Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Coaching is now recognized as essential leadership behavior, but it can be challenging to practice. Leaders have to replace one set of behaviors and their rewards with another. Michael Bungay Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap, explains how to stay curious a little bit longer.

What does someone do with their life if emotional and physical pain is all they have ever known? What happens when they hit "rock bottom"? In this "transformation story," Lisa Sargese explains how she drew on spiritual and personal strength, and the words from those around her, to pull herself up and move forward. Her journey isn't over, but she has experienced tremendous personal growth by helping to support others in need.

Many of us have experienced that nagging feeling that "There has to more to life than this." But, what do we do about it? Some of us do nothing other than listen to our inner critic about our shortcomings. Garry Turner took a different approach. He decided that a lovely house, good salary, a nice car and other accoutrements of "success" weren't enough. He knew he was missing something – there was more to his life's purpose that he wasn't seeing. Listen in as he shares his story of awakening.

As leaders, how is what we say and how we say it critical to staff growth and organizational success? In his new book, Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don't, L. David Marquet (USS Navy ret) explains. Here, he digs deeper into how language can transform leadership and staff performance. Ultimately changing the language we use with each other helps us see the leader in ourselves.

How do you best manage life's transitions, and the inevitable ups and downs of life? In this episode of Getting Unstuck, we'll hear some interesting suggestions based on the concept of "Emotional Empowerment" from Dr. Carla Cooke: psychotherapist, speaker, radio host, and author.

Our lives are rarely linear. Most of us start out "here" and then make a series of twists and turns. Sometimes we're the driver. Sometimes fate and opportunity take the wheel. And sometimes someone else says "I'll drive." In this "Transformation Story," we hear from Randy Ginsburg – his journey from being bullied to entrepreneur to author sharing a path of potential growth for others.

In this conversation, we are joined by Tara Nolan. Tara is a leadership coach, a team coach, a facilitator of leadership training programs, a keynote speaker and host of "The Game of Teams" podcast. As Tara shares her backstory, we learn about her seemingly easy ability to "reinvent" herself, but also her need to better understand what she was moving away from and the reasons why. Her recognition of the importance of self-reflection becomes a light she shines into teams to help improve their performance.

Our lives are rarely linear. Most of us start out "here" and then make a series of twists and turns. In this series, we call "Transformation Stories," we interview one individual about how they came to be where they are now – aligned with who they really are and where they want to be in life. In this episode, we talk with Rachel Druckenmiller. Rachel knew early on that she had a voice that could serve a higher purpose, but it was muted. She unleashed it by asking herself the question "Where am I hiding?"

The New Year fast approaches, and that means 'tis the season of "New Year's resolutions." It's not surprising that we take on these goals. Most of us want something greater for ourselves – a different version of ourselves perhaps. But wanting and doing are two different enterprises. The sad fact is that most our best intentions fail as early as February. In this episode, we posit why this might be happening and how a different approach just might yield the results we want.

What does real organizational change look like in action? We've talked a lot about change here on our podcast, and we written extensively about the process in our forthcoming book, Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change. (Corwin Press) But writing about it and actually facilitating it are different. So today, we shift from our traditional interview format and have an informal discussion around a change initiative we're facilitating for a client where we are putting ideas into practice.