My Circus, My Monkeys

Yes, this is a throwback to the 80s "brain on drugs" ad, but it's because in this episode we talk about how our talents show up in our brain - physically and metaphorically. Over the course of our lives, our talents have become wired into our brains. We look at how these super highways of information help us get where we want to go - and sometimes where we don't - at lightning...

The past two weeks we've talked about dealing with conflict on your team. This week we're going to take a closer look at the mediation process. Not every conflict between or among coworkers will need a mediation, but unfortunately sometimes it's necessary. It can seem stressful for all parties involved, but especially you as the supervisor and mediator. Join me as we break down how...

In last week's episode, we focused on what's going on behind the scenes when conflict unfolds. It's not unusual for coworkers to disagree, but when those disagreements aren't resolved in a professional and civil manner it can impact the entire staff. When supervisors ignore these conflicts, it can negatively impact employee productivity and engagement. This week, we talk about...

Conflict seems to be around us everywhere these days. In this week's episode, we're going to focus on workplace conflict in the first episode of a two part series. Maybe you're personally having issues with someone on your team or on campus. Maybe you're trying to figure out what to do about two teammates who don't seem to get along. We'll talk about what's going...

Over the past year, we've encountered numerous overwhelming, heartbreaking, and stressful events - including last weeks attack on our nation's Capitol. In this week's episode, we talk about how we need to both make sure we're taking care of ourselves and refocus our talents to make a positive difference amidst the chaos around us.  If you’re listening to this podcast, you take...

The new year typically brings thoughts of how you can improve for the upcoming year. This can be in the form of an official New Year's Resolution or just something you decide would be beneficial for you, your team, your students, etc. The problem is surveys say very few people actually achieve their NY resolutions (only around 8%!). In this week's episode, we'll talk about how to ap...

In several episodes, we've talked about how meditation and mindfulness can help you become less stressed, more productive, and a better supervisor. In this week's episode, we talk more in depth about what meditation and mindfulness is and why it's helpful. I also take you through a guided meditation to help introduce you to the practice. Please Note: Do NOT do the meditation portion...

We've talked about becoming more aware of how your talents show up and assessing your systems in past episodes. Since we talked about energy last week, this week we're revisiting these ideas in light of our new understanding of how important managing our energy really is. We'll talk about how we're wasting our energy on a daily basis, and what you can do to be a better ward of...

What's a supervisor's greatest resource? Money? Time? Your team? Nope. Your greatest resource is your energy. In this week's episode, we'll talk about why you need to start thinking of yourself in terms of energy if you really want to be more productive. At our core, we are energy, so until we start protecting, managing, and replenishing our energy we can't bring our best...

The new thing is for supervisors to coach their team members, but what even is that? In this weeks episode, we'll talk about why coaching is important, what it looks like, and how setting up a consistent coaching system will make you a more effective supervisor and reduce your stress.  If you’re listening to this podcast, you take your role as a leader seriously. You want to be more effective...

Your employees need ongoing feedback and development. It impacts not only their performance, but also their engagement. In this episode, we'll talk about using a strengths lens to give your team members feedback and advice that helps them be successful. We'll also talk about how setting up a system to provide consistent feedback can improve your team's engagement and productivity. ...

Being able to say no is crucial if you're a supervisor. Unfortunately, not many people have the assertiveness skills to do it regularly. When you can't say no, your schedule and energy get eaten up by things that aren't necessarily priorities. In this week's episode, we'll talk about why being able to say no is so important, the three types of yeses that might be getting i...

We've covered quite a few topics during the podcast so far. In this week's episode we put together what we've learned about talents, stories, skills, and habits to solve problems and achieve objectives. When you assess how each of these things can help you or get in your way to fixing the problem or achieving your goal, you can create an action step that helps you avoid pitfalls and...

When we think about everything we need to get finished, we tend to focus on time. How much time do we have and how long will everything take? We think, if we only had more time we could get everything done. But the supervisor's most valuable resource isn't time, it's energy. We worry about managing our budget, time, our team, and other resources, but we rarely think about managing o...

Supervising can be challenging when there's not a pandemic going on. In this episode, we'll talk about how to assess how you're doing supervising under this new virtual reality. Most people aren't even aware they aren't getting the support they need from themselves or their supervisors. We'll talk about how to look at this from the lens of your talents, make the chang...

What's the best way to increase your productivity? Invest in your talents! Step one is to figure out how your talents are showing up for you everyday. Talents don't always act like Strengths. When we're not paying attention, they can be just as likely to show up as weaknesses. Once you know how your talents are really impacting you, you can move onto step two - investing in your tal...

We know how important student engagement is, but how much do you know about employee engagement. Gallup research estimates 70% of employee engagement is directly impacted by an employee's direct supervisor. In this episode, we'll talk about why employee engagement is just as important as student engagement and the twelve questions you can use to help you build an employee engagement stra...

Just like your habits drive your ability to achieve your goals and an individual, our organization's systems and processes impact our ability to reach our institutional goals. We're so busy, that we rarely take the time to assess how well our systems are working. When we encounter a problem - retention, diversity, mental health, etc., we're quick to develop new initiatives to fix it...

How often you find yourself wanting to make a change, but it never quite happens? Or how many times have you worked with team members or students to help them improve their performance, but they can't seem to make the changes either? The problem is, we don't understand how our brains work. In this episode, we'll talk about how the conscious and subconscious brains actually impact us...

Last week, I talked about how managing your thoughts is one of the best ways to manage your emotions. In this episode, we talk about ways to cut out unhealthy and unproductive thought loops. We also discuss the importance of silence in creativity and your brain's health.  If you’re listening to this podcast, you take your role as a leader seriously. You want to be more effective. You want to...

Many people don't believe emotions belong in the workplace. The problem with that is it's one of our most primary functions as human beings. Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions about emotions. In this episode, we'll discuss what emotions actually are, the purpose they serve, and why they are important for supervisors to understand and manage.  If you’re listening to thi...

We all have stories and beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Some of those stories help us be productive, but some serve a huge hurdles for us both as supervisors and just as humans. In this supersized episode, we'll talk about how to identify which stories are getting in your way, where they come from, and how you can start to change them. Rooting out those beliefs reduces our st...

Holding your employees accountable is one of the hardest parts of a supervisors job, but it's also one of the most important. In this episode, we'll talk about why people have such a difficult time with accountability. We'll also talk about how you can develop a system that combines setting expectations, coaching, and the accountability piece together to make the process less stress...

Self care is a trendy topic, but what is it really? In this episode we'll talk about how important self care is - especially when you're a supervisor. We'll discuss why most of us aren't taking care of ourselves and how to begin to change that. Even if taking care of yourself seems out of reach given how much is on your place, find out how self care actually makes you better at...

Supervisors are under more stress than the people they supervise. This stress is often a byproduct of supervising, but that stress negatively impacts your ability to lead. In this episode, we'll explore what really goes on with your body and mind during the stress response and how it impacts your role as a supervisor. You'll learn how important it is to break the stress cycle NOW - not w...