How Navigating Discomfort Leads to Trust and Connection: A Naval Officer's Journey of Self-Reflection and Team Development

Shandel and Melanie discuss the importance of delegation for leaders and teams. They explore how to build trust and confidence through communication to build a foundation to delegate effectively. Learn how to avoid frustration when others do tasks differently and build a growth mindset. The team shares tips on understanding team members' strengths and weaknesses to set them up for success. Listen in to discover how delegation can help prioritize values, avoid burnout, and create room for visionary work!

Click HERE to register for our FREE live webinar, Transformative Delegation: Unleashing Potential in Your Team! It will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2024 from 12pm - 1:30pm PST.

Click HERE to learn more about our Science of Self Class, which starts on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 12pm PST. 

Key Takeaways:

• Delegation is key to personal and professional growth for leaders and their teams
• Investing time upfront to understand team members pays off in empowering their potential  
• Trust and confidence are built through open communication and embracing different strengths
• Letting go of control and perfectionism allows room for creativity and shared leadership
• Prioritizing delegation frees up time and energy for what truly matters - family, vision, values

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

This episode features a conversation with Scott Sutherland about his experience going through Shandel Group's 12-week coaching program and achieving success in the "profit" stage of the Process of Sustainable Growth. Scott shares how he overcame his lifelong fear of failure by setting clear goals with Melanie and challenging himself to step outside his comfort zone. Through the accountability of the program, Scott was able to accomplish his goals of improving his leadership skills.

As a result of facing his challenges, Scott has found fulfillment in his daily work running a bowling business. He enjoys embracing new opportunities and tackling difficulties head-on. Melanie and Shandel discuss how Scott's personal growth has positively impacted his professional life and relationships. They highlight the importance of self-awareness, authenticity, and aligning with shared values.

The conversation demonstrates how leadership development can enhance all areas of life when focused on becoming your best self. Listeners learn practical tips for overcoming obstacles and achieving profit through personal transformation.

Key Takeaways: 

• Facing fears and stepping outside your comfort zone is necessary for growth. By challenging himself through goal setting and accountability, Scott was able to overcome his lifelong fear of failure.
• Authenticity, self-awareness and values alignment are important. By embracing who he is and advocating for his needs, Scott has built more genuine connections and situations where he feels respected.
• Setting clear goals and having an accountability partner is important for achieving success. Scott was able to overcome his fear of failure by working through the goal setting process with Melanie's support and accountability.
• Personal development enhances all areas of life. Through focusing on himself, Scott strengthened his leadership skills professionally and improved his relationships personally through increased self-awareness and authenticity. He's now able to advocate for himself while also being a peacemaker.

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

Shandel and Melanie discuss the signs and dangers of falling into an "unhealthy cycle of misery" as a leader. They explore how fear, insecurity, and a lack of humility can disconnect leaders from their values and damage relationships with their team. However, they emphasize that recognizing when you've gone off track is the first step to getting back to purposeful, values-aligned growth.

Key Takeaways:

• Pay attention to your internal dialogue, as it can provide insights into where you are in your leadership growth and when you may have fallen into a "Cycle of Misery."
• Don't be too hard on yourself if you recognize unhealthy patterns - the important thing is to take responsibility and get back on track as quickly as possible.
• Look out for signs like a lack of humility, fear of being wrong, blaming others, and disconnect from feedback from your team. These can indicate a disconnect from your values.
• Avoid being too busy "doing stuff" instead of prioritizing what really matters. Reframe excuses around not having time.
• Be open to pruning less effective practices, even ones you've "always done," rather than doubling down on the past.
• Personal stories can help identify unconscious patterns so you don't justify bad behaviors for the sake of success alone.

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

This podcast episode features Nancy Bacon discussing the important process of "pruning" for nonprofit organizations to experience sustainable growth. The team provided helpful framing and strategies for nonprofits to thoughtfully prune in a way that supports their long-term health, impact, and sustainable growth while staying aligned with their core reasons for existing. Both organizations and individuals should reflect on how to "prune" themselves to better support others in taking action.

It's important to periodically "prune" programs and practices through a lens of what still aligns with an organization's mission and purpose is important for sustainable growth. Honoring and openly discussing emotions, which are deeply tied to nonprofits, can help with difficult pruning decisions. Having courage is needed to proactively prune and make changes rather than just doubling down on the status quo.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of periodically evaluating programs and practices to determine what still aligns with the organization's core mission and purpose. Nancy encouraged nonprofits to take everything out and only put back what "brings them joy."
• The challenges of pruning given the emotional nature of nonprofits, but the importance of openly acknowledging and discussing emotions.
• Examples of nonprofits collaborating within their sector's ecosystem to maximize impact and do less duplicative work.
• Tips like focusing on an organization's higher purpose rather than emotional attachments to specific projects or programs when deciding what to prune.

You can find Nancy on LinkedIn or at https://nancybacon.com/ !!

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

As companies hit the progress stage of growth, it's important not to get complacent and assume the hard work is over. In this episode, Melanie, Shandel and guest, HR consultant Skye Mercer, discuss strategies for acknowledging success, getting employee feedback, and pruning back to set yourself up for continued growth.

Skye shares insights on navigating the progress stage of growth. The team discusses the importance of employee experience and having strong HR foundations in place. Skye offers tips for celebrating accomplishments, conducting annual planning, checking in with teams, and letting go of old habits to prepare for the next phase. Skye shares examples of companies that have succeeded or struggled in this phase based on their people practices. Practical tools are also provided for annual planning, team check-ins and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Treat your people strategy as importantly as your financial strategy. Your employees are the most important part of your business.
• Have strong HR foundations like employee handbooks and clearly defined values in place before reaching the progress stage.
• Celebrate accomplishments regularly by making successes visible and recognizing individuals' contributions.
• Conduct annual HR planning to map out your people strategy and compliance priorities for the upcoming year.
• Create a "stop doing" list to prune back inefficient tasks and free up capacity for the next phase.
• Check in regularly with your team using a structured framework, and understand their preferences for communication and support.
• Rethink traditional performance review models and look for new ways to motivate employees.

Resources: 

• Skye's Free HR Resources and sign up for her blog
• 2024 Employee Handbook Update Checklist
• Connect with Skye on LinkedIn

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

Shandel and Melanie interview Aliza Brown about her experience navigating the Plant stage of growth. Aliza discusses shedding old mindsets of overcommitting and multitasking in favor of consistency, accountability, and communicating clearly. She shares obstacles faced like not asking enough questions, and strategies used like finding trusted advisors. Aliza emphasizes the importance of evolving one's leadership approach through self-reflection on values.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of shedding old mindsets like multitasking and short-term gratification in favor of consistency, accountability, and focusing on long-term impact.
• The importance of communication, both written and in-person, and finding the right method for the situation. Too much digital communication can lead to misinterpretation.
• Asking clarifying questions upfront to fully understand expectations and negotiate support as needed for important projects.
• Learning to say no and prioritize the most important tasks, rather than taking on too much and risking burnout. Focus on quality over quantity of work.
• Using self-reflection to identify personal values and strengths, and ensure one's leadership approach aligns with those over time as situations evolve.
• Leaning on a support system of trusted advisors for honest feedback during challenging times, rather than isolating oneself.
• Unlearning habits that don't serve growth, like assuming rather than inquiring, and relearning strategies tied to sustainable progress.

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

Shandel and Melanie welcome a special guest, Ed Wickman, to discuss his experiences with the Purposefully Connect stage of the Process of Sustainable Growth. The team explores the concepts of the healthy cycle of growth versus the unhealthy cycle of misery. Ed reflects on how early in his career he lacked leadership tools and fell into a "boss mentality." He contrasts this with his current approach of aligning teams around shared values and purpose. Ed shares his insights, favorite tools and leadership approaches! 

Key Takeaways: 

1. Focus on building trust and authentic connections with employees. Get to know them as people through daily check-ins and active listening. This helps foster engagement and open communication.
2. Shift from a top-down "boss" mentality to a side-by-side coaching approach through empathy, shared language, and supporting employees' growth and goals.
3. Be persistent over time in driving cultural changes through small, consistent actions each day like recognizing contributions and using shared values in conversations. Building trust among peers is also important for facilitating change.

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

In this episode, hosts Shandel and Melanie provide listeners with strategies and tips for effectively setting goals for the new year 2024. The team talks through digging into the "why" behind goals and drivers, what success specifically looks like numerically, creating attainable action plans, planning for life obstacles, and making goals connect to one's deepest values and purpose. 

They discuss the importance of having both a strategic plan as well as flexibility to adapt goals over time. Distinguishing between surface level "symptoms" like customer service issues, versus deeper underlying "causes" such as low morale or lack of tools that should be the real focus of goals.

Shandel Group's comprehensive SMAART goals template adds elements beyond the typical SMART framework. This includes making goals specific, setting quantifiable and measurable metrics, breaking large goals into achievable smaller steps, anticipating potential barriers and how to overcome them, ensuring goals are truly meaningful and relevant, and setting regular dates to re-evaluate progress and celebrate milestones. Each component of the template is explored in detail to help listeners set clear, measurable and attainable goals. 

The value of accountability partners is highlighted, as is reflecting on successes and failures from the past year. Additional resources will be shared through the Shandel Group newsletter to support listeners at various stages of the goal setting process. 

If you'd like to use our worksheet to workshop your goals, reach out to us at melanie@shandelgroup.com! We encourage you to apply the discussed strategies to inform your own goal setting for 2024. 

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

This episode of Lead for Clarity focused on the "pain stage" of the Process of Sustainable Growth. Shandel and Melanie interviewed their guest, Rob Shipp, about his experiences in the Navy and how he has worked to develop trust with his team. Rob discussed how he realized the Navy hadn't been focusing enough on developing leadership skills. He worked with Melanie to provide a 9-week leadership training program for his team. The discussion explored how acknowledging pain and being uncomfortable can help drive growth. Rob also shared personal stories about improving communication with his children and looking inward at his own behaviors. The episode emphasized the importance of addressing pain points in order to progress through the growth cycle.

Key Takeaways:

• Addressing pain points and areas of discomfort is necessary to progress through the healthy growth cycle.
• Focusing only on behaviors and results is superficial; getting to the root causes by exploring events, stories, and feelings leads to deeper understanding and change.
• Developing trust, both giving and receiving it, is an ongoing leadership challenge that requires self-reflection and commitment.
• Personal growth often happens through acknowledging pain in relationships close to home, like with children, and looking inward at one's own behaviors and communication styles.
• Providing opportunities for teams to have open discussions about both work and personal lives can foster stronger connections and engagement with leadership development.

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication

Shandel Sutherland and Melanie Montgomery welcome back guest Lydia Faitalia. Lydia shares how centering her values helped bring balance and opportunities in her life as a working mom. She shared her story of centering her life around her values, having hard conversations, digging deep within herself, and building a fulfilling career. Having the courage to confront difficult issues and go through hard situations, even if it meant disappointing others, allowed her to thrive.

Focusing on and centering your life and decisions around your core values can lead to positive growth, shifts, and opportunities. It's important to take the time to understand your own values and priorities through self-reflection and difficult conversations. Leaning into discomfort and confronting hard issues, even if it means disappointing others, allows for growth and thriving in the long run. Investing in your own leadership development through coaching and mentorship focused on values profoundly impacts all areas of life. Having the courage to go through difficulties and revisit values during uncertainty provides clarity, confidence, and freedom to say no when needed. Doing inner work and being vulnerable in the process of understanding values leads to benefits personally and professionally. Leaders should encourage others to value themselves enough to invest in their own growth and leadership through focusing on their core principles.

To learn more about the Process of Sustainable Growth, check out the first episode of this season! 

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#LeadForClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #Leadership #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipCoaching #EmotionalIntelligence #Clarity #PersonalAccountability #Communication