My Circus, My Monkeys

We’ve discussed in many episodes just how important self-care and stress management are to you as a person and a supervisor. Today, we have a guest, Morgan Starr-Riestis, who has a degree in neuroscience, is a licensed therapist, and had developed her own system to fill the gaps that current mental health practices miss when it comes to healing and growth. In this episode, Morgan goes into more depth about how important it is to keep your nervous system regulated if you want to be productive and get the best outcomes. During our interview, Morgan discusses what happens to your brain under stress; how to handle emotions in the workplace, including during those often-challenging accountability conversations; and finally, how to keep yourself and your team members regulated so you can do the important work in front of you.  

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

It can be challenging to give yourself permission and space to invest in yourself. But you cannot effectively supervise your team, if you don’t have what you need. In today’s episode of My Circus, My Monkeys, I interview Karen Smolarek, Director of TRIO Student Support Services at University of Wisconsin – River Falls and incoming President of the Educational Opportunity Association (EOA). Karen has gone through our Supervisor Strengths Institute, and we just recently did three training sessions for her team. I talked to Karen about how the Institute and those team trainings gave her the tools and support she needed to maximize her team and herself. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

The beginning of the school year brings excitement and challenges. Add to that people's emotions and motivations and leading your team can become complicated. In this episode, we unpack a question from an HR Director about how to manage team members who seem to shut down when their excitement is thwarted because their ideas or suggestions aren’t implemented. We'll unpack what might be going on and how supervisors can get clear on how to navigate similar situations.

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

It's August. For most folks in Higher Ed, it's one of the busiest time of the year. If you've already been wondering whether you should stay in your job, this episode might seem like poor timing. But if you're trying to decide whether to stay or go, you need to know whether your institution and your supervisor really have your back. If not now, when? In this episode, we dig into a few things to consider when deciding whether to start that job search, including engagement, your stories and strengths, and fit. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

One important aspect of performance management is setting clear expectations for your team members. That can be challenging because supervisors are often so busy, we don’t feel like we have the time to get clear on what we expect. To make things even more complicated, there’s often a story that good employees should go above and beyond basic expectations. In this episode, we unpack where the idea of striving for excellence and doing more might come from. We also discuss how to set clear expectations so you can be both fair and kind to the folks you supervise. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

You know there are plenty of things that need to be fixed on your campus and in Higher Education. But when you have staff members that only seem to focus on the negative or are chronic complainers, it can negatively impact your team and add to your stress. Complaining is often a symptom of a larger problem, so in this episode, we’re going to dig into why folks on your team might be focusing on the negative. Then we’ll discuss how to better manage those individuals and prevent them from negatively impacting your team. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

In a recent coaching call, someone asked me what they're supposed to do with all these emotions people are bringing to the workplace these days, especially with newer generations. We had a great discussion, so I wanted to break down a few of the key points we discussed for you here. In this episode, you'll learn the role emotions play in making decisions, how to figure out what those emotions are telling you, and how to more effectively navigate emotions in the workplace. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

Using CliftonStrengths with your team is a fantastic way to increase your productivity, innovation, positivity and sense of wellbeing. And when we finally find time to set aside for that initial training, it can be a great experience. The tricky part always seems to be what comes next. For many teams, life gets in the way and that initial excitement just fades away. That’s why in this episode, I’m going to share six easy hacks to use the CliftonStrengths framework with your team. Whether you and your team have taken the assessment in the past and it fell to the wayside, or you’re just starting on your Strengths journey, you’ll walk away with some simple ways to integrate this framework into you and your team’s daily routine. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

Chronic stress negatively impacts so many things in your life, including your relationships, decisions, creativity, productivity – the list goes on and on. But you know those people and situations that stress you out? You have the power to make them less stressful. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to deconstruct the situations that cause you stress. Then you’ll learn how to upgrade how you react to those same things, decreasing your stress and increasing your productivity. 

We’ve made it even easier to deconstruct your stress with a worksheet you can use to follow along! You can download that worksheet here - https://strengthsu.kartra.com/page/deconstructyourstress

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...

Employee retention continues to be a hot topic in Higher Ed. Over the past six months, Alicia and I did a session titled, "The Truth About Employee Engagement" at conferences and as webinars based on the data collected in the CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey.  In today's episode, we're going to cover a few key take aways from that session, including the #1 thing you should do now to improve employee retention and the culture of your institution. 

I hope this episode resonated with you. Remember any ah-ha moments you had during this episodes, MUST be followed by action or you won't see any changes.

We just started the fall Supervisor Strengths Institute. If this wasn’t the right time for you to join us, I want to offer you a free resource and a challenge...

FREE RESOURCE
Here's the link to get our FREE Supervisor Success Activity Book - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/activitybook. You’ll get 20 pages of information and activities focused on energy, stress, and performance management. In addition to the book you’ll be on our mailing list so you never miss out on our great resources and upcoming events.

YOUR CHALLENGE
As I said earlier, change only comes through action. So look through the activity book or relisten to this or another episode. Then pick ONE thing you’re going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Once you decide, write down your plan. List the one thing you’re going to work, your goal, and what exactly you’re going to do to achieve it.

If you want things to be different, you need to be different. I’ll check back in with you about how your plan is going during the semester.

Have questions? Email Anne at [email protected] or set up a meeting with her HERE...