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Milestone moment reaching episode 25 and perfect timing as it's falling over the week of Thanksgiving. I hold so much gratitude for my listeners and that's why this week I focus on what you want to hear! I've asked what you're curious to learn more about, questions you have, or resources you're looking for. Tune into this episode to hear all the answers and a special announcement for an upcoming Season 2 plan. 

Episodes I Refer Back to in the Q&A:

• Episode 4: Breaking Free from the Patterns that Hold You Back 
• Episode 12: Building Your Leadership Brand
• Episode 14: Moving Your Brain from Threat to Reward State (SCARF Model)
• Episode 15: Navigating Stress & Growth via the Enneagram (understanding the Lines) 
• Episode 22: Understanding Your Team via the Enneagram (System Awareness)

Resources | Links: 

Website | The Enneagram 9 Types 

GET YOUR ENNEAGRAM TYPE -- includes the Instinct data; most ideal for professional use: leaders and teams

ALT OPTION FOR TYPING - also includes the Instincts 

The Grow Effect Coaching Model 

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What if our "mess" is not a detour to be taken and instead a doorway to welcome? 

Fresh off facilitating Enneagram work at the Soul Reset retreat I share themes that surfaced again and again: the power of community, what renewal actually looks like in real time, and why resilience is less about pushing through and more about softening into what’s true. I also open up about my own ongoing healing journey—what’s shifting, what’s still tender, and how the inner work continues to reshape the way I lead, connect, and care for myself. If you’re navigating a season of complexity or craving a deeper sense of clarity, this episode offers companionship, perspective, and gentle encouragement for whatever chapter you’re in.

Episode topics: 

• The Soul Reset retreat - a day of resilience, survival, rejuvenation 
• My own "Wintering" season 
• What does resilience and rejuvenation look like? Some practical considerations for how to generate more of this for you. 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. What season are you currently in? 
2. What mess have you been avoiding? 
3. What is it that you need to move through this season / mess?
4. Who is a safe person for you to share how you really feel? 
    

Resources | Links: 

SOUL Retreat

Get Your Enneagram Type Here

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What does trust mean to you? What does it look like in practice? 

Trust is the foundation of every relationship — and every breakdown. But what “trust” means can look very different depending on your Enneagram type. In this episode, Jen unpacks what each type needs to feel safe and grounded in trust — and what may erode that trust without you even realizing it. You’ll also explore how each type can stretch toward greater openness and how understanding these differences can help any leader or team strengthen their foundation of connection.

Episode topics: 

• Trust can mean so many different things to different people - what does it mean to you?
• Your Enneagram type is a motivation formed to protect you from an underlying fear. Often when trust is broken that subconcious fear emerges; it can be helpful to understand how to build trust across the 9 core motivations.
• Even if you don't know your Enneagram type listen to the language to help you get real clear on what you need to build trust so you can then listen when others tell you what they need.
• 9 types/motivations and what each needs to build trust, what can break trust, and what to remember about each 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. Reflect: What might change in your relationships if you stopped assuming everyone defines trust the same way?
2.  Journal: What helps me know I can trust someone? What makes me pull back?
3. Notice: Your own tendencies when it comes to trust (is it immediate, does it take time, what are you seeking to reassure you etc) 
    

Resources | Links: 

Enneagram for Teams

Co-create with Jen for Your Team

Get Your Enneagram Type Here

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Self awareness is essential yet without system awareness you can still be stuck in patterns.  

In this episode, we explore how the Enneagram can be used not just for self awareness and growth but also for system awareness -- to understand and support the dynamics of your team. We’ll look at how different core motivations, communication patterns, and instinctual priorities shape how each person shows up at work. You’ll learn how to recognize common tension points, how to create more psychological safety, and how to build a team culture where people feel seen, valued, and able to contribute in their own way.

Episode topics: 

• People reveal insights into their type and instinct by what they protect and pursue; even without knowing someones type you can notice these patterns
• The Enneagram is not a label; instead it sheds light on what drives you, and what you need to feel safe, effective, and connected?
• Self awareness vs system awareness and the values to both
• The 3 Enneagram centers and what they each need to trust
• Common team communication misfires between centers
• The role of the instincts and how this can imprint on a team's patterns
• Practical suggestions for how to both notice and name team patterns to build more system awareness 
• This isn’t about treating everyone the same. It’s about understanding that what builds trust is NOT universal. Understanding ourselves helps;
  understanding the system transforms everything.

Coaching Prompts: 

1. Notice: Try observing the team dynamics rather than just participating in them
2. Journal: What do I need to feel safe in communication? 
3. Ask: What am I learning about my colleagues – what do they need to feel safe, effective, and connected?

Resources | Links: 

Enneagram for Teams

Enneagram in a VUCA World

Co-create with Jen for Your Team

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What if the key to leading change wasn’t fixing what’s broken, but amplifying what’s already working?

In this episode Jen explores how leaders can create a culture of growth by focusing on what’s already working — not just what’s broken. Using the Appreciative Inquiry framework, she walks through the 4D process: Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny/Deliver, showing how each phase helps teams tap into their strengths, build collective vision, and sustain meaningful change. You’ll learn how shifting from problem-solving to possibility-thinking transforms engagement, connection, and trust — one appreciative question at a time.

Episode topics: 

• David Cooperrider's work in Appreciative Inquiry
• Appreciative Inquiry vs Problem Solving approach
• Mayo Clinic example 
• 4 D Cycle: Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver/Destiny 
• How an appreciative approach builds a culture of growth 
• Applying Appreciative Inquiry in feedback -- the Shift Positive Method 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. When have I / we done this well before?
2. What strengths made that possible?
3. What could I / we design to repeat that success more often? 

Resources | Links: 

Appreciative Inquiry 

Book | Feedback Reimagined by Jen Ostrich + Peter Berridge 

Website | Shift Positive Method 

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What if the most powerful thing a leader could do wasn't to have all the answers -- but to stay deeply human and authentic in the process? 

Leadership isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being real. In this heartfelt conversation, Jen shares stories and lessons on how to lead with empathy, curiosity, and courage, even when the world feels uncertain. Learn how human-centered leadership can transform not only your team but the culture you create together.

Episode topics: 

• What it means to lead with humanity and considering the role of empathy + authenticity + imperfection 
• The leadership drift - when we lose our humanity 
• Remembering the SCARF model and the role humanity plays in meeting these social needs [refer back to Episode 14]
• Practical invitations to lead with humanity 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. Where might you have traded being human for being efficient?
2. What’s one relationship that could use a little more humanity from you right now?
3. What's one small step you can take to move more toward humanity? 

Resources | Links: 

Episode 19: The Art of Real Connection 

Episode 14 - SCARF Model 

Book: Brené Brown The Gifts of Imperfection 

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What if the way back to connection isn’t out there – but in here, in how we choose to show up to one another? 

The world feels fractured and more divided than ever before. AND, the technology and algorithms are actually keeping us in separate sandboxes instead of bringing us back together through perspectives and forums of shared connection. This episode explores how we can rediscover genuine connection — with ourselves and others — in a time when the world feels increasingly pulled apart. Jen reflects on the simple yet powerful acts that rebuild trust and empathy, and how connection is at the heart of leadership and personal growth. 

Episode topics: 

• Why connection matters
• What drives disconnection
• 4 Ways to finding our way back to connection: 
  • Find + Focus on common ground:  through shared values, stories, interests 
  • Listen over Fix: Building empathy is an invitation to see the world through another’s experience without trying to solve it and instead just sit in it and listen with compassiom
  • Ask over Assume: consider asking why or nudge someone to “say more” before you assume and potentially make up your own story that’s not grounded in the truth. This comes down to leading with curiosity and leaving the judgement at the door.
  • Self Check: pause and consider how you take in information and is that getting in the way of you connecting with those who operate differently?Enneagram can help here:
    • Ex: as a heart type – where are you taking something personally when in fact it’s nothing to do with you it’s about the other persons frame of reference 
    • EX as a head type – where are you seeking certainty and that’s creating a barrier to seeing another perspective? 
    • EX as a body type – where are you shutting down or pushing away because difference feels like a threat to your sense of autonomy and agency?
• Takeaways: 
  • We can’t build trust if we stop talking. 
  • Connection starts when we choose curiosity over certainty
  • When the world feels divided, it’s our small acts of empathy that bring it back together.

Coaching Prompts: 

1. What would it look like to reconnect with one person you’ve pulled away from? 
2. What is one small shift you could make to move toward vs further away? 
3.  Take one small action this week to reach out or listen more deeply.  

Resources | Links: 

The Enneagram

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We are about four months into the podcast and this feels like a great time to check in with what the listeners are wondering about. I've asked what you're curious to learn more about, questions you have, or resources you're looking for. Tune into this episode to hear all the answers and a special announcement for an upcoming Season 2 plan. 

Resources | Links: 

Website | The Enneagram 9 Types 

GET YOUR ENNEAGRAM TYPE -- includes the Instinct data; most ideal for professional use: leaders and teams

ALT OPTION FOR TYPING - also includes the Instincts 

Book | Emotional Intelligence 2.0: by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves 

The Grow Effect Coaching Model 

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What if we looked at our life in full chapters instead of by age or decade? How might that shift how we see our current chapter or ready us for our next? 

In this episode I discuss a model that's near and dear to my heart, created by the Hudson Institute of Coaching, and it's called The Cycle of Renewal. Understanding that this cycle is a full life chapter and it's made up of 4 different phases. We can toggle between Phase 1 and 2 for many years before dropping into Phase 3-4. Sometimes we may only complete this cycle once in a lifetime, for others, twice. This is a wonderful episode to listen and tune inward to identify where you are on the cycle and in your life / career overall.  

Episode topics: 

• Hudson Institute Cycle of Renewal: 
  • Phase 1: Got For It / Fully Aligned [Heroic Self]
  • Phase 2: The Duldrums / Out of Sync [Disenchanted Self]
  • Phase 3: Cocooning / Re-purposing [Inner Self ]
  • Phase 4: Getting Ready / Exploring [Passionate Self]
• How often do we move through these 4 cycles?
• A mini transition is moving from Phase 2 to 1; a transformation occurs when moving from Phase 3 to 4
• Phase 1 and 4 (left side of the cycle) are more "Doing" energy where Phase 2 and 3 (right side of the cycle) are more "Being" energy; learning to meet yourself where you are. 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. Which Phase do you most relate to right now? 
2. Depending on which it is, are you comfortable staying here a while or is it time to consider some moves? 
3. What is one small step you can take to make progress where you or possibly guide you into the next phase? 

Resources | Links: 

Hudson | The Cycle of Renewal 

Hudson | Life Forward Retreat

The Enneagram

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What if you knew how to travel along the Enneagram map to manage your stress and to integrate new ways of being? 

Picking up where we left off in Ep 15 - Part 1, we are talking about looking at the Enneagram map and learning how to leverage both your Lines for growth and stress management. Your main type is only a prison if you choose not to grow and leverage the pathways of the map. The entire model is designed to help you grow and integrate beyond what your core motivation wants you to do so you are managing your motivation and it's not managing you. This episode, Part 2,  you'll learn how the Enneagram map works and then we'll look closely at the Head  (5,6,7) and Body (8,9,1) types [refer to Episode 15, Part 1 for the Heart Types (2,3,4). 

Episode topics: 

• Lines: two lines pointing from your main type; opposite your type in some way. 
• Development pathways and types to help us release strain; AND we also travel these lines under stress
• See resources below for images of the Enneagram model to grasp the lines / wings
• Growth or Release of Strain: Leveraging the "high side" of a line type – accessible when we feel secure, safe, confident -- the most productive qualities or ways of being that allow for growth and personal integration 
• Stress and Strain: Defaulting to patterns showing up as the "low side" of a line type – shows up when we feel insecure, unsafe, or under stress, the less productive qualities or patterns of a type, disintegration 

Coaching Prompts: 

1. What am I noticing and learning about myself when I feel insecure or stressed?
2.  What do I need in those moments? 
3. When I’m operating at my very best, what does that look like? 

Resources | Links: 

Part 1 of Navigating Stress + Growth Through The Enneagram [Ep 15]

Integrative9: Lines and Integration 

CP Enneagram: Types and Lines/Arrows

Book | The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up: Find Your Path, Face your Shadow, Discover Your True Self By, Beatrice Chestnut, PhD and Uranio Peas, MM

Episode 5: Why The Enneagram is a Leadership Superpower (overview of the model). 

Episode 10: The 3 Instincts That Shape Your Enneagram Type

The Grow Effect Coaching Model 

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