Journeous Podcast with Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt

Are Your Students Hearing Your Message? “When we’re talking or writing about something that’s important to us or we have a really strong feeling about we’re likely to stick with the language of our preferred channel.”– Cindy Hunt (03.51-04.04) As most of us have experienced, there are times when we hear or read something that’s easy for us to grasp or act on; and in other cases, it takes a lot more effort. Science shows that people have 6 distinct types of communication styles - we call them communication channels.   While everyone has the ability use all 6 channels, we each have a preferred channel.  When you communicate to someone using the language and behavior of their preferred channel, it is more likely that your intended message will be received. Part One of ‘Are Your Students Hearing Your Message?’ In our work with educators, we’ve seen the impact when they adapt their communication to engage and inspire students to learn. Recently we received content that a high school teacher had written for his students focused on building effective financial habits early in life. He believed strongly in the importance of this lesson so asked us to review it to see the proportion of his students who were likely to act on his guidance and how to adapt his content to reach the rest.  In this week's episode, you will learn: Why some students have a harder time hearing you  Simple tweaks you can make so your content connects with more students   The role of graphics and activities to engage a broader group of students     “Just like your preferred communication channel is the easiest to use in verbal communication, the same is true in writing.” - Pam Baker (03:33-03:46) It’s easy for content focused on financial habits to be delivered primarily through two of the channels that filter through logic and values. The challenge for us was to ensure that since not all students prefer those channels, the language used was easily heard by all students, regardless of the channels they prefer.  What we found in reviewing his lesson was that all six channels were represented in the content, which was great to see. We did see that his preferred channels were over-represented and his less preferred channels were under-represented, which is very common before being trained in Adaptive Communication.  Part Two of ‘Are Your Students Hearing Your Message?’ Knowing yourself and your preferred channels is the easiest way to accommodate all students because you learn not to use only the language of your preferred channel but to vary it with the language of other channels.  When we’re talking or writing about something that’s important to us – as this topic was to this high school teacher -  we’re likely to use the language of just our one or two preferred channels. That’s why in educational materials we often find less variety in the channel language used: because the topic is typically one the author feels strongly about.  To make the content easier to act on for those who prefer one of the under-represented channels, we recommended including language of reactions. Phrasing like: “What do you love? What do you hate? What’s black and white?” work well for those of us who prefer this channel.  “One thing we recommend is teachers can put out a variety of questions and let the students pick which one they like to answer. That way they’re self-selecting the one that hits the mark for them.” - Cindy Hunt (07:23-07:34) Even when it comes to financial habits, there are a number of different ways to ask about the same topic but doing so using the language of different channels. For example, you might ask,  “What do you think about spending your money that way?” or   “How do you feel about spending your money that way?” or “What do you love about spending your money that way?” or “Bottom line, are you going to make money and how are you going to make it?”  Each of those questions will be in the language of a different preferred channel, and by varying the language used, you make it easier for any student to respond.  What's the danger of only using language that’s in your own preferred channel? We know from data that students who prefer three of the channels – the same channels that are less likely to be the preference of educators - tend to not do as well through K-12 because they end up tuning the teachers out. And that can lead to gaps in their education.  That's why it's important to vary the language used to engage everyone because if students aren’t engaged, there’s a good chance they’ll be pushed into distress.  Some of those distress behaviors get those students in trouble. They might be disruptive in class. They might daydream and be frustrating for the teacher or team. They might make fun of something or someone and that’s frustrating for everyone. Some simple adjustments to how you’re delivering your message – varying the language of the questions, adding an activity and including some graphics can make the difference in engaging a far greater proportion of students.   Next Steps -  If you are tired of your students not hearing your message, this FREE guide is for you. What you'll discover in this guide: How to Charge Your Batteries (it’s not just for phones) Discerning Someone’s Preferred Language (no foreign language training required) Listening for Their Perception (yep – we each have our own) Battery Charging Others (after all, teamwork makes the dream work) Get Your Message Across to a Group (all communication “channels” matter) Grab your FREE guide now. https://www.journeous.com/5-ways-free-guide/  

What Leaders Can Learn from Improv by Leading Through Uncertainty “All of the great leaders have shown vulnerability through time.” -JD Gershbein (20:50-20:53) In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt welcome their guest JD Gershbein as they talk about what leaders can learn from improv by leading through uncertainty. Leveraging his academic background, training in improvisational comedy at The Second City, and many years in broadcast media, JD GERSHBEIN is reinventing the concept of the personal brand strategist.  His multidisciplinary approach blends neuroscience, psychology, and the humanities, and affords his audiences valuable insights into how personal branding drives decision making and shapes our professional destiny. He quickly rose to prominence as a LinkedIn profile writer, pioneering a proprietary methodology for crafting outcome-focused, story-driven content that positions his clients as executive leaders, thought leaders, trusted advisors, innovators, value creators, and solutionists.  Part One of ‘What Leaders Can Learn from Improv by Leading Through Uncertainty’   JD's LinkedIn story started in 2006 when he was following a winding course in the marketing field. He had his own company, and there wasn't really much in the area of websites as we know it today. He was working on some internal communications for companies. In 2006, he saw LinkedIn, was attracted to it right away and has never been the same.  But before that, he’d spent time in improv. Decades later, that training still influences his day to day. And amidst the current pandemic and uncertainty, there are useful lessons to be learned.  “Connection really matters right now more than a transaction.” – Pam Baker (11:35-11:38) What are three things that you learned from improv that are useful for leaders as they're navigating all the uncertainty around them?     Self-awareness     This is at the top of the list.  Self-representation, whether it's in the online world, at a meeting sitting across the table from someone, or in front of a Zoom call, when you're trying to offer some insights, it's how you show up and how aware you are of yourself. It's essential to be present at the moment.   Keeping conversations in play (expanding and extending conversations)   From improv, we learn about how to extend and expand conversations, how to create something for your content partner, your email partner, your stage partner, or your scene partner so that they can expand or extend on what you've done.  Continuity in a thread and working hard to stay connected is so important right now because of all of the distractions and the disruptions that we're getting daily.    Be consciously respectful of the individual on the other side of your communications   There is plenty of pressure on us and demands to meet daily. It has become insurmountable for a lot of people. So, we have to find that delicate balance between the strength of our insights, our mentoring, our solutions, and the person on the other side of our conversation.  Part Two of ‘What Leaders Can Learn from Improv by Leading Through Uncertainty’ How can you extend that conversation so that you can get to the root of the discussion or a more meaningful conversation?   During times like this, our batteries are emptying pretty quickly, and you have to do that dance between the comfort zone and being a little bit outside it. If you stay too far in your comfort zone, you might hold yourself back from connecting with new people, but if you stay too far outside of it, it can drain us.   “Three must-do’s from improv for leaders: Self-awareness, Extending the conversation, and being consciously respectful” – Pam Baker (24:15-24:22)  The beauty of applied improvisation is to take your set of characteristics, your personality, the way you see the world, and your world view. Then, merge it with others as effectively and seamlessly as possible.  But when you're talking to new people, you don't know how they're going to respond. You have to ease them into the notion of collaborating with you in a new way. Next Steps -  Are you tired of being misunderstood or not heard? If so, we have a FREE guide for you. What you'll discover in this guide: How to Charge Your Batteries (it’s not just for phones) Discerning Someone’s Preferred Language (no foreign language training required) Listening for Their Perception (yep – we each have our own) Battery Charging Others (after all, teamwork makes the dream work) Get Your Message Across to a Group (all communication “channels” matter) Grab your FREE guide now. https://www.journeous.com/5-ways-free-guide/  

Are you curious about what's the impact of COVID-19 to the educational leaders and how they're coping with this pandemic? In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt welcome their special guests John Kelly and Timm Kelly, as they talk about how educational leaders are managing through the crisis. John Kelly is in his 28th year as an educator and is currently serving as the Principal of Cobb Horizon High School, and Academic Alternative High School in the Cobb County School District just north of Atlanta, Ga.  In its second year, Cobb Horizon has doubled their initial enrollment and by the end of this school year will graduate over 200 at-risk students.   Prior to being named the founding Principal at Cobb Horizon, Mr. Kelly served as a high school principal, Assistant Principal, Athletic Director and Physical Science/Chemistry teacher. Originally from Memphis, Michigan, John earned his Bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University, and Masters and Specialist Degrees in Educational leadership from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. Part One of ‘How Educational Leaders are Managing Through Crisis’ Kelly’s school utilizes a blended learning environment. Even before this pandemic, their kids are used to working online to a certain extent since they need an alternative path to receive their high school diploma. But even when teachers are used to the students doing seventy percent of the curriculum online, they are dealing with lots of other changes, whether because they’re at home or getting access to services. Basically, navigating this successfully boils down to relationships, whether you're in a regular school or an online school or working at home.  John Kelly talks about his team’s approach to keeping that good working relationship with the entire team central to everything they do. They put a schedule together so every staff member – administrators, assistant principals and teachers - is contacted. And those phone calls are not about the curriculum, not about the teaching or not about what's going on. It's about, how are you? Are you OK? Is the family OK? Or if they need anything. This quarantine period teaches the schools to adapt to the new changes and reevaluate. It allows us to take care of each other and take time to get to know each other at another level. “It’s incumbent on us as educators to make sure that every student has a chance to be successful.” (29:22-29:27) Thinking about all the people that are in contact with their students, the bus drivers, and the custodians who are working really hard to keep everybody safe. When we think about how this is impacting everyone, we can definitely come out of this as a better team. How people handle a crisis is a lot different than when they're in their classroom on a daily basis. And once the traditional school is back, educators are going to lead differently. Once the dust settles, what will be the significant changes? What are the big differences in terms of how educators are leading now versus how they were leading a month ago? The truth is, every one of us is learning to do things differently, whatever our job is. Slow down and pay attention to what you need to pay attention to. Get people in a place where they can communicate what they need to be successful in this new world. Part Two of ‘How Educational Leaders are Managing Through Crisis’ People are trying to figure out, what if the school doesn't open again this year? How are we going to continue to move these kids, not just academically, but socially and emotionally? How are we going to do that remotely? There's an opportunity to look at educating children differently. And that should be happening every year.    Meeting people's psychological needs first before any intellectual activity is crucial when you're leading. And in order to do that, you have to understand who they are, how they're wired, what their needs are, what their preferences are, what their communication style is, what their interactions and all of those things to know how to lead individuals, take more people on your team, and have them work together and understand each other. “The magic is invaluable at times like now. The magic of understanding who folks are, what their needs are, how to support them and motivate them to bring their best.” - Pam Baker (36:32-36:36) There's got to be that balance, whether you're in education or the corporate world. And leaders need to show they care about their people. Kids out there come from every walk of life. That's why schools, students and teachers all win when their teachers are focused first on building relationships with kids. So, there's a lot to be learned across the education industry.    At a time like this, it's the relationship that's going to carry us forward. Let’s all get back to the heart of why people go into education, why people care about kids and their staff. The magic is invaluable at times like now. The magic of understanding who folks are, what their needs are, how to support them, and motivate them to bring their best.   How to Get Involved Are you tired of being misunderstood or not heard? If so, we have a FREE guide for you. What you'll discover in this guide: How to Charge Your Batteries (it’s not just for phones) Discerning Someone’s Preferred Language (no foreign language training required) Listening for Their Perception (yep – we each have our own) Battery Charging Others (after all, teamwork makes the dream work) Get Your Message Across to a Group (all communication “channels” matter) Grab your FREE guide now. https://www.journeous.com/5-ways-free-guide/  

How to Manage Through Crisis  “Educators are slowly transitioning from face-to-face environments to online settings.” - Pam Baker  Educators are going through a rapid transition due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt welcome their special guest, Dr. Rick Vandermolen, as they talk about how to manage through a crisis. Dr. Rick Vandermolen is an experienced/former Principal with an emphasis on systems design, leadership coaching, observational practice, educational sustainability in school reform, E-Learning, K-12 Education, Lesson Planning, Assessment, Instruction, and Educational Technology. He is an experienced education professional with a doctorate focused on Educational Leadership from Eastern Michigan University. Part One of ‘How to Manage Through Crisis’ When we think about learning loops, we think about situations we're familiar with. Particularly our comfort zone. In situations where we're uncomfortable, we call that a discomfort zone. There's also the outer layer of that, which is fight or flight. Most people right now are out of their comfort zone. They're in that zone of discomfort. If you look at the theory behind this, when you are in your discomfort zone, it's stretching your understanding of your environment. We have a real strong sense of what needs to happen. We can talk about where we need to go because it's very familiar to us in the discomfort zone. These days, we are experiencing some situations for the first time. We may have dabbled in them a little bit. But they were not something we were required to do. So, we went back to our comfort zone and left them to the side “Make sure that you're taking care of yourself so that you can motivate the people around you.” - Cindy Hunt  The thing about the discomfort zone is, it's imperative for us to recognize that we're new to this. There are people in situations they've never been to before. Being at home 24/7 because of stay-at-home requirements. We now have learning loops that we need to be cognizant of. If we look at what is happening with teachers in schools, we could identify immediately at least three to four learning loops. Particularly, kids are learning how to interact with each other or their teacher for the first time in a virtual setting. A lot of schools have not innovated. They’ve stayed inside their comfort zone and educated the way that they're most comfortable with. Because of COVID-19, educators are in a situation that requires them to teach virtually. The challenge is how to interact with students and get them engaged in virtual learning. We have principals who have previously only led in environments on a person to person basis. Now they have to figure out how to communicate and lead from a position that's mostly virtual, with no physical, face to face contact. The last learning loop is related to parents. They're dealing with job situations that they're worried about. They've got kids at home all day, every day. They're trying to structure their home so that it's functional. Where there’s a place to do their homework. They've got to stay sane. We're all just adapting to this new environment. That’s the idea behind learning loops. When we are pushed into a situation that's new and novel or authentic, we’ve got to be cognizant of the learning loops. Then, we can ensure that we're putting people in a position to be successful. Part Two of ‘How to Manage Through Crisis’ How do leaders address learning loops when they're out of their comfort zone, and everyone's working routines have changed? We need to attend to our psychological needs by being cognizant of what it takes to be a leader, whether virtual or face to face. Ask yourself what you're psychologically motivated by. What do you need in your life to function at a high level? Ready to encourage those that you're leading? If leaders don't take care of themselves, then they're going to have a problem motivating and encouraging others that they're leading. “Learning loops is about building people's capacity so you can accomplish the vision that you've set for the organization.” - Dr. Rick Vandermolen  Learning loops are about building the capacity of people. If you can get your organization motivated to build their capacity, you're going to accomplish the vision that you've set for the organization. Leaders need to be able to do what they're asking their organization to do. In other words, if they don't want their organization to take a twenty five percent productivity hit, they must demonstrate how to do it better. Let’s say you're in a leadership role. You want the educators to establish an online presence with the students. If you're not actually modeling the behavior that you want the teachers to do, then you're not going to see good results. That's not motivation. That's not motivational to the people that you're trying to lead.  Another thing that needs to be emphasized from a leader's perspective is the essence of culture. Right now, we're all working remotely. For some of us who need face to face interaction, we need to establish a culture where we can have those interactions. As a leader, you have to create conditions that allow people to get back to comfort. This will enable a culture to develop where they're able to continue with their productivity. If you don't attend to the needs of your employees, you are probably not going to get the productivity that you want. Which speaks to why virtual happy hours are now actually a thing. When we bring folks to the table to take care of everybody's needs, it addresses some of the challenges. Which serves as a great lesson that we can learn from this time of great change. How to Get Involved Are you tired of being misunderstood or not heard? If so, we have a FREE guide for you. What you'll discover in this guide:   How to Charge Your Batteries (it’s not just for phones) Discerning Someone’s Preferred Language (no foreign language training required) Listening for Their Perception (yep – we each have our own) Battery Charging Others (after all, teamwork makes the dream work) Get Your Message Across to a Group (all communication “channels” matter) Grab your FREE guide now. https://www.journeous.com/5-ways-free-guide/

Leading in Education Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis "Take care of yourself first if you’re planning to have productive and efficient communication."- Cindy Hunt  (19:13 - 19:18)  Students and families across the nation are adapting to the evolving changes in daily life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has pushed the use of online education to ensure that most students are learning amidst the global situation.  In this episode, we have Dr. Rick Vandermolen. He spent most of his career in academics, where he worked as a teacher and principal. His research focuses on the use of technology to deliver meaningful and productive education for students. Also, he is leading a study on adaptive communication with a group of educational leaders.  And for these reasons,  we believe he is the perfect resource to talk about adapting to this new learning environment amidst the COVID-19 crisis.  Part One of Learning in Education Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis Most students are learning virtually. Online learning isn’t new, but it wasn't widely used as the primary educational setting until recently. The question now is, how can teachers prepare themselves to provide effective learning using a relatively new venue?  First of all, educators must see this as an opportunity. It's the best time to show students, parents, and the entire community the true value of our schools and how we can bring quality experiences to all of our students.  "Taking care of each other is one of the high priorities amidst all of this." - Cindy Hunt  (21:31 – 21:35)  Teaching face-to-face is different than doing so online. You have to understand the best practices so that the learning experiences will be the same, if not better.  For some educators, the switch from offline to online can be challenging. But if you have the will and if you are up for that challenge, there is no reason why you will fail.   As a leader, don't ask people to do stuff that you're not willing to do yourself. Try to explore what technology can offer and try to see how you can integrate your learning techniques. We can maximize Google Classroom, Zoom, and other platforms.    Consider the following regardless of the teaching method or platform you use:  What do I want to happen for kids in this situation?  What does that look like?  What does that sound like?  What is it going to take for us to get there?  What kind of interaction and communication can we put into play just like we would in a classroom?    Think about the conditions needed for learning, just as you would in the classroom.  Part Two of Learning in Education Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis "Be a leader who leads like you deserve followers." - Dr. Rick Vandermolen   (07:15 - 07:19)  It's also crucial that as teacher leaders and teachers, we formulate a structure so we can all meet together. Doing so is in the best interests of the students. Make it a point to meet with your colleagues, share best practices, and find the most appropriate online techniques to use.  While there might be distractions when teaching and learning online, the key here is to take care of our own psychological needs first, just as we would in the classroom setting.  When it comes to preparing, put yourself in a position to win. Start by being physically, spiritually, and mentally prepared. Establish a routine and decide how your communication will go out. Many students love To-Do lists.  Be visual with your students. They benefit from seeing you as a real person.  Lastly, try to provide your students with an opportunity to meet you online. For example,  open an hour where they could talk to you about the things they are dealing with right now. Show them you’re a teacher who they can trust.  Online learning might feel outside of some of our comfort zone at first, but it gives us a way of innovating in education.  How to Get Involved Are you tired of being misunderstood or not heard? If so, we have a FREE guide for you. What you'll discover in this guide:   How to Charge Your Batteries (it’s not just for phones) Discerning Someone’s Preferred Language (no foreign language training required) Listening for Their Perception (yep – we each have our own) Battery Charging Others (after all, teamwork makes the dream work) Get Your Message Across to a Group (all communication “channels” matter) Grab your FREE guide now. https://www.journeous.com/5-ways-free-guide/

How many times have you received a piece of direct mail or an email and didn't read it? Probably many times, right? But don't feel guilty about it. More often than not, it's because of HOW the letter was written. It's not because you are too lazy to read the content.  Remember, it is not a question of WHAT but a question of HOW.  Unfortunately, there are hundreds of organizations wasting their precious time sending letters that instantly turn off readers. In this episode, we’ll explain what to consider when writing and how you can win your audience.   Part One of ‘Who’s Hearing Your Message’ Let's talk about two significant concepts that you need to embrace when you write. First is the Adaptive Communication, and the second one is the Process Communication Model (PCM) by Dr. Taibi Kahler. You probably know by now how we want to maximize adaptive communication, most notably for businesses. For those who might need a refresher, adaptive communication means that you tailor your message depending on someone's personality, needs, and abilities.  An example is avoiding technical terms or jargon if you are speaking to someone outside of your industry.  By using the principles of adaptive communication, you will be more careful and cautious with your language so that your readers can fully understand what you meant.  Process Communication Model, on the other hand, explains that we all have different personality structures made up of multiple personality types, as identified below.  Feeler  Thinker  Believer  Dreamer  Funster or a Rebel  Promoter    While we all have these in our system, we are naturally able to energize only two or three traits. It means one person can be more of a 'feeler' than a 'thinker.' Others can be a 'dreamer' and a 'promoter.' There's no perfect mix, and one personality doesn't mean it's better than the other.  Now, how can we use this concept when writing? Say, for example, you are a non-profit organization. What if you have a diverse audience with different types of personalities? How would you construct your newsletters or direct mails?  By using the base concept of the Process Communication Model, the best practice is to ensure that your letter addresses the needs of different people. It would help if you used varying languages. Perhaps, use specific colors as well.  You have to understand which channel of communication most people prefer. That way, you can tap a considerable percentage of your audience.     "Before someone reads your message, they might have already been turned off and won't even read the paragraph." - Cindy Hunt (02:30-02:36) In the podcast, you will see how they compared the structure of an actual letter from what is actually recommended. From there, you will notice a lot of discrepancies. Now, this is not to say that the letter was wrong. However, it could have been better.   If the right concepts were followed, they could gain more traction. It will be more effective. Part Two of ‘Who’s Hearing Your Message’ "People need time to reflect and react spontaneously." - Cindy Hunt (07:51-07:56) Most successful leaders, celebrities, and other renowned icons have understood the importance of knowing your audience. It's how they create their speeches or letters to the public. It's not about the content itself, but how they constructed the message in written form.  As for you, take advantage of learning these principles. That way, you can substantially improve your communication, reduce conflicts, and even motivate and persuade your audience.    How to Get Involved Today's workplace is filled with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. This can catapult creative problem solving but result in communication challenges and conflict that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here - https://www.journeous.com

Lead With Confidence And Inclusiveness. What the Gates Foundation Is Doing To Make This A Reality! “Collaboration help increase creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.” -Pam Baker  Journeous is focused on inclusive growth. We fundamentally believe that each of us should have the opportunity to bring the best of who we are to our work. We aim to highlight other leaders and organizations that have similar goals around inclusive growth and inclusive leadership. Through our work with adaptive communication, which allows teams can collaborate easily and efficiently, they motivate themselves and each other to bring the best of who they are to the work they do. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt welcome Dr. Robin Martin as their special guest as they discuss leading with confidence and inclusiveness. Part One of ‘Lead with Confidence and Inclusiveness. What the Gates Foundation Is Doing to Make This a Reality!’ Dr. Robin Martin is the Deputy Director of Strategy, Planning, and Management for the Postsecondary Success team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She brings more than 20 years of higher education experience and a doctoral degree in Urban Education Leadership to her role. She focuses on operational excellence, development, and execution of key elements of the team's work—including focusing on integrating equity as an essential part of success. Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Martin served as an associate provost for diversity and inclusion. She spearheading hiring initiatives and programs focused on building sustainable, equitable practices at an R1 university. She taught and conducted her research as a tenure-track faculty member. Significantly, she made national news for her focus on equity in hiring and culture-building as a collegiate athletic director and coach. In all of her efforts, Dr. Martin illuminates a path for academics and professionals to build true equity in and around institutions where it is both seriously lacking and essential.   “There's a secret sauce to figure out what motivates people.” - Cindy Hunt  Each person in this world has a part to play. The person beside you has a talent that you don't have. You need to blend those talents to be successful. So, it's vital to understand the team concept and to understand your role both as an individual. How you contribute helps you understand how those different parts fit together. It's about making proper connections to create meaningful relationships.  It's important to foster a community where folks can understand different perspectives, how to get motivated, and how they can bring their best to every conversation. When everybody knows how to not only be their best but also support each other, care about each other, and understand some of those differences, it's a whole different set of interactions.  Part Two of ‘Lead with Confidence and Inclusiveness. What the Gates Foundation Is Doing to Make This a Reality!’ Some people think leadership is a hierarchal state of being in the place of power. It's really about the specific amount of skills and talents that you bring to the table. Higher education leaders nowadays are more focused on how you get students to be successful in communication. Consider reflecting on how you can best leverage your talent for the benefit of the whole team? Because their success is also your success. “Know your purpose and how you can contribute to a larger society.” - Dr. Robin Martin  Realize that not everyone needs the same type of response to the same kind of approach. Not everyone is going to ascribe to all the things that you say. What type of energy are you bringing as a culture every single day? What does each player need from you to be successful in their own individual lives? How do you support them both on and off the field? Inclusive leadership starts with the person. What are you bringing to the table? Your energy, your mindset, your contributions, and how are you showing up individually? Evaluate yourself. How are you showing up daily? Make progress and continuous improvement. We all see the world a little bit different. Be reflective about living in the moment to know how your action is affecting others. How To Connect With Dr. Robin Martin: You may contact Dr. Robin Martin through email Robin.Martin@gatesfoundation.org or follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.  How To Connect With Pam and Cindy: Today's workplace is filled with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. This can catapult creative problem solving but result in communication challenges and conflict that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Let's book a time to talk. https://www.journeous.com/business/#BusinessScheduler

According to statistics, 70% of mistakes in organizations can be chalked up to communication issues. Hard skills might get you hired, but lousy soft skills are going to get you fired. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt, together with their special guest, Phil Jarvis, talk about the skills that Canadian students are learning to make them life-ready. Part One of ‘The skills that Canadian students are learning to make them life-ready with Phil Jarvis’ Phil Jarvis is mobilizing collaboration across borders to graduate young people who are "life-ready". He is the President of the Transitions Canada Coalition. Transitions Canada is a not-for-profit national coalition of education, business, government, and civic leaders committed to identifying, enhancing and scaling best practices across Canada. They are actively addressing gaps to prepare students for success beyond high school. This includes postsecondary education and contemporary jobs and career paths. Coalition partners believe a dramatic shift is required to personalized, project-based, collaborative learning linked to issues about which students care deeply. His accomplishments include: building national and international networks of champions and partners, aligning diverse teams of territorial and federal experts, leading national and global initiatives used by millions of students, and providing technical assistance to World Bank projects. He is trusted for his knowledge, experience, integrity, and commitment to excellence. His goal is to ensure young people know their strengths and purpose, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and acquire the competencies they need to transitions from school to success in career and life. “Part of the problem is we're not engaging kids’ imaginations because we're not connecting the learning to them.” – Phil Jarvis (04:36-04:42) Education shouldn't just be about teaching young people how to get specific assignments done or pass the test. Or only focused on graduating high school to get to college. But it's so much more than that. Transformative initiatives and ideas are required to truly make a difference in the educational system.  Every person has different ways to get inspired and motivated. That means leaders in the education industry must find out what young people care about to truly connect the learning to them. It could be things like climate change, plastics in the ocean, lost pets, the homeless, or injustice. You have to figure out what captures their imagination. Part Two of ‘The skills that Canadian students are learning to make them life-ready with Phil Jarvis’ Transformation starts when kids get help discovering themselves. There are many ways to make the kids' learning journey more engaging. Not just merely staring at the blackboard. The learning system needs to be much more hands-on and real-world connected. Get to know the issues around them that they care about. Textbooks serve as our guide, but if there's a way to make the learning more fun, then go for it. “It's important to know how to bring the curriculum to life through real-world connection with real-world issues.” – Phil Jarvis (14:51-15:02)   Good communication, mutual respect, and integrity are the key issues that help people become successful in companies. As long as they're doing something that they love doing. In marriages and community relationships, those are the human factors that have been left out of the curriculum. Find out what are the community issues and how you can start to change the world right now. How can you connect with people that are out there doing what you're passionate about? Those are the same people whom you can get pointers from and hear their success stories. Through real-world connections, you can get human labor market information and life information that you'll never get from a computer system. It’s called an occupational monograph. How is this related to young people? It's essential to find out what issues they worry about and want to act on. What projects could they get involved with right now in their family, in their community, and their world? Once you find out what they care about, get them engaged with other students, their community, and community-based organizations. Through our education, communication is absolutely key. Focus on something that they're passionate about, rather than just trying to memorize a poem. Not that poetry isn't great, but unless you're passionate about it, you may just be going through the motions. Kids need teachers who can bring their best to what they do. Who can get back to the reasons they work in education. How to Get Involved Today's workplace is filled with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. This can catapult creative problem solving but result in communication challenges and conflict that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Let's book a time to talk. https://www.journeous.com/business/#BusinessScheduler

Effective health systems can make a substantive contribution to economic performance. They enable economic growth to be more sustainable and inclusive. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt, together with their special guest Jeff Oxendine talk about the reason why inclusive growth matters in healthcare.  Jeff Oxendine spent decades in different parts of the healthcare space. He leads a non-profit called health career connections to support underprivileged youth and finding their way to health careers, in partnership with the state government and private industry.   Part One of ‘Why Inclusive Growth Matters in Healthcare with Jeff Oxendine’   There is a wide range of healthcare professions. They offer rewarding opportunities. It's possible to discover and achieve your ideal health career by identifying what suits your unique talents. Think of your passions, your values, and your experiences. Think of what you're good at, what you enjoy doing and matching that to what the world needs. “The best way to assess yourself for a healthcare profession is to match everything you have with what the world needs.” – Jeff Oxendine (18:25-19:04) You can create a positive contribution to society using the set of strengths you have. And if you're interested in pursuing a career in the healthcare industry, always put your best foot forward. Don't let the challenging courses get in the way of your goals. This world needs a healthcare environment that welcomes different sets of strengths people can bring to the table. It's more likely to create a better outcome. That's why it's no secret that you're going to have to do things differently to support the needs of the current population as the demographics change.  There are specific skills required to be successful in clinical professions. But there are many organizations today coming up with strong academic support for high school and college students to be able to get more exposure to what the wide range of health career options are, what kind of skills are needed, and how to pursue them more effectively. With the right support or mentorship, you can identify what you want to do, be resilient with the pre-health coursework, and succeed in the healthcare role you are aiming for. Part Two ‘‘Why Inclusive Growth Matters in Healthcare with Jeff Oxendine’ The highest priorities for the future health workforce fall into three primary categories. First, they are professionals in primary care and prevention. That ranges from not only people who are physicians focusing on primary care and prevention but also all members of a primary care team. That includes nurses, social workers, medical assistants, nutritionists, and all different types of people. Second, behavioral health, including mental health. Third, care and healthy aging for older adults. “Healthcare workers need to be resilient to cope with difficult situations.”  - Jeff Oxendine (20:08-20:37) Many healthcare workers go through difficulties on a day to day basis. It's a fulfilling role but requires resilience. And to ensure that everyone is contributing as much as they can, more opportunities for training and gaining the right skills are imperative. This includes understanding the determinants that impact the health of our population. It is sometimes called the social determinants of health in addition to the medical aspects that impact health. Health systems around the world not only treat the sick and prevent future illness, but they also make an impact on the country's economy too. Good health condition enables everyone to function well whether it's in the campus or business settings. This strengthens economic performance, and also makes economic growth more sustainable and inclusive. How to Get Involved Today's workplace is filled with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills. This can catapult creative problem solving but result in communication challenges and conflict that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Let's book a time to talk. http://bit.ly/MeetWithPamBaker

Impact and Influence: Transform Your Presence with Katherine Johnson “Self-awareness helps you connect with others on a deeper level.” - Katherine Johnson  It's always rewarding to build connections and help people navigate their life with a greater sense of who they are. It’s great knowing how to transmit that through nonverbal communication. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt, together with their special guest Katherine Johnson, talk about transforming your presence with impact and influence. Part One of ‘Impact and Influence: Transform Your Presence with Katherine Johnson’ Katherine Johnson is an executive presence consultant. Her work focuses on supporting individuals and teams in terms of adding tools in their toolbox. “Your image speaks before you ever say a word.” – Pam Baker (02:34-02:52) When someone has a tremendous executive presence or great charisma, you probably feel what it's like to be in their presence. But how do you exude the same aura? It is crucial to understand how to show up in a way where everything about your presence is aligned and congruent. It impacts the way you carry yourself. It improves how you convey your power and how comfortable you feel connecting with others. You could be a professional moving into the next level of leadership or a candidate running for office who's in a highly visible role. Things like this make you think about how to show up and use your appearance to have the most impact and influence. There's a lot of discomfort around appearance or image. It can feel superficial. Some people want to be known for certain things like substance or their contribution to the world. It's not about creating an image. It's actually about learning how to create that synchronicity and knowing what alignment looks like. It's best to start with who you are and then eliminating any static or masks or confusion that makes it harder for people to connect with you to see here in value what you bring to the table. You must be able to identify what's getting in the way of you connecting with other people truly. Sometimes it's the stress or pressure inside of you that you need to be someone who're not supposed to be. You're not changing the core of who you are and the strengths that you bring. It's about aligning those so that everybody else can connect to you. Part Two of ‘Impact and Influence: Transform Your Presence with Katherine Johnson’ In terms of understanding adaptive behaviors or adaptive communication styles, some people think they need to show up in a certain way based on their personality. But you need to have an awareness of how your personality impacts other people and realize that not everyone is operating from the same belief or same structure of a character. “Elevating your presence means being confident that you’re projecting the best version of yourself.” – Katherine Johnson (07:18-07:28) Transforming your presence is mostly about figuring out your lane and staying in it — that consistency, that authenticity, and what that means to you. People will always believe in actions. As much as you're committed to your words, you need to make sure that you understand what alignment means. Because that amplifies your message. Lastly, interactions filled with stress can cause you to put your mask on, and that prevents a particular message from getting across as intended. Learn More About Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson is an executive presence consultant who works across North America teaching speakers, public figures, and next-level leaders on how to develop an aligned presence that builds trust, credibility, and influence.  She holds a B.A. degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree from Lewis & Clark College. Motivated to be a force for positive change in the world, Katherine integrates her background as a ten-time national squash champion, professional athlete and US Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year with a research-based approach to performance, presence and personal power.   Always focused on the power of connection and authenticity, she helps people bring their A-game into all areas of their life.  Social handles: IG: katherinejohnson_spark LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-johnson-bb728263 Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/trueselfpresence/ Website: www.katherine-johnson.com How to Get Involved ​​​Today's workplace has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills which can catapult creative problem-solving. This may result in communication challenges and conflicts that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns. Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here: https://www.journeous.com/business/ Learn more about Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt: https://www.journeous.com/company/

Embracing Uncertainty at Work “Self-care and caring for others are both required to minimize challenging conversations.” -Pam Baker (20:46-20:54) The Journeous podcast is about successful career transitions and intentional journeys. We believe in inclusive growth that trains people on adaptive communication. This allows them to connect, collaborate, motivate, and resolve conflict in any situation. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt talk about embracing uncertainty at work.   Part One of ‘Embracing Uncertainty at Work’   We regularly encounter uncertainty and work together. There’s lots of conflict and miscommunication. We see uncertainty in company politics, for example, new leadership and initiatives. How do you collaborate in a way that allows you to get your best work done and bring the best of who you are? And also, do your work while you collaborate with other folks? “Focus on what fills your bucket and put those intentionally into your daily schedule.” – Cindy Hunt (19:46-19:56) Some people think uncertainty is something that we need to get rid of. The truth is, once we can embrace change, it isn’t scary. It is an opportunity to grow, create, and collaborate. That certainly isn't as frightening as expected. If you're supervising a team and you know yourself, you can manage that feeling of uncertainty. This way you’re more productive. You can stop wasting time at meetings.  Regarding adaptive communication, look at details and figure out what your motivators are. How do you like to communicate about essential topics? What is your preferred environment? Set up your daily schedule so that you're always charging your battery to be the best leader for someone else.  If you're a compassionate, incredible leader, you know that motivation is a recognition of self. Make sure your environment is filled with pictures of people you care for. Another motivator is taking the time to have that cup of tea, make a good dinner, or take your family out. Those are ways that you can take care of yourself so nobody else has to take care of you as a leader. You can be your best self and can take care of the others around you too. That's why self-care is so important. Self-care is such a buzz word right now because a lot of successful people say that they prioritize taking care of themselves first. The thing about self-care is that what works for other people might not work for you. People don't have time in their busy schedules for long hours of self-care. Close the door, take a minute to make a phone call to a friend or family at lunchtime, if connecting with people is part of your self-care.  If you need to find some space and solitude, don't have lunch in the office. Take a nice walk. Some people prefer going to the gym, but some of us don't have the time and the resources to do that. You just have to start finding quick ways to be conscious of when you need self-care, and how to get your needs met. Part Two of ‘Embracing Uncertainty at Work’ One misconception about self-care is that it is time-consuming. Once you're aware of the needs of the people around you, you might think it's about varying your technique as a leader rather than trying to meet everybody's needs. There's no way you can do that. You don’t need to. You can work with someone the way you prefer to interact. Just make sure at some point during that meeting your preference is going to be addressed. If some of your team likes having decisions made democratically, that's about 35% of the people. As a leader, if you like democratic decision making, then you might be running every meeting that way. That means that 65% of your team is not enjoying that decision making. “It’s essential that we understand the decision-making process so we can move forward collectively.” – Pam Baker (14:52-14:59) 15% of the 1.3 million polled worldwide on communication preference prefer an autocratic style. The leader makes the decision and executes it their way. Once the decision is made, everybody on the team feels okay enough to move forward even if they don’t agree with the decision. The people that prefer a benevolent style may have a hard time fully embracing the idea.  Everybody on your team has strengths, and you want a bit of all of them. But if you're running your meetings with one style, you're probably not getting the best of everybody. You might be draining their batteries to the point where they're putting on their masks.    If you're a leader who's taking care of yourself and keeping your batteries charged, you can do the same for your team. You can work with anyone in a benevolent style. But as your batteries get empty and as your self-care is not being addressed, it's hard to get connection and collaboration going.   Understanding each other's motivators and ways of interaction makes a massive impact. That’s where self-care becomes 'we care.' It's a 'better together' concept where a meeting begins with self-care moments and recognition of someone's incredible commitment to a project. It begins with team building to keep everybody motivated.    How does that change your meetings? As a leader, you must take care of yourself first. Don’t get caught wasting your time at a meeting because communication isn’t going well. Start paying attention to what charges your battery. Put those activities into your daily schedule. Make sure that as the leader, you're encouraging every person on the team to do the same. Encourage them to take care of themselves and each other. It makes everything more effective and efficient.   How to Get Involved   ​​Today's workplace has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills which can catapult creative problem-solving. This may result in communication challenges and conflicts that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns. Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here: https://www.journeous.com/business/ Learn more about Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt: https://www.journeous.com/company/

Mastery-Based Learning Explained With Mike Yates “It is essential to prepare the students for their future careers with confidence.” -Pam Baker (01:17-01:26) Journeous podcast is about successful career transitions and navigating intentional journeys with insight, clarity, and confidence. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt, in collaboration with a special guest, Mike Yates, talks about mastery-based learning. When Mike Yates became a teacher, he immediately started searching for the school model that would serve students most effectively. He wanted to empower them to drive their learning. Part One of ‘Mastery-Based Learning Explained with Mike Yates’ Educational professionals all make the same commitment. They want to encourage students to love school and teach them essential life skills. Loving school is essential because if you can make kids love school, you are winning. You can make programming adjustments. You can always create life skills, workshops, and projects. The fact is, if the kids don't love it, it won't work. It works by putting a bunch of smart people in a room. They are not fixated on a job title. They're not fixated on roles and responsibilities. People who are interested in solving problems are the kind of people that we want. “Everything we need to learn takes constant practice.” – Mike Yates (20:43-20:45) Stop thinking of school as a transitional place. We can motivate kids through coaching. We can organize learners by age, and we are charged with knowing every kid. It's more than possible. Some classroom teachers can manage up to one hundred fifty kids. Knowing kids is going to make them feel safe, and you can also push them to achieve new heights because they trust you. In terms of adaptive communication and helping people, sometimes issues need to be overcome. When your best person isn't showing up, whether teachers are stressed, or students are in distress, know that there are ways to support and everybody back on track. It should everyone's collective responsibility to take care of each other. It's like a constant pattern of checking in with each other. Just because you have a high position, doesn’t mean you know everything. That's not the case at all. You can show vulnerability and tell a kid that you don't know something, like math. You can tell a kid you don’t know it. It may look simple, but it levels the playing field for them. Business leaders must understand that you can be a collector of information without claiming to be an expert. Humility is something that we should strive towards because everything we need to learn takes constant practice. Part Two of ‘Mastery-Based Learning Explained with Mike Yates’ The traditional education evaluation system is flawed. Grades are not an accurate representation of a student's performance. You have lots of people weighing in on your performance, and the ultimate truth is the average of different perspectives. “Don’t be afraid of failure but learn from it.” – Mike Yates (29:08-29:17) We want to see young people making a positive impact on the world. To do that, start teaching kids to make an impact. What the traditional school system does is teach kids to fall in line and to sort of blend in as opposed to stand out. Your whole life you're told, quiet and raise your hand to speak. We should be telling kids not to be afraid of failure but learn from it. Let kids do what they love and teach them how to be authentic. This kind of strategy helps create an environment where they can go off and do incredible things. Learn more about Mike Yates  Mike taught in public, private and charter schools for 5 years helping 89% of his students to earn commended on the Texas state standardized test and helping more than 75% of my students earn 4s and 5s on AP (Advanced Placement) Tests. He won teaching and coaching awards and still found himself unable to help kids the way they should be. I knew there had to be another way. Today, he works tirelessly to disrupt and innovate school as a team leader at Alpha, an innovative, independent school that uses adaptive learning software in place of direct instruction. Every student at Alpha performs in the top 10% of students their age on the MAP assessment. 99% of our students report that they love coming to school. Every student learns life skills, technical skills, and transferable skills. They are changing the way kids do school. He co-founded Guide, a social e-learning app that teaches students life skills through micro-video content to provide access to innovative education options! The guide makes learning blended, on-demand and relevant! They are changing the way students use education. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-yates/ How to Get Involved ​Today's workplace has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills which can catapult creative problem-solving. This may result in communication challenges and conflicts that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns. Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here: https://www.journeous.com/business/ Learn more about Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt: https://www.journeous.com/company/

Retain Employees: Make the Most of Your Team Now “It’s Important to Know the Different Interaction Styles.”— Cindy Hunt (06:34-06:37) Leaders and innovators are in a tight modern job market, seeking to hang on to their best employees and bring new hires up to speed. In this week's episode, Cindy Hunt and Pam Baker talks about Retaining Employees — Make the Most of Your Team. Part One of ‘Retain Employees: Make the Most of Your Team Now’ How can you make the most of the folks that are on your team? It's interesting to think about how you can retain employees. How do you make sure you're creating an environment that engages all the people on your team? It's a topic that's worth addressing during such a tight labor market and is dear to everybody's heart. There's nothing that bothers us more, as a leader, team member or colleague, when someone great decides to leave.   “We tend to lead how we want to be led.” – Cindy Hunt (03:44-03:51)   We've all had to make difficult transitional decisions. So, it's exciting to think about things that should be done differently. It's uncomfortable to work with leaders that are intentionally trying to change the systems. Sometimes leaders focus so much on others that they don't take time to know themselves. We tend to hire certain people to work with us and lead how we want to be led. We set up our environment how we like it to be. That fills our bucket. We resolve conflicts the way that we prefer to resolve a dispute, even if it isn't applicable across the entire population of our employees. It's interesting because there's so much recent discussion around diversity and inclusion. We tend to think of diversity in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, and background. But this is a slightly different view of diversity. For example, you may prefer to be led in a democratic environment where we all provide input, and then somebody else decides. But we know that there's only 35% of the population that prefers to be led that way. So, if you make every decision and go through that democratic interaction style, you're very likely not going to get the other group engaged. Potentially, they might want to look for a different kind of leader to work for. We all know that everybody loves to work for great leaders. But what is a great leader?  A great leader is someone that knows themselves well enough that they can take time to know their employees and change. We all have our own leadership style, and some leaders prefer democratic. They want to have their voice heard and assume everybody else wants their voice heard. Some people are looking for a different leadership style. One of the leadership styles that has a somewhat bad reputation is the autocratic style. It's very action-oriented and wants to get it done. That's why it's essential to know the different ways to interact. Know yourself, which way are you leading? You're probably leading how you prefer to be led, and varying it by the group. If you know your team well, you can vary person by person. If you're in a team environment, you want to make sure that you're changing up your leadership style. Part Two of ‘Retain Employees: Make the Most of Your Team Now’   If you're leading a team, people will want different leadership styles. If you have an hour-long team meeting, how do you negotiate the varying needs of folks on the team? It's a common question. All functional groups have a remarkable diversity in terms of how they process information and how they want to be led. The most important thing is that the team knows when you are going to be democratic, and when you are going to be autocratic. To move forward on a decision, I need to know that everybody feels okay. Everybody may not agree, but if everybody feels okay with the process, we're going to move forward together. Changing up the leadership style and giving people different environments goes a long way because we don't always have to work in one form. We should all be happy to work with other people's styles and not just stick to one type of leadership. It drains us, as a matter of fact, the best of us, and at that point, we become disengaged, some looking for other leaders to work for. “People get more engaged when motivated.” – Cindy Hunt (10:29-10:36) The big mistake is not being able to hear and see what we call the doorway of distress. That very first level of stress and the ability to address it. Why do people want to go elsewhere? Why do we lose employees? Their needs aren't being met, whether professional growth, psychological or they are motivated to look elsewhere. You know the beginning signs of stress in your team or another employee in your company. Stress is a modern reality. If you're doing business in the world, you're going to have stress. Employees need to know what makes them the best they can be. If they are not at their best, they're just inviting others into what we call distress. Others aren't going to be their best. So, it's knowing yourself well enough so that you can motivate yourself. You can start by looking out at the people that you've worked with.   Take the time to listen to what's being said. Shut out that stress as much as you can. You tend to put your mask on when you are in distress, and that mask can cause people to look for other jobs. If you're in a stressful position, you're very likely going to be putting your mask on and off all day. We want to make sure that you're pulling it off more frequently than you're putting it on. We can't avoid it 100%, but when you make an effort to work with your employees and keep them around, they're going to be happier. If you can take your mask off more frequently, you can help your employees be the best they can be. If they feel exceptional, valued, and motivated, they have no reason to look elsewhere. When the whole team knows themselves well and can articulate their ideas to the group, that's when the magic happens.   How to Get Involved Today's workplace has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills which can catapult creative problem-solving. This may result in communication challenges and conflicts that derail a company's fast-paced progress.   Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here https://www.journeous.com/business/ Learn more about Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt https://www.journeous.com/company/

Stop Wasting Time. Hit the Mark in The Conversations That Matter. “Don’t Make Resolutions Without an Action Plan.” -Pam Baker (00:46-01:09) It's the year 2020! Many corporations and business owners are thinking about what it is that we want to change in the year ahead. How can we prevent wasting time on the unimportant and focus our attention on activities that rank in the top 20% in terms of importance?  In this week's episode, the Founder of Journeous, Pam Baker, and Chief Communication Officer, Cindy Hunt, talk about hitting the mark in the conversations that matter and how to stop wasting time.    Part One of ‘Stop Wasting Time. Hit the Mark in The Conversations That Matter’   Cindy has observed firsthand that creating a long-lasting community requires people and partnerships, and she's driven to develop relationships with all of those she meets. She's naturally curious to lead, motivate, and resolve conflict, so those around her become strong, dedicated, and compassionate leaders.   Cindy has spent her career partnering to facilitate change beginning with the Peace Corps, in public and private education, by facilitating corporate leadership training, and through community volunteering and coaching. Cindy has taught both domestically and internationally, is an educational consultant and state-wide education facilitator, along with deep expertise in adaptive communications. She's trained groups small and large of school and business leaders and students themselves on the art of adaptive communication.  “Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.” – Cindy Hunt (06:48-06:57) According to research, Cindy discovered that we all have six specific channels of communication that we use, and they're in a particular order of preference for each person. So, there's a wide range of possibilities of who you might be talking to, but each channel has a strength associated with it. It has an interaction style that has a preference for it. It has environmental choices that go with it. They have specific perceptions of how we filter and what's important to us. We're not able to hear the messages when you know how to take care of yourself and understand what other people's distress looks like. Cindy also highlights that when your message is not received as you intended, that means one of two things. Either you weren't speaking on the same channel, or one of you was in distress and wasn't presenting your best self to the other person. Sometimes we put on the mask for prolonged periods. Even though sometimes it feels good, we know that that's not who we are at the end of the day. What's the connection between wasting time and distress? When miscommunication occurs in the middle of business meetings, someone presents an idea while others are pushing back or not responding and not able to decide. Those are all potential reasons that we all went into our distress sequences, and now we're wasting time because we do not even hear the topic. When we are in distress, we're talking with a mask on. We tend to focus on the wrong things and lose our problem-solving ability. We get into a place where we're pushing our opinions. And, we over delegate to the wrong person. That would look like having a big project to do that requires a particular skill and letting somebody else do it. Even though they're not set up for success, they might not have all the skills necessary to complete it correctly. Or we shrug our shoulders and say that we don't know how to do it. That's a prevalent one as well. So, we're not communicating effectively. Take a moment to reflect on what you need to do when things don't go well. Part Two of ‘Stop Wasting Time. Hit the Mark in The Conversations That Matter’ Start paying attention to yourself. It always starts with ourselves and what makes you feel good. If you're going into significant conversations, whether they're personal or professional, take care of yourself with those things prior. When you're stressed, notice the way you show up into specific conversations. You know that they matter, and you want to get the message across. Therefore, make sure you're taking care of yourself in advance. If you take care of yourself well enough and recognize the invitations of distress, you won't put your mask on. And if you encounter someone who has one of their cover of pain on, you now have the skill and the energy to help them take it off and communicate again.  “You show up differently in conversations when you’re stressed.” – Pam Baker (24:17-24:28) When you're finding yourself in any of those distress patterns, you're wasting your time trying to talk to people. That's not where communication happens. That's where the waste of time occurs when we try to push through those masks and hope that people on the other side are receiving the message as we intended it to be. They're not. We've just invited them to put on their masks as well. So, that's the part about getting to know yourself and others. The better you can do that, the less time it takes to get decisions made. How to Get Involved Today's workplace has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills which, can catapult creative problem-solving. This may result in communication challenges and conflicts that derail a company's fast-paced progress. Adaptive communication enables people to understand one another and quickly resolve conflict—regardless of background, demographics, age, or educational level. Employees gain the tools to lead innovation, generate support for ideas, and reduce communication breakdowns.  Want to increase your organization's productivity, increase collaboration, and communicate so your message is heard? Learn more here https://www.journeous.com/business/ Learn more about Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt https://www.journeous.com/company/