The Kind Leadership Challenge: Recent Episodes
Sarah Clark-Kind Leadership Guild
Dr. Sarah Clark empowers educational leaders to heal workplace drama, defensiveness, and burnout--in ten minutes or less!
The Next Steps Checklist companion Tutorial is live! Listen to an excerpt here, or download the next steps checklist to access the full video!
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Greetings Kind Leaders! Just a quick head’s up that there’s no episode of the Kind Leadership Challenge this week. That’s because on the next episode, I’ll be unveiling a new companion tutorial to the next steps checklist. It’s a short step by step demo of the checklist that will teach you everything you need to solve your next leadership challenge in as little as 15 minutes! If you want to get an early preview of the tutorial before it goes live to the world, download the next steps checklist and keep an eye on your email. Thanks, and Stay Kind Now!
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
It's time to talk about mandatory fun. Not the kind that involves forced merriment and trust falls, but the actual rest and recreation that keeps you from falling apart.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
If the surveys are right, many of the leaders listening to this episode are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. The good nees it, there's a simple solution to that fear, and I'll share it today.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Strategic planning is just like riding a bike!
...Crashes Included.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
We'd all love it if our leadership growth curve was a nice, straight diagonal line upward. However, mine definitely hasn't been, and I doubt yours is either. The good news is that there are lessons to be learned in the hard times that will help you come back stronger.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
It's great to be close with your team.
But there's such a thing as being too close...
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
When you get right down to it, Leadership is nothing more or less than the ability to make decisions. And anyone can do that, right?
Well, maybe. Because if that is true, then you are no better or worse a leader than the quality of your decisions. And that feels great when you’ve just managed to keep your head in a crisis. But what about the other day when you stood in front of the line at the coffee shop utterly unable to pick between a latte and a cold brew?
That’s why this month in the Kind Leadership Guild, I’ll be releasing my updated course on kind leadership decisionmaking—packed with tips and truths I’ve refined from teaching it live multiple times since 2020. And as always when I drop a new course in the guild, I’m giving all of my listeners and followers a sneak peek of lesson 1.
One note, More than usual the video version of this episode is helpful, so log in if you're a guild member, or consider joining with our new $1 trial month.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
There's no one "right" answer to almost all leadership problems. The good news is there's often several "good enough" answers, one of which may well be the "best" for your situation.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
I don't normally comment on current events. However, the recent systemic failures at Boeing and Lincoln University of Missouri, and the serious consequences of those failures, made it clear that we need to talk about how kind leaders can best balance healing toxic workplace cultures without putting ourselves at risk.
More on Dr. Antoinette Candia-Bailey and the Boeing 737 Max 9:
OPINION: Dr. Antoinette Candia-Bailey's Tragic End Reminds Me How Much Empathetic Leadership Can Literally Be A Matter of Life or Death for Black Women
Supporters say Black academic’s suicide was fueled by the very pressures she studied in her dissertation
Lincoln University hires law firm to investigate personnel issues following administrator’s suicide
The Questions in the Wake of Boeing’s Plug-Door Fiasco
FAA Updates on 737 Max 9 Grounding
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
How can we as leaders wield our power in a kind manner? Ultimately were the boss, the head honcho, the big cheese. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that, especially when you’re juggling less money, more mandates, a burnt-out team and a frustrated community. But what if you actually have a lot LESS power than you think? That realization can actually be pretty empowering in itself.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
So, you’re here because you want to build a better world without burning out! That’s a great goal! But as the person who made “Build a better world without burning out” the Kind Leadership Guild’s tagline, I know it’s also a pretty mushy goal. For instance:
What do you mean by Better?
And Better for Whom?
And what part of the world are you trying to make better?
( And that’s not even getting into defining burnout!)
The good news is that your core values will give you some clues to those answers, and this month’s course in the Kind Leadership Guild will teach you how to align your values with what the world needs from you.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every leadership influencer and researcher I follow is talking about how we all need to know our “why” and our organization’s “why”. However, one’s personal and professional “why” can change from month to month, and even minute to minute! So today, I’m going to talk about how we can get more clear on our why, and use that clarity to keep our work relevant and rewarding for years to come.
Resources Mentioned:
VOCATIONAL AWE AND LIBRARIANSHIP: THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
One of the roughest moments of my early days as a library dean was the realization that to be the best leader I could be and the leader my team needed me to be, I couldn't be a librarian anymore--or at least I couldn't primarily be a librarian.
That shift was necessary, but it was hard. Today I'll give you a roadmap to navigate your own leadership transition.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Today I'm discussing one of the top vote-getters in my recent listener poll: Workplace Drama! Specifically, I'll explore toxic workplace drama, healthy workplace conflict, and how a kind leader can guide team members--and themselves--to shift from the former to the latter.
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Related Resources:
The Origins of Justice Stewart's "I Know It When I See It": Peter Lattman, Wall Street Journal
How to Detox Workplace Drama With One Simple Question (Challenge #30)
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
in a world where colleges’ obligations are growing and revenues are shrinking, how do we as educational leaders keep our institutions sustainable? Today I'll be talking with higher ed finance podcaster Gary Stocker to better understand the current state of Higher Education funding and explore the biggest concers on the minds of higher ed leaders, students, and stakeholders.
Learn more about Gary:
College Viability App
Youtube
Podcast
Linkedin
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
How are you feeling?
No really, how are you feeling? I’m not just asking you about the literal emotions you are having, but how are you experiencing and managing them?
This week, I'm sharing the first lesson from my new course on Emotional Awareness for Leaders, which is only available in full to members of the Kind Leadership Guild. Enjoy the peek behind the curtain, and I hope you learn something useful!
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Those of you who have downloaded my Next Steps Checklist know that you get my regular emails with insights from classic podcast episodes, and questions designed to get you thinking more deeply about how and why you do what you do as a leader. However, a lot more people listen to this podcast than receive my emails, so I thought I'd share a recent question I asked my email subscribers:
What makes you difficult to work with?
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
It just takes a little thoughtfulness and some small choices to make big shifts in how inclusive we are for our teams and our community. Today's episode will explore some concrete ways we can all become more inclusive leaders.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
This episode was inspired by a post I saw on social media from a front line worker who was struggling to become friends with their somewhat reserved new boss. And although that's certainly a noble sentiment, friendships between leaders and team members can open a big can of worms. In this episode, I share what kind leaders should strive for instead.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
When we talk about managing up, we're usually focused most intensely on our direct supervisors (as we should be). But what if you have an opportunity to advocate for your team higher up on the food chain? Here's some thoughts on what to do.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Leadership is lonely by definition, as well as by necessity. And yet, to build a better world, you need to figure out how to you have to open up to that world. Today I'll talk about how you can strike a sustainable balance between those truths, and let down your guard while still keeping yourself safe and objective.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
A leader's power doesn't (necessarily) corrupt, but it does reveal.
So what does your use of power reveal about you?
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
The blessing of being an interim leader is that you know your responsibility has an end date. The curse is that everyone else you have to deal with knows your authority has an end date.
Today we'll talk about how to navigate that blessing and curse so you can leave your team better than you found it.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Most leaders pride themselves on their resilience. Being tough and persistent enough to overcome our career challenges is how we got where we are, after all. However, there is such a thing as being too resilient for your own good...
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
You know that one project on your list?
You know, the one down at the bottom, that's been gathering dust for longer than you care to admit, that you just can't seem to get started on.
Today I'll show you how--and it's as easy as making a sandwich.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
Firing a team member--if you're a leader you've either already done it, or will do it some day. But is there a way to terminate someone and still be a kind leader?
Of course there is--in fact, firing someone can be one of the kindest things you can do for all concerned. In today's episode, I'll teach you how to set yourself, your team, and even the person you're terminating up for future success.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
The Busier your life is as an educational leader, the more important it is to make sure you take breaks. And today I'll share some simple tactics to make it easier to step away and recharge.
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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!
Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.
For obvious reasons, I talk a lot about the benefits of kind leadership and the ways implementing it can heal yourself, your organization, and the community you serve. But I've been pondering a slightly different question—what are the consequences of practicing unkind leadership?
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Want Some Kind Leadership in your Feed? Follow me on LinkedIn!
Curious about the Guild? Head to Kindleadershipguild.com to reserve your free guest pass for a future meeting!
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
If you're listening to this, you have at some point been hurt (intentionally nor not) by a leader. And unless you are a tremendously wise and lucky leader, at some point you have almost certainly hurt someone you lead. So today, we're taking a deeper dive into how trauma happens to and is caused by leaders, the importance of facing trauma rather than repressing it, and how you can set up yourself, your team, and your institution for post-traumatic growth.
The next Meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild is Saturday, September 9 at 11:00 AM. If you're interested in trying out the Guild for free, click here to reserve a guest seat at an upcoming meeting!
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Want Some Kind Leadership in your Feed? Follow me on LinkedIn!
Curious about the Guild? Head to Kindleadershipguild.com to reserve your free guest pass for a future meeting!
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Today is the final episode in my little introduction to the Kind Leadership Guild, my monthly leadership development group for leaders who want to build a better world without burning out. Juanita James accepted my invitation to come on the podcast and share her experience in from the Guild, what she's learned, and how she's applied it in her work and life. And as you’re about to hear, I was in for some pleasant surprises!
The next Meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild is Saturday, September 9 at 11:00 AM. If you're interested in trying out the Guild for free, click here to reserve a guest seat at an upcoming meeting!
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Want Some Kind Leadership in your Feed? Follow me on LinkedIn!
Curious about the Guild? Head to Kindleadershipguild.com to reserve your free guest pass for a future meeting!
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Back in late May, as I prepared to facilitate the first meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild, I was kind of nervous. How would I go about setting the values and rules of the Kind Leadership Guild, so that the group experience would be effective, humane, collaborative, and, well, Kind?
In today’s episode I’ll share how we worked together in the first meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild to determine our mission, our values, and our code of conduct, and I’ll suggest some ways you can implement this rulemaking process with your own team.
The next Meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild is Saturday, September 9 at 11:00 AM. If you're interested in trying out the Guild for free, click here to reserve a guest seat at an upcoming meeting!
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Want Some Kind Leadership in your Feed? Follow me on LinkedIn!
Curious about the Guild? Head to Kindleadershipguild.com to reserve your free guest pass for a future meeting!
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Over the summer I and an intrepid few long-time followers of the Kind Leadership Challenge have been beta testing the new improved version of the Kind Leadership Guild!
The Guild is a support group and community of practice where educational and library leaders come together to heal themselves, their teams, and their organizations, so we can all effectively, humanely, and collaboratively build the better world we need.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing more details about the Kind Leadership Guild, including an excerpt from a recent meeting, the ground rules we follow to create a psychologically safe and trusting space for leadership development, and even a chat with one of the charter members of the guild. If you're interested in checking out the Guild, click below to get on the waitlist for a free guest pass to a future meeting!
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Want Some Kind Leadership in your Feed? Follow me on LinkedIn!
Curious about the Guild? Head to Kindleadershipguild.com to reserve your free guest pass for a future meeting!
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I’ve been hitting reload a lot on my podcast host’s website this morning. Right when I got up, after my workout, before I logged in at the office, and during my coffee break. Then…it happened. With 14 hours to spare, July 2023 became the first 1000 download month of the Kind Leadership Challenge. This is by far the best performing podcast not related to a 60s boy band that I’ve ever been involved with, and I want to share the kind leadership lessons I learned along the way.
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
There's a pivot point that occurs any time an organization grows beyond a certain scale, be that the size of the staff, the budget, or the community served. It’s a shift that I call feeding the beast, where doing cool things becomes a lower priority than sustaining what’s already been built. In today’s episode I’ll share some lessons I learned from organizations on both sides of that spectrum that can help you best balance sustainability and innovation in your school or library.
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
One of the roughest moments of my early days as a library dean was the realization that to be the best leader I could be and the leader my team needed me to be, I couldn't be a librarian anymore--or at least I couldn't primarily be a librarian.
That shift was necessary, but it was hard. Today I'll give you a roadmap to navigate your own leadership transition.
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
All Work and No Play can make a leader go a bit stale. I've been struggling with this a bit lately myself. But then I picked up a good fiction book for the first time in I can't remember how long, and whipped through it in about a day. And as I closed it I realized what I--and a lot of other leaders--have been missing. FUN!
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Related Episode
Are You in the Groove-- or Stuck in a Rut? (Challenge #71)
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
The great thing about summer for many library and educational leaders is that we finally have some time to think.
That’s also the worst thing about Summer.
We finally have some time to think about all the struggles that come with our jobs these days, and the question that follows--
How do I live with this?
And if that’s what it takes, do I even still want to?
We'll figure out how to answer that question in Today's episode.
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every leadership influencer and researcher I follow is talking about how we all need to know our “why” and our organization’s “why”. However, one’s personal and professional “why” can change from month to month, and even minute to minute! So today, I’m going to talk about how we can get more clear on our why, and use that clarity to keep our work relevant and rewarding for years to come.
Resources Mentioned:
VOCATIONAL AWE AND LIBRARIANSHIP: THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Recently a question popped up in a social media group i follow that stopped me scrolling cold. The anonymous poster asked: How do we handle a library director who has shiny object syndrome and keeps proposing new projects before more quickly than they can even determine whether the previous great ideas are worth doing, much less handle the boring stuff that has to be done to keep things running day in and day out? I had some thoughts for that poster, but frankly, I had much more pointed thoughts I wish I could have shared with their boss. So in today's episode, we'll discuss how we can rope in our impulses to explore every cool innovation we see before our teams have to ask for anonymous support on social media to get us to chill out!
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I've always been a little dubious about the abundance mindset thing. Yes, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. But that doesn't mean you have to accomplish everything. And it definitely doesn't mean that if you don’t accomplish your goals, then you're weak or a failure. The impossibility of simply wishing away scarcity with the right mindset is something I've always intuitively understood, because of a hard limit of my own that I've had my whole life. In today's episode I'll explain how scarcity can actually be a useful tool to find growth and abundance in your life and work.
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Resources Mentioned:
How My Cardiologist taught me about Kind Leadership (Challenge #2)
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I’ve been thinking a lot about routines this week, because changes have made my routines a bit wacky. We moved house a little over a week ago. and we’re still figuring out things like the best drawer for the rolling pins and which light switch controls what. In addition, between burning off some vacation days and some post-semester doctor appointments, I’ve also barely been in the office this week. So although this week has been a bit unsettling, it’s also forced me to lean back and take stock of what is and isn’t working in my routines, and ensure that I’m getting (and staying) in the groove, not stuck in a rut. And today, I’ll walk you through how you can do the same in your personal and professional life as a leader.
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Resources Mentioned:
How to get started with Kind Leadership (Challenge #1)\
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Today I'm discussing one of the top vote-getters in my recent listener poll: Workplace Drama! Specifically, I'll explore toxic workplace drama, healthy workplace conflict, and how a kind leader can guide team members--and themselves--to shift from the former to the latter.
~~~
Related Resources:
The Origins of Justice Stewart's "I Know It When I See It": Peter Lattman, Wall Street Journal
How to Detox Workplace Drama With One Simple Question (Challenge #30)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
This is a weird episode for me, as I try to keep things pretty evergreen on this show. However, a recent university closure hit a little close to home for me, and got me thinking about the precarious balance of mission and sustainability in all the institutions we lead. So, since I don’t think this challenge is going away anytime soon, let’s talk about it.
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
This is a weird topic for me, as I try to keep things pretty evergreen on this show. However, a recent university closure hit a little close to home for me, and got me thinking about the precarious balance of mission and sustainability in all schools and libraries these days. So since I don’t think this challenge is going away anytime soon, let’s talk about it.
~~~
Resources Mentioned:
Mr. Micawber teaches David Copperfield about Budgeting
How to Survive Budget Season (Challenge #63)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
There’s a bit of conventional wisdom that floats around, especially in mission-driven fields, that the best leaders are the reluctant ones. The ones who never sought power, but accepted the mantle when it was thrust on them, and who rose to the challenge because of, not in spite of, their lack of interest in leadership. And I have seen over the years that people who took that path to leadership often have an innate sense of humility and obligation that serves them well as they work to build a better world. But does that mean that the other side of the coin is true? That people who strive to lead should be avoided as ego-driven power seekers? Are Ambition and Kindness mutually exclusive?
Well, it's complicated.
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
So back in Episode 60, I mentioned the bonkers life I was expecting during April and May, between working on TWO different universities’ re-accreditations, moving house, multiple hiring processes, the end of the school and fiscal years at my place of work, and just the sundry ups and downs of life as an educational leader in late spring.
In episode 60 I also laid out my roadmap of how I (and by extension you) would try to get through that craziness without burning out. It’s now 6 weeks later, about half the stuff on the list above is done or at least progressing, and it feels like I owe y’all a progress report in the name of accountability. Am I indeed stopping burnout before it starts?
You'll just have to listen to find out. ;-)
~~~
Resources Mentioned:
How to Stop Burnout Before it Starts (Challenge #60)Re-watch the Challenging Conversations Livestreams
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
When you are a leader, what you think does not matter.
Well, OK, it’s not the ONLY thing that matters. You do need to have a vision and goals of your own. But if you don’t have a critical mass of team members and stakeholders that think more or less the same way, then what you think doesn’t matter, because you will not be able to make your vision an enduring reality. So today I’m gonna share things I’ve seen work to get more of your organization thinking—and moving--the same way.
~~~
Resources Mentioned:
How to get started with Kind Leadership (Challenge #1)Why Won't They Do What I Tell Them? (Challenge #32)~~~
Head’s up, it’s time for another Challenging Conversations Case Study! On Thursday, May 11 at 8:00 Eastern time, join us on LinkedIn Live to find out how to talk to a student who is unhappy with their final grade. Register at kindleadershipchallenge.com/livestream, and don’t forget to download the Mastering Challenging Conversations checklist so you can play along!
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
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Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Once upon a time I was the person who would check my email one last time before bed, or come in early on short notice to prep for an event. These days my work is a lot less urgent and a lot less visible to our patrons and faculty. And in my weaker moments, my work feels a little less important too. However, if I’ve learned nothing else in my 5 years of Deaning, I’ve learned that the more hands off and less heroic I am, the better things run in our organization. Today I’ll share how you can manage that transition.
~~~
Related Episodes:
How to Be a Powerfully Kind Leader (Challenge #3)
Why Do We Micromanage? (Challenge #33)
How to Delegate--for Real! (Challenge #45)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
You may remember that back in episode 48, I announced my word of the year is clarity. And as I reach the 1/3 mark of 2023, I am feeling a good bit clearer on who I am as a leader and leadership coach, how I want my work to flow, and on my vision for the better world I wish to see. I also realized that a lot of you probably could use more clarity about what leadership coaching is, and what leadership challenges can best be addressed with leadership coaching. So today I’m going to share my definition of leadership coaching, as well as a few examples of leadership challenges that a coach can help you conquer.
~~~
Resources Mentioned in this episode:
And My Word for 2023 is...Clarity! (Challenge #48)
~~~
Related Episodes:
Why Mastering Challenging Conversations is the Key to Kind Leadership (Challenge #22)
Who Will Tell You When You’re Being an Idiot? (Challenge #49)
When's the Last Time You Asked for Help? (Challenge #50)
Head’s up! This week's Challenging Conversations Case Study is on Thursday, April 27 at 8:00 Eastern time, Join me on LinkedIn Live to find out how to kindly tell an enthusiastic new team member that they need to take a break before they burn out! Register today, and then download the Mastering Challenging Conversations checklist so you can play along!
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Because many educational leaders find the first half of the spring semester the most stressful time of year, I’ve been talking a lot about the squishy side of kind leadership lately: self care and avoiding burnout and what-not. That said, there comes a time each year when we need to set aside the vision boards and meditation apps and open up our spreadsheets. Because budgeting season is upon most of us.
Today I’m going to share the lessons I’ve learned from leading everything from the office supply fund to a multi-million dollar academic library budget, and provide some concrete tips that will make budget season, if not stress free, at least a little less terrifying.
~~~
Related Episodes:
How To (Finally!) Tackle Your To-Do List (Challenge #51)
What if there's still too much to do? (Challenge #52)
Head’s up! On Thursday, April 20 at 8:00 PM Eastern time, The Challenging Conversations Case Studies are back! This week we'll discuss how to tell your boss that a coworker isn’t pulling their own weight! Register at kindleadershipchallenge.com/livestream, and don’t forget to download the mastering Challenging Conversations checklist so you can play along!
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Let’s just go ahead and get right down to it: your team at work is not your family, and believing otherwise will lead you down a disastrous path.
It makes sense that people often compare the two because a cohesive family and team both operate in similar ways. However, how many functional families do you actually know? The two differ quite clearly when it comes to their purpose. This makes for completely different power dynamics and interpersonal challenges.
A good, kind, leader knows when, where, and how to draw the line and set the appropriate boundaries. These can be complex situations to manage and is why leaders have a tendency to confuse their teams with their families. We’re all fallible, mistake-making human beings, so it’s completely understandable!
Tune in today for practical tips on how to navigate these different dynamics, what warning signs to look out for and how to (mostly) leave your family baggage at home, and out of the workplace.
(note: this classic episode was originally released on September 5, 2022. If you enjoyed it, explore the complete podcast archives!)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
You know how there are a few leadership sayings that have become overused almost to the point of cliché? “You can’t pour from an empty cup” is one of those for me. But then something struck me. Is there a difference between an empty cup and a cracked cup, and what are some things we can to heal the latter?
~~~
Resources MentionedHow My Cardiologist taught me about Kind Leadership (Challenge #2) Related Episodes:What if there's still too much to do? (Challenge #52)
When's the Last Time You Asked for Help? (Challenge #50)
How to Delegate--for Real! (Challenge #45)Kind Leadership Secrets for Keeping your Cool (Kind Leadership Challenge 20)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
As you're about to hear, I’ve got a lot going on, which my YOLO side always loves, but only up to a certain point. In the past, seasons like this have brought on overwork, or even outright burnout. I plan to use the three core skills of kind leadership to manage my stress over the next couple months, and stay balanced even when things are a little crazy. Keep listening to pick up some tips for your next busy season.
~~~
Resources Mentioned in this episode:
Kind Leadership Comes Back Around: A Pop Culture Parable (Challenge #58) Related Episodes:How to Cure Your End-of-Year Burnout (Kind Leadership Challenge 16)In Praise of "Quiet Quitting" (Challenge #36)How To (Finally!) Tackle Your To-Do List (Challenge #51)What if there's still too much to do? (Challenge #52)
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I talk a lot about setting and maintaining strong boundaries on this podcast. That’s for a simple reason. Many principled leaders, your host included, suck at boundaries. However, too much of any good thing leads to its own problems. So today we’re going to explore the contradictory concept of empowered vulnerability, and how admitting a weakness from a position of strength is necessary to solve the stickiest leadership problems.
~~~
Related Episodes:
The Godfather’s Guide to Saying No—Kindly! (Challenge #46)In Praise of "Quiet Quitting" (Challenge #36)Your Team Is NOT Your Family (Challenge #31)~~~
What are the three most difficult words for any leader to say?
I don't know.
(no, really. Those are the three words.)
Join this week’s livestream in the Kind Leadership Challenge Community on March 23 at 7:00 PM ET. I'll use the Mastering Challenging Conversations Checklist to teach you how to grow stronger by admitting your ignorance!
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
As long time listeners know, the Kind Leadership Challenge isn’t my only podcast. I also co-host Zilch! A Monkees Podcast. On the surface, Zilch! and the Kind Leadership Challenge are as different as two podcasts can be. And yet...each podcast has informed how I approach the other, in ways both obvious and subtle. And that was especially true this week, when I saw an interview that hammered home the cool and unexpected ways that kind leadership can often come back around to you.
~~~
Resources Discussed
Micky Dolenz and Jimmy Fallon: The Full Interview
See Micky Live this Spring!
Pre-Order Micky's Book, I'm Told I Had a Good TimeZilch! A Monkees Podcast
~~~
Related Episodes
What are your Leadership Values? (Kind Leadership Challenge #12)
How to Make Networking "Comfortably Uncomfortable" (Challenge #28)When's the Last Time You Asked for Help? (Challenge #50)
Giving and receiving favors is a major piece of kind leadership. But how do you do that?
Join this week’s livestream in the Kind Leadership Challenge Community on March 16 at 7:00 PM ET. I'll use the Mastering Challenging Conversations Checklist to teach you to build a better world by helping each other succeed!
~~~
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
When I was on a recent coaching call, my prospective client and I got onto the topic of Psychological Safety came up. It’s a theory that this person really resonates with, and I find it interesting as well. After we geeked out a bit, they mentioned that many of their colleagues had either never heard of the concept, or didn’t really understand what actions they could take to create a psychologically safe team culture. And in that moment, I realized that if those colleagues were a bit confused about the whole psychological safety thing, then some of you might be too. So let’s clear up some misconceptions and figure out how psychological safety can be used to heal a dysfunctional team culture.
~~~
Resources Discussed
What Is Psychological Safety?
Psychological Safety Team Survey
~~~
Related Episodes
First Principles February: How Kind Leadership Can Change the World (Challenge #56)
Who Will Tell You When You’re Being an Idiot? (Challenge #49)
Did You Tell Them what the Meeting's About? (Challenge #37)
Your team is NOT Your Family (Challenge #31)
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Talk about a convenient coincidence! As I was starting to write this final episode of First Principles February, I got a notification from Facebook. The group chat function for the Kind Leadership Challenge community was finally activated! As soon as I got it turned on and invited all 1200 members of our community to start discussing their leadership challenges in real time, it hit me. The third skill of kind leadership is creating collaboratively, where leaders learn to let go of some control, start to trust, and in so doing move toward their organization’s shared vision of a better world. And when it comes to my vision for the Kind Leadership Guild I already have an inkling that our new community features will allow us to do just that.
~~~
Resources:
Download the Kind Leadership Framework
Other Episodes Mentioned:
First Principles February: What Is Kind Leadership? (Challenge #53)
First Principles February: How Can Kindness Make You a Confident Leader? (Challenge #54)
First Principle February: How can Kindness create an excellent organization? (Challenge #55)
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Welcome back to First Principles February! This week is all about the second skill of kind leadership, managing effectively.
As I discussed in episodes 53 and 54, Kind Leadership is ultimately about making decisions that heal, and healing decisions are easiest to make when you are confident in yourself, your values, and in your understanding of the underlying problem.
However, generally your organization is more than 1 decision away from the better world you are trying to build. In addition, the problems that stand in the way can feel much to large and complex for your limited time, money, information, and political capital.
That’s where managing effectively comes in. This skill is all about developing repeatable decisions in the form of systems and processes that will begin shifting your institution from unsustainable dysfunction to organizational excellence.
~~~
Resources:
Download the Kind Leadership Framework
Other Episodes Mentioned:
First Principles February: What Is Kind Leadership? (Challenge #53)
First Principles February: How Can Kindness Make You a Confident Leader? (Challenge #54)
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
Follow me on LinkedIn
Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Welcome back to First Principles February! To celebrate the first anniversary of the kind leadership challenge and all the amazing growth we’ve experienced over the past year, I’m releasing a 4 part series on the basics of Kind leadership.
In week 2 of this mini-course, we’re focusing on the first of the three core skills of kind leadership, growing humanely. As I discussed last time in Challenge 53, Kind Leadership is ultimately about making decisions that heal.
That means your skill as a decisionmaker will determine how successfully you can build a better world without burning out yourself or those you lead and serve. Therefore, the first skill needed for kind leadership is learning how to be a kind leader to yourself.
By learning how to grow humanely, you can create a firm foundation of kindness that will serve you well in the storms of leadership and life.
~~~
Resources:
Download the Kind Leadership Framework
Other Episodes Mentioned:
First Principles February: What Is Kind Leadership? (Challenge #53)
Get Unstuck: a Course in Kind Leadership Decision-making
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
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Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Greetings Kind Leaders and welcome to First Principles February! A little over a year ago, on February 1, 2022, I launched the kind leadership challenge podcast. To mark this anniversary month, we’re going back to the first principles of Kind Leadership in a four part mini-course that will teach you how you can impement the kind leadership framework to build a better world. And we're kicking off with the most common question I get when I talk about this show:
"What is Kind Leadership?"
~~~
Resources:
Download the Kind Leadership Framework
Other Episodes Mentioned:
N/A
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
So let's say you followed all my advice in episode 51 last week, but still have more to do than you can manage.
Don't worry, I'm not going to blame you or tell you to "hustle harder".
I totally believe there are organizational and systemic factors beyond your control that have left too much on your plate.
I also believe there are things you can control to prevent those factors from burning you out.
I'll share some steps you can take today.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
Join the Facebook Community
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
So, we’re getting into late January. For those of you like me whose work is based on the educational calendar, the spring semester is in full swing. If you’re doing well, you’re still hanging on to the word of the year you picked after listening to episode 47, However, even if your goals and good intentions are still on your mind, they are slowly but surely being crowded out by the dozens of crises and projects that sprout up like weeds in the second half of January. So in the interest of my word of the year, clarity, we’re going to talk about how you can get clear about what really matters in the heat of the moment.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
So, stop me if you’ve ever believed one of these toxic leadership myths:
- Good Leaders have all the answers.
- Good Leaders can look at any situation and immediately know what to do.
- Good Leaders have a clear vision at all times.
- Good Leaders know what to say in any conversation.
- And that’s why Good Leaders never, ever ask for help.
Yeah, that’s all a load of bull.
If you're ever scared to ask for help, this episode's for you.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
One of the things I talk about a lot on the Kind Leadership challenge is the way in which leadership is a team sport.
Creating collaboratively is one of the three core skills of kind leadership, because all of us need people who can help us get out of our own heads and expand our perspectives.
However, there is also such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many perspectives can just leave you in a muddle. When a hard decision needs to be made but you’re not sure you’re seeing the whole picture, what do you do?
I’ve had success over the years by identifying a very small set of trusted advisors who I know beyond any doubt have the same goals as me, even, or perhaps especially, if they might have different ideas about how to get there. And today, I’ll share a great way to figure out which of your colleagues would be a good addition to your inner circle.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
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Next Steps in Kind Leadership:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
So I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger in episode 47, when I discussed my opinions about new year’s resolutions, and how I found it much more productive to instead pick a word of the year. I try to keep that word in mind for making all of my big decisions, and handling whatever opportunities the coming year may throw at me. Last week I shared some of my previous words of the year, but I made you wait until 2023 proper for this year’s word, which is…Clarity. In today’s episode I’m going to explain what I mean by clarity, how I determined clarity was the concept I want to focus on this year, and more specifically how I hope to bring more clarity to this podcast and the Kind Leadership Guild in 2023.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Pretty much every year around this time, I sit down with a notebook or Word document and make my goals for the new year. For many years this planning session would yield a long-ish laundry list of personal and professional resolutions, half of which would be abandoned by Valentine’s Day. However, the last few years I’ve taken a different approach to this new year’s ritual, one which actually has helped me accomplish some pretty cool stuff! And today, just in time for your new year’s planning, I’m going to share my new approach with you.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I talk a lot about establishing boundaries in your own leadership practice, and how to use them to protect your team as a whole. And everyone listening to this probably agrees that boundaries are a good thing. But HOW do you set them when asserting your boundaries means saying no to a team member, a community member, or even your boss? Well, today I’ll use a passage from the best selling Mafia novel of all time to walk you through a few steps that will help you learn how to say no well, or even, if you’re very good and a little lucky, talk the other person around to your point of view.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
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This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
I hate to say this, but you probably delegate a lot less than you think you do. Now, I’m sure you regularly find items on your to-do list that can be done by another team member or members, and assign those tasks to them. But after you pass those tasks along, do your really let go? Or do you Hover, or provide unsolicited advice, or take back over because it’s not being done right? Or, and this is nearly as bad as those more obvious pitfalls, do you manage to let go on the surface, but find yourself fretting away in your office over whether it will be done as well as it could have been done?
If you’ve never committed any of these delegation errors, you’re likely a saint, and certainly a better leader than me. This episode is for us mere mortals, who want and maybe need to delegate more, but struggle with the mechanics of delegating successfully.
To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with the Guild:
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Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Curious about coaching? Schedule a free 30 minute chat about a current leadership challenge at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/coaching.
This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Greetings Kind Leaders! I hope you’re all hanging in there during this hectic time of the year, when many of us are juggling holidays, family commitments, work commitments, and all the craziness that early December brings. This week’s episode is a little different, as I’m presenting my recent guest appearance on the Common Stacks podcast. Host Heather Teysko is also Director of Engagement at Library Lever, a new library buying consortium. Library Lever’s aim is to de-silo the consortia experience, so that public, academic, and special libraries can all share resources, discounts, and learn from each other. If you’d like to learn more about Library Lever or listen to more episodes of the Common Stacks Podcast, head over to librarylever.com for more information. I’ll be back next Monday with our usual weekly challenge, so until then, enjoy my chat with Heather, and stay kind now!
Check out more episodes of the Common Stacks Podcast: https://librarylever.com/common-stacks/
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This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique .
Seems like every day I’m seeing more job openings on linkedin and the other boards I follow. Between COVID hiring freezes thawing and a wave of retirements, a lot of us are bringing on new team members right now! I’ve been training new library workers for the better part of 20 years at this point, and it occurred to me that I’ve learned a lot from those experiences, both good and bad. So since a lot of us are hiring now, or will be soon, it’s time to talk about how to set your promising new hires up for long term success!
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As you listen to this on release week, I will be in a small 1980s suburban home in Tornado Alley, most likely fresh back from a grocery store run and probably debating with my mom about the merits of doing squash casserole or roasted brussels sprouts for the token “healthy” thanksgiving side dish. As we head toward the end of the year, I think it’s time to take a moment to be thankful for the good things in our lives as leaders. And yes, I promise you there’s something to be grateful for.
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To listen to more episodes or subscribe in your favorite app, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!
Connect with me:
Facebook
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Uncertainty is a part of every leader’s life. Kind Leaders try to make effective, humane and collaborative decisions based on what we know about the world around us. However, we inevitably have a partial understanding of the past, a skewed perspective on the present, and no knowledge of the future. Add in the fact that most of us feel a lot of external and internal pressure to do the “right” thing at all times, and you’ve got a recipe for paralysis. That’s why today I’m going to walk you through my framework for making kind leadership decisions—and show you how you can get more comfortable with uncertainty with every decision you make.
Get Unstuck! A course in Kind Leadership Decision-Making
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As a kind leader, you usually know where you want to go and have a plan on how you want to get there.
However, if you take a look back at the goals you have reached thus far, how many times have you actually followed the plan? Most likely, there were blind spots and challenges you didn’t see coming, where your plan went out the window.
This is similar to our host Sarah Clark’s experience in an in person Peloton class in NYC. She went for a chill Saturday morning ride, and well, it was anything BUT chill. So she thought to herself, “I need a new strategy”. Spoken like a true kind leader!
In today’s episode, how you can prepare the best way possible to reach your goals, how to re-strategize, and how to see the bigger picture.
Tune in to hear this and more!
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**In light of the positive feedback received from episode 37, where we talked about why you need to tell your team members the reason for setting a meeting with them rather than leaving them in suspense, our host Sarah Clark thought to herself, what are some other emotional triggers leaders have? More importantly, how can leaders identify and manage these triggers?
Although this list isn’t extensive, Sarah found three common emotional triggers found in the workplace that are explained in today’s episode.
Identifying these three common triggers is an essential first step to removing the toxicity from the workplace and to allow you to be the effective leader you know you are. Sometimes these emotional triggers can be in our blindspots, so understanding how to find them is half the battle.
Tune in today to learn how to identify common emotional triggers that may be going on in your workplace so you can elevate your leadership by removing them!**
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Don’t worry, this is not turning into a podcast about weight loss! However, there is a lot to learn about facing a seemingly impossible task and being successful in completing it. Whether it be losing 93 pounds, or taking on an intimidating initiative.
From knowing what and how to make changes, to researching and learning a new skill, and recruiting the right people to help you reach your goals, making a plan is the best way (arguably the only way) to be successful in a difficult task.
Sticking to this plan is another challenge, so adding fail safes and people to keep you in check is just as important, as well as allowing room for failure.
This strategy can be used for any difficult, yet great, initiative, that you know, once complete, it will make all the difference for you and everyone around you.
Tune in to hear how Sarah used the lessons she learned in her weight loss journey in her kind leadership journey!
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When going into a meeting with little to no context, it's easy to jump to the worst possible conclusion. Especially if a team member has had negative experiences with previous bosses who behaved unkindly toward them, their imagination can make things seem much more catastrophic than they are in reality!
While it’s not your responsibility as a leader to make your team members feel 100% comfortable 100% of the time, simply changing the way you phrase a meeting request can make all the difference.
There’s no need for meeting invitations to be mysterious. Remember, your pleasant surprise might be someone else’s sleepless night! Unless there is a legal or HR-related reason that you can’t, this is an official leadership challenge to ensure that your meeting agendas are crystal clear.
It may seem like a small detail, but it's these details that show whether you are truly a thoughtful and kind leader—and you’ll save your team members any unnecessary “we need to talk” fear!
To learn more about the huge impact that just a little context can make, you won't want to miss today’s short and sweet episode.
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Hustle culture is not sustainable for anyone, no matter how dedicated and passionate they feel towards their position. After slowing down during the pandemic, many people are ditching this mindset in place of a better work-life balance. Enter this year’s new phenomenon: quiet quitting.
The term ‘quiet quitting’ implies something negative, but in fact, it means doing your job as described, not going above and beyond to the detriment of your own health and happiness. I've taught and applied these principles of setting healthy boundaries in the workplace before the trend became viral.
Instead of letting your team feel exhausted from long hours and work pressure, it’s time to learn from this concept to forge a kinder work environment. I'll discuss why this will help you and your team, and end this episode with an easy challenge to get you started.
Tune in to hear examples of why quiet quitting can help your organization grow humanely, be managed effectively, and create collaboratively!
Be sure to read this article from The Guardian, Quiet quitting: why doing the bare minimum at work has gone global.
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
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Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Public speaking is a point of contention for many people. There are times in our lives where public speaking is inevitable, and most don’t feel equipped to do it well. However, you don’t have to do it well, you just have to do it a lot.
Think of presenting in front of an audience like another type of conversation. If you think of it that way, many of you who receive our email newsletters will already have the tools you need to speak in front of an audience effectively. You can use the items off our Mastering Challenging Conversations Checklist to help plan your next presentation or speech.
If you’re not signed up for the newsletters, this episode will go over the key points of what it takes to be a good public speaker and how you can fine tune your skills by shifting your perspective from perfection, to gaining confidence through repetition.
Tune in to hear how you can start proving to yourself that you can become a skilled, confident public speaker, and become that effective public speaker you have always dreamed to be!
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
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Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
What does leading a strategic plan for a library and riding a bike have in common? A ton, actually!
Keeping your eyes forward, focusing on the task at hand, and trusting the process. These are all points to take into account when doing both strategic planning and riding a bike.
**If you start to veer off track and look around instead of the plan you have carefully decided on, there will be scrapes and bruises.
So, tune in to today’s short episode to learn how you can use the same concepts of riding a bike on creating a strategic plan for your library or school.**
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Are you a micromanager? I know all too well what being a micromanager entails, and where it comes from: a lack of trust.
Micromanaging can have detrimental effects, like burnout, loss of connection, and living in a state of undue stress. If you are a micromanager, ask yourself this, how would it feel if you let go of control and allowed others to manage themselves?
This thought may make you anxious, but bare with us. Giving up control can actually be a good thing! Not only does it teach trust and helps you move out of fear, allowing others to take ownership of their work can elevate the overall quality of work. Instead of you trying to do everything, spreading yourself thin, allowing others to focus on a task that they’re good at while you do the same is a win win for everyone involved.
So, how do you stop micromanaging to create freedom for yourself? This is what we will be discussing in today’s episode where Sarah will take you through practical steps you can take to identify the issues and implement a solution.
Tune in to hear how you can increase your trust and decrease your micromanagement!
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
Connect with me:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
It’s time for another leadership challenge!
Today, we’re looking at a real-world scenario where a leader feels they are clearly communicating their expectations, but team members just aren’t quite getting it.
We should warn you though, any possible solution to this type of problem ultimately involves having a conversation that could make everyone feel a bit uncomfortable.
On the bright side, we’ve got a whole lot of practical advice for you!
In order to solve a problem like the one we have here, you first need to understand the reasons behind it. These could be any number of things including simply not understanding your instructions, not understanding the need—or the why— of your instructions, disagreeing with your instructions or disagreeing with your authority to give said instructions.
There are different ways of dealing with each possibility, but at the end of the day, people just want to be heard and know that they are supported.
Tune in today for helpful tips on how to navigate disagreements when it comes to giving and receiving instructions, and create a kinder, more harmonious work environment.
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
Connect with me:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Let’s just go ahead and get right down to it: your team at work is not your family, and believing otherwise will lead you down a disastrous path.
It makes sense that people often compare the two because a cohesive family and team both operate in similar ways. However, how many functional families do you actually know? The two differ quite clearly when it comes to their purpose. This makes for completely different power dynamics and interpersonal challenges.
A good, kind, leader knows when, where, and how to draw the line and set the appropriate boundaries. These can be complex situations to manage and is why leaders have a tendency to confuse their teams with their families. We’re all fallible, mistake-making human beings, so it’s completely understandable!
Tune in today for practical tips on how to navigate these different dynamics, what warning signs to look out for and how to (mostly) leave your family baggage at home, and out of the workplace.
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
Connect with me:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better.
Workplace drama is unnecessary and quite frankly, annoying! Do we really need to bring melodrama into the workplace?
Of course, where there are humans, there will be some sort of conflict, but there are usually solutions to at least diffuse the constant emotional unloading. The question is, is the person who is in the drama wanting a solution to their problem, or do they want to be comforted?
This question is very important, and it is something we will be exploring in today’s episode. First asking this question, then what to do when you receive the answer.
As a kind leader, your first instinct is to want to move on from the drama so everyone can get back to work in a healthy environment, but these are real situations that happen. So having the tools in place before they come up is very important to diffuse the situation as it comes up.
Tune in today for helpful tips on how to move on from workplace drama and cultivate a kind work environment for everyone!
To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
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Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better. As well as for a chance to win a copy of Joan Gallo’s and Lee Bolman’s ‘Reframing Academic Leadership’.
Are you ready to conquer your biggest leadership challenge once and for all?
The fall class of the Kind Leadership Academy Coaching Program starts September 9!
Email sarah@kindleadershipguild.com to schedule a chat and learn more.
You’ve heard me say it many times, “stay kind now”. This phrase sounds like a simple pleasantry, however it is so much more than that. This phrase is quite powerful, and each word on its own can be broken down to convey what we are trying to achieve with this podcast.
In today’s episode you will be hearing me break down “stay kind now”, word for word, so you can get a better understanding of its magnitude and maybe inspire you to use this phrase in your own life.
Together we can start to create a better, kinder, world. One “stay kind now” at a time.
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To listen to more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts here!
Connect with me:
Go to kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations and enter your email to start having the conversations that will impact your community for the better. You'll also have a chance to win a copy of Joan Gallo’s and Lee Bolman’s ‘Reframing Academic Leadership’.
Are you ready to conquer your biggest leadership challenge once and for all?
The fall class of the Kind Leadership Academy Coaching Program starts September 9!
Email sarah@kindleadershipguild.com to schedule a chat and learn more.
I’m going to warn you up front, today’s episode is one of those “podcaster, heal thyself” situations. Because despite how confident and with-it I may sound on these episodes, I’m an introvert who stinks at networking. However, to fulfill the potential of both the university I serve and this side project, it’s time to suck it up and start more intentionally making connections. Today I’m going to share 3 steps I’m taking to become a better networker, partly for accountability, but mostly because I think my struggles might resonate with a lot of my listeners. So with that, let’s all get comfortably uncomfortable!
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Master Challenging Conversations (and get a chance to win a copy of Reframing Academic Leadership!)
LinkedIn's Social Saturday Squad (and you cann connect with me on LinkedIn right here!)
Are you ready to conquer your biggest leadership challenge once and for all?
The fall class of the Kind Leadership Academy Coaching Program starts September 9!
Email sarah@kindleadershipguild.com to schedule a chat and learn more.
From July 24th to 29th, I had one of the most amazing professional experiences of my entire life at the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. And I kept a journal of sorts, in the form of livestreams and posts I shared with the Kind Leadership Challenge Facebook community. Today I’ll be revisiting those recordings to share what I learned, and how you can implement those lessons in your own leadership practice as well.
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Master Challenging conversations--and enter to win a copy of Reframing Academic Leadership by Joan Gallos and Lee Bolman!
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Are you ready to conquer your biggest leadership challenge once and for all?
The fall class of the Kind Leadership Academy Coaching Program starts September 9!
Email sarah@kindleadershipguild.com to schedule a chat and learn more.
My fellow library and educational leaders, I come to you today with an uncomfortable truth.
It’s time to listen to your shadow.
We all have things about ourselves we don't like, or try to ignore. And we leader types just tend to find a big ol’ black box, shove those shadows in, and slam the door tight.
But what would you say if I told you that your dark side might just hold the secret to becoming the kind leader you're meant to be?
(Originally released 3/28/2022)
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Resources:
Master Challenging Conversations
Kind Leadership Challenge Community
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Are you ready to conquer your biggest leadership challenge once and for all?
The fall class of the Kind Leadership Academy Coaching Program starts September 9!
Email sarah@kindleadershipguild.com to schedule a chat and learn more.
As I mentioned back in episode 10, I am the proud owner of a Peloton. One of the big reasons I bought a Peloton was because I have to exercise first thing in the morning or it never happens, and there’s not really any better way to ensure I exercise first thing in the morning than to have a $2000 spin bike sitting 5 feet from the edge of my bed. There’s probably an episode on establishing good leadership habits in there, but that’s a topic for another day. Today’s topic instead is an epiphany I had in a class I took this morning, and how it might help you reframe your next leadership breakdown.
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Coaching and Speaking inquiries: sarah@kindleadershipguild.com
Master Challenging Conversations
I have a big vision for the Kind Leadership Guild. I think I’ve mentioned it in passing here and there, but my long term goal is to create the Kind Leadership Academy, a membership community where dozens or even hundreds of educational and library leaders can safely and privately discuss their challenges. Where leaders like you can take part in live monthly training on real-world leadership topics, and engage in small group or even 1 on 1 coaching experiences tailored to your unique situations. Where different levels of support are available at different prices, so that no leader will be excluded from learning Kind Leadership simply because their organization can’t pay them what they are worth. And where, by working together collectively, we can build the better world each of us envisioned when we became educational or library leaders.
But I also have a vision for my life that involves a somewhat demanding day job, quality time with my spouse and friends, regular exercise, something resembling 8 hours sleep, and above all a promise I made to myself around the time I founded the Kind Leadership Guild in late 2019: That I will never burn myself out for a vision again.
So, how am I squaring that circle? By employing the second of the three skills of Kind Leadership: Managing effectively. Keep listening for a case study, and for the scoop on my next baby steps toward the Kind Leadership Academy.
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Email me to learn more about the Kind Leadership Academy: sarah@kindleadershipguild.com
Master Challenging Conversations
Join the Kind Leadership Challenge Community
How can you grow your leadership skills, regardless of your job title? My Guest Alvina Peat and I will be talking about this in the first interview episode of the Kind Leadership Challenge. It’s a little longer than our usual episodes, but filled with a lot of value for anyone who wants to be more effective, humane, and collaborative in their work building a better world.
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Resources:
More about Alvina Peat
Register for the HER 2022 Retreat (July 30, 2022)
TCBWomen Community
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Join the Conversation in the Kind Leadership Challenge Community
When people join the Kind Leadership Challenge facebook community, one of the entrance questions is:
What is your biggest kind leadership challenge?
I was reading over some of those questions earlier today and I was struck by something I’d never noticed before. Almost all of the challenges our community members describe could be resolved, or at least start to be resolved, by having a challenging conversation. And today I’ll pull out a few examples and explain why that’s the case.
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Resources:
Master Challenging Conversations
Join the Community
Today’s challenge is a hypothetical scenario, one that I’m sure hasn't happened to anybody listening to this episode.
But it will teach you the one skill that is necessary to making powerful leadership decisions that move you and your school or library closer to your full potential.
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Resources:
Mastering Challenging Conversations
Join the Community!
I was skimming through my emails looking for something else when I remembered it.
Between the amazon receipts and updates from my favorite newsletters, I saw the three-week old order confirmation for a free tee shirt.
I got the shirt for being a long-time customer of a brand that will remain nameless for reasons that will soon be obvious.
I had an order confirmation, but, as I skimmed my emails again, I had never gotten a shipping conformation, or even a notice that said the expected delivery time. Some mild irritation began gathering in my neck and forehead, where I tend to hold on to my anger and stress.
Three weeks was plenty of time to ship a Tee shirt.
What was UP Here?
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Links:
Master Challenging Conversations (and get Kind Leadership tips every weekday)
The Kind Leadership Challenge Community
Why is a Challenging Conversation challenging?
Well, as we’re going to discuss today, challenging emotions make for challenging conversations.
That’s probably not surprising to you.
But what’s the cause of all of those challenging emotions?
Well, that answer IS a little surprising.
It’s closely related a kind leadership skill you can use this week to have the difficult conversations that will shift you and those you work with from drama to trust, so you and your school or library can get down to the real business of building a better world.
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Resources mentioned:
Get the free Mastering Challenging Conversations Guide
Join the Kind Leadership Challenge community
Email Sarah: sarah@kindleadershipguild.com
So here’s a tough question for you. Is it possible to conduct a mass layoff in a kind manner?
If you are an educational or library leader listening to this episode, you have either already ended the employment of a team member or will do so at some point in your career. There’s no getting around that unpleasant reality. I’ve made a lot of hard decisions in my career, as we all have. One of the hardest leadership decisions I’ve had to make was when I had to figure out how to lay off several of my team members in a humane manner, following the rules, and without betraying my values or burning out.
Today I’m going to tell you a little bit about that experience, and share the kind leadership principles I learned from it, so can prepare for the next time you have to make a decision like this.
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Links:
Mastering Challenging Conversations : https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations
Join the Community: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
The Free Mastering Challenging Conversations Guide is Live! Get it now at https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/conversations .
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Show notes and Transcript: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/17
Join the Challenge Community: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
As I record this, the 2021-22 school year is winding down at my place of work. It’s definitely been the most “normal” year we’ve had in a while, but it’s still been exhausting in ways big and small. As I know is true for many of you, our organization is tired, I am tired, and we’re all looking forward to shifting into a different phase of the year. I normally write these episodes in batches, but I wanted to bump this one to the front of the line. Because as I was driving home the other day, I had a realization about the source of a lot of my leadership burnout over the years, as well as a possible solution.
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Reserve your free copy of Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/15
Join the Challenge Community: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
In August of 2011, I started one of my favorite PhD classes, Organizational Theory. I learned something in my first evening of class that deeply informed the way I see leadership, and the daily ins and outs of conflict and debate we all have to navigate. And it all started with sitting on top of my desk.
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Explore the 6 Lenses of Kind Decision-Making: https://kindleadershipguild.com/how-to-be-a-kind-leader/
Reserve your free copy of Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/15
Join the Challenge Community: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
Most people will live up to your expectations--as long as you're clear on what they are, the rewards for meeting them, and the consequences for violating them. But it often feels like a struggle to hold people accountable to your expectations in moments where they’re struggling for good and understandable reasons, without becoming a uncaring, toxic boss. Every Kind leader has struggled with this issue, and the good news is that humane accountability isn’t an oxymoron—it’s the essence of managing your team effectively. And today, I’ll teach you how to do just that.
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Episode and Case Study Transcript: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/14
Join the Community: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
Get Un-Stuck!: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/course
Email your thoughts:sarah@kindleadershipguild.com
The solution to essentially all leadership problems can be found on the other side of an uncomfortable conversation.
And believe it or not—the best way to have a successful conversation that solves your problem is…
to stop looking for a solution.
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Reserve your copy of Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/13
Join the Challenge Community: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
What are your leadership values?
No really, I want to think about it. what do you believe, and how does those beliefs influence the decisions you make as a leader?
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Get Early Access to Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/12 (signup box on right side of the page)
Join this Week's Challenge: https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
Picture it: Tulsa, Oklahoma, early 2001.
I was an eager young marketing associate in my first job out of college, at a telecom company with a stick price soaring up the dot com boom’s exponential growth curve. The executives kept bragging on CNBC about how our customer list was growing, and our futures with it. No, we weren’t yet an Enron or a Worldcom, but we were right behind them! Well, they were more right than any of us knew. There was trouble brewing at my glamorous new job, and soon even a clueless kid like me could see it. But with only one exception, nobody talked about what we all saw except to downplay or deny it, and that silence sealed our fate.
Here's how you can avoid the same mistake.
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Reserve your copy of Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/11
Join the Kind Leadership Challenge Community:
https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
It was day six of owning my shiny new Peloton. Being a gadget loving middle aged lady on something of a health kick lately, I was loving the heck out of my 45th birthday gift to myself, which I’d saved and planned for over the previous few months. I’d ridden every day since the bike had been delivered, and in another week or so I was planning to start a challenging daily routine to kick up my cardiovascular system. So I wake up, energized, refreshed, ready to smash another personal record. And then when I reached over to turn off the alarm, my back and shoulder howled in pain.
Now what?
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Mastering Challenging Conversations: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/
(follow the arrow)
Join the Community: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
It was the middle of March 2020, and I was livid. I sat in our apartment complex’s parking lot, one hand clenched around my phone, the other slamming into the side of my steering wheel over and over...
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Reserve your FREE copy of Mastering Challenging Conversations (out 5/30): https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/ (Signup box on right sidebar)
Join the Challenge Community: https://www.kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
My fellow library and educational leaders, I come to you today with an uncomfortable truth. It’s time to listen to your shadow. We all have things about ourselves we don't like, or try to ignore. And us leader types we just tend to find a big ol’ black box, shove those shadows in, and slam the door tight. What would you say if I told you that your shadow might just hold the secret to becoming the kind leader you want to be?
~~~
Get Unstuck!
https://www.kindleadershipguild.com/course/
Join the Community and catch our Wednesday livestreams!
https://www.kindleadershipguild.com/coummunity/
Education and libraries are helping professions! A lot of us go into these fields at least in part because we want to do work that has the potential to make the world a better place. And a few of us take the leap into leadership, at least in part, because we want to scale our impact in ways that will influence our entire school or library, and perhaps even the wider community it serves. But there’s a paradox in leadership that many new leaders struggle with, and to be honest it’s one I still fight from time to time. More often than we’d like to admit, being helpful is actually UNHELPFUL.
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Get UnStuck!
https://www.kindleadershipguild.com/course/
Join the community and catch the Wednesday livestreams!
https://www.kindleadershipguild.com/community/
How can we achieve our big visions? In the leadership world we talk a lot about Vision. How I understand how vision works in the kind leadership model is that our vision is sort of, well, our understanding of the better world that we want to see and we want to help create through our work and the work of our organizations. It’s what keeps us going, especially if we can envision it in detail as well as the major steps that you need to take to get from where you are now to where you want to be. Because a vision without the right plan to execute it is nothing but a dream.
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Resources:
Join the Challenge Community and catch the weekly livestreams
Get Un-stuck! a Course in Kind Leadership Decisionmaking
Here’s one of those ugly truths about leadership that a lot of the gurus gloss over. You can only be as good a leader as your relationship with your team is, and your relationship with your team is only as strong as the ties of trust between you. But how can you tell that they trust you, or that you trust them for that matter? It can be a messy process of getting to know each other with lots of slips and setbacks, and it’s the rare employee that will flat out tell a leader whether or not they’re trusted. But there are a few subtle clues that will tell you if you’re making progress in building a trusting team, and I’ll share one of them today.
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Join This Week's Challenge: https://kindleadershipguild.com/community
Get Un-Stuck!: https://kindleadershipguild.com/course
You have it. I have it. We all have it. The nagging problem with our team our or boss or a stakeholder that we’re too scared to face. Or maybe the change you see needs to happen, but doesn’t seem to be worth the organizational roadblocks standing in your way. So you delay the conversation, you make excuses, you hope it’ll turn around on its own. And every once in a while it does—or at least you tell yourself it does. But does it?
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Join This Week's Challenge: https://kindleadershipguild.com/community
Get Un-Stuck!: https://kindleadershipguild.com/course
How can we as leaders wield our power in a kind manner? Ultimately we’re the boss, the head honcho, the big cheese. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that, especially when you’re juggling lockdowns, mandates, a burnt-out team and a frustrated community. But what if you actually have a lot LESS power than you think? That realization can actually be pretty empowering in itself.
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Links:
Join the Challenge Community!
https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
Get Un-Stuck!
https://kindleadershipguild.com/course
Why is Kind Leadership all about healing?
Most Leaders think the answer to creating a better school or library is fixing stuff. And every once in a while, things are that simple!
But that’s why focusing just on fixing can be so dangerous. I learned this from a pediatric cardiologist who was one of my first leadership role models. Healing yourself and others is more complicated than fixing problems. But it’s also the definition of kind leadership.
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Links:
Kind Leadership Decision-Making (The Course): https://kindleadershipguild.com/course
Kind Leadership Challenge (The Free Facebook Group): https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community
What’s the first step to becoming a Kind Leader?
Everyone likes the idea of being a Kind leader, but unfortunately they rarely see it in action. The good news is the first step I reveal in today’s challenge will automatically teach you the second step, and third step, and so on. And before you know it, you will begin to teach yourself how to heal yourself, your team, and your world.
I had to re-learn the answer to today’s question recently while planning to launch this podcast! I wanted to make it the best, most appealing, and most useful leadership podcast I could, and, well, you’ll hear what happened next.
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Links:
Kind Leadership Decision-Making (The Course): https://kindleadershipguild.com/course
Kind Leadership Challenge (The Free Facebook Group): https://kindleadershipchallenge.com/community