“There is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where vibrations of energy actually have an effect around them, on their environment and the other. You've probably heard that in quantum mechanics, you can actually observe a quantum phenomenon and by observing it you've changed it. It's the strangest weirdest thing. Well, you go out there in the world and you reflect a certain positivity. It's astonishing how it creates momentum of positivity.” -Neal Foard

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Neal Foard about his latest initiative spreading messages of positivity on social media.  He shares how he stumbled into his role as a social media influencer improving people's day.  Later, he shares stories for why he has faith in humanity during these divisive times.  We then discuss the importance of finding a tribe of people that you vibe with.   Listen in for more inspiration on how to practice positivity.  

“I don't know whether teacher change issues are any more difficult than others. It's just where I have experience. I think any time you're working on... I mean, you know this. People sort of like the idea of change. They just don't want to. And anytime you're working with really talented experts, human beings accustomed to tremendous autonomy, that's a really difficult room. And so the challenge for... In the educational technology version of me, the challenge was people realized that to use this technology well, they had to teach differently. And that forces all sorts of questions, not about practice necessarily, but about identity. I was like, oh, wait a minute. I thought I was pretty good at what I did. And now, maybe I'm entertaining the possibility that I could be better. And working through those identity issues, I think are really difficult.” -Jeff Grabill

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Erik Skogsberg, Sarah Gretter, and Jeff Grabill about their experience helping Higher Education organizations with design more impactful learning experiences.  They share a handful of the unique challenges of designing change in Higher Education as well as similarities with other change initiatives.  Later, they share how to create the conditions for sustainable longterm change within organizations.  We then discuss the importance of having a shared vocabulary to help all the stakeholders communicate during change initiatives.   Listen in for Michael’s interesting thoughts on the criteria all high-performing teams meet.

“Audiences don't want to see you fail. They really are on your side. They want to see you succeed. When you get uncomfortable and nervous and start that spiraling, they feel embarrassed for you. They want to save you. They feel horrible, and it makes them very uncomfortable. If you think of any situation you've been in, I'm sure that you've ... If you've ever seen a nervous speaker, you really feel for them. But when it's us up there, we forget that. We think that everybody's against us and judging us, and it's not true. It really isn't true.” -Heather Hansen

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Heather Hansen about her experience helping leaders speak up and build their communication skills.  She shares a handful of the unique challenges of communication training in our globalized world.  Later, she shares the two most important factors in developing as a communicator.  We then discuss the role of listening in learning to speak up.   Listen in for her predictions about the future of technology and communication.

“So first of all, make very clear what the purpose of the team is, or the organization. What is it we're trying to accomplish? What's our big goal? What's our mission? Where are we going? Unless that is stated clearly, the people who are in the team won't be able to line up together. So think of a rowing crew in a rowing boat, and they don't know where they're going and nobody is setting the pace. They're going to have difficulty functioning well, and we have that kind of problem in many teams. People assume that they know what their purpose is, but spelling it out is actually very important, especially in larger organizations, but even in small teams with two or three people, it's a very important thing.” -Michael Palmer

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Palmer about his experience helping organizations with programs of instruction to help teams of all kinds build the cultures they need to excel.  He shares a thoughtful definition of ‘culture’ and why it’s so important in sustaining healthy teams.  Later, Michael shares some tips to develop better communication practices at work.  We then discuss the importance of ‘purpose’ at work.   Listen in for Michael’s interesting thoughts on the criteria all high performing teams meet.

“So I would design all this stuff and if something went wrong, they always blamed the people. And I'm like, this is interesting. So whenever I went to the people side, it was very different to see that in essence, we create the environments for the people, especially if we're in the HR or the leadership spaces.  And so how people didn't look at that, they didn't look how it was designed. They did not look at how it had been engineered or crafted. Is, is this actually meant for a human to succeed in? And so that has probably been one of the most fascinating things for me, is helping people to deconstruct policies and procedures and even looking at the people's side and just their habits that they've created. And how do we actually get it where people can show up, collaborate, perform, and have fun while doing it?” -Emily Elrod

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Emily Elrod about her experience helping organizations of people work better together, stress, and self-care at work.  She shares some thoughts on why organizations should prioritize like-hearted over like-minded teams.  Later, Emily explores topics like positive deviance, how to leverage dopamine, and progress over perfection.  We then discuss what it takes to keep calm at work and emotional regulation.   Listen in for more interesting thoughts on ways people, places, and things go from stressed to strategic.

“I'd say the feminine is the magician, and the masculine is the warrior. And those are two archetypes that are used in union and different types of readings that I've read of archetypes. So with that, I would say that this article lays out that there are about 28, I believe 27, 28 leadership competencies, and it shows the feminine expression and the masculine expression. And how that ties to my work is that I sometimes will be coaching someone, and I'll notice that they are sharing some of the challenges that they're having and how they want to be a better leader. Oftentimes I hear a lot improve executive presence, whatever that means. Improve your executive presence. And I think that really, that just means be authentically yourself as a leader and be confident in yourself.” -Leah Fleischner

 

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Leah Fleischner about her experience in working with startups, coaching executives, and leading enterprise change initiatives.  She shares some thoughts on the needs and motivations of today's worker that’s driving the ‘Great Resignation’.  Later, Leah explores topics like mental health while working remote, why words matter, and the masculine-feminine expressions of leadership.  We then discuss what it takes to be a great coach.   Listen in for more interesting thoughts on moving forward with grace.

“I think that's where the leadership development side of the work that I've been doing really comes in. Because to be a leader within an organization that encourages autonomous teams with missions and encourages cross-functional work and a more decentralized structure, they need to feel comfortable and confident themselves. A lot of organizations I've seen will have that command and control kind of traditional hierarchy, and a lot of that is because that's what the leader has experience in and that's what the leader is most comfortable with. So to have this blend of something that's more, maybe not quite self-managed, not to that level but to a level where we do have teams that can do their homework, they can build a hypothesis, they can do some experimentation, they can share back on that, they can learn from it and they can pivot, it takes a leader who I think is comfortable with that.” -Kate Leto In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kate Leto about her experience in Product Management, Organizational Development, and Personal Development industries that has taken her around the world.  She shares how self-awareness can help make you a better leader, develop confidence, and battle imposter syndrome.  Later, Kate explains why changing Organizations must first start with changing individuals and teams.  We then discuss different types of leadership skills and how to develop them.   Listen in for more interesting thoughts on how to build higher-performing teams.

“ So we've been studying energizing ties for over 20 years now. And so we've found that people in organizations have a range of impacts on each other. At the one extreme are interactions we would call energizing. And I think we all kind of intuitively know the characteristics of an energizer. They help you tackle problems. They are kind of selfless in their willingness to help you. They're optimistic but not pie in the sky optimistic. And they act with honesty and integrity, and thoughtfulness. And so what we've found is that whether you're an energizer is a huge predictor of forwarding momentum through your organization.  So people who score high on these energizing scores by the network around them are much more likely to win with clients. They win in the internal labor market. They get more from people around them. There's been some great research that when you're in the presence of an energizer, you yourself are more creative.” -Dr. Peter Gray

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Peter Gray about his years of experience creating more collaborative organizations through his work studying professional networks.  He shares how the pandemic has impacted workplace networks and influenced innovation.  Later, Peter explains how the size, reach, and quality of a professional's network impacts their career.  We then discuss how the future of work will reward team performance over the individual.   Listen in for more interesting thoughts on the future of work.

“Yeah. I think it's absolutely true. I think there are also really interesting things that happen with adults when it comes to playing of, why don't we? What's in the way of that? Is also really interesting to me too, when all those things that you're seeing are true, right? If it's as needed in our lives, why aren't we doing it? What is it? I think, from what I've found in facilitation, what holds people back from ... We think of play, I think, when we think of, as facilitators often we'll think of the icebreaker or the stoke activity or something like that. But I find it to be so much more about ingraining it into all of it. And it's more of a mindset for play or a posture for play, I'll often say too, and what gets in the way of that for people.” -Shannon Varcoe

 

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Shannon Varcoe about her experience building a career as a designer and facilitator focused on injecting more play into our work.  She shares how her diverse background in theater and engineering has informed her work.  Later, Shannon addresses some uncomfortable moments in facilitation like reflections, silence, play, and debriefing.  We then discuss correctness, momentum, and collaboration.   Listen in for interesting thoughts on the future of teamwork.

“The spontaneity and the collaboration effect are definitely more prevalent inside of the asynchronous on-premise environment. However, do I want to give up all of that deep work for that type of spontaneity? Because a lot of the time spontaneity is a distraction in another... You call it spontaneity. I call it a distraction. I call it, okay, this is the seventh time someone's walked into my office today, and I actually just really need to get this email sequence written as an example. And I can't actually get it done because I've had these spontaneous conversations throughout my workday. So a lot of these times they can end up looking like distractions when a lot of people call them collaboration and spontaneity. So I'm not quite clear actually on where that's going to go. But I have seen this happen a lot inside of the corporate world where people just get into meetings because that's the flow of what they should be doing. But the reality is that you could actually, as you said, turn a lot of those meetings into an email.” -Liam Martin

In this episode of Control the Room, I had the pleasure of speaking with Liam Marin about his experience building conferences and software for Remote Work advocates.  He shares why he builds products and services that are defined by the concept of giving workers the flexibility to work wherever they want, whenever they want.  Later, Liam offers tips on how to manage Remote Work with asynchronous communication.  We then discuss connection vs. free work, ideas vs. execution, and management vs leadership.   Listen in for Remote Work trends and predictions.