Tools for Change

By now most of us are familiar with the term mid-career crisis, but did you know that it was once believed that with age comes increased job satisfaction?

After all, the longer we are in a profession the more flexibility, money, and influence we have, right?

Sure, moving up the corporate ladder has its benefits, but it seems these perks don’t equate to job satisfaction.

In my latest Forbes article, "How to Avoid Overcorrection During a Mid-Career Transition", I talk about the #1 pitfall I see mid-career transitioners make and how to avoid it!

Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? 

I post videos on career navigation, mid-career transition, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and videos of my guest appearances.

Check it out and subscribe!

Together Digital is a networking organization dedicated to accelerating the advancement and growth of women in digital by giving women the most powerful tool in their arsenal: one another.

It's a phenomenal organization that is based on an Ask & Give philosophy where members share their digital expertise and know-how, professional development insights, and friendship.

I was honored to be invited to speak with their members at the weekly She Rocks event, where I shared tips on Managing your Mid-Career Crisis and did LIVE coaching with several members.

If you've wond

I will be co-hosting these virtual roundtables with Kristi Stepp from Sigred Solutions. 

Together with attendees from various industries and roles, we will share our stories and ideas on belonging. 

Join us on November 20th at 12:00 PM or November 23rd at 6:00 PM (EST) for insight and inspiration!

I am thrilled to return to Brave By Design to chat with host Laura Khalil about career and life transitions!

It seems this forced, global pause has caused many of us to question our priorities, specifically around our careers. If you find yourself asking, "Is this what I really want?" then this episode is for you.

I share:

• How this time of forced pause due to the pandemic has caused many of us to re-evaluate what we really want in life [2:53]
• A look at my journey from leadership coach to career transition coach [3:58]
• A way to start determining what is n

"Leadership coaching, once reserved for rehabilitating poor performers, has evolved as a way to develop high-potential talent, ease the transition of a new leader, and even provide a much-sought-after perk to highly valued employees."

As a former talent acquisition leader, I know the No. 1 reason candidates report wanting to leave their company is for career growth and development

And, according to a national survey, while 98% of employers said they offer career development tools, only 26% of employees rated their employers' tools as delivering development very well.

In my latest Forbes arti

I had a great conversation with Kristi Stepp, partner of Sigred Solutions about how onboarding coaching can accelerate leadership transitions and directly impact the company bottom line. 

"According to Egon Zehnder’s online survey of over 600 executives at the VP level and above, almost 60% reported it took them six months or longer to have a full impact in their roles and 20% said it took nearly nine months or longer. That slow to transition timeline directly impacts the bottom line."

By now we have all heard about the importance of authenticity in leadership but did you know research ties an authentic leadership style to both good organizational citizenship AND organizational resiliency?

In my latest Forbes article, The Authentic Leader's Role In Organizational Resilience And Citizenship, I describe that research and detail how leaders can adopt a more authentic approach.

Did you know that according to research by Egon Zehnder 60% of executives surveyed reported that it took them six months or longer to have a full impact in their new roles, and close to 20% said it took more than nine months?

That is because traditional onboarding programs, while effective for most of the employee population, fall short at the executive level.

In the Training Industry article, "Executive Onboarding: It’s Time for a Different Approach" I provide four easy to implement strategies to better meet your new lea

What a pleasure it was speaking with Lauren Ammon of Unlimited Leader, LLC on her HR Chat Series #otherfrontline.

Lauren developed this series as a way to provide an opportunity to give back to those business leaders and HR professionals who find themselves on the #otherfrontline of employee care and business upheaval.

In this episode, we talk about how HR can move from a "seat at the table" to the head of the table. 

If you are an HR professional thinking about your career, this is well worth the watch!&

The Brave by Design podcast, hosted by Laura Khalil, combines mindset and actionable strategy to address what's blocking your personal and professional growth so you can rise and thrive. 

I was honored to be a guest on Brave by Design to discuss what great leadership looks like in this new work from home era (which I believe is here to stay).  

Listen to my four easy to implement strategies here. Enjoy!

Imagine leaving a meeting feeling completely deflated. Your boss was impatient and rude, cutting people off mid-sentence and barely letting anyone speak. Clearly, he is frustrated with your team. Except, when you mention this to your co-worker, she has a completely different read on the situation. Your boss was not frustrated, he was enthusiastic. Sure, he interrupted a few times but from her perspective, it was because he was excited to share his ideas.

What you just experienced is the Rashomon effect, a term used to describe the phenomenon where people have varying, and often conflicting, interpretations of the same event. Because these interpretations include similar facts every explanation seems completely plausible, making it difficult to understand the reality of what happe

Early in my career, I worked for a company that felt so much a part of me that I referred to it as my baby. I was not the owner or even the CEO, but I was there from the beginning and helped build it. I can honestly say I loved that company and its people. I was so engaged that I worked myself to the point of burnout. A colleague once said to me, noticing my stress, “Cheryl, it’s just a job”. I looked at him as if he were absolutely mad and replied, “it’s not a job, it’s my life”.

Although I do not recommend this level of engagement (and thankfully I’ve gotten my priorities straight), reflecting on it now, my drive to do whatever it took to help the company succeed came from a feeling of belonging. I belonged there.

We’ve long understood that corporate values have a direct impact on creating company culture, which is why organizations put extensive effort into defining and deploying value statements. However, leaders often overlook the impact that individual employee values have on culture. Look no further than the millennial generation to see how individuals can shift culture. Generally speaking, millennials bring a focus on social responsibility, diversity and inclusion and work-life balance with them into the workplace and smart companies are changing to meet these expectations. 

Taking it a step further, we’ve all known department heads who run their areas like tiny kingdoms, sometimes against corporate values. To quote a friend who works in this situati

Amy decided she had enough - enough of her over-demanding boss, enough of employees who had entitlement attitudes and enough of a company culture that valued shareholder profits over employee well-being. She was tired of trying to make the best of a bad situation and she was ready to move on. Amy knew she had more to offer and she set about finding a company that would appreciate her value. After spending weeks researching, she settled on a handful of companies that looked promising. She did all the right things to get in the door. She found out who the hiring managers were. She searched her network to see who could facilitate introductions. She even contacted some former employees to ask for tips and advice. Finally, she landed an interview with one of her top choices. And, it went rea

Gay Hendricks coined the phrase zone of genius in his 2009 book The Big Leap. Hendricks explains it this way, “Your genius is that activity or way of being that you are uniquely suited to do. It combines your innate gifts and practiced strengths. It feels effortless and creative and just plain good”. Others describe this as being in the flow. When you are there you know it. Time seems to stand still (or pass unnoticed). It comes to you naturally, without strain or effort, and leaves you feeling energized.

Your zone of genius is your unique footprint on the world and while we all have one, many of us are not tapped into it. Instead of working to improve your weaknesses (a typical performance improvement strategy), identifying your zone of genius allows

“But he'd learned long ago that a life lived without risks pretty much wasn't worth living. Life rewarded courage, even when that first step was taken neck-deep in fear.” - Tamera Alexander, Within My Heart

It’s that time of year again where we take stock of our accomplishments and plan for the upcoming year. What is it you hope to accomplish? Are you longing for a promotion, wanting to ask for a raise or even start your own business? Whatever the target, there is often a common underlying theme – make it achievable. Of course, we want to stretch ourselves, but we also want to make sure we can accomplish the goal. So, we aim a bit small. Frankly, we give in to fear. Fear of failure, fear

The term Impostor Syndrome (IS) was first introduced in 1978 by clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes referring to a psychological pattern in which a person doubts their accomplishments and abilities and has constant worries that others will discover they are not “good enough”. Even when faced with evidence of their competence, they are convinced that they are frauds, often dismissing their success as luck, charm or simply good timing.

For those struggling with IS there is a wealth of articles containing advice on how to overcome your fraudulent feelings. However, IS affects more than just the individual, it has very real, bottom-line impacts on companies as well, making IS not just an individu

It’s 3 AM and I’ve woken up, yet again, to worry about some imagined future that may or may not happen. This is starting to become a nightly ritual. The best part is, I know that when the light of day arrives it will bring with it the clarity to see that this imagined “issue” is actually pretty manageable. Well, until 3 AM tomorrow morning when I will be consumed with worry about it again.

In her article What’s the Difference between Anxiety and Worry, Debbie Hampton describes what happens in the brain when we worry, “Worrying is thought-based, occurs in the mind, and involves your thinking brain, the prefrontal cortex, interacting with the limbic system, particularly the anterior cingulate, which controls basic emotio

Any leader who’s tried to implement even the smallest organizational change knows that no matter how needed the change is or how carefully it's planned, a successful change implementation comes down to one factor – buy-in.

According to a 2014 McKinsey & Company study of more than 2000 executives in 900 companies across various industries, there is one clear standout success factor in implementing change. When asked about the factors most responsible for successful change outcomes over the past five years 67% of respondents cited “clear, organization-wide ownership of and commitment to change across all levels of the organization” as having the greatest impact on a major change effort’s outcome.

How can you create this com

“I just can’t seem to get through to her. She used to love her job, now she seems so unhappy. Even worse, I know she’s totally disengaged and it’s showing in her work. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything. I think I will have to fire her.” It was a familiar conversation I’ve had with managers, an employee, once motivated and engaged, starts to fall short. Unfortunately, these situations don’t usually end well. After multiple attempts to reform the employee, which often include performance improvement plans and conversations with human resources, the employee is ultimately let go.

To compound the issue, many managers feel ill-equipped to handle these conversations. It can seem like the tools used to motive and change

The smartest thing my former employer ever did was invest in a coach for our newly formed leadership team. While cultural harmony was the goal (the team was comprised of German and American employees) we gained so much more than that.

Through the ongoing work with our coach, we were able to understand each other’s strengths, learn how to support one another in areas of improvement, plan for the future and push each other to achieve fairly aggressive goals in a rapid timeframe. In short, we went form good to great far faster than if we had muddled through on our own.

While there were numerous benefits from working with a coach, these four stand out as the most impactful:

Getting to know each other and building trust

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