The Leadership Habit

On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit Podcast, Jenn DeWall talks to DEI executive and coach Kelli Kombat about creating inclusion and belonging in the workplace. In today’s diverse workplace, everyone wants to feel seen and heard, yet sometimes, as leaders, we don’t know how to create a culture of inclusion and belonging.  Meet Kelli Kombat, DEI Executive & Coach Kelli Kombat is a passionate DEI executive and coach. Her previous experience includes working in human resources at Ford Motor Company, L’Oreal and Volvo Car USA. Before her career in human resources, she was an on-air broadcasting personality in Virginia.  Kelli was certified in leadership coaching for organizational performance at Rutgers University through ICF and holds a professional certified coach credential. She is also a certified DEI coach and serves as director, DEI on the board for the International Coaching Federation, New Jersey Charter chapter.  As the episode opens, Kelli introduces herself, saying, “Hello, everyone. My name is Kelli Kombat, and I am curious and kind as a coach. Uh, I started a long time ago in human resources. I’m also a DEI executive. I got into all this work as a professional coach and podcaster because I was othered.  And what does that mean? So being othered means, and I’m sure a lot of you have gone through it, whether it’s because you wear glasses or because you’re a nerd or because you’re black or because you identify as gay, whatever the case may be. I think many of us have been othered.  And so that’s why it matters to me that I am curious. I try to find out more about people. I try to be more inclusive every single day. Do I get it wrong sometimes? Sure. But that’s just who I am. I’m all about equity and fairness and just making sure that I can help transform people’s lives.”  The Big Question in DEI: What if We Get It Wrong?  Jenn starts their conversation by addressing the elephant in the room when discussing inclusion and belonging in the workplace: fear.  Jenn asks, “ One important thing that I want to highlight, and I’m sure you were going to bring it up, is what do you mean by getting it wrong? Because I think there’s a lot of fear around this topic, and we’re working to make it happen. I understand the importance of the work; if you get it wrong, know that you can recover. There’s not necessarily a wrong when you’re trying, but what do you mean by getting it wrong, Kelli?” Kelli explains, “ When people get it wrong, it’s when they think that they have to be perfect in this space of being diverse and inclusive. That, oh, I have to be perfect. I have, there’s this perfectionism that happens, and I always get really excited when I’m coaching someone or I’m working with leaders or whatever I’m doing in this space. And I admit right from the start. I get it wrong all the time.  And when I say get it wrong, meaning I have to say all the right things and do all the right things. In this space, we talk about being woke; we talk about being inclusive. And what ends up happening is we get it wrong by thinking, oh, we need to, you know, smack somebody over the hand for saying something the wrong way.  I recently saw online that there were people at a very large company that said, oh, we’re going to be attending an all-hands meeting. And some folks got very upset about that, saying, well, we really shouldn’t say “all hands” because that’s inferring that everybody is a certain way and that we have our limbs and what have you. And at the end of the day, we’re all going to get it wrong. I’ll say it again: we’re all going to get it wrong.  I don’t care if you have a lot of certifications in this space because I do. It doesn’t matter if you’re a certified DEI coach in this space because I get it wrong all the time. And I love that light bulb moment when I’m across the room from someone who’s an executive just trying to get it better.  It’s like the wall comes tumbling down, and they’re thinking, oh my gosh. Well, if you’re an executive in this space and you get paid very handsomely and you get it wrong, then I don’t have to worry about that. As long as I’m trying to learn, as long as I’m trying to grow. It’s all good.” What’s So Important About Inclusion and Belonging at Work?  Later in the episode, Jenn and Kelli talk about why a sense of belonging is important in the employee experience.  Kelli explains, “It matters to most folks because everybody just like, we all want love, we all want safety, we all want security. We want a sense of belonging. It’s like that hierarchy of needs, and it’s intrinsically innate. We all want that feeling that we belong. Think about dodgeball or think about anything where you felt excluded. It’s a bad feeling to feel.  If you think about it from that perspective, empathy is at the center of all this work. It’s not as if I have to know what somebody else has been through as long as I can understand, listen, and understand. That’s really at the core of all of it. It matters so much when you think about all the different generations and what those unique needs are for each person, each group, people really want to feel as if they belong. Because if they don’t have that, they will vote with their feet. They will leave. They won’t feel as if the (organization’s) values are aligned with their own values. The operating system is what I like to call it. I think that psychological safety won’t be there, so the engagement won’t be there.”  Changing Perspective by Changing the Acronym Later in the episode, Kelli explains how she likes to change people’s perspectives on diversity and inclusion by flipping the acronym. Most people are familiar with the acronyms: D&I, DEI, DEIB, and more. Kelli prefers the acronym IDEAS:  Inclusion Diversity Equity Accessibility Solidarity She explains that she likes this acronym because it brings to mind creativity and innovation. She explains, “It’s I before D it’s on purpose because it’s not just about the metrics of having different kinds of people working at your organization. It’s more about creating a space where people feel included. And only they can deem that. Just like a person can only deem another person an ally, I can’t call myself an ally. Only through my actions and my intentionality can someone else deem me that.  So that’s my approach. It’s all about inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility with the goal of solidarity. And it’s always around that goal of innovation, that goal of creating a sense of belonging and psychological safety. And so my approach is both quantitative and qualitative. It’s about bringing everyone along. Nobody’s taking away a piece of the pie. It’s more about bringing everybody along with the sense that we all can get it, we all can have something better. And I know it sounds hokey, and it may sound a bit cheesy, but I do believe that when you bring everybody along, that’s what matters most.” Where to Find More from Kelli Kombat To get more of Kelli’s expert advice on creating a culture of belonging, be sure to check out the full episode! To learn more about Kelli’s work, you can connect with her here:  Visit her website: kellicoach.com Connect on LinkedIn Email her at yes@kellicoach.com Thank you so much for listening to The Leadership Habit podcast! Check out our latest episodes on your favorite podcast streaming service!  The post Inclusion and Belonging in the Workplace with Kelli Kombat appeared first on Crestcom International.

How to Become a More Empathic Leader with Markus van Alphen In this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, Jenn DeWall talks to leadership psychologist Markus van Alphen about becoming a more empathic leader. Jenn and Markus dive into the importance of understanding emotions in yourself and others to be a better leader and how we can all become better at noticing emotions to improve communication, productivity and employee engagement.  Meet Markus van Alphen, Renowned Leadership Psychologist and Author Markus van Alphen is a renowned leadership psychologist and author of more than 15 books in Dutch and English. He developed the Observational Listening concept in 2014.  Observational Listening is actively listening to what an individual has to say, observing them, and understanding their emotional state. When leaders are attentive to the story and the underlying emotions, the employee feels heard, seen, acknowledged and psychologically safe, resulting in increased happiness, motivation, and success. Markus helps leaders and individuals worldwide increase workplace and personal relationship effectiveness, transform their environments, and succeed. Markus is also a trainer, lecturer, and curriculum developer for undergraduate and postgraduate psychology and counseling students at colleges and universities across the Netherlands. Interestingly, Markus began his career as an engineer for utility providers and software companies. After a decade in the field, he realized the impact our individual characteristics and interpersonal interactions have on our work and lives, which led him to pursue psychology.  He holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Amsterdam and a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering that he received from the University of Cape Town. What People Get Wrong about Empathic Leadership As the episode opens, Jenn asks Markus to explain what empathic leadership is and dispel the myths about empathy in the workplace.  Markus explains, “Well, I think we have a lot of myths going around here as well. A lot of people have this idea if you’re an empathic leader, then it’s all huggy and cuddly, being nice to one another. Not saying nasty things, not confronting people. No, it’s not that. It’s not that.  So to me, empathic leadership is actually about really knowing who your team members are and really understanding them, understanding where they’re coming from. And, in a way, this is the simplest way to motivate people.  Well, I should correct myself straight away because I don’t believe you need to motivate people. I believe that if you’re empathic, people are motivated by themselves, they’re actually motivated already. So it’s more just a matter of aligning with what they need in such a way that they do what they want to do.” Jenn asks why leaders have difficulty understanding the importance of leading with empathy, and Markus tells her it has a lot to do with the myths we have about leadership in general. He points out that research has shown that punishing people is the least effective way to change people’s behavior since 1820, and people have done almost nothing with that knowledge.  He says, “So, when we have a myth, and we are brought up with all of these myths, let’s be honest. And I’m not saying it’s good or bad, I’m just saying we are brought up with all these myths that certain things are the right way to do stuff. And any information we get that counts as that idea we don’t like, we find ways to sort of push it into a corner or ignore it or go on the defense of whatever.  And I think it’s the same with empathy. It’s the same. It actually begins with emotions. Emotions, for a long time in our society, have sort of been bad things, you know, and sort of a bit of a side product of the way we think. Whereas that’s not true, if you think about, and, and pushing that myth further, then we go, we go into the organization, get to the workplace. And you hear still today, a lot of people saying, we don’t have emotions in the workplace. It’s rational stuff.  And I just shake my head. I think, how do you expect people to work to be without there being emotions, without emotions? You’re simply not alive. You’re a robot. So I think that’s where this myth comes from. You know, people have these convictions about emotions being strange stuff and that in the workplace, we’re rational and stuff like that. And we don’t want to hear different.” How Observational Listening Can Improve Your Leadership Style Later in the episode, Jenn and Markus discuss the role of effective communication in empathic leadership. Markus shares his experience teaching therapists how to communicate with clients. He noticed some clients were able to open up freely and discuss emotions easily, while others were more guarded and uncomfortable. As a psychologist, he became interested in how to help clients feel safe and able to share more easily.  Markus explains that observational listening can greatly improve a leader’s ability to understand an employee’s emotions and point of view. His technique adds another layer to active listening, which is to intentionally notice clues about the person’s emotional state. He discusses the importance of noticing body language, facial expressions and vocal tone to create a deeper understanding of the other person.  Then, Jenn shares a time when she got another person’s body language very wrong and asks Markus how to handle that kind of mistake.  Markus explains, “Okay. But again, the question is – is it a failure? Because can you accurately name everybody’s emotions perfectly straight away? I don’t believe that’s possible. I think that’s setting yourself up for failure.  So, empathy is not about being a hundred percent accurate. What empathy is about is getting a good feel as to what that emotion is. And if you get it wrong, which can happen, and you say something that implies that you got it wrong, you are gonna notice straight away by the reaction that you got it wrong.  And is that a bad thing? No, it’s not a bad thing. You can say, I’m sorry, I got that wrong. We should be vulnerable. We should allow ourselves to be vulnerable and say, Hey, I made a mistake. I saw that incorrectly, or I got that wrong. Doesn’t matter. That gives actually the other one you’re speaking to the space or more space to feel safe. You’re saying I’m human.” The Importance of Self-Awareness in Leadership Later in the conversation, Jenn and Markus discuss the importance of being aware of your own emotions as leaders. In the past, leaders have been told to leave their emotions at the door, but the truth is that is not humanly possible.  Markus explains, “Well, this is a very important part also of emotional intelligence, because emotional intelligence is about your own emotions and the emotions of others. Yeah. And being able to understand them and to read them and all these kinds of things. So when it comes to your own emotions, I believe we’ve sort of, as a society, we’ve distanced ourselves from our bodies. We have this idea that we know better than what our own bodies tell us. Whereas, you know, our bodies, they, they have, that’s called it billions of years of evolution behind them, that they, they have some kind of wisdom. They often know better than we do. And this is where, as far as I’m concerned, the journey begins. Start by feeding your emotions in your body, right? By discovering, hey, uh, where do I feel things? A lot of people, for example, when they’re feeling tension or anxiety, feel it for the first in their gut. And so being aware of your body helps you to become aware of your emotions. And, it’s not so that there’s a standard place for everything. I was discovering this by myself as well. I mean, because I’m also human, so I always get tensions and stuff like that. And I was trying to find out, okay, so find, where’s the first signal I can discover that I’m feeling tense about something, and after spending some time this, I found out it was my right hamstring.  Why? I don’t know. But when my right hamstring starts tensing up just a little bit, I know, okay, I’m feeling tension. And that gives me the space to actually accept that tension instead of fighting it. I’m giving this as a simple example. And so, so just starting with your body, being aware of what, what that emotion’s doing inside of your body often is the first step to becoming aware.” Where to Find More from Markus van Alphen Listen to the full episode to learn more about how to be a more empathetic leader. Markus van Alphen has a lot of insights to share! If you want to find out more about him, check out these links as well: Connect on LinkedIn Visit his website: marcusvanalphen.com Check out The Excellent Organisation   The post How to Be a More Empathic Leader with Markus van Alphen appeared first on Crestcom International.

In this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, Jenn DeWall talks to Greg Martin about how to find fulfillment at work. We spend about one-third of our lives at work, so this is a topic worth exploring!  Meet Greg Martin, Investment Banker, Angel Investor and Entrepreneur Greg is an investment banker, angel investor, entrepreneur and regular host of the Lifetime at Work podcast about the world of work and business.  His day job involves advising corporate clients and business owners as they relentlessly pursue growth at all costs to earn the next million dollars. Working on Bay Street (the Wall Street of Canada), Greg is surrounded by high-achieving professionals across law, accounting, venture capital, private equity and the big banks who work 80+ hour weeks to serve their clients. But at what cost to them? Although he started his career in investment banking, Greg also founded and operated a restaurant, catering and food e-commerce business. Unfortunately, he had to switch careers again when the pandemic hit and his business did not survive.  Greg returned to the world of investment banking, but with a fresh perspective, and a passion for seeking fulfillment from work and helping others do the same! Why Don’t People Feel Fulfilled at Work? As the episode begins, Jenn asks Greg why people struggle to find fulfillment at work every day. Greg explains:  “So I think that’s a complicated question. <Laugh>, there are a lot of facets. And I think, to boil it down, I think that the fulfillment that we get, a lot of it comes from setting goals and achieving them. Just getting a little bit better at the job, right?  If you’re not good at it, if you don’t get praise, if you don’t advance, if you don’t learn in a job–  you’re probably not going to like it. Or, you’re going to struggle.  But what happens with a lot of people, I think, is that you know, you started something, something new, you’re learning a lot of stuff. You’re meeting new people, you’re doing all this new stuff, but that doesn’t necessarily always last.  And sometimes that is on you, right? Sometimes it’s on you for not finding the next thing within that job or within those parameters or communicating with your boss. And other times, it is your company. Where they just want you to do this one set thing here. You know, you’re in charge of sales, and you, you know, let’s get 10 new accounts a week, and that’s it. That’ll be a challenge because getting 10 accounts a week is tough, but you reach a certain point where you get good at it, you’ve done it, and now you’re like, well, I kind of need something else to try to achieve now.  And I think that’s an example of what happens to us in a lot of ways. We just hit a bit of a ceiling. We hit somewhere where we’re just, we’re not feeling like we can contribute, or we’re not getting enough outta the job. And so then we kind of struggle a bit. We try to figure out, okay, well, can I do something differently? Can I go try to figure out a new way to tackle such and such? Can I go and do this other thing, meet these new people, and you actually end up doing things that aren’t necessarily right because you’re just trying to look for the next thing, the next thing to achieve.” Quiet Quitting vs. Taking Ownership of Your Happiness Later, Jenn talks about finding the challenges of achieving fulfillment in today’s workplace. She notes that when people are not in a fulfilling job, it can lead to “quiet quitting”. However, she warns people that it is still important to take ownership of your own happiness and think about your role in your own day-to-day happiness. She asks Greg what advice he has for someone feeling stuck and unmotivated to the point of quiet quitting.  Greg agrees, saying, “Quiet quitting is interesting. It’s almost, in a way, a bit of a test, right? It’s, it’s kind of a, let me try this on. Let me try to just mail it in, to not do a whole lot of my job and we’ll see what happens. And the worst case scenario, they let me go. I wanted to go anyway.  And so what I’ve learned, or what I’ve sort of tried to really get from people in interviewing them and just, and just going through my own experience, is that a lot of it is in your head. And you need a certain amount of fulfillment from your job.  You can go a certain amount of time without it, right? You can effectively just keep dialing in those sales every week and, and not really find that next challenge. But it does weigh on you. I, I think it does impact you, your happiness, your, again, that fulfillment outta your job over time. And you do have a decision to make at a certain point, right?  Like, say you quiet quit for a month and no one notices or no one says anything, and then it turns into six months and then a year, and then two years and three years it <laugh> where you’re just, you know, really doing a very, very small amount to continue earning your paycheck. But I, I would also worry that we’re not just doing our jobs to get a paycheck. I think there’s actually a lot more out of it that we can get. If we’re trying to advance as people, we can get a lot of happiness. We can learn things and move up in the world and impact the world.  And a lot of people are trying to do that. You know, educate themselves, learn, build relationships. There are so many things you can get outta work. And if you dial it back so much for so long you know, I think you’re kind of wasting your life. You’re sort of wasting some of these precious years, some of this time that you can actually be doing something. Now, I know it’s easier said than done. Sometimes, you’re just in a bad place where you know that going and finding a new job or starting something new is gonna be a lot of work. And you might as well put it off if you can. But at a certain point, you do have to say, like, say, I just maybe need to actually quit rather than just be quiet about it.” Listen to the Whole Episode for Greg’s Tips and Advice Be sure to check out the entire episode to get Greg and Jenn’s insights and advice about taking ownership of your career and happiness. Even if you struggle with finding meaningful work, you can find meaning in your work! If you want to find out more about Greg Martin, check out his podcast:  Lifetime at Work.       The post How to Find Fulfillment at Work with Greg Martin appeared first on Crestcom International.

Meet Jesse Hernandez, Author and Team Builder, as he discusses building connected teams through vulnerability. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity in leadership and creating a space for authentic expression to foster stronger team cohesion.

On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, host Jenn DeWall welcomes Tiffany Houser to the show to talk about how to build your leadership presence and self-worth to find more success in 2024!  Meet Tiffany Houser, Founder of EVOLVE & Creator of Self Worth Advantage® Tiffany Houser is passionate about people and transformation. As an executive and leadership coach, entrepreneur, and woman of color, Tiffany knows firsthand about the rollercoaster ride of self-worth.  As the founder of Evolve, Tiffany coaches senior leaders who are ready to experience powerful breakthroughs around their self-worth, authentic leadership style, vision, and purpose. Tiffany created Self Worth Advantage® based on her work with leaders who experience feeling like an imposter. Self Worth Advantage® is a framework and approach that uncovers what’s compromising your self-worth to support you, transforming it back into confidence and trust.  Tiffany’s coaching creates massive clarity and confidence by reassuring leaders they are not the only senior leader in a top role or founder experiencing this, and equips them with the tools to unpack and transform their self-worth to leave that imposter behind for good! The Imposter Syndrome Problem As the episode opens, Jenn and Tiffany share how they have experienced imposter syndrome and how it deeply affected their leadership presence and sense of self-worth.  Jenn shares, “ So many of us don’t realize the way that we may be discounting or discrediting or giving up on ourselves because of not having that confidence or struggling with imposter syndrome. And I say this as someone who absolutely goes through it all the time. All the time! And I teach it like it doesn’t. So I think we probably need to normalize that too, that if it does happen to you, it’s common! So common you created a whole program, because you realized that this was a really big problem!”  Tiffany agrees, explaining, “I’m so glad you shared that, Jenn! Because me too. I, too, continue to have those feelings. And really, when we started looking at the research, there was a crazy stat, like over 40% of senior women in senior leadership roles in America really do not put their name in the hat for a raise or a promotion. When they know they deserve it, they won’t even ask.  So feeling like an imposter affects us women way more than our male counterparts. And so it is, and I think the other stat is that over 80% of people in the workplace feel this way. So one of the biggest things we tell our clients is you are not alone! This is not something you alone are experiencing.“  Leadership Presence vs. Executive Presence Later, Jenn and Tiffany delve into the concept of executive presence. Jenn confesses that “we’re going into executive presence, leadership presence, executive presence, the people that you might admire are struggling with imposter syndrome. But if they have their leadership presence, they’re able to manage it in a different way. So we’re gonna dive in and just start our discussion on how to build a leadership presence. But we have to get into it. You and I both do not love the expression “executive presence.” Tell me, tell me why you don’t like it, Tiffany. Tiffany explains, “Because I used to work with a lot of HR partners. So as a coach, we tend to work with some sort of senior talent or a senior HR executive in a company. And this is common, they say, we’re hiring you to help this leader build their executive presence or their media training or media presence.  And as we started to really look at that this year, again, as we were putting this body of work together, we started to realize how that causes imposter feelings.  So when someone is told or thinks they need to work on or develop their executive presence, the next thing that tends to come up is, I am not enough. So I need to develop this aspect, which is not when you really think about executive presence, it’s not a skill per se. It has nothing to do with you being strategic, thinking critically, you know, developing strategy or managing people. That has nothing to do with it. The notion of executive presence is how you are talking, speaking, and in some cases, how you dress and how you address others, which, you know, I can say does matter.”  Executive Presence and Appearance Tiffany continues, “Not how you dress, though. I think that’s a little crazy. It doesn’t work anymore because we’re seeing it from Gen Z, how it doesn’t work. They refuse to conform to this executive presence. So if Gen Z, you want all these talented, young next-generation leaders– if there is an executive appearance that they one day need to, you know, conform to or develop into, that may turn some of them off. We see with Gen Z, they appreciate authenticity, they appreciate transparency. They want to create, they want to innovate, they want to transform. And if they have to now worry or or consider their executive presence, that may not work for them. And you may see them walk away. Or, and this is so funny because in another lifetime, I used to work at tech startups, digital startups, and you know, this was back in the early two thousands, late nineties. And, you know, for people who of a certain age or of a certain genre or era, you know, walking in or meeting some people from startups and you are wearing a suit, it was kind of like the reverse of executive presence. There was judgment there. Oh no, this person’s walking in with a suit, they can’t work for us. We’re chill, we’re laid back.  So really, the main reason why I don’t think it works is I don’t think it’s really defined in an equitable, continuous way. So it could mean something for women, and it could mean something different for people who don’t identify as women, it could mean something for the marketing department, and it means something totally different for the finance department. So I think that’s another reason why it doesn’t work.  There is no, you know, equitable or consistent thing that we’re all aiming for. So it has so much room for our imposter to come out. And we hear this one a lot. Am I polished enough? That’s like, the thing that we do to ourselves and have the imposter come out. Well, I don’t look like them. I don’t dress like them. I don’t talk like them. And that really pokes holes in our inclusion and our diversity as well. If we all need to look a certain way and be a certain way once we get to the top.” Moving from Executive Presence to Leadership Presence Then, Tiffany explains why thinking about your presence as a leader can be more effective than worrying about your “executive presence.” She explains, “When you individually unpack or unlock what it means to you to have leadership presence. Maybe for me, it might be giving people space, creating more of a collective rather than being the person who leads from the front. Maybe my leadership presence might be leading from the side or leading from behind, really inspiring and motivating and coaching my team. Or, you know, and then for someone like you, it could be leading a meeting. So that’s something that we hear a lot that people need to develop their executive presence because they haven’t done well leading meetings in front of senior leaders or the board or investors.  So that’s why if we let go of executive presence and its antiquated definition and rules if you will, and we step into leadership presence. Because when we think of a leader, there are so many different things. And then as people and HR leaders, they know to develop a leader, there are many different tracks, many different nuanced ways to do this. It’s not just one cookie-cutter way to do it.” Jenn agrees, explaining, “I love that. There’s not just one way to do it. And the tie-in of emotional intelligence, it could not be truer. Our leadership presence is our emotional intelligence. It’s our ability to observe, interact, and show up in our surroundings. And the piece that I will say that I did attach to executive presence that I still feel is true, and I think you probably do too, is that it is a felt presence, right?  You can feel someone’s energy and attitude. It’s very much the shadow that you cast. But I love that connection that you make in terms of emotional intelligence. Maybe I simplify it, and you can tell me if I’m getting this definition right, but the definition of leadership presence then is stepping into your own authentic power and your strengths and your gifts, but also understanding the environment or culture that you’re operating in.  Leadership Presence and Self Worth Go Hand in Hand Later in the episode, Jenn and Tiffany take a deeper dive into the role self-worth plays in developing an effective leadership presence and overcoming imposter syndrome. To get Tiffany’s expert advice on how to build awareness of your patterns and get grounded in your self-worth, be sure to listen to the whole episode!  Where to Find More from Tiffany Houser Connect with Tiffany on LinkedIn Visit the Evolve Website Check out the Self Worth Advantage® Thank you for listening to The Leadership Habit podcast! We’ll see you next week!  The post Leadership Presence and Self-Worth with Tiffany Houser appeared first on Crestcom International.

How to Create a Culture of Belonging with Cordell Carter On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, Jenn DeWall welcomes Cordell Carter, II, to discuss how to create a culture of belonging and joy! As we’ve mentioned before, Gallup’s State of the Workforce 2023 report found that only 33% of employees are engaged at work, and 17% are actively disengaged.  Of employees who are fully engaged at work, 81% say they feel like they belong. Creating a sense of belonging at work is a top driver of employee engagement. So, how can we, as leaders, create a culture of belonging where employees can thrive? Tune in to this episode to learn from a belonging expert!  Meet Cordell Carter, II Cordell Carter II is the executive director and founding director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum and the Aspen Institute’s Project on Belonging. He has worked for over 20 years, pursuing a society and organizational culture where everyone belongs and has equitable opportunities to thrive.  Cordell also founded the Festival of the Diaspora, a Colombia-based convener of diasporic communities across the Americas. Previously, Cordell held leadership roles with the TechTown Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Public Schools, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the IBM Corporation. Why is Belonging so Important?  Jenn opens the episode by asking Cordell how he became passionate about the topic of belonging. He explains:   “So, you know, I’m the belonging evangelist. I’ve been engaged in this idea of bringing people together since I was a little boy, and I’m the son of ministers. And our Sunday table was always a full one. I’m absolutely accustomed to bringing folks in, and I believe in karma, I remember being a lonely college citizen in the hallways. I couldn’t travel home, so people brought me to their table. And so there’s a tradition that I continue with my now high school senior, and every Thanksgiving, we’ve got some folks at the table that she’s never seen because I don’t believe in leaving people out. And so this path to belonging via the Aspen Institute and other endeavors of mine was very, very natural. It’s like falling into my own personal universal own, you know? Like, oh yeah, that’s the background music of this guy’s life. He’s going to bring folks together.  So I’ve been convening groups of leaders for almost eight years at Aspen via the Socrates program, which was created to introduce leaders to diverse contemporary leadership topics that are unpacking them in ways they may or may not know. And then via the Project on Belonging created a couple of years ago. That program is designed to elevate the conversation on diversity, equity, and inclusion to the outcome we’re trying to achieve rather than the strategy and what people are trying to be compliant with.  The outcome we’re trying to achieve is a land where we all belong and should enjoy equitable opportunities to thrive. I think it is incumbent upon executives to set a tone expectation for their organizations that this is a place where people will belong. Getting to the thriving part is a little challenging, but that’s where, you know, they pay people the big bucks to figure it out.”  What Does Belonging Really Mean?  Later, Jenn asks Cordell to give the audience a good definition of belonging. He explains that at its core, it is creating environments where people want to come to work, stay with the organization and grow there. When employees feel like they belong, attrition goes down, and productivity goes up. More importantly, we spend 80% of our adult lives at work, so why shouldn’t we feel good about it?  Is Belonging the Same as DEI? Creating a culture of belonging can certainly include creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. However, DEI has become a divisive term. Jenn asks Cordell to share his thoughts on why DEI efforts fail and how it can hurt belonging when it’s handled poorly.  Cordell explains, “I can think of three problems with the way DEI is typically done now. One is it is highly accusatory. Two, it is forced. And three, who wants to sit there and hear how awful things are? So we have to change the narrative. But I think how you say things and how you frame things is as important as what you say.” Jenn agrees, saying, “Absolutely. I know I saw it in an organization where it very much created this me versus you. You’re a bad person. Yeah. And it didn’t create a productive dialogue. It created more people who wanted to leave and you miss the opportunity to actually have important conversations to help people. But what do, what do you mean by DEI fails? What does that look like in action?  What do you mean by that?  Cordell replies,  “I think it’s a philosophical misunderstanding. And, and that misunderstanding from the very beginning of what we now know as diversity, equity, inclusion efforts starting in the sixties. Nixon wanted a notion of who was working for the federal government, recognizing that the federal government was representing an ever-growing percentage of, now it’s one-fifth, almost one-fourth of, but at that time, it growing. He’s like, Hmm, okay, well we can actually direct policy through our procurement policies. We can, I don’t have to go through Congress and say do this. I can just say, well, I’m only gonna spend or only provide contracts with vendors that are doing the following. And the first thing we’d be doing is providing a census of who works there.  So you started getting some implicit pressures just by asking the question, how many women do you have working for you? How many people of color? How many, young people, older people like you, you wanna have an, you don’t wanna say zero. Okay? And so no one has to tell you to do this, do that. But you figure, if I’m gonna win business by doing these things, you’re gonna do it. That’s a logical reaction because of your fiduciary duty to increase shareholder value.  And so where I think we fail is that we never tied that work to a greater outcome. Okay? We just evolve, evolve, evolve, evolve. We started involving a little critical race theory and critical feminist theory. Just critical studies in general. And I think rightly so, attacking the general narrative that everything’s been fine for 248 years. That’s not true. But everything hasn’t been terrible either, that is also not true. Okay? And so, that lack of connection to the broader objective is why DEI efforts often fail. People think it, they think it, the objective function is a shame. Blame. No. This is a strategy to get us to an outcome. But we have not defined that outcome. Everyone belongs, everyone gets to thrive, and they get an opportunity to thrive. You get multiple shots in this life in the United States of America. That is our goal.  If you say that first, then you start working back to some of the actual strategies and more challenging parts of very different conversations.”  Cordell’s Insights About Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work Later in the episode, Cordell shares his advice and insights about how leaders can foster a sense of belonging in the workplace:   1. Accept the Present “We have to love the present. And when you love the present, you’re willing to do what it takes to make it even better. It’s that realization that we have to stop pining for things we can’t have. I that think is important. The distance between expectation and reality is pain, you know? We can solve our own pain points by just saying, Hey, for this moment in time, this is where I’m, I’m gonna dig in. So that’s my advice. Organizations, calm down, accept the present.” 2. Talk to Your People “Number two, talk to your people. Talk, especially talk to the ones that leave. Tell know why. What is it about us that makes you wanna leave? Is it, is it, was it money? Is there something I can do? Create these safe environments where people give you honest feedback. Bring some external reviewers in to do a 360 on you. You may not lead nearly as well as you think you do. Okay, maybe it’s you, and it’s not them. Can you evolve? Be honest with yourself, and be open to change because we all want to get on the right path. And once we are on the right path, great things will happen for the organization and ourselves.” 3. Look for Two People: The Roadrunner & The Anti-Hero “Start following two types of people. One is what I call your “roadrunner”. This is a person you wanna chase. You wanna be like that person or organization. You also need your anti-hero. And that’s someone that’s like you but just lives under a dark cloud. They just can’t do it, right? They just can’t get the organization turned around. You need both of them in your life. I’m not saying you follow what the anti-hero does, but you watch them so you don’t repeat what they do. I even keep that in my personal life. I have roadrunners in my life, and I have anti-heroes that I keep on the periphery. I don’t engage, but I keep my eye on them.” Don’t miss even more advice and insights from Cordell by listening to the full podcast episode!  Where to Find More From Cordell Carter, II Connect with Cordell Carter II on LinkedIn Visit his website: aspeninstitute.org Learn more about The Festival of the Diaspora Thanks for listening to The Leadership Habit Podcast!    The post How to Create a Culture of Belonging with Cordell Carter appeared first on Crestcom International.

On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit, host Jenn DeWall welcomes Debra Fine back to The Leadership Habit! Debra’s first episode with us is our most listened-to episode of ALL TIME.  Her tips on mastering the fine art of small talk have helped people all over the world stop being wallflowers and start building relationships!  This week she’s here to share her advice for using small talk to improve and enhance relationships. From networking to dating, small talk is the key to creating connections. Do you know how to use small talk to improve your relationships?  Meet Debra Fine, Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker  A former engineer, Debra Fine, is the author of the bestselling book, The Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills–  and Leave A Positive Impression, and her recently released Beyond Texting the Fine Art of Face-to-Face Communication for Teenagers.   Debra is a 25-plus-year member of the National Speakers Association. She presents onstage and virtually as a keynote speaker and trainer to hundreds of audiences around the world, including Cisco Systems, Wells Fargo Banks, Spectra Energy, The US Treasury Department, the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, Vermont Law School and hundreds of associations including insurance, real estate, legal, financial, engineering/technology, health care, and Chambers of Commerce and civic organizations across the country. Debra’s media appearances include The Today Show, NPR, Morning Edition, Fox Business News, the New York Times, and CNN. She is your go-to expert on talking about small talk.  Learning the Fine Art of Small Talk As the episode opens, Jenn welcomes Debra back to the show and asks her to tell the audience a little about her journey to becoming a small talk expert.  Debra explains, “Well, I’ll tell you. I’m the person who used to hate small talk. I thought it was stupid. Thought it was all about sports or the weather. I used to be an engineer, and that was what gave me the idea. I had no skill. I was no Jenn DeWall, let me tell you!  I was not born with the gift of gab far from it. As an engineer, on occasion, I would, I would be at a convention. I represented projects to people who came up to a table in an exhibit hall. But if you put me into the hospitality suite, I was like a fly on the wall.  So my leadership at that time would say, just mingle. Just all you do is mingle. Well, that’s really nice to tell me to do, but why don’t you tell me how to do it and what to say? So I had an epiphany that maybe I could teach myself how to do it, and I did–  to a degree. And then I had another epiphany that maybe it wasn’t just me, I wasn’t the only dorky person on the planet standing by in a corner watching the world go around at a meeting,  at an industry conference, at an award ceremony or groundbreaking.  So I did a lot of research and came up with the tools and the skills. What do you say to start a conversation? What kind of body language should you use? Listening skills, conversation killers to avoid,  even exit lines. What do you do to get away from somebody who can’t stop talking about their 8-year-old genius or their golf vacation? So I studied it. Then I created programs for it, training programs, and keynotes, and wrote the book, The Fine Art of Small Talk. “ Engaging in Small Talk Builds Rapport Later Jenn and Debra talk about the misconceptions of small talk. Debra admits she used to find it a waste of time, thinking that small talk topics like the weather or last night’s sports event were not worth the effort. Debra identifies as an introvert and puts a higher value on deeper conversations.  However, Debra learned that small talk is like an appetizer for a new relationship. Starting with small talk and casual conversation creates a connection. Then through that conversation, we build a relationship. Whether that’s a business contact, a new friend, or a romantic relationship, it starts with small talk conversations.  There is No Perfect Icebreaker Debra advises the listeners to give themselves permission to take the risk of being the first one to initiate small talk with a stranger. As a former wallflower, she was always looking for the perfect icebreaker. However, the secret to small talk is to show genuine interest in something about the other person, so there is no one-size-fits-all icebreaker.  She also suggests being ready for some conversation starters to fall flat, and it’s usually not personal. She gives the example of attending a networking event and starting a conversation with another attendee. If that attendee is someone who sells software to law firms, and you are an accountant at an engineering firm, they will probably want to move on from the conversation fairly quickly, and that has nothing to do with you as a person.  Asking Better Questions Later Jenn and Debra delve into how to ask better small talk questions to get the conversation started.  Debra cautions against asking yes or no questions or “How are you?” because it leads to short answers and awkward silences.  Instead, have some open-ended questions in your mind to help prime the conversational pump. She suggests questions like:  What’s keeping you busy these days?  What’s the most challenging part of your job?  What’s your favorite thing to do at these conferences?  She also suggests that if you have found that you asked a yes or no question, have a second question ready to dig a little deeper and let the other person know you are actually interested in learning more about them.  Giving Better Answers Debra also discusses the importance of giving better answers when you are on the receiving end of questions. Be thoughtful about giving a few more details to give the other person something to work with.  She explains, “You know, it’s exhausting because people don’t contribute, people don’t participate in part of the battle, Jenn, is that most of us are just in this zone where when somebody says, how are you? We say, fine.  When somebody says, what’s been going on? We say not much or nothing, even though that’s not true. So I say to people, when you’re about to walk into somebody’s office when you’re gonna walk into a meeting, whether it’s a colleague or your boss says, how have you been? How are you? How’s it going? How’s your day? You know, how’s your year been? Be ready.  Give an answer in a sentence so they have something to either work with or just plant a seed. If somebody says, how’s your year been? And you say it’s been great. You know, all my New Year’s resolutions have burned and gone down the toilet already. Wow. What were they? Thanks for giving me something to talk about with you that had nothing to do with the business at hand. How great is that? You know?” Where to Learn More From Debra Fine Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear Debra’s tips and get some real-life examples from Jenn and Debra! If you want to learn more about the fine art of small talk, you can find more from Debra Fine here:  Visit her website: debrafine.com Get the new updated version of The Fine Art of Small Talk Connect on LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/debrafine/ Read her articles on HuffPost: huffpost.com/author/debra-443 Watch her videos on YouTube: youtube.com/user/DebraFineTFAOST Thank you for listening to The Leadership Habit Podcast!    The post Using Small Talk to Improve Relationships with Debra Fine appeared first on Crestcom International.

On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit Podcast, Jenn DeWall talks to customer experience expert and keynote speaker David Avrin. Together, they explore the challenges of customer service in today’s fast-paced marketplace.  David shares his insights about the pain points customers are facing and how leaders can start enhancing the customer experience to win more business! Meet David Avrin, Customer Experience Expert, Author and Speaker David Avrin, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, is one of the most in-demand Customer Experience speakers and consultants in the world today. David helps organizations better understand their changing customers and clients to make connections and future-proof their businesses.  David is the author of five books, including the acclaimed: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!, Why Customers Leave (and How to Win Them Back) and his newest book: The Morning Huddle: Powerful Customer Experience Conversations to Wake You Up, Shake You Up, and Win More Business. Be Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With  As the episode opens, Jenn and David talk about the unique challenges in the world of customer service today.  They discuss the changing priorities of businesses and customers alike. They stress the need for speed, flexibility and simplicity in the customer journey. Even the smallest amount of friction within a business transaction can frustrate a customer.  David explains:  “So we’re kind of in a time right now, and it’s very good for consumers, by the way, that we assume that everybody’s good. So what’s the real differentiation? It’s not who has the most clever marketing campaign. And so we talk about being ridiculously easy to do business with.  You can have a great business proposition. You can have a great product or service. But if you’re a pain. If it takes longer than people think it should, if you’re adding friction, or if you’re adding frustration to the process.  Because to do business with you, now we have to download the app. And we have to reach into our pocket or our purse and pull out our credit card to type in those numbers. And then register ourselves before we can do a simple transaction. You are frustrating to do business with, right? Or if they call and try and reach a real person. We find ourselves, you know, saying agent, representative, real person. It’s funny, but it’s ridiculous.  And so you ask the question, can we be easier to work with? I think we not only can, I think we have to. And that takes taking a step back and looking at your own customer journey. How do people discover you and reach out and communicate and order and buy and customize and pay and deliver and follow up?  And if any one of those steps is frustrating for your customers, then there’s a friction point. And you’re at risk of losing that prospect or losing that long-term customer. Because we have options. We’ve never had more options. We’ve never had a time where the options were so good because today, everybody’s good.” Customer Service and Customer Experience are not the Same Later in the episode, Jenn asks David about the difference between customer service and customer experience. David explains that they are both important, and there is some overlap. However, they are not the same.  He explains:  “Both are really important. And there’s certainly an overlap in that Venn diagram. But customer service is something we’ve been talking about for 50-plus years, still incredibly important. I think we know how to be nice to people.  I think some companies have gone too far in doing the scripted response. Oh, I’m so sorry. Ms. DeWalll, I know how frustrating that must be. Well, yeah. It’s like, stop reading the script. Gimme a break.  But customer service, I think we certainly have to educate our new employees. Here’s our culture, here’s what we believe, here’s how we treat people.  But the experience is different. The experience is actually judged. Think of the service as what is delivered by the company. And the experience is what’s judged by the customer, right?  How easy were you to work with? Was that frustrating? Was it intuitive? Did I feel like I was being pushed in a direction? Or was it easy to find someone to help me or to find what I was looking for?  Of course, there’s the CX, the customer experience, and there’s the UX, which is the user experience on our devices. And then there’s the EX, the employee experience. And all of those are incredibly important.  But on the customer experience side, what’s interesting is we all have an experience, but it doesn’t necessarily involve a person anymore. I think one of the biggest industries that’s being affected by this is financial services or banks, right? I’ve, I’ve talked to bank leaders, and if you ask them, you a hundred percent, you’ll get the same answer. Ask them what their competitive advantage is, and they’ll all say it’s the relationship. We know our customers by name. Say, okay, lemme challenge you. 95% of my transactions don’t involve a person.  I’ll go speak for an organization, I’ll get a nice check. I’m sitting in the back of the Uber on the way to the airport. I take a picture of the check, it’s deposited. I had an experience, but there was no person. I’m not standing in line. Nobody’s asking me, so what are your plans for the weekend? Right?  The point is, there’s an experience, but we’re not talking to a person at all. There is no service involved, but there’s definitely an experience.  And so how long do you have to wait? Is it intuitive? Can we find the choices that we want? Can we customize in a way that maybe we were not accustomed to?  But a lot of this is being driven by other industries. And I think, for the first time in business, you’re being compared against organizations, companies, and brands that have nothing to do with what you do. And that’s a new dynamic. We’re being compared against Uber and Amazon, and is that fair? It doesn’t matter, right? They’re used to being able to see into the process. Where I had something delivered today, and I could see Amazon was five stops away. ” You Need a Customer Experience Strategy As the episode wraps up, Jenn asks David what steps leaders can take to improve customer experience. David shares that he asks his clients to sit down and really think about the customer journey and where customers feel frustrated. The more you can streamline that journey, offer multiple channels for customer engagement, and personalize the experience, the more positive the customer experience will be.  If you want to hear more advice from David about developing your CX strategy, be sure to listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast streaming service!  Where to Find More from David Avrin Listeners of The Leadership Habit can connect with David online:  DavidAvrin.com LinkedIn YouTube Instagram   Thanks for listening to The Leadership Habit podcast! Be sure to listen to our latest episodes on your favorite podcast streaming service.  If you are looking for more leadership resources, be sure to check out our blog, register for an upcoming webinar, or download our latest e-book! The post Enhancing the Customer Experience with David Avrin appeared first on Crestcom International.

Find Confidence and Success in 2024 with Jamie McKinney On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit Podcast, Jenn kicks off the new year by talking to bestselling author Jamie McKinney about how to find confidence and success in 2024. If you are setting your goals and wondering if you have what it takes to achieve them, this episode is for you!  Meet Jamie McKinney, MBA  Jamie McKinney is the bestselling author of Speak Up Sister! The Professional Woman’s Guide to Confidence and Success. She’s also an award-winning confidence and leadership coach for both executives and emerging leaders.  Throughout her career in heavily technical industries, Jamie learned lessons both the hard way– and the better way. Jamie likes to joke that her stilettos have steel toes!  Jamie ignites action in her clients by instilling them with unstoppable confidence via her online course, Speak Up to Level Up, keynote speaking, and coaching services. Inspired by the responses she received after being featured in Scale It Magazine in an article titled, Strong Female in a Male-Dominated Industry, Jamie realized that sharing her story and experience could help others stand in their power to find confidence and success.   What is Confidence Anyway?  As the podcast episode opens, Jenn welcomes Jamie to the show and asks Jamie what confidence means to her. She explains:  “What does confidence even mean? Let’s, let’s start with the 101. So the etymology of the word confidence is con plus fidelis. So con means with, and fidelis means faith or belief. So the word confidence means with a belief, with a faith in yourself.  And that belief, that system, that thought, that’s something that each of us gets to choose as an individual, right? It’s not something that you’re just born with, or you’re not.  In fact, there is a confidence gene. We are all born with confidence and a belief that you can do something– that is confidence.  And then it’s confidence plus courage because we can’t just think it, right? We have to actually do it. We have to step into action. Courage is the action that you take to prove it to yourself, to prove that belief to yourself.” What’s Your ETA?  Later Jenn and Jamie discuss how to be mindful of what you can control– and what you cannot. Jamie likes to think about her “ETA” or emotions, thoughts and actions to take a step back and figure out what she can control. Being aware of your emotions, paying attention to your thoughts and then taking action will help you build more confidence.  Then, Jamie gives the example of a client who would ruminate on every little thing that went wrong at work as she drove home each day. This would hurt her confidence and drain her energy. So, she began to practice trying to think about the things that went right and things she will do better next time. Making a small shift in her thoughts– which are in her control– started helping her feel more confident and energetic at work, and happier after work, too! The 3 Circumstances that Destroy Confidence Then, Jenn and Jamie discuss three things that can immediately rattle our confidence.  When you encounter the unfamiliar.  When the stakes are high.  When you are in a period of change or transition.  Jamie explains that these are the three circumstances that are most likely to rattle your confidence, and being aware of them can help you be prepared for these difficult situations. She then shares her antidotes for each of those circumstances.  When you encounter an unfamiliar situation– get more familiar with it! For example, If you are nervous about a new experience like speaking in front of a group– rehearse your speech. If you have an important meeting, take time beforehand to organize your thoughts and prepare yourself so you can show up with confidence.  When the stakes are high– take time for yourself to think strategically about your strengths and abilities and how to apply them to this situation. Build your awareness of your superpowers so you can feel confident even when the stakes are high.  When you are going through change– focus on what you know to be true. Prioritize spending time on activities that you do have control over to restore your sense of calm. For example, taking time to go to your favorite yoga or fitness class. Taking an action that you can control will build your confidence when you are going through transitions.  Jamie then explains:  “Confidence is a gene. It’s a gene that everybody is born with, and you can grow it and flex it just as intentionally as a muscle. And when you do that is good for you. It is good for your mental health. You’re releasing dopamine when you do that. And it is good for the people around you, especially when you’re leading a team. I mean, you know, confidence is contagious and it, it provokes action. And that’s what you want in people. So know that you’ve got the power. Everybody already has this inside. This is not some magic thing that you’re going to discover somewhere else. You already have it. Be intentional about doing some of the things that we talked about in this podcast, and watch your confidence flourish, watch it blossom, and enjoy the response of the people around you as well.” Find Confidence and Success in 2024 with Jamie’s Special Offer Be sure to check out the entire podcast episode to get all of Jamie’s insights into boosting your confidence! If you want to find out more about Jamie’s services, she has created a special offer for The Leadership Habit Audience!  If you go to jamiemckinney.com/contact and send Jamie a note letting her know you enjoyed this podcast episode, she will give you a $500 gift certificate towards the purchase of a coaching package, keynote speaking or workshop! That’s a great value, so be sure to check out her website and let her know what you thought of the podcast! Thanks as always for listening to The Leadership Habit podcast. If you are looking for more ways to develop your leadership skills to find success in 2024, please visit our resources page to find our latest webinars, e-books, podcasts and leadership articles!    The post How to Find Confidence and Success in 2024 with Jamie McKinney appeared first on Crestcom International.

Zach Montroy, Founder & CEO of The Intention Collective, shares insights on creating a productive team that gets results. Topics include building motivation, connecting strategy to vision, addressing toxic behavior, role alignment, achieving goals through reverse engineering, and operationalizing values for a productive team.