Start With A Win

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https://www.youtube.com/@ZachSchaefer

How to Handle Conflict with Confidence with Zach Schaefer Apr 05, 2023

Show notes

For many people, conflict in the workplace is something to avoid at all costs. For Dr. Zach Schaefer, he sees an opportunity to grow. Zach has honed his career around the people problem in business. As a founder, CEO, entrepreneur, and executive mediator and coach, he spends much of his time helping people navigate conflict in their professional and personal lives. On average, companies spend very little time and attention on strategies for conflict resolution. Without a game plan, small issues can fester into big problems that harm businesses and relationships when they explode.

Zach believes that when a company has conflict confidence, they are able to adjust to unexpected changes and are more resilient in challenging scenarios. His coaching program encourages leaders to expect disagreements among team members and therefore create a strategic plan for resolving conflicts when they come up. Rather than avoiding hard conversations or addressing them via text or email, he encourages face-to-face interaction. It’s also important to be proactive when issues arise. Successful leaders practice their sensitivity to conflict by anticipating where the disagreements will occur and making a plan for how to address them with grace and clarity. One of the best tools for using conflict in a positive way is by creating space between the trigger and the response. When conflict is treated as an opportunity to grow, teams strengthen their individual and collective impact.

Main Topics

Redirecting how we view conflict (01:50)
Avoid passive aggression in difficult situations (04:05)
Definition of conflict confidence (06:35)
3 levels of conflict to address (07:50)
Establishing rules around conflict management (09:24)
Biggest mistakes a leader can make in conflict management (11:55)
Conflict resolution strategies during seasons of change (13:15)
Including conflict resolution coaching in professional development (15:55)
Zach’s Conflict RADAR (17:40)

Episode Links

https://www.sparkthediscussion.com

Connect with Zach:

https://www.facebook.com/SparkSolver/

https://twitter.com/SparkSolver

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zschaefer/

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https://www.facebook.com/thejoyproject.amandagore/

Fuel Yourself With Joy with Amanda Gore Part 1 Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

What’s the point of achieving your goals if you’re miserable doing so? With decades of experience helping organizations build dynamic teams centered around authentic communication, Amanda’s personal mission is to remind young, over-achieving entrepreneurs to stop and breathe. Building a business can be overwhelming at times. With burnout rates skyrocketing for both C-Suite and entry-level employees, mental health in the workplace has become a priority for sustainability. According to Amanda, pursuing joy is a lost art that has the potential to counteract feelings of fear and insecurity that stifle productivity.

Everyone’s perception is built from stories we’ve created around our life experiences, especially those from early childhood. Negative experiences can create narratives that disrupt our capacity for joy without us even realizing it. Amanda refers to these unconscious beliefs as malware because they essentially infect the computer of our minds. She challenges listeners to first become aware of those stories and then be willing to do the work to rewrite them. By choosing a different reality for ourselves, we can navigate triggering situations with more ease. The best tool for reprogramming our minds is pausing to take a breath. Observe beauty in nature. Slow down so that consciousness can catch up. In a culture that has traditionally valued face-paced productivity, Amanda leads the way with a more peaceful approach. Joy is the new high performance fuel. The best part is, it’s free!

Main Topics

Joy is the new high-performance fuel (02:17)
Relaxation leads to higher levels of efficiency (06:25)
The stories we tell ourselves influence our behavior (08:47)
Stressful situations trigger unconscious beliefs and narratives usually unrelated to the current scenario (12:00)
Rewriting the stories with a slower pace of life (14:45)

Episode Links

https://amandagore.com

Connect with Amanda:

https://twitter.com/amandagore_joy

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandalgore/

https://www.youtube.com/user/amandagoretv

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https://www.facebook.com/founderforcemultiplier

Dynamic Duos: Empowered Executives and Aligned Assistants with Adam Hergenrother and Hallie Warner Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Despite the challenges for entrepreneurs created by the pandemic, many businesses have experienced explosive growth in the past few years. When organizations rapidly expand, it can be easy for leaders and team members to lose cohesive vision. Successful leaders recognize and utilize their own strengths and empower team members to do the same. Another important role for an executive is making meaningful decisions every day that push the company toward clearly communicated goals. Sometimes that means onboarding an executive assistant or chief of staff to share the responsibilities of leadership. An executive assistant maximizes efficiencies by allowing everyone to work within their strengths, including the founder. In this way, the force multiplier aids the executive in offering descriptive and prescriptive points of action so that everyone is operating at maximum potential.

One of the best parts about adding an executive assistant to the leadership team is that it creates accountability to prevent burnout. Adam and Hallie work diligently to be proactive against corporate burnout by building mindfulness and wellness into their daily routine. Leading by example, they encourage team leaders to create a schedule that includes regular check-ins and one-on-one time so that they have a pulse on the community. Another way they prevent burnout is through intentional hiring and onboarding processes. As thriving business leaders, their goal is to find team members who are aligned with the organization’s vision. By working in tandem, they are living examples of how partnership at the top level creates a powerhouse organization that produces high-impact products and services.

Main Topics

Three values of a successful founder and how an executive assistant can leverage those values (03:40)
A chief of staff delivers the prescriptive vision and translates that vision across the organization (08:05)
A breakdown of the roles of virtual assistant, executive assistant, and chief of staff (09:12)
Creating a schedule that allows you to be proactive against burnout (16:17)
Importance of emotional intelligence in self and others to prevent burnout (20:30)
Practical tools from Adam and Hallie’s book about how founders and force multipliers can work together to grow a business exponentially (24:00)

Episode Links

www.founderandforcemultiplier.com

Connect with Adam and Hallie:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/halliewarner/

https://www.instagram.com/founderandforcemultiplier/

https://www.youtube.com/@founderandforcemultiplier

Connect with Adam:

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https://twitter.com/patflynn

Monetize Your Dreams with Pat Flynn Part 1 Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

As a trailblazer and respected leader in the entrepreneurial world, Pat Flynn has spent over a decade navigating the highs and lows of running his own businesses. Through trial and error, he discovered powerful tools for helping people expand their business reach and monetize their skills. His company, Smart Passive Income, offers training programs and community support from a vibrant network of international entrepreneurs. He speaks with honesty on his podcasts about how to turn challenges into opportunities for growth.

Transparency in business is one of Pat’s core values. His authenticity attracts a wide range of listeners and learners, and his messages about serving others resonates with the shifting trends in business culture. Anyone can start a podcast, and Pat provides tips and tools for getting started. Using audio/visual media, such as podcasts, creates human connection not found in text. The power of voice allows people to speak from their heart, make an emotional connection, and create loyal listeners who relate to the content. This is just one of the ways Pat uses his influence to encourage the success of others. Working from a community mindset creates a culture of abundance where everyone can claim their piece of the pie.

Main Topics

The origin story of Pat’s business Smart Passive Income (03:15)
Effectiveness in business is about empathy (08:33)
The importance of creative play and experimentation (10:35)
Anyone can start a podcast (12:10)
Tips and recommendations for starting your own podcast (16:18)

Episode Links

https://www.smartpassiveincome.com

Connect with Pat:

https://patflynn.com

https://www.facebook.com/patflynn

https://www.instagram.com/patflynn/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGk1LitxAZVnqQn0_nt5qxw

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https://www.daphneejones.com/

Utilizing a Growth Mindset: Win When They Say You Won’t with Daphne E. Jones Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Raised by immigrants who came to America to pursue the dream, Daphne received one message at home and a very different message in school. In school, she was told that as a black woman, she would not be successful in business. But at home, her mother taught her the importance of embracing a mindset that broke through limitations imposed on her by other people and broken systems. Daphne chose to reject seeds of misdirection and believed she could do anything she set her mind to. She built her own success story by learning from each experience and honing her skills for optimum performance.

Through her own experiences of breaking through type casting and prejudice in the world of technology and business, Daphne now coaches women to serve on executive boards and excel in leadership, despite the challenges of inequality they face daily. She takes a communal approach, teaching that prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion is best for all people and businesses. When one person succeeds, everyone succeeds. In this way, Daphne’s leadership is a powerful reminder that the work being done today leaves an impact for those who come after. Transformation is a result of shifting to a mindset that embraces challenges and uses them as fuel for building a life of influence.

Main Topics

Daphne’s humble beginnings as an administrative assistant (02:50)
Daphne credits her success to lessons from her mother (05:24)
Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset (07:35)
The role of giving back in leadership (09:58)
Daphne’s experience being a black woman in the technology industry (12:20)
Improving equality for people in organizations (16:50)
Four steps for changing your life as outlined in Daphne’s book (20:15)

Connect with Daphne:

https://www.instagram.com/destinysdoor/

https://twitter.com/DaphneEJones

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https://www.instagram.com/hamzak

Riding the Waves of Chaos Through Inspired Leadership with Hamza Khan Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

Hamza Khan believes the hardest months of the pandemic, March through May of 2020, were a portal into a new world—one that required leaders and managers to reassess old systems and start making foundational changes from the top down. As many businesses failed and others thrived, conscientious leaders began to ask hard questions about the efficacy of a leadership structure that remained disconnected from human needs. What successful leaders like Khan have found is that productivity increases when employees are encouraged to prioritize holistic wellness.

In a world of constant change, leaders must learn to accept chaos and work within it. This requires frequent, structured opportunities for employees to provide feedback about their work environment. Leaders have to ask the hard questions to which they may not want the answers and also foster a culture that encourages honesty and vulnerability. A lack of emotional safety in the workplace has led to global burnout and mass resignations. Maintaining calm within a work environment requires conscious management of time, energy, and attention. Encouraging employees to practice wellness at home and at work is an important step in building resiliency and increasing productivity.

Main Topics:

A brief overview of Hamza’s professional journey from education to entrepreneurship to empowerment coach (02:50)
How the pandemic forced reassessment of leadership culture (05:55)
Increasing levels of engagement from employees (09:26)
Advice to leaders about accepting chaos and creating an emotionally safe work environment (13:55)
Creating a culture of peace through intention and attention (19:17)

Episode Links

Connect with Hamza:

https://twitter.com/hamzak

https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanhamza

https://www.facebook.com/HamzaKhanAuthor

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https://www.facebook.com/kelly.contos.3

Setting Expectations to Prevent Miscommunication with Kelly Contos Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

The majority of challenges business owners face can be boiled down to a lack of communication surrounding expectations. One way to troubleshoot issues in business and personal relationships is by setting the stage with clear expectations for time commitments, scenarios, outcomes and goals. By providing clarity through helpful boundaries, business leaders can give their employees and customers more confidence and direction when it comes to production, collaboration, and the overall success of a project.

Expectations prevent surprises. They make potentially difficult conversations easier because there are previous, foundational conversations to which people can refer. If people are given clear expectations from the beginning, they are less likely to feel defensive when it comes time to evaluate efficiency and productivity. Setting expectations for customers also gives them a sense of your own expertise, which in turn relays trust through transparency. This communication tool applies not only in business, but also in personal relationships and parenting. It’s important to set clear expectations, communicate often, and revisit those expectations again and again. Practicing this process for success eliminates many miscommunication issues so that time and energy can be spent elsewhere in more productive ways.

Main Topics

Setting the expectations to prevent confusion, lack of direction, and miscommunication (02:00)
How setting the expectations helps us have potentially hard conversations (06:43)
Establishing yourself as the expert (11:15)
Appropriate expectations support long term goals (13:00)
Kelly’s experience training for a fitness competition with a coach who helped her manage her expectations (15:20)
A consistent communication regimen provides accountability (18:20)
Apply the strategy to parenting (21:30)

Connect with Kelly:

https://twitter.com/kellycontos

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellycontos/

Connect with Adam:

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