“I feel like I'm a unicorn at times because I'm able to speak different languages in the way that I can connect with people, right? So I was a solar entrepreneur. The pain points that I would have as a solo entrepreneur and growing and scaling and leading teams of contractors, I've done that, or working at a large global company and running an employee resource group along with doing a ton of sales and operations like tech. I can have those nuanced conversations where people feel seen and valued through our interactions.” - Skye Osunde

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Skye Osunde about her journey helping organizations improve team dynamics.  She shares how her experience in Higher Education, travel, and as a young manager influenced her career.  Later, Skye explains how her windy career background has helped her communicate confidently with leaders from different industries.   We also discuss simple tips for helping companies create space for authentic connection and rapport.  Listen in for thoughts on how companies can move beyond performative inclusion efforts.  

“... that ties back to OKRs because it's like what is the one thing that we're going to work on? And that's hard to do, because if you try to focus on 10 things, you're not focusing on anything. But that's what's nice about OKRs and why they can be helpful in meetings or saying no to meetings because well, that's not what my OKR is, that's not what we're focusing on, or we're not hitting this objective because we're failing at these metrics because of these key results one, two, and three. So distilling that down, going into when you're thinking about annual planning, it can be really helpful to, okay, what is our one objective and how are we going to measure it? It can be really helpful to really synthesize and boil down what that problem is and how we're going to measure it going forward.” - Adam Luepke

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Luepke about his experience supporting change initiatives at Quantive.  He begins with reflections on what helped him discover a passion for solving complex business problems.  Later, Adam talks about OKRs and best practices for changing your business.  We also discuss what makes a successful Chief Of Staff.  Listen in for tips on how to synthesize communication.

“Transitions are scary. Change is scary. So depending on the context, it could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing. And all of that can activate our fear response and our grief response. So there's a lot of neuroscience theory and brain science theory around transitions and change that we can talk about. But I think for me personally, I always feel like I step into the light. I'm very curious. I'm very curious, and I very much try to stay aware of those moments in life that can become lightning rods to go somewhere different. I'm a "yes and" person. So because I'm so curious and I'm really obsessed with continuous learning, if I trust the universe and I trust my intuition, it has led me in places that I have never anticipated.” - Maria Giudice

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Maria Giudice about her decades of experience leading design, creative, and business leaders.  She begins with reflections on how a Professor reframed her perspective on design and its value to others.  Later, Maria shares her thought on transition and how to approach it best.  We also discuss one of Maria’s learning experiences leading design initiatives at a large software company in detail.  Listen in for tips on how to keep making progress even during failure.

“It is looking into the narratives that an organization holds about itself, and that people hold about themselves, and understanding if these narratives are helpful or hindering to the change. And then actually from there trying to understand what would be a better narrative for this organization to hold, and what would it take for us to go onto that journey.” - Nicole Brauckmann

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Nicole Brauckmann about her journey leading Organizational Change initiatives.  She begins with reflections on why it’s important client understand what the change process feels like and where they’re going.  Later, Nicole dives into the four forces that support change.  We also discuss the importance of storytelling and how organizational change starts with the individuals.  Listen in for more tips on how to create the conditions for change to emerge.

“That is one of the most difficult things, especially in a corporate environment, I think to get people to have that zone of safety. A lot of times when we talk to people within our organization like a Nelnet and we ask them to come up with a brand new idea, we try to protect them as much as possible from having to present their idea until they have some evidence around it. And have them think differently about that early stage so that they can explore and go in a different direction than their original idea. So we have a process we call 1, 2, 3, 4. And it's really an incremental way to take an idea and time box it and move it forward. So the way it works is it's one minute, two hours, three days and four weeks. And so, those are the arbitrary boxes of time.” - Brian Ardinger

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Ardinger about his work helping entrepreneurs and organizations innovate.  He begins with how and why he decided to dedicate his career to innovation.  Later, Brian shares a practical approach to organizational innovation called the 1-2-3-4 method.  We also discuss the importance of creating a shared understanding of what innovation means for each of his clients.  Listen in for tips on how to instigate innovating both inside and outside the organization

“I think I was lucky to be a teacher of very young children as my first career. They taught me so much about the joy of teaching and learning. Within the first few months of teaching it was clear to me that mutual learning created authenticity and trust. We had wonderful fun together growing with and for each other. Many of my current ways of thinking and acting developed during those few years with these young minds. I left the formal classroom 50 years ago taking with me new ways of working, teaching, and being. Since then, I have founded and been part of teams — The Learning Exchange, M G Taylor Corporation, Tomorrow Makers —developing processes, methods, and content with and for adults that help all of us find our way back to that childlike wonder where I believe our answers to today/s challenges will arise.” - Gail Taylor

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Gail Taylor & Matt Taylor about their decades of experience creating environments, tools and processes for facilitating Group Genius with large complex organizations.  They begin with how they became facilitators and how they came to the same conclusion from two totally different backgrounds.  Later, they explain how working across many industries help them bring competitors together to solve complex problems.  We also discuss language and how verbs better describe who we are.  Listen in for many more tips from these two of the two giants of facilitation.

“I've come to believe that trust is an emergent phenomenon. You do not have to go in trusting the people that you're engaging with. What I do believe you need is a shared question and it acts as a strange attractor. So to get at that, back up a sec and say my entry point for engaging was really a breakthrough kind of insight, which is that all change begins with disruption. And if you think about it, it makes sense because if things are going smoothly, there's no reason for change. And so for me the question became how do you develop a healthy relationship with disruption? And what I have found is that you can create a bubble in disruption, create a space, facilitators, often call it a container that it's a space that holds both compassion and complexity, is the way I think about it.” - Peggy Holman

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Peggy Holman about her work supporting diverse groups to face complex issues.  She begins with how and why she made the transition from software systems to people systems.  Later, Peggy shares her three keys for creating space that holds both compassion and complexity.  We also discuss the importance of setting clear intentions.  Listen in for tips on how to create hubs to help navigate complexity.

“Yeah. And it's crazy because you hear that... Well, we always hear the adages, this generation is soft. I got bullied when I was a kid and it was like, pause for a second. Can we acknowledge that just because it happened to you doesn't mean it was right and that someone else should have a similar experience just because it happened to you? I was in a bad car accident. I don't feel like every driver should have to experience a bad car accident to be considered an efficient driver.” - Dethra Giles

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dethra Giles about her decades of experience working in Human Resources with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion.  She begins with reflections on how ‘playing teacher’ as a child influenced her career.  Later, Dethra explores cultures of connection and how they transcended the transition to virtual workforces.  We also discuss how diversity initiatives need to set new leaders up for success.  Listen in for tips on how to think about unconscious bias.

“Teams might be better able to own things if we adjust the boundaries or might find it really tricky because the cognitive load is too high. So suddenly we're talking about stuff which is not just technology, it's about making a viable organization effectively. We're thinking about viability, the ongoing ownership of different streams of change on an ongoing basis. That's a healthy conversation to have for any organization to be honest.” - Matthew Skelton

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Matthew Skelton about his journey in organization dynamics.  He starts with reflections on people and cohesion.  Later, Matthew shares how he applied software principles to teams.   We also discuss simple tips for balancing cognitive load when considering the big picture and getting stuff done.  Listen in for thoughts on how to be more intentional in doing organizational work.

“I think this aspect of psychological safety is probably one of the most interesting that I think about in terms of psychological safety. So first of all, most of us learn management from our managers. We learn what management looks like, we learn what management is through our own managers. And because of the way time and careers work, most of the managers that we have, certainly early in our career, are themselves fairly inexperienced, fairly junior managers. So there's this sort of feedback loop of inexperienced managers teaching inexperienced people how to be inexperienced managers. And so we don't always get exposed to the really, really competent managers and leaders until later on in our career. And that's when we realize, "Oh no, that's not the way we should do things.” - Tom Geraghty

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Geraghty about his journey helping make the world of work a safer, higher performing, more inclusive and equitable place.  He starts with reflections on microaggressions in the workplace.  Later, Tom shares why he helps organizations embrace emergence and experimentation.   We also discuss simple tips for finding the sweet spot between productivity and exploring.  Listen in for thoughts on how and why embracing discomfort and disagreement lead to higher performing teams.