Leveraging Your Strengths to Lead Successfully Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about being a solopreneur and how understanding my strengths led to my success. Shortly after writing that post, I took the CliftonStrengths 34 assessment again. It had been eleven years. I was a member of a new global team and was curious to learn if anything had shifted in those eleven years. The CliftonStrengths assessment has been used by more than 34 million people globally to identify natural talents. It provides a deep understanding of 34 themes of your natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving in four domains: Executing: Help you make things happen Influencing: Help you take charge, speak up and make sure others are heard Relationship Building: Help you build strong relationships that hold teams together Strategic Thinking: Help you absorb and analyze information that informs better decisions In 2012, when I started my business, five of my top ten themes were in the Executing domain. That helped me launch my business and get things done. When I completed the assessment again in 2023, the top ten themes shifted slightly to include four themes in the Influencing domain and four themes in the Executing domain. As I reflect on this minor shift, I see how my business has evolved. Although I am still “Making Things Happen” as a solopreneur, I am leveraging more of my Influencing themes of Woo (Winning Others Over), Communication and Activator to lead more successfully. Woo helps leaders bring people together, make them feel welcome. These leaders are great at connecting people within their networks. Leaders with Communication theme are talented in helping others gain clarity on issues by asking questions to bring their thoughts out in the open. An Activator is someone who can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They have comfort with trying and failing until they get it right. They allow other people to have that comfort too. I am still a solopreneur, however, I work within teams all the time. Whether I am leading a project with several associate consultants or managing a team of coaches, I leverage my Executing and Influencing themes to deliver high-quality results. Gallup has created a new report called CliftonStrengths for Leaders, which provides insights and advice based on your results to help you become a better leader. Individuals who use their strengths regularly and intentionally are more likely to be engaged in their job and report an excellent quality of life. The most effective leaders are always investing in their strengths. Are you leveraging your strengths to lead successfully? If not, let’s connect to get you on the path of investing in your strengths and living a more fulfilling life.
Black History Month: The Daily-ness of Practicing Anti-Racism Pictured: bell hooks and john.a.powell at the Othering & Belonging Conference in April 2015 February is Black History Month which as stated on the Black History Month website, pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. That struggle continues today. Recently, I watched the Keynote Dialogue of bell hooks and john.a.powell at the Othering & Belonging Conference in April 2015. bell died suddenly on December 15, 2021, however she is heralded as one of the preeminent feminist voices of our time. Her call to dismantle “imperialist-white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy” is through a path of love and the willingness to embrace all the conditions of the world starting with water and climate justice. Throughout the conversation, bell and john touched on many concepts related to activism, belonging, feminism, climate justice and anti-racism. Several themes stayed with me as a white woman committed to dismantling “imperialist-white-supremacist-patriarchy”. bell started with love, “if you have love, you have belonging” and with belonging it prepares you to live well and die well. Before we are able to love, we need to heal the trauma that we all experience and that starts with family. To do the work of dismantling systems with others, we have to be in good spirit within ourselves. bell challenged us to do the work! Asking, “what are you doing in your daily-ness of life in service of anti-racism?” In this month of paying tribute to African Americans, join me in a commitment of daily action in service of anti-racism. You can start with healing trauma within your family through daily acts of caring, compassion and loving kindness. Or, explore 15 tools for White Anti-Racist action. bell reminded us that humor has to be part of this revolution! Thank you bell for your life’s work in daring us to create lives of political and spiritual liberation through healing, radical joy and redemptive love.
How do we unplug when we are always plugged in? Before the pandemic, researchers were already reporting the detrimental effects of extensive screen time. Then life went to another level with video conferencing and zoom fatigue. Now we have reached crisis levels with respect to mental health. We must reclaim time in our days, weeks and year to disconnect from technology to allow our brains, bodies and spirits to refuel. As a consultant who has worked virtually for almost 15 years, I learned early on that I had to establish practices that helped give my brain and body rest on micro, mini and macro levels. Prior to the pandemic, I wrote a blog called Three Steps to Managing Your Energy. I just read it again and it still holds true. However, now I need more of every step to counter the cognitive load of zoom fatigue. Unplug daily: I still charge my phone in the kitchen and don’t look at it until after breakfast. I also block one hour as zoom-free every day and I leave the computer off one day on the weekend. Walk the dog, or just walk: My day starts with a dog walk without technology. It helps me ease into my day slowly and gather my thoughts to start the day. Go to your happy place: As November rolls around every year, I start to feel a deepening need for pausing and recharging. This is something that I have been attentive to for the last five years. In the Midwest, the sun starts to hang lower in the sky and the days get shorter. All of these changes affect my energy level so I intentionally plan a break to spend time in a sunny place for at least a week. I block my calendar a year in advance so the time is protected and usually go to Hawaii to connect with the earth, moon, sun and water. It fills my spirit, mind and body. Generally, I take this time alone to reflect on what I want to celebrate for the year and what intentions I want to set for the coming year. The sun brings warmth to my heart and clarity to my mind. I just returned from Hawaii and was fortunate to be there during the November 18-19 partial lunar eclipse. Being in Hawaii allowed me to watch the entire process of the earth’s shadow falling on the moon. This was the longest lunar eclipse over a 1,200 year period. To witness an astronomical moment such as this gave me pause to evaluate what is important in life. Photo Credit: Mary Stelletello Every day the sun rises Photo Credit: Mary Stelletello And every day the sun sets Photo Credit: Mary Stelletello As humans, we can choose how to honor each day and what mother earth has been offering us for millennia. So when you feel like you can’t unplug, take a breath and think about ways to start your day in a different way. From there, it becomes easier to reduce the amount of time in front of the screen to refuel your energy tank.
Nurture Gratitude If you are a regular subscriber to Vista Global communication, you received the recent blog post titled, What Is Your Life Raft In The Sea Of Pandemic Trauma? In that blog post, I shared the “Tiny Survival Guide” from The Trauma Stewardship Institute which provides 15 ways to build resilience. One of those actions is “Nurture Gratitude”. As we begin the month of November, people in the United States start to look toward the Thanksgiving holiday and what they are grateful for. This practice of nurturing gratitude can be an ongoing simple practice that strengthens our resilience on a daily basis. By asking yourself every day, “What is one thing, right now, that is going well?” AND writing that down or speaking it out loud, starts to shift the mindset that we hold in viewing the world. It builds our capacity to have empathy for others and creativity to identify pathways to a better future. In the “What I’ve Learned” Thrive Global Podcast: Adam Grant on How to Make the Most of Gratitude. Adam shares a powerful insight about gratitude. He states, “My gratitude practice has not been to experience more gratitude – it’s been to express more gratitude.” Find just one reason to be grateful right now. It can be something simple or obvious, but don’t take it for granted. You can say things like, “Thank you for keeping me safe during that accident,” or “Thank you for giving me a roof over my head.” Take a few moments to reflect on the positive portions of your life. Then, write it down or speak your gratitude out loud. Dr. Carmen Harrra, a world-renowned intuitive psychologist shared in 6 Habits for Better Mental Health, “Your mind is the precursor to your reality. Guard it, honor it, and make it a safe haven – this practice will change not only your mental health, but your future.” So how about starting today and continuing every today until the end of 2021? “What is one thing, right now, that is going well?”
What is your life raft in the sea of pandemic trauma? Since March 2020, I have had the incredible opportunity to be a team member of the Ford Global Fellowship program. Yes, that is right..as the pandemic started, the Fellowship launched with 24 Fellows from regions across the globe. As the Lead for the coaching program, there are 10 coaches from across the world that support these amazing leaders who are challenging and changing inequality. Navigating the pandemic over the last 18 months has required all of us to find new approaches to preserving our energy and well-being. Recently, the coaching team met for our first book club discussion of the book, Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Care for Others, written by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk. As coaches, we can be the one safe space where social change leaders allow themselves to be vulnerable and express their true experiences of feeling depleted physically and emotionally. As I read this book it became very clear to me that all of humanity is currently living with some level of trauma because of the pandemic. van Dernoot Lipsky defines trauma exposure response as “the transformation that takes place within us as a result of exposure to the suffering of other living beings or the planet. The transformation can result from deliberate or inadvertent exposure, formal or informal contact, paid or volunteer work.” So what is trauma stewardship? van Dernoot Lipsky describes trauma stewardship as a daily practice through which individuals, organizations, and societies tend to the hardship, pain or trauma experienced by humans, other living beings and our planet. By developing a deeper sense of awareness needed to care for ourselves while caring for others and the world around us, we can greatly enhance our potential to work for change, ethically and with integrity, for generations to come. During our conversation, we explored how different cultures have different perspectives on what is acceptable in defining and stewarding trauma. Coaches shared approaches to self-compassion to sustain energy and resilience so that they are able to create a space of compassion for leaders. We all agreed that it is essential to engage in daily practices to center ourselves; connecting our heads, hearts and hands, creating an integrated state so that we don’t get stuck in our primitive brains where fear resides. Daily practice of moving energy flow through breathing, exercise, laughing and singing all help move us out of our primitive brain. The Trauma Stewardship Institute offers a wonderful “Tiny Survival Guide” that shares 15 easy ways to not only survive but build resilience during this period in our history. Do you have a life raft that allows you to float above water during this time of continued rough seas? If you are feeling shipwrecked or unmoored, let’s connect to discover your path toward trauma stewardship. We are all in this together.
Livestream Interview | The Helping Conversation Podcast As you may know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In years past, May passed without me giving much thought to how my mental health was. It is the start of Spring here in the upper Midwest with the flowers and trees growing exponentially every day. It always lifts my spirits as a time of renewal and possibility. And over the last two “Mays”, as humans, we have lived through incredible challenges and grief. The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and many other traumas we have endured. The global pandemic has resulted in required isolation. All of these factors weigh heavily on the human spirit, even for those who have vibrant and robust mental health. For 2021’s Mental Health Awareness Month, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) amplified the message of “You Are Not Alone.” They focused on the healing value of connecting in safe ways, prioritizing mental health and acknowledging that it’s okay to not be okay. Now more than ever, we need to lift up ways to stay connected with our community. The most powerful way to stay connected is through conversation. During May, I was honored to be invited as a guest on Keith Greer’s “The Helping Conversation” podcast. Keith is also a certified Conversational Intelligence® coach. The Helping Conversation podcast explores conversations that “focus on supporting a person in the moment, and/or, supporting the overall growth and development of a person, group or organization.” Having conversations that build trust, increase our sense of belonging and belief that we are not alone. Click here to watch our interview with “The Helping Conversation” podcast.
Staying Connected in a Virtual World From navigating challenges to finding new career opportunities, networking plays an important role in career success. For most of us, when we think about networking, we have a vision of events that take place in person (i.e. conferences, after work happy hours, or luncheons). We had a belief that the “in-person” element was necessary to develop long-lasting professional relationships. The pandemic has challenged us to think about networking in new and creative ways. Events have been canceled or shifted to virtual platforms, which makes connecting with new colleagues a challenge. As “social distancing” restrictions continue to shift, the likelihood of in-person events appears to be in the distant future. Although the pandemic has put traditional networking opportunities on hold, there are still many ways to develop and maintain professional relationships virtually. Explore new ways of connecting. As suggested in “Thrive Global”, just because we can’t physically be connected, doesn’t mean we can’t stay socially connected! It’s easy for professional relationships to seem distant when working from home, which is why it’s important to schedule time in your calendar to connect with the people who matter most to you – both in your personal life and in your business network. Video calls, emails, and text messages are several ways to connect with one another and maintain relationships, even when we can’t physically be together. Virtual Events are the “New Normal”. Due to working from home, many of us have now transitioned from in-person meetings and events to entirely virtual gatherings. Screen time (for most of us!) is at an all-time high. Although the thought of attending another virtual event may feel exhausting or repetitive, virtual conferences are still a great way to connect with new people outside of your “circle”. When having a virtual meeting, opt for Video. For many people, building new relationships is hard without face-to-face contact. Turning on video during a virtual meeting not only allows new colleagues to put a name to a face, it also allows your coworkers to see and understand your facial expressions, which adds context when having a discussion. To reduce “zoom fatigue” you can use the “hide self-view” feature. Create your own networking events. In a Harvard Business Review article, Alisa Cohn and Dorie Clark suggest turning canceled conferences into your own private networking opportunities. Review the schedule of past conferences you would have attended. See if there is anyone (both speakers or attendees!) that you are interested in connecting with and invite them to a private networking event. Support the people in your network. As we transition into this new way of work and continue to adapt to the constantly changing ways of life, it can be hard to feel grounded. By reaching out to your colleagues, both past and present, it lets them know that you’re thinking of them. This also serves as a great opportunity to reconnect with the people who you lost contact with over the past year. Use this time to ask how others are doing, or what career shifts they have made during the pandemic.
