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This Shine podcast interview kicks off Season 6. The number 1 priority for HR in 2023 and 2024 is leadership and manager effectiveness. The current and future talent are assessing companies differently than before. People and especially high performers are looking at a company’s commitment to diverse leadership, how the senior leadership is walking their talk, psychological safety, professional development, and continued growth opportunities within the company. A company’s continued relevance, success, and expansion will be based on the consciousness of the leaders it grows and retains. In this podcast, learn how you can prioritize and design a learning and leadership strategy for long game success. We talk about the successful learning and leadership program results I have directed and why I am your next great leadership hire. Experience a powerful awareness practice you can use to foster greater well being, inclusion and belonging in yourself, your relationships and at work. This inspiring episode will support you to advocate for learning and leadership development as a must have, rebuild the manager pipeline, and skill up the next generation of leaders to create a purposeful and healthy organization that is thriving.
Episode Links:
Athena salon– Becoming a Conscious Leader: The Skills You Need to Create a healthy organization in 2024.
SHINE Links:
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Carley Links:
Leading from Wholeness Learning & Development
Executive Coaching with Carley
Well Being Resources:
Inner Game Leadership Assessment
Social:
IMPERFECT SHOW NOTES
Hi, my name is Carley Hauck and I am host of the shine podcast. This podcast has been flickering strong since May 2019. I began the podcast due to all the research I was conducting. In interviews with organizational leaders, lead scientists, academic researchers and spiritual teachers for my new book shine, ignite your inner game to lead consciously at work in the world. I wrote my book to inspire a new paradigm of conscious leadership and business that was in service of higher purpose to help humans flourish, and regenerate our planet. The podcast focuses on the science and application of conscious inclusive leadership, the recipe for high performing teams and awareness practices that you can cultivate to be the kind of leader our world needs now. I will be facilitating two to three episodes a month. And before I tell you about the theme of our season, please go over to Apple podcasts, hit the subscribe button on shine or go to your favorite podcast platform carrier. That way you don’t miss one episode. Thank you. This season is going to be focused on what leadership skills are most needed to create a healthy organizational culture.
Leadership and manager effectiveness has been deemed the number one priority for HR in 23. And every person listening, whether you have a formal leadership title, or not, you are a leader. We all have the responsibility to lead around something that we care about whether it’s at home with our family, and our communities, and or in the workplace. I believe in you. And I am so delighted to share with you such an incredible group of people and interviews that I have gathered for this season. I handpick every single guest based on their embodiment of conscious, inclusive leadership and the positive impact they’re making. I am delighted you are here. And onto the podcast.
Currently, I’m really excited to be interviewing you today. I think it’s fabulous for the podcaster to be the podcast it and and I know I suggested the idea that I that I interview you for your beautiful podcast, largely because I believe in you and I’m excited about you and your future and, and so much of what you do and what you’re talking about is resonates tremendously with what we do at Athena and what I’m all about. So I’m just by way of introduction, I’m the I’m the founder and CEO of Athena Alliance, which is an amazing community of over 1200 senior women leaders who are building a portfolio of impact, who are lifelong learners who are invested in learning agility, who are building the next paradigm for what it means to be a leader. So so many of the things that we’re doing resonate with what you do. Thank you.
And I’m delighted to be a member of Athena, and so touched by your sponsorship and your own leadership.
Well, let’s get started. So Carley, maybe you can tell us a little bit about who you are.
Thank you. So I wear many different roles and identities like many people, but I’ll start with I’m a daughter, proud, auntie, a sister, climate leader, a book mama. And I’m also a founder of a leadership and development consultancy. And I started this business which is more important for the conversation we’ll have today. So I’ll speak a little bit more about it, leading from wholeness. I began in 2010. And I have worked not only as the founder, but then the director of learning leadership and organizational development. And this consultancy empowers people with the skills to create flourishing and human centered organizations that are aligned with a deeper purpose about caring for people and planet. Not I just profit. And in the last decades and starting this business, I have had the great privilege to exclusively partner with internal senior stakeholders. Top companies like LinkedIn, Capital One Asana, think to the west. I’ve been an adjunct instructor at Stanford for over nine years. I’ve also served adventhealth, Pixar, Clif Bar Genentech, and so many other incredible leaders and companies, on the cutting edge of everything, I mean, these are truly transformative companies too. And here you are in the middle of transformation. Currently, you have worked with so many incredible companies over the 12 years that you’ve been building up your practice and your confidence and what you bring to this world of learning and development and evolution of senior leadership. Why? Why take that and move it into one company? Now? What? Why not keep experiencing all of these different companies?
Thank you so much for the question. One of the things that I’ve been really noticing about my, my journey, as a, as a founder and CEO of my consultancy is I have really thrived when I’ve been able to exclusively partner with one senior leadership team and one company. And for example, I worked in an exclusive partnership with Bank of the West for three and a half years. And the impact that I was able to make across the 9000 person company from the leaders to, you know, individual contributors was incredible. I mean, I know that I impacted 3500 people that I got to meet, you know, and had some real experience and learning and leadership with them. And that’s where I felt the best. And I have been really excited for this opportunity to create even more impact, because there are certain roadblocks that you have when you’re external. And I knew after that experience that I wanted to be internal. And the other pieces that I have noticed about my personality that I’m much more of a chief people person, you know, supporting the senior leadership team, the greater strategy, the business objectives, but also really making sure that the culture is thriving. And that’s being part of the team versus kind of being outside of the team and influencing the team. And I think that my experience and learning and team and leadership development could translate into a director or above role. I also think once I’m inside, I would likely want to explore moving into a chief people officer or chief learning officer role. I also feel that my skill sets could translate into being a chief of staff working alongside either the CEO, the chief people officer, or the chief learning officer helping with strategy, supporting the executive leadership team, executive summits, you know, putting my coaching hat on to help with collaboration. So that’s, that’s the reason and that’s what I’m really excited about in this next professional step.
I love that. What do you love about your work?
Well, I, I love learning. And I’m always learning in this role. I’ve worn every single, you know, hat I can imagine around learning and leadership development. But the other thing that I’ve learned about myself is that I’m I’m really here for transformation. And so I love being able to inspire and ignite the potential in people, teams and culture that really supports the greatest and highest good. And so just to give a quick example, I am working in the hat of a team coach right now for a really wonderful senior leadership team. And they are in the forming so the beginning stages of a team. And like most teams, even though they’ve they’ve been working as a team for the last several months. They just jumped right into the deliverables, the business objectives, but they didn’t really create the foundation for team effectiveness for you know, what are agreements for communication, how are we going to navigate conflict Are we even creating a Are we even creating a space where we feel safe to speak up to challenge one another. And so, trust was really low, and accountability was really low. And their collective well being was really low, because they’re not being very effective with their time. And they haven’t set up these really core foundations. But at the end of our very first session, the trust was there, you know, they were creating agreements for psychological safety, and they were starting to get really clear on how they could team best with one another. And so just within 90 minutes, I was able to see them shine, I was able to see the transformation and that is what just makes me feel alive. And and I know that I’m doing the right work.
I resonate with that so much. I have been in that leadership team. I have led that team, you know, so I, I get exactly what you’re talking about. And it is, all the early days a bit lost in translation, not understanding how one part one person interprets versus another, and even probably more challenging and difficult when it’s when we’re less likely to be in person to have any unstructured time together. Mm hmm. Yeah, the navigation of distributed remote teams is is a whole other challenge that leaders, I don’t think have really been trained in how to navigate. Okay, use that word twice. But there it is. Yeah, what? It’s a good one, what can you bring to a leadership role? And what problems can you solve?
My expertise lies in the strategy, human centered design, the direction and facilitation of employee engagement, you know, delivering dei initiatives, team and leadership development programs that really are aligned with the business objectives, but also in supporting a healthy organizational culture. And I have several years of experience designing, building, delivering scaled programs, including in person experiences, virtual learning, incorporating the diagnostics, and the metrics so that we know what outcomes are actually happening as a result of these programs. It also includes executive coaching, group coaching, community building, and then also, you know, partnering with internal stakeholders, and potentially even outside vendors to really support the overall learning and leadership development. I’ve also directed and managed a team of learning professionals, which might include facilitators, you know, more junior coaches, project managers, instructional designers, I love facilitation, I have over 10,000 hours of facilitating, it’s just been one of the gifts I was given when I, you know, got here on this planet, and I love facilitating different courses and team development sessions, and also supporting other facilitators to really step into their strengths as facilitators. And I have also really enjoyed developing and leading efforts to help the company Hone, what kind of culture do we want to build here? And what are the values of the company that we can actually bring into leadership capabilities, so that the people that are leading are actually exemplifying those values and that culture and what they say and what they do, that’s really important to me. I also feel like what I can bring to a role is to, you know, be able to share some of the metrics that we’re seeing, you know, analyzing participant feedback, program evaluations, looking at the data to identify gaps and make recommendations for program enhancements.
I have been a lead consultant for three different NIH funded clinical trials. And so I’m a bit of a leadership nerd, but all So a data nerd. And I just think it’s always important to be looking at the baseline of where you are, and then measuring over time, qualitatively and quantitatively, what impact these programs these initiatives are actually having. And not just, you know, saying, Oh, we just we just gave a psychological safety keynote. But how is that actually impacting people? How is that creating a sustainable part of the culture where, where people actually feel like they’re equipped to have conversations that have a foundation of psychological safety, I think the other thing that I bring is I am a connector, I love people. And so it’s been actually really easy for me to connect with C suite leaders, senior stakeholders, I’m always invited in by those people to help solve people problems. And I think influencing those leaders to do what’s best for people in the company is something that comes naturally to me, and I’ve had a lot of success that that was a bit of a mouthful, but I’ve been doing this work for a long time. But that’s what I feel confident I can bring.
Yeah, and clearly engendering a lot of trust, in part because it’s illustrated in how you’re talking to me now. You’re just such a very thoughtful person in all of these things that you’ve endeavored to do. And you take it extremely seriously. Tell me about it. Tell me about the most successful or I don’t know one of the most successful l&d programs that that you’ve run that you’re really excited and proud about.
Wonderful. Well, this was a program that I delivered last year, and it’s one of the many, but this one had just some incredible impact. And I was invited to develop a conscious leadership program based off my book, which has a wonderful framework on how to be a conscious, inclusive leader. And my sponsor at Capital One for this program, had met me during my book launch in 2001, and really loved my book. And then we developed this great relationship. And so this particular program was a pilot. I’m a big fan of piloting, we want to pilot to make sure that we see success. And then from there, we can refine, and reiterate and scale. But this was brought to 40 directors and senior directors amidst a really big reorg. So this, in many ways, was the first time that these directors and senior directors were working together. And they were across three different business functions. So tech, product and design, the task of this particular development program was to one kick off the program in a way that senior stakeholders were invested to really make sure that I was coordinating with the, you know, internal Chief of Staff’s the program managers, and the communications team so that there was an efficient delivery of the information and also the right leaders were being picked for this program. There was also, you know, different metrics and team assessments and individual assessments. So all of those things needed to go out at the beginning, and to really, again, align with those internal folks to make sure that this program was really seamless. And then the program itself actually was delivered to cohorts of 13 to 14, I find that intimacy in groups is really what creates more impact and lasting change. So you know, less is more.
And this these cohorts of leaders were high potentials. And they, they were sponsored for the program, but they were also being given the opportunity, you know, to opt out if, it didn’t work for them at that time. I think it’s really important that people feel like they can say no, even if their company is investing in their learning and leadership. And so essentially what the program look like it was over six months, it included bi weekly group facilitation, coaching, asynchronous learning, with videos, audios, pure exercises, and then there were 12 different modules that included knowledge, practice feedback, or flexion. And this is all to support integration and habit formation. And the results of the program were really astounding, I was taking, you know, again, baseline, and then we had a mid assessment. And then we had the assessment at the very end to see what the impact was. All participants increased four out of nine important leadership competencies, which is incredible, because they were only asked to invest in one to two. And each person kind of knew their ranking on where they were high and where they were low in these nine leadership competencies that I’ve done a lot of research around to know that these are the skills that actually support leaders to be conscious, inclusive leaders and therefore create high performing teams trust, psychological safety, all these wonderful things that we all need and want. At the end of the program, there was a 47% increase in psychological safety, there was a 25% increase in effective decision making, there was a 74% increase in empathy, which is huge, because that’s something that most of us need more support in, there was a 59% increase in self awareness and resilience, there was a 20 to 30% increase in employee engagement. And then at the end of the program, we were able to see 20 to 30% increase in career mobility. So that is a program I feel really proud of.
That’s amazing. Tell us if so I think I missed the part. But tell us what are the skills and competencies you mentioned? There are nine, what are the skills and competencies leaders need to succeed at the intersection of people culture and strategy? Well, the the nine
that I’ve researched, and I wrote about in my book shine, are really focusing on what we are cultivating on the inside, because what we’re cultivating on the inside shows up on the outside. In other words, the inner game rules, the outer games. And not only what I found in this program, but what I feel is really relevant for what leaders need now is I’ll just kind of quickly go into the nine but then I’ll bring in some of the research and what I what I think companies could really benefit from investing in right now. And so self awareness is key self management, empathy, resilience, which is having that growth mindset. I’m a big believer in well, being psychological and physical well being are two of those nine conscious leadership capabilities, humility, self belonging, and some folks might not know what that means.
But self belonging was four different aspects of belonging to the self, which is self forgiveness, self love, self acceptance, self compassion, because if we’re not able to give those to ourselves, and we can’t give it to others, and then we tend to be more reactive, impatient, you know, aggressive leaders versus conscious and inclusive. And then lastly, mindfulness, which really allows us to pay attention to the present moment. And that supports us in having effective decisions and looking at the consequences of our actions, not for the short term, but the long game. And so those those are the nine.
Let’s see incredible. What are the skills and competencies that you feel leaders need now to succeed at the intersection of people culture and strategy? This is such a great question. One of my favorite things to speak about. So before I answer in full, I’m just gonna share a little bit of research on some of the trends that I’ve been looking at in learning in HR. So the first one is that the number one priority for HR in 2023 is manager and leadership effectiveness. But as we know, this won’t be solved in 2023, especially that we’re in September of 2023. Because it’s a really hard nut to crack. And I believe that it’s going to be a long game solution. And additionally, LinkedIn found research that 94% of employees say that they would invest and stay at a company longer if it was prioritizing learning and leadership development. So I need both of those because I think what is so important and vital is that LMD has sometimes been kind of a niche business unit, you know, sometimes lumped in with HR sometimes standing on its own, but I believe that all companies from now until At the end of need to prioritize, and really commit to investing in learning and leadership development, so that businesses are able to succeed in creating healthy organizations. And the reason for that is that we are living in a time of increasing complexity and disruption, and the skills and aspects of leadership from the past, they really don’t align with the future of work or more human centered workplace. You know, the command and control authority or authoritarian leader is not going to support what young workers want. And it’s not going to support this more compassionate, empathetic workplace, that so many Chief People officers are speaking to.
I mean, I’ve heard everywhere from, you know, the Chief People Officer pay Powell to the Chief People Officer at Microsoft to Satya Nadella at Microsoft empathy is one of the number one people skills that we need. So therefore, we have to develop a different set of skills. And the other thing that’s really important for companies to succeed in culture is that young people really want to work for a company that has purpose, in other words, where the company, and the outcome that they’re making in the world is about healing, not about harming. So when we even look at a company like Patagonia, where, you know, earlier this year, the CEO said, we’re giving away you know, every profit that Patagonia makes, is going to plan it now, that is showcasing a really strong consciousness at the leadership level. And I don’t expect that all companies will be able to follow in those footsteps, but it is definitely a North Star. So the other thing that I would say, to answer that question of, you know, what are what are the skills needed? Well, the leaders are the custodian of culture. So again, going back to what we’re cultivating on the inside is showing up on the outside. So people are going to follow the leaders example. And therefore we need to prioritize the focus of inner development of people leaders.
And I would say across the board, you know, even individual contributors need to learn a basic foundation of self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skill, so that they can listen, they can empathize with one another, they can collaborate, they can communicate. So I would say to create a really thriving culture, we need to invest in the leaders, but we also need to give a basic level of people skills to the whole company, and that’s going to support a thriving culture. Managers need to have, I think, a basics in coaching foundations, you know, working as an executive and team coach, I just think it’s so vital that people know and have positive experiences, having difficult conversations, you know, having healthy conflict conflict is going to happen, can we create healthy conflict is the question, hold people accountable compassionately. And lastly, instill psychological safety in their one on ones in their team culture. And if the senior leadership and manager is not able to do these basic aspects of leading, then I don’t believe that the deliverables of the business are going to be solved. And at the end of the day, the organization is not going to be healthy. One of the very first things that I often will assess for is the presence or the absence of psychological safety. And if that isn’t there, which in most teams and greater organizations, there are some ranges of where it’s present and where it’s not. It’s really hard to implement change. And it’s really hard to innovate.
And so I’ll just kind of leave it at that early, you clearly have so much to offer and have been a deep student of your space. Nothing superficial here at all in your 12 years. Um, outside of organizations while being inside, I think is been a tremendous value to your ability to Research to not just develop your platform and your ideas and not just ideas, but your confidence in, in, in what you know, comes from insights that you have developed through working with many, many, many different teams as opposed to one or two over those years, it’s clear that you will bring a ton to the internal role you’re looking for. In wrapping this all up, how, how do we learn more about you?
Well, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn, I’m always open to new conversations, opportunities, if anybody, you know, would love to talk to me about a role that they’re hiring for, or they’re thinking of hiring for I would love to create some time, before we come to an end of this podcast episode, wanted to ratchet the energy down and in with an awareness practice that will serve you to be the best person that you can be. Every podcast episode, I like to bring in practices that we can utilize right away in our life. And only you have control over your response, your behaviors, and how you show up with yourself, then, is transmitted to every other person that you encounter in your life. As you heard, in my conversation with cocoa, I spoke about nine different inner game leadership skills. And they start with each of us. And this framework was developed because of my own deep practice. In these leadership competencies, I started a meditation practice when I was 19. And I spent 13 years with two to three weeks of silence a year. And at the end of last year on my sabbatical, I spent a month in silence. And I share this with you because it is called a practice because it’s a constant practice. And I can’t stop practicing and expect to continue to be the kind of person that I want to be unless I’m committed to the refining, the learning the growing the healing, because as the world becomes complex, and things keep changing, we need these practices even more. So this particular practice, is one that’s going to take about six or seven minutes.
So if you can’t listen to it right now, go ahead and speed up to the end so that you don’t miss out on the special resources that I leave at the end. And you can always come back to this later. And if you have time to even just get a sneak peek, you can continue to listen. This is a cleansing practice for the mind and heart. It is a practice for reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. And just to share some of the research behind it. I’ve been part of several NIH funded clinical trials at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. If we want to really create a workplace where there can be healing and care and belonging, then it starts right here. Begin by taking a slow breath through your nose and a slow exhale out. Let’s do that a couple times together. Breathing in, breathing out. Breathing in. Breathing out. Do any movement to help you come more and more into your body. And bring your attention to your heart. As you breathe in. Feel the heart opening as you breathe out. Feel the heart healing. Breathing in opening, breathing out healing breathing in opening Breathing out, healing, breathing in, opening, breathing out healing bring to mind any instance that occurred in the last few hours or day in which you were hard on yourself. You were critical. You were unkind to yourself and words and actions and self care. You might not have honored a boundary, you might have not honored your truth.
This is a practice I am inspired to share based on Ho oponopono which is a very old indigenous practice that has been practiced for a long time and the Hawaiian Islands. And it begins like this. saying this to yourself. I am sorry. I forgive myself. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. I forgive myself. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Just notice what’s arising in the heart in the body. Now bring this practice to someone in your life that you are having challenge or friction with. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Breathing in opening, breathing out, healing, breathing in opening, breathing out. Healing. Now let’s bring our practice to Mother Earth. Sweet Mother Earth and all aspects of this planet. The mountains, water, soil, all the beings who inhabit this earth, the plants aquatic life, land life, every aspect of the earth that you have found refuge in enjoyment, sustenance, shelter, place one hand on your heart and up to the sky. And say I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Long, deep inhale and exhale. letting that go. And lastly, bringing your hands to a part of your body that would benefit from healing touch the back of the neck, the forehead, the cheek, the belly, the heart, anywhere. Breathing in opening, breathing out healing and say these words silently to yourself. This is bringing in a sense of self belonging. I forgive myself I care for my challenges. I love and accept myself as I am. I forgive myself, I care for my challenges. I love and accept myself as I am. I forgive myself, I care for my challenges. I love and accept myself just as I am. And as we come to a close, reminding yourself that you are strong, and courageous, and resilient, and mind, body and spirit. You are strong, courageous, resilient, and mind, body and spirit. And by you prioritizing and committing to your inner growth, you will have such a tremendous positive impact on everyone in your life and the world. Be the light, and shine. And the other thing that I’m feeling very excited about is that some of what we talked about today, what are the skills needed now, to really have people succeed in culture and strategy and leadership is an upcoming workshop and salon that I’m having with you Coco at Athena, and it is called Becoming a conscious leader the skills you need to create a healthy organization in 2024. And we will be offering this for for free to Athena members, but I’ll also create a link in the show notes with the discount code shine and capital letters, so that you can attend if you’re available on September 28. From noon to one Pacific Standard Time. We’d love to have you join us.
Well, thank you for letting me sort of be the host of your podcasts so that I could interview you for one of your episodes. This was so much fun. Thank you so much Coco, I am delighted to have your sisterhood and your support today. Wow, that was such a treat to be interviewed by Coco Brown. A leader I respect admire so much. Coco is going to be a future guest this season. And I am so excited to share that interview with you. Plus, Don’t you just love her name. I haven’t told this to Coco, but she’s gonna hear it now. I feel like she has this inner rock star diva that is just waiting to come out. I can’t wait for that. Listening is one part of learning. But then we need to create practices to instill what we hear into powerful action. So on that note, do you want to grow your inner game so that you can be a conscious leader at work life and in the world? Here are three ways all the links will be in the show notes. One use this podcast. It is a wealth of learning and development and in fact for a lot of the learning and leadership development programs I have offered. I actually resource this podcast as part of the learning the asynchronous learning.
So there are some incredible leaders and all you have to do is go back to our previous episodes. Go get my book shine. It has been voted one of the best books the top 10 In fact by mindful magazine that you should read in 2022 it is in hard copy and audiobook and it’s my voice so if you are resonating with my voice now you might love the audiobook and I would love to hear your reaction of the book. I have not received one bad review and I am grateful. Come for a deeper dive with me and cocoa on September two 28 with our salon that we are offering on becoming a conscious leader. This is through the Athena Alliance membership, but you are going to get a free admission. If you put in the discount code shine in all caps. You can join us on September 28, noon to one Pacific Standard Time and get a sneak peek of what Athena is about and actually meet some of the other incredible powerhouse women that are part of this network. And then a personal ask for me. As you heard, I am so excited and ready to step into a director above level internal role bringing my gifts and passion for culture, and for leadership. I’m currently interviewing with some great companies.
And as you know, it’s all about the network. If you know of someone I should meet, please connect us with us short intro or reach out to me on LinkedIn. If you are aware of opportunities that you think would be a great fit, please send them my way and reach out on LinkedIn. And if I can support you in any of your leadership challenges, please reach out. I love to help people with resources, connections, and deep listening. If you have any questions, comments or topics that you would like me to address, please email me at support at Carly help.com I would love to hear from you. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends, family or colleagues. We’re all in this together and sharing is caring. Thank you for tuning in being part of this community. And until we meet again, my friend, be the light and shine your light
