Picture the employee in your workplace most likely to burn out. If you pictured someone struggling, checked out, or not that invested in their job, this episode is here to challenge that picture, because research says the opposite. Burnout usually doesn't hit your weakest performers first. It hits your best ones: the most talented, most engaged, most invested people, who are often closest to the edge without anyone realizing it until it's too late.

This episode starts with the actual WHO definition of burnout (it's not just “having a bad week”), then gets into why high performers and highly engaged employees are at greater risk.

From there, I talk about four strategies for preventing burnout in yourself:

•  Build an off-switch for work.

•  Protect mental recovery time on your days off.

•  Notice when your self-imposed standards are the problem.

•  Ask for support before you're in crisis.

Then, five things managers can do to help, regardless of whether their team is already burned out or they're trying to prevent it from happening in the first place:

•  Audit the balance between demands and resources on your team.

•  Recognize effort, not just outcomes.

•  Watch your high performers.

•  If someone's already burned out, actually do something to help them.

•  Model the boundaries you want your team to have.

The episode also covers where burnout rates stand since the pandemic, whether remote work helps with burnout, and why women report higher burnout rates than men.

______________________

Sources Cited in This Episode

World Health Organization. (2019, May 28). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases.

Moeller, J., Ivcevic, Z., White, A.E., Menges, J.I., & Brackett, M.A. (2018). Highly engaged but burned out: Intra-individual profiles in the US workforce. Career Development International, 23(1), 86–105.

Bentley University Center for Health and Business & unBurnt. (2026). When Burnout Looks Like Productivity: The New Risk to Innovation Capacity.

Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C. (2015). Recovery from job stress: The stressor-detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S72–S103.

Gallup. (2026). State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report.

American Psychological Association. (2023, 2024, 2025). Work in America Survey.

Eagle Hill Consulting. (2025). Workforce Burnout Survey.

McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. (2025). Women in the Workplace 2025.

______________________

Help us continue to create content through our SUPPORT link. No amount is too small!

______________________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND NOW AVAILABLE!!! The Annual Review Companion 2027

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Find it in our store: https://glassceilingsmashedpod.myshopify.com/products/2027-annual-review-companion-spiral-bound

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glassceilingsmashedpod

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

If you spend any time on social media, I’m sure you’ve seen someone bragging about having s $10K business month. And if your business’s month looked nothing like that, might have felt a twinge of comparison, or even worse, defeat. This episode makes the case that a dollar amount with no context is pretty much meaningless, and walks you through what to track instead: month-over-month growth, year-over-year growth, percentage change, and revenue per hour.

Using a side-by-side example (a $10K month that's actually a 50% decline, versus a $3K month that's actually a 200% increase), this episode provides a simple formula for calculating your own growth rate, and shows you how to reframe your accomplishments from raw dollar amounts to data points and percentages on a resume or in an interview.

Plus, we’ll take a look at why that reframe (stating your impact as a growth rate instead of a dollar figure), is a useful, low-effort tool for women to employ, given what research says about the cost women face for self-promotion that men largely don't.

___________________________

Growth Rate Formula (mentioned in this episode):

(Current Period – Previous Period) ÷ Previous Period × 100 = Growth Rate %

Example: A $3,000 month after a $1,000 baseline month: ($3,000 – $1,000) ÷ $1,000 × 100 = 200% growth.

Example: A $10,000 month after a $20,000 baseline month: ($10,000 – $20,000) ÷ $20,000 × 100 = –50% (a decline).

___________________________

Sources Cited in This Episode:

Moss-Racusin, C.A., & Rudman, L.A. (2010). Disruptions in women's self-promotion: The backlash avoidance model. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34(2), pp. 186–202.

___________________________

Help us continue to create content through our SUPPORT link. No amount is too small!

___________________________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND NOW AVAILABLE!!! The Annual Review Companion 2027

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Find it in our store: https://glassceilingsmashedpod.myshopify.com/products/2027-annual-review-companion-spiral-bound

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glassceilingsmashedpod

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Women are still paid less, promoted less, and chosen less often for roles that “matter.” In this episode, I’ll talk about exactly how much less women are paid, promoted, and chosen, using the most current data available, and we need to pay attention to it because right now it is NOT moving in our favor.

First, I’ll talk about the pay gap. What is the data? Why do different sources report different figures? And why, after two decades of the pay gap holding fairly steady, has it started widening again?

Second, I'll address what happens when women and men perform equally well but get evaluated differently when it comes to raises, bonuses, and promotions. There’s some lovely (sarcastic usage here) research that shows that organizations that explicitly call themselves “meritocracies” actually show more bias in favor of men instead of keeping things on an even evaluation field.

From there, I get into the hiring issue: when a man and a woman are equally qualified candidates for the same role, who gets chosen? Surprisingly, the answer to this question is more context and industry dependent than you might think. There are actually some newer studies that show bias in favor of women in some settings. This is a complicated topic.

Then, I’ll touch on the promotion gap: the “broken rung,” as McKinsey called it, of the corporate ladder.. The broken rung is the first and biggest step where women start to fall behind men on the path to leadership.

Next, I’ll talk about why this all happens. Is it because women don't advocate for themselves as strongly as men do? The research on this topic is both surprising and disappointing, and it's more nuanced than “women just need to ask for raises more often” which you'll hear about as I address what happens to women specifically when they do ask for a raise or promotion.

Finally, I’ll close out with two dedicated segments: 1) what women can do to make themselves more visible and eligible for the raises and promotions they've earned, and 2) what male colleagues and managers can do to help elevate the women around them, because unfortunately, this isn't a problem women can solve by themselves.

This episode of chock full of info. Give yourself some time to digest it, maybe give it a second or third listen, if needed, and then get out there and take action!

________________________

Sources Cited in This Episode

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.

Pew Research Center. (2025, March 4). Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over 2 decades.

Castilla, E.J., & Benard, S. (2010). The paradox of meritocracy in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55(4), 543–576.

Bygren, M., Erlandsson, A., & Gähler, M. (2025). The when and whereabouts of gender hiring discrimination. SAGE Open, 15(2).

Moss-Racusin, C.A., Dovidio, J.F., Brescoll, V.L., Graham, M.J., & Handelsman, J. (2012). Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(41), 16474–16479.

Erlandsson, A., Bygren, M., & Gähler, M. (2023). Is there a rating bias of job candidates based on gender and parenthood? A laboratory experiment on hiring for an accounting job. Acta Sociologica, 67(3), 371–386.

McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. (2025). Women in the Workplace 2025.

Fortune. (2026, June 3). Women run a record 11% of Fortune 500 companies in 2026—but the gain came in a year of high-profile exits.

Artz, B., Goodall, A.H., & Oswald, A.J. (2018). Do women ask? Industrial Relations, 57(4), 611–636.

Bowles, H.R., Babcock, L., & Lai, L. (2007). Social incentives for gender differences in the propensity to initiate negotiations: Sometimes it does hurt to ask. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103(1), 84–103.

Additional Resources Used to Write This Episode

Fortune coverage of the 2025 and 2026 Fortune 500 female CEO count and trend (fortune.com).

General reporting on the McKinsey/LeanIn.Org “broken rung” concept and 2025 findings from LeanIn.org.

________________________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND NOW AVAILABLE!!! The Annual Review Companion 2027

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Find it in our store: https://glassceilingsmashedpod.myshopify.com/products/2027-annual-review-companion-spiral-bound

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glassceilingsmashedpod

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Have you ever been in a meeting where you were supposed to make a decision, but a group consensus was impossible, so the meeting just ended up being a total waste of time because no decision was actually made? Surprisingly, that's not indicative of a communication problem. It's actually considered a decision-rights problem. Luckily, it's also something that can be fairly easily fixed if people just follow the rules.

In this episode, I get into a July 2026 Harvard Business Review study, “What Companies Get Wrong About Decision Rights,” by Lindy Greer, Jennifer Jordan, and Maxim Sytch, which covers the four most common ways companies get decision-making wrong.

Before getting to the four mistakes, I start by comparing the three frameworks companies actually use to try to fix this, and when each one is the better fit:

•  RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed): best for complex, cross-functional work where a lot of people need visibility into the outcome.

•  RAPID (Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide): best for major, infrequent, org-wide decisions that keep stalling at a specific bottleneck in the chain of command.

•  DARE (Decide, Advise, Recommend, Execute): best for fast, high-stakes situations where speed and a clear decider matter more than broad buy-in.

Here are the four mistakes companies make with these frameworks, no matter which one they use:

1. Assigning roles before the actual goal is clear.

2. Treating decision rights as a static spreadsheet handed down from a single leader instead of something the team builds together.

3. Not agreeing on what each role actually means in practice.

4. Letting people repeatedly act in the same role regardless of what the specific decision calls for.

I also share four ways to overcome these issues so that everyone can start on the same page:

1. Cocreate roles instead of dictating them.

2. Write out what each role looks like in actual behavior, not just in title.

3. Revisit roles regularly instead of treating them as one-and-done.

4. Redesign meetings around the roles you've assigned, with real time budgets for framing, debate, and the actual call.

Finally, I address how collaborative and participative decision-making (the kind more often associated with women leaders) fits into all of this, both in positive and negative ways.

___________________________

Sources Cited in This Episode:

Greer, L., Jordan, J., & Sytch, M. (2026, July–August). What companies get wrong about decision rights. Harvard Business Review.

Rogers, P., & Blenko, M.W. (2006, January). Who has the D? How clear decision roles enhance organizational performance. Harvard Business Review, 84(1), 52–61.

Eagly, A.H., & Johnson, B.T. (1990). Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 233–256.

Paustian-Underdahl, S.C., Smith Sockbeson, C.E., Hall, A.V., & Halliday, C.S. (2024). Gender and evaluations of leadership behaviors: A meta-analytic review of 50 years of research. The Leadership Quarterly, 35, Article 101822. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2024.101822

Additional Resources Used to Write This Episode:

General industry and consulting sources on the DARE decision-making framework.

___________________________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND NOW AVAILABLE!!! The Annual Review Companion 2027

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Find it in our store: https://glassceilingsmashedpod.myshopify.com/products/2027-annual-review-companion-spiral-bound

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Ever fix a problem at work, only to watch it come back a few months later? Of course you have. 

First, this means you didn't fix the problem, you patched it. 

Second, this happens in every organization, so for better or for worse, you're not alone. 

And third, it does not mean you're bad at your job.

This episode gets into why we reach for the quick fix instead of solving the real problem, starting with the psychology behind it: present bias (the tendency to overvalue right-now relief instead of a bigger payoff later), and journalist Richard Fisher's SHORT framework for the five pressures that push us toward short-term thinking:

S - Salience
H - Habits
O - Overload
R - Responsibility
T - Targets

From there, we get into what quick fixes actually cost: financially, strategically, and personally.

Then I walk through Root Cause Analysis, specifically the 5 Whys, a method that's exactly what it sounds like: you ask “why” five times in a row until you land on the actual root cause instead of the surface-level symptom. Below is text of the example I use in the episode. A company keeps sending clients incorrect invoices. The walk through of all five whys results in uncovering that the real issue turns out to be a lack of documentation review, not data entry failures.

Problem: A client keeps receiving incorrect invoices.

1. Why? Because the billing team is entering the wrong information.

2. Why? Because the intake form is confusing, so clients fill it out inconsistently.

3. Why? Because the form was designed years ago and hasn't been updated since the entry process changed.

4. Why? Because there's no standard process for reviewing and updating forms when a process changes.

5. Why? Because nobody owns the responsibility of keeping forms in compliance with current processes.

So the real problem was never the incorrect invoices. It was the absence of process ownership and documentation standards. Fix that, and the invoice problem goes away, probably along with a few other problems you didn't even know were connected to the same root cause.

From there, I review four practical tips for putting this into action:

•  Before implementing a fix, ask whether you're solving the symptom or the actual problem.

•  Use the 5 Whys before you land on a solution.

•  Document your findings, so the same problem doesn't get “solved” from scratch again by someone else six months from now.

•  Leave time on your calendar for proactive problem-solving, not just reactive firefighting.

Lastly, I talk about why women in particular tend to get stuck fixing the same problems over and over more than their male colleagues, including research on “non-promotable tasks” and a look at how fear affects decision-making differently by gender.

Follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and please leave a review - It helps more than you realize! 

__________

Sources cited in this episode:

Fisher, R. (2020, October 21). Humanity is stuck in short-term thinking. Here's how we escape. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/21/1009443/short-term-vs-long-term-thinking/

Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2017, January–February). Are you solving the right problems? Harvard Business Review.

Senge, P.M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday/Currency.

Babcock, L., Recalde, M.P., Vesterlund, L., & Weingart, L. (2017). Gender differences in accepting and receiving requests for tasks with low promotability. American Economic Review, 107(3), 714–747.

Fiorenzato, E., Bisiacchi, P., & Cona, G. (2024). Gender differences in the effects of emotion induction on intertemporal decision-making. PLOS ONE, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299591

Additional resources used to write this episode: 

Harvard Business School Online blog, "Root Cause Analysis"

ThinkReliability blog, “Why Is Root Cause Analysis Important?”

Ohno, T. (1988). Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press

__________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND NOW AVAILABLE!!! The Annual Review Companion 2027

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Find it in our store: https://glassceilingsmashedpod.myshopify.com/products/2027-annual-review-companion-spiral-bound

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Giving feedback, performance reviews, behavior assessments...They are some of the most dreaded conversations at work. 

I don’t think I know anyone who looks forward to the feedback or performance review discussion, and for women, there's an extra layer of pressure (because there always is). As discussed in Episode 4 ( ) the pressure to be liked can make giving honest and specific feedback feel a bit risky. 

This episode goes through five tips for giving feedback that actually help people improve the quality of the conversation AND the quality of the feedback itself:

1. Don't wait too long to give feedback

2. Be prepared for the conversation

3. Don't make it personal

4. Ask questions

5. Create an improvement action plan

This episode also addresses what research says about how feedback content tends to differ depending upon whether a man or woman is on the receiving end, and what you need to pay attention to as the one giving the feedback.

***Here's the book I mention in Tip #4 for improving listening skills and emotional regulation in difficult conversations: Burley-Allen, M. (1995). Listening: The Forgotten Skill (2nd ed.). Wiley. 

__________

Follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and please leave a review - It helps more than you realize! 

__________

Sources cited in this episode:

Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2023). The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.). Wiley.

Snyder, K. (2014, August 26). The abrasiveness trap: High-achieving men and women are described differently in reviews. Fortune.

Doldor, E., Wyatt, M., & Silvester, J. (2019). Statesmen or cheerleaders? Using topic modeling to examine gendered messages in narrative developmental feedback for leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(5), Article 101308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.101308 (Summarized for a general audience in: Doldor, E., Wyatt, M., & Silvester, J. (2021, February 10). Research: Men get more actionable feedback than women. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/02/research-men-get-more-actionable-feedback-than-women)

Jampol, L., & Zayas, V. (2021). Gendered white lies: Women are given inflated performance feedback compared with men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(1), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220916622

__________

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

AND COMING SOON: The Annual Review Companion 2027. 

The Annual Review Companion 2027 is your guide to tracking your yearly progress so you can show up to your next annual review with alllllllll the receipts. Get yourself that raise and that promotion you deserve!

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

It sometimes feels like being liked and being respected should be (or are) the same thing.

Spoiler Alert: They're not the same, and confusing/conflating the two is one of the more common ways that women stall their careers. 

In this episode, I go into detail on the difference between being liked and being respected. I walk through what happens in each of the four combinations of being liked/respected (listen for the combo that is a career-ender) and I get into research on how the liked/respected combo looks different for women than it does for men (doesn’t everything?). 

Lastly, I provide some advice on how to build both likability AND respect while still being genuine in your interactions.

Sources cited in this episode:

Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A.J.C. & Glick, P. (2007). Universal dimensions of social cognition: Warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(2), 77–83.

Cuddy, A.J.C. (2015). Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges. Little, Brown Spark. 

Flynn, F.J., Anderson, C., & Brion, S. (unpublished manuscript). The Heidi/Howard Roizen study, based on a Harvard Business School case. Widely cited via Sandberg, S. (2013), Lean In. Knopf.

Heilman, M.E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent women's ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 657–674.

Heilman, M.E., & Okimoto, T.G. (2007). Why are women penalized for success at male tasks? The implied communality deficit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1), 81–92.

Zenger, J., & Folkman, J. (2013, April 4). New research shows success doesn't make women less likable. Harvard Business Review.

Follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and please leave a review - It helps more than you realize! 

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You've been told to “think more strategically,” but has anyone ever actually told you what that means? Or why women get that feedback more often than men? Has anyone ever acknowledged to you that this feedback isn't accurate? Likely, your answer to all of these questions is "no."

In this episode, I talk about strategy what actually is (hint: it's not the same thing as a goal), I cover a simple framework for understanding what should be expected of you (strategically) at each level of your career, and I dive into some research on why women are consistently rated as less “strategic” than men early in their careers, even when they're outperforming them on almost everything else. I also revisit my own story of being passed over for a promotion based on this exact feedback.

Finally, I spell out what you can do when you receive this feedback, but it doesn't match your reality.

Sources cited in this episode:

Northouse, P.G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Sage.

Zenger, J. (2021, March 24). The Extremely Curious Case Of Women's Strategic Thinking. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2021/03/24/the-extremely-curious-case-of-womens-strategic-thinking/

Follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and please leave a review - It helps more than you realize! 

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

Follow us on socials:

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

We communicate every single day through meetings, emails, conversations, and passing comments we don't even think twice about. The problem is, most of us have never been taught how to actually communicate WELL.

In this episode, I talk about five communication habits that change how people perceive you and respond to you.

In this episode I cover:

1. Why speaking in absolutes undermines your credibility
2. How one small word swap can change how your message is received
3. The filler word habit that's making you sound less confident than you are
4. What your body language says that your words don't
5. Why most of us are so much worse at listening than we realize, and what we can actually do about it

I go into even more detail on these 5 topics, plus 3 additional tips in my Effective Communication Reference Guide. The guide also includes before-and-after examples and practice prompts for all 8 tips. You can find the downloadable guide here: Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Follow us on socials:

Substack: Inner Work, Outer Leadership

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Employee engagement in the U.S. hit a ten-year low in 2024. So if you've been feeling like something's off with the motivational vibes right now, you're right.

In this episode, I talk about what's happening with motivation and engagement right now, why motivation matters, and what a motivation reset looks like. 

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why individual motivation dies and the question to ask yourself when you're struggling
• Why celebrating small wins matters when you're trying to rebuild momentum
• Six steps to reset a team 
• Why diagnosing the problem before trying to fix it is important
• How to rebuild trust and psychological safety after a team has been through a tough time
• Why alignment on vision isn't automatic and how to fix it

Sources cited in this episode:

Meister, A. & Toegel, I. (2025). 6 Steps to Reset a Demotivated Team. Harvard Business Review. Published July 8, 2025. 

gallup.com/workplace/654911/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspx

Follow and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and please leave a review - It helps more than you realize! 

If the information contained in this episode gave you something to think about, Windrose Coaching and Consulting offers career and leadership skills mentoring and coaching to individuals seeking self-improvement. We also offer consulting services for small and micro businesses. To learn more about how we work, see our Services page.  

Not ready to jump into services just yet? Start with our downloadable guide Communicate with Confidence: 8 Tips to Enhance Your Communication Skills and Increase Your Credibility.  

Follow us on socials:

Substack: Inner Work, Outer Leadership

Instagram: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

Threads: @windrosecoachingandconsulting

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show