“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion” – bell hooks

Here are a few things we’ve learned from facilitating our course: The ADHD Primer For Leadership

• The importance of safety – people were able to take their preverbal masks off and be themselves. So many with ADHD have to put on their masks to work within a neurotypical world. It’s amazing thing to watch those masks get set aside.
• The value of being understood – To be in a space where people “get” you is foreign for many ADHD leaders and an experience everyone should have. We heard “I feel seen” a lot. Knowing you’re not alone opens the door to empathy, understanding, and shared resilience, transforming isolation into a shared journey of strength and growth.
• The power of connection – When people “get” you, you’re able to connect on a unique and powerful level. This was such a moving piece of the experience we’re now providing a space where leaders who took our course can meet and keep the connection and discussion going.
• Breaks at the right time are necessary for holding focus – Our breaks were timed perfectly and no one wanted to leave when time was up! We’ve since extended the class time a little so we can get through all the material and not feel rushed. It is a long block of time but attendees felt like it went by fast.

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In the face of tough economic times, businesses are constantly seeking ways to adapt and remain resilient. The global economy, recession, and job market instability have highlighted the importance of strong leadership and strategic decision-making. One solution is leadership coaching, a powerful tool for unlocking success and driving positive change. With the right guidance, leaders can navigate economic challenges and emerge stronger on the other side. In this post we’ll explore the surprising benefits of leadership coaching and how it can help organizations thrive during financial uncertainty.

Enhancing Decision-Making Skills

One of the most significant benefits of leadership coaching is the development of decision-making skills. Coaches help leaders understand the consequences of their choices, reduce blind spots and assist them in identifying the most effective solutions for their organization. By addressing cognitive biases and promoting analytical thinking, coaching empowers leaders to make informed decisions that can improve the organization's overall performance in challenging economic times.

Building Emotional Intelligence and Resilience

Emotional intelligence is a key attribute for leaders, especially during tough economic times when stress levels are high. Leadership coaching helps individuals develop empathy, self-awareness, and emotional regulation. These skills enable leaders to manage their own emotions, foster positive relationships with their team, and effectively navigate difficult situations. Ultimately, emotional intelligence contributes to a more resilient organization that can weather economic storms.

Encouraging Innovation and Adaptability

Innovation and adaptability are crucial in a rapidly changing business landscape. Leadership coaching cultivates a mindset that embraces change and encourages creativity, helping organizations stay ahead of the competition. Coaches work with leaders to identify opportunities for growth and develop strategies to capitalize on them. By fostering a culture of innovation, organizations can better adapt to the challenges of tough economic times and uncover new paths to success.

Strengthening Team Dynamics and Engagement

A strong, cohesive team is essential for success in any business environment, but it becomes even more critical during economic downturns. Leadership coaching helps leaders develop effective communication skills, foster collaboration, and build trust within their team. By creating a positive work environment and ensuring team members feel valued and supported, leaders can boost employee engagement and productivity, leading to better organizational performance.

Promoting Long-Term Growth and Sustainability

Investing in leadership coaching during tough economic times demonstrates a commitment to long-term growth and sustainability. Coaches help leaders develop strategic plans that align with their organization's mission and values, creating a strong foundation for future success. As leaders become more adept at navigating challenges and seizing opportunities, their organizations will be better positioned to achieve sustainable growth, even in the face of economic adversity.

Conclusion

Leadership coaching is a valuable investment in any business environment, but its importance becomes even more pronounced during tough economic times. By enhancing decision-making skills, building emotional intelligence, encouraging innovation, strengthening team dynamics, and promoting long-term growth, leadership coaching can unlock success and help organizations weather the storm of economic uncertainty. Don't wait for the storm to pass; embrace the opportunity to grow stronger and more resilient with the support of an experienced leadership coach.

Scale.us

At Scale.us, we understand the importance of strong leadership and are dedicated to helping organizations navigate these uncertain times. We’ll work closely with you to develop customized strategies that align with your organization's mission and values, fostering innovation, adaptability, and growth. Get in touch with Virginia or Casey to arrange a call and determine if we're the right fit for your coaching needs. We look forward to working with you!

It's easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment, allowing our emotions to dictate our reactions. However, learning to create space between these two components can lead to improved decision-making, better relationships, and greater mental well-being. In this article, we'll explore the importance of putting space between emotions and reactions, tips to help in various situations, and how coaching can facilitate reflection and awareness.

The Importance of Space

Emotions are natural and inevitable human responses, but they can also be overwhelming and lead to impulsive reactions that we may later regret. By creating space between emotions and reactions, we give ourselves time to reflect on our feelings, understand the situation, and choose an appropriate response. This space can help us avoid acting out of anger, fear, or frustration and instead, respond in a way that aligns with our values and long-term goals.

Tips for Creating Space in the Moment

1. Pause and breathe: When you feel an intense emotion, take a moment to pause and breathe deeply. This simple technique can help you regain focus and create space for reflection.

2. Label your emotions: Identifying and naming your emotions can help you distance yourself from them, making it easier to recognize their influence on your reactions.

3. Practice mindfulness: Engage in mindfulness exercises, such as meditation or grounding techniques, to help you stay present and create space between your emotions and reactions.

4. Reframe the situation: Try to look at the situation from a different perspective, which can help you develop a more balanced and rational response.

5. Set boundaries: Know your limits and establish personal boundaries to protect yourself from being overwhelmed by emotions and reacting impulsively.

6. Seek support: Reach out to friends, family, or a professional for guidance, as talking through your emotions can help create space between your feelings and your reactions.

The Role of Coaching

Coaching can play a significant role in helping you create space between your emotions and reactions. Here are a few of the benefits of cultivating your own coaching relationship:

1. Provide a safe space: Coaching offers a non-judgmental and supportive environment where you can openly express your emotions and explore your reactions.

2. Enhance self-awareness: Coaching can help you identify your emotional triggers, strengths, and weaknesses, allowing you to develop a deeper understanding of how your emotions influence your reactions.

3. Offer guidance and tools: Coaching can teach you effective strategies to create space between your emotions and reactions, such as cognitive reframing, stress management, and communication techniques.

4. Encourage reflection: Coaching can help you examine the consequences of your actions, enhancing your hindsight and foresight, enabling you to learn from your experiences and make better choices in the future.

5. Foster accountability: Coaching can help you set realistic goals and develop strategies for self-accountability, encouraging personal growth and long-term change in ways authentic to your internal drive. This moves accountability out of the fear based realm into the realm of unlimited possibilities.

Creating space between your emotions and reactions is essential for personal growth, healthy relationships, and overall well-being. By practicing the tips outlined in this article and considering the support of a coach, you can enhance your ability to navigate challenging situations with grace and self-awareness. In doing so, you'll be better equipped to make thoughtful decisions that align with your values and goals, fostering a more balanced and fulfilling life.

If you’d like to learn more about what your own coaching journey could look like, reach out to Virginia or Casey.

Creativity is a fundamental component of human nature. It allows us to solve problems, express ourselves, and innovate. It is also a vital factor in professional success. Many careers require a high degree of creativity, and companies often seek out employees who can bring fresh ideas to the table.

However, there are times when we might find ourselves lacking in inspiration or struggling to come up with new ideas. This can be frustrating, especially when creativity is expected of us at work. So, what can we do when we're not feeling very creative?

1. Take a break

Sometimes, the best thing to do when you're feeling stuck is to step away from the problem. Take a walk, listen to music, or engage in a different activity that you enjoy. This break can help to clear your mind and allow for fresh inspiration to emerge.

Research has found that walking activates the DMN, the Default Mode Network of your brain, leading to increased connectivity between brain regions and the generation of new ideas. When a person walks, their mind is free to wander, and they can engage in internal thought without the distractions of the external environment. This mental state is conducive to creative thinking, as it allows for the generation of new and innovative ideas.

So, rather than pushing through to force creativity, taking a break and a walk may lead to a breakthrough moment when you least expect it.

1. Seek out inspiration

Surrounding yourself with sources of inspiration can help to spark your creativity. Look for inspiration in books, movies, art, or other creative outlets. Seek out new experiences and try new things to expand your horizons and gain fresh perspectives.

What assumptions or hidden limitations may be holding you back from trying a new direction or considering a new source of inspiration?

1. Collaborate with others

Collaboration can be a powerful tool for creativity. Working with others can provide new ideas, feedback, and insights. Brainstorming sessions or collaborative projects can help to generate new ideas and inspire creativity.

So often we get trapped in our own mind and collaboration is a way to get our thoughts out in the open and consider a new perspective which can be cathartic to all involved.

1. Embrace limitations

Sometimes, limitations can be a source of creativity. Embrace the limitations of a project or task and use them as a challenge to find innovative solutions. Constraints can force you to think outside the box and come up with new ideas.

Sometimes too many options, too many possible directions can cause us to lock up creatively. It’s a bit counterintuitive but limitations are pieces of the puzzle you don’t have to debate or decide, allowing you to focus your creative energy.

1. Practice creativity

Like any skill, creativity requires practice. Make time for creative activities outside of work, such as writing, drawing, or playing music. This can help to develop your creative muscles and make it easier to tap into your creativity when it's needed at work.

Creativity is an essential component of success in many fields. When we're not feeling very creative, there are several things we can do to spark our inspiration, including taking a break, seeking out inspiration, collaborating with others, embracing limitations, and practicing creativity. By incorporating these strategies into our work routine, we can harness our creative drive and achieve our professional goals.

A new year is full of new beginnings, promises to ourselves and others. This year I’m letting go of my old career in engineering to continue my growth and service to you as a coach. Letting go of my previous career has allowed me to see things from a different perspective and I hope to be the lens to allow you to see things in a new light.

So often our pathway to growth and fulfillment is blocked by our own desires to shape reality into the vision in our head. We end up trying to control people and situations that our very much out of our control while ignoring things we can control.

In 2023 I challenge you to look at your own situation and question what is really in your control and what might be behind this need to control.

If you’d like to learn more about working together schedule a call with me or email me at casey@scale.us

More about me: About Casey

- Casey

This could not have happened without the understanding and support of many people.

At the beginning of this year, I was the owner of the most important company I have ever created, Cuties. In August, I passed the ownership and leadership of the organization on to Sasha Jones. She is centering the needs of the Black queer community in ways I could never do. The mission of Cuties is increasingly realized every day under her leadership.

At the beginning of the year, I worked as a VP at Go Get Em Tiger. Under Kyle and Charles, I've had three years to contribute to a company imagining, implementing, and proving that they can raise the bar for the future of coffee and hospitality. My growth as a coach has been made possible with their support.

I must thank everyone who I have been lucky enough to receive coaching from over the years, both in group settings and individually: Jerry Colonna, Ali Schultz, and Claire Haas. I must thank my coaching instructors Belma González and Dewey Schott. Every single one of you modeled a way of being that I needed to see, a way of being I needed to know was possible. You created so much space for me and the people in my life, and I need you to know that.

And thank you to all my clients who have worked with me over the past year. I'm going to let you in on a not-so-secret secret: we as coaches grow because of our clients. You make us better humans by allowing us to witness your growth, your self-compassion, and your self-love. It is such an honor to work with you.

And finally, my deepest thanks go to my wife, Tara Patterson. The 20 years we have been together was the armor protecting us in this pandemic. You break my heart open with gratitude and love every day.

So here we are, nearing the end of 2020. Many of us have voted. Most of us have cried. We have said goodbye to someone we love.

My heart is very clear about what I want to do in 2021: just coach.

More about working with me: Coaching More about me: About Virginia

Book a coaching AMA call or email me at virginia@scale.us.

Prior: Your husband's a homo.

Harper: Oh, ridiculous! Really?

Prior: Threshold of revelation.

Harper: Well, I don't like your revelations. I don't think you intuit well at all. Joe's a very normal man. Oh god. Oh god. Do homos take, like, lots of long walks?

Prior: Yes, we do. In stretch pants with lavender coifs. I just looked at you and there was—

Harper: A sort of blue streak of recognition—

Prior: Yes!

Harper: Like you knew me incredibly well.

Prior: Yes.

Harper: Yes. I have to go now, get back. something just...fell apart. Oh god. I feel so sad.

Prior: I know. I'm sorry. I usually say, “fuck the truth,” but mostly the truth fucks you.

Every single year I watch Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on this last Thursday of November with Tara. It's one of my favorite traditions.

This year my experience of watching it is loudly shaped by our collective sickness. Our collective mortality. Our collective trauma. The scene above encapsulates the relationship between trauma and honesty that I can't stop thinking about in 2020.

Staying in conversation with ourselves is hard. It's even harder when lots of people are relying on you to push through.

In order to create our outcomes¹, we often ignore things. We ignore feelings indicating our values are not being lived. We ignore the discomfort we feel when our motivations no longer excite us. We ignore the whisper of recognition, hinting that we are following a path forged by someone else.

And at some point your heart moved on, but you haven't recognized it yet. When this happens, we can feel like we're wandering the halls of a drab existence. All the doors look the same. All the lights are unflattering. All the things we used to know deeply feel a tad bit shallow or downright wrong. We live in the house we built for a younger version of self, but we have changed.

This is the threshold of revelation.

Then trauma happens. Something occurs in our life that forces us to look at our values, our heart. We find the courage to be rudely honest with ourselves. And here we are, together, in the protracted trauma of our year.

I can confidently tell many of you that 2021 will be an exercise in looking directly into the face of your reality. You already know this. Your heart knows this even if you haven't explicitly voiced this knowing. We are all feeling the pull to drop illusions. We are all feeling the pull to engage with ourselves with deep heartfelt honesty. We are all being called individually to recognize what our hearts already know to be true.

What thresholds have you already passed over? What do you have to let go of in order to pass over the next one?

Your clarity, creativity, courage, curiosity, confidence, and compassion are all waiting for you.

⒈ After all, there is an outcome around the corner that will allow us to have more space, right? And we're working towards something bigger than us, right? And one of my favorites: we're making the world better, right?