Grounding and Growing Leadership Podcast

This week’s episode is a deep dive on the Achiever Strength! Join Tara and Pamela as they explore what it means to have a strong Achiever talent, both on a personal level and the impact it carries on a team.  Registration for our next Grounded Leadership cohort is now open!  Interested in becoming a sponsor for SHIFT? Click HERE. Interested in learning more about the SHIFT event? Click HERE. Inter...

This week’s episode is a deep dive on the Communication Strength! Join Tara and Pamela as they explore what it means to have a strong Communication talent, both on a personal level and the impact it carries on a team.  Registration for our next Grounded Leadership cohort is now open!  Interested in becoming a sponsor for SHIFT? Click HERE. Interested in learning more about the SHIFT event? Click H...

In this week’s special guest episode, Tara and Pamela are joined by the amazing Ty Lewis! Ty Lewis is a dynamic leader, speaker, and real estate investor with a background in coaching and philanthropy. Formerly the Director of Emerging Leaders at United Way Quad Cities, Ty has launched impactful programs and in 2023 was honored as Quad Cities' Outstanding Young Philanthropist.  Ty is here with us...

This week’s episode is a deep dive on the Learner Strength! Join Tara and Pamela as they explore what it means to have a strong Learner talent, both on a personal level and the impact it carries on a team.  Registration for our next Grounded Leadership cohort is now open!  Interested in becoming a sponsor for SHIFT? Click HERE. Interested in learning more about the SHIFT event? Click HERE. Interes...

This week’s episode is a deep dive on the Relator Strength! Join Tara and Pamela as they explore what it means to have a strong Relator talent, both on a personal level and the impact it carries on a team.  Registration for our next Grounded Leadership cohort is now open!  Interested in becoming a sponsor for SHIFT? Click HERE. Interested in learning more about the SHIFT event? Click HERE. Interes...

Welcome to our Strengths Series! This week, we're kicking off the first of many episodes, each focusing on a different CliftonStrength. Today, we're diving deep into the Responsibility strength! Join Tara and Pamela as they explore what it means to have a strong Responsibility talent, both on a personal level and how it influences teamwork.  Registration for our next Grounded Leadership cohort is...

In this week's episode, Tara and Pamela are joined by Dr. Monica Holmes, an incredible Gallup-certified Strengths coach and educator. Together, they explore the benefits of integrating "Strengths" into schools, education, and our interpersonal relationships.  Understanding our "Strengths" can help us feel seen and heard, allowing us to view ourselves more positively and gain deeper insights into o...

In this week's episode, Tara and Pamela welcome back Dr. Ashley Lang, another exceptional coach from our ALIGN team! In addition to her work as a leadership coach specializing in emerging leaders, Ashley also serves as a Professor of Leadership at both UNI and Wartburg College. Ashley is here to join us for an insightful discussion on providing effective feedback to Gen Z!  We explore the uniq...

In this week's episode, Tara and Pamela are joined by the multifaceted Claudia Revermann! Claudia is the founder of Revermann Law, a law firm whose primary focus is to educate and serve clients with confidence and humbleness, so no one feels less than. Claudia is also a Certified Public Accountant, one of St. Cloud Times Media’s 5 under 40, is actively involved in multiple community organizati...

Welcome back friends! In this week's episode, Tara and Pamela are joined by the amazing Stephanie Theisen to share a very special announcement! Stephanie is the COO of Leighton Media, a local family- and employee-owned media company. While leading teams, Stephanie’s superpower is her ability to command a room while inspiring teams to find their strengths and develop their own superpowers.  Ste...

The Labor Day Weekend often means end-of-summer gatherings with family and friends! Well, we are replaying the last of our "Greatest Hits" as we transition into Quarter 4 and what could be better than to end the summer with a game called, "Playing Our Strengths?" Have you ever witnessed someone’s behavior and thought “what motivated that person to respond like that?” We often l...

We are replaying some of our Greatest Hits for the end of summer and "Defining the Win" is one of them! How many teams are lost and tugging in different directions? Keeping your team aligned starts by defining success. What does a win look like? Why is it important? How does it relate to each and every person on a team? And how do we celebrate when we get there? Join us this week as we w...

Leadership Practice: Receiving Feedback was our 12th episode and one of our most popular with listeners! While the adage “it’s better to give than receive” is true in many areas of life, in one area, we’re thinking you might need to start receiving it to give it better. That area is feedback. As a grounded and growing leader, you need to be able to receive and provide feedback in a healthy way tha...

We’re excited to replay one of our "greatest hits!" We’re thrilled that today’s episode is a listener-requested topic – what is the difference between perfectionism and pursuing excellence? To help us through this conversation, we have an incredible guest joining us. Sarah Noble, a financial advisor, gifted speaker, and “recovering perfectionist” will talk about the pains and fears that...

Are you a natural-born leader? You’re not alone if you feel like you’re not. In fact, we are here to say, the idea of a natural-born leader is a myth and that anyone can be a leader. And yes, that includes you! We’re excited to replay one of our "greatest hits," our first podcast talking about what makes a good leader (and big surprise, it may not be what you think!). Just as flight atte...

This week, the insightful JT Spoor joins us to discuss the importance of emotional maturity in leadership, and how to develop it. JT gets vulnerable with us as he shares his own journey of leadership, developing emotional maturity later in life, and growing up in an environment where emotions weren’t valued.  Emotional maturity is a skillset that requires recognizing and navigating your emotions e...

This week, Tara and Pamela dive into the concept of developing “Inspiring Accountability” in the workplace. What is the first thought that comes to mind when you hear the word “accountability”?  Accountability is often linked to negative feelings such as shame, but if we reframe it as progress, we can see it as a steppingstone toward improvement rather than a personal attack. When we ask ourselves...

In this week’s episode, we are joined by the amazing Michelle Massman to explore how leveraging your personal interests and exploring new ideas can ignite innovation in your leadership journey.  Discover how to stay flexible and pivot under pressure, turning challenges into steppingstones for success. We also delve into the importance of rest and recovery, illustrating how taking time to recharge...

Encountering Grief at Work  This week’s episode was brought to you by another listener request! What does it look like to show support and allow people the space to grieve, while still running a successful business?  Managing grief in the workplace, whether it be your own or a colleague’s, can be difficult to navigate. Join us today while we discuss encountering grief in the workplace. We will wal...

Happy Independence Day Week!   It’s a holiday week which means we’re doing a Holiday Replay where we take a popular episode from the past and replay it for you now. And we selected one of our highest feedback episodes from last year, Shifting Out of Survival Mode because we want everyone listening to experience the FREEDOM of shifting from survival exhaustion to thriving. Thanks for listening and...

Today our guest, Rachel Gray, joins us with the most fascinating story. You may look at her role as a cattle producer as something you might not be able to relate to, but you need to trust us on this. She has a lot of wisdom to share that applies to everyone! Her innovative approach to rebranding a family legacy in a male-dominated industry is amazing. Family businesses can be a little dicey at ti...

Today’s topic is one listeners like you have requested over and over again. While many of you leaders are beginning to feel comfortable building trust, you are still unsure about how to restore it.  Instead of fixating on whose name pops into your head when you think of someone you can’t trust, we challenge you today to listen along and think about how you can restore the trust that perhaps you ha...

He’s one of our favorite human beings and we are so excited to introduce him to you! Tara’s son Andy Tollefson is joining our podcast today. Today’s episode is a bit longer than normal, but trust us, you’re going to enjoy listening along and will be amazed at how much you might learn from his life story. Andy is a second-year student of physical therapy at the University of Utah, and he's clas...

One of our own coaches is joining our podcast for this important topic of generational leadership for today’s leaders. Dr. Ashley Lang has nearly 2 decades of experience in higher education, leadership, retail, and marketing. She is the Founder and Influencer of Strategic Growth at Goal Digger, challenging people and organizations to own who they are. Today Dr. Lang walks us through how to guide l...

Today we have Clare Richards joining us. Clare is the co-founder and CEO of a Minnesota startup called Impacks, which supports parents and educators in accessing critical school supplies. Clare has a strong heart for building vibrancy through action and storytelling. Her origin story about how she began this impactful endeavor is inspiring to anyone who has a dream and desire to create something n...