Lead For Clarity

Trust is either growing or eroding. So let's talk about growth. When trust is growing, you are working at it. You are putting effort into it. You are, taking vulnerable chances. You are sharing your weaknesses. You are sharing your strengths. I think sometimes it's harder to share our strengths than it is to reveal our weaknesses. Thanks for joining me - don't forget to subscribe ,...

In this episode, Shandel and Melanie discuss strategies for avoiding burnout through effective time management and prioritizing what matters most. They explore an assessment tool for gaining clarity on life priorities across different categories like work, family, health, and more. The team reflects on seasons in their own lives when work consumed too much energy, and how they've worked to es...

Welcome to another episode of Lead for Clarity! Today Shandel Sutherland and Melanie Montgomery continue their discussion on mastering your time through a leadership approach to balance.  They dive deeper into understanding personal work styles and strengths using tools like the Working Genius model and DISC assessments. Shandel and Melanie share insights into their own styles and how they maximiz...

In this episode of Lead for Clarity, Melanie and Shandel discuss the common challenges that prevent effective delegation in leadership. They share stories from their own experiences struggling to delegate tasks and identify issues like lack of trust, pride, and not having systems in place. The team also provides strategies for overcoming these barriers, such as embracing mistakes, building relatio...

Shandel and Melanie discuss the importance of delegation for leaders and teams. They explore how to build trust and confidence through communication to build a foundation to delegate effectively. Learn how to avoid frustration when others do tasks differently and build a growth mindset. The team shares tips on understanding team members' strengths and weaknesses to set them up for success. Li...

This episode features a conversation with Scott Sutherland about his experience going through Shandel Group's 12-week coaching program and achieving success in the "profit" stage of the Process of Sustainable Growth. Scott shares how he overcame his lifelong fear of failure by setting clear goals with Melanie and challenging himself to step outside his comfort zone. Through the acco...

Shandel and Melanie discuss the signs and dangers of falling into an "unhealthy cycle of misery" as a leader. They explore how fear, insecurity, and a lack of humility can disconnect leaders from their values and damage relationships with their team. However, they emphasize that recognizing when you've gone off track is the first step to getting back to purposeful, values-aligned gr...

This podcast episode features Nancy Bacon discussing the important process of "pruning" for nonprofit organizations to experience sustainable growth. The team provided helpful framing and strategies for nonprofits to thoughtfully prune in a way that supports their long-term health, impact, and sustainable growth while staying aligned with their core reasons for existing. Both organizatio...

As companies hit the progress stage of growth, it's important not to get complacent and assume the hard work is over. In this episode, Melanie, Shandel and guest, HR consultant Skye Mercer, discuss strategies for acknowledging success, getting employee feedback, and pruning back to set yourself up for continued growth. Skye shares insights on navigating the progress stage of growth. The team...

Shandel and Melanie interview Aliza Brown about her experience navigating the Plant stage of growth. Aliza discusses shedding old mindsets of overcommitting and multitasking in favor of consistency, accountability, and communicating clearly. She shares obstacles faced like not asking enough questions, and strategies used like finding trusted advisors. Aliza emphasizes the importance of evolving on...

Shandel and Melanie welcome a special guest, Ed Wickman, to discuss his experiences with the Purposefully Connect stage of the Process of Sustainable Growth. The team explores the concepts of the healthy cycle of growth versus the unhealthy cycle of misery. Ed reflects on how early in his career he lacked leadership tools and fell into a "boss mentality." He contrasts this with his curre...

In this episode, hosts Shandel and Melanie provide listeners with strategies and tips for effectively setting goals for the new year 2024. The team talks through digging into the "why" behind goals and drivers, what success specifically looks like numerically, creating attainable action plans, planning for life obstacles, and making goals connect to one's deepest values and purpose....

This episode of Lead for Clarity focused on the "pain stage" of the Process of Sustainable Growth. Shandel and Melanie interviewed their guest, Rob Shipp, about his experiences in the Navy and how he has worked to develop trust with his team. Rob discussed how he realized the Navy hadn't been focusing enough on developing leadership skills. He worked with Melanie to provide a 9-week...

Shandel Sutherland and Melanie Montgomery welcome back guest Lydia Faitalia. Lydia shares how centering her values helped bring balance and opportunities in her life as a working mom. She shared her story of centering her life around her values, having hard conversations, digging deep within herself, and building a fulfilling career. Having the courage to confront difficult issues and go through h...

In this episode, Shandel Sutherland and Melanie Montgomery discuss the dangers of "off ramping" from sustainable growth and entering an "unhealthy cycle of misery." They provide frameworks to identify unhealthy vs. healthy leadership cycles and steps to get back on track. Off ramping occurs when leaders stop investing in growth and instead focus only on short-term wins and surv...

This episode of Lead for Clarity focuses on the final stage of the Process of Sustainable Growth - Profit. Shandel and Melanie discuss what profit means beyond just monetary gains, emphasizing things like team morale, effectiveness, and clarity of vision. ACTions to take in the profit stage are accomplishing the mission, conveying appreciation and celebration, and tackling the next pain point or c...

In this podcast episode, Shandel and Melanie the important but often overlooked "prune" stage of the growth process. They explain why pruning is necessary for long-term sustainable growth and share tools and strategies for effectively pruning at both the individual and organizational levels. Listeners will learn a framework for effectively navigating this stage of growth through asking q...

In this episode, Shandel and Melanie discuss the key stages of the growth process model, with a focus on navigating the Progress stage. The team stresses the importance of celebrating milestones to maintain motivation as changes start to take shape. Checking in on morale and buy-in, simplifying processes, and clear communication are also highlighted as important factors for success during this pha...

In this episode, Shandel and Melanie discuss the third stage of the Process for Sustainable Growth - the Plant Stage. This stage is all about doing the hard work of implementing changes after an initial period of excitement. Lasting change requires continuing the hard work of implementation even after the initial excitement fades. Sticking with training, accountability practices and skill-building...

Shandel shares the "Commit to It and Do It" framework she presented in Germany for living according to one's core values. She outlines the six steps using the acronym COMMIT: Clarify values, Organize life around them, acknowledge Misery as a sign you've strayed, Make hard decisions, Invest in your values, Trust yourself by not compromising. The COMMIT Framework:  C - Clarify yo...

Shandel and Melanie discuss the "Purposely Connect" stage of the business growth process. They explore how teams can effectively align around purpose, mission and values through communication. They share tools like DISC assessments, Enneagram and Lencioni's working genius that provide insights into communication styles and working preferences. They emphasize the importance of develo...

Embracing discomfort and assessing pain points is necessary for growth as an individual, team and organization. In this episode, Shandel and Melanie discuss the first stage in the Process for Sustainable Growth, which is Pain.  The ACTion steps in this stage is: Assess the Gaps, Character, Competencies & Capacity and Trailblaze through the pain. It’s important to dig into root causes rather th...

Shandel and Melanie dig into what's at the center of the Process for Sustainable Growth - Values. Living our values (even when it's hard) keeps us in the healthy cycle of growth and moving in the right direction.  Values evolve when we do hard work on ourselves and lean into personal growth. As we grow, we start to uncover parts of ourselves that we weren’t able to lean into before, or f...

The Shandel Group team is back for Season 5 to discuss the Process for Sustainable Growth, a framework developed to support sustainable growth of organizations, teams and individuals.  It's important to remember that growth is uncomfortable and we have to push ourselves into that discomfort, otherwise we will end up moving forward in an unhealthy way. The Process guides us to consciously thin...

In this season's final episode, Shandel and Melanie describe meetings that bring efficiency and effectiveness, instead of wasted time and frustration. The team discusses the difference between strategic meetings and tactical meetings and the importance of keeping them separate. They also dig into successful 1-on-1 meetings, which create a space for relationship building as well as a place for...