Brave People Solutions

My very recent personal motto: ‘if I had no fear what would I be doing?’

It’s so helpful, but I need to keep coming back to it (a lot).

I bought a notebook today to write down all the things I would do if I had no fear.

I’m listening to my 20 year old daughter and her best friend composing songs as they sit on the couch with the sunlight shining on them. Their songs are absolutely beautiful, touch my heart and bring me to tears.

They were having a little chat about the possibility of sharing their songs out into the world and how they are too scared, and then my daughter said, ‘mum’s got a saying’, and she repeated it.

I asked them ‘what would you do if you had no fear?’ They both instantly said they would share their songs. These songs would be such a gift to the world.

Fear can be such a barrier. In my workshops, programs and leadership coaching, fear comes up consistently.

Where would we be, what would we be doing, if we weren’t held back by fear?

I’ve decided to make myself a personal project. I’m going to list all the things I would do if fear wasn’t holding me back and then I’m going to do my best to do them.

I’ll keep you posted 😊.

Tulsi

The Leadership Institute (ANZ) is holding a Women in Leadership Summit from 26 to 29 May with excellent speakers. I will again be facilitating the post conference workshop, The Practical Leadership Playbook: Leading with Clarity and Courage.

I've been running these full day masterclasses over many years now and we always have a fantastic and fun time exploring practical tools, advanced leadership strategies and discussing leadership challenges in a supportive environment.

You will walk away with a comprehensive toolkit including proven templates, techniques and conversation guides that you can immediately apply.

It's always a privilege to work with so many enthusiastic participants and The Leadership Institute (ANZ).

Here is the link if you would like to attend https://lnkd.in/gnGVz46X.

Imposter syndrome is a complex topic worthy of exploration because so many people, both women and men, refer to themselves as having imposter syndrome. This has been said to me by many people in my work providing coaching and in workshops and programs.

I'm very excited to be presenting Overcoming Imposter Syndrome for the Women's Leadership Network and IPAA NSW and as part of its online Skills for Success series at 10 am on 11 September. Around 4000 people have registered which is the highest number in its history. Something is happening here that needs attention.

I will be exploring what imposter syndrome is, its origins, whether it's even helpful to use it as a term, external and internal sources of imposter thoughts and practical strategies to manage feelings of self-doubt.

https://lnkd.in/g-zT7Bbt

Burnout and overwhelm was a theme in my last week, personally and for the lovely people that I worked with.

🔹 On Monday and Tuesday, I saw clients for therapy.

🔹 On Wednesday morning, I ran a public 1 hour session on avoiding burnout on behalf of IPAA for NSW government departments and staff.

🔹 On Wednesday afternoon, I facilitated an Accidental Counsellor workshop for a purpose driven organisation’s staff to strengthen their communication skills to provide support to their clients.

🔹 On Thursday, I facilitated a fifth Building True Resilience to Avoid Burnout workshop for staff at a NSW government department that is very focused on supporting their staff.

🔹On Friday, I facilitated a Women's Mindful Leadership Masterclass for the Mindful Women's Leadership Summit in Melbourne for the Leadership Institute.

Two things stood out to me. The first is that the vast majority of people that I worked with are experiencing the overwhelm of this hectic life.

If you are committed, passionate and hard-working you are more likely to be on the train to burnout.

The second one is that recognising the signs of ongoing tension and stress, its build up and taking action is important and always a work in progress.

This is a personal challenge of mine as I navigate the work that I feel incredibly privileged to do and my own personal challenges including supporting family members with mental health concerns.

At times, I notice myself struggling to say no and I don’t focus enough on prioritising ways of creating breathing space to recover and repair.

I know that I consistently need to check in with myself to see what I can manage and what I can’t. I am often asked to speak on these important topics of resilience, avoiding burnout, self-care and providing support to others. I recognise that none of us are immune from these challenges.

Pay attention to the signs that tell you, you are struggling to cope. Speak to someone you trust and let them know you are noticing warning signs. Take moments in your day, to create space, even if it is a light-hearted chat with a colleague, three slow extended breaths in with a longer breath out, a quick walk outside or consciously sigh (out of hearing of others). These are just some examples of strategies that can tend to your nervous system, tell it that you’re safe and can help you get back to equilibrium.

More recently, at times I’ve described my life as feeling like a big, strong brick wall (not a great description). I have to chisel holes in that wall to allow air and light to shine through.

Don’t wait for that holiday. Create moments in your day for even just a little bit of space regularly. Settle your nervous system down in moments. Those moments could make all the difference.

This last week, I had three fantastic days with two very different excellent leadership groups, united by a common experience of how sharing openly and vulnerably, creates rich opportunities for connection, growth and learning.

I was privileged to work with the leadership team at Lendlease for Heart On My Sleeve, running Real Conversations training. It was inspiring to see the leaders supporting their people and themselves in having real conversations and building deeper connections, while experiencing significant insights and learning over the day.

For two days I then had the joy of working with leaders from Tafe Children's Centres, building advanced communication, feedback and leadership skills and saw how important it is for a team to have time for connection, reflection, learning and fun.

I was uplifted by all these great leaders and wonderful people.

This work always highlights to me how lightheartedness and humour can be experienced alongside important and significant real conversations. As a result, these days were not just powerful, they were also rich with laughter, sharing and feelings of closeness. I’m so grateful to all these humans who showed up and did the work with me this week. Here is a photo of the lovely Tafe leadership group after two days of good work.

Tulsi

Our amazing Robyn Mercer spoke on appropriate responses to difficult, dangerous and damaging people and presented her practical and very helpful workbook on this topic. Congratulations Robyn! I know this content will help so many!

A great night last night at the Hunter Business Womens Network (HBWN) event where our own Yvonne Reynolds was the host for the evening.

Guest speaker, Robyn Mercer of Brave People Solutions, shared her experience and expertise around dealing with difficult work situations/people and helped identify different categories of people we may come across in a work setting as well as how to manage our approach.

The evening also included the opportunity to meet Dr Jason Geres from Oasis Health Centre in Warners Bay, who stressed the importance of looking after our spinal health and wellness to live a happy, healthy and fulfilled life.

For more information on these wonderful guest speakers please visit: https://bravepeoplesolutions.com.au/robyn-mercer/ and https://oasishealthcentre.com.au/meet-the-chiropractor

Thanks again to the HBWN Committee for another wonderful night👏

Happy and colour coordinated after a fantastic two days of Building a Positive Performance Culture workshop for 32 people with Robyn and Tulsi. It was excellent to hear the participants share that they felt so much more confident in their ability to influence the workplace culture and that they walked away with many practical tools and skills that they know will make a positive difference.

A key learning: if you shy away from the hard conversations you create an environment that is harder and less supportive for your team. You can do it!

A wonderful event with beautiful participants. Thank you to all who came to the CBD Sydney Chamber Women in Business event on speaking up. Our special speakers Robyn Mercer and Dr Holi Birman, PhD joined me as we discussed an important and profound topic for many of us.

Robyn shared her own personal history and how she transformed herself from one who was taught to not speak up, ‘don’t stand out from the crowd’ and ‘don’t get too big for your boots’ to an accomplished and successful professional woman who has strengthened herself in many ways. Some key messages and strategies she shared that are helpful for us all are:

1. Self-awareness is the first step. Identify the messages you learned from childhood.
2. Work on unlearning the messages and limitations placed on you through observing your behaviour, the results and asking yourself if they are helpful. Seek professional help when needed.
3. Learn new skills and accept it takes time to learn and will become smoother with practice.

Some practical actions that have helped Robyn include learning to stand tall through yoga practice, building strength through going to the gym and challenging herself with adventure holidays (climbing Kilimanjaro!).

Some key important points shared by Holi include:

1. Stand your ground. She shared that her process for speaking up began with her choosing to hold her ground (literally), when she was walking on the footpath rather than moving to the side and into the gutter.
2. Speak up for others. Holi described how her confidence built from having the courage to call out inequity, when others weren’t given the chance to speak up. From there, she worked towards speaking up for herself.
3. Embrace the discomfort. Even if you feel uncomfortable, awkward and clumsy, you can still speak up.
4. Seek feedback from others you trust. While developing your skills, getting guidance and constructive input will help you build and strengthen your voice. A caring community makes all the difference.

For those of you that find it hard to speak up, it can also be helpful to remind yourself that your voice may be quiet, shaky or you might even have tears, AND you can still speak up.

A key ‘take-home’ is that we all have a shared responsibility to support each other by listening, noticing those who have not yet had a voice, and encouraging everyone to contribute – including the quiet and silenced voices. Let us continue to recognise the value and importance of expressing our own thoughts, feelings and truth. Speak up.

Tulsi

Team repair has been keeping Brave People Solutions busy. Worth a couple of selfies out on location :).

Here's an article about the 'can and want to' people and the 'can't and won't do' people in a team and the 8 factors that can undermine team repair

Eight key factors that can undermine team repair - Brave People Solutions Team repair involves supporting those who can and want to change and enabling those who can't or don't want to change to see the impact they have.