Helps a group understand common objectives & reach them
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The 16th episode of the Lead with Empower podcast, recorded just before Memorial Day weekend, features hosts Dan and Zack discussing the nuances of designing team-building experiences. Determining Difficulty Levels Finding the "sweet spot" for a group's challenge level is described as an art that requires significant inquiry during the sales and design process. Key factors used to gauge the appropriate level of difficulty include: ● Group Size: Larger groups often face more internal conflict due to "too many cooks in the kitchen". To manage this, facilitators may break a large group of 50 into smaller lanes of eight or nine people to ensure everyone remains engaged. ● Physical Exertion: Programs are tailored to the group's daily activity levels; for example, a high school sports team would receive a more physically demanding program than a corporate group that is typically sedentary. ● Age and Wiring: Adults tend to overthink and strategize extensively before acting, whereas younger participants often dive into problems immediately without a set strategy. ● Desired Outcomes: Facilitators ask whether a client wants pure fun (an outing), professional skill development, or a mix of both to determine the program's structure. Stages of Group Development The hosts reference Bruce Tuckman's research on group dynamics to explain how they adjust activities based on a team's current stage: ● Forming: New groups with social barriers are given low-complexity icebreakers (e.g., favorite hobbies) rather than deep personal sharing. ● Storming: Teams experiencing power struggles or conflict are given collaborative tasks without competition to avoid creating further division. ● Norming: As people settle into roles, activities with clearly defined, different roles are used to highlight how individual strengths contribute to team success. ● Performing: Groups that are "firing on all cylinders" are given more challenging levels to prevent complacency. Facilitation Tactics ● Frontloading: To maintain trust, facilitators inform groups at the start if there are multiple tiers of difficulty or if an activity might be modified to build momentum after a struggle. ● Managing Mistakes: Facilitators use "nickel and dime" rule enforcement as a tool for difficult or uncooperative groups. Conversely, for groups showing high effort and positive growth, facilitators may overlook "hustle mistakes" near the end of a program to ensure the experience concludes with a sense of accomplishment. ● Core Objectives: Every program aims to achieve three things: Engagement, Challenge, and Accomplishment. Episode Timeline: ● Never Quit Mentality (03:01): The speakers emphasize giving 100% effort until the "clock hits zero," using the New York Knicks' historic 22-point comeback as a prime example. ● The Difficulty "Sweet Spot" (06:51): Facilitators must find the right challenge level; too hard leads to participants giving up, while too easy results in "dead air" and disengagement. ● Inquiry-Based Sales (08:22): A program's success starts during the sales process by asking if a client wants pure fun, a mix of learning, or intensive skill development. ● Large Group Friction (13:10): Groups of 30 often take twice as long as groups of five because "too many cooks in the kitchen" can cause members to work against each other. ● Adult vs. Youth Problem Solving (16:01): Adults frequently overthink and delay action to find a "perfect" answer, whereas youth often dive into tasks without any plan or strategy. ● Tuckman's Stages of Development (20:56): Facilitators use the four stages—forming, storming, norming, and performing—to assess group dynamics and choose appropriate activities. ● Avoiding Storming Competition (25:13): For groups in the "storming" phase of conflict, facilitators avoid competitive tasks that could "feed the fire" of existing internal power struggles. ● The Power of "Frontloading" (28:17): To maintain trust, leaders should inform groups ahead of time if an activity has multiple tiers or harder levels rather than using a "sneak attack" challenge. ● Strategic Rule Enforcement (32:16): Facilitators may overlook minor "hustle mistakes" for engaged teams but strictly enforce rules (a "nickel and dime" approach) for difficult or argumentative groups. ● The Ultimate Goal (35:16): Team building's purpose is for participants to leave feeling positive and confident, ready to apply lessons to their real-world environments. ● Selecting a Partner (39:00): Organizations should choose partners who ask deep questions about group outcomes and physical exertion levels rather than offering a "cookie-cutter" approach. Find out more at https://lead-with-empower-podcast.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
The Empower Leadership Podcast episode #17 focuses on the Pipeline activity, a foundational team-building initiative used to teach leadership, collaboration, trust, and accountability. Activity Overview The primary objective of Pipeline is for a group to transport an object (typically a golf ball) from a starting line into a finishing bucket using sections of halved PVC tubes. ● Group Size: Ideally suited for teams of 6 to 12 people. ● Setup: The distance between the start and finish must be greater than the total length of the tubes combined, forcing participants to move and reconnect their sections. ● Standard Rules: ● Each participant receives one tube. ● While the ball is in their tube, a participant can rotate their upper body but cannot move their feet. ● The ball cannot stop, roll backward, or fall. ● The ball may only touch the inside of the tubes or the bucket. ● Any rule break requires the entire team to restart at the beginning. Common Mistakes and Facilitation Points The speakers highlight several common behavioral patterns that emerge during the activity, which serve as key teaching moments: ● Speed vs. Control: Teams often rush, creating a "rocket launcher" effect that makes the ball impossible to catch. Facilitators use this to teach that control and visibility are often more important than raw speed. ● The "Observer" Mentality: Participants often watch the ball roll past rather than immediately moving to the end of the line. This highlights a lack of trust and a failure to perform one's specific role. ● Failure to Plan the Finish: Groups frequently plan for the transport but neglect the actual drop into the bucket, often overshooting it due to excitement or crowding. ● Credit vs. Team Success: Sometimes an individual will try to "steal the glory" by inserting their tube at the last second, often causing a failure. This leads to discussions on whether the individual's accolades or the team's success is the priority. Modifications and Variations The activity is highly flexible and can be adjusted for different difficulty levels: ● Terrain: Adding slopes or slalom courses with cones increases the challenge. ● Objects: Using balls with more friction (whiffle balls) makes it easier, while smaller or faster objects (marbles, super balls) make it harder. ● Pipeline Pandemonium: A competitive version using multiple objects and targets with varying point values. ● DIY Options: For those without PVC, the activity can be replicated using pool noodles cut in half or even manila folders. Episode Timeline: ● Introduction to Pipeline: The speakers introduce "Pipeline" as a staple team-building activity they have referenced many times in previous episodes. (00:01)1 ● Activity Setup: The goal is to transport an object, usually a golf ball, from a start line to a finish bucket using sections of PVC pipe cut in half. (03:45)2 ● Core Rules: Participants cannot move their feet while holding the ball, and the ball must never stop, roll backward, or touch anything except the tube. (05:24)3 ● The "Speed" Trap: A common initial mistake is groups trying to go too fast, which often leads to losing control of the ball. (06:51)4 ● Trust and Observation: A lack of trust is shown when players watch the ball instead of moving immediately to the end of the line to extend the pipeline. (09:18)5 ● Operational Breakdowns: Failures at the end of the line are often a result of how the ball was handled earlier in the pipeline, rather than just the last person's fault. (14:56)6 ● Planning the Finish: Groups frequently fail because they plan for the start and transport but do not coordinate how to actually drop the ball into the bucket. (18:08)7 ● Distance and Terrain Mods: The difficulty can be adjusted by changing the distance (from 30 feet to 200 yards) or using sloped terrain. (26:47)8 ● Equipment Variations: Using different objects like marbles (faster/harder) or tennis balls (slower/easier) can scale the challenge. (31:22)9 ● Pipeline Pandemonium: A competitive version involves multiple targets and objects with different point values to introduce strategy. (33:18)10 ● DIY Pipeline: The activity can be replicated cheaply using pool noodles cut into sections or even manila folders in an office setting. (36:47)11 ● Conclusion: The speakers emphasize that the game's value lies in teaching individual accountability, focus, and setting teammates up for success. (41:24) Find out more at https://lead-with-empower-podcast.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
When we say a treatment works for knee osteoarthritis, it is worth asking: works for whom? On this week's episode of Joint Action, Professor Christian Barton unpacks the blind spots in osteoarthritis research, exploring who has and hasn't been included in the evidence base for first-line care, and what that means for the patients we treat every day.Prof Christian Barton is a physiotherapist and implementation scientist at La Trobe University, where he leads key projects including GLA:D Australia and TREK. With additional training in communications and implementation science, his research focuses on bridging the gap between evidence and practice in osteoarthritis, knee, and running injury care. He also consults privately at Complete Physio Richmond.RESOURCESJournal articlesBlind spots in reporting and representation in knee osteoarthritis research: A systematic review of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 22,443 participants in randomised controlled trials of first-line careWho is waiting to see the surgeon? sociodemographic, clinical characteristics and previous osteoarthritis care of people with knee osteoarthritis referred to public hospitals in Victoria, AustraliaBarriers and Facilitators for the Implementation of an Osteoarthritis Management Programs in a Low-Income Setting: An Exploratory Study of Malawian Physical TherapistsCONNECT WITH USNaia Health: https://www.naiahealth.com.au/st-leonards-hubJoin one of our trials https://www.osteoarthritisresearch.com.au/current-trialsInstagram: @ProfDavidHunterTwitter: @ProfDavidHunter @jointactionorgEmail: hello@jointaction.infoWebsite: www.jointaction.info/podcastIf you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe to learn more about osteoarthritis from the world's leading experts! And please let us know what you thought by leaving us a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In today's episode, Umah is joined by Jeff Marr, founder of The Practical Philosophy Club, to unpack the unique art of community facilitation and what it takes to design unstructured, safe spaces for deep, depolarising conversation. Moving away from top-down corporate agendas, Jeff explores how his grassroots, peer-led facilitation model grew from a casual living room meetup in Mexico into a global network hosting over 800 people a week across 28 countries. They talk about: The power of the introduction and why the first few minutes are the facilitator's most critical tool for setting guidelines on airtime, monologue-busting, and vulnerability The "jam session" approach to facilitation, shifting the practitioner's role from a rigid authority figure to a light touch that trusts adults to self-moderate and navigate their own dialogue Holding space for ideological friction and practical techniques to de-escalate heated moments, calm group triggers, and help people sit with constructive discomfort The spectrum of group dynamics, from managing large groups by scaling into small, co-facilitated tables, to knowing when to let a little healthy chaos ride. Quote highlights "I think that's one of our main issues in society is that we have these echo chambers that no one's breaking out of, and our algorithms are pushing us to go further into it." "...you want to have a strong frame of reality and a sense of confidence in yourself, so that you can hear." "We've had several people who, we could call them say problematic, right? Like a little bit quick to anger easily triggered these type of things. And I have seen them blossom... they're able to hear all these opinions without getting triggered anymore so it's been beautiful to see that." Links Today's guest: Jeffery Marr — Practical Philosophy Club Founder https://www.practicalphilosophy.club & https://www.linkedin.com/in/practicalphilosophyy/ To join a Practical Philosophy Meetup in a country near you, head to: https://www.practicalphilosophy.club/practical-philosophy-locations/ Today's host: Umah Ganeshalingam — Change and Transformation Advisor and Facilitator https://www.linkedin.com/in/umah To find out more about Facilitation Stories and the IAF England & Wales Chapter:
Tim Hyde shows how leaders can reclaim hours every week by fixing the invisible gaps in their systems. In this conversation, we explore why automation is not about saving time, but about creating intimacy at scale, reducing friction in decision-making and designing smarter customer journeys that actually move people forward. Experience our episodes in a whole new way. Watch every video version on our YouTube Channel. Subscribe now to be first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 SOUNDBITES [1:43] Why automation and system design should come before sales, marketing and delivery if leaders want scalable results. [2:18] Seeing customer journeys like lines of code and how one broken step can stop the entire business from working. [3:58] Where leaders should look first to find automation opportunities in their own workflows. [4:33] Using frequency as a decision filter to identify tasks that are worth automating and those that are not. [5:38] How long-standing annoyances and repeated behaviours signal high-value automation opportunities. [6:22] Why customer impact matters more than time savings when designing automated systems. [6:59] Creating intimacy at scale by personalising automated messages without becoming transactional. [8:07] Leveraging underutilised assets such as books, podcasts and content to strengthen automated touchpoints. [9:10] Building simple systems first and then reusing them for strategic leverage across multiple scenarios. [10:05] Using automation as a delivery system rather than relying on a single channel like email. [12:41] Choosing the right communication tools to deepen relationships, not just broadcast messages. [13:08] Reusing automation frameworks for anniversaries, milestones and ongoing client touchpoints. [14:26] Owning the indecision period after proposals are sent and why most businesses lose momentum here. [16:39] Using automation and AI notes to personalise long-term follow-ups months or years later. [18:02] Why templates combined with meaningful data create powerful, human-sounding automation. [18:47] The trade-off between learning automation yourself versus working with an expert. [21:06] Asking “and then what?” to turn single actions into connected systems. TIM HYDE https://winmoreclients.com.au/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-hyde-crm/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au... === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of the page to register. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In today's episode, Olivia is joined by Abimbola Olajide, serial social entrepreneur and Chief of Play, to explore tactile, hands-on facilitation and what it means to work with the whole person in the room. With a background spanning community convening, grief support, and corporate consultancy, Abimbola shares how she found her way into facilitation and why embodied, kinesthetic approaches are at the heart of everything she does. They talk about: ● paying close attention to embodied feeling when listening to stories ● how personal experience led to founding a CIC supporting people through life transitions ● her consultancy grounded in human-centred work, congruence, and her àjọṣe ("let's do it together") practice, using tools like LEGO Serious Play & modelling wax ● how metaphor, play and physical materials open up focus, emotion and better decision-making, even in corporate spaces. Quote highlights "The power of metaphor, but also using tactile with that, just allows people to go from 'fine'to actually 'this is what this model is saying today'... it gets from zero to deep really quick" "A decision doesnn;t have to be 'I need all the data, and then I need to be stressed... I can play about this'. The term would be blue sky thinking, but I call it purple cloud thinking" Links Today's guest: Abimbola Olajide — In Every Season CIC ; Atúnkò https://atunko.co.uk/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/abimbola-olajide-67a54b63/ Today's host: Olivia Bellas — Coach, Facilitator, Learning Experience Designer https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviabellas/ To find out more about Facilitation Stories and the IAF England & Wales Chapter:
0:30 - CA Gov race 12:19 - NY Judge Marva Brown 31:03 - BENEFITS FRAUD 54:26 - Sports & Politics 01:10:47 - In-depth History with Frank from Arlington Heights 01:13:02 - Middle East Institute Vice President for Policy Kenneth Pollack says strategic strikes on Iran are likely the “next step on the escalatory ladder.” 01:31:49 - Founder of Wirepoints Mark Glennon reflects on what he witnessed after spending the past week in Ukraine 01:47:07 - Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of Breitbart News and host of The Alex Marlow Show on 560 The Answer, previews next week’s Cigar Night with Dan and Shaun 02:02:15 - Freelance writer and black conservative culture critic David Sypher: Virginia Democrats won the vote on the map, but voters lost the fightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We catch up with Professor Hércules Ribeiro Leite - to discuss his 2024 top-cited DMCN article!What are the barriers and facilitators to participation of people with Down syndrome? A scoping reviewDeisiane Oliveira Souto, Marina Oliveira de Sousa, Rafaela Guimarães Ferreira, Ana Claudia Brandão, Pedro Brandão Carrera, Hércules Ribeiro LeiteFree articleAbstractAim: To determine the barriers and facilitators of active community participation of children, adolescents, and adults with Down syndrome.Method: Searches were completed in five electronic databases to identify original studies about participation of children, adolescents (ages < 18 years), and adults (ages 18-59 years) with Down syndrome. Barriers and facilitators to participation were categorized into four factors: personal, social, environmental, and policy and programme. Findings were analysed and validated by a young adult with Down syndrome and a family member, using the public and patient involvement strategy.Results: Fourteen studies were included: eight with children and adolescents and six with adults. Of the 14 studies, 10 were qualitative and four quantitative. Most studies (n = 9) investigated participation in physical activities, while only a few examined participation in community/social activities (n = 3), daily activities (n = 2), and leisure activities (n = 1). The most commonly cited barriers and facilitators were the availability of programmes and specialized professionals, transportation, as well as attitudes and behaviours. Physical and psychological characteristics of people with Down syndrome and facilities were also frequently mentioned as barriers. On the other hand, the desire to stay active and personal interest in the activity were among the most frequently reported facilitators.Interpretation: The participation of people with Down syndrome is mainly influenced by physical or psychological factors, the support and attitudes of parents/caregivers, and the availability of specialized programmes. Given the scarcity of research investigating the participation of people with Down syndrome in community activities, daily activities, and leisure, especially in adults, more studies are still needed.
Lawrence Armstrong helps leaders turn strategy into something you can actually see. In this episode, he reveals the metaphors that kept a fast-growing firm nimble and future-ready: fleet of ships vs ocean liner, roadrunner vs coyote, the visible light spectrum for smart diversification, and the flywheel moment when hard work suddenly starts pulling you forward. If you lead a team through change, growth, or competing priorities, this conversation will give you language that sticks and frameworks people will remember. Experience our episodes in a whole new way—watch every video version on our YouTube Channel. Subscribe now to be the first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 SOUND BITES [2:44] Fleet of ships vs one ocean liner . . . staying entrepreneurial, connected, and able to change direction quickly as you grow. [5:26] Roadrunner and coyote . . . balancing business development speed with operations capacity so growth stays sustainable. [7:48] Strategic diversification using the visible light spectrum . . . expand within your expertise and avoid distractions outside your “line of sight.” [10:53] The chessboard metaphor for internal talent moves . . . creating career opportunities by placing high-potential people into new markets. [14:34] The tinker toy wheel as a leadership exercise . . . spotting strengths and gaps, then building toward a more balanced “whole-brain” capability. [17:20] Good to Great thinking . . . why continuous improvement and ongoing innovation are non-negotiable if you want longevity. [18:05] The hedgehog concept . . . define your core superpower, keep refining it, and build innovation and diversification from that base. [19:16] How flywheel momentum shows up in real businesses . . . clients seek you out, innovations spread, and growth compounds over time. [20:31] Raising leadership capability with shared reading habits . . . using books as a low-cost way to lift thinking across the organisation. ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au... === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of the page to register Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hi there,This week I'm sharing a conversation I had with Bo Young Lee, CEO of AI4All about Silicon Valley imaginaries, rational refusal, and the futures we haven't been offered. As always, please send me feedback on today's post by replying to this email. I read and respond to every note.On to the show!Untangled HQ* Wednesday, May 5: I'm hosting a workshop on how to trace what must stay human when implementing AI responsibly. It will double as a preview of my new course on stewarding AI. * Thursday, May 6: As part of The Facilitators' Workshop, Kate and I are hosting a workshop on how to turn stuck meetings into breakthrough moments. * Tuesday, May 12: Aarn and I are hosting a workshop on the discipline of holding tension: how to name tension without personalizing it, slow the moment without stalling the meeting, and protect the disagreement that actually matters. Join us!Deep DiveThe World They're Building TowardStart with the bunkers.In the last several years, a number of Silicon Valley's most powerful technologists have been quietly building survival infrastructure. Bunkers in New Zealand. Fortified compounds in remote locations. Escape hatches from the civilization their products are shaping.Bo Young Lee noticed this before most people were talking about it, and she asked the obvious question: if these are the imaginaries — the foundational visions of the future — animating the people building our most consequential technologies, what does that tell us about the products they're building? And how does their imaginary constrain our imagination?An imaginary is not a fantasy. It's the operative picture of the future that structures present decisions — the unstated assumptions about where the world is going that determine what problems are worth solving, what risks are worth taking, and what populations are worth designing for. Imaginaries are embedded. They show up in product decisions, in hiring, in what gets funded and what gets ignored.Bo argues that the dominant Silicon Valley imaginary is, at its core, a story about inevitability and survival. Civilization is fragile. Disruption is coming. The question isn't whether things collapse but who gets to build what comes next. If that's the picture of the future you're working from — even unconsciously — you're not going to prioritize safety, privacy, or good governance in the present. Those things just get in the way!As Bo explains, the products that follow are predictable. Why design for women when women don't figure prominently in survival scenarios? Why prioritize people with disabilities when they're among the first casualties of disaster-oriented futures? Why hold yourself accountable to the communities your technology harms when they're not in the imaginary?This isn't hyperbole. Bo is describing a logical coherence between worldview and product — a through-line from the bunker to the algorithm that becomes visible once you start looking for it. Take the supposed ‘AI gender gap.‘ The narrative goes something like this: women are underrepresented in AI adoption because they lack confidence, access, or awareness. All we need to close the gap is a li'l education, outreach, and encouragement! Bo argues that women's skepticism about AI is rational. Not because women don't understand the technology, but because they understand it clearly enough to recognize that it wasn't built for them, doesn't work as well for them, and in specific contexts actively harms them.Right, women face systematically harsher professional consequences than men for identical workplace errors — a well-documented asymmetry researchers call the “tighter world” phenomenon. Women are more likely to be fired for mistakes and less likely to find subsequent employment. When a high error rate tool like generative AI enters that context, the risks land differently. Men's mistakes get absorbed as the cost of experimentation. Women's mistakes land on a narrower margin. A woman who understands this and proceeds with caution is doing the math. Calling that a confidence problem is its own kind of imaginary!The “AI for good” movement is similarly trapped by the Silicon Valley imaginary, but they don't see through it in the same way. As Bo argues, the AI for good world has largely accepted the imaginaries it inherited. Its animating question is how to reduce harm within the existing AI paradigm — how to make the technology that's been built safer, fairer, less biased. For example, Bo describes a philanthropy that funded three separate organizations — at seven-figure grants each — to build AI agents that would coach and tutor low-income, first-generation college students. The goal was equity. But research shows that when you train LLMs to eliminate overt racism, the covert bias doesn't disappear — it actually increases. Show the same model two pieces of writing, one in standard English and one in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and the LLM will rate the AAVE writer as less intelligent and less educated. A coaching agent built on that model, deployed to help first-generation students many of whom communicate in AAVE, may well steer those students toward easier majors and less rigorous courses — without anyone noticing, without anyone intending it.This example starts from a present-tense imagination of what AI is and what it's for, and works forward from there. To free ourselves from these constraints, we have to separate refusal of this AI from refusal of AI altogether. Because when we do that, we can ask the more generative question that rarely gets asked: what futures do we actually want — and what would it take to build toward them?Bo's organization offers one path forward. AI4All trains the next generation of AI practitioners from underrepresented communities, asking them from the beginning to identify social problems they want to address and work backward to the role AI might play. Because changing the imaginaries requires changing who builds the technology and who gets to define what it's for. A more diverse AI workforce is an epistemic necessity — different people imagining different futures producing genuinely different technology.We were not given these imaginaries. We don't have to keep them.Tools for WeaversMy conversation with Bo inspired me to distill a number of the articles I've written about imagination, building alternative AI futures, and mapping backwards from the future -- and turn them into a tool!Your strategy documents already contain a picture of the future. You probably haven't named it. It's embedded in your metrics, your hiring plans, your roadmaps — quietly nudging you toward a particular kind of future without anyone actively choosing it.Imagining Otherwise is a practice for naming that picture — and then building a different one. Backcasting, futures in plural, and the question most teams skip: what are we willing to stop?Working canvas included. The last page will make sense when you get there.“Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.” - Ruha BenjaminWork With MeHere are 3 ways I can help:* Advising: I can help you navigate uncertainty, make sense of AI, and steward change in your system.* Organizational Training: Everything you and your team need to cut through the tech-hype and implement strategies that catalyze true systems change. (For either Stewarding AI or Systems Change for Tech & Society Leaders)* 1:1 Leadership Coaching: I can help you facilitate change — in yourself, your organization, and the system you work within. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit untangled.substack.com
In this second part of the message, we understand more forces that facilitate faith.
In this message, we explore some vital forces that facilitate our faith and cause it to birth results.
This episode of the Lead with Empower podcast explores strategies for maintaining the attention of a group after it has been captured. The speakers emphasize that while gaining attention is the first hurdle, keeping that attention is a distinct skill that directly impacts engagement and progress toward goals. Key themes and strategies discussed include: ● Facilitator Energy: A leader's energy, enthusiasm, and focus service as a standard for the group. If a facilitator appears disengaged or tried, the group will likely mirror that behavior. ● Managing “Dead Air”: While silence can be a useful tool during group debriefs to encourage reflection, it is generally a significant pitfall during initial instructions or group management. Prolonged dead space can lead to disengagement, and facilitators should strive for a seamless flow. ● Knowing the Audience and Staying on Track: Effective leaders must understand what their specific audience can handle. While some groups might tolerate a joke or a deviation from the plan, others require a direct, concise approach to remain focused on the rules and objectives. ● Minimizing Distractions: ○ Physical Objects: Objects in participants' hands act as distractions. Removing these items before instructions can help maintain focus. ○ Environmental Positioning: Leaders should strategically position themselves and their groups to avoid distractions, such as other activities occurring nearby. ○ Instructional Location: It is often better to move a group away from equipment to explain an activity, rather than briefing them at the site where distractions are present. ● Consistency and Preparedness: A consistent, repeatable process for organizing groups and delivering instructions is vital. Facilitators should prepare and potentially script their transitions to avoid unnecessary complexity. ● Learning Through Play: Because the goal is often learning through play, leaders should aim to provide essential instructions and safety guidelines, then allow the group to begin the activity. Allowing the group to experience initial struggle or success can make them a more attentive audience for subsequent check-ins or debriefs. The speakers conclude that while gaining attention requires significant effort, maintaining it is an ongoing process of preparation, consistency, and awareness of the group's needs. Over time, consistently enforcing these standards helps build a more attentive and engaged group. Find out more at https://lead-with-empower-podcast.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
Eileen and Gittel talk about why they're passionate about leading support spaces, what those groups are really like (spoiler: welcoming, not intimidating), and how connection can make a huge difference. You'll also hear gentle, practical advice for those early days like pacing yourself, adapting as you go, and redefining what it means to thrive. It's a comforting reminder that even with chronic illness, you can still build a full, meaningful life and you don't have to figure it out alone. And if you'd like to join one of the latest Rheum to THRIVE groups, you can do so here. Episode at a glance: 00:00 Meet the New Facilitators 01:13 Diagnoses and Comorbidities 04:35 Why Eileen Facilitates 08:06 Why Gittel (GT) Facilitates 12:09 Why Support Groups Matter 15:27 Program Structure Highlights 22:43 GT's Teaching Style 23:32 Creating Safe Space 24:28 Alumni Group Exploration 25:46 Eileen's Facilitation Style 33:42 Common Support Group Worries Addressed 37:48 Importance of Diversity In Groups 41:41 Reflections on Thriving With Arthritis Medical disclaimer: All content found on Arthritis Life public channels was created for generalized informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Episode Sponsors Rheum to THRIVE, an online course and support program Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected. See all the details and join the program or waitlist now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Why do people choose to invest their time in helping dads succeed? In the newest episode of the Good Dads Podcast, host J Fotsch sits down with two experienced Good Dads facilitators who are making a lasting impact on fathers and families: Please join us in welcoming two highly skilled long-time facilitators: Janice Reynolds, a Good Dads master facilitator and retired teacher; and Dr. Benjy Lampert, a retired anesthesiologist who also serves on the executive board for Good Dads. Together, Janice and Benjy share why they are passionate about guiding and supporting fathers who are working through the challenges of parenting, relationships, recovery and personal growth. Facilitators lead Good Dads classes, but beyond that, they create a space where fathers can grow, and become more intentional in their role. Benjy and Janice bring decades of experience in caring for people, teaching, and mentoring—and now they're using that experience to help dads: ✔ Navigate the pressures of fatherhood ✔ Strengthen relationships with their children ✔ Grow in confidence and leadership ✔ Build healthier family dynamics Their stories show that when someone steps in to guide and support a dad, the impact can last for generations. When you think about it, our facilitators aren't just changing the lives of fathers and father-figures. They are also creating a ripple-effect that's visible throughout a family, and indeed, the whole community!
Chloe Morgan and David O'Connell share their journeys to becoming UCL advanced facilitators. They join this episode's hosts, Mark Quinn and Nancy Karmali Belmonte, for a discussion on the power of facilitators in supporting other teachers to learn.Early career teachers all have busy school days; Chloe and David reflect on how facilitators can create safe spaces for ECTs to reflect on their practice.It's about designing sessions for thinking, they say, and creating spaces for growth.Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/being-and-staying-curious-staffroom-s06e05
Randy Gage has spoken to more than two million people in over 50 countries and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. With 15 books translated into more than 25 languages, Randy Gage is a global voice for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want more than success. They want clarity, impact, and freedom. In this conversation, we unpack why AI will soon make “what you know” worthless, why critical thinking is the real currency of leadership, and what it now takes to stay indispensable in a rapidly automated world. With a mind hardwired for metaphysical principles, innovative marketing, and maverick reinvention, Randy created a Prosperity Operating System to help high-level achievers move toward the highest possible version of themselves. If your value is still tied to expertise, frameworks, or information delivery, this episode may change how you think about your future… and your role as a leader. View the video version of episode 183 on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRb6TGyqOHE Subscribe to the channel now to be the first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 SOUNDBITES [3:17] Why AI is the most disruptivedevelopment of your lifetime, no matter your age or industry. [5:14] Building AI agents for repeatable work, and what it means to train tools on your own material and voice. [5:51] The workplace delegation rethink: what can be delegated, what can be automated, and what needs human judgment. [6:20] Designing AI workflows that scale, and why the pace of improvement is hard to fathom. [7:24] Who can “skate to retirement” … and why everyone else cannot afford to put AI off any longer. [8:00] The bold claim about the scale of job disruption, and why the ripple effect touches almost every role. [10:30] Why critical thinking is becoming rarer, and why leaders must rebuild it deliberately. [11:27] How shallow scrolling and “sideways reading” can erode deep thinking and the ability to hold complexity. [12:06] The one-hour-a-day reading practice that upgrades thinking, discipline, and depth. [12:50] How AI time savings can be reinvested into higher-level thinking, learning, and deep work. [14:39] The storytelling technique of starting in the middle, and why it hooks attention fast. [15:09] Working in the genius zone: delegating the rest, building capability in others, and retiring the “do it myself” mindset. [16:31] Why 'busyness' steals health, relationships, and strategic creativity… and why space is where ideas arrive. [17:03] Designing a year around the work only you can do, with AI freeing time for life and relationships. [18:51] Towards-focus versus away-from focus, gratitude as a reset, and designing “best year yet” energy. [20:12] A free resource to support abundance thinking: 'The 7 elements of an Abundant Life' PDF. CONTACT RANDY GAGE https://randygage.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/randygage/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' is now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au... === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to the bottom of the page to register. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you run an offsite that actually changes performance — not just conversations? In this episode, Travis Timmons and Kelly Allan share with Andrew Stotz what happened during the Fitness Matters off-site. They discuss how a Deming-inspired approach helped their team tackle a critical business aim, align around system improvement, and turn employee engagement into measurable competitive advantage. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.5 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm continuing my discussion with Travis Timmons, who is the founder and owner of Fitness Matters, an Ohio based practice specializing in the integration of physical therapy and personalized wellness. For 13 years, he's built his business on Dr. Deming's teaching. His hope is simple. The more companies that bring joy to work through Deming's principles, the more likely his kids will one day work at one of those companies. And we also have a special guest, Kelly Allan, who is a long term practitioner of the teachings of Dr. Deming. And he's also been instrumental in bringing the teachings of Dr. Deming to Travis and Fitness Matters, and particularly to this offsite. So the topic for today is how a Deming style offsite can strengthen your company's competitive advantage. Travis, take it away. 0:01:01.4 Travis Timmons: Hey Andrew, thanks again for having us and super excited to share with Kelly and your audience how our offsite went a couple of weeks ago. The short answer, kind of the upfront, is it was amazing. We had fun, number one, which is always important, but engagement from the team was through the roof. For four and a half hours straight. We worked on the work together and had Kelly there to make sure we were appropriately following Dr. Deming's teachings. Had Kelly there to facilitate and a couple of fun things we did. One was the red bead experiment, which I'm sure we'll talk about as we go through the conversation here. The short answer is I know in the last podcast we talked about the preparation that Kelly worked with myself and our leadership team on in preparing for a Deming focused and led offsite. We did that and it was just amazing. What were your thoughts, Kelly? 0:02:06.4 Andrew Stotz: I'm curious, Kelly, as an outsider helping them, observing, what are your observations of how it went? 0:02:14.2 Kelly Allan: I think there was just incredible energy and interest in figuring out some of the challenges ahead for the company. People came in well prepared and it showed. The interactions in the breakout groups, interactions in the full groups. Often when you're in a full group of 60, 70 people, folks are often, especially new folks, and the company's been growing and adding new people, new folks are often somewhat hesitant to speak up. But the culture of the people in that room, the culture of the organization is bring it on, let's have a conversation, let's hear what people have to say. Let's share theories, let's get down and debate and wrestle with some of these things that are not easy. There's no low hanging fruit here. It's complex stuff in a complex and highly competitive industry. 0:03:28.9 Travis Timmons: Some of the feedback we received, I think I shared last time, Andrew. As Kelly said, we've hired several new team members and they've all shared with me just a breath of fresh air from where they came from before. The power of this offsite with it being focused on some of the core teachings of Dr. Deming allowed them to see how is this different? They know they like it, they know the culture is different. They know they can provide care the way they want to. They know they can have a voice, have an impact on the system. But they didn't really know why they just liked it. Having a Deming focused offsite to explain a little bit, you can't fully explain Dr. Deming in four and a half hours, but we covered quite a bit. Make the system visible, operational definitions. What are a couple other ones with the red bead, Kelly? We did some tampering. 0:04:28.8 Kelly Allan: Making sure that we're not being confused by visible numbers alone. That what's important is how we work on the system so that we're not doing special efforts all the time to get great results. It's built into how we do things. 0:04:43.8 Travis Timmons: To Kelly's point, part of why our team, for four and a half hours we had over 50 people all in, sharing thoughts without hesitation because one of the things we talk about in the very beginning of the meeting, one of Dr. Deming's core philosophies, if that's the right way to put it, Kelly, correct me if I'm off base here, but 96% of issues within an organization are system issues, not people issues. When you put that out there, we're here to talk about the system and improve it and make it visible. We're talking about problems with systems and processes, not people. Then the gloves are off and let's dive in and we're gonna say whatever's on our mind and there's no drama, there's no feeling of any backstabbing or throwing under the bus. We just get to work on making the system work better for everybody. That's where it's fun and fast. 0:05:41.9 Andrew Stotz: What I'm hearing is that Dr. Deming, my favorite quote is "people are entitled to joy in work." And part of the key to joy in work is contributing. People want to contribute in life. I love that word because I think everybody wants to feel like they're contributing to a mission, to an aim, to a goal, to a team. And one of the biggest problems we have these days is siloing off people and getting them focused on this little area and missing the whole bigger picture. And so to some extent, you've proven through what you've done that people really do want to contribute. Throughout this discussion, what we're gonna be talking about is this concept of Deming style offsite. And I'm gonna push back at times to try to make sure that we're clear on what's a Deming style offsite. Because it's not to say that Dr. Deming said this is how you do an offsite. But what we're talking about is your interpretations of how do we apply this thinking to this particular meeting style and offsite and ensure that we're true to that. 0:06:56.6 Andrew Stotz: One of the first questions I would discuss is just the idea that maybe you just had a really open, caring environment. And so is that Deming or was that just that? Or maybe you did a lot of prep. You guys have done a tremendous amount of prep. That's what I was impressed about in our prior discussions. Maybe you prepped, maybe you focused on the one thing. Those types of things is what could go through people's minds. Why is it that you're calling this a Deming styled offsite? 0:07:34.9 Kelly Allan: Well, I think in part it starts with Deming's teachings and continued Deming's teachings. I think it might be useful to start with the aim, to have Travis talk about the time that he spent researching and thinking and what's going on in the industry. And even though we can talk later about their industry leading statistics and data and recognition etc, it's off the charts. It starts with the aim. And Dr. Deming said let's be focused on the aim. And so there are a couple, Travis, you wanna just talk about the content aim and then we can talk about even a more cultural Deming cultural aim. 0:08:21.1 Travis Timmons: That was one of my early learnings years ago, Andrew, was the difference of an aim versus a goal. And so from the perspective of this offsite through the Dr. Deming lens, our aim as an organization is to maintain one to one care because we believe that results in optimal outcomes. And it's very rare in our industry to have one to one care. Part of how we do that is we have to be industry leading in everything we do. And the thing that we are industry leading in, but I feel it was the one thing that we could improve upon was our arrival rate. Patients get better if they show up, team members are happy, they don't want holes on their schedules. Referring physicians are happy. Everybody wins. So that aim of a higher arrival rate was our aim of this offsite and conversation. 0:09:17.6 Andrew Stotz: Can you back up just for a second and define arrival rate for those that didn't listen to prior discussions on it? 0:09:23.9 Travis Timmons: Sure. Arrival rate is a visit we have on the calendar. Do they show up or do they cancel? And part of what we worked on and a little bit of an aside here is operational definition of what's a cancellation on our schedule to make sure we're measuring what we want to measure. A funny aside, competitors, we hired several new team members came from other organizations and they tout an arrival rate that is high, like 92% arrival rate. Right. 0:09:55.9 Travis Timmons: And I asked them in the meeting and Kelly will remember this, I said, I know your institutions claim a 90 plus percent arrival rate. Did you have a 92% arrival rate? And they said, absolutely not. But they had people on their team, for example, the front desk might have been bonused based on arrival rate. So how they would take visits off of the calendar would not negatively impact arrival rate. So we talked a lot about operational definition and our aim is to study what we want to study, not to tamper or. Kelly, you share your favorite saying. There's only three ways to get better numbers, and those are 0:10:39.6 Kelly Allan: Manipulate the numbers which you were referring to from another company. Manipulate the system that gives you the numbers. So that also kind of fits with, well, we're not gonna call that a late arrival or a late cancel or a non arrival. We're gonna call that something else so we can manipulate the numbers. And then the third way, which was Deming's way, which is how do we figure out how to improve the system so that late arrivals go down. So that they're a natural part of what we do when people show up, the patients show up when they need to. 0:11:14.6 Travis Timmons: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things to your point earlier, Andrew, is was it just a happy go lucky meeting because Travis and Kelly have great personalities. Well, we know that's not true. 0:11:26.9 Kelly Allan: Speak for yourself. 0:11:29.3 Travis Timmons: But no, I think anymore people know when they're working on something meaningful that's gonna have an impact on their lives or where you're just there to drink coffee and have snacks. People don't suffer fools, right? They want to be there. To have a team of 50 plus people leaning in for almost five hours doesn't happen just because it's a fun environment. To your point, it's the right question to ask. I appreciate you asking that. It comes down to they understand that we're a Deming organization. They understand that what we're talking about is gonna be implemented in a Deming way. We'll talk about that more as we go on, but that, to Kelly's point, was starting with the aim. Our aim is improving arrival rate. How do we do that? That's where the Deming offsite comes into play. Kelly and I and our leadership team worked on, okay, how do we best convey this problem and this aim to our entire team rather than just five or six leadership people working with Kelly and just coming up with our own ideas and then spitting it out to the team at a monthly meeting? 0:12:47.8 Travis Timmons: The power of them owning and seeing the problem and then working on system improvement is the power of that is unmeasurable, as Dr. Deming would say. 0:13:03.1 Kelly Allan: Yeah. I think we talked about the aim to be able to continue to do the one-on-one care with patients because most companies are doing two patients, one physical therapist, three patients. Locally here in Columbus, Ohio, where Travis and I are at, we sometimes hear about classes of five patients with one physical therapist. Physicians and insurance companies, these people are not getting better. Right? These people are... Or if they get discharged, 'cause that's a way to get a better number. "Oh, we got them out." But they come back because they're not really healed. They don't really know how to take care of themselves the way they do when they come out of Fitness Matters. One of those overarching aims has to do with building the culture even further so everybody understands the why behind the what. We could say the what is how do we increase those arrival rates, and then the meeting was about the how we're gonna figure that out, how to do that. But the overarching piece had to do with the why. Why does this matter? 0:14:16.9 Kelly Allan: How do we see...If we see the organization as a system and we use a fishbone chart as a way to visualize some of that, everybody can see handoffs. Everybody can see how different parts of the system, of that patient journey, that patient story, intersect and how what happens upstream affects downstream and how the feedback loop from the discharge point of a physical therapist discharging the patient, how that can wrap back into the understanding of the customer care coordinators and how they can work with that at the very beginning of that relationship with the patient. It's all a part of a system, all a part of continuous flow. We wanted to make sure that everybody, especially the new people, really had a visual, a view of the organization as a system and how they interact. Part of those weeks of planning, it wasn't every day all day long. You start with some ideas, you refine them, you get some research, you refine them, you refine further. Travis spent a lot of time on that. Part of that value is time for reflection, time to have the others on the leadership team weigh in, give their points of view so that we're really seeing this from a fishbone perspective as well. 0:15:44.5 Kelly Allan: So now we can go into that meeting with everybody, and their homework was in part the fishbone with some instructions on how to do that and some examples of how to do that. And that was pre-work. So people came into the meeting already successful. They had already figured some things out. This just gave launch, just gave liftoff to the energy. They'd done this work, to your point, Andrew, they're making a difference, and it just fed on itself. The output was stunning. 0:16:21.0 Andrew Stotz: Travis, I'm gonna write your company aim as I heard it from you, and that is, or from both of you, is maintain one-to-one care. It's best, it's rare, it works. And the off-site aim was different from the company aim. It was the number one thing that we can do to improve that company aim is improve our arrival rates. Correct? 0:16:51.4 Travis Timmons: 100% correct. And you talk, I think you used the term silos earlier, Andrew. Part of the aha moments and making the system visible and working on this and building culture and teamwork, when everybody sees the complexity within your organization and understands that, there's a lot more willingness to support, like, "Hey, we need to change this process at the front desk," even though it may not be optimal for the physical therapist, as long as it achieves our overarching aim and improves joy in work for the front or less friction for a client coming in. Now the team starts to see and understand, all right, that's a system win rather than silos or turf wars. The amount of energy that is spent on that in organizations is... I couldn't do it. 0:17:52.9 Andrew Stotz: Another thing I think that would be difficult for many people with an off-site is you just had one aim. If we were doing prep in the companies that I know and I own and others, we're gonna list out 17 things we want to talk about in that four-and-a-half-hour off-site. From your perspective, why is it so important to get this one focus, one aim? And then I want you also to tell us more about how it went. We've set it up now, so just one last thing on the setup is this idea of focusing on one thing when you've got 17 different problems in our company and we got everybody together and you're telling me just one thing. 0:18:40.5 Travis Timmons: Well, and Kelly can chime in here because he was instrumental in getting us from pre-work to meeting day. But part of it, that's why it's two-and-a-half, three months of work leading up to this. We had the aim of arrival rate. All right, what are we gonna do? A lot of different ways we could have tackled that. We landed on fishbone and making the entire system visible. And that turned out to be the right move. I think Kelly can correct me if I'm wrong. 0:19:15.0 Kelly Allan: I would agree. 0:19:16.0 Travis Timmons: So we started with the aim and it's like, okay, how do we get 50 people to work on this together? Dr. Deming says make the system visible. And so we chose to do that via a couple different breakouts of a fishbone. And to your point, Andrew, when we did that, now there's understanding of complexity and then where are the biggest opportunities? Because we have seven things we're working on to achieve that aim. There's gonna be three or four large PDSAs. We're doing a software upgrade, which in and of itself... And a funny aside, so our organization's been doing the Deming approach for 13 years. Right, Kelly? We announced that we're changing softwares at this meeting. Right. 0:20:13.7 Travis Timmons: Everybody was like, "Okay, let's do it." 0:20:17.4 Kelly Allan: Unheard of. I see a lot of companies, that's usually panic time. 0:20:23.5 Travis Timmons: And it was announced at the beginning of the meeting. Any questions? "Nope, sounds like the right move for our aim." 0:20:32.3 Kelly Allan: Well, Travis, you provided the why behind the what. The what was that we have to change the software. You provided the rationale from all points of view, including from internal people who deal with the software to making it even less friction for customers and for physicians and for insurance companies, etc. People understood the why behind that what, and now they're ready to work on the how. 0:21:06.4 Travis Timmons: And I would even argue, because I agree with that, and because we've done Dr. Deming and have had success and accomplished so many things that people don't believe we've been able to accomplish as an independent organization, having lenses to look through and "by what method?" That's one of my favorite Kelly Allan-isms. By what method? 0:21:33.5 Kelly Allan: That's a quote from Dr. Deming. 0:21:36.0 Travis Timmons: Oh, okay. We're good. 0:21:38.9 Andrew Stotz: We stand on the shoulders of giants. 0:21:41.6 Travis Timmons: Yeah. There's a high level of trust in our organization that we can implement change. I think that... 0:21:51.3 Kelly Allan: I agree. 0:21:51.8 Travis Timmons: I don't want to undersell that in terms of how powerful that is that I announce we're changing our entire operating software in a few months and the entire team was... And we told them why, to Kelly's point. But to make that announcement and then just have everybody say, "Okay. Cool." I think that's crazy to me. I believe it because of everything else I've seen happen over 13 years. But to have a way, by what method, using Dr. Deming's principles, PDSAs, operational definitions, system view, we're gonna diagram it. Everybody left there confident that, "All right, we can do this and we're gonna do it." Anyway, what would you add to that, Kelly? 0:22:40.9 Kelly Allan: Yeah. I would say that fulfilling the promises that have been made at previous offsites just builds the credibility that this leadership team gets it, understands it, and is interested in engaging people and making things happen and getting things done in a way that doesn't disenfranchise people, it doesn't beat up on people, it doesn't cause harm, but people work together because they wanna figure it out. It's fun to figure it out. Yeah. 0:23:17.5 Kelly Allan: It can be at times a little too much fun, a little too exhausting to figure it out. But we're born wanting to make a difference and people can come to work there and know that they have a voice, they're heard. 0:23:33.1 Travis Timmons: And I think that's our superpower that I've learned from Dr. Deming is if I'm the only one figuring stuff out, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. So the team knows that we're gonna bring stuff, we're gonna talk about it, and we're gonna solve problems collectively through the Dr. Deming philosophy. That's something that just popped in my brain, Andrew, because it was such a non-event. But in most instances, that would have been the entire meeting would have been about that, the side conversations, people coming up to me... 0:24:15.0 Kelly Allan: And Travis, there would have been a lot of discussions at a non-Deming company about, "How do we get buy-in?" 0:24:22.4 Travis Timmons: Right. 0:24:22.8 Kelly Allan: "How do we manipulate people into saying this is okay?" We didn't have any...We didn't spend a minute on that. 0:24:30.5 Travis Timmons: Not one person asked me about the software the entire evening at dinner. It was just like, "We're gonna do it." It just struck me because it was a non-event in the meeting, but I think that would have been rare had we not had our history of Dr. Deming's approach and how we presented it in the meeting. 0:24:52.9 Andrew Stotz: Kelly, you said something that made me think of a book that I read in the past by Richard Feynman called The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. Great scientist. You talked about contribution and the desire for contribution and you talked about how people were figuring things out. And that's fun, that's exciting. That's what people want to get out of their management team and out of their employees. In some ways, I feel like you're talking about recess, a playground. Put all that stuff aside, let's go out and let's build this thing. All the joy that we did have when we were young. Think about, "Let's make a sandcastle! Yeah, you do that, I'll do this." That excitement... 0:25:45.0 Kelly Allan: That's what it was in the room that day. Different breakout groups working on different parts of the fishbone and then bringing them together and debriefing around it. It was very exciting. The energy was high. Andrew, you mentioned something, I think in part you were channeling Dr. Deming there because he also pointed out about how we're born wanting to make a difference, to make a contribution. Then we go to school and that gets beaten out of us with grades and command-and-control teaching, et cetera, et cetera. But to your earlier question about what makes this unique, special in regard to Deming, Travis mentioned the complexity. And so we go right back to the core of Deming: understanding variation and special cause, common cause, the important few things versus the trivial many, and how do you sort through those? That makes it very Deming. It makes it very Deming. The other thing that you won't see, and I've been in a lot of them through the years, in most offsites is those conversations about the why. It's usually, "Competitor's doing this," or, "We gotta make more money," or whatever. 0:27:01.0 Kelly Allan: No, the why for Fitness Matters is to achieve those aims. Right. 0:27:07.1 Andrew Stotz: Some of the things that you mentioned: have an aim, what makes this a Deming style, have an aim, think system, not individual focus, understand variation and how that can help you think system, not individual focus. You talked about pre-work, taking it seriously, and I would say that kind of responsibility for your employees and the environment. I was blown away with the amount of pre-work that we talked about previously. You talked about some tools like fishbone as an example. You've talked about the why. Travis, why don't you give us a very high level... We arrived at this time, this was then, we did this first, then we did that, then that. So we can just understand the structure of this meeting a little bit. 0:27:59.5 Travis Timmons: Sure. We've been big on operational definitions. So the operational definition of start time is Travis will start talking at 12:30 to start the meeting. Learned that one over the years. And I... 0:28:18.2 Travis Timmons: It was at a new location, so we had a couple people go to the wrong place. We put the map inside of the homework, swim upstream, try to make this as easy as possible. But to answer your question, we had an operational definition of the meeting starts at 12:30, and that means the meeting begins at 12:30. Operational definition, we had name tags. From an efficiency standpoint, we had six tables when we were going to do breakouts. People picked up their name tags, it had number one through six on it, so they know what table they would be going to at breakouts. We did a quick intro of every team member and what location they work at because we have had a lot of growth. Put names with faces, introduced Kelly so that everybody knew who he was. There's probably 11 people that didn't know who he was in person introduction and how that was going to be diving more into Dr. Deming. I made it very clear up front that this meeting, we're going to celebrate wins from 2025, but I made it very clear we're going to go through those quickly, not because they weren't huge wins, but because we had a lot of work to do to make sure we stay on that growth and excellence trajectory. 0:29:38.2 Travis Timmons: So we went through all of our wins for 2025. We reviewed our BHAGs, and then we got into the aim. In 30 minutes, we introduced everybody, we went over our wins for 2025, we reviewed our BHAGs, one of which is to be the best, leverage technology better than any physical therapy practice in the country was one of our BHAGs. Then I dovetailed that into, and we're switching softwares in a few months. Any questions? No. We go right into, here's what we're going to be working on today, referenced they're going to be using their homework, so they brought their homework booklets with them. We had PowerPoint slides so they knew what the directions were for the first breakout group. Kelly and I got there early and some of the leadership team got there early. We had the table set. We had the, I call it newsprint, up on tripods ready to go. You want to be prepared. They hit their tables because of the name tag. We had leaders assigned for each table. 0:30:50.1 Kelly Allan: And they were trained in advance. Yeah. Facilitators. Yeah. 0:30:53.5 Travis Timmons: We had leadership. 0:30:54.7 Andrew Stotz: So there was an intro period and then you said, "This is our aim and now go to your tables," or how did that... What were you telling them to do at the tables? 0:31:06.0 Travis Timmons: We told them the aim, reviewed the aim. To your point earlier, Andrew, overarching aim is maintaining our one-to-one care model. 0:31:14.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep. 0:31:14.7 Travis Timmons: Our aim of the meeting is how do we improve our arrival rate as an organization to greater than 85%? One of the ways we're going to accomplish that is making the entire system visible. We're going to go to our tables and we're going to work on... We had the fishbones drawn at each table, but we wanted them to fill in the fishbone as groups from their homework because everybody brought different ideas to the table. We wanted some conversation around that. 0:31:44.2 Andrew Stotz: That was a general fishbone. I think I remember later you talked about then breaking it down into separate fishbones, but that was just a general one to review what they'd done. 0:31:54.8 Travis Timmons: General one, work on the work together. To Kelly's point earlier, just the energy around working on ideas or, "Hey, I hadn't thought about that," or, "I didn't even know we did that in our system." Right. 0:32:07.0 Travis Timmons: Just understanding the complexity and really just getting the juices flowing on, here's what we're going to be working on because the next layer is going to be diving deeper into each one of those. 0:32:18.5 Andrew Stotz: How long was that period of going through the first fishbone and looking at their homework, discussing it together? How long did that last? 0:32:27.7 Travis Timmons: That one was a half hour because they'd already done the pre-work, so we assumed most of it was already going to be done. It was just kind of... 0:32:38.4 Andrew Stotz: Did you have them present any of that or that's just, "Go through that and that'll prep you for the next thing"? 0:32:46.0 Travis Timmons: We had them spend 25 minutes on that and then we saved room for five minutes for them to have kind of sharings or learnings or ahas. What did this experience teach you? Do you have anything to share? 0:33:01.9 Andrew Stotz: They're doing that within their group or they're doing that... 0:33:05.1 Travis Timmons: We went table by table and had them share with the entire team. Table by table, we had the team lead or anybody at the table, "Hey, what'd you think? What'd you learn?" 0:33:14.3 Andrew Stotz: Someone may say, "I didn't even realize that this impacts that and I just realized that now after seeing it." Okay. 0:33:24.0 Travis Timmons: Yeah. What are some of the things you heard, Kelly? I heard, "Oh, this is complex." 0:33:29.8 Kelly Allan: I also heard things like, "Well, I know how to handle this, but I need to define a process so that if I'm out, someone else can do it." Right? It's those kinds of little aha moments. Others were just, "Oh, is there a way for us to systematize that even further?" Again, it was that thinking about the system coming out in their comments. I think another part of the appreciation was really recognizing that a lot of people have to win. Deming talked about win-win being very stable and win-lose is not. They wanted to make sure the patients and the clients win, the physicians win, that the insurance companies are getting what they need, that the PTs and the Pilates people and the MAT people, etc., and the customer care coordinators are also having joy in their work. Because when you have a joyful staff, customers, clients really appreciate that. They just know there's something different. There's something different. 0:34:42.0 Andrew Stotz: And one question is, did you have any drift at that point where people started talking about other things that were unrelated but were key problems they're facing, or was setting your aim and doing the pre-work really kept them on track? 0:34:56.8 Kelly Allan: Great question. Yeah. 0:34:58.5 Travis Timmons: They were focused. They were focused the entire meeting. One of the things I learned it from Kelly or Ray, or maybe you taught Ray, I don't know, but we have a piece of paper we put up at every off-site, Andrew, we call it the parking lot. So that if somebody does have an idea that's outside of what we're there to tackle, we just have them go up and write it down so that they're heard, and it could be important, for sure, but we're not working on that today. We gotta stay laser-focused on what we're here for. So we have a parking lot, which has been super powerful, but nobody went to the parking lot the first half of the day at all. 0:35:39.2 Andrew Stotz: That's good. That's better than the woodshed. Excellent. 0:35:43.5 Travis Timmons: Speaking of the woodshed, this is one of my... I think this is one of the critical learnings, one of the many critical learnings I've had with Dr. Deming and the approach to leadership's responsibility. For me as the owner, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me, is to create joy in work, to create engaged teams where they can do fulfilling work. So you talked about the woodshed. It reminds me another one of my favorite quotes. A lot of owners or leaders talk about, "We have a lot of dead wood around here. Have a lot of dead wood on our team." The first Deming off-site I went to, Kelly said, "Well, there's only two ways that could have happened. Either one, you hired dead wood, and if you did, that's on you with your hiring process. Or number two, you hired live wood and you killed it. Either way, it's on the owner and leadership." 0:36:52.4 Kelly Allan: And I stole that from Peter Scholtes. 0:36:55.5 Andrew Stotz: Okay, got it. 0:36:57.0 Travis Timmons: But that struck me in terms of, okay, responsibility's on Travis to ensure we don't have that. Can't point fingers anywhere else. It's not people coming in with bad attitudes. So anyway. 0:37:15.8 Andrew Stotz: Okay, excellent. So now you've had the general fishbone discussion, you've had people present what were their key learnings from it. What happened next? 0:37:26.6 Travis Timmons: Just some quick aha's, anything from the homework, stuff like that. And then from there we did a couple-minute break and then we went right into the... 0:37:37.9 Andrew Stotz: It sounds like a HIIT, like a high-intensity interval training here. We did a couple-minute break. 0:37:44.6 Travis Timmons: We had work to do, man. People were there to get work done and get on to dinner. We had snacks and water in there they could grab real quick. Restrooms were close. And then agenda, we've gotta stay... And the team understands we have to do what we're doing, we have to be excellent in all categories. So the next thing we did, we came back together as a team, the entire team, and Kelly did the red bead experiment in preparation for the next breakout. Super powerful. For those that have seen the red bead experiment and how Dr. Deming used that to show how the willing worker shows up wanting to get all white beads, right? And the white bead, it's the white bead company, but there's red beads intermixed. No matter how hard they try, or Kelly offered a hundred-dollar bonus to somebody if they would just only bring out white beads the next time they put their paddle in, and it just had that visceral, in-the-moment realization that people show up wanting to do a good job. And issues, so the red beads were what we called cancellations impacting our arrival rate. Therapists want their patients to show up. Front desk wants, the client care coordinators want their patients to show up. Physicians want their patients to show up. So what do we need to do? It can't be bonus them if they show up or just try harder. What's not working? So that was a great... 0:39:23.4 Andrew Stotz: Why don't we go to that for a second. We're gonna have Kelly, maybe you can tell us a little bit about what you observed from that, and then we'll continue on with the rest of the structure. 0:39:36.2 Kelly Allan: Well, the way we set up the red bead experiment was very much focused on the real challenges and real issues that everybody at Fitness Matters faces in terms of this topic of increasing the arrival rate and how complex that is. I think the red bead experiment demonstrates for not only the people who are the willing workers and the people who are the inspectors and the person who is the scribe who keeps the spreadsheet, they realize that the numbers alone are not telling us what's going on. They realize that unless there's a system improvement, process improvement, and people working together to make those happen, you can bribe people, you can incent people, you can threaten people, you can send them home, you can give them a performance appraisal, you can do every kind of command-and-control management, but you haven't improved the system in which people work. There's still red beads. There's still red beads. We have to reduce the friction, we have to change the paddle. We have to figure out how it is we can help make it possible and easier for clients to want to show up so that they can get healthy and so that they can really appreciate what happens when they don't show up, how they are a part of the system. Once they become a patient, they're a part of the system of Fitness Matters. 0:41:18.3 Andrew Stotz: I'm just curious if there was also anything different. You've done the red bead experiment a lot of times with a lot of different types of companies. Were there any observations you had of the way they interpreted that that was either the same or different? What were some of your observations there? 0:41:37.7 Kelly Allan: Well, we planned it so that Travis and his leadership team could really do more of the debriefing so that they would have the context for the people in the audience as well as for the people on the stage, versus just a more generic, which is still powerful, to talk about how the system's in control and is this a common cause system or a special cause, what's really going on. Travis and his folks were able to then bring that context to the red beads, which I think made it especially powerful for this audience, for this group. 0:42:16.2 Andrew Stotz: Excellent. Travis, why don't you continue? 0:42:22.0 Travis Timmons: As Kelly shared, the leadership team debriefed after the red beads of the learnings and how that might be. The red beads were the cancellations that we currently have. Then we introduced, "Okay, now what we're gonna do is go do a deeper dive into the fishbones." There's five primary parts of our system, five bones. Each bone we're now gonna break out and work on the granular details. We did a fishbone for each of the larger bones. 0:43:01.8 Kelly Allan: Why don't you give a couple examples of the bones if you have it handy? 0:43:07.3 Travis Timmons: First bone is what we call initial contact. The first time a client has an interaction with Fitness Matters. Could be website, could be a physician referral, could be a neighbor talking to them, could be driving by. Initial contact, that's bone number one. How does that entire process work at Fitness Matters? Where's the friction point? Are there people that we don't even get into our door efficiently? They're not coming in set up for success, for example. Next bone would be setting them up for the evaluation. Third bone is evaluation day. Fourth bone is every subsequent visit up until discharge. And the fifth and final bone is discharge to ongoing wellness and how do we continue to stay connected? Those are the five bones as you flow through as a client at Fitness Matters, and the five major gates, if you will, is how we looked at it. 0:44:07.8 Kelly Allan: Every one of those is filled with complexity. There are a lot of little details to reduce the friction for the clients and for the system, for the patients in the system. I think that was an aha moment for people as well because a lot of them are in the quadrant four of unconscious competence. They've been doing this job well for a long time and they tend to forget the complexity. We have to identify the complexity so we can work on it and make it less complex, more streamlined, and so new people coming in can appreciate why Fitness Matters makes informed, thoughtful decisions about how they do things. It didn't just happen. These have been thoughtful things that have been worked on for years, but they can still be improved further and we can document them and make them more visible. When people saw all those little bones coming off the main bones, it's like, "Wow, there's a lot of little things that happen and we can impact almost all of those." 0:45:18.1 Travis Timmons: In some of the work we've already done on the bones to already have industry-leading arrival rate, but I think we can do better. We're one of the few, maybe one of the few medical appointments people have in their lives, not just physical therapy, but in general, that you go to do a medical appointment, do you know what it's gonna cost you out of pocket before you show up? Generally, you don't. We've swam upstream to make that visible to clients, so they already are coming in knowing what the cost is gonna be and are we providing that value? Just an example of, okay, can we swim further upstream with that and make it easier to pay and make it visible on their insurance deductible and all of that? 0:46:05.9 Kelly Allan: Well, and also, Travis, I think... I was just gonna say in terms of how many times have people been to a doctor's office, they've had to fill out a whole bunch of forms either online or in the office and then nobody ever looks at it. Something that Fitness Matters has been a leader on for a long time, which is how many of these questions are really required? How are we really gonna use that information? Let's not have seven pages. Can we get it down to four? Can we get it down to three? And increase... Because remember Deming's teachings are quality goes up as costs go down. Quality goes up as we have to commit less time. Quality goes up as joy in work goes up. Right? So that's that Deming structure of, no, quality does not have to cost more. In fact, Deming said if you're doing it this way, quality will cost less. And that's in part how Fitness Matters can compete against these big, big companies and win. I think, Travis, you've gotta share some of the statistics about what makes Fitness Matters an industry leader. What kinds of things are measured that you and others look at in the industry? 0:47:17.8 Travis Timmons: One of the big things in the physical therapy industry, Andrew, is what they call outcomes. They're measurable questionnaire by body part that you have a patient fill out at evaluation day and at discharge day, and it gives you a percentage of... In our industry, they call it functional ability. Are you 100% able with your shoulder or do you have a 60% disability with your shoulder? For example, across all body parts, we're 30 to 40% above national average on our outcomes. Not even close. Because of the efficiency, our patients show up. Again, the one-to-one care model is why it's our true north, and everything we do has to support that because of those industry-leading outcomes. Our no-show rate is one of the other things we define. Again, something we're working to improve upon, but we're already nation-leading. Our definition of a no-show is 24 hours notice up into a no-show. Most companies in our industry only call it a no-show if the patient just doesn't show up. With our definition of 24 hours notice or less, we're at 4% to 5%. National average of true no-shows, just not showing up, is 15%. 0:48:45.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, I can imagine even probably higher than that, but 15, yeah. 0:48:49.7 Travis Timmons: 15 to 20% depending on the research. Just two examples there. The Deming approach to system thinking, team engagement, getting rid of silos, operational definitions. To Kelly's point, we worked years ago on that initial client intake. I used an example several years ago around the time we were working on that project. My one son, got him an Apple iPad for Christmas. Other son got an Xbox 360. One product we got out of the box and turned it on, it was fully charged and ready to go in about 37 seconds. The other product took all kinds of unpacking, had to plug it in, and as soon as it came up, it said software upgrade required, and it proceeded to spend the entire day of Christmas downloading the update. We just use that as an example of how hard is this? We want that same experience for our clients. How do we make it an unbelievable healthcare experience for our clients? 0:50:10.1 Kelly Allan: Well, and Travis is being way too modest here, so I have to jump in. I don't know if I have the numbers exactly right, but Travis will correct me. Let's say you have an injury or you're recovering from surgery or whatever it happens to be, and the industry average is it's going to take 17 visits with a physical therapist for you to be at some level of functionality. At Fitness Matters, it might be 13 visits. Travis, is that too high? 0:50:42.3 Travis Timmons: 10. 0:50:43.1 Kelly Allan: 10 visits. 10 visits. So cut it in half. They're getting better in half the time. That's Deming. 0:50:52.9 Travis Timmons: Yeah. 0:50:53.3 Kelly Allan: Quality goes up, costs go down. Which is why Travis then can... Insurance companies also love them, right? It's like, wow, these people are getting better and they don't circle back just because they were... Operational definition is they're well. Discharged by somebody else, oh yeah, they had their 17, 18 visits, 19 visits, they're well. No, they're not. They come back or they go somewhere else and they're claiming insurance again. Fitness Matters, they learn how to stay well. 0:51:22.4 Travis Timmons: And that brings in another important thing that we've learned over the years, Andrew, with the Deming approach. Our data is industry leading, and we've worked hard at that. And we've got a great team that works within the construct that we've created through Deming. To get back to the unknown or unknowable quote that Dr. Deming would use, our marketing costs are low because patients go back to their physicians and say, "Hey, this is the best PT experience I've ever had." And after they hear that four or five times with us and they get complaints when they send them elsewhere, all of a sudden we start getting referrals from these doctors we've not even heard of before. 0:52:07.6 Kelly Allan: Yeah. Yep. 0:52:08.9 Travis Timmons: How do you measure that? What amount of marketing dollars would have to be spent to get in front of... Like, we doubled the number of physicians that referred to us in the last year. 0:52:23.6 Kelly Allan: Yes. That's a double, Andrew. Unheard of. 0:52:27.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. 0:52:28.1 Kelly Allan: Unheard of. 0:52:28.5 Andrew Stotz: Incredible. So you got amazing outcomes. Let's now wrap up about where did you get to at the end of this? What did you personally and the management team end up with? 0:52:45.9 Travis Timmons: So we had some do-outs. Our closing PowerPoint slide was within two weeks we would report back with one to two updated operational definitions and probably three PDSAs that we were going to tackle. That was kind of our promise back to the team, that we would look at all the work. We have paper everywhere. People got to vote. We had a one-page paper on potential PDSAs, and we gave them little stickers to vote on where they think we should put our time and energy and resources. Our takeaway, our product, if you will, three PDSAs. One that has two under it is the new software. We're gonna start doing online scheduling, automated waitlists. I won't get into all the details, but PDSA one has software change. PDSA two, there was a lot of feedback on, "Hey, it would be great if we had kind of a scripted conversation point for the client care coordinators for these four scenarios: first phone call, first in-visit, how we take payment and make their benefits visible to them, how do we take a phone call and handle a cancellation when they do happen to ensure that it's a positive experience." 0:54:12.4 Travis Timmons: And then how do we handle kind of a no-show? Another PDSA is we're gonna have those client care coordinators create their first version of what they think the best script would be, 'cause they're the ones that do it all day. Why would I try to come up with that? And then have them send it to us and do some feedback there. Then we updated our operational definition of canceled visits so that there was clarity across the system to make sure we're measuring what we want to measure, which is how many people show up to their visits each day. We reported that back to the team last Friday, actually, to make sure we hit the deadline we promised to them. And then we let them know we're also gonna be working on kind of a third or fourth PDSA—I kind of lost track there of how we're counting it under the software—but training the entire team on what does it mean to have client engagement and what is our operational definition of client connection and client engagement. So they know we're gonna be doing that on a location-by-location basis at the March monthly meeting. 0:55:26.4 Travis Timmons: That was our takeaway. A lot of product to come away with, and they're gonna have all of the context from the team off-site to understand what we're getting ready to tackle, especially with the software change. 0:55:40.1 Andrew Stotz: My first reaction to that is, oh, those seem like kind of things that you could have figured out some other way, or there's not that many things, or there wasn't some stunning breakthrough. Explain why you're happy with what you got versus you prepared, you did a lot of work, you got those things. Some of it may be that, hey, we need to go through a process. I may have known some of those conclusions, but if we don't have a process of going through that, first we have the risk of maybe I'm wrong in what I think. And the second thing we have is that we have the risk that it's just a business run by dictate rather than getting real buy-in. I'm just curious if you could explain a little bit about that. 0:56:30.7 Kelly Allan: You said the bad word. You said the B-word. 0:56:34.5 Andrew Stotz: Buy-in. 0:56:35.4 Travis Timmons: Understanding, Andrew. Not buy-in. 0:56:38.4 Andrew Stotz: We're looking for buy-in. No. Okay. 0:56:40.8 Kelly Allan: We change it. How do we get... The conversation changes when you say, "How do we get understanding?" Now it's about the why behind the what that leads to the how, versus buy-in, which means, "How are we gonna sell this to somebody?" Sorry, Travis, I couldn't resist. 0:57:02.8 Travis Timmons: No, it's 100% true. And to answer your question, Andrew, my first answer and probably the most powerful answer we already talked about earlier, but it's very important to reiterate and maybe close with, is because of our approach and the time and investment we spent preparing for the meeting, doing the meeting, the fact that there was zero concern or stress around us switching our software system. The amount of engagement that there's gonna be, 'cause there's gonna be work to be done by all team members in preparation for that software change. I am confident I'm not gonna have to do any motivational speeches leading up to that. I'm not gonna have to bribe people. They want this to work because they understand why we're doing it, they understand the value it's gonna provide, and they understand, now that they have deep understanding of our system, they understand why we need to do this to continue to excel. 0:58:13.9 Travis Timmons: I don't know what that's worth. That's unmeasurable. But I know had I just announced this and not had any process, not a Deming approach, just, "Hey, guys, Travis thinks we need to do a new software and we're gonna change how you document, how you schedule," I feel fairly confident how well that would've gone. That would be my answer, Andrew, is the power of being able to present that to a team. They're already asking me questions about, "Have you thought about this in our system?" We have a shared Word document across the team. What questions are coming up in your system thinking? "How are we gonna message this to all of our clients so that they know they're gonna get new emails for their home program?" Great question. I had not thought of that. That is unmeasurable, but I know we're gonna be successful when we switch softwares because of our approach via Deming. What would you add to that, Kelly? 0:59:14.7 Kelly Allan: I think that's the essential nature of what happens. When you set out with a clear, healthy, thoughtful aim, you have conversations around that with your leadership team and what they can do then to filter that and start to talk about that with their teams at their locations, and then you have time to reflect and continually improve that, you're really creating a racehorse. Most off-sites, and Andrew, you've been to these, I know, they start... It's the 17 things. I thought of this when you mentioned it earlier. We start out, we have a racetrack and we want to have a racehorse. But by the time most companies get to their off-site, they've put so much stuff on that horse that it's now a pack mule. It will eventually make it around the track, but if you're competing with Travis, his racehorse, that team's racehorse has been around that track past you many, many times. You may get there, but they're already onto another track by the time you get to the finish line. You're finished. 1:00:36.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. You may even be releasing kittens and he's got a horse. 1:00:42.0 Travis Timmons: Kelly brings up another great point there. The other thing that gives our team confidence, because of our system view, 96% of issues are due to systems and processes, not people, the Fitness Matters team is confident that there's gonna be hiccups with a software change. They're confident they're gonna be able to talk about it in a system view quickly, and they're confident we're gonna implement change to rectify that. That goes into one of the reasons why I got zero shocked looks or zero sidebar conversations the entire day. The only feedback I've gotten is, "Hey, we're excited about it. We think we need to do this. And have you considered this as part of our system change?" I don't know what else as a business you could want. 1:01:40.4 Andrew Stotz: Kelly, I was thinking about a good wrap-up from you is to help the listener and the viewer think about how can they apply this into their business. Let's step back a little bit from Travis and think about the work you do and give us some hope, give us some guidance about, can we do this? How? 1:02:04.6 Kelly Allan: Yeah. Several things come to mind. One is that when you first start to learn about the Deming lens, the System of Profound Knowledge, his approach, it seems, it's different. It is different and it can seem to be, oh my gosh, that's so different. We'll never be able to do that. But the point is, the Deming Institute offers a two-day seminar workshop and they can learn not to be incredibly proficient or masterful in two days of how to go back and do Deming, but they know how to get started and they do get started. And then it just becomes part of, again, the Deming magic is as you start to work on these things, your costs go down, your quality goes up, and sometimes you can raise your prices because of the quality and sometimes you just are more competitive at the existing price, but you're taking work and rework and waste out of the system through the Deming approach, which allows you the time. That's the big constraint in most companies. I don't have time to work on improvement. I gotta fix this. 1:03:29.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. Right. 1:03:30.9 Kelly Allan: So that's a fix that's gonna fail. That's a fix that's gonna fail. So I think the message is you just want to read The New Economics. If you get the third edition, start with the new chapter. It's like 40 pages and it sums up a whole lot of what we've been talking about. Then there's DemingNext videos through the Deming Institute. You can get your feet wet there. You can then, if you want, attend a seminar or read more things or reach out and have conversations with people. But you just have to try it so that you can see that the payback is there, that the joy in work is there. And in a war for talent, they wanna work for Deming. People wanna work for Deming-based companies because they're not about manipulating people. They're about joy in work. They're about reducing the friction. So you just gotta get started and don't be just because it's so different doesn't mean you can't learn it quickly. You can. 1:04:36.7 Andrew Stotz: Yep. And Travis is a great example of that. In our prior episodes, he talked about the journey, about the pain and all that. I think that's exciting. I'm gonna wrap it up. I just have to laugh because I've been out of the corporate world for a while, just doing my own thing. But I was thinking, you mentioned about buy-in and then you said it means you're selling something. And I thought that's funny. I remember my father used to say, he used to get so annoyed because he'd say, "Yeah, let's talk around this," which was a common thing back in those days. But then I was also thinking another thing that we were saying was onboard. Let's get people onboard with this. What if you're onboard? It pretty much means you're drowning. And I just thought about those types of things that when we talk about fear and work or fear in what we're trying to remove fear and stuff, part of it is the way we speak and the way we communicate. 1:05:41.1 Andrew Stotz: Travis, I feel like I want to leave you with the last word. So why don't you bring us home? 1:05:48.0 Travis Timmons: Yeah, I think I would follow on what Kelly said is I would just the amount of joy, the amount of stress this took off of me as a business owner and as a parent thinking about things differently. And the first time you start learning about Deming's teachings and the System of Profound Knowledge, it seems a little off. Seems a little like this just doesn't seem possible. I've had several people I've talked to about that. It just doesn't work that way. To Kelly's point, I would encourage just try a couple things, whether it be do you have clear operational definitions? Have you done a PDSA? Do you know how to do a PDSA? But the two-day seminars is where you kind of do the deep dive into like, oh, okay, I need to think about things differently. So anyone struggling with a business trying the latest and greatest book that's been out or the latest and greatest compensation model to create ownership thinking within your organization or whatever the buzzwords are, this is a long-term path to clarity and to just an understanding of how you can make your organization a place that has a positive impact on the lives of your employees and your clients. 1:07:17.7 Travis Timmons: And man, if you get that right, everything else follows. Sales, profit, all the stuff that a lot of metrics look at. If you get the point of your job is to have a positive place for your team to work and how do you do that? Deming is the way to do that. Everything else follows after that, in my opinion. 1:07:38.6 Andrew Stotz: And on that note, Travis and Kelly, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion. For listeners, remember, as Kelly and Travis have both said, go to deming.org, go to DemingNEXT. There's resources there so you can continue your journey. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. I constantly repeat it because I love it, and that is: "People are entitled to joy in work."
Tom Fox dismantles the biggest myth leaders hold about compliance; that it slows you down. In this conversation, compliance is reframed as a trust accelerator that helps teams move faster, make better decisions, and speak up without fear. From whistleblowing to innovation, from guardrails to growth, this episode reveals the way leaders listen may matter more than the rules they write. Experience our episodes in a whole new way—watch every video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe now to be the first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 SOUND BITES [1:05] Why ethical systems and good questions create stronger teams and better decisions. [1:54] What do leaders misunderstand about compliance . . . and why effective compliance links to smoother operations and greater profitability [2:23] Why compliance gets framed as a necessary irritation . . . and how to reframe it as a business advantage, not a box-tick. [3:06] What poor compliance is really costing you. [3:55] How compliance becomes the positive side of the curve. [4:18] Compliance as guardrails that help you move faster. [5:09] How institutional fairness and justice shape culture . . . why perceived favouritism destroys effort, trust, and performance. [5:59] Dieselgate as a cautionary tale . . . what happens when compliance failures become brand and workforce crises. [6:40] Compliance in project work: choosing contractors and third parties . . . why due diligence matters more than convenience or “mates rates”. [7:37] How to keep people informed, involved and willing to speak up during change. [9:36] The leader mindset shift: stop being the sole supplier of answers . . . tap team knowledge, diversity, and lived experience. [10:51] Trends in compliance now: compliance as a core corporate function [12:11] Making compliance visible: what companies publish publicly . . . and how internal incidents become training stories. [15:31] The “four eyes” control idea for delegation . . . how oversight enables growth, saves time, and supports retention. [16:36] Psychological safety and non-blame culture . . . why people hide mistakes when blame is the default. [18:02] How to reinforce compliance without shaming . . . using reminders and “safety moments” to keep standards alive. [21:05] Audit thinking for leaders: what is happening and what is not happening . . . spotting gaps, blind spots, and missing actions. [21:23] The Sherlock Holmes “dog that didn't bark” clue . . . using absence as evidence when investigating risk and compliance. ABOUT TOM FOX https://compliancepodcastnetwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfox13/ THE ADVENTURE OF SILVER BLAZE – BOOK AND AUDIOBOOK https://www.amazon.com/The-Adventure-of-Silver-Blaze/dp/B006AKQVKM/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dCmZLmz6hGM38I6tWrWeaQ.yH4K4sPM1FFxNQXefGY0NIB92aToyRUCPtyXBsZBdrM&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+Adventure+of+Silver+Blaze&qid=1769144555&s=audible&sr=1-1 ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/signature-programs === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feeling like you can't do anything because you don't know where to start'—Parents' Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Early Detection for Children at Risk of Cerebral PalsyAbstractBackground: Early detection of cerebral palsy (CP) risk is possible from 12 weeks corrected gestational age (CGA) using standardised assessments; however, up to half of children at risk are not referred early, missing out on early intervention. We investigated the barriers and facilitators to accessing early intervention from the perspective of parents of children who did not receive services by 6 months CGA.Methods: Parents of children with CP were invited to participate in qualitative semistructured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and develop themes.Results: Eight mothers of children who did not receive standardised screening participated in interviews, from which three themes, 'responding to delays', 'systemic barriers' and 'complexities of diagnosis', were developed from the data.Conclusions: Parents require more support to access and engage in early detection services; health system processes are difficult to navigate, and health professionals require education and training to recognise risk factors for CP in all health settings and refer promptly. Improving system processes, education and training and partnering early with parents to improve their experience when interacting with the health system may increase early engagement and optimise long-term outcomes for children at risk of CP and their families.Keywords: cerebral palsy; diagnosis; mothers; paediatrics; qualitative.Child: care, health and development (Open Access)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40435382/
This episode highlights data from a qualitative substudy of the AV Access trial, a randomized controlled trial studying outcomes of older adults who are receiving hemodialysis with a central venous catheter.
Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom is a unique community located on a hilltop between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where Jewish and Palestinian families have lived together since the late 1970s. Journalist Mike Lanchin first visited the community in the early 1980s when there was just a handful of Jews and Palestinian families living in makeshift houses poking out from the scrub land. Now, it boasts a fully bilingual-binational day school - the first of its kind – with children coming from the surrounding area, as well as a conflict resolution centre visited by Palestinians and Jews. Facilitators from the centre host inter-faith workshops outside the community. More than 40 years after its establishment, Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom today faces some of its most testing times following the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Mike has been speaking to residents, young and old, about what the future now holds for this cross-community experiment.
Paul Fairweather CSP was once described as equal parts zen and espresso. Award-winning architect, CEO, co-founder of TEDxBrisbane, co-hostof The Common Creative podcast, finalist in Australia's prestigious portrait Archibald Prize, designer, inventor, illustrator ... Paul Fairweather is a Certified Speaking Professional delivering conference keynotes and author of Bold, Brave and a bit Quirky. Paul's mission is to give people courage to create and confidence to connect, often with a splash of watercolour and a twist of lemon. Paul helped our group drop our fear of drawing and paint a lemon watercolor, now framed in my kitchen. Paul Fairweather lives in Brisbane, Australia, the home of the 2032 Olympics. SOUNDBITES [0:02] How Vincent van Gogh became famous posthumously through letters, sketches, and story. [1:42] Turning a personal creative skill into a leadership and speaking signature. [2:19] A memoir-meets-manifesto style that makes creativity practical and accessible. [2:55] The “overflow” zone where challenge exceeds ability and creativity kicks in. [4:22] Beating procrastination by starting and suspending judgment. [6:24] Starting one idea often triggers many more. [6:54] How brain networks switch modes to generate ideas. [9:47] Using doodles and handwritten notes to boost attention and insight at work. [10:28] Leading for creativity by setting boundaries without over-prescribing. [11:44] Finding the second right answer through multiple options. [13:00] Inspiration, action, and connection as a balance of creative opposites. [14:32] Reframing procrastination as the gap where ideas evolve. [15:16] Building improvement thinking without idea-ownership friction. [15:59] Defining the script: fully scripted, ad lib, or improv. [17:36] Ad lib versus improv as degrees of structure. [17:50] Leading through uncertainty long enough to reach better solutions. [20:13] Communicating beyond words with visuals and images. [20:44] Metaphors plus story, message, and visuals for complete communication. [22:25] Bringing creative courage and fresh thinking into everyday work. CONTACT PAUL FAIRWEATHER https://www.paulfairweather.com/ Buy the book: https://www.paulfairweather.com/store-1 CONTACT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/signature-programs === Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The steps in between big leaps, like little foot prints in the sand, are what make life worth living. Long strides cover many fronts, but little prints leave big clues. Facilitators, plans, and leadership building strategy. Persistent pressure as granular policy. Looks like organized trade craft in the subversive industry. A power network to bend institutions. The funding chain is simple, but key. Yield Giving is a McKinsey Scott (Bezo's Ex) managed finance vehicle. Out Front Minnesota and Ilhan Omar in her hijab. She meets with gay people her religion would burn. Foul smelling ethics can be technically lawful. Muscle memory for influencing reactions. For many, the zombie training is easy. Players are given a roll, their lane and detailed script. This is groundwork for a general strike. Hiding behind language is false protection from the law. Many of the same lefties are involved in multiple ops. We knew it was going to be a long war. The well financed and planned street opposition is proving that.
The steps in between big leaps, like little foot prints in the sand, are what make life worth living. Long strides cover many fronts, but little prints leave big clues. Facilitators, plans, and leadership building strategy. Persistent pressure as granular policy. Looks like organized trade craft in the subversive industry. A power network to bend institutions. The funding chain is simple, but key. Yield Giving is a McKinsey Scott (Bezo's Ex) managed finance vehicle. Out Front Minnesota and Ilhan Omar in her hijab. She meets with gay people her religion would burn. Foul smelling ethics can be technically lawful. Muscle memory for influencing reactions. For many, the zombie training is easy. Players are given a roll, their lane and detailed script. This is groundwork for a general strike. Hiding behind language is false protection from the law. Many of the same lefties are involved in multiple ops. We knew it was going to be a long war. The well financed and planned street opposition is proving that.
Older Americans are struggling with social isolation more than ever. This can lead to challenges with mental and physical health as people age, and one nonprofit is having great success trying to do something about it. Life Story Club uses scheduled Zoom and phone calls form members to share stories about their past, present, and plans for their future. In this Blue Sky conversation, interim director and geriatric specialist Dr. Jennifer Wong describes how this life-changing organization operates. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and Jennifer's Background The episode introduces Blue Sky and its focus on optimism, then introduces guest Dr. Jennifer Wong. Dr. Wong shares her journey into experimental psychology and her passion for supporting older adults and those with disabilities, which stems from personal experiences with family health challenges. 05:00 Life Story Club's Mission Jennifer explains how she connected with the Life Story Club and describes its simple yet effective model. The club gathers older adults virtually each week to share life stories, aiming to combat social isolation and loneliness in a vulnerable population. 10:25 Story Rx Program and Partnerships Jennifer details the Story Rx program, a unique initiative where medical professionals can prescribe Life Story Club to patients. This program allows for powerful partnerships with leading healthcare institutions like Cleveland Clinic and Montefiore, leveraging medical data to track the program's effectiveness in improving patient well-being. 15:22 Facilitator's Impact and Wisdom The discussion highlights the profound impact facilitators have and the valuable insights they gain from older adults' stories. Facilitators, who are paid professionals, often share their own vulnerabilities, fostering deep connections and mutual support within the clubs, which also incorporate geographical and linguistic considerations. 22:34 Intergenerational Perspective and Progress Jennifer and Bill discuss how older adults' stories provide invaluable historical perspective, reminding younger generations of societal progress and the non-linear nature of change. These narratives offer optimism and a reminder that current challenges, while significant, have historical precedents that were overcome. 27:43 Data and Family Connection Jennifer shares the impressive data collected from Life Story Club participants, showing significant improvements in loneliness, belonging, and mood. The conversation also emphasizes how the club's story recording feature provides a precious gift to families, reconnecting them with their elders' unheard stories and fostering intergenerational connection. 35:20 Growth and Future Outlook Life Story Club is actively working on expanding its reach beyond New York, developing a working group for communities interested in replicating the model. They welcome partnerships with healthcare organizations and individual donors to meet the growing need for older adult support and enhance life for longer-living populations.
Pakistani authorities have arrested several facilitators of the suicide bombing that targeted a mosque during Friday prayers in Islamabad, including the alleged main mastermind.
"You also want to deal with patient preferences. We do want to get their disease under control. We want to make them live a long, good quality of life. But do they want to come to the clinic once a week? Is it a far distance? Is geography a problem? Do they prefer not taking oral chemotherapies at home? We have to think about what the patient's preferences are to some degree and kind of incorporate that in our decision-making plan for treatments for relapsed and refractory myeloma," Ann McNeill, RN, MSN, APN, nurse practitioner at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about multiple myeloma treatment considerations. Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by February 6, 2027. Ann McNeill has disclosed a speakers bureau relationship with Pfizer. This financial relationship has been mitigated. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to the treatment of multiple myeloma. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. ONS Podcast™ episodes: Episode 398: An Overview of Multiple Myeloma for Oncology Nurses Episode 395: Pharmacology 101: Monoclonal Antibodies Episode 372: Pharmacology 101: Proteasome Inhibitors ONS Voice articles: Effective Care Transitions Are Essential for New Multiple Myeloma Treatments New Multiple Myeloma Treatments Present New Challenges in Side Effect Management Reduce Racial Barriers and Care Inequities for Black and African American Patients With Multiple Myeloma ONS Voice FDA approval alerts ONS Voice oncology drug reference sheets: Belantamab mafodotin-blmf Daratumumab Motixafortide Selinexor Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Journey of a Patient With Multiple Myeloma Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Optimizing Transitions of Care in Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy: Nurse Roles Oncology Nursing Forum article: Facilitators of Multiple Myeloma Treatment: A Qualitative Study ONS books: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Manual for Nursing Practice (third edition) Multiple Myeloma: A Textbook for Nurses (third edition) ONS course: ONS Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation™ ONS Huddle Cards: Financial Toxicity Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) Monoclonal Antibodies ONS Hematology, Cellular Therapy, and Stem Cell Transplantation Learning Library American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)–Ontario Health: Treatment of Multiple Myeloma Living Guideline International Myeloma Foundation: Clinical Trials Fact Sheets Clinical Trial Support Resource Library Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation resource: Treatments for Multiple Myeloma To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From This Episode "Typically for our first-line therapies, we use certain classes of drugs and some of them are proteasome inhibitors like bortezomib and carfilzomib. We also have IMiDs or immunomodulatory agents like thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide. We have monoclonal antibodies, anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies. Of course, we can never talk about treatment for myeloma without mentioning dexamethasone. It is an integral part of our treatment regimen. Most of our frontline therapies now are not just a single agent. They're not even doublets anymore. Typically, they're triplet therapies. And now in 2026, it's leaning more toward quadruplet therapies. By that, I mean you're taking a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory drug, dexamethasone, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody all together to present patients with a good chance their induction therapy will lead to a good chance of them responding to treatment." TS 4:25 "[With] myeloma labs, there should be some indication after each cycle of therapy that the treatment is working. So, you don't have to do a whole myeloma panel, but maybe getting a monoclonal protein spike, maybe getting a free light chain assay, or maybe an immunoglobulin G or immunoglobulin A level, just to see if the treatment is working. So, those labs are crucial to determine whether the therapies are working. And again, the lab improvements usually correlate with the clinical presentation of the patient." TS 11:01 "There are active clinical trials ongoing with drugs like cell mods. Cell mods are the new oral anticancer agents for myeloma that have shown great promise with efficacy and safety profiles. And then there are other combinations that are showing a lot of promise. So, drugs that are already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And I'm talking about pairing anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies with bispecific T-cell engagers. If you do that, there has been some evidence that these combinations are very efficacious and responses are durable. And there are ongoing clinical trials and studies being done right now to see if these can be FDA-approved to pinpoint where they are as far as in comparison to other treatments." TS 20:10 "I always tell patients to try to participate in safe, and I want to stress safe, physical activity. So, I tell patients, the more you sit on the couch or you sit in the chair for most of the day, that unfortunately will make your pain worse. So, trying to get up and about and doing some physical activity, such as getting a physical therapy evaluation and a treatment program, no matter how passive or mild or gentle it is, can really help these patients with bone pain." TS 26:10 "I think it's important to realize that myeloma has had amazing advances in science, research and treatments. I think that all of these things coming together, all the science and clinical trials and everything like that, has led to a significant increase in overall survival of our patients, which ultimately is a great thing. We want patients to live longer and they're living longer with a very good quality of life. So, I think it's important to realize that myeloma is very well studied, very well researched, and it's still ongoing with many, many clinical trials." TS 36:04
Leslie Grandy, author of ''Creative Velocity'', helps leaders unlock creativity when the clock is ticking, the budget is tight, and half the team says they are “not creative.” In this episode, you'll hear how to build creative velocity with AI as a thinking partner, and how to stop innovation getting trapped in silos, expert bias, and status-quo habits. If your organisation wants fresh ideas that actually land with customers and employees, this conversation will give you practical frameworks you can use immediately. Experience our episodes in a whole new way. Watch every video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe now to be first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 SOUNDBITES [2:14] What to do when team members say “I'm not creative” . . . and how leaders canwiden the team's impact range. [2:44] Why creative leadership stalls in risk-averse cultures, and how silos block innovation from operations, finance, and legal. [3:50] Why embedding innovation across the whole organisation matters more in an AI-driven world . . . not just within product or marketing. [4:07] How to treat AI as a “team member” for pattern recognition, cross-industry insights, and resilient planning. [5:05] Defining “creative velocity” as fast idea generation plus human judgement to ensure meaning, value, and purpose. [6:02] How to apply critical thinking to ideas ... avoiding high-effort, low-impact pet projects and prioritising what matters. [6:47] Why resonance is the real test of innovation . . . and why AI struggles to judge lived experience and emotional relevance. [7:23] Using AI to find blind spots: unintended consequences, ripple effects, and contingency planning for emergent behaviors. [8:32] Rebuilding creative confidence (creative self-efficacy) and why creativity is a practiced skill. [9:36] How “figuring things out” becomes creativity in action . . . using imagination language to unlock inventive thinking. [11:21] A practical framework: the MacGyver mindset and the “generic parts technique” for improvisation under constraints. [12:54] Embracing constraints to spark innovation: alternative uses, resource reapplication, leverage, and not rebuilding what already exists. [14:36] Why “time, money, resources” is everyone's constraint . . . and how to see these constraints as fuel, not a dead end. [15:40] Expert bias as a corporate Achilles heel: how long tenure can squash new voices during transformation. [17:47] Narrow thinking and cognitive fixedness: getting stuck in status quo functionality when the market needs reinvention. [18:28] The risk of becoming a reactor instead of a market leader . . . and why small turns are too slow when rules have changed. [19:41] How to work with Leslie Grandy: keynotes, corporate workshops, and an online course focused on creative frameworks and AI. [21:24] Maven course options: a free class on premortems and the Stoic “premeditation of evil” process to reduce risk, plus a paid course on breakthrough ideas with creative frameworks and AI. LESLIE GRANDY https://maven.com/ https://www.lesliegrandy.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-grandy/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/signature-programs === Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jim Gitney issues a clear warning to every consultant, advisor, and professional service firm: if AI is not a foundational part of your offering, relevance will erode faster than you think. In this episode, we explore why AI is no longer just a tool but a thinking partner, how human judgment becomes more valuable not less, and what leaders must do now to stay indispensable in 2026 and beyond. Experience our episodes in a whole new way—watch every video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe now to be the first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 Soundbites [0:02] Why professional service providers without an AI-integrated strategy will struggle from 2026 onwards. [1:35] If AI supplies strategy, how humans stay indispensable through judgment, context, and decision-making. [2:17] Treating AI as a co-worker and thinking partner through a hybrid human-AI model. [2:31] How AI accelerates discovery, data analysis, and solution development across professional services. [3:07] Real examples of AI generating strategies instantly, from investments to book marketing plans. [3:51] Creating AI-powered boards of advisors by synthesising insights from admired business thinkers. [5:27] The skill of refining AI outputs through better questions as the heart of the hybrid model. [6:33] How professional service firms will need fewer analysts but stronger AI capability. [7:31] The growing impact of AI in legal research, contract analysis, and evidence gathering. [7:58] Why human skills like motivation, listening, and managing fear matter more as AI adoption increases. [9:02] Implementation and change management as the new differentiator for professional service firms. [10:41] Why firms focused only on analysis and research face greater risk of irrelevance. [11:16] The emerging role of the Chief AI Officer and responsibility for enterprise-wide AI strategy. [12:03] Rolling out AI through pilots, change management, and capability building across organisations. [13:23] Cobotics explained as the intersection of people, process, and technology. [14:51] Why organisations will move away from siloed structures to horizontal, process-led models. [16:52] How AI and technology backbones will reshape leadership roles and organisational design. [17:02] The warning for professional services firms whose strategic plans do not embed AI as foundational. [18:44] AI adoption in medicine and healthcare as proof that no profession is immune. [19:17] Why neither ignoring AI nor relying solely on it works without human judgment. [19:56] Using AI to transform an existing framework into an operational system through precise prompting. [21:50] Where to explore further work, resources, and future releases related to AI and professional services. JIM GITNEY https://www.group50.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgitney/ https://strategyrealized.com/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au... === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of the page to register Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Leading Into 2026: Executive Pastor Insights Momentum is real. So is the pressure. This free report draws from the largest dedicated survey of Executive Pastors ever, revealing what leaders are actually facing as they prepare for 2026. Why staff health is the #1 pressure point Where churches feel hopeful — and stretched thin What worked in 2025 and is worth repeating Clear decision filters for the year ahead Download the Full Report Free PDF • Built for Executive Pastors • Instant access Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re sitting down with an executive pastor from a prevailing church to unpack what leaders like you shared in the National Executive Pastor Survey so you can lead forward with clarity. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Kayra Montañez, Executive Pastor at Liquid Church in New Jersey. Liquid is a fast-growing multisite church with six campuses stretching from Princeton to communities just outside New York City. In this conversation, Kayra helps unpack one of the biggest concerns surfaced in the National Executive Pastor Survey: the growing gap between attendance and engagement. While many churches are seeing people return, far fewer leaders feel confident that those people are truly connected, discipled, and serving. Is your church seeing full rooms but thin volunteer pipelines? Are you unsure how engaged people really are beyond weekend services? Kayra offers practical insight into why that gap exists—and what churches can do to close it. Attendance is up, engagement is unclear. // Kayra begins with encouragement. Across the country, churches are seeing renewed spiritual openness. People are coming with expectancy, ready to encounter God. At the same time, many leaders sense a disconnect between attendance and belonging. Kayra identifies several common gaps: people attending without joining “people systems” like groups or teams; online attenders remaining anonymous without a clear bridge to community; seasonal attenders who show up for Christmas and Easter but never return; and potential volunteers who are open to helping but hesitant to commit long-term. These patterns aren't unique to Liquid—they're widespread across the church landscape. From prescribed paths to personalized journeys. // One of Liquid's biggest shifts has been moving away from a rigid, one-size-fits-all connection pathway. Kayra compares the old model to the video game Mario Brothers, where everyone must follow the same prescribed path or “die.” Instead, Liquid now operates more like Zelda: a choose-your-own-adventure approach that honors people's seasons, needs, and interests. Rather than telling people where they must plug in, the church focuses on learning what people actually want and helping them find a meaningful next step. Connect and Conversation. // This shift comes to life through a monthly experience called Connect and Conversation, hosted at every campus after the final service. New and not-yet-connected attendees are invited to a meal where they sit at tables with others like them and facilitators. The event begins with relational icebreakers to help people connect naturally, then moves into guided conversation around what attendees are looking for—community, care, serving, support groups, or spiritual growth. Facilitators take detailed notes, which drive personalized follow-up in the weeks ahead. Kayra describes it as “high-touch, concierge-style ministry,” and the results have been significant movement from attendance into engagement. Measuring what matters. // Liquid tracks what happens after people attend Connect and Conversation—not to claim direct causation, but to see correlation. They monitor whether participants join groups, teams, or discipleship environments in the following months. That data has helped the church refine pathways and remove unnecessary friction. Kayra encourages leaders to examine two key metrics: how many first-time guests take any next step within 30 days, and what percentage move into a people system within 60–90 days. These numbers often reveal where engagement breaks down. Reimagining discipleship. // One surprising insight at Liquid came from surveying the congregation about small groups. While relational connection mattered, the top desire was biblical literacy. In response, Liquid “blew up” its traditional small-group model and launched a new midweek Bible study format called Deep Dive. Rather than prioritizing relationships first, these environments put Scripture front and center, with connection as a natural byproduct. The pilot—an in-depth study of Revelation—drew hundreds of participants and revealed a deep hunger for understanding God's Word. Rebuilding volunteer momentum. // Like many churches, Liquid faced a volunteer crisis as growth outpaced serving capacity—especially in kids' environments. In response, the church launched a short-term campaign called For the One, built around a “try before you buy” serving model. New volunteers could serve a few times with a shortened onboarding process (without compromising safety) and then decide whether to commit long-term, scoring exclusive team swag. More than 400 people stepped in to serve, helping stabilize teams and reignite volunteer culture. Short-term fixes and long-term culture. // Kayra emphasizes that engagement is both a systems problem and a culture challenge. Churches need short-term solutions to address immediate gaps, but long-term health comes from storytelling, celebration, appreciation, and consistently casting vision for why serving and community matter. Engagement doesn't happen accidentally—it's cultivated intentionally over time. To learn more about Liquid Church, visit liquidchurch.com, or connect with Kayra directly via email. Watch the full episode below: Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We’ve got a special episode on today where we’re diving into some of the results from the National Executive Pastor Survey. And today we’re super excited to have Kayra Montañez with us from Liquid Church in New Jersey. Rich Birch — And today we’re talking all about engagement. One of the things that jumped out, well, one of the top tier results, kind of concerns that came out, 10% of executive pastors in the open questions, expressed fear around discipleship death depth and volunteer sustainability. At the same time, nearly 12% said they lacked really visibility into participation and involvement data. Another 6% pointed specifically to volunteer and team metrics really being an unmet need, not knowing where they are. Rich Birch — So what does that all that mean? Roughly one in five executive pastors are entering 2026 this year, wondering really how engaged their churches are. And Kayra is going to solve all that for us. So Kayra, welcome to the show. Tell us about Liquid. Tell us a little bit about the church. Kayra Montañez — Well I appreciate the vote of confidence but I’m not sure about that. But, Rich, it’s always so great to be with you and to be a guest on your podcast. Thank you so much for having me. So yes, we are in New Jersey. So our church is called Liquid. I get the incredible privilege of serving there as one of two executive pastors. And we are a multisite church. We have six campuses. If you and know anything about New Jersey, one of them is the furthest one is in Princeton, New Jersey – a lot of people know Princeton. Kayra Montañez — And then probably the closest one that we have up north is closest to New York City, about 30 minutes from the city. So that kind of gives you the breadth and width of how we’re trying to saturate the state of New Jersey with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is our mission. Rich Birch — So good. And Kayra, I really appreciate you jumping in on on today’s conversation, particularly in this area, because I think, man, have so much to offer. You know, so many of our churches, we feel like the volunteer pipelines are thin. How are we getting? It’s like people are underutilized. Maybe are our follow-up process are like overly complex. And you’ve done a great job on on this area. So let’s just jump right in. Rich Birch — Where do you see some of the biggest gaps today in churches, whether it’s Liquid or other churches you interact, between, you know, getting people to attend church attendance and actual engagement. There’s a gap there. what What’s driving that? What do what do you think drives that gap in our churches? Kayra Montañez — Yeah. So I see a couple of things. But before I get to that, you know, I just really wanted to start with something really encouraging because it’s not in my nature to be discouraging. So one of the things that I have noticed, in fact, I was actually spending some time with other pastors from other states in the U.S. And we were talking about like, hey, what is the Lord doing in the in the Big C Church? What are you experiencing in your context? Rich Birch — So good. Kayra Montañez — And one of the things I think that was a theme for all of us is it feels like we don’t have to work as hard to get people to come and be ready for what the Lord has for them. And that feels very exciting. Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — And that’s like a theme that I’m seeing repeated across the entire nation with all of my pastor friends from different locations. Having said that, there are still things that we have to do to get people from going to just attending to engaging, like you were saying. I think there’s a couple of things that I saw. Kayra Montañez — One of them is a big one, I would say, is like this idea of, attending versus belonging, right. So like first people actually want to come, but they don’t actually join people systems. So they come in person, they come online, but they don’t actually join any kind of people system. So when I say people system I’m thinking about groups, or dream teams, a support group, a class. That’s actually something that we started seeing a lot post-pandemic, and I would say it’s still here. So that’s one gap that I see. Kayra Montañez — The second gap that I see is digital versus relational. So obviously, we at Liquid have spent a lot of, we’ve invested a lot in our digital ministry, and we really believe online and in-person can both thrive at the same time, and we’re seeing that. Kayra Montañez — However, online services, while they can remove barriers, which is good, it also helps people stay anonymous unless there’s a clear bridge for those people to actually join in-person community. And so churches that haven’t figured out well how to do that will continue to see a gap between people who are attending, whether it’s in person or online, but not actually engaging. Kayra Montañez — There’s also the people who just come for big events, right? Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — We’re approaching one of them, even as we film this podcast, next week is Christmas Eve. So we joke at Liquid, we have the CEOs, they come for Christmas, Easter, and other big events, but they don’t actually have a weekly rhythm of attending and engaging. Kayra Montañez — And then there’s people who I would say are curious about serving and for the most part are open to helping, but are not really ready to make a serving commitment and actually take on a very consistent role. So I would say across the breadth and width of churches, that’s probably something that would hit most people, no matter where you are. Rich Birch — Yeah, for sure. Kayra Montañez — Definitely we experience all of them at Liquid. Rich Birch — Yeah, I there was a lot there, in which I appreciate. and i appreciate the way you’ve kind of diagnosed. I think there’s multiple ways to kind of um diagnose or kind of pick apart – Hey, here are different aspects here, or different ways that we’re seeing this kind of attendance versus engagement question. So maybe, you know, pick apart those attending versus belonging. What has Liquid done? What are you doing to try to help move people from just attending, actually getting into those people systems? What does that? What are you learning on that front? Kayra Montañez — Yeah. You know, we’ve had a major shift at Liquid, I would say, in the past two years. The best way that I can explain this is with a gaming analogy, because I have teenagers and they love gaming. Rich Birch — I love it. Kayra Montañez — So if you um go back to when we used to play Mario Brothers, you remember Mario Brothers? Rich Birch — Sure, yeah. Kayra Montañez — Mario Brothers has prescribed path where if you did not follow the path, at some point Mario would die. Like if you stayed behind and the camera kept moving, the character would die. You remember that? Rich Birch — Yes, yes. Kayra Montañez — And that’s the way that a lot of churches, even today, approach helping people connect. There is a prescribed path for you, and we’re going to tell you what you need to do and what you have to do. Then Zelda came into the scene and Zelda is like, hey, choose your own adventure. You can start your adventure anywhere you want. Rich Birch — Right. Kayra Montañez — And so I feel like Liquid, we’ve shifted in that. We used to be Mario Brothers, like, hey, here’s a prescribed path for you. Here’s all the things that you have to do to connect. Whereas now we’ve shifted over the past two years into like, hey, we have a lot of things that we can offer you. And there are many different things depending on your season of life, on your felt needs, on what you’re looking for, on what you’re interested in, on what makes your heart beat. Tell us what you want to do and we’re going to help you. Kayra Montañez — And so in order for us to understand what is it that people want, we created an event that we do every month called Connect and Conversation. And the whole idea and the way that we market it is if you’re new to Liquid, or if you are not new, but you haven’t connected yet, you haven’t found your people, you haven’t found something that you want to be a part of, come to this event. Kayra Montañez — We feed you. We get to know you. And then we follow up personally with you. It’s very high level concierge, kind of a follow up system, where after we connect with you, we ask you, hey, what are you actually interested in? What are you looking for? Because your needs as an empty nester who’s been married for over 25 years, you’re parenting adult children who are already married are very different than mine who have two team have two teenagers. Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — One of them is about to go to college, right? Rich Birch — Yep, yep. Kayra Montañez — And so that has actually produced incredible fruit from getting people who are attending. Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — Now I’ve actually offered them something they’re interested in, which is making connections with people. And then from there, we follow up to offer, what do you need? Rich Birch — That’s so cool. Kayra Montañez — And everybody has different needs. Some people just wanna join teams because they’re just like, I just wanna serve. Some people, they really just need a lot of care. And so maybe they need a support group and we’re gonna offer that to you. Kayra Montañez — Some people may need marriage mentoring. We’re gonna offer that to you. So it really depends. And what we’ve seen is people taking significant next steps once they go out of that event. And that has really changed the past. In the past, we would only be marketing teams and groups, role and relationship, join, ah you know, get into a role and connect with a relationship. And while that’s still good, I’m not saying that’s not good or not needed. Rich Birch — Right. Kayra Montañez — It’s not the only thing that people are looking for. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s interesting. Can we, I’d love to dive just a little deeper on on that because I think there’s ah a really key learning there for lots of us. This idea, and you didn’t say it this way, but where my brain went to, you know, I think we have, we have for sure in the past done the thing where it’s like we have these giant funnels that we’re pushing everyone through. Rich Birch — And and the only question we’re really asking is where do you fit in our funnel? Kayra Montañez — Correct. Rich Birch — Like where, You know, and we and we push and literally, and this is no, you know, kind of slam on other systems, but it’s like, this is the, you know, step one, step two, step three, everyone do step one first, then you do step two, then you do step three. Rich Birch — So the the connecting conversation, that feels like highly, like it’s volunteer intensive. You got to get a lot of volunteers in there because it sounds like you’re having one-on-one conversations or something close to one-on-one. Unpack what that looks like. Maybe as a guest, if I arrive at that, what do I actually experience when I show up there? Kayra Montañez — So you you can register up until the time that we have the event. Rich Birch — Yep, that’s great. Kayra Montañez — So we do math you know magical math with the food and and the preparation so that we can just accept people who are going to come on the day of. Because we promote it, obviously, every week. And then the day of, we actually promote it. We get most people to show up the day of the event. Rich Birch — Right, okay. Kayra Montañez — So people will come. There’s going to be a lunch. And then they’re going to sit at a table with about five other people who have a facilitator at that table. Rich Birch — Okay. Kayra Montañez — And that facilitator is actually going to lead them through a series of relational icebreakers because the event is designed for you to first connect. You want to meet other people who are just like you. Maybe they’re new or they’re not new, but they haven’t connected yet with somebody. Rich Birch — That’s good. Kayra Montañez — And so there’s going to be a lot of relational icebreakers you know during the first part of the event. And then after that, we get into like, hey, what are you looking for? What are you hoping to get out of? What do you need? What are you interested in? We make notes. Rich Birch — How can we help? All that kind of stuff. Kayra Montañez — That facilitator takes really good notes based on what people are saying. And then the follow-up begins. Rich Birch — That’s so cool. I love that. That’s what a great learning. You know, I think so many times we’ve seen that step and for sure that echoes what I’ve seen in in a number of churches. There’s really a trend away from the class being the first step. Rich Birch — It’s like the stand that we used to do that thing where it was like, okay, someone stands up at the front and they’re going to talk for 50 minutes about why we’re such a great church. And, ah you know, that really has gone away. I would I would echo that, that we’ve seen that as ah as a best practice for sure. So let’s talk… Kayra Montañez — When we do measure… Rich Birch — Sorry, go ahead. No. Kayra Montañez — …oh sorry, as I was to say, we measure the activity of everyone who goes to Connect in Conversation and what they do. Rich Birch — Oh, that, tell me about that. Kayra Montañez — And so there’s, or ah how we say it at Liquid is it’s correlation, not causation. Like I can’t prove that if you go to this event, your next steps were a direct result of this event… Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Kayra Montañez — …but we can correlate that because you came to the event you actually took these next steps, if that makes sense. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kayra Montañez — So we’ve seen tremendous, tremendous engagement grow because of that. Rich Birch — And that’s on Sundays. You do it on on campus after the last service, that sort of thing. Kayra Montañez — Every month. Yes, every month at every campus after the last service, we promote it up to the day of the event… Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Kayra Montañez — …and we do it rain or shine. Whether it’s five people or 10 or 50, obviously at our largest location, sometimes we have about 100 people show up every month to these events. Rich Birch — That’s great. I love that. That’s a great. You’re coming in hot, Kayra. Great learnings, even you know, with friends, we’ve got through the first question. Rich Birch — So yeah, and we’re, you know, it’s fantastic. So one of the one of the things I’d love to hear a little bit about, um you know, that when we look in the data, people’s anxiety, there’s there seems to be some anxiety around or concern around discipling people. We offer these discipleship pathways or engagement pathways. And it’s like, we do this stuff, but then people don’t actually take advantage of it. It’s like, we do, we offer small groups, but people don’t do them. Or people we offer classes and people don’t actually engage on them. Rich Birch —What are you doing to try to move to, to ensure people are actually engaging with the various pathways that you’re developing at Liquid to actually get them to use them? Kayra Montañez — So this is a very interesting question in this particular time because at Liquid we’re just about getting ready to or just ready to ah blow up small groups basically. Rich Birch — Oh, nice. Okay. I’d love to hear more. Kayra Montañez — Yeah, so I would say that small groups was the one metric that did not recover for our church post-pandemic. So even though our volunteer pipelines at times felt thin, we were able to have incredible momentum around that. We can talk more about that later. How did we do that? We recovered in attendance and giving, baptism, but we were not able to crack the code on small groups. We were at an all-time low, about 20% our church… Rich Birch — Oh, wow. Yeah. Kayra Montañez — …was engaged in small groups, pretty low. And so we started surveying people. Rich Birch — Yep. We’re like, what is it that people actually want from the small groups? Like, what is it that we’re not offering that they’re looking for? And the one, it was shocking to us that the number one thing, I mean, it shouldn’t be shocking because we are a church. Kayra Montañez — The number one thing that people wanted was to understand the Bible. So for the first time ever, we have uncoupled relational connection from biblical literacy. In the past, our small groups, the thing that was in the driver’s seat, I would say, was the relational connection. We wanted people to connect, to join a group so that they could make friends, do life together. We used to um promote it that way, if you remember. Do life together. Where are the people that you’re doing life together? Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Kayra Montañez — For the first time ever, we’re actually putting biblical literacy in the front seat and relational connection on the passenger seat. So you will actually make connections, but that’s not the goal of this process right now. The process is for you to actually understand and read and study the word of God. In fact, our new tagline is to know the word of God so that you can love the God of the word. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. And is that so if you change the the container that that fits in or are you changing the like, like… Kayra Montañez — We did. We changed the container. Rich Birch — So what’s that look like? Kayra Montañez — So right now we’re offering people different levels of biblical literacy. Kayra Montañez — The biggest vehicle that we’re that we just piloted this fall through the book of Revelations, if you can believe it. So we’re like, why not start with the hardest book of the Bible? Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — And what we did was we created a Bible study midweek on a Wednesday night where people would go in person and study the word of God in tables with other people. Now, obviously there’s facilitators who have been trained and vetted. And once you join a table, that was kind of like the table that you were going to go on this journey with, but it’s not a small group. It’s a, it’s a short term. It was 10 weeks. We went through the entire book of Revelations, 22 chapters. We would do homework in order to get ready for this midweek study, we would come, we would have a conversation around what did you put in question 10? Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — What did I write? This was hard, I don’t understand. And then there was teaching. Kayra Montañez — And we also piloted doing that same thing with our high school students so that parents could actually come with their kids on the same day, drop their high school kiddos in their own cohort, and then they would go to their own biblical midweek you know Bible study. Kayra Montañez — And that was, too, a great success. So we are trying to figure out like what are the appropriate levels of biblical literacy that we can offer a congregation… Rich Birch — That’s so good. Kayra Montañez — …that is increasingly illiterate in biblic in in the Bible. Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — And deep dive, make no mistake, is the highest level. So that’s not for everyone. And we understand that. And so the parts that we’re trying to figure out is what’s like the appropriate next level to that for somebody who’s not willing to come in person 10 weeks to do homework and study, you know, the actual Bible. Kayra Montañez — But, it was fascinating to just uncouple those two things for the first time. And I would say it’s in the right frame of, in the right approach. You’re still making friends. Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — You’re just not, that’s just not being the driver. Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, I do wonder. So we for sure have seen that. I’ve seen this conversation. I don’t claim to be a small groups expert. I never have. Kayra Montañez — Me neither. Rich Birch — Like for 20, 30 years, it’s always been a mystery to me. I’m like, it’s like hard. It’s a hard system to run and to to build. And, but for sure, post COVID it it is, I would say that’s a universal concern that it’s like, whatever we used to do, I see this all over the place, whatever we used to do to try to get people into groups, we don’t do that anymore. We’re doing something completely different. I happen to be at Liquid this fall. I think you were speaking at a conference when I was there. Bummer… Kayra Montañez — I was, I missed you. Yeah. Rich Birch — And I saw the deep dive. I think that’s what it was called. Kayra Montañez — Yes. Rich Birch — Deep dive that night. And I remember, i remember thinking, I was like, Whoa, this is like, ah this is incredible. Like, you know, I don’t know how many people were there that night. There was a ton of people all lined up and ready to go. I’m like, that’s, That’s cool. I love that. Rich Birch — Well, let’s pivot. You kind of flagged it there, the volunteer piece. Kayra Montañez — Yes. Rich Birch — I’d love to know what you’re learning on this front, you know, to rebuild volunteer culture. We had this kind of, I don’t know when we’ll stop saying post-COVID. I don’t know whether we’ll be like that generation that was like after the like war or like after the depression where like for 40 years we’re going to be talking about it. Rich Birch — But it does still feel like we’re post-COVID. I don’t know when that is. But what have you done to kind of restart? How what’s going well on that front externally? Liquid feels like a incredibly volunteer you know robust culture – help us understand what’s that looking like what are you learning these days? Kayra Montañez — Sure. Yeah. I mean everything you said is still very much a factor. I mean, we are constantly having to work at this. This is never going to be a problem that I feel we’re ever going to solve. It’s really a tension that we’re managing. And sometimes tension feels better and sometimes it doesn’t feel good. Rich Birch — Right. Kayra Montañez — In fact, this year, I would say in March, we probably had like our biggest crisis in the broadcast campus where our church growth so far outpaced the amount of people that were serving that we were finding ourselves having to close rooms for Liquid family… Rich Birch — Ooh. Kayra Montañez — …not because we we hit ratios, but because we didn’t have enough volunteers. And that doesn’t feel great… Rich Birch — No. Kayra Montañez — …especially if you’re a new here family, right? Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — And so we were like, all right, we need to do something really aggressive. And the best way that I can explain it is we did like a try before you buy. Rich Birch — Okay. Kayra Montañez — Very low approach… Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — …low hanging fruit. We said, hey, we we casted a vision, right? It’s never about we need volunteers, but we actually told a really significant story of where’s all the fruit that the Lord is bringing to this church, all the spiritual fruit that we’re seeing, like people are getting saved, people are getting baptized, they’re coming to get to know Jesus, they’re studying the Bible. Kayra Montañez — It was incredible. Kayra Montañez — But we need people to use their spiritual gifts. And so we came up with a campaign called For the One. And everything was geared for that one person. Like, who’s who are you going to go serve? Who’s the one that you’re going to go serve? Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Kayra Montañez — And the try before you buy was, we’re going to give you a hoodie. We designed a hoodie. It was called, it was, you know, at the tagline For the One. And the key is you only get it after you serve a couple of times. Rich Birch — Okay, that’s cool. Kayra Montañez — So this is the try before you buy. You know, you’re going to try it out. Rich Birch — Yes. You’re not going to go through the whole background, pipeline, covenant process because we need people now and we need them quick. Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah. Kayra Montañez — So you’re trying before you’re buying. But if you like it and we’re going to make sure that first serve experience is incredible for you, then we want you to buy it. Rich Birch — That’s so good. Kayra Montañez — And we’re going to reward you by giving you swag that’s limited, exclusive. Not everybody’s going to get it. Rich, you would be surprised. Like I’m still to this day, i have been at Liquid, it’ll be 13 years in April. And I am still shocked by how much people, the gamification of playing to people’s particular interests… Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Kayra Montañez — …whether it’s FOMO, they don’t want to miss out, whether it’s the idea of collecting exclusive apparel. Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah. Kayra Montañez — There’s something here for everyone that just draws people out. Rich Birch — It’s true. It’s true. Kayra Montañez — We had over 400 people sign up for the one. Rich Birch — Wow. That’s amazing. That’s great. Kayra Montañez — It was incredible. And we were able to tell amazing stories of people who were coming and showing up and serving, whether it was our special needs kiddos or high school whatever you want to call it. We had it. And and I would say the appeal of a try before you buy, how can you shortchange without? So this is key. You don’t want to reduce the quality. But you do want to shorten your pipeline so that you can get people quicker to try it. And then once they actually feel like, hey, I really enjoy this, now we’re going to get you through the whole, you know, rest of the process, right? But you can still serve while we do that. Kayra Montañez — So that was a huge thing. And then obviously, you know, like the free apparel swag, that always is a nice incentive to give to people. So that was huge. Rich Birch — It’s true. Kayra Montañez — It was very successful. And that’s what I would recommend is like, hey, can you run, try before you buy little events with like swag, and like you you get you have people serve for a limited amount of time. Like you don’t give them the swag immediately. You make them work for it. Rich Birch — Right. Yes. Kayra Montañez — They got to serve three, four times before you give it to them. Rich Birch — Yeah, we did a similar thing last summer. Our kids ministry team did a similar thing last summer where we did the summer serve, which we hadn’t done in in actually a number of years. And they they pulled that out and did summer serve. And it was the same thing. If you signed up, you got a t-shirt, a specific t-shirt for that. Rich Birch — And then you, there was, they basically were asking you to serve once in June, once in July, once in August, like once a month, just for the summertime. And if you served, um I forget exactly what the ratio was, but it was, you got entered in a draw for however many times. And basically, so if you served all three, you got like 10 times the number of draw things to win. And it was all this stuff that you, you could win. And it was like really great gifts. Kayra Montañez — Yes. Rich Birch — And you would think that that should not motivate people. Kayra Montañez — But it does. Rich Birch — But it does. Kayra Montañez — It does. Rich Birch — And and you know and it was and, you know, they did it in really fun, you know, hey this is going to be a fun thing to be a part of. Talk to me about the, because there’s a friction thing there to learn around trying to reduce the friction the kind of onboarding friction, I think over time that stuff can become, you know, it’s, it’s the, we actually are like our, we can become just too hard for our people. Kayra Montañez — Yeah. Rich Birch — What did you learn through that process in, in trying to find that balance of like, we want to make it easier to onboard people, but we still want to, is there any kind of lessons from that when you look back on that? Kayra Montañez — To me, the the lesson really is, again, there is a tension between you can’t shortchange, especially when it comes to kids. I can’t emphasize this enough. Rich Birch — No, yeah, absolutely. Yep. Kayra Montañez — Like I oversee all of these ministries and it would be not on my watch will will this happen, right? Rich Birch — No, yeah, yeah. Kayra Montañez — So we have to make be very sure that we’re not shortchanging the safety procedures. Rich Birch — Yeah. Yep. Kayra Montañez — At the same time recognizing these things can take some time, right? Like we ask people to get a background check, they have to be interviewed, they have to sign a covenant, they have to have a reference. I mean, these things this is a lengthy process. Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — And I stand by it. We have to do that. Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — At the same time, can we actually live in a world where we are marrying our need to have someone in the room while also still doing all of these things simultaneously, not actually waiting for all of this to happen so that then they can come. Kayra Montañez — And that’s kind of how we figured it out. Our Liquid family pastor came up with a process where she’s like, okay, we can shorten it this time. They’re only going to do these three things, not four, not six. But while they’re in the room trying it, we’re going to continue to do the other remaining four. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. Kayra Montañez — It’s messy. It’s not always the best thing to do in an ideal world. You are not doing that. But when you’re faced with crisis, then you need to come up with, you know, resourceful ideas. Kayra Montañez — And so what I would say about the volunteer pipeline is this. There are short-term problems that you have to solve while you’re still working on this very long-term. Like this is a culture that you have to create. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kayra Montañez — And in order for you to create a culture, you have to tell stories. You have to celebrate what you want to be repeated. have to make people feel thanked, encouraged, appreciated, seen. You those are all long-term things that you have to be doing all the time. This is like nonstop. Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Can’t take the, you can’t take the gas off that pedal for sure. Pedal off that gas. Kayra Montañez — Correct. You cannot take your foot off the the pedal. But at the same time, there are things that are short term that you really do have to also do. And sometimes that will require teaching from the stage where you’re actually envisioning people about why this matters so much. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Kayra Montañez — And this is what we did in March with the For the One. So I would say it’s it’s both/and; it’s not either/or. And so if that’s helpful, that’s how I would approach it. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s super good. That’s good. If there was a church that was, if you were sitting across the table from an executive pastor, maybe you’re at a conference or someone drops in your office and they’re, they’re feeling really stuck on this engagement issue. They feel low. Like it’s people were, maybe it’s groups, it’s teams, it’s all of it. Like it’s, we’re not moving people through any kind of pipeline. Rich Birch — What would be some of those first steps or first recommendations, first things you’d have them look at, maybe like a diagnostic or a first couple of things that you’d have them think about in this area? Kayra Montañez — Well, I would say if there’s a way for them to know of the people who are attending and maybe they figure this out with new here, how many of those people take one next step within the first month? Rich Birch — That’s good. Kayra Montañez — That would be one diagnostic that I would first see if I can do with the data that I have and the data that they collect and they actually figured that out. Rich Birch — Yep. Yeah, that’s good. Kayra Montañez — If they’re able to do that, then the next diagnostic would be what percent actually move into a people system… Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — …whether it’s a group, a deep dive experience, a dream team within 60 to 90 days, right? Rich Birch — Yep. Kayra Montañez — Because if you do that, you’re going to find the blockage. You’re actually going to discover Maybe our attendance is fine. We don’t have an invest and invite problem, but maybe what we have a problem with is our conversion rate. And so then you can start to identify what is it about our conversion that we need to fix? Kayra Montañez — Is it that we have ah unclear on-ramps? Or is it that our processes are too high friction? It’s too hard people to get involved. If you actually find like, no, actually people are taking next steps. Great. But they’re not sticking to it. Then you have a different problem. Then you can actually diagnose… Rich Birch — Yes, yes. Kayra Montañez — …oh, maybe the first serve experience actually wasn’t sticky enough. It wasn’t welcoming. Maybe there were issues with scheduling. Maybe we didn’t give clear information. So you can kind of figure out what the problem is based on how you’re measuring it and what you’re discovering. That’s how I would start if I didn’t know what the problem was. Does that make sense? Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. That makes total sense. And, you know, it it definitely aligns with one of my bugaboos that I constantly driving with executive pastors. When you look at the actual numbers—I and I have not run into a church yet that this is not the case—most churches actually have a front door problem. They don’t have a back door problem. They their actual problem that we think we feel like, oh, like people aren’t sticking and staying in groups, they’re not staying and volunteering. But statistically, that’s actually not true. When most of the time, if you look at, okay, all the people that end up in a group, what is the kind of churn rate on that? Whatever that number is, I’ve never seen a church where it’s higher than the people we’re missing on the front end with exactly with what you said is how many people are removing from new here to taking the first step in the first month? Rich Birch — Because that you lose a ton of people in that door right there. That is a, you know, by a multiple of 10 or 20, like it’s a lot more that we’re missing out. And, you know, generally in most churches… Kayra Montañez — And can I just [inaudible] to that? Rich Birch — Yeah. Kayra Montañez — Because I just want encourage people, like, figure out a way to target your new here audience. Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Kayra Montañez — So at Liquid, for example, if you come for the first time, not only do we encourage, highly encourage you to tell us that you’re here for the first time because we give you an awesome gift. Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — Lots of churches do this, but then we survey people who came for the first time. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kayra Montañez — And based on what they answer, they receive a custom follow-up process for the first 30 days. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. Yeah. Kayra Montañez — We don’t, so in that regard, like it is worth to look at that. Rich Birch — Yes. Kayra Montañez — Because you’re going to find out a lot of information and a lot of data about what people are choosing to do, where are they going, why they’re not sticking to it or why they’re not even going in the first place. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kayra Montañez — Like I’m shocked that I’ve been to churches sometimes to speak and they don’t actually really do like a new here call out. Like they don’t. Rich Birch — Yeah, I was going to say that. You said, oh, churches do this. Kayra Montañez — Maybe not. Rich Birch — And I’d be like, Kayra, I’ve been to way too many churches where they don’t do any of that. And they’re like, well, we’re not really sure. And I’m like, this is a solvable problem. We can fix this. Kayra Montañez — Yes. Yes. Rich Birch — There’s like real things you can do here. Actually, I worked with a church last year, a fairly large church in 2024, where they were experiencing some of these issues and so and I was like I basically said the same thing I just said, I’m like you’re losing people on the front end. And they’re like they’re like well we do a gift. And I’m like no you don’t. And I said there’s a and there’s a few things to fix around that. In 2025 the year we just ended, they received we made a few changes it’s not about me there’s about them they made a bunch of changes, they ended up receiving 5,000 more first-time guest contacts than they did 2024. Kayra Montañez — Wow. Just like we’ve always told it to do. Rich Birch — Now they did not grow by people but it’s just by focusing on that, right? Kayra Montañez — Amazing. Rich Birch — It’s just by like saying, hey, how are we what are we going to do to ensure that that step goes well with folks? So anyways, there’s huge opportunity there and in lots of churches. Kayra, you’ve been incredibly generous to give us your time at this time of year. As you’re thinking, kind of last question, as we’re thinking about 2026, what are some of those questions that are floating around in your head as you think about Liquid, as you think about the future? What are some things that you’re wrestling with that you’re wondering about that you’re contemplating as we go into this year? Kayra Montañez — Oh my gosh, Rich, so many. After this conversation, you know, I really am interested to see what’s going to happen with our discipleship model since we just blew it up. Rich Birch — Yes, yep. Kayra Montañez — I’m helping all of that and changing the way that we even onboard leaders. Like I’m really invested in seeing this through. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. Kayra Montañez — I also totally unrelated to this, but we just launched, I think in the survey, one of the questions that was asked was what’s the best idea that you had in 2025? Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, right. Kayra Montañez — And I was like, well, I feel like one of our best ideas was to use AI to launch a Spanish service. And I am really invested in that in seeing like, how do we continue to grow that service? How do we continue to grow that ministry? We’re launching new ministries in 2025, or 2026. So that always feels exciting and daunting. Kayra Montañez — So there’s just the work never ends. And there’s always it is an exciting and fascinating time to be in the church. I’ll say that. Rich Birch — I would agree. I totally would agree. Yeah, it’s the best. I would think, literally, I think this is the best season that I’ve been involved in ministry for sure. Rich Birch — For folks that don’t know what you’re doing with Spanish ministry, give us the 60 second, explain that again. Because I think I keep pointing churches to you saying, have you heard what Liquid’s doing? You go talk to them. So tell us about that. Kayra Montañez — So basically we have a Spanish service. We do have live hosting in Español. We have live worship in Español. But then we take our English message and we pass it through an AI service called Heygen, which actually uses the communicator’s voice and matches the words to their lips and they’re just preaching, they preach it in Spanish. Even if they’re not bilingual, they will preach it in Spanish. And it’s like you, Rich, are speaking in Spanish. Your words match to your voice. Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, it’s it’s amazing. Kayra Montañez — People get to hear the the gospel and the message in their language. So it’s been fascinating to learn who we’re reaching, who’s coming, who likes that kind of a thing. You know, as a Spanish speaker myself, I’m like, would I go to a service where the message wasn’t actually authentic Spanish and it’s an AI generated? Kayra Montañez — I believe in the quality of our communication so much that I actually have to say, yes, I would. Because like last year, this year, we took our entire church through the book of Revelation. Tim spent 25 weeks teaching us the hardest book of the Bible. Kayra Montañez — The fruit that that endeavor produced is incredible. And so when I think about what we’re doing, I’m like, I believe in that so much that I do think this is a this is a thing that’s actually good to do. Even if people would who would think like, why would they go to that and not like an authentic Spanish speaker? Rich Birch — Yeah, interesting. And that, and you’re, you’ve been a year, that’s been basically almost a year you’ve been doing that now. Kayra Montañez — A year. A year. Rich Birch — And, and you’re be continuing to do it. So obviously something’s working. There’s some sort of version of like, Hey, we’re, we feel. Kayra Montañez — We’re continuing to do it. we’re seeing We’re seeing the fruit. We’re seeing baptisms, people giving their life to Christ, getting baptized, showing up and joining teams, um reaching families. We’re reaching multigenerational families where the parents go to the Spanish service, the kids go to the English service because it’s simultaneous, right? Well, the English is going on, the Spanish is going on. So families get to decide. It’s just really interesting to watch. Obviously, it’s been challenging in the U.S. to grow a Spanish service because of everything that’s been happening. Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah… Kayra Montañez — But it’s just been really fascinating to see like the dynamics of who we’re reaching, who’s is sharing like who’s excited about it, and then using technology to further the gospel. It’s always exciting. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s fantastic. I know I was goofing around with Heygen a little bit. And the part that actually, this was you know almost a year ago when you guys started doing that that, one of the tests I ran that actually convinced me was, so I was like taking videos of me and I would send them to like a friend who speaks Spanish. And I sent to a friend who speaks, you know, a couple of languages that it was doing, but then I did the reverse. There’s a great church, Nouvelle Vie. It’s a French speaking church, large church, be very similar to Liquid, but they’re French speaking. And so I took one of the, the lead pastors from that. I took a clip of his message and translated into English. And I was blown away. I was like, Oh my word. Like, Kayra Montañez — It is getting better and better every day. Rich Birch — I was I was shocked. I was like, oh, that that is, yeah, could I tell? Yeah, but this guy’s an incredible communicator. And you know similar to you and Tim and the team at at Liquid, I’m like, I could see that work anyway. Rich Birch — So that’s exciting. Kayra, it’s so great to see you. Kayra Montañez — Thank you, Rich. Rich Birch — Thanks so much for having time with us today. If people want to connect with you or with Liquid, where do we want to send them online? Kayra Montañez — Sure. So my name Kayra, K-A-Y-R-A at liquidchurch.com. Happy to connect with anybody have questions. Rich Birch — Thanks so much. Thanks for being here today.
John Baldoni brings calm, clarity, and uncommon wisdom to leadership in a world defined by volatility. In this conversation, you will hear why innovation stalls when fear is left unchecked, how leaders create real psychological safety, and what grace under pressure actually looks like when decisions matter most. Experience our episodes in a whole new way—watch every video version on our YouTube Channel. Subscribe now to be the first to catch our next release. https://www.youtube.com/@manageselfleadotherspodcast?sub_confirmation=1 Sound Bites [2:16] How leaders embed innovation into culture and why innovation starts with removing fear, not adding tools. [3:04] What leaders must stop doing before asking for change. [4:05] Fear of judgment, silence in meetings, and how unsafe cultures shut down innovation. [5:01] Innovation as applied creativity. Small process changes that unlock productivity and fresh thinking. [8:27] Grace under pressure. How leaders maintain composure and connection during volatility and crisis. [8:53] The leadership pillars of connection, candor, commitment, courage, and community. [10:11] Why culture must be shared and lived, not worshipped, to truly scale leadership. [11:32] Grace as forgiveness. Letting go of mistakes in yourself and others to move forward. [11:56] Candor versus artificial harmony. Why truth telling strengthens teams. [13:52] Conversational equality. Drawing out quiet voices and balancing dominant speakers. [15:23] Language of influence. Disagreeing without blame through curiosity and respectful challenge. [17:23] Gemba leadership. Going to where the work happens to gain real insight. [17:59] Leading in volatility. The reflection practice of asking what is happening and what is not happening. [18:49] Using real time reflection as a team exercise to influence action. [20:04] Reading the white space. Why noticing what is not said builds strategic awareness. [20:30] Political savvy and influence. Understanding where real power and momentum live in organizations. JOHN BALDONI https://www.johnbaldoni.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbaldoni/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read any Kindle eBook on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. === To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au... === To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ === To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of the page to register. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a textSpecial Guests: Rev. Lucy Waechter Webb and Nicole Bauman, Facilitators of Weaving New Ritual: a year long community of practice for people with White Christian lineage to reclaim ritual fluencyQuestion of the Week: How can white Christian descendants relate to their spiritual lineage? What does this look like and why does it matter for broader, collective liberation for both white Christians and Christians of color?Weaving New RitualFor Listening Guides, click here!Got a question for us? Send them to faithpodcast@pcusa.org! A Matter of Faith website
In this conversation, Phil Brown and Katrina Kennedy explore the themes of learning and development, reflection, and facilitation. Katrina shares her insights on how reflection is not just about looking back but is action-oriented, emphasizing the importance of facilitating effective learning experiences. They discuss the evolution of facilitation, the role of silence, and the importance of connection in the learning process. Katrina also provides an overview of her book, which includes practical activities for facilitators to enhance their skills and engage learners effectively. Learning and development encompasses various methods to help people perform effectively. Reflection is action-oriented, focusing on what to do next after recalling experiences. Facilitators should prioritize the needs of the learners over their own presentation style. Silence in facilitation can be a powerful tool for reflection and engagement. Facilitators must be adaptable and comfortable with the unknown during sessions. Pre-reflection, mid-reflection, and post-reflection are crucial for effective learning. Follow-up after training enhances behavior change and connection. Individual reflection can be more valuable than group report-outs. Facilitators should focus on outcomes when planning activities. Katrina's book provides structured activities for both novice and experienced facilitators. Learn more about Katrina - https://www.katrinakennedy.com/ Connect with the podcast - podcast@high5adventure.org Support the podcast - www.verticalplaypen.org
In this episode with Michelle Pascoe, we lift the lid on mystery shopping and what it really reveals about leadership, service, and customer experience. From why traditional surveys fail, to how insight-based mystery shopping exposes what leaders never see when they are not present, this conversation explores how organisations can turn observation into improvement. We also look at generational expectations, the role of robotics, and why human connection still matters more than ever. SOUNDBITES Mystery shopping explained beyond the myths.Why surveys fail when feedback goes nowhere.What leaders miss when they are not on site.How insight-based reports outperform tick-box scores.The role of human connection alongside robotics.What Gen Z expects from seamless service.Why Net Promoter Score needs context to matter.Turning customer data into real improvement. ABOUT MICHELLE PASCOE Contact: https://www.michellepascoe.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellepascoe/ Renowned for her expertise in the hospitality industry and backed by over three decades of experience, Michelle Pascoe is a Mystery Shopping expert, a Certified Speaking Professional delivering conference keynotes on the Customer Experience as well as workshops on Customer Service Excellence to frontline teams. ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback, Kindle or audiobook. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM If you would be willing to leave a review so others know it's a good read, Nina would appreciate it. === Brainpower Training Australia To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/signature-programs/ === Speaking site: NinaSunday.com To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === LinkedIn: Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn HERE === Blog To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of page to register. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join host & Daring to Rest founder Karen Brody and a circle of extraordinary women from Sisterhood 10 of our Daring to Rest Facilitator Training as they reflect on their journeys as rest leaders, yoga nidra facilitators, and students of the Daring to Rest Facilitator Training. You'll hear honest stories of stepping into rest leadership, navigating burnout, and breaking generational cycles of overwork and self-denial. Stay to the end for participants' favorite rest words! This episode is ideal for any women craving inspiration, rest, and a powerful reminder that rest is a radical, loving act. It's also ideal if you're interested in joining our next Daring to Rest Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training in January 2026. Resources Guest Bios: https://daringtorest.com/podcast/114 Daring to Rest Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training: https://daringtorest.com/facilitator
In this conversation, Phil and Leo explore the concept of connection, particularly in new environments, and how facilitators can foster deeper connections among participants. They discuss the importance of vulnerability, curiosity, and the role of tools like the 52 Fathoms deck in facilitating meaningful interactions. The conversation also touches on lessons learned from Leo's experience on Survivor, emphasizing the significance of observation and reflection in the facilitation process. Connection is a vital part of human interaction. Facilitators can guide deeper connections through thoughtful questions. Vulnerability can lead to more meaningful conversations. Using tools like 52 Fathoms can enhance group dynamics. Observation is key to understanding group interactions. Curiosity drives deeper engagement in conversations. Facilitators should adapt activities to fit their style. Conflict resolution can be learned from real-life experiences. Creating a safe space encourages openness among participants. Reflection on experiences enhances facilitation skills. Learn more about Fulcrum Adventures - https://fulcrumadventures.com/ Connect with the podcast; Email - podcast@high5adventure.org Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/verticalplaypen/ Support the podcast - verticalplaypen.org
Today we're joined by Jay Yu (@0xfishylosopher), research & partner @panteracapital, to discuss x402; a blockchain based micropayments solution built around the 402 HTTP status code.We cover:- Stablecoin payments through HTTP 402- Real-world use cases and current pilot implementations- Wallet adoption trends- Facilitators like Coinbase and market share breakdown- The evolving facilitator landscape and parallels to block building- Comparisons to other payment frameworks like ERC-4804And much more—enjoy!—Timestamps:(00:00) Introduction (05:16) Why 402 was never used(06:03) Giving 402 a stablecoin-powered makeover(11:21) UX tradeoffs vs. new micropayment opportunities(15:35) Use case ideation and ecosystem players(20:23) Adoption status today(23:38) Live applications beyond memes?(25:54) Wallet adoption trends and user numbers(28:20) Facilitator market share(29:57) Facilitator business models and stablecoin swaps(31:55) BD dynamics and payment routing(36:23) Competing protocols like ERC-4804(43:14) Stablecoins, regulation, and the next 3 years(43:40) Outro—Follow the guest:https://x.com/0xfishylosopherFollow the co-hosts:https://x.com/hildobbyhttps://x.com/0xBoxerhttps://x.com/sui414Follow the Indexed Podcast:https://twitter.com/indexed_pod—The Indexed Podcast discusses hot topics, trendy metrics and chart crimes in the crypto industry, with a new episode every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month, brought to you by wizards @hildobby_ @0xBoxer @sui414.Subscribe to our channel and leave a comment to help us make the pod better!—DISCLAIMER: All information presented here should not be relied upon as legal, financial, investment, tax or even life advice. The views expressed in the podcast are not representative of hosts' employers views. We are acting independently of our respective professional roles.
Our guest is Teri Dupuy-Gore, Executive Director of Hub Lafayette Urban Ministries, a Christ-centered outreach serving our neighbors experiencing homelessness, chronic poverty, hunger, and difficult life transitions. Teri shares how The Hub and its Lovewell Center at 1515 W. University Avenue in Lafayette, create a place to be present in our community and love people right where they are, offering not only practical resources but dignity, relationship, and restored hope. The Lovewell Center: Eat Well, Dress Well, Style Well, Smell Well Teri explains that Hub Lafayette Urban Ministries “actually unifies two separate ministries,” and that this conversation focuses on The Lovewell Center at 1515 W. University Within the Lovewell, members access four resource “stores”: Eat Well – “kind of like a Walmart where you can get toothpaste, toilet paper, nonperishable canned goods, things of that nature… like a mini Walmart.” Dress Well – gently-used men's and women's clothing: “belts, shoes, pants, coats… new socks and new underwear… gently used backpacks.” Style Well – “where you get your hair cut by a licensed beautician or barber.” Smell Well – “our six stackable commercial washers and dryers so you can wash your clothes.” All of these resources are available to members of the Lovewell Center. Membership & the Points System: “A hand up, not a hand out” Becoming a member is intentionally simple: “To be a member, you simply have to walk in and say, hey, I want to be a member. There's no criteria.” When someone joins, the team takes basic information: name, phone number (if they have one), address (or notes if they're living on the streets), and next of kin — “because we want to become your family… we want to be your family anyway.” New members “automatically get 20 points for just joining us.” The Lovewell uses a points system instead of cash so people can actively participate in their own progress: “You earn points by taking classes because we believe in healing and helping yourself… or you'd bring us your check stub from a job that you have now.” Teri explains that this model is particularly powerful “for people who are struggling in chronic poverty, because we can help you offset the cost of everyday life without using money, but using points… you get to make decisions.” Members can choose to “earn points and store them up, or earn points and spend them,” and that freedom is central to their approach: “We instill dignity and value in you… it's a beautiful, beautiful opportunity for us to be able to be present in our community and love people right where they are.” Classes that Heal Broken Relationships At the heart of Lovewell are the classes that help people earn points and, more importantly, work toward inner healing: “Our classes are geared around broken relationships that we feel everyone has or will have — a broken relationship with God, a broken relationship with yourself, a broken relationship with others, or a broken relationship with creation. So our classes are all geared around healing in those areas.” Classes typically run for eight weeks and meet for one hour, once a week. Facilitators are often people who have personally wrestled with the same issues they're teaching about: “I may overcome something and say, I would love to teach this class… using the experiences that I have and the healing that I've received… and share that with others. Giving them hope.” Communication classes are a key example: “For some of our members… it's very natural to have a confrontational conversation. It's not natural to scale that down to where it is speaking truth with grace. It's usually just truth in your face.” The goal is to help everyone “have a voice and be heard” in “a polite and generous way.” Teri calls these classes “really the heart of the Lovewell Center” and “the heart of the mission of The Hub.” She sums up their mission this way: “Our mission statement is, “We're on a mission to offer everyone in our city access to restored life. And we believe in what we call the four R's: Rescue, Relationships, Resources and Recovery.” Community Meals & Daily Presence The Lovewell Center is open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., with the yard open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:35 p.m. For neighbors experiencing homelessness, it's a safe place simply to belong: “If our friends experiencing homelessness need a place to go, they come and hang out with us, because they are wanted and belong.” Every Tuesday night a community meal is offerred “Every Tuesday night we have community meal, which means we all get together and eat dinner together. Anyone in the community is invited… We start at 6:00 and we're usually finished by 7:15–7:30 p.m.” From 6:00–6:25 p.m., there are large-group activities — bingo, class time, or worship — and if you participate in those events as big group events, you earn ten points for that.” Teri shares that on Tuesday nights they see 125–150 people, and during the day they have “90 to 100 people every day” coming through for services, community, and support. Philosophy: “A hand up, not a hand out” Teri is deeply intentional about not harming the people they serve: “The core of the program is about empowering people through relationships to see themselves the way Christ sees them and to empower them to be all that God has called them to be.” She speaks candidly about common pitfalls in helping: “In a world of ministry where we all feel called to give, at some point giving hurts. We then take from the person and we steal their dignity and their value because we want to do for them what they can do for themselves.” That's why she describes The Hub's posture as, “We are a hand up, not a hand out. We are not there to be sympathetic, we are there to be empathetic. We want to sit in it with you and encourage you and remind you that you're not alone.” How You Can Help Hub Lafayette Urban Ministries is 100% funded by donations by individuals, churches, grants, and in-kind gifts. Teri says: “Money is always welcome. It keeps the lights on. It keeps the coffee in the pots. It allows us to keep food on the shelves.” They also always need physical donations, especially: Canned soups and “top-protein” items Easy-open foods like beanie-weenies, tuna, pocket snacks Toilet paper and full-size toothpaste New men's and women's underwear (“men's underwear… tagless colored brief boxers or they don't leave the shelf”) Meals for Tuesday night community dinners and Wednesday morning breakfasts are donated and served by volunteers, including local partners and cooks like Kent Zerangue, who prepares “the most fabulous meal ever from homemade ice cream… and shrimp stew.” Teri emphasizes that everyone can do something: “Not everyone has the capacity to donate money. Not everyone has the capacity to donate their time… But everyone has the capacity to pray. Everyone has the capacity to pass on the word.” For more information on donating, volunteering, providing meals, or inviting Teri to speak, listeners can visit Hub Lafayette Urban Ministries at https://www.hublafayette.org/or connect via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thehuburbanministrieslafayette or their Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/thehublafayette/?hl=en
Want to know how small, consistent steps can drive big results? How bottom-up ideas with top-down strategy create lasting innovation? This episode features Nigel Collin, an innovation and adaptability expert helping leaders build teams that make improvement a daily habit. Experience our episodes in a whole new way and watch every video version on our YouTube channel HERE Subscribe to catch each episode release. Soundbites [00:00] Adaptive mindset through curiosity and continuous learning. [00:44] Innovation, creativity, AI, and workplace culture. [01:08] Adaptive teams that make innovation a daily habit. [02:00] Motorbike journey launched grassroots innovation research. [05:00] Indigenous Australians transforming dialysis care. [07:00] Innovation as iterative improvement. [08:20] Operational and relational innovation. [09:00] Communication and inclusion. [10:15] Unlearn creativity – insights from George Land's NASA test. [12:30] Small wins create confidence and momentum for innovation. [13:45] Psychological safety and permission as drivers of innovation. [14:30] One small improvement saving six figures. [15:10] Grassroots ideas with organisational purpose and vision. [18:45] Three actions – give permission, clarify goals, make people feel heard. [19:20] Growth mindset opens curiosity and adaptability. [20:00] Replace “yes but” with “yes and” to keep ideas alive. CONTACT NIGE|L COLLIN Website: https://www.nigelcollin.com.au/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelcollin/ ABOUT PODCAST HOST, NINA SUNDAY Nina Sunday's latest book, ‘'Manage Self, Lead Others: Constructive Conversations, True Self-Leadership, and Culture You Can't Fake'' now on Amazon - paperback or kindle. Amazon USA https://a.co/d/3WaplI9 Amazon Australia https://amzn.asia/d/0KwghaM You can read the Kindle version on your PC, laptop or phone; you don't need a Kindle device. Feel free to leave a review so others know it's a good read. === Brainpower Training To learn more about face-to-face training programs with Nina Sunday or one of her experienced Facilitators from Brainpower Training Pty Ltd in Australia Pacific, visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/signature-programs/ === NinaSunday.com To visit Nina Sunday's speaker site for global in-person speaking bookings visit: https://www.ninasunday.com/ === LinkedIn: Connect with Nina Sunday on LinkedIn HERE === Blog To subscribe to Nina Sunday's blog go to https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/ and scroll to bottom of page to register. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What if your next training didn't just check a box - but actually changed behavior? In this episode, Dr. Carrie Graham joins us to unpack how better learning design can turn information into transformation - whether you're leading a classroom, a corporate team, or a law enforcement agency. Dive into the world of transformative training with Dr. Carrie Graham, where the focus shifts from the facilitator to the learner, ensuring that every educational experience is impactful and lasting. In this episode of "Truth Be Told," host Dave Thompson, CFI sits down with Dr. Carrie Graham, a learning solutions architect dedicated to crafting training programs that truly resonate. They explore the science of adult learning, the importance of prioritizing the learner, and the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in modern training environments. Dr. Graham shares her insights on creating engaging learning experiences that go beyond checking boxes, emphasizing the need for continuous reflection and adaptation in training practices. Whether you're a trainer, leader, or lifelong learner, this conversation offers valuable takeaways for enhancing educational impact. Check out Dr. Graham's website for her blog, consulting services and other podcast clips! Truths: Prioritize the learner in training programs to enhance effectiveness. Effective training requires continuous reflection and adaptation. Diversity and inclusion are crucial components of modern training. Training should go beyond checking boxes to be truly impactful. Engaging learning experiences are essential for knowledge retention. Adult learning science is key to creating impactful training programs. Facilitators should adapt to the needs of their learners. Continuous learning is vital for personal and professional growth.
In this conversation, Phil Brown and Rach Davis explore the complexities of facilitation, particularly focusing on the dynamics of introversion, energy management, and the importance of personal style in facilitating workshops. They discuss the need for downtime after high-energy sessions, and the adaptability required in facilitation practices. Rach shares insights on balancing personal and professional energy, the evolution of her facilitation style, and the significance of creating engaging environments for participants. The conversation emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, flexibility, and continuous learning in the facilitation process. Selective introversion affects energy levels during facilitation. Facilitators often wear a 'mask' in professional settings. Downtime is essential for recharging after high-energy sessions. Balancing personal and professional energy is crucial. Facilitation does not always need to be high energy. Understanding participant dynamics enhances facilitation effectiveness. Personal facilitation style evolves over time. Flexibility in facilitation techniques is important. Continuous learning is key to effective facilitation. Learn more about Rach - https://www.rachdavis.com/ Connect with Rach - rach@rachdavis.com Connect with Phil - podcast@high5adventure.org Support the podcast - www.verticalplaypen.org Music and sound effects - www.epidemicsound.com
This conversation with Dee Scarano delves into the concept of psychological safety, emphasizing the importance of honesty and vulnerability in communication. Dee shares how fear of judgment can hinder open expression and explore practical strategies for creating an environment where individuals feel safe to share their thoughts. They highlight the significance of anonymity, comfort zones, and standardized formats in fostering inclusivity and collaboration. Honesty in communication fosters psychological safety. Psychological safety allows individuals to voice their thoughts without fear. Fear of judgment is a significant barrier to open communication. Anonymity is crucial for creating a safe space for sharing ideas. Building comfort zones is essential before encouraging risk-taking. Standardized formats help ensure equal contributions from all participants. Facilitators must create structures that promote psychological safety. Understanding human behavior is key to effective facilitation. Sharing knowledge within the facilitation community is vital. Vulnerability can lead to stronger connections and collaboration. Learn more about Dee - https://www.deescarano.com/ Dee on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deescarano/ Support the podcast - www.verticalplaypen.org Music and sound effects - www.epidemicsound.com
Dr. Amy Yorke, PT, PhD, board-certified clinical specialist in neurology, joins host J.J. Mowder-Tinney for an energizing discussion on what it really takes to move evidence into practice. Together, they explore the everyday barriers rehab professionals face, such as time, resources, and habits, and offer practical strategies to help you implement evidence without losing clinical creativity. With examples from Amy's own work in a student-led pro bono clinic, you'll walk away inspired to start small, think critically, and share what you learn. If you've ever felt the tug between research and real life, this episode is for you.Learning ObjectivesAnalyze current evidence on knowledge translation in rehabilitation practiceApply practical, evidence-based strategies to bridge the research-to-practice gapImplement clinical practice guidelines through real-world case scenariosTimestamps(00:00:00) Welcome(00:00:05) Bridging research and practice(00:01:29) Amy's journey into knowledge translation(00:04:12) The importance of evidence in practice(00:08:50) Challenges in implementing evidence-based practice(00:09:36) Adapting evidence to local contexts(00:10:35) The role of patient values in evidence-based practice(00:13:10) The human element in clinical practice(00:14:58) Overcoming barriers to change(00:17:19) Facilitators and barriers in knowledge translation(00:22:10) Creating a supportive environment for evidence use(00:24:50) Innovative podcast ideas for therapists(00:26:05) Bridging gaps in clinical practice guidelines(00:28:05) The role of learning health systems in rehab(00:31:17) Collaborative approaches in neuro rehab(00:33:10) Engaging patients in their recovery(00:37:08) Overcoming barriers to patient engagement(00:40:15) Action steps for clinicians(00:41:55) Real-world application of evidence-based practice(00:47:00) Fun wrap-up and superpower dreams:Neuro Navigators is brought to you by Medbridge. If you'd like to earn continuing education credit for listening to this episode and access bonus takeaway handouts, log in to your Medbridge account and navigate to the course where you'll find accreditation details. If applicable, complete the post-course assessment and survey to be eligible for credit. The takeaway handout on Medbridge gives you the key points mentioned in this episode, along with additional resources you can implement into your practice right away.To hear more episodes of Neuro Naviagators, visit https://www.medbridge.com/neuro-navigatorsIf you'd like to subscribe to Medbridge, visit https://www.medbridge.com/pricing/IG: https://www.instagram.com/medbridgeteam/
In this conversation, Phil and Lisa explore the complexities of defining what makes a group great in a facilitation context. They discuss the role of the facilitator's ego, the subjective nature of group dynamics, and the importance of evaluating success beyond personal feelings. The dialogue emphasizes the need for facilitators to balance their own experiences with the goals of the group, ultimately leading to a deeper understanding of participant engagement and learning outcomes. A great group often means the facilitator felt liked. Facilitators' egos can influence their perception of group success. Group dynamics are subjective and can vary by facilitator. Struggle in a group can lead to greater learning experiences. It's important to evaluate groups based on goals, not just feelings. Facilitators should embrace their humanity in the process. The definition of a great group can differ among facilitators. Patience and support within a group enhance the experience. Fun and challenge can coexist in group settings. Questions about group success should be more nuanced. Connect with the podcast - email - podcast@high5adventure.org instagram - https://www.instagram.com/verticalplaypen/ Support the podcast - verticalplaypen.org Music and sound effects - epidemicsound.com
Steven Rother joins me at the Virtual Alexandria to discuss his book, Spiritual Psychology: The Twelve Primary Life Lessons: Information for Facilitators of Human Evolution. Let's dive into the essence of human evolution, exploring how spiritual beings cope with a human awakening in a world undergoing a quantum leap. We'll uncover the Twelve Primary Life Lessons that shape our experiences, revealing how free choice and pre-birth contracts orchestrate our paths to mastery. Learn to identify and transform your life's repeating patterns, embracing self-empowerment and intuition to create a reality of passion and joy. Get the book: https://amzn.to/4g7Y9F5
Click here for links to paid offers. Click here to join the BORN FOR MORE Experience with Adi Shakti, the Philanthropic Femme. Summary of Offers:
All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome the team behind the Dementia Care Family Support Program. About Denise M. Brown: Denise began supporting family caregivers in 1990, launching one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996. She trains Caregiving Consultants, Facilitators, Guides and Navigators. She cared for her father for almost 20 years and for her mother for 8 years. She's written 16 books for current and former family caregivers. About Dr. Laura Gitlin: Dr. Laura Gitlin is the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Plans4Care. She is an intervention scientist with over 40 years of experience in dementia care and research. Dr. Gitlin currently serves as a multiple Principal Investigator on several NIH-funded grants, where she leads the development and testing of innovative interventions to support people living with dementia and their caregivers. About Eric Jutkowitz, PhD: Eric Jutkowitz, PhD is the Co-founder and CEO of Plans4Care. He is health services focused on improving the nation's long-term care system. He co-founded Plans4Care to bring evidence-based dementia care out of the university and into the hands of all family caregivers. About the Dementia Care Family Support Program: Our Certified Caregiving Consultants partnered with Plans4Care, a technology start-up to offer 5 coaching sessions to dementia family caregivers in order to resolve 3 care challenges. We'll share what we learned about using technology during coaching sessions, the common care challenges we addressed and the insights we gained from tracking our coaching sessions. We also will talk about what we learned about how to best support dementia family caregivers to help ease their stress and worries.
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