Vanessa Hall on Trust and Transformation

I have heard a few Christian leaders talk about their desire to focus on the 'big things', expressing frustration at the 'distractions'. I was playing on my heart and mind, and so I asked God how I can help, what truths can I speak that will help them flourish? This is what flowed.

It's been a while since I'e shared on this podcast, but I've been writing plenty! Today I was prompted to start sharing what God is putting on my heart, as I write what flows. They are almost always messages that I believe will bless others, and so here is the first of many: The walls are breaking down. This came through reflection about what is next for me, but became a message about the collapses of leadership in the church.

Writing and owning your story is something that can be surprisingly difficult, especially when we have things in our past we'd rather forget. But owning every part of who you are is critical to how you turn up in the world. Writing a book is a very different process, and often one that does isolate parts of who we are for the benefit of the audience. Vanessa Hall shares her thoughts on these two distinct and connected things.

Is it possible to be too comfortable? What happens when we seek comfort? At what point does comfort become apathy? Are we supposed to enjoy discomfort? Vanessa Hall explores comfort vs growth and the importance of finding balance between the two.

Trust Me, Famous Words: I wrote this song 13 years ago, and recorded it with my younger sister, Belinda, singing the harmony (and the rap!). We called ourselves Sibling Harmony. After a long history of broken and betrayed trust, I was feeling pretty sceptical about trust, about people who make all the promises in the world and then break them, yet I felt compelled to do something about it, to take it on somehow, own it, understand it, and help raise awareness about just how precious it is. Around about this time, my son, Lachlan, highlighted for me that I was doing the same, breaking trust, breaking promises. I couldn't believe it at first, but it was true, and it hurt. That ignited a passion in me that has now, over these past 13 years, literally taken me around the world. I've written books, songs, training programs, have trained to varying degrees over 30,000 leaders across 17 countries in the truth about trust, have studied it theologically, have tested and measured my models for trust in multiple cultures and industries, including running a 3 year community building project that saw a transformation of a community in Western Sydney (Lalor Park). I'm sometimes called 'The Trust Lady' - I'm not sure I like that term, it comes with a lot of pressure and expectation! What I certainly am is passionate about trust, about bringing about a greater awareness and skilling people in just what it means to trust, why we do it, what happens when we do, how to inspire, nurture and restore trust. You can find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and here, with this podcast, and I’m often popping up at conferences! I look forward to meeting you one day, and hearing your story of trust. Vanessa

Women across the globe are repeatedly being told they need to be more 'concrete' in their thinking. But as Vanessa explores, women often bring a more 'grounded' approach to business, and it may well be something their male counterparts should value a whole lot more.

Powerful people can be attractive, and often tell us we can be just like them. Vulnerable people can also be attractive in a different way, and often tell you you can be fully you. Vulnerability is opening up to trust, and invites people to be real, and there is power in that. Vanessa explores each of these in her random way!

What do you do when you have good intentions about something, but people perceive you differently? Should our intentions alone prove us trustworthy? Can we control others' perception of us? Vanessa Hall explores these questions and wrestles with a trap we can all get caught in.

More and more I am hearing this same challenge amongst women - the skill and natural tendency to adapt to situations, to juggle multiple tasks and step in when and where needed is a great strength, but can become a weakness when women lose their sense of self, and are left appearing unreliable. Vanessa Hall talks about the challenges of Adaptability vs Dependability

Often we trust our emotions over our rational thoughts, or sometimes the opposite. We can trust what we see and hear and feel rather than trusting what we know deep down to be true. Vanessa talks about the struggle to know which part we should trust and when.

If we truly want diversity around the Board Table, we have to know how to deal with the fact that some people are going to get emotional about things that others do not believe are a big issue. Vanessa talks about what it means when emotions show themselves and why we should pay attention.

It is never going to be perfect, your idea is never going to be perfect, your business is never going to be perfect, you are never going to be perfect. You are never going to look perfect to somebody, in somebody’s eyes, in somebody’s mind, but we are all perfect in our imperfection! The trust part is about just putting it out there, but putting it out there with an invitation to come alongside, come alongside me and help me make this better, so that it serves its purpose better.

We know this. We know what our purpose is. We always did. We have just forgotten. Now it's time for women to come together and create safe and nurturing spaces to talk, share, laugh, inspire, and help each other remember. It is from this position of strength, a deep capacity to know, trust and do, that women can confidently step up, step out, step away, step into whatever it is that is congruent with who we truly are. Vanessa Hall: Trust and Transform

Asking is about inviting in thoughts, comments, feedback. It is a gathering action, a breathing in. But it releases control to the other party and therefore requires trust. Telling is about injecting out information, stories, facts. It is a giving action, a breathing out. It enables more control and therefore is often the favoured approach in sales and communication. We need both, in balance.

It's great to get advice. It's great to learn from others who have been there and done that. However, when we are not trusting ourselves, the vision, the idea, the whisper inside ourselves, and we start seeking advice and direction from others, we can end up in a spin and going nowhere fast. When good advisers tell you that you can't do something, run! If it is in your vision, if you can feel it, even ever so slightly, then own it and trust it.

Sometimes trusting the big vision means we ignore the little things, and in the process, we don't have the stepping stones in place to get to where we are going. Those who are trusted with the little things can and will be trusted with the big things. A lesson for all of us. Vanessa Hall shares her thoughts on trusting in the little and the big

Are you stuck, feeling lost, confused? Do you take 2 steps forward, and 3 steps back... It's time to trust and transform!