The Inspire Podcast

Despite the promise of a digital future, staff and leaders are increasingly seeking human connection. In this conversation author David Sax discusses why analog has proven so durable in a world filled with the promises of a digital transformation. He explains why being in person is something that calls to us, what leaders should do to maximize connection in a hybrid world, and lessons for those still feeling too stuck on screens (or listening to podcasts on headphones!)

00:44 Show Intro

01:22 Welcoming David

02:22 Early childhood experiences with computers

03:49 The last generation that grew up without being always digitally connected

04:28 Covid era digital experiences - not so good

05:49 Book: Revenge of analog

06:57 Writing the new book during the pandemic

07:07 Questions he was getting at the beginning of the pandemic

09:51 Covid was a test drive of a digital future

10:24 Work world - should we go back to the office?

10:56 Unknown future

11:34 Different for everyone and every company

12:27 Difficult to find the new mix of digital vs analog

12:41 Accept that it is really difficult to get the mix right

13:40 No binary solutions to the question of how to work

14:05 Cost of going into the office and the cost of not going into the office

15:40 Embodied cognition

17:28 Burnout, zoom fatigue, dislocation

18:15 Generational differences

21:19 People just want SOME flexibility

22:13 19th century model, not a fit

23:50 Advice to people to navigate around this

25:07 What do you like and dislike about coming into the office?

26:13 Figure out what is working and what isn't

26:48 Do limited experiments

27:16 Gather data

27:59 SImplest way to inject more analog goodness into their life

28:16 Get away from the screen

29:41 Thank yous

30:22 Outro

The Inspire Podcast is back! Season 5 kicks off with a special episode in support of the 2023 International Women’s Day, whose theme is to #embraceequity. Bart welcomes three members of The Humphrey Group — Marissa Dyck, Angie Park and Claudia Villaran — for a wide-ranging panel discussion. The group tackles why equity is still far off, and what organizations and individuals can do to close the gap by celebrating achievement, raising awareness of discrimination and taking action to drive gender parity. Tune in for insights and practical guidance on how to inspire a more equitable world.

Visit the following links for resources and to learn more about how you can #embraceequity.

Women in the Workplace 2022 McKinsey Study: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace

UN Women's Website: https://www.unwomen.org/

Institute for Gender and the Economy: https://www.gendereconomy.org/

Canadian Women's Foundation: https://canadianwomen.org/

Women at Work Podcast series: https://hbr.org/2018/01/podcast-women-at-work

Engendering Success in Stem: https://successinstem.ca/

1:16 Show Intro

3:50 Introductions

3:55 Marissa Dyck

4:26 Angie Min Ah Park

5:12 Claudia Villarán

5:40 Why does equity matter? Why is there so far to go?

6:01 The difference between equality and equity

8:16 Women in the Workplace 2022 McKinsey Study

9:25 Why we don't yet have the equity

10:11 Workplace disadvantages i.e. paternal leave

10:46 What can the individual leader do?

11:23 Raise awareness

11:53 Inclusion

12:11 New habits

12:41 Educating ourselves on women's challenges

13:08 Spontaneous decisions

14:27 Starts with women

15:13 International Women's Day and ways to support equity

15:58 Celebrating women's achievements

16:10 Reasons women don't celebrate their achievements as much

17:02 Men's (over) confidence and women's (under) confidence

19:21 How to better celebrate women's achievements

19:33 Internal pressure and perfectionism

22:43 Raising awareness about discrimination

24:24 We don't know what we don't know

24:49 Safe spaces

26:19 Challenging questions around discrimination

27:28 UN Women's website

27:59 Reshaping the mindset and definitions

28:55 The burden of DEI work is often placed on women

32:13 What does The Humphrey Group do?

32:56 What can HR leaders do?

37:07 Other ways for non-HR leaders to help women

37:30 Allyship

41:34 What gives you hope?

43:50 Thank yous

44:30 Outro

If you've ever said, "I don't feel like I have the same joy in my job as I used to..." or, "I always thought I'd love it when I made it to this role, and now I'm not as happy as I thought I'd be" or, "the demands on me in this position are too much." then you need to listen to my conversation with Christine and Rick. Crisis or major life changes can shatter the inner stories that give our life meaning; finding a new inner narrative allows us to become our own authors and reconnect to the meaning we all crave. Drawing on insights from their new book, Once Upon A Leader, Christine and Rick outline what it takes to re-energize yourself personally and professionally.

You can buy Christine and Rick's book, Once Upon a Leader here: https://www.verityintl.com/once-upon-a-leader/

00:03 Teaser

00:23 Intro

00:58 Introducing Christine and Rick

01:57 What led them to write this book

03:27 Why Christine came on board

04:17 Limitations of current executive training

05:58 Not just for executives

06:23 What does the book show you how to do?

06:55 The problem of weak narrative capacity

07:15 Indicators that your narrator is weak

09:34 What is the brain narrator? What does it do? Bart wants to front-load this section in the front

11:05 How do we get a weak narrator

13:26 How to build up your narrator

14:15 How to build a narrative and narrator

14:32 3 phases of building

15:54 Gathering your building blocks

18:18 Healthcare example

20:31 Recrafting the story

22:14 Taking your new narrative out into the world

22:46 Conducting small experiments

26:05 Bart sums it up

28:07 Thank yous

28:48 Outro

In this episode, Bart speaks with serial entrepreneur and business coach Todd Randall about why delegation usually fails and how to be better at this critical skill. Todd begins by sharing why he struggled to delegate in his career and the mistaken assumptions (only you can do it! You'll be fired if others do the work!) that hold us back from delegating effectively. Then he outlines the system he uses to delegate, which starts with building trust, comes with lots of patience, creating an escalation plan and building redundancy. Todd's insights deconstruct the way you can create the next level of leaders.

Visit Beach View's website to learn more and find them on Facebook below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeachviewCoaching/

Website: https://www.beachview.biz/

00:16 Show intro

00:52 Introducing Todd Randall

01:49 Todd talks about his story

03:13 What's my driver?

05:05 Didn't have a "good idea"

05:31 Bought a company

08:43 Delegation is widely underutilized

09:52 Gap in experience level

11:22 Fear of delegating to others

12:30 Advice to people hesitant to delegate

13:00 Risk of not delegating

14:34 Primary job is to give your reports what they need

15:58 Fears

17:55 ROI model

18:37 Bart's examples

20:48 How do you go about delegating

21:34 Trust

25:32 Book - The Speed of Trust

25:51 Small interactions that built trust

26:31 Patience

27:23 Plan for multiple cycles of learning around delegation

29:12 Assume you'll redo the handed-off task at least twice

30:41 When to reach out if you're stuck

34:57 Create redundancies

36:39 Divvy up expertise

40:03 Coaching, not micromanaging

43:29 Bart summarizes the steps

45:41 How to find out more about Beach View

46:33 Outro

In this episode, Bart speaks with Craig Taylor, CEO of Iapetus Holdings, about what it takes to attract and retain employees in this incredibly tight labour market. In sharing his personal leadership journey, Craig talks about how today it's harder than ever to compete for talent and then keep people engaged. His solution: Culture. Define it. Commit to it. Communicate it. Engage the whole organization in the conversation. Craig's insights and tips are invaluable for anyone who wants to forge a deeper connection between people and the organizations they work for.

Visit Iapetus Holdings' website here: www.Iapetusllc.com 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/iapetus-holdings 

You can also find Craig on social media with the following links: LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-taylor-136a953/Instagram: www.instagram.com/Craig_Taylor_OfficialTwitter: www.twitter.com/iapetusholdings

00:01 Teaser

01:04 Introducing Craig

02:14 Pressures on the labour market

05:00 How did Craig start the company?

06:20 Changing corporate culture took him by surprise

08:38 Adapting to a growing organization

09:14 How did they change to accommodate growth

10:27 What does "focusing on culture" look like?

11:48 Diversity - including diversity of mindset

14:40 Rapid fire questions

18:06 Retention

19:19 Are you happy?

19:41 Creating free and open conversation

24:20 Hiring in the current environment

26:45 Build a brand for potential employees

27:36 Return to work...

31:10 The benefits of being in the office

33:24 Getting employees to sign in

37:04 "Breakups suck!"

38:36 Future predictions in the hiring market

40:23 Thank yous

41:01 Outro

In this conversation with Dean Becker of Adaptiv Learning, Bart learns why the unprecedented uncertainty of the past few years has drained and tested leaders like never before, and what they can do to build resilience for the years to come. Dean talks about how uncertainty and stress heightens your signature emotions, drains your energy, and leads to cognitive distortions that impact decision-making. Then he shares two of the seven resilience skills you can build to push through difficult times. Bart and Dean use these skills to examine the pressures that leading in a hybrid world places on managers and leaders and how they can resiliently cope with the ongoing pressures hybrid work brings.

 

Visit Adaptiv Learning's website to learn more: https://www.adaptivlearning.com

Subscribe to their newsletter, Resilience at Work, here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6877018612599689217/

00:01 Teaser

00:19 Show intro

00:57 Introducing Dean

02:18 About Dean's company

04:23 Research on burnout

05:58 Signature Emotions

07:15 CBT methodologies 

11:22 How can leaders start dealing with the uncertainty

13:57 Self-awareness

15:24 Trap it - Map it - Zap it

15:49 Examples of a leader's challenges

16:55 Trap it

17:21 Map it

17:43 Zap it

19:22 How can a leader help others Trap it, Map it and Zap it?

22:22 WHY style

23:11 Cognitive accuracy 

23:24 Me vs Not Me

23:45 Always vs Not Always Thinking

24:16 Everything vs Not Everything

24:50 Common WHY styles

25:25 The optimist

27:00 The Pessimist

27:22 The Hothead

27:37 The Realist

27:41 All WHY styles can get it wrong

28:45 The Pivot Process

31:54 Always- Everything thinking

33:54 How to find out more about this

34:52 Thank yous

31:11 Outro

In this episode, Bart speaks with Marie-Claire Ross, author of Trusted to Thrive, about how leaders can drive high performance in their teams through a balance of high safety and high accountability cultures. She outlines why humans are wired to seek psychologically safe environments, and why it's so hard to build. Then she explains why safety without accountability leads to atrophy, why accountability without safety leads to loss of trust, and how the balance of both creates what she calls the Achievement Zone. Her practical guidance and specific examples make this conversation one every leader should digest.

Find out more about her book here: https://www.marie-claireross.com/trusted-to-thrive

You can find Marie-Claire on Linked In here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieclaireross/

01:07 Teaser

00:33 Show Intro

01:09 Introducing Marie-Claire Ross and her book

02:23 How Marie-Claire got into this field

03:23 Working with troubled young adults

05:30 Making corporate training materials

07:01 Noticed lack of trust – and started her company to address this issue

08:25 Bart reads from her book

09:09 Why was trust not focused on by leaders?

11:41 How has Covid changed ideas on trust and leadership?

13:11 Had to delineate personal/work lives

14:03 How do you know when trust is present

15:21 Psychological Safety – what is it?

16:03 Trust is more contextual

18:25 How can leaders work with safety and trust?

20:14 Advice to leaders

20:29 Importance of connection and a meaningful future

21:37 Learning together helps

23:12 Stepping into a meaningful future

23:55 Leading in a virtual world

25:16 Make meetings better

25:44 Ask people questions

27:54 Just “safety” is not enough – you need accountability

30:31 The anxiety zone

32:47 Creating accountability

35:45 Clarity about goals and directive is key

37:22 Visibility and transparency are more and more important

38:20 Number one thing leaders should do

39:24 Being a self-aware leader

40:57 Thank yous

41:34 Where to find the book

42:17 Outro

If you aren't familiar with the power and impact of Dress for Success you need to listen to this episode, where Bart meets with Amy Robichaud, Executive Director and Natasha Irvine, Communications Director, both of Dress for Success Vancouver. Over the course of the pod Bart learns about the impact and mission of Dress for Success Vancouver, and how it goes so far beyond providing women with suits for jobs to build skills, confidence and enabling professional growth. Amy and Natasha talk about the birth of the Ambassador program which empowers women who have been through Dress for Success Vancouver programs to become advocates and get on stage to tell their stories. They discuss the training provided to these women, how they learn they bring value through storytelling, and how to build presence and confidence.

Visit dfsvancouver.ca to learn more and go to https://www.successluncheon.ca/ to get your tickets for their 10th annual Success Luncheon!

00:01 Teaser

00:23 Show introduction

00:58 Welcoming guests

02:11 What is Dress for Success about?

05:29 Examples of people who’ve been helped by Dress for Success

10:07 Sharing stories with the ambassador program

12:34 Finding ambassadors

14:23 The importance of a community of women helping each other out

17:21 What do ambassadors do?

22:39 Leveling the playing field

23:55 What advice does Dress for Success give on telling your story?

25:36 Vulnerability – how much to share when telling your story

28:08 Scars not wounds

30:29 Presence

31:42 Flipping the script

34:27 Future of the ambassador program

35:24 What’s next for Dress for Success?

35:50 The effects of the pandemic on professional women

36:55 How to get involved

38:19 Bart’s closing remarks

38:57 Thank yous

39:15 Outro

The last few years have been draining for leaders as pressures have increased from employees under strain, organizations asking more, and the relentlessness of virtual meetings. Many leaders are burning out and finding their level of energy slipping. In this episode, Bart speaks with Dr. Shubhayan Sanatani, Pediatric Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist of BC Children’s Hospital about his research into fatigue and how it’s given him insights into what leaders can do to manage their energy sustainably. He explains what to watch for, how to give yourself permission to see the treadmill you’re on, how to do a self-inventory and how to withdraw from some things. In a time where leaders are more burnt out Dr. Sanatani provides practical insights to keep us going and energized.

Read more about Dr Sanatani’s work here

https://keltymentalhealth.ca/blog/2022/03/mindfulness-pediatric-cardiologists-story

00:54 Teaser

00:14 Show Introduction

00:53 Introducing Shu

01:25 Research into “Energy”

03:35 Diagnosis: Dysautonomia

04:14 Covid causing autonomic dysfunction

04:54 Young people struggling with fatigue/dizziness

05:51 Adolescent energy inventory

06:43 Social media

08:49 The aha moment: Often doing a lot more than we realize

10:39 Implications to adults

11:34 Letting go of work

12:00 Responsibility as energy drain

14:08 Impacts to health

15:03 New communication tech is draining

16:06 Advice from Dr about energy issues

16:33 Look for cues of irritability and lethargy

18:56 Know when you’ve hit your limits

20:50 Doing inventory of how you’re spending the energy

22:18 Mindfulness

24:19 After inventory?

24:29 Acknowledging you have an issue

24:44 Changing something up

25:10 There’s always something coming down the pipe…

25:31 Get comfortable with stepping back

28:51 How to overcome resistance to change

32:55 Thank yous

33:18 Outro

In today’s world, change is happening faster and more frequently than ever before. Leaders are under pressure to explain change and create buy in… while employees and stakeholders are becoming more vocal about their own needs. Yet there are ways to have better conversations about change that create common ground and understanding between all key parties. Jen Campbell, author of Talking Change: Must-Have Conversations for Successful Leaders, joins Bart on the podcast to discuss this approach by sharing insights into the many conversations leaders must have at different stages of the change process. A must listen for anyone leading change in this time of disruption.

Visit Jen's website to learn more here: https://www.actionimpactmovement.com/

Find her book here: https://www.actionimpactmovement.com/resources/talking-change-must-have-conversations-for-successful-leaders-book

And check out courses and coaching to support people managers and project managers to lead change successfully here: https://aimonline.samcart.com/courses/directory, https://joinbox.today/landing/619ef9ec525fdb00019c8053/620c329e323ed80001cea854

00:01 Teaser

00:15 Show Introduction

00:54 Introducing Jen

01:34 How Jen got into "change management"

03:09 Writing the book

03:34 20 conversations you need to have when managing change

05:15 Patterns of people's reactions to change

07:07 Transitions

08:51 Changing habits requires compelling reasons

10:28 Take away the old way

11:19 What should leaders be aware of when trying to implement change

12:21 You're not alone

12:25 Mother's group example

13:38 Reasons people exist

16:52 Conversation strategies to help with change

17:39 Self reflection conversations

18:46 Leaders need to know their reaction to change first

20:12 Capability, capacity, and commitment

21:49 What conversations should you be having

22:03 Engagement conversations

24:43 Interpretive questions

27:13 Give your front-line managers the skillset to lead change

28:17 Change track record conversations

31:05 How to be optimistic to lead change

32:26 Get into the conversation asap

33:08 Bart summarizes

35:02 How to find out more

36:22 Thank yous

36:53 Outro