Out of the Comfort Zone

Send us Fan Mail I know you are busy, are you having the impact you want to have? Are you stuck in too much execution without enough time to see the larger landscape? How do you shift into facilitation mode as a leader and leverage yourself out of execution mode? Finally, how do you avoid the six barriers that keep far too many leaders stuck? ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.co...

Send us Fan Mail All of us are influenced by others in what we think is the right way to lead, collaborate, team up or even ask for help. Some of those influencers are other people in life, particularly in early life. Some of those influences come from movies and books. Often we don’t stop to analyze why we are comfortable with some choices over others, and we do not stop to question whether it’s...

Send us Fan Mail The shock forces are coming from all directions and they are powerful. How ready are you as a leader to navigate not just the shocks but also the aftershocks? What do you need to do to be mentally, emotionally and socially prepared? ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanda-wallace-publicspeaker-author-podcasthost/ ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wan...

Send us Fan Mail There is never enough data to be certain any given decision is a good one or not. The more senior you become, the harder it is to be sure. Data is incomplete and unclear, there are competing interpretations, and advice goes in different directions. It is uncomfortable admitting you don’t know or you don’t know what the data means? So, we seek certainty.  There is a better way to a...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the choices we make work out brilliantly, for the “greater good”. Sometimes the choices we make do not work out so well. And sometimes those choices are a slippery slope that puts you making more choices you never expected to make. It could happen to any of us. How would you react? What would you do to bounce back from a tough situation? How could you muster the courage...

Send us Fan Mail A Nightmare Scenario: You have a massive project to deliver, you and your team are just barely managing the tasks, and an important team member resigns unexpectedly. It’s more common than you might think.  So what can you do to make sure it doesn’t happen to you? What are the reasons people leave? What should you do to keep your team engaged, committed, thriving even? Listen in fo...

Send us Fan Mail One day, something happens and you snap. Maybe you loved your work yesterday, but today you are ready to just walk away. Maybe it’s a new manager you are not happy with, maybe it’s some other change, maybe your colleagues are leaving.  Everyone is one jolt away from quitting their job. What are those jolts? How common are they? What should you do if you are experiencing a jolt? An...

Send us Fan Mail You think you can handle the stress in your life. Your team will tell you otherwise because they live with the consequences.  As a leader, you cast a long shadow that destroys the team’s productivity. An off-handed comment by you because you are rushed or overwhelmed leaves the recipient worrying for several hours which means they are not being productive or strategic. Being in a...

Send us Fan Mail Breaking out of your comfort zone is breaking away from the need to know everything about the work your team is doing. It is also about breaking away from the familiar, the known, the day-to-day and facing that edge of uncertainty. How do you do that? Where do you start? How do you get comfortable with the uncomfortable? That’s what this episode is about. ⬇️ Connect with me! ► Lin...

Send us Fan Mail AI will force us to be “more human or be obsolete”. So what does it mean to be more human as a leader and still drive results, get great performance, keep a team engaged and motivated? Especially in a world that is driven by project after project, how do you lead project teams effectively when team members don’t formally report to you? ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: https://www.l...

Send us Fan Mail To lead well, you must maintain some degree of emotional balance. Otherwise, people stop wanting to tell you the things you most need to know and they stop creatively solving problems just to name two consequences. Sometimes though what is causing stress is more about past events than about current circumstances. In those cases, it’s time to take a deeper look.  One of the excitin...

Send us Fan Mail Thriving at work sounds like a pipe dream. The question for the day is what you can do as a manager to create the conditions for each of your team members to feel that they can truly thrive at work. ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanda-wallace-publicspeaker-author-podcasthost/ ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wandatwallace/ ► Main YouTube: https:...

Send us Fan Mail Too often leaders create more problems for themselves and for the team by being the one who solves problems, is in the middle of KPI’s, juggling multiple priorities. It’s a well-intentioned trap but a trap nevertheless. How can you get out of it to create the kind of value that is most needed? Stay tuned for an approach that just may be a game changer for you. ⬇️ Connect with me!...

Send us Fan Mail Suppose you are charged with a challenge and you know there are obstacles that are not being addressed. How can you speak out to your leaders without risking it all? How can you encourage your team to speak up to you? How can you get your peers to align, speak the truth, hear each other and truly collaborate? None are easy, but none are impossible either.  Tune in for advice and w...

Send us Fan Mail Women are struggling at work for a host of known reasons: volume overload, creating visibility, responsibilities outside work and much, much more. However, men are struggling too for a host of unexplored reasons including expectations about masculinity. We will not create the kinds of organizations and cultures that allow everyone to thrive, innovate, collaborate, stay engaged and...

Send us Fan Mail We often talk about the importance of caring for your employees – leaving them feeling that they matter more than for just the output they produce. In this episode, we hear from one of the few leaders who has built a strong business really putting people first. How did it happen? What makes it work? And why do so many companies fall short when they claim to be people-first? Listen...

Send us Fan Mail The better you as a leader understand your personal drivers, preferences, values and the story you hold about what it means to lead; then, the better you will be at working with a range of people and getting the best from them.  Knowing yourself deeply creates space to know someone else. Where do you begin? How can you define your values with credibility and authenticity beyond th...

Send us Fan Mail Leading requires that you not only get out of your comfort zone and lead without being the expert but that you also learn to build trust with people you don’t necessarily appreciate immediately. Those micro-cultures make all the different in team engagement and team performance. Easily said but not so easily done. What do you need to understand about trust, yourself and your appro...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we can learn a lot about leading a business team by stepping outside the business world and examining a successful sports team. In sports, if you want to win at the top level, there are so many things you have to do well beyond just the physical skills - such as building a strong team culture, mentally preparing for adversity and building the right leadership model for y...

Send us Fan Mail Many managers/leaders are stressed, frustrated, and sometimes even angry  when they think about what the youngest generation is expecting from their careers. However, the experiences of Gen Z are not like generations before. Therefore, to get the best from the generation, leaders will have to think differently. What does the newest data say about Gen Z and their fears? What if the...

Send us Fan Mail If you are leading a team, most likely you have team members in different countries with different cultures, traditions and expectations about what you should do as a manager. What do you need to know to be effective with a different culture? What should you watch for? How can you build trust across borders? Listen in for stories from the road.  ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: htt...

Send us Fan Mail Meetings are using an enormous amount of time with little reward. Too many meetings creates overload, stress, no time to think, long hours to make up the work that couldn’t get done because of meetings. There has to be a better way to coordinate and collaborate. Listen in for tactical advice on how to get your meetings fit for purpose, time efficient and a joy rather than a hassle...

Send us Fan Mail Every leader, to create leverage and to achieve more impact, must be able to delegate successfully. So few know how. They either over direct or instruct or they dessert, ditch abandon and hope all goes well – it rarely does. There is a better way. Listen in to find out to do differently to get yourself out of the weeds, motivate your team and drive great performance.  ⬇️ Connect w...

Send us Fan Mail I have watched several high performing leaders take two steps up in their career at once, land themselves on the executive committee and find that they are not prepared for the challenges of operating at that level. The fallout is not good for the individual, the top team or the organization. What are they missing? What does it take to be ready to participate at the top level of a...

Send us Fan Mail Body language may convey more about you and your message than the words you say. How then can you use body language to grab and sustain attention? How does body language help you build relationships and show empathy? What can body language tell us about deception? Listen in for practical insights on what you can do.  ⬇️ Connect with me! ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wand...