept of chosen family. Like they just really created an environment for us where we had that.  So we grew up, we were so privileged, you know, we grew up being extremely loved and, and talking about it. And, and again, love was, was always set, you know, every time we hung up, every time we leave the house, every time you, you know, it just was. And, and so I think, you know, the, the, the weirdo part for me, which is why I love the name of this podcast is, is that didn't always translate to, to corporate. And, you know, if I had a dollar for every time that I was told you're too much, I, I would be doing this you know from the Caribbean or you know Vancouver Island or you know somewhere like you know real estate unattainable because that's that's the weirdo part is that you're too much you're too much you're too much you're too much you're too much and so the the inner battle has been that no I'm not I'm not um even something is as you know simple as as being enthusiastic about something like it's it's sort of surprising to me how many people in in corporations are offended by enthusiasm it's like really just saying yeah so it's it's it's just that so that's the the weirdo part and and so five years ago I left I never thought that I'd be an entrepreneur I never thought I'd have my own business I'm like like staunch like employee roots like I'm you know I'm an early adopter I'm someone who wanted the the front of the bus getting people organized but I realized I had to leave to be able to step into that too much and when you do work for yourself and you're you know I I only work with nice people . I have the great privilege of working with some truly truly truly amazing organizations they bring you in because of the too much yeah because of those things right it's like all those things like you're told to stamp down for you know 25 years of my career all of a sudden they're like oh you're so enthusiastic we just love it it's so great you know you bring so much humor to this and I'm like it's interesting actually um I it's something I've mentioned to a few people who've been on the podcast who are also like consultants it works really well as a consultant to have that passion and drive but it doesn't always translate as well into your everyday you know work environment for whatever reason um it's interesting. But I also do think the world of work is changing. And I think maybe businesses are a little more open, you know, to adopting. They're definitely getting there. They're getting there for sure.  And that like we've talked about, like, that's what gives me the hope. Yeah. And I think the Gen Z, like you were saying on our previous call, I think they're really starting to drive the bus here. I think they're starting to drive the bus. And I think they're starting to recognize that someone else, so they can drive the bus or they can let someone else drive the bus or they can get off the bus and on the bus. And it's like, hey, it's just a bus. The bus is a construct. It's not the thing anymore. And then, I mean, Gen Alpha is going to do like incredible things as well so you know getting the privilege of seeing that um and just working with emerging leaders who get it like they just get it and they get why and they're very intentional and very purposeful about the way that they want to lead which is really really like it's it's inspiring and humbling but also like yeah like it's about time so it's awesome right yeah I mean I I know I've talked to a lot of people about this there's a few of coaches in Ottawa who really believe that like love is what you know is is the concept is the thing that is going to you know if we can change the world and have like world domination for good like I always say you know love is what's going to change it right um and I know I was never hesitant to to say I love you like to my employees and I know you were mentioning like that's kind of an HR nightmare earlier that might be an HR nightmare um and that's okay it depends but when you when you're in an environment and again love isn't just like I love you it's it's attention it's listening so um in May I went to the IOC conference in Boston and Dr. Robert Waldinger, who's leading the Harvard study on on happiness and life is like an 85 year study.  And, you know, he quoted John Tennant, who said, you know, attention is the most basic form of love. So even if we show our team's attention, if we listen, if we regard, if we're caring, all of those things are in this like love bucket that we're, you know, however we choose to say it, it is the only thing that will change things. I think it is taking the hard path though in a lot of organizations, right? Like if you choose to take this path, you're taking the path less traveled. You're taking the path, you know, your competitors may not be taking this path. And so there are pros and cons, right. That we should probably elaborate on a little bit. You know, if you're an organization that wants to take this love approach, this caring approach, the empathy approach, the know the um the grace approach giving people grace and time and space and health and wealth you know and all these things um you may be shocked at how your competitors treat your their employees and that they may be actually getting further ahead of you because of it sometimes yeah again i think it depends what matters to the organization so um like last year at royal roads we were really fortunate to be there on indigenous people's day so we had an indigenous scholar that came in and talked to us and robin ward and she said you know she often gets asked like what is decolonization and what she, she's like, I'm going to give you the really simple example. It's moving from fear-based and command and control to a love-based leadership. And, and I think that what is going to happen is maybe the command and control gets a little bit further ahead for a little while, but it will, it will get stuck or it will, you know, everyone's going to go, oh, wait a minute. I want to be treated better over here. This will slowly, but surely, you know, it is the, the, the tortoise and the hare.  I, I just, I can't live in a world where love doesn't ultimately win. And when you, when you treat people with respect and you listen to them and they know they're valued and you know you're you're you're holding you know you're ensuring accountability there's productivity there's effectiveness it's not that it's just this big like you know love circle anything goes done right yeah it's it's how you choose to treat people most people will take that over an extra ten thousand dollars because we're starting to realize the impact it has and and not everyone will and that's okay and that's what makes the world go around but i just i can't live in a world where it doesn't ultimately win or it doesn't ultimately get at least the same because people want to be there they're they're

    34 min

  7. 2024-09-11

    Cultivating Growth, Belonging, and Diversity in the Workplace ft Jaya Kaushik

    Meet Jaya Kaushik, a trailblazer whose journey began as a new Canadian immigrant and transformed into a powerful force for change in Canadian society. As a Talent Management Professional and because of her lived experience, Jaya is integrating numerous components of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in her work. Her story is one of resilience and ambition, weaving together her experiences from transportation, retail, banking, and leadership development, which has led her to the incredible role of preparing for Canada's first ever Hard Rock Hotel and Casino!   Stay connected with Jaya: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jaya-kaushik   Script:  If you receive a roadblock from one person, always look outside the box. That's what I do. Do not hinder yourself just because you received one no. If there's like one no, there could be four yeses. So just think outside the box. The world is a beautiful place. People are willing to help you if you are willing to receive that help, love and compassion from them. Welcome to Weirdos in the Workplace, the podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. And what a crazy world it is. My name is Erin Patchell, and I am your host, and I'm here with Jaya Kaushik. Thank you so much for joining us, Jaya. Pleasure.  Thanks, Erin Erin for inviting me here to your podcast. Thank you uh okay so folks Jaya is an immigrant a person of color if you can't see Jaya if you're not looking if you're not watching this on YouTube but you're you know watching this on the podcast she is a person of color and a woman who believes in fostering impact through diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She is the talent management lead at Hard Rock Ottawa, developing strategies around recruitment and training initiatives to prepare for the launch of the first Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Canada, which is really exciting. And I'm really curious to learn more about that as well, Jaya, if you have a few minutes. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Definitely. I mean, a quick snapshot is I relocated my entire life from Winnipeg to Ottawa for this exciting thing that is coming into existence in April next year. We are going to have the first Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It's right now in 74 countries across the globe. And finally, Canada is going to have its first one. So we've taken over Rideau, Carleton Casino, and we are building a hotel. So it's going to be, the racetrack's still going to be there. We're going to have like 10 restaurant outlets. So, you know, it's going to be a whole new entertainment business with the tinge of gaming added to it. So it's going to be fun, exciting. But the best part about it, Aaron, is, you know, bringing in all those folks. So we're going to be hiring for around 500 folks. So, you know, going to have massive recruitment initiatives. We are starting right now in August up to April next year. So it's going to keep all of us quite busy. No doubt. No doubt. How exciting. I cannot wait to actually see this in action. It sounds like it's going to bring a lot of value to Ottawa for sure. That's great. Well done. Yeah. And also congratulations to you for like uplifting your whole life and moving here. You know, I think that's an extremely brave thing to have done. That's an extremely brave thing to have done. Yeah, I moved quite a bit. So I came as an immigrant in 2019 here in Canada, and I was back there in Nova Scotia. And then, you know, I've always moved for my career. I moved to New Brunswick. And then, you know, there was some readjustments within the family. So I relocated to Winnipeg. And finally, when this opportunity came knocking at my door, I'm like, I cannot say no to this. I mean, I did not have experience in the casino or entertainment industry, but I thought that this is exciting. This is something which I believe in because I really value constant learning involvement, along with bringing innovation through continuous improvement mindset so I'm like what impact can I bring when something is not built but is in the transition phase so that was my motivation to come and join as a talent management lead here and you know move my entire life from Winnipeg to Ottawa. It's been quite a few months. I relocated in February this year, but I'm loving Ottawa so far. That's good. I'm glad because it would be kind of unfortunate if you didn't like it. So because it sounds like you're going to be stuck here for a little while longer. But, you know, I love Ottawa as well. I think that the community here is lovely and the it's so close to so much nature as well if you love nature and um now it sounds like we have a new director of nightlife in Ottawa um so maybe we'll even have some exciting things to do you know after dark at some point uh it sounds like Hard Rock Cafe fits right nicely into the strategy. For sure. I mean, Hard Rock is keeping busy. The amount of professional networks. I mean, I met you at the social HR camp, Erin, and, you know, building that professional network within the community is so amazing.  Just inviting all those community partners and building that strategic relationship and just people have been just so nice and kind and they are so open to any opportunity sometimes even if the partnership does not work they're always willing to keep that connection and that's that's really inspiring for me well I think your energy is amazing And I know the last conversation that we had around, we were talking more around, you know, DEI and B and a little bit of the accessibility, because that's kind of more in my, in my purview these days. But your energy around this is amazing. I think that, you know, you have a really interesting perspective on it, that you have a really interesting perspective on it, mainly because it sounds like you've really thought about how to integrate DEIB into the business processes, which I think is really interesting. And one of our previous podcast guests, Kathleen Johnson, a few weeks ago, we were talking about how important that really is, you know, to integrate DEIB as an operational process. It's not just a philosophical values driven thing anymore. What do you think about that? is professional or me being interested in DEIB is what that motivates me. I think when you feel or when you've been through something over a period of time or through your professional journey, that kind of lets you in as in, okay, why am I feeling this way? And if I'm feeling this way, maybe someone else, my peers might be feeling the same way. You know, they could belong to different race, religion, ethnicity, maybe a different gender, LGBT community. But if I am feeling a certain way at workplace, we're in a workplace calls it more most diverse. And, you know, they've won so many awards just because on paper or in reports, they show, oh, we did, you know, this event, we did this awareness day, but they do not know, like, you know, it's not just a checkbox. It's basically how your employees are feeling in the moment. Have you ever, you know, there's always one-on-ones with managers and there's performance evaluation, there's employee engagement surveys, but has anyone gone down that pipeline and asked, hey, has your manager ever, you know, looked down upon you in a certain way because of your culture or because of your identity, or, you know, you've been laughed at by your team members, just because you have a different pronunciation, because you just came from a different country. So, you know, those things get ignored in the process, no matter how many surveys we do, no matter how many one-on-ones we do, no matter how many lunches we do. So it is so important to integrate that. And again, I would say it's not just checking the checkbox or meeting the criteria or winning some awards. It's more about how you're feeling, how you are, you know, how are the employees embracing that culture of the organization. For me, when I join an organization, the values, the, you know, we talk about values, we talk about models and mission statement. It's good we talk about that, but do we actually implement it? You know, when we say we believe in, you know, authenticity or we believe in bringing your best self forward, and then you are actually doing it, but then your manager's like, oh, why are you dressed this way? That's against the, you know, the dress code policy. Or, you know, if I am a Muslim, and I do not want to attend a meeting in the afternoon, just because I'm'm fasting and I want to have my prayers. Why, you know, my manager is not able to understand that or, you know, why am I not feeling, why am I not being felt included? You know, I've told my manager a month ago that, oh, I'm going to be fasting during Ramadan, but still we have a week-long potluck during that same week or same month. It's just those small examples which a lot of folks at works do not realize. And for them, it's quite normal. And you know, that normalization, Erin, passes on to employees like us where we are like, oh, we cannot make any change maybe that's how we are supposed to be or that's how the culture here is specifically for immigrants like I can speak because I am an immigrant myself you know we have a different culture back in our country and we embrace a new culture here but when we are embracing the diversity, we tend to forget that we can raise voice for ourselves, that we cannot say yes to any, you know, wrong actions or any microaggressive behaviors that have been hurled upon us.  Right. So the question that the world's becoming more multicultural, right? I mean, there's, there's literally no question. The only reason the Canadian population grew last year was because of immigration. And yeah. And I mean, even the most staunch conservatives that I know who are business owners, you know, you know, some people quite close to me, in fact, they admit that, you know, sometimes immigrants are actual

    42 min

  8. 2024-09-04

    From Chaos to Clarity : Leading Organizations Through Complexity ft Kevin Judge

    Kevin Judge is the CEO and Founder of iNOBL, a strategic business advisory firm with a global reach. A best-selling author, international speaker, and strategic business advisor, Kevin leads a team of professionals that senior leaders trust, to turn strategy into sustainable success. Join us for an insightful conversation on how to go from chaos to clarity, to best guide organizations to harness their potential, and excel beyond expectations! Stay in Touch with Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinjudge/ https://www.instagram.com/kevinrjudge/ For more on Kevin and his services: https://inobl.com/   Script: When you're in a moment, one, have that sense of curiosity for yourself, but also if there's somebody that is coachable around you to say, hey, hold on a second, I hear you, you're concerned about ABC. What would happen if you were to stop and think of this in this different way? Mm-hmm. What other possibilities could there be? Welcome to Weirdos in the Workplace, the podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work today. My name is Erin Patchell, of course, your lovely host. And I'm here today with Kevin Judge. Say hello, Kevin. Hello, Kevin. No, hello, everybody. Nice to be here. It's great for you to be here, Kevin. Okay, so for those who don't know Kevin yet, Kevin is the CEO and founder of iKnowBull, a strategic business advisory firm with a global reach. Kevin leads a team of professionals that senior leaders can trust to turn strategy into sustainable success. He's also a best-selling author, international speaker, and strategic business advisor. Welcome, welcome.  Thanks very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. All right. So what are we talking about today, Kevin? Just give me broad strokes.  Well, you know, one thing that's caught my attention recently was how crazy our brains are in making up stories about what's going on in our worlds, whether it be driving down the road and somebody cuts you off or the way a coworker responds to an email or the way your boss treats you. Like all of these things, our brains tell us stories and that can get us in a lot of trouble. So what is interesting for me right now is how can we have a little bit more of a view of curiosity to solve some of the problems that don't need to be problems in our lives? And of course, if you want to tie that to strategy and execution, it's about getting away from conflict and better communication and that type of thing to help make the world go around a lot better. Yeah, that'd be nice. There are a few existential crises in the world at this time. So I think I use that word almost every single podcast right now is like existential crises. And it's not surprising that people are trying to find ways to both like predict, analyze, compartmentalize, and like, just, you know, try to like kind of survive through, you know, what's going on today at a micro and macro level. So, you know, humans be humans, right? Well, exactly. And whatever's going on around us, like if you think, And whatever's going on around us, if you think, probably heard this example before where a caveman sees a saber-toothed tiger and they go into fight or flight mode and it's all about survival. Well, first of all, we wear more clothes nowadays, but also, well, many of us do. Some of us. Yes, right. But also, we don't have saber-toothed tigers coming at us. But on a day-to-day basis, our brains don't know the difference between the perceived physical threat of a saber-toothed tiger and a perceived psychological threat. So let me take it into a work environment. You walk into a meeting room that you're expecting to have a meeting with your boss, and HR is there. Oh my gosh, Right. So perceived psychological threat of why is HR here? I'm going to get fired. And if I get fired, everybody's going to look at me and be ashamed of me. My family's going to leave me. I'm going to lose my house. I'm going to end up on the street and I'm going to starve to death and die. I'm going to end up on the street and I'm going to starve to death and die. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous, but that can be where our brain goes very, very quickly when it's not necessarily the fact. Right. Well, I think you've given us an amazing intro to the topic. Let's come up for air. And I just want to ask you first, the first like real question, the most important question, what makes you a weirdo? What makes me a weirdo? When you asked me that the first time I was like, well, I don't know. Am I really that weird? But I'm going to focus in on, it's taken a lot of work for me to not appear as weird as maybe as I, as I was many years let your freak flag fly that's there you go I have a very strong sense of right and wrong and in my younger years there was no gray area like it's either right or wrong the rules are rule you follow it or you don't follow it etc uh and that led to me having super high expectations for myself as well as super high expectations of other people. And I think in my terms, what makes me weird is I really struggled to understand, well, how is it that people are not as serious about these things as I am? And how can they be comfortable with the lack of performance and, and just getting by and not really caring, et cetera. And so it took a lot of work for me to understand people and how they, how they actually think and process and that not everybody's like me. And thank God they're great. Like the last thing that people need is another me uh and thank god very great like the last thing people need is another me like we we need everybody to be who they are i mean not to like go down a huge rabbit hole here but i'm very i'm kind of curious like if you've ever detangled like why you were so motivated like what was it in your dna or in your upbringing or whatever that like drove you in that way that that is interesting that could be an interesting conversation yes yes uh should we get the virtual couch out no it's not my not my thing but yeah um you know what i'm not 100 sure because when i when i look at i have two brothers and i look at them and we're fairly different uh than than each other um but also similar in some ways but my father was in the military my mom was a nurse there was a strict household um but i i think some of it's just maybe it's because i was born in january right? Like I, I, there's a thing, that's a thing, you know? Well, yeah. Right. So I really don't know other than our behavior as we learn behavior, we are either rewarded for it or not. And perhaps how I behaved in the decisions that I made. I had rewards for it either intrinsically or extrinsically was rewarded for those behaviors. And that worked until it didn't work, right?  Once I got into my career, that rigidity wasn't helpful all the time. Yeah, no, for sure. Especially in the world today when things are, you know, you need to be more agile and adaptable in a lot of ways. I can see how you would have had to learn that probably. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's for many people, that's not something that comes easily. No, no. For most people that doesn't come easily. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, interesting.  Okay. So maybe, maybe another rabbit hole for another day to go all the way down. Yeah. But you're a strategist at heart. Okay, so you and I, we're both strategists. We kind of work in different areas. We're not like conflicting at all or competing, really. We work with different kinds of clients. But we're both, you know, more on the strategy side, strategy execution. I also do some coaching. Do you do coaching as well? Are you a coach? Yes. I don't do a lot of the coaching myself anymore, but I do coaching usually with executive CEOs. Right. Okay. So you do a little bit of coaching as well or have done coaching as well. Yeah. So the world's basically like it's on fire on fire, you know, and everyone's terrified. Business leaders are terrified. Doesn't matter, you know, small business, medium sized business, large enterprise government, you know, nobody knows what's going to happen next. There are lots of different mega threats, you know, in the world. mega threats you know in the world yep um what are you seeing like just like on a what what are you sensing right now in the world like what are you sensing as like some of the biggest things that people are concerned with day to day that is affecting their behavior i think um and and that's a very broad question. So I'm going to give you a very broad answer.  I think one of the biggest questions that people have today is anything that's happening, anything that they read in the news, anything that they see happen on the street, et cetera, is how does this impact me and my future and my ability to be successful in whatever it is that I'm doing, right? To thrive in this ecosystem that we're in. And it sounds like a very selfish question, but it really, I don't think is, right? We're no good to anybody else unless we are strong ourselves. And then once we're taken care of, it's easy to help the rest of the people around us in the world, et cetera. So I think that's the big thing for people is, hey, how are things going to help? So let's take Canadian politics right now. I'm coaching a CEO right now around the strategy for his organization, and he requires some funding through government grants. Okay, great. But what is going to be happening in our political environment come September? Is the opposition going to say, hey, we want a non-confidence vote? Yeah. And that's going to destroy the current government and all funding is going to come to a screeching halt or do we have another year year and a half etc right so those sorts of things are a concern um even what's happening in the u.s for for their politics it's a concern for canadians uh and people in the U.S. alike. So I think for most people, it's like, how are these things going to impact us? And it can be

    38 min
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About

Weirdos in the Workplace is a podcast about building successful organizations through servant leadership, fostering creativity, high performing teams, and trust-based healing cultures. Join us to learn how embracing "weirdness" can lead to better workplaces.

Information

  • Creator
    Erin Patchell
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2023
  • Show Website
    Weirdos In the Workplace