Perhaps it is important to get reacquainted first and I know a bit about you already because if you are here, you are someone who is striving towards a life, career or business goal or you are a leader committed to professional development. No matter what your specific goal is, there is a golden thread that ties us all together and that is we all want to align our life to what is most important and to lead it to what we dream it can be for ourselves, our loved ones, and the world.

That brings me to reintroducing myself. Oh my, where do I begin as so much has happened and there is so much to share to bring you into my present moment. Well, first off, what’s keeping me focused and tying up a lot of my time is I am a learning and development professional for a fast growing company in Vancouver that operates across Canada and the United States. In this role, I have been building leadership training programs in house and also skill development for our employee base. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve a company and its employees, but truth be told, there is and has been a longing in my heart and soul’s purpose that cannot be ignored.

The more I learn and experience corporate culture, the more I am called to reconnect to you, the people who are building their career and business, and the life you want to live. As i see and experience how busy working professionals are and how much they are juggling, it is evident that the last thing they have time for is themselves and their hopes, dreams, and goals. It’s you, the person who wants time carved out for your dreams and future goals, who is looking for guidance and clarity to create what you want, to live how you want, and to lead your life forward, that I am called to serve.

Something that is true for all of us is that we are all in transition and growth in every moment of our lives and career. We are never static and we are always in evolution. I have so many stories to tell you and I am sure you have your own stories of growth, struggle, and transformation too! What’s most important is that we are, whether by choice or happen stance, always evolving and growing.

If you are in a career transition, maybe you can relate to a few of the elements I am about to share of a pivotal and life altering career move I made about 16 years ago now. I will tell you a story of mine that is not perfect and it involves what I call the epic risk of the absolute unknown that was absolutely necessary. If any of you are sitting terrified right now to leap and do not know what’s next, but know you need a career change, then you are where I was in this story so hang tight because it has a happy ending.

You see, I had been in the health and fitness industry for a long time and at the same employer for a big part of that career journey; you know its time to move on when members come up to you and either tell you to go home or give you advice on what your next career move should be. I loved what I did serving clients, healing clients, helping them with their health and fitness goals and by default becoming their coach too for other areas of their lives. My work became who I was; it was a big part of my identity and joy. However, I had not only reached an income limit, but also, what felt like a mastery level that became a tipping point of neon blinking lights forcing me to realize i needed a change.

I needed to decide on a new path because this one was worn to the limit where I could no longer experience growth and if truth be told, there was a bit of burn out setting in too. To the great shock of peers, clients, and community members, I resigned from a 15 year career to move toward a completely undefined, unknown, and uncertain future. Now over 15 years later, what at the time felt like a reckless move, it is clear to me that it was the smart and right decision to make. Even though I left behind a career I was so passionate about and one where I felt I was in the zone of mastery, the change set me up for a future that did support my growth goals and other life values. There was an aspect of this former career that had run its course and unfortunately, I had to realize that it no longer served me.

Is your career and professional journey still serving you? It’s such a hard path to explore and an uncomfortable question to ponder because the answers will require change. Who wants the headache and heart ache of change anyways? But maybe you are where I was…where you had hit a ceiling and knew a change was inevitable and it is just a question of when.

Life is so interesting as I still miss my life as a personal trainer and post rehabilitation exercise specialist. In fact, sometimes, i find myself thinking it was the best time in my career and how great it was to be in what felt like mastery serving people with the knowledge and experience I had gained.

But, and that is but with a capital B, as humans, we are meant to evolve and to change and grow. We get to choose in every moment if we stay static with what we have and who we are or if we choose to evolve which requires risk. Sometimes, only the discomfort or discontent of where we are makes us risk the unknown of growth, change, and evolution.

Honestly, every now and then I think it would have been easier to stay static rather than to change and grow, but I would have missed the adventure of my own career and leadership journey if I did.

What is your journey meant to be or where could it lead you if you said yes to the adventure of the unknown path?

Let’s get back to the longing in my heart and my purpose because that’s where you come in, well maybe you, depending on your own path and where you find yourself in this very moment in time.

Where are you at? Are you happy?
Are you at that moment or in a space of wanting to lead your life to somewhere you get to create and choose?

My purpose is to inspire people to be the leader of their life creating more of what they want and how they want to live. My other mission is to be that space where a leader of people, their career, or business can retreat and design, plan, and reconnect to what they need and want.

Speaking of retreats, some of you may have followed my LinkedIn newsletter called the ‘Leaders Retreat’ and this concept is very much still alive in my mission of serving others. Do you know the definition of a retreat? If not, here it is:

‘It is a time intentionally set aside for introspection, reflection, and spiritual growth, often involving withdrawal from daily routine and distractions. It provides a space for individuals to disconnect from the external world and reconnect with themselves.’

Vey simply and succinctly, creating a retreat space for you is my purpose and commitment to you. My goal is to give you coaching, training, and tools to lead your life and to be that space in the hustle and bustle of life where leaders can retreat and reconnect.

It is more important than ever as the pace of life and work speeds up, that we create space to retreat and reconnect to ourselves. This will allow us to choose and lead our way forward consciously.

If you are seeking that pause, that space, that moment of choice and leadership instead of the whirlwind and if you want a space dedicated to leading your life, career or business, I hope you will join me in choosing to have a leaders retreat space in your schedule just for you.

On this summer solstice, here I sit on my patio in the quiet with flower pots in full bloom and still waiting for some to bloom as I see hummingbirds coming at dusk for their last feed of the night. The night is upon us before a new day and a new season; yet, it doesn’t need to be summer solstice to have a new start.

May I close out this letter blog to you with a quick lesson I have been learning of recent about life, enjoyment, and performance?

I have been learning to golf and learning is the key word there as I will not be a pro any time soon. The great coaches of my life in all arenas have told me to give it my all, put a hundred percent effort in, and go out there and hit a home run. So you guessed it, when I first grabbed that golf club, and being a kid with the experience of hitting a bat a number of times, i swung it like a bat and with all my might. To my newbie surprise, you can pretty much guess that yup, I hit a few ‘air balls’ and had some not so pretty dismal laugh worthy results.

Then enter in the wisdom of 2 former and older golfers and one young male golfer with past experience to give me advice. The 2 female golfers who are in their 70’s and 80’s told me how important it is to swing relaxed like a dance and breathe where your whole body is in a synchronous movement of shifting weight without stress or force. The young male golfer told me, ‘your only ever in competition with your previous self and game.’

You mean to tell me that I am to relax and dance and have no stress and just try to improve from my previous golf game when there is so much to learn? One of the ladies asked me if I am breathing like I would in Yoga? First off, I don’t do Yoga that often and second breath? Really, there is so much to focus on when you are new and your learning and fumbling your way through.

But I heard them, ‘…relax, dance, breathe, and flow with it…use the dynamics of nature in how the body moves freely and don’t force the outcome.’ So, as a student I am learning that it may not be a home run or hole in one, but it is about the connection to the present moment, to the green ahead, my state, my swing, and how I choose to play the game. Hmmm, is golf teaching me something about life too and about how to be when trying new things?

I still have no idea how good a golfer I will become, but is that the point? The game of golf is connecting me to friends, nature, humility, learning and my dad. So, as we all lead ourselves forward, maybe we need to be okay being new, humble, dancing with the unknown, and not hitting a home run, but being on the adventure of a lifetime that connects us to so much more than a result or achievement.

It’s summer time so it is time to retreat, reconnect, and to spend time discovering where you want to lead your life, career, and business.

Before I sign off here, I wanted to share more about my vision of how I intend to serve you and the list below is what you can expect from me going forward:

• For many years now I have been supporting leaders and developing leadership training programs and my goal is to share key learnings, tips, and leadership coaching with you through video, blogs, and to my email subscribers
• As my to missions center around ‘lead your life’ and the idea of creating a space ‘the leaders retreat’, I will aim to creatively infuse your busy day, weeks, and months with a time and space for you! A space where you can step out of the whirlwind and into a retreat creating an environment where you can reconnect
• Lastly, going back to my roots in an area of expertise that i still infuse in all I do and offer, I will be bringing you education and tips on health to keep it a focus even with a busy, full schedule. It will be health tips with an emphasis on connecting you to nature and how important nature is for our resilience mentally and emotionally, our physical health, and even our performance.

I will be sharing some of these on the blog here and some only to my email audience so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out.

One day soon, I will share with you the retreat conference that changed my life and is actually a big part of my mission that inspires me to serve you to this very day. It happened right at that transition point between ending one career and leaping to something new and unknown. It was an extraordinary experience and one day it will be recreated with a new spin for all of you. That’s the long vision, but for now join me here or in my email subscription to be inspired to lead your life and to have a retreat space so you can create what’s next.

Here’s to you and your adventure.

I wish you space to retreat, recharge, and to lead your life.

Jody

The post Creating Space to Lead Your Life, Career, and Health appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

After our call, it left me in awe and also reflecting that what he had started in the pandemic a little under 3 years ago, had led him to achieving 2 milestones that were originally only expressed thoughts and ideas for the future, but were now his reality. This is one of the great joys of working with clients long term as I get to see where they have led themselves and their progress toward their life goals and dreams.

Of course like many of us do, I then reflected and assessed on where I was at with my dreams and wondered to myself if I was keeping them alive? Perhaps you can relate as I realized that man I have made a lot of progress and really made some life changing transitions where milestones that once felt far off had now become my current reality; however, even with this progress, I was asking myself, ‘Am I keeping my big dreams alive and if I am, do I actively pursue them giving them consistent time and energy?’

Do we arrive at a life goal or dream we have and then does it fade into a new one as we consistently find ourselves and our way as perpetual evolutionary beings?

Before I go on to share my newly weekly commitment to have a ‘date with my dreams’, i think its important to address the elephant in the room when it comes to the dichotomy of a mindset many of us struggle with around: our lives, happiness, acceptance, gratitude, and wanting or seeking more.

Here’s the first part of the dichotomy: when life is challenging, and let’s face it none of us can avoid the blessings of struggle as its part of the human experience, sometimes the most peaceful and mindful practice you can have, is to accept what is, rather than fight it. When we accept, we let go of the extra struggle and pain of fighting what is. Then we are told to be grateful and practice gratitude which is an extraordinary habit that can raise our energetic vibration and more importantly ward of a negative mindset. We absolutely need acceptance and gratitude especially when life gets tough.

Just this week i saw a video of a an elderly woman sharing her wisdom around, ‘don’t wait to be happy when’, as she went on to share that we need to let joy in now as we will always have ‘whens’, but we only have today. So, we must not postpone joy where we attach it to some future condition that limits letting us experience happiness in the now. We must embrace happiness in the todays, the now, in everything that is in this moment. This is so important and it brings us completely into the present moment which is a great way to live.

Yet, our dreams and goals for the future or even the desire of wanting something more, live in our future.

Here comes the second part of the dichotomy… as I hung up the Zoom call with my client who had arrived at his apex, I thought to myself, “Am I ambitious enough? I need to be more ambitious. I need to fight for, pursue, go after my dreams and not accept the present day reality for my future destiny.”

The dichotomy we need to be aware of is this pendulum or teeter totter balance of being too accepting of what is versus driving our dreams forward with an ambitious excitement of their eventual existence; an existence that is our dream life meant to be lived by us in the future.

My clients future started in the pandemic and now on the other side, he is at the apex of what he had set forth for his reality. As he said, he has arrived. Although all our timelines will be different depending on our dreams and how far along we are toward them, the point is that what we dream, start, and pursue today is creating our tomorrows; these tomorrows come sooner than we can grasp.

So, I ask you now, where have you been on this pendulum of ‘accepting peacefully’ what is with gratitude versus ‘actively, ambitiously’ keeping your dreams alive? This is an important question because first of all, your dreams need to be alive, not asleep or tucked away in a place that is only revealed when circumstances are just so. Second of all, as great as acceptance is, have you been too accepting at the cost of not allowing your future dreams airtime that would breathe life into them for the future you desire?

If you have been a bit too accepting or if your dreams have been lying dormant inside you, this is your wake up call. Put that oxygen mask on your dreams. What do you need to do to give your dreams ‘air’ so they can come alive today, not tomorrow or someday?

If we used the word ‘airtime’ literally and you were to have a conversation with your dreams or an interview with them as if they were going live on a podcast, what would they say and what might be expressed that just hasn’t had time or space to be explored?

I get it more than you know that life happens, priorities, needs, family demands, and loss or failure pull us into the dreaded zone of reality and present day circumstances; however, unless you are okay with your destiny being today’s circumstances, your dreams need some CPR to jump start a future that excites you where you are living your dreams.

This leads me to what I am going to be doing to keep my dreams alive and I challenge you to make some kind of similar commitment that works for you. I am committing to have a date with my dreams weekly.

When I say a date, that’s not just a date on a calendar, but an official ‘date’. When we go on a date, there is an exciting energy around it and a commitment to be present, make it special; it’s a time out where we create an experience with someone or in this case, our dreams and future.

Are you up for the challenge and are you in this with me? Let’s keep our dreams alive.

Breathe air and life into your dreams. Now over to you and your date with your dreams!

I would love to hear how it goes for you.

The post A Date With Your Dreams appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

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Are you happy in your current job or career?

Are you living the lifestyle you want or are you unhappy?

Let’s just imagine for a moment that you could change anything you wanted to about your current circumstances and in addition to changing what you don’t like about your career or life right now, you could also say exactly what you wanted as if you were at the buffet table of career and life choices.

Have you taken a moment to visualize this and dream about what you do want and what you would discard? What would you change? How do you want it to change if you had your choice?

Identifying what you would change and what you want is a critical first step to creating the career and life of your choosing. Yet, this is where it can become challenging for people because knowing what we want is not a google maps with direction steps to getting there.

How Life Coaching is a First Step for Career Clarity and Direction

For those of you who have never tried life coaching or wondered what a life coach could do for you, here are some of the results it helps people get:

• Discovering what you value most and leading and living your life in alignment with your values
• Gain clarity on what it is you want with your life including meaning, purpose, and fulfillment
• Highlighting where you want to focus time, energy, and resources in your life
• Achieving your life goals and having accountability to progress them forward
• Greater self-awareness to lead, have better relationships, less stress, and more ease
• Prioritizing, time management, self-care, and life management
• Developing your life vision and being the leader of your life
• Uncovering any self limiting, self sabotaging or patterned behavior that is blocking your growth
• Optimizing you to lead and live your best life

Now back to why life coaching is the best first step for you to gain career clarity and direction; understanding who you are, what you want, what your values are, and the vision you have for your life is essential to explore before you dig into career clarity. This is an approach that puts the life you want to live as the top priority for your career to then fit into its vision. Usually we are building this backward with our career first and then life fitting in around our chosen career. I know this may seem a bit utopian or idealistic, but if you have been unhappy with your job and it has been spilling over into your life plans, then leaning even a smidgeon toward this philosophy is going to bring you greater happiness.

The biggest complaint I hear is people losing their life to their career and wishing they had more time for the life they want to live. Isn’t that possible? Shouldn’t that be our right to choose it? If it is idealistic, could we make it better than it is right now? I see too many people settling and not thinking they could have a better situation when it comes to work life balance, but what if it was possible? Would you explore it? Of course some people are also unhappy with what they are doing and that is where career coaching comes in.

Life coaching shines a bright light on what you value most and helps you align your life to living the way you want. If there are any obstacles in the way, it also supports you in navigating these and setting goals to move you towards the life you want to live. Sometimes we have to breakdown and have help breaking through so we can get to where we want to be in life.

Now do you see why life coaching is a great first step in your career clarity and discovery process?

Let’s take a look at how these two types of coaching can be done holistically together and why I believe they are super powerful together. The video below shares a holistic approach on how you could do your job search or career discovery process that integrates your career with the life you want to live and for what matters most to you in life.

Are You Looking at Changing Your Job, Career, or Exploring Your Options?

Where does one begin when it comes that fateful day that you know it is time for a career or job change? You may begin searching the job directories or networking right away, but what happens if you are in greater contemplation and seeking a career that aligns more with who you are and how you want to live? That certainly cannot be found in job directories, but it can be discovered in self exploration. This is where career coaching can be very helpful because it can provide you with greater self awareness as to what career, company culture, leadership or job would be a good fit for you.

Yes, there are a lot of career assessments you can take to find career matches, but do they also consider what I call career alignment? Assessments may match you based on your skills, aptitude, and strengths which is very helpful in narrowing down your choices, but where career alignment comes in is when the profession or job you choose aligns with not just what you will be ‘doing’, but who you are as a human being. What I mean by this, is what is going to make you happy and what type of career is going to align with how you want to live and who you want to be in this world?

A career coach will work with you to determine what type of job or career will align with your whole self and your whole life. Well, I should clarify that this is my approach to career coaching as I am a certified Whole Person Life and Career coach, ICF PCC.

Some of the greatest benefits you will receive from career coaching are:

• Career Clarity
• Career Alignment
• Career Direction or a Career Path Plan
• Career Advancement Plan
• Career Leadership for Growth
• Synergy of Your Career with Your Life
• Interview Preparation and Presentation
• Career Happiness

If you are in a place where you don’t have clarity or you are stressed and overwhelmed at where to begin, career coaching could be of great service to you.

What Can You Expect Working with a Life or Career Coach?

This may vary depending on who you work with as each coach has a different coaching package, but I can share what you could expect with me. I would have a complimentary consultation with you to discover your needs and hear a bit more about what you are looking for so I could then share my recommendation of how many sessions would be best for you. Generally, I would recommend a minimum of 6 sessions and many people require 10-12 one hour coaching sessions to experience the full benefits. These sessions would ideally be done weekly or biweekly at a set time each week. There may be some homework, but not a lot of extra time would be required outside of the sessions. The most important element is to commit to the process and to be consistent with the sessions for the best results.

You can expect your coach to be your guide, not your advisor or advice giver. They will let you set the agenda or in some cases I have had clients who wanted a set itinerary of each coaching session and that can be arranged depending on your preferences. Coaching is a transformative process which means, you can expect to learn a lot about yourself, gain greater self awareness, have new insights and wisdom as to what you want, and make progress forward toward your goals.

The above sessions could be a combination of life and career coaching sessions so you can take a holistic, whole person approach to your career path or you can decide to have them be focused in one or the other. You can also expect your coach to keep every detail of your session 100% confidential and if you think your coach is only there to support you, you may be surprised when they challenge you in the best way possible.

Life and career coaching is a great experience that will elevate you as a person, energize your dreams and goals, propel you forward, and synergistically align you for: happiness, fulfillment, and your best life.

If you would like to learn more or would like support in your own journey, reach out to me at jody@jodykennett.ca.

Happy career and life adventuring.

Lead it. Live it. Love it.

Your Leadership, Career, and Life Coach, ICF PCC

Jody

The post How do Life and Career Coaching Help Happiness appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

I cannot tell you how many people came to me over the past few years with this exact situation or where there was an element of this involved in why they were seeking coaching. This means that you are not alone as it is, unfortunately, more common that it should be and there are many reasons for why it happens. Despite any self destructive thinking that may be occurring for you right now, where you may be blaming yourself or feeling as if you are a target at target practice, one of the most important first steps to take is a perspective shift of looking at this from an objective lens rather than a personal one. The reason this is so important is because the other person or people involved are at least equal contributors to the situation and if they are your superior, they actually have a greater responsibility to develop, support, and lead you.

Let’s first take a look at how we can protect our confidence when a difficult situation at work begins to chip away at how we feel about ourselves. A work environment that is repetitively negative or having multiple critical interactions with another person, especially a superior, can absolutely make someone begin to question themselves which could lead to the erosion of confidence. So, how do we protect ourselves and our hard earned, fragile, and essential for work and wellbeing, confident self?

If you prefer video, here’s a video on the 4 steps to increasing and building confidence:

Internal Validation is Crucial to Having Strong Self Confidence

I am going to share a story with you here to demonstrate this, but I first want to highlight how our whole life we have been ‘trained’, or should I say conditioned to seek external validation. It started with our parents, then our school system, society, and now especially with a social media world of likes and virality. This is a system that pretty much has us putting our self confidence and esteem in the hands of others as if we have handed it over to them and placed it in their hands to tell us who we are and what our value is based on achievement, likes, and the worst of all, personal opinions. External validation is the most unstable, vulnerable source of self confidence; until we shift this, who we think we are and our worth, will always be in the hands of strangers and other people.

There is a psychological reason external validation drives us beyond being conditioned this way and it is because we all desire to belong or be accepted. Belonging is actually a psychological need in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid. However, I believe we can belong and be accepted by others and still hold our confidence as a sovereign individual where we do not unconsciously give anyone more power over how we feel about ourselves than we do from ourself. We need to have our confidence be driven from an internal source; in essence, a wellspring from within us.

Internal validation means you are gaining your self worth based on your own opinions of yourself. Well, there is a radical idea. It is a shift that will move you from unconsciously conditioned to conscious, aware, and an active participant in your own confidence. Now that is really easy to write and say, but I understand greatly how hard this is to implement in real life and especially when someone is challenging who we are in a negative and possibly cruel way.

Now to the story I wanted to share and one of the reason’s why I am writing this, which should have been written long ago due to how many people have gone through this in one form or another. A few weeks back, two gentlemen came to me in the same week both having a challenge with a manager above them where it was affecting their confidence.

If you ever assumed that confidence challenges were only for the young, women, or not for men, it is important for all of us to know that anyone can have their confidence impacted by another person or situation; it has no bias to age, gender, race, position, or even privilege. One of the individuals was in a new job, did not receive appropriate training and was now being scrutinized for not doing things they were not trained on and being told they were not up to par with the team. Keep in mind all of this was being relayed in the first 3 months of them starting a new position.

Do you see anything wrong with the leadership and expectations in this situation?

Full empathy that many companies and leaders are experiencing lack of time to adequately train people and yet if this is the case, should there not also be empathy for the new people learning on their own as they go?

There are multiple factors that challenge one’s confidence here and they are:

• Being new or doing something new will always challenge everyone’s confidence
• Being criticized, repetitive criticism or having it done in an unproductive way can harm confidence
• Being compared to others or told you are not on par with a team affects belonging and acceptance
• Unrealistic expectations where it is unfair and someone is not set up for success affects confidence
• The first 3 months at a job and up to a year is a learning zone where criticism should never be

Do you know what one of the key coaching themes was that we discussed together?

Before, I answer that, let me ask you this: “Do you think that this leader was going to provide any source of confidence for this new employee having the information provided here?”

No. That leader was not going to be a source of confidence or validation for this new employee.

Yes! One of the key coaching themes we discussed was when an external voice, leader, or situation is negatively impacting our confidence, we need to focus on and strengthen our confidence from within and implement the practice of internal validation.

Internal validation is the strongest, most secure, powerful confidence source anyone can have. It is the main source we need to nurture, strengthen, and practice daily.

If we are to rise to or above a negative situation, we are going to have to raise our internal mindset and voice to be louder than any external source in order to preserve our self confidence. After taking an objective assessment of the situation to see the facts as they were, we then resourced this individual to increase their confidence from internal validation.

You now have two building blocks to protect, preserve, and strengthen your confidence and to recap they are:

1. Take an objective perspective rather than making it only personal because there are always multiple factors that need to be considered including the other person, their leadership, and the context of the situation.
2. Never let your entire confidence be in the hands of external sources. The strongest, most powerful, and not to mention also the healthiest, happiest and freest source of confidence, is when it is from internal validation; this is what you think about you and being confident from within.

But let’s not stop with those two points, I want to give you one or two more building blocks to recover, rebuild, and dare I say, to be rock solid with your confidence no matter what experiences you may be facing at the hands of others or in a specific situation.

How to Strengthen and Have Resilient Confidence

The neuroscience behind confidence which I have learned being an American Confidence Certified Confidence Coach is that confidence is not a feeling; it actually originates from a thought or more so how we think. This brings me to a third building block for you in your path to increasing your confidence which is to focus on what you are in control of and that is what and how you think about any situation. You see, we perceive things based on our past experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and the lens upon which we view both ourselves and the world. Unfortunately, if the lens or glasses we view ourselves from has only ever been informed or heavily relied upon from others or if we have a critical, self-defeating, perfectionist lens, our automatic thought patterns may produce negative thoughts and perceptions about ourself.

Yet, you have control over what and how you think about any situation and about yourself. Another brain science fact that contributes to why these negative situations can be so difficult is that our brain will begin to unconsciously create a story about an event that has happened to help us make sense of it. If this is happening unconsciously and a story is being created, what is the story we are telling ourselves?

In addition, suffering happens when we give something meaning or specifically a meaning that negatively affects us. An example of this is say when a leader says we are not performing well or criticizes our performance and then we attach meaning to it that may sound like, “I am not cut out for this’, or ‘I am not good enough’ or ‘I am a failure’.

However, if confidence originates with a thought or is how we think and we are in control of what we think, then you can change what and how you think about this negative situation at work. This could mean that rather than thinking you are not good enough or it is a personal attack on you, you could have a shift of perspective and think new thoughts such as:

• ‘I can see this leader is stressed and needs me to be proficient with everything without receiving training as they do not have time to train me. This is where their source of stress and anguish is coming from, not from me and I am capable and competent with the appropriate training.’
• ‘This has nothing to do with my capability of being able to do this or be a success at it and everything to do with lack of time, leadership, communication and training.’
• ‘I am capable, competent, and confident and have just not been set up for success in this situation.’

As one of my favorite mentors Wayne Dyer has said,

“When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” Wayne Dyer

Resilient confidence begins with internal validation and then when it is challenged it requires objectivity and depersonalizing a situation where you look at the facts. We then have to assess how and what we will think about this situation and ourselves and possibly challenge the negative thoughts we may be having so we can choose a confident growth mindset around it. Then, there is one last final element to building your confidence in these situations, a fourth step that may just be the simplest, but most effective one.

Self Compassion to have Self Confidence

Self-compassion is a critical step to building, preserving, and strengthening our confidence especially when it is being challenged in a difficult situation or with a leader who is negatively impacting us. If there was a shield or armor we could wear to protect and increase our confidence and that could be an antidote to either external or self inflicted criticism, it would be self compassion. Self compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.

How can self-compassion lead to strengthening self confidence?

Confidence is eroded and harmed in a critical environment. Unfortunately, sometimes that environment of criticism is of our own doing with a strong inner critic. Self-compassion, on the other hand, is a way of thinking, an action, and a practice in being that creates an environment where our self confidence can thrive. What I have seen recently is that when someone else is being critical in a negative way to us, it can ignite our own inner critic or doubter. Knowing this, you can now stand guard at your brain and thoughts and instead of letting your inner critic spiral out of control wreaking havoc, replace it with a practice in being self-compassionate.

In the above situation this is how self-compassion would sound:

“I am brand new with little to no training and I am doing the best I can considering I have not been set up for success here.”

“I know I can do this and my mistakes are not due to lack of intelligence or skill. This is a hard, unpleasant situation to be in and it is making me question myself which is natural, but I see there is more to it.”

“This leadership style and the criticism from my leader is really negative and it is affecting me as it would anyone. It is okay to feel what I am, that is normal, but I am not going to let it impact my confidence. I can do this given the right training, time, and leadership. I will be okay and I will figure this out.”

At the core of self-compassion is understanding especially in hard, challenging times and this leads to shared experiences and the humanity of difficulties we all face which brings us back to belonging and acceptance. We all struggle, we all feel, we all face hard people, hard times, and even failure. Self-compassion is the whisper that says, ‘It’s okay, you are human. It is hard and you will be okay, but today you are doing the best you can in a difficult situation.’

The other day someone I was working with who had a strong inner critic that was affecting how they felt and performed decided to adopt a daily ritual of being self-compassionate because they knew this would shift their mindset and mental wellbeing.

There you have four steps to build and be confident when you are facing a manager or leader who is negatively impacting your confidence. They all work together, but you can focus on one and it will absolutely support you and in fact, to get started, I would suggest you begin with one of these and then build one element upon the other. It is a daily practice that needs to be implemented and taken action on to see the results, so where will you start?

If you have questions about building or being confident or how to have resilient confidence in these situations, reach out to me by email or in the comments here. You may also want to be coached through this challenge as it can be extraordinarily helpful to process, brainstorm, and receive confidence coaching. If you are challenged with changing your thoughts or thinking when it comes to confidence and yourself or a specific situation, one of the tools that has been really successful is Cognitive Behavioral Coaching which I combine with the confidence coaching. To learn more about how we can work together or find out more about confidence coaching, I can be contacted at jody@jodykennett.ca.

In addition, stay tuned as I will be offering confidence training, courses, and coaching programs soon!

What is your takeaway and what will you focus on to strengthen your confidence?

Lead it. Live it. Love it!

Your Coach,

Jody

The post How to Be Confident When a Manager is Impacting Your Confidence appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

Assessing Your Career Options and a Possible Career Change

Well, who hasn’t contemplated their career over these last few years and some of us were forced into a change due to the upheaval of closures, but no matter your circumstances exploring our career options is something everyone should do yearly or bi yearly. I know this journey all too well as I completely uprooted myself in 2009 from a career and position I held for 15 years which began a whole new reinvention of myself. First, off, I want to acknowledge the stress or uncertainty changing and assessing new career pathways can produce in us. On the brighter side, there is something exciting and inviting almost as if you are looking at travelling somewhere new or going on an adventure.

Where does one begin on assessing career options or if they want to make a change? Here are a few ideas to get you started in beginning your career search:

First Steps to Begin Your Career Search

• Do a Self Inventory of Your Skills, Strengths, Experience, and What You Enjoy
  (In other words, know yourself very well and what you like, don’t like, what you are good at and not good at, and where you can add value or share your strengths and skills)
• Identify What is not Working for You. When people look at a career change, it can be for many reasons and they can vary greatly including: boredom, pay, lifestyle, ethics, leadership, no growth opportunities, industry changes, family life or responsibilities, health, and stress
• Itemize what you require a job or career to give you or what you need from it. This may require you to look back at what has not worked and then know what you need going forward. I just did this for myself and it sure helps you say no quickly to options or offers when you know exactly what you want and need.
• Do a Future Pacing on Your Selected Industry or Profession and Know Where it is Going. This is important now more than ever because technology, automation, and the world is changing so fast, we need to know what the future holds for our industry and profession. Is AI, robots or technology going to replace some careers? The answer is yes, probably, at least to some degree. What skills might you need to upgrade or prepare for to be ready for the future?
• Research the Current Job Market and Learn What Jobs and Careers are in Demand and Growth. This can be a tricky one to assess because take the industry of coaching for example, every marketer will tell you it is booming, but all that is booming are services to train coaches and serve coaches in growing their business, but there are very few job positions for this career. The best way to know what there is a demand for in your industry or careers you are exploring is to go to job search engines and do the keyword searches and see what comes up. There are also reports and trends you can look up as I saw one that reported project management, construction, and of course the technology sector as great careers for future growth and stability.

The Holistic Career and Job Search Factors that Matter

Now that we have looked at some of the logical facts you have to consider when making a career or job change, no search would be complete without assessing what would align with you, your lifestyle, health, family, financial goals, and yes even your happiness. In fact, it is often one of these factors which I am going to dare to call a need of yours, that is almost an itch or source of unhappiness in your current career causing you to reassess. As an ICF Whole Person Certified Coach, I take my clients through assessments and a discovery process so they can discover what is most important to them, what their needs are, and understand how these holistic elements are possibly the greatest contributors to happiness in choosing the right career match.

Everyone should take a look at the holistic approach when assessing new career opportunities because we spend 50% or more of our weekday time in our jobs and if it does not fit with who we are, our life, and what we need a career to give us, we will not be happy. There is a ‘Core Being’ wheel I step people through that goes through all the elements that are at the core of who you are, what you want, your vision, dreams, desires, what you value, what motivates you, and your why. This whole process helps someone become more clear on their career path, it provides awareness and direction, and helps you decide on what will be right for you.

The Power of LinkedIn and Networking in Career Search

LinkedIn and networking are essential in exploring new career pathways and for job searching. If you do not already have an online profile with LinkedIn, it is time to create one whether you are a career professional looking for a job or an entrepreneur. There are powerful functions that LinkedIn offers whereby recruiters can find you when they do searches and a lot of employers will review your LinkedIn profile before they invite you for an interview. In addition, if you upgrade to their premium service, it provides a multitude of features including education, training , certificates to put on your profile, messaging recruiters, and additional job insights such as salary and how you compare to other applicants.

Yes, we can use LinkedIn for networking and it is fantastic to connect with a diversity of people there, but networking overall and personally by email, phone or in messaging can also expand opportunities for you. The depth of your relationships, the value you offer, how you present yourself online, and what you both give and ask for will create an energy of momentum in your career search.

How Career Coaching Can Help You with Landing a new Job or Career

One of the ways you can ease making a career change or exploring new opportunities is with a coach. Leadership and career coaches support job searchers in both the initial steps of discovering what direction they want to proceed in and also in presenting, applying, interviewing, and negotiating salary. Working with a coach on your career goals will definitely give you clarity, it will help you assess what you want, and guide you toward progress with accountability.

Sometimes working with a coach is about resourcing you with what you need to make a decision for your future and bringing all the important elements into your awareness to make the best choice clear.

Well there you have a few steps to get you started on your career journey and if you need any additional support or a coach to help guide you through, reach out and we will begin!

The careers we choose are a big part of our life, our days, and our weeks; they also impact our health, happiness, finances, and relationships so they become a very important decision that require our attention.

Here’s to finding the right career that aligns for you and your life.

Jody

The post Exploring Career Opportunities or a New Job appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

If we are always waiting on approval, seeking validation, looking for feedback or recognition, or needing an external source to gain our worth or identity from, we are not: claiming who we are, the value we have to offer right now in this moment or owning our power through the worth we already have. To arrive means we do not seek nor need external validation to approve or tell us what our worth and value is as we know it for ourselves. In essence, we are taking our power back and we are stating who we are and what our value is independent of any external source. You can listen to and watch the video of my interview on the “Own it!” summit below where I explain more about what it means for women to ‘Arrive’ and how this powerful shift will transform your confidence, leadership, and communication. Those are the three pillars of Women’s Leadership I coach and facilitate workshops around.

Free Download for Women to Arrive, Be Confident, and Communicate with Confidence

Here is a free PDF on how to Arrive, Be Confident, and Communicate with Confidence.

Owning Your Power and Worth as a Career Women Leader

It can be challenging as a career women or leader to own our power depending on the industry, company or leadership culture we are working in everyday. There are people, politics, and circumstances that can make it difficult to stand in conviction with our worth, but we absolutely can if we learn to navigate these situations and are steadfast to owning our worth with rock solid internal validation.

Yet, it is not enough to know it yourself, we need to be able to communicate, present, and be what we know we can be and are as a professional, leader, and expert. This is where we can stumble because women are taught to be humble, they are taught to take community credit, and many of us are not comfortable advocating for ourselves.

Communicating Your Value and Worth with Visibility and Voice

Learning how to communicate your value and worth is an essential part of your career growth and advancement plan. Getting comfortable with how to present yourself owning your skill, knowledge, value, and talents, is a practice; there is no other way around it. If you want to develop and grow, whether it be for business, career or leadership, you will need to have a path and plan to be more visible and to have a voice. For some of us, it will be the greatest challenge of your career especially if you are an introvert or find presenting challenging; for others, it will be a concerted effort where you need a plan and a consistent practice. This is all a part of elevating women leaders and advancing more women into leadership.

Are You a Women Leader Building Your Career or Business Who Wants to Arrive in Confidence and Owning Your Power and Worth?

If lack of confidence or not knowing how to present or communicate confidently is challenging your career or business growth, there is a lot you can do to overcome these challenges. Do you find yourself focused on external validation, comparison, and or a fear of being seen or heard? As a women’s leadership, confidence, and communication coach I elevate women to step into their power, owning their worth, advancing their career and leadership, and arriving at their value from an internal locus of control. You can take charge of this and lead yourself to a place of confidence, comfort, and powerful presence. Lead it forward with a complimentary consult or email Jody at jody@jodykennett.ca for the next steps.

Would you like to know where you are at on the 9 categories of Women’s Leadership? Take our Free Women’s Leadership Assessment Here.

The post A Powerful Shift for Women to Lead, Have Confidence, and Advance their Career appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

As a certified leadership and communication coach, I can share that over 50% of the challenges leaders come to coaching for are due to communication issues with others or with their leadership. If you want to improve your communication skills and learn about the neuroscience of it called C-IQ, I will be delivering an online training at the end of this month where you will learn to lead and connect with every conversation you have.

Why Leaders and Managers Need to Be Great Communicators

It is a bold statement to say that you cannot be a great leader without excellent communication skills, but it is a true statement. These two skills go hand in hand and if one is on shaky ground, the other is not far behind it. Leaders and managers must be great communicators because it is the skill that will lead, engage, and enable teams to work together towards a common goal. There are blind spots for everyone in the way they communicate and what happens is these blind spots can impact the people you work with in a negative or unproductive way. Everything a manager or leader does daily requires communication with others and if we do not know how to communicate effectively to build trust, collaboration, and partnering with others, then our job is going to be a whole lot harder.

Learn C-IQ and Develop Your Skills in Communication

C-IQ is the neuroscience of communication and it is a body of knowledge that is founded in over 35 years of research on how humans connect through conversation. When people learn C-IQ, they realize how what they say and the conversations they have impact others and how everyday we are having chemical conversations; what is meant by this is that how we communicate can actually cause stress hormones to be released in others and/or oxytocin and dopamine which are the bonding and trust neurochemicals. When you learn C-IQ you gain a depth of understanding that will transform every interaction, conversation, and connection you make. Learning C-IQ will also give you powerful insights into how your own brain reacts to others and empowers you to take better control of your own reactions.

If you want to learn more about C-IQ and improve your communication skills, I am delivering a training online coming up at the end of this month that will give you all the foundations of Conversational Intelligence and how to be an effective communicator. It is happening April 28th and 29th 8:30-12:30 pm PST and you can learn all the details by going to this link.

Every Leader Needs to Know How to Communicate in a Conflict

First off, having great communication can prevent a conflict from happening, but conflicts in the workplace and our lives are inevitable, yet we have never learned the skills to navigate them. If you are a leader or manager and you have not yet learned how to communicate and handle difficult conversations, it is time to empower yourself with this invaluable tool. Often the leader or manager is the one responsible for when a problem arises, when there is a complaint with a customer, or even handling a challenge of two team members getting along. If you currently are in the camp of dreading or avoiding these situations, you are not alone, but what if you had the knowledge, skills, and abilities to approach these head on with ease? C-IQ provides excellent tools for leaders to learn communication skills for handling conflict.

Why Every Company Needs Communication Training for their Leaders as a Top Priority

The impacts of poor communication affect a business and company in many ways including: high turnover, poor team collaboration, inefficiencies, higher sick days due to stress, and possibly even a toxic work culture. The cost to repair ineffective communication seeps into other expenses and impacts the bottom line not to mention the psychological safety and wellbeing of the people in a company. As a leadership and communication coach, over 50% of the people I see come to me with a challenge they are experiencing with either a team member or their leadership. This directly links to communication and one’s ability to connect with others through the way they communicate.

This is why I believe it is essential that a company prioritizes developing communication skills and providing training to their leaders on how to become effective communicators.

Increase Communication in Your Company by Developing Leaders Communication Skills

A culture is created by the leadership team and by what the leaders focus on and model to their teams. The way leaders and a company communicates with their employees creates a culture. Do you know what culture your leadership team is creating or what culture exists in your company? Is it in alignment with what you value and how you want to lead your organization? When there are no guide posts, expectations, or vision of the values a company wants its leaders to emulate, it becomes a free for all of leadership and communication styles that may or may not align with the company. However, if the benchmark is set for how you want your leaders to be and interact with their teams, all of a sudden a congruent leadership style can begin to form.

One of the best ways to increase communication in your company is to develop leaders’ communication skills. This can be done with training, one to one coaching, and team communication workshops.

Online Communication Skills Workshop and Course

If you would like to explore communication training options for yourself, the leaders in your company, or for your team, you can learn more about the upcoming workshop at the end of April here.

If you would like to speak with me to find out more about one to one communication coaching, providing communication training to your team or company, or coaching to facilitate a conflict between two people, reach out for a free consultation by emailing jody@jodykennett.ca

The post Communication Skills Training Seminar appeared first on Leadership Communication and Life Coaching.

Equally important and what I am going to explain here, is that when we do not feel confident sometimes we can process it as all our fault or take the entire blame when indeed there are a multitude of factors outside of and in addition to us that impact our confidence. Let’s unravel the reason why a manager should never just give the feedback, “You need to be more confident”.

Watch this short 3 minute video that highlights why a manager should never say, “..just improve your confidence”, and how they may need to assess other factors that could be contributing to the low confidence.

How does someone become confident and where does it come from?

Before we get into all the elements that contribute to someone’s confidence, it is important to understand a little bit more about where it comes from as it may seem abstract and intangible. Neuroscience has proven that even though we all talk about wanting to ‘feel confident’, it actually begins with our thoughts. Thoughts are the tip of the iceberg and yes beliefs are a form of thoughts, but the scary thing with beliefs is they can be the submerged, unseen aspect of the iceberg that are in our subconscious thoughts. If thoughts and beliefs are the building blocks to confidence, this is where one needs to begin in order to become more confident.

If you have struggled with confidence for a long time personally or professionally, then I would highly suggest you work with a counselor or coach possibly trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Coaching, CBC. I do CBC coaching and have seen it work really well for people.

What is scary is that often the thoughts or beliefs we have that negatively impact our confidence are not true and rather they have evolved due to how we have processed or made sense of our world or something that happened to us. One of the most important questions you can ask yourself if you are aware of the thought, story, or belief that has held you back is, “Is it true?”. When you answer that, make sure you answer it from your perspective, no one else’s which is going to require you to know and stand up for who you know yourself to be.

Not Feeling Confident or Struggling with Confidence is Not Your Identity

I once jumped into a contract assignment that was so unique with a training that no one had ever done before that it truly would set anyone up for a disaster especially with no support. At the end of the facilitation, feedback was obtained and 75% of the feedback was positive demonstrating objectives were met, but one person wrote the most negative, cruel review I had ever received. It was one of those where someone could have just given a low rating and leave it at that, but instead this one was spiteful and mean. This person was young almost just out of high school and they were highly stressed in a toxic environment and being intimidated or bullied at work. On top of that, the industry it was in is known to be cut throat, self serving, and manipulative. The comments on that one review, despite all of the other ones being positive and the company I worked for calling it an ‘outlier’ response, affected me for months.

Perhaps it was the cruelty of the remarks or my inexperience in this being the first negative review I had received, but nonetheless, looking back I let those remarks seep unguarded into my being causing harm to my confidence. The irony was that I spent so much time with this one individual because they required and demanded it and they had a lot of anxiety with the people and culture they were working in. Now, looking back, I will never let anyone affect how I feel about myself again and I certainly will not let it linger or pervade my everyday life. How people treat you says more about them and their state then it does about you. Remember that.

If someone has harmed you in the past or is currently, or if someone treated you in a certain way or said something to you that has negatively impacted your confidence, whatever you do, do not make what they said or did, your identity! You are not how someone treats you or what they said to you. Who you are and your identity is what you choose and believe it to be.

The same is true for if you are currently not feeling confident; that’s not who you are, it is how you are in a specific moment, in a certain situation, around some people, or in specific environments and none of these are permanent.

You are confident, you may just not feel or be confident in certain circumstances. There are people, situations, and environments that will challenge your confidence, but you can build your confidence outside and within these circumstances. What you want to focus on here, is that you have the ability to become confident anywhere, anytime.

I know that is easier said, then done, but it is true!

Why a Manager Should Never Say, “Just Be More Confident.”

In the video above, I share why a leader should never give the feedback to someone of, “…just be more confident”, and leave it at that. It is not actionable and it should come with some curiosity and inquiry as to why this may be happening for someone. The impact of this statement on others does more harm than good and it can be frustrating for the recipient.

There is another reason a manager or leader should not give this type of feedback without asking or sharing more details. If someone is appearing not confident, there are at least three big factors that could be contributing to it and they are:

1. The individual who received the feedback may have some challenges with confidence
2. A leader, manager or team member may be negatively impacting their confidence
3. The work culture or environment or a meeting dynamic may impact one’s confidence

Did you notice that someone’s confidence at work is not solely their responsibility, but a shared responsibility? There is no blame to be made here, only a problem to be solved with a team approach. All of the above along with the bias of the perceiver observing low confidence can all affect how someone is appearing. For example, an extreme extrovert may think an introvert lacks confidence when they may simply be less talkative.

Before a leader or manager decides to make confidence someone’s area of opportunity for growth, it would be pertinent for them to examine their own or other team members impact on this individual as well as the work culture as they both could be contributing factors. What is hard about this, is that there could be blind spots unknown to leaders that are creating a dynamic in the work place which lowers someone’s confidence. In this case, it could be good to hire a consultant or coach who could work with the team or the company’s communication and culture dynamics.

Having Low Confidence is not Permanent. You can Improve Your Confidence.

I mentioned above that having low confidence should not be and is not your identity; it is also not permanent. Anyone can improve their confidence. It may not be an overnight fix or easy, but it can and will change. So then, how can someone become more confident at work?

1. You need to first assess why you do not have confidence at work. For example is it due to being in a new position, in a new leadership role, not feeling competent at your job, a leader above you having a negative impact on you, or limiting beliefs that have affected you for a while
2. The next step will be to seek support from a safe, neutral, and trained professional to work through and overcome the challenges you are facing with confidence. This may be a counselor, a certified Confidence coach, or possibly a mentor or leader you trust.
3. Confidence improves when we take action and with every action we take. Determine what those action steps are for you and keep stepping forward with them.

Confidence at work requires a combination of inner work and managing the dynamics in the work environment including communication with others. Presenting oneself confidently goes way beyond just our thoughts and beliefs as it incorporates body language and our executive or leadership presence. This then demands that we not only have a confident mindset, but that we also embody the emotions of it as well. This is exactly why leadership, communication, and confidence are the powerful trio I coach on because applied together, they make a winning combination.

If you have been told you need to improve your confidence and would like support in becoming confident, reach out to learn more and for a complimentary coaching call. I am an ACI certified Confidence coach and would love to support you in feeling and being more confident.

Also, if you are a team or have an Employee Resource Group that would like to support your colleagues with greater confidence, we have a team learning program developed by the American Confidence Institute (ACI) which is endorsed by Harvard. For more details, contact jody@jodykennett.ca

In closing, lack of confidence is momentary and situational; it does not need to be life long, but it does need to be attended to so you can feel great and be confident in any situation.

Your coach for Confidence.

Jody Kennett
ICF PCC, Women’s Leadership, Confidence, and Communication Coach

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Women Leaders Share their Experiences, Insight, and Tips to #Breakthebias

Some of the topics, biases, and insightful topics shared at this event include:

• How to broaden the perception of what makes a great leader
• How a bias is a story and thought and we need to challenge these
• We need to overcome our own internal biases as well
• How men are hired or promoted based on potential and women for their performance
• How positive stereotypes are problematic and are generalizations that limit a group of people
• How feedback that you need to be more confident can be counter intuitive and disempowering
• How women face an inverse relationship in leadership when it comes to power and likeability
• Questioning if the onus should be on women to make men feel comfortable with how they dress
• How to raise biases in a productive way whether they are spoken or unspoken
• How the masculine and feminine energies or archetypes are meant to coexist and they harmonize each other
• How the work day and week does not take into account a women’s 28 day cycle
• How we need to break the bias from the inside out
• The possibility that bias starts and ends with us as it is all we can control
• Expect equality and demand equality, we have choice, if it is not fair leave or fight
• Why we should never compromise and how we need the courage to take a stand
• Dare to show up authentically

Women Leaders Speak to Bias, Equality, and What we need for Progress

The 9 women leaders at this year’s International Women’s Day event were a diverse group with broad backgrounds and they raised our awareness to unconscious biases and how we can break the biases women face at work. Here are the women leaders creating change, equality, and progress in their work and communities:

Stella Lee of Paradox Learning – Learning and Development Specialist, AI Expert
Charlotte Nobles of Wild Sage Coaching and Mentorship – Career Guide and Life Coach
Kim Hamblin-Hart of Seeds of Change Life Coaching – Narrative Coach – Life & Mental Wellbeing Coach
Carol Morgan-Wirth of Wirth Leadership – Personal and Professional Leadership Coach
Lindsay Ashmore – Psychotherapist, Coach, and Guide, Somatic Specialist
Jennifer Bolster – Paramedic Practice Leader and Advanced Care Paramedic
Lauren Dobie – Patent Practioner and Legal Coordinator Lead
Janet Outhwaite – Process Engineer
Shelagh Kennett of Recreating You at Any Age – Self Esteem Empowerment, Career Coach, Writer/Author

Thank you to all our presenters! Your insights, wisdom, strength, and tenacity inspired us!

The Invitation and Ask of All of Us to Break the Bias

Now, it is your turn, our turn to take action and use our voices in speaking up and out to break the bias. It will take courage to productively raise awareness about biases in the workplace and the greatest influence of change is your voice. Knowing that many biases are unconscious, we can openly highlight when a bias may be present and ask the people with the bias to explore the idea with you while also educating them on the impact the bias could have on others. This may not always lead to a positive outcome and if it doesn’t, we can then take the next steps speaking to management or possibly using the whistle blower option if your workplace has that option.

As our final speaker shared, we need to expect and demand equality. If something is unfair, you and we have choices, fight or leave.

When we all use our voices and take action to break a bias, together we will make progress towards equality.

Let’s do this together one voice, on brave action and step forward at a time. We’ve got this!

If you want more information on women’s leadership coaching and training to advance more women into leadership or are looking to create more equality in your organization, reach out to us here.

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