Joyosity

You talk to yourself more than anyone else. Do you even know what you’re saying? Sometimes I look for someone else to enter the discussion and give me permission to just do the thing.

I’ll tell you why — because sometimes I worry I am being too big for my britches and need to take a step back. But why do I tell myself that?

There’s the little Regina George, mean girl saying, “You are in over your head. You shouldn’t do this.” Listen, Regina can take several seats because I am the leader of my life.

In this week's episode, we chatted with Erika Biddix, an Entrepreneur, Mother, and the lady behind the We Are Aught Coworking Space and Coaching Program in Knoxville, Tennessee.

She reminded us that you are the boss of yourself and confirms the mindset and truth that we get to take control of our growth and gain independence.

We don’t just have to keep going because that’s what we’ve done. (Or that we’re scared of success!) One of the most relatable stories Erika told was when she started her business and looked for the adult in the room.

We have to stop looking for the adult in the room and recognize we’re the adult. Erika, along with Sally Z., have created a boutique experience, the Permission Slip Conference, to help us dream (and equip us to do) the next thing. Amazing speakers bring the goods for only 200 women. The Permission Slip Conference is in Knoxville, Tennessee on Monday, December 4. Check out the details here and use code ERIKA10 to save 10%.

If you’re feeling like you’re looking for the adult in the room (or trying to be the adult!) this episode is calling your name! Come tell me, what do you believe you need permission for? Let me know on LinkedIn or Youtube!

Here’s what we talked about:

5:00 Who is the Erika Biddix

7:02 The “Fear of”s

8:50 Work out the “I am the boss” muscle 1

2:15 Women giving themselves permission

14:02 Check yourself

18:03 It's on you

21:43 Change the “must be nice” phrase

23:50 Permission Slip Conference

Humanitarian work. The root word — human. Nurses, teachers, counselors, and anyone in a service position that cares for other humans. But are these humans that care for humans being cared for? Often they are sacrificing themselves for the “work” and suffering burnout, exhaustion, and struggling to stay.

Dimple Dhabalia is on a mission to challenge the narrative of service before self. After spending almost a decade in humanitarian work and listening to asylum seekers tell their stories, she found herself exhausted, unwell, and unable to do the dream job that just a few short years earlier filled her with joy and purpose.

And so many of us have experienced that. Culture shifts, leadership changes, reorganization — the place we once loved is now destroying you.

How do we bring joy into a space that’s this heavy and hard? How do we make sure those who care for humans feel cared for themselves? Like most things, it has to start with self.

Dimple shared how self-awareness is the first step to a healthier work environment, and leaders searching for something more have to go within before they can make outward changes. It’s a slow shift, but it’s possible.

If you work in a place that requires a lot of sacrificing of yourself, I want you to meet my friend Dimple. Her book, launching in February, is packed full of meaningful stories and a road to healing. I can’t wait for the impact Tell Me My Story will have on our work and world.

https://www.linkedin.com/events/howtoleadsuccessfullywithoutsac7122931294556102657/comments/

Here’s what we talked about:

05:02 The result of humanitarian work

07:50 When dream jobs change

14:23 Caring for the whole human

18:08 Notice, name and navigate

23:40 Tell Me My Story

Wonder — more than staring up at the night sky, wonder changes your leadership.

On the flip side, this misuse of wonder can show up in the form of worry and anxiety just as easily. And they older we get, we can lose the wonder that changes us in the best ways.

How do we keep the “wow” in our work? The good, positive kind? 

How do we share that wonder with our team?

This week Harris III came to Joyosity™  with A LOT for us to think on. He shared the science behind wonder and how our brains light up and function when we’re in that state of wonder. 

We talked about stories and how they impact the way we connect and communicate. 

Harris shared his own story, how he became a millionaire at 21 only to lose it all and how he’s spent 30 years in creative entrepreneurship sharing his story in a way to guide others.

If you’ve lost the wonder in your work. If you know “your why” but maybe missed out on “your wow” or maybe you’re just a “how” person needing a little more “wow” and a little less “how are we going to do that?”. I want to invite you to chat with us. Let us hear your stories and help you find your magic again.

Here’s what we talked about:
05:30 Is wonder contagious

09:12 The science behind wonder

14:00 Using your imagination for wonder or worry

19:05 Starting with wow

Remember when you were a kid and you went to the swimming pool or the beach and you swam your heart out? You’d come home that happy kind of exhausted. The kind of exhausted that left a smile on your face.

A positive culture should feel like that.

You should be doing meaningful work, creating an impact, and coming home feeling thrilled and content.

Does that sound impossible?

In this episode I give you the blueprint to creating the positive work environment of your dreams.

No, it’s not always going to feel like the perfect beach day every day, but it is going to help you align your values with your actions.

If you’re new around here, I’m a big fan of the enneagram. If you don’t know much about that here’s a link to learn more: https://jennwhitmer.com/enneagram.

I share my three step process to putting people at the heart of your business and a few red flags you might be hearing or saying.

If you’ve ever thought “we just need to try harder” or “we need to be more efficient” please listen and let me know what you think in the comments on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/events/whypeoplearetheheartofyourprofi7117855061233340416/comments/

Here’s what we talked about:

05:30 What is a positive culture

09:09 How personalities can fuel change

13:30 The stories we tell ourselves

17:44 Aligning your values with your work

23:34 What you can do next

This meeting could have been an email? How about this meeting could have been Butter?

Engagement and collaboration are key to your success as a team but when we’re working remotely and CONSTANTLY looking at talking heads on a screen, the fatigue sets in, and the joy gets zapped.

Jakob and his team saw the need for a better tool for meetings and webinars. They bring joy and silliness into their work, and you can see it from the name to the user experience.

We, of course, dove into the data behind playfulness at work, and we talked a lot about how to make the meeting more efficient as well as fun. We both touched on our experiences as consultants and the importance of follow-through.

Jakob shared his incredible start-up story and how as he grew, he put his energy and focus into people who believed in the fun rather than focusing on those who didn’t.

The tools you use help your team show up prepared, stay engaged throughout the meeting, and leave with a clear plan of action items.

Here’s what we talked about:

05:10 Why butter?

09:35 The stages of collaboration

11:37 Achieving joy and engagement in a meeting

17:30 How butter helps to prepare for meetings

Change in an organization can be terrifying. As a leader, knowing change is necessary but standing at the bottom of that mountain staring at the peak that seems SO far away can be daunting.

In this week's Linkedin Live, Leilani Bloomquist joined us, as a Transformation Consultant she is well aware of how change can impact the workplace.

Leilani talked with us about the impact of new technology. The fear that we all have around the possibility of it taking jobs but the reality that it can actually help us work more efficiently and.. wait for it… more joyfully of course!

She shared her BRILLIANT 80% rule she uses to teach leaders how to make decisions with confidence and vulnerability. Like me, she’s huge on people coming first in an organization and the positive impact this will have.

We dove into how to create a feedback loop (that actually works!) and how being vulnerable and confident can go hand in hand. If you're in the midst of change, whether it’s new technology or a new initiative at work I promise this session is a must! 

Here’s what we talked about:

04:53 People first in productivity

05:49 Thinking of employees as customers

09:02 Leading with vulnerability

12:15 Setting up a feedback loop

13:40 The 80% rule for leaders

17:45 Working through the worst case scenario

On a coaching call, I said the words, “maybe it’s time to involve HR.” I could feel the walls instantly go up. Have you ever had this reaction? Does the idea of going to HR make you uncomfortable? After talking with Erin, I really hope you’ll feel differently! I loved how Erin defined HR as the step between leadership and legal. She shared some great advice and tips on what to do when you find yourself in a situation or relationship where things just don’t seem to be getting better, where you may be more invested than the other person and what to do next. She gave us actionable tips for creating a timeline, documenting interactions in ways that don’t feel scary, and, most importantly, what conversations to have with yourself and others before stepping into the HR office and asking for support. Oftentimes things just start “feeling prickly,” and you know a hard conversation needs to be had in hopes of resetting the relationship or situation. If you’re looking for some helpful phrases during those conversations, I put together 20 for you on my website here. Erin even shared some next steps for what to do if you don’t have a great HR department (or maybe don’t have one at all!), and what situations call for immediate involvement of HR. Here’s what we talked about: 06:05 The role of HR 09:07 Steps to take before going to HR 11:40 What to try if HR isn’t ready to step in 14:12 Things to expect when you’ve let it go on too long 16:03 What to do if you don’t have a good HR department 19:13 How to handle it when you’re more invested in the relationship 20:45 When to go directly to HR #humanresources #keynotespeaker #joyosity #livestream #conflictresolution #leadership

Disney cruising, tap dancing, and leadership have a lot more in common than showmanship. They’re actions influenced by values.

In this week's episode, we chatted with Matt Dentino, executive producer of Brain Trust’s podcast Driving Change and a certified coach who guides clients to find and lead with their values. Matt shared the neuroscience behind how values connect us and create productive conversations. He helped us understand why it’s so important to lead with connection before making requests or giving feedback. (Even at home!)

I loved the stories he shared with us about the Dancing Dentino family and the way he discovered his core values were influenced by his father. We talked about the importance of vulnerability in leadership and how exercises like finding common values can help your team's performance. He shared a sneak peek into the “Sages and Stages” exercise he runs through with clients, and we both agreed on the importance of having clear values in work and life.

If you want to hop into the conversation, head over to the live chat and leave your insights or questions!

Here’s what we talked about:

06:00 Core values and neuroscience

10:12 Aligning implicit and explicit culture

13:22 The neuroscience behind connection

18:50 Connecting values on a team

26:28 Crafting a story about your values

When’s the last time you felt that sticky feeling of “I’m uncomfortable, and I’m not sure what’s next”? Did you jump into a story about how you should have done something differently? Or maybe they should have?!

Before you know it, you might be doing something you regret, like snapping at a coworker or maybe yelling at your kid. Did you act in line with your values? How do you make sure you do better next time?

Managing unexpected situations is part of life. Whether it’s a broken-down car or a tech slip-up at work, the way we handle ourselves in these moments is critical to creating a positive environment not only for ourselves but for those around us.

I wish I could give you a step-by-step Mapquest printout (if you know, you know) for every hard situation that is coming your way. I can’t foresee that, and neither can you.

But what I share in this episode is a compass. A compass you can pull out when you find yourself in a sticky place and not sure what to do next.

This compass shows you where to focus your energy and how to move forward in a way that’s grounded in your values and keeps everyone whole.

Head over to the live session if you need to screenshot the compass and get a visual for the three E’s I share in this episode. I hope it will help you next time you find yourself facing something frustrating at work (or at a gas station in Tennessee!): https://www.linkedin.com/events/thecompassyouneedasaleaderwithj7107720071199821826/comments/

Here’s what we talked about:

3:36 Handling unexpected situation

6:09 The Joyosity compass for leadership

9:10 Clarifying your values and using them

9:54 Steps for creating a positive culture

13:20 3 components of experience

15:45 The power of play and fun at work

17:13 Creating positive culture with complex people

- Leo was a powerhouse of innovation! And how we build this skill that is accessible to everyone. - 3:00 How Leo found innovation and the beauty of it - 5:30 The definition of innovation and why it's for everyone - 8:00 How to have a mindset of innovation 8:45 The future is coming. How do we shape it? 10:30 The difference between innovation and invention 11:00 What's a prototype mindset and how to fight perfectionism 13:50 The beginners mindset 15:00 How to apply innovation to our whole lives 15:38 How innovation empowers your people 20:30 Some homework and vision casting. You can create the future you want.