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One of the most difficult rooms a leader walks into is a boardroom with a human resources officer and an employee or who needs to be terminated from their position. The energy is thick with wonder and waiting. There is anticipation with a badge in hand. They all nervously wait and listen. Sometimes they are angry, anxious, or hungry for information. The leader hasn't had to fire a physician or another executive before. This is tricky.

There is a delicate balance between directly saying what is up. Saying “you're fired” but saying it with compassion and listening to them as well. They might say, “We've tried XYZ and it's simply not a good fit or alignment anymore.” Depending on the situation, there may room for explanation but, usually no explanation is required, and this should not be a surprise. Maybe there is an option for a package severance with a non-disclosure clause? Maybe another option suits everyone better – we can be flexible and listen to everyone’s needs.

The leaders I resp...

Leaders are needed in so many places and asked to show up in so many ways. Every room they enter is a different experience with a new lesson to be learned.

Imagine a leader walks into a conference room to give a presentation. She is hosting all 90 of the team leaders, she wants to motivate, inspire and ignite them. It is a retreat of sorts, or an ‘advance’ as my friend Kevin calls it. The aim is to pause, reflect and advance forward. She takes in the current state of the group. Some are paying attention to facts and some to a dreaminess about the future. She has a vision for something new, better, different and more impactful.

How do great leaders do this? How do they read the room? They talk to others! They get quiet! They think about their past experiences and lean into them by drawing clues and learning from their own past. They listen to younger employees to gather innovative ideas from their peers and teams. Great leaders brainstorm to highlight the goals and find a clear vision...

On a team expedition snowshoeing, you might be focused on a specific development area, like communication. Having had some structured coaching content prior to the expedition, we set out to just be play and see what comes up!

Imagine seventeen members all moving at different paces. Some never have snow-shoed or even been in the mountains! Each team member has a different level of physical agility, and everyone is moving at different pace. When one person is driving hard they may be way ahead of the group. The last one in the group may feel left behind. Often times, no one wants to complain or feel like they are holding anyone back and they surely won't say if they are hurting or frustrated or scared or insecure. What you experience with me in this case is holding space for all of these emotional, physical and communication challenges to come up.

Because we are in a different environment, the challenge actually parallels how things are in their team or organization and individually. You...

Executive leaders, your engagement is crazy important.  Your team engagement will effect your overall success! 

Engagement is the most valuable measure of employee productivity and loyalty. Ensuring that your employees have creative, playful, healthy connected opportunities for their work will help them serve others without getting burned out.  Focusing on their engagement will revolutionize your experience as a leader as you all become more engaged, purposeful, and healthy and achieve catalytic results.   And when your employees are engaged you have less turnover and recruitment expenses, less conflict management and way more creative solutions. 

So, if you are looking for ways to keep your employees ignited, even during change, uncertainty or even chaos, these strategies are for you. 

Here are three simple strategies for getting 100% employee engagement

Number 1.    Be Vulnerable  Share your current reality.  Even if it is uncomfortable or controversial.  When you are transparent...

As executive leaders, our role is to influence change and make a positive impact in the world. We must have responsive, effective, collective human connections to influence change.

People will lean in and be vulnerable with you if they trust you and feel connected to you. We must be intentional about our reactions in times of crisis and RESPOND with empathy.  Empathy is an attempt to understand a different perspective.  Empathy is feeling with another person and is essential for us in order to lead without fear, inspire trust and be clear, kind and direct. 

So, if you are and executive leader, looking for empathetic ways to respond to your teams,  Please stick around. YOU are NOT alone!

And if you find this video useful, please share it with everyone you work with,  Because the more we are all leading from our most authentic, empathic selves, the more vulnerable and creative  and engaged our teams will be. 

To help you respond with empathy, here are 3 things you can do RIGHT NOW...

Executive Leader,  

Let's revolutionize your leadership experience!

In times of crisis and uncertainty, anxiety and stress are high. This means we are in an inflammatory state and our minds and bodies shift to fight or flight stress response.  This is helpful short term, however if we stay in this reaction, it wears on our bodies and our spirits and we become less effective.  Ongoing stress response is not sustainable.  PLUS its crazy distracting.

Taking breaks can give you breakthroughs in your cognitive thinking work and decrease your stress and anxiety response which will help you have sustainable energy for your important work.

So, if you are experiencing stress and anxiety and leading in crisis,  YOU are NOT alone!

I wish for you to lead from your best  best, most playful , engaging, creative self so oyou can impact and influence others in a positive way.  AND we get catalytic results!

So here are 3 great breaks you can take during times of crisis.  

First: Get Grounded:  H...

Time. We often let it become the bane of our existence, trying to do all the things, feeling like there’s not enough time for everything.

Can you relate?

But here’s the thing…

Truth Bomb: Time is going to keep moving. There's literally nothing you can do about it. 

Don’t despair though. While we can’t control time, we can manage our energy. Which in turn helps us manage our day and our productivity levels.

By engaging and managing your energy you can get more done and in way that feels good to you. Not busy or stressful.

Here are some leadership tips to help you engage your energy:

1.  Consider your physical body: are you getting sleep, nutritious food, water, daily movement?

2.  Check in with your spiritual self: what do you do to connect to purpose and self? Do things that give you a sense of calm and clarity.

3.  Tend to your mental activity: stimulate your mind with learning and activity, but give your mind time to recover by taking regular breaks.

4.  Tend to your emotio...

We are accustomed to being around people and being connected in order to influence change and be effective as leaders.

When we are in a global crisis that makes that connection difficult, how do we fix that disconnect as well as continue to be creative, innovative, and present for our work and our team?

Take a listen. Share, like, and repost.

And if you are feeling anything like this, know YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

We need leaders now more than ever before.

Leaders, like you, need more support to help lead their teams and live out their mission and purpose, without experiencing burnout or exhaustion.

I am creating something special that will help you do just that. More details are coming soon.