Closing The Gap With Denise Cooper

55% of communication is body language, 38% is tone, only 7% is the words you use.Are you leading deliberately in the workplace? The term deliberate means on purpose, it's an intentional action. And that usually also means that we have considered how we want to show up as a leader in the workplace and we're actively making choices to be aligned with that vision of who we want to be in the workplace, whether that's based on our values, what behaviors we want to be doing.  In this week's episode, Katie McLaughlin, Founder of the McLaughlin Method, talks us through how leaders can use tools like body language, tone, and dialogue to positively impact business results. Katie describes most leaders as people who are "kind of leading by accident and aren't aware first and foremost that they have choice and that they have the ability to affect behavior and affect change. And then secondly, that once they know that they can do that, how do they want to show up? If they've never thought about what

How do you assess your self-awareness as a leader? In this episode we cover, the five fundamental skills all great managers and leaders master, from motivating people to developing self-awareness. We cover three distinct tools at your disposal as a boss—and when to use each. Thrasher also covers proven approaches to the key manager responsibilities, from setting clear goals with employees to keeping people accountable (without becoming the dreading micromanager) to attracting superstars to the team. If you're wondering how to positively influence employee engagement in your organization, this is the episode for you. THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOWWhat should we be training individual contributors for vs. a manager? (12:30) How do you succession plan for an individual contributor moving into a managerial role? (13:46) How can leaders better understand their team's motivations? (21:00) KEEP UP WITH GUESTCheck out Alicia Thrasher's Book, https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Playbook-Exceptional-Management-Competitiv

Do you know your own process for decision-making? ? Do you know how judgment shows up in your thought process? Judgment is human, we don't (yet) live in an AI world, where all decisions are powered by data and statistics. Instead, we're synthesizing information ourselves, often through the lenses of emotion, bias, and past experiences. When you're coming up with solutions to a challenge - do you go with the first solution you come up with? Or do you tend to brainstorm and weigh multiple options? This is an example of practical decision-making strategies. If you're wondering how to positively understand and leverage the judgments you make in strategic decision-making, this is the episode for you. THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOWWhat role does judgment play in our decision-making at work? [3:30] System bias, people bias, and processing bias all play a role in our decision-making. What does that mean? [9:50] When you're a leader, every suggestion you make is going to be picked up by someone in the room as an ac

What does a strong talent strategy look like in 2022 and 2023? It's easy to check skills boxes - it's harder to tell how well someone will adapt, collaborate, and evolve. Will they be able to play well with others in the sandbox of your organization? Some people are great with complex matrix organizations, while others thrive in small businesses. How do you know what your organization needs in terms of game-changing talent? When looking to source new talent, we can start by looking at senior leaders and what they anticipate will be upcoming in terms of people leaving the organization, aging out of the organization, or wanting to grow in the organization. In any business, there are areas of "evergreen" talent. These refer to any areas of the business where we are always looking for talent to drive business and move the needle in a meaningful way. We are always hiring for the next impact player, aka someone who will bring change to the organization. This can mean Heads of Sales, Marketing Leaders, Production M

How do you know if your organization is ready to give peer-to-peer feedback? How does feedback delivery need to be adjusted for remote vs. in person environments? Often times, organizations will launch a new peer-to-peer feedback initiative, without first training employees on what good feedback looks like and feels like. Toxic feedback is much more damaging to workplace morale than a culture where no feedback is given at all. However, we know that once we nail giving and receiving healthy feedback - organizations thrive. If you're wondering how to assess where your organization is at in terms of maturity around peer-to-peer feedback, this is the episode for you. Our host, Denise Cooper is interviewed by Alexa Greer on the ins and outs of feedback best practices to bring feedback conversations from "Ouch" to "Oh my". THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOWHow do you assess if your organization is ready for peer-to-peer feedback? What is your maturity around feedback? [3:55] Skilled feedback vs unskilled feedbac

How would you rate your collaboration skills? Do you have what it takes to "have a vision" and grow into a leader in your line of work? The good news is - we can teach you how to be a leader. In a lot of ways, it's harder to teach someone to be an individual contributor. As an individual contributor, you're hired for the technical skills you bring to the table. Hiring managers look at your resume, and can typically see whether or not you have the skills needed to succeed in the job or not. However, just because someone is an amazing individual contributor does not mean they'll succeed in a leadership role. Great sales people don't always make great managers. In 90% of organizations, the only way you can move up within an organization is by becoming a manager. While you can make a lot of money as an individual contributor, you won't be able to move up without the leadership skills. This week, we interview Deborah Snow-Walsh for her expert take on the future of work. Snow-Walsh's expertise includes consultin

What role does anxiety, hypervigilance, and chronic stress play in the healthcare industry? We are two years away from the beginning of the pandemic, and still no closer to treating healthcare workers in a dignified way. What does work-life balance look like for nurses who are supporting more patients than ever before? How can nurses set boundaries to be able to show up for patients in critical-care scenarios, without burning themselves out? If you're interested in learning how to balance boundaries, find work-life integration, and find sustainability within the healthcare industry, this is the episode for you. In this week's episode Sabrina Runbeck, MPH, MHS, PA-C, Cardiothoracic Surgery Physician Associate discusses what healthy boundaries can look like within the healthcare field. After overcoming burnout working in surgery, she became an International Peak Performance Keynote Speaker and Advisor. Now she empowers ambitious and overwhelmed health practice owners and their team gain back a day per week. He

How do we integrate work-life balance when the workplace is becoming more agile than ever?It's unrealistic to expect others to give us a step-by-step guide onto how to be more productive. Instead, we can look to others for a starting point, a framework, a mindset shift that we can begin applying to our own life. How we do one thing is how we do everything. This isn't another podcast telling you to wake up at 4AM, take a cold shower, and meditate to become a stronger performer. While those things may work, it's more important to identify what resources motivate you to build better habits, what de-motivates you, and so on. If you've been wondering how to approach productivity and performance in a sustainable way, this is the episode for you. In this week's episode, we are joined by our guest guest, Wiley McGraw, the founder of Radical Performance Acceleration. For well over a decade now he’s been behind-the-scenes doing life-altering work with powerful CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Leaders, and Public Figures acceler

How do we have a productive relationship with a colleague once trust has been broken? How do we transition back into a hybrid or in-person environment when virtual work has given us a buffer from a toxic coworker? We always do our best to be nice - but what does "being nice" really mean? Being nice in a toxic situation can have negative effects, all of a sudden we find ourselves rolling our eyes, venting to our friends after work, and giving contemptuous looks to our colleagues When your words and your actions do not align, it can trigger critical or defensive reactions in other people. This causes internal strife that can make it difficult to focus on the work that needs to be done. People pleasing is a sign of a lack of boundaries, and boundaries are what keeps us safe. Doesn't it make sense that when we have weak boundaries, we find ourselves getting upset more often? If you're wondering how to set affirming and manageable boundaries with a toxic colleague or boss, this is the episode for you. THE FINER

As a CEO or Founder - how do you own your professional development?We hear often that as a CEO, it can be challenging to ask for what you want and envision what's possible for the future of your company when your energy is being pulled in multiple directions. In this week's episode we bring on leading-edge Business Strategists to 7-figure Entrepreneurs & CEOs, Neeta Solanki, to share her perspective on how CEOs can elevate their performance and reignite the fire and passion back into their business and life. In this episode, Neeta offers a refreshingly practical blueprint for thinking and acting in environments that are fast-paced, rapidly changing, and highly uncertain. It provides both a guide to energizing the organization to find tomorrow's opportunities and a set of entrepreneurial principles you can use personally to transform the arenas in which you compete. THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOWWhat is the biggest challenge for CEOs and Founders this year? What gets in the way of Strategic planning (c

What role does peer-to-peer learning play in your career development?We recognize that we need a plan to reach out career goals. Our career plans should be ambitious and flexible. However, when we don't plan on becoming leaders, and we find ourselves in our first management role - it can be one of the biggest challenges we take on in our career. Being a leader means it's no longer about solving an individual problem, it becomes about how to lead a highly effective team. Leadership and project management skills benefit all of us, regardless of where we are in our careers. It's never too soon to start learning. In college, we learn formulas, content, and how to create reports. However, leadership has no formulas or cheat-sheets. In this week's episode, learn why peer-to-peer learning is KEY in developing strong leadership skills that can be applied in any number of professional settings. If you're interested in building a peer-to-peer learning group, here is what Mark Herschberg recommends: Build a group of 6

How do boundaries evolve with the shift from being in person to working remotely? What does working from home mean for the future of HR? How do we think about building a diverse network and community even when working hybrid or remote? How do we think about the structure of the work that's being done? What are the implications of a 4-day work week in a hybrid/remote environment? We will be talking about these questions in more in this week's episode. If you've been wondering how to lead your organization through the transition to hybrid and remote work - this is the episode for you. This week, we interview Deborah Snow-Walsh for her expert take on the future of work. Snow-Walsh's expertise includes consulting for corporations regarding their internal policies, executive search processes, and coaching for leaders.  She has been involved with HRPS, and was co-chair of its annual conference and various planning committees.  This week kicks off a 12-month long series, where Deborah Snow-Walsh will b

What would health equity look like in America?Health equity means giving patients the care they need when they need it. What role do social determinants play in the likelihood of positive health outcomes? Education, health care, economic stability, environmental stresses, and social/communal factors account for over 80% of health outcomes. This means only 20% of care actually comes from medical providers and care. In this episode, Denise Cooper talks about the that role social determinants of care play in our healthcare systems. Denise also discusses her ideas on how we can begin closing the gap on the systemic issues that contribute to chronic illness, disease, and decreases in the quality of life for people across America. THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOWIn this episode, Denise answers questions such as... What would equitable access to healthcare look like in America? How do healthcare resources vary between someone who is high income vs. someone who is low income? How do managers take income and privileg

How do we ensure that when we jump ship from one company to the next shiny opportunity, we are getting what we actually need from our employer? This requires an in-depth look at what will actually make your workflows more efficient, more productive, and more joyful.  People love structure - we can leverage this when asking for what we need. Structured asks give employers a sense of control, which helps to move them forward towards your goals. The more specific you are in what you ask for, the higher the likelihood you'll get what you want. By following 5 intentional steps, you can show up more fully and better advocate for your worth in the face of adversity. In this week's episode, we will take a deep dive based on our conversation from Episode 27 with Laura Fredricks. Ever wonder why some people can ask for something and get it, while others struggle? What if there's a formula that could improve your odds of getting a raise, increasing donor giving, or getting a promotion or job? Laura Fredricks,

We've all heard horror stories about people who have hated taking personality assessments for work. However, when done well, a personality assessment (such as DISC, Insights, Meyers-Briggs, etc) is a way of increasing your self-awareness. A common critique of personality assessments is that they're based on whatever emotion you're feeling at the time you take it. However, If you're taking a good report, it SHOULD be able to capture to capture where you're at emotionally in the moment and compare it to the baseline. When we take these types of assessments, it's very easy for us to point out traits that we don't identify with. One thing to remember and recognize with personality assessments is that the point is never to assess the totality of who you are. A good personality assessment will not put you in a box, but rather help you realize what strengths you can pull from to get through challenging work experiences. Additionally, by taking several assessments at once, we can get a better understanding of our hab

Why doesn't change stick? Why don't leaders do better at managing change? To answer these questions, we talk about the most popular tool for making change happen in companies - gatherings. A gathering could mean offsites, workshops, town halls, conferences, and webinars. Gatherings are where change happens. When we're matching a message with a moment, we create an effect with other people. When we understand the tool of gathering, we have a better chance of making change stick. Where we go wrong is by focusing on the grand production of HOW we present the change - what's in the binder, the presentation, etc. However, people don't change because of content, we change based on our reaction to the content being shown. In this week's episode, Denise Cooper interviews organizational psychologist and communication strategist Lindsey Caplan for her take on what we get wrong when it comes to change management in organizations. Listen in to better understand how you can drive change in your organization. Keep up wi

What is the difference between critical thinking and non-judgement? How do you respond when someone says something that's downright offensive? How do we close the gap with others who have very different value systems than ourselves? The way we navigate the world informs the biases we carry with us. But what if our life experiences could inform us to better support those around us? In the workplace, in our communities, and the world. In this week's episode, Denise Cooper interviews Founder and Principal Consultant of Brim-Donahoe & Associates, LueRachelle Brim-Atkins for her take on how we can keep a level head in the face of workplace conflict and strife. Keep up with LueRachelle Brim-Atkins: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://diversitycollaborative.com/luerachelle-brim-atkins/&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw06hWfamHMtLidQr_uaMOLm (https://diversitycollaborative.com/luerachelle-brim-atkins/) https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/luerachelle

What does it mean to show up vulnerably when it comes to topics you don't know? How do you balance good intentions with the reality that sometimes you will be in the wrong? When it comes to issues of belonging and inclusion, we tend to stick to people who we know are like us in some way. This is often unconscious, but as a result - people are marginalized in the process. In this week's episode, Alex Wait answers the question, what role can straight white men play in "social justice"? And bigger than that - how do we build lives that seek to welcome others in, even when they're from a much different background than ourselves? Keep up with Alex Wait: Epics Podcast: EpicsPodcast.com https://www.google.com/url?q=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epics-podcast/id1573258127&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw0yeDDux5tVjp3u1g8Yf9Ko (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epics-podcast/id1573258127)

What role does your particular comfort zone play in diversity & inclusion in your organization? How do we bring historically marginalized individuals into the C-Suite? We know that diversity brings innovation, however, women and people of color are underrepresented in the board room. We keep hearing "we don't know where to find them". 70-80% of jobs are based on who you know. However, what does this mean for people who are outside of your normal circle? We like working with people we feel comfortable with - but we only get comfortable if we are exposed. In this week's episode, Denise Cooper interviews performance coach Denise Conroy for her take on what it will take to get more women, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups leading change in their organizations and in the world. Keep up with Denise Conroy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conroydenise/

What role do the stories we tell ourselves play in office conflicts? Are the stories you tell yourself about how your boss feels about you rooted in reality or fear? Our emotions are our primary link to memory, connection, and disconnection. Frustratingly enough, it isn't always possible to simply "be more logical" about an emotional situation. How can we use our breath to rewire the neurochemicals that fire off in our frontal cortex in times of stress? At our core, people all want to know that they are safe, heard, seen, and relevant. If you've been searching for meaningful tools to work through workplace conflict, this is the episode for you. In this week's episode, Denise Cooper interviews Human Performance Specialist Pamela Brooks-Richards, for her take on how we can eliminate workplace conflicts at the source. Keep up with Pamela Brooks-Richards: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccsuccess/