Dr. Rita's Blog |
 We’ve been focusing on the most effective leadership qualities needed in today's environment. If you missed any of the newsletter issues, you can click here to catch up. Now that we’ve talked about leadership qualities needed… My question is...what’s the best way YOU like to take action? Regardless of your preferred style of learning, the facts are simple:
Scroll to the bottom to see how you can take action today by joining an upcoming cohort! The next round of Women Manager Leadership Cohorts starts in September. Registration is now open!
Mid-Level Managers Cohort Registration Open The dates and times: Session 1: Wed Sept 14 @ 11:30-1 CT Session 2: Wed Sept 28 @ 11:30-1 CT Session 3: Wed Oct 12 @ 11:30-1 CT Session 4: Wed Oct 26 @ 11:30-1 CT Session 5: Wed Nov 09 @ 11:30-1 CT Session 6: Wed Nov 30 @ 11:30-1 CT Warm regards, 
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 We're back for part three of three in our Leadership Qualities Needed In Today's Work Environment series. Today, I'm highlighting some key findings from Gallop's State of the Global Workforce 2022 Report. A report committed to “bringing the voices of employees to the decision-making tables.” So my question for you this week: As a leader, are you helping employees THRIVE? In the report it states only 21% of workers report they are thriving at work…only 21 percent! So what’s causing this? It's simple, employee burnout. According to Gallop the 5 main causes that relate to burnout including:
The good news? We can make a difference and change! Gallop states to have employees thrive - there are 6 things managers need to do consistently:
 I’ve worked with leaders who understand the importance of thriving cultures and want help getting there. I can tell you for those committed to learning, the results have been amazing. Not only more smiling, but more collaboration, more innovation, and better business outcomes. Warm regards,  Join us for a free webinar event on August 11, 2022. How To Take Charge of Your Career & Build Next-Level Skills Mid-Level women leaders are taking on more and more important responsibilities for their organizations at a time when fewer direct managers have time to coach and help develop their next-level skills. Many women get promoted to a manager role with no leadership training at all. It’s important for mid-level women managers to actively take charge of their careers. In this webinar we will focus on:
Already registered? Please help us spread the word by sharing the event with your network! Warm regards,  We're back for part two of three in our Leadership Qualities Needed In Today's Work Environment series. Last week the conversation focused on being a humble leader, review part one here. My question for you this week... Do you have the qualities of an innovative leader? According to recent quantitative research reported by McKinsey, there are roughly 20 fundamental components of leadership that correlate closely to organization performance. Progressive leaders who demonstrate these components are better able to support change and innovation in their organizations. McKinsey discovered in their research that four key leadership attributes help organizations stand out and move forward at a distinctive pace. The four attributes are Insight, Integrity, Courage, and Agility.
As you read through the list below, do a mental assessment as to how well you demonstrate each of these traits. Then pick one or two that you’d like to strengthen.   Use this tool to assess yourself on how well you are doing with the Four Leadership Attributes and the 20 traits. Consider asking your team and manager to give you feedback as well.  The next round of Women Manager Leadership Cohorts starts in September. Registration is now open!
Warm regards,  I do my best to stay up on the latest research and share that research with you... And there's one topic that has been coming up a lot, and that's what do successful leaders do in today's work environment. I’ll be doing a series of articles in the next few weeks to highlight what the research is telling us about the qualities we need in leaders now. To be successful in these times, our organizations need more leaders modeling these key qualities. This week I’m highlighting an article from the Wall Street Journal: The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses Did you know that according to several recent studies, leaders who are humble inspire close teamwork, rapid learning, and high performance in their teams? In this environment of constant change, ambiguity, and complexity we continuously ask our teams to learn rapidly and to be high performers. Being a humble leader helps them perform well. Let's stop for just a moment and reflect on this question.... Who are leaders I know who display humility? According to the research, humble leaders do the following:
Lower turnover and lower absenteeism. Take a moment and ask yourself... Am I a humble leader? Be sure to share this humble leaders information with your direct manager, colleagues, HR leaders, and others on your team. Let's all do our part to get more of these important qualities modeled in our organizations! If you’d like to chat more about this topic or how I can help you take your leadership skills and confidence to the next level, I’d love to hear from you! Email me, text me at 612-598-6614, or schedule directly here. Warm regards,  Are you tapping the talent of mid-level women managers? I have been working closely with mid-level women managers for over two years now, and I’m convinced that many (maybe most) organizations are not tapping the power of the amazing talent that is leading from the middle. These managers have limited position power and must rely heavily on influence to communicate up and get important things done with their teams. The women who participate in the Women Managers Cohort programs often express a desire to contribute at a higher level so they can have a bigger impact. As I’ve checked out my observations with executives in my network, I often hear things like: “We know we have talented women managers, but we haven’t focused on developing our mid-level talent.” As you know, these mid-level leaders are vital to the success of change initiatives and the implementation of key strategies. They have critical information about what is happening and what needs to happen to move change forward. They are eager to learn and grow. Due to their positions in the middle of their organizations, they often struggle with feelings of overwhelm and challenges with work-life balance. Many of them stepped into their mid-level manager roles with little or no leadership training. If you are a manager of mid-level managers ask yourself:
Having regular career/development conversations can help you keep key talent engaged with your organization, help them contribute in a bigger way and be less likely to say yes when a recruiter reaches out. If you’d like to chat more about this topic or how I can help you with developing your mid-level managers, I’d love to hear from you! Email me, text me at 612-598-6614, or schedule directly here. NEW Announcement! There are 2 open spots in the current Executive Women’s Roundtable for Director and VP women leading change. If you're interested, schedule a time on my calendar ASAP to learn more. These spots fill up quickly! Reminder: The next round of Women Manager Leadership Cohorts start in early August. Registration is now open!
I'd love to hear from you! Send me a quick note here. Warm regards,  For many people, especially women, negotiating is something they don’t feel comfortable doing. When I talk about negotiating either in a training session or a coaching session I often hear:
The exact opposite is true! When you negotiate, your level of respect actually goes up and you are held in higher regard. I was talking with a woman who recently took on a new role and she was lamenting the fact that she didn’t negotiate for a higher salary and a better job title. We talked about the fact that yes, the best time to negotiate salary and job title is when you get the offer, but she can still find a way to negotiate now that she is in the role. It may take a bit longer and she’ll need to use a different approach, but it’s still possible to get what she wants. As I shared with her, the first step in negotiating is getting clear on what it is you want. The Negotiation Process - 5 Steps To Prepare 1. Be Clear On What You Want
The Process In Action: I got a call from a client who received a job offer. She wanted to negotiate for a higher salary and a signing bonus but wasn’t sure how much to ask for. We walked through her reasons and the facts. Then she got clear on the numbers and how she wanted to communicate what she wanted to the hiring manager. This morning I received an email saying she got everything she asked for. When you are negotiating, it helps to have a couple of people familiar with your situation that you can reach out to. They are one step removed from the negotiations and can offer objective perspectives as well as help refine how you communicate your ask. They can do a lot to boost your confidence! Bottom line, when you don’t negotiate you leave valuable resources on the table. As women, we are more likely to live longer, take time off to care for a family member, and often start from a lower salary offer than men do. So, it is absolutely important that we negotiate! For more ideas and to build your confidence in negotiating take a look at the resources under "Get Inspired" below! If you want help negotiating a job offer, a raise, or a promotion, reach out. I’m here to help.  Help us congratulate these individuals on making moves and taking on new roles - Click their names to connect on LinkedIn!
 Best Practices in DEI Series -The Performance Excellence Network - July 19th- Register Here Team Women: Understanding Money "Own Your Worth" - June 23rd - Register Here WLiT: Retraining Our Networking Muscle- June 21st - Register Here TRUST: IDEA Storytelling Series with Anton Vincent - June 14th - Register Here Session Enrollment Now Open - NEW DATESMid-Level Women Managers Our Mid-Level Women Managers Cohort will now start on August 4th! If you are a mid-level woman manager eager to learn and grow or you have women leaders on your team who have untapped potential - this is for YOU! Women who participate increase their confidence, realize they are not alone, and gain clarity around the next level of contribution they’d like to make. Don't wait, save your spot for the Mid-Level Women Managers Cohort Series today! Thank You! to the following companies that have women leaders enrolled in current WiseLeader programming: Alzheimer’s Association, Be the Match, Bell Bank, Capstone Publishing, Choice Bank, Gulf Winds International, HID Global, Housing First MN, Imvax, JB Hunt, Johnson & Johnson, Knichel Logistics, Knutson Construction, Magellan Health, Maximus Health, Medtronic, Oakley Transport, Prescribe Wellness, Prime Therapeutics, SA Global, Second Harvest Heartland, Sleep Number, Tierney, TRHC, University of Minnesota, Wellshare International Have someone you'd like to highlight, an upcoming event, or a great resource? I'd love to hear from you! Send me a quick note here. Warm regards,  Did you know that according to recent research into happiness, having a sense of “awe” is the most highly correlated skill to being happy?
I have a new job... I retire...I lose 10 pounds.,,,I get my raise...I go on vacation...This pandemic is over... the list goes on. The truth is that all of these things can contribute to happiness temporarily. But the boost we get from the usual things we think will make us happy is short-lived. Then we are back at square one, looking for the next thing we hope will make us happy. What if we did something different? What if we cultivated our ability to be in awe? Awe can be defined as the feeling of reverential respect mixed with wonder. Awe doesn’t wait for something to happen. Awe exists all around us all the time. What might awe look like? It would probably start with being in the present moment. A refreshing break from worry about our to-do list or fear about what might happen next. Once we’re in the present moment, awe can come from anywhere. The new ruby red spring bud on the tree branch in a front yard. The glorious sprays of purple on the first crocus flowers. The warmth of a knowing smile from a colleague. If you’ve lost your connection to awe, next time you are out and about, take note of how little children are genuinely connected to awe. They usually walk, run or skip with a sense of delight. They explore with a sense of curiosity. They laugh and giggle with a sense of glee. They innately know their world is full of wonder and they enjoy it everywhere. We can have that sense of wonder and awe, too. All we have to do is slow down and allow ourselves to look for beauty and allow things to take our breath away. When my daughter was little, I would often look up at the sky and point to the sunset, the sunrise, and the clouds. And for that brief moment, we shared a sense of awe. She’s 21 now and to my delight, will often text me photos of a beautiful sunset she saw on her way home from work. We can be in awe of our direct reports, our colleagues, and our boss. As Shari Ballard, the CEO of Minnesota United Soccer Team says, “We all have genius. When we look for it in every person we interact with, we find it.” Give it a try. For the next few days, consciously look for ways to be in awe. I’m pretty sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many things around you are worthy of “awe” and how much you’ll add to your feelings of happiness and contentment. Let me know what you discover!   WiM (Women In Manufacturing) Factory Tour - June 15th - Register Here Team Women: Understanding Money "Own Your Worth" - June 23rd - Register Here MnCMN - 5 OCM Trends For 2022 - June 16th - Register Here TCSHRM- Helping Staff Rediscover Their Flow.. - June 15th - Register Here  The Power of Supportive Colleagues in the Hybrid Work Environment Why Companies Overlook Great Internal Candidates BOOKS Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience - Brene Brown  Session Enrollment Now Open! Mid-Level Women Managers If you are a mid-level woman manager eager to learn and grow or you have women leaders on your team who have untapped potential - this is for YOU! Women who participate increase their confidence, realize they are not alone, and gain clarity around the next level of contribution they’d like to make. The next Mid-Level Women Managers Cohort Series kicks off on July 7th. Advanced Leadership Women's Cohort This is an opportunity for women to build leadership skills and learn tools to help them implement the strategy of their organization more successfully. In addition to the cohort training, you'll also get the opportunity to practice what you are learning, work through challenges, get support, celebrate success, and learn from the challenges your colleagues have. The next Advanced Leadership Women's Cohort kicks off on August 4th. Thank You! to the following companies that have women leaders enrolled in current WiseLeader programming: Bell Bank, Be the Match, Choice Bank, JB Hunt, Johnson & Johnson, Knichel Logistics, Magellan Health, Medtronic, Oakley Transport, Prescribe Wellness, Prime Therapeutics, Second Harvest Heartland, TRHC, University of Minnesota, Wellshare International. Have someone you'd like to highlight, an upcoming event, or a great resource? I'd love to hear from you! Send me a quick note here. Warm regards, I’d like to introduce you to All Things Leadership, my new format for this newsletter! Every other week I'll be sharing leadership research, tips, and events - both in-person and online! My Goal Is Simple: To Be a Leadership Resource For You By...
My hope is that the new format will make it easy for you to stay up to date on what’s happening and find the resources you need to continue growing and learning as a leader no matter what level role you are currently in. I hope you enjoy reading and please, let me know what you think!  Minneapolis CHRO Executive Summit - May 25th - Register Here Team Women: WaveMaker Awards Nomination Happy Hour - June 6th - Register Here Team Women: Stressed AF | Anastasia Galka - May 12th Virtual | In-Person May Change Summit - Change Leadership Event - May 19th Register Here  ARTICLES Designing Work That People Love - Harvard Business Review BOOKS Permission To Feel - Dr. Marc Brackett REPORTS A Seat At The Table: Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership - St. Catherine University  One-On-One Executive Coaching I’ll help you determine if one on one coaching is a worthwhile investment to get you where you want to go. Get in touch with me to learn more. Mid-Level Women Managers If you are a mid-level woman manager eager to learn and grow or you have women leaders on your team who have untapped potential - this is for YOU! Take a look at the upcoming Mid-Level Women Managers Cohort Series and enroll today. Women who participate increase their confidence, realize they are not alone, and gain clarity around the next level of contribution they’d like to make. Thank You! to the following companies who have women leaders enrolled in current WiseLeader programming: Bell Bank, Be the Match, Choice Bank, JB Hunt, Johnson & Johnson, Knichel Logistics, Magellan Health, Medtronic, Oakley Transport, Prescribe Wellness, Prime Therapeutics, Second Harvest Heartland, TRHC, University of Minnesota, Wellshare International. Have someone you'd like to highlight, an upcoming event, or a great resource? I'd love to hear from you! Send me a quick note here. Warm regards,  Welcome to week 10 of our 10-week challenge! I hope you are noticing a significant increase in your level of calm. And are enjoying the confidence and satisfaction that comes with spending more time in your own inner state of being. Today’s Monday Moment is about identifying the people who fill you up. During the Women Manager Cohort session on building confidence, we work with a confidence-building tool that asks us to identify who the people are that fill us up; both at work and in our personal lives. We’ve all been around toxic people and we know the negative impact they can have on our energy, enthusiasm, and spirit. To keep our confidence high and spend more time being the best of who we are so we can bring forth the best of what we have to offer, we need to be deliberate about spending more time with the people who fill us up. Stop right now and breathe for 90 seconds. Week 10 - Monday Moment Habit Creator Steps To Identifying People Who Fill You Up 1. Make a List- Take a few minutes to make a list of the people at work and in your personal life who you love being around and hold in high regard.
3. Make a Second List - Make a list of the people who you don’t enjoy being around; both at work and in your personal life.
4. Think Long Term - One of the best ways to continue your journey is by spending more time in your true powerful state of being and you can do this by surrounding yourself with people who see you and bring positivity to your interactions and life. I hope this 10-week challenge has given you tools and ideas for bringing the very best of who you are to your leadership role. The world of constant change we live in needs as many leaders as possible who know how to remain calm and centered and can access the best of who they are no matter what is happening around them. Thank you for striving to be one of those leaders. You are inspiring those around you and modeling what the new approach to leadership can look like. Please reach out to me at any time, if I can be of service to you and your teams as you continue your leadership journey and make important contributions to your organization. Reminders: Cohort & Roundtable Updates Mid-Level Women Manager Cohort kicks off on April 21st.
Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D.
The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  Hello! Can you believe we are already into April? I hope all is well with you! I wanted to make sure you saw a few key updates. I recently announced that the enrollment for the upcoming Mid-Level Women Manager Cohort has been extended and we will now kick off the program on April 21st! Additionally, we still have a few spots left for our Executive Women's Change Leadership Roundtable - We start at the end of April and this is the ONLY time all year to get a spot. Do you know anyone who would benefit from either of these programs? Maybe even yourself? I've added a few thoughts from those who've completed the programs below. I'd love to hear from you! What Others Are Saying... - I have more confidence because of the meaningful conversations we have in the cohort. I share more of my thoughts with my manager now. I have new tools that help me and my team succeed. - I’m embracing more leadership roles in meetings and coaching others on my team. I’m more thoughtful and more strategic. I appreciate the feedback, and openness of everyone in the cohort. - Being a member of the Roundtable inspires me with new ideas. I love learning from women leaders in all the different industries. Leading change is hard. I have the support and encouragement I need to be successful. Seats are filling up fast! If you're interested you can email me, schedule a 20-minute: click here or enroll online. Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D.
The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  Wow! We are on week 9 of our 10-week challenge to stay in a place of calm so we have access to our being more often. Our true power exists at our calm center where nothing and no one can bother us or pull us off track. I hope you’ve been noticing more and more of those moments as you’ve been practicing for the past 8 weeks. Today’s Monday Moment is about taking control of our time. Many of us have the true desire to make ourselves available to our teams, our clients, and those we love. That’s a noble thing. However, what I find with many of my coaching clients (and myself), is that in an effort to be available, we often give up control of our time. Being too giving with our time can set us up to be spinning around everyone else’s priorities, which can easily lead to overwhelm and burnout. Your time belongs to you. You have a right to make decisions about what the best use of your time is. We all have the same 24 hours in a day; no more, no less. As a leader that means you have a responsibility to actively decide how you are using your daily allotment of 24 hours. I’m not talking about being rigid about it. I am talking about consciously deciding how you want to use the time you have. When you get clear about this, overwhelm diminishes, stress goes down, you get to do more of the things that are truly important to you, and you spend more time being at your best. How to take control? Two things can make a big difference: actively setting boundaries, and saying no. We already talked about the power of saying no in week #6, so we’ll focus on setting boundaries in today’s Monday Moment. Week 9 - Monday Moment Habit Creator Steps To Actively Setting Boundaries: 1. Look Back - Take a look at your calendar over the past 3-4 weeks and make note of where your time went. Then ask yourself: How much of my time did I take control of? You may be pleasantly surprised or surprisingly shocked. Either way, this is the first step in figuring out who had control of your time. Did you give big chunks of your time away? Were you deliberate in how you used your time? 2. Look Ahead - Then take a look ahead at this week. How do you want to use your time? Do you want to work out first thing in the morning? If yes, schedule it on your calendar. Then stick to it. 3. Plan & Commit - Actively decide which 40 hours you want to work and what you will do with each hour. Then do your best to hold to the 40 hours you identified. Want to spend more evenings and weekends with your family? Decide what time you’ll close your laptop at the end of the day and then keep it closed until you start to work the following morning. There will always be more work than hours in the day. When you take a stand for how many hours you are giving to work, then things slowly start to change and you realize how much happier you are when you hold to the boundaries that matter to you. This doesn’t happen overnight. But it is one of the most important habits my clients learn how to do. If you’d like some help with this, reach out and we can find a time to chat. I’m happy to help you build this all-important habit! I’ll be doing this right along with you. Let me know how it goes and what you discover. If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Cohort & Roundtable Updates:
Have a great week! Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D.
The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  How did taking the time to think Big Picture go for you last week? Were you able to guard the one hour or more you put on your calendar and say ‘no’ to everything else? Did you have more confidence that you were focusing on the right things? This week we are focusing on decompressing, especially around working with our emotions. Most of us feel the heightened intensity of the world we live in right now. Work is full of pressures and constant change. Worldwide we are all feeling the lingering pressures of the pandemic and our emotions are more intense, too. We need processes that can help us decompress on the spot. Recently, I connected to a zoom presentation called Changing Leadership in Changing Times hosted by the Performance Excellence Network (PEN). One of the panelists, Mary Engels, Sr. Director of Organization Development at Essentia Health, shared a tool called Emotional Audit that they use with their leaders to help them decompress. Week 8 - Monday Moment Habit Creator The first step in the Emotional Audit tool is to Pause and remember to breathe for 90 seconds. Then ask yourself these 5 questions:
I love the Emotional Audit tool with these specific steps because the questions can quickly get us in touch with what’s going on within us; especially when we feel tense, frustrated, or stuck. I also like these questions because they help us get in touch with our thinking, which often drives our emotions. It reminds me of the concept that whatever happens in life is neutral. It’s the story we create around what happened that makes us feel positive or negative about the situation and thus drives how we feel about it. My invitation to you this week is to test drive the Emotional Audit tool. You can use it to build more awareness when something is going well and you’re feeling lots of pleasant emotions or you can use it to understand what’s going on within you during a time of unpleasant emotion. Try using it daily and at different times of the day to give you insight into what triggers you and to help guide you to remain in that calm state of being more often. I hope you find it useful. Let me know how it works for you. I’ll be using it too. If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Quick Reminder:
Have a great week! Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/   Whoops! I'm sorry this is a day late, but I'm excited to dive into week 7 of our Monday Moments. I’m so very curious about how your week went when you focused on only saying YES to those things you really wanted to do. Take a moment to reflect, I hope you ...
If you are not clear on YOUR priorities, you end up being spun around and reacting to everyone else’s priorities. Then before you know it, your frustration level goes up, your sense of control vanishes, and your feeling of well-being gets harder to access. That ‘too much to do’ feeling sets in and your ability to work from a calm place goes out the window. Week 7 - Monday Moment Habit Creator How to determine your priorities?
With clear priorities, you’ll feel much more in charge of your days and weeks. And that will help fuel your feeling of calm and your underlying state of well-being.
I will tell you that my clients who are diligent about taking an hour or more every week to think big picture are some of the calmest and most productive leaders I know. As always, let me know how it goes. If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Quick Reminder:
Have a great week! Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/   How did last week's self-care go? Take a moment to reflect:
If you struggled with finding the time or keeping your commitment to yourself for 15 minutes of self-care every day last week, today’s topic will be a big help to you. Today we’re talking about saying no. I tell all my clients that ‘no’ is a complete sentence. It’s easy to get caught up in saying yes too often. We don’t want to disappoint. We want to make sure our team feels supported and we want to be a team player. However, there’s a good chance you’ll never get to what you truly want to do until you get good at saying ‘no’ to what you don’t want to do. And saying no to the things that keep you from doing what you want to do. For those of us who usually say yes, learning to say no is a real challenge. Week 6 - Monday Moment Habit Creator Practice saying yes ONLY to those things you really want to do. Say no more often than you are comfortable with. Here are some tips to get started.
As always, let me know how it goes. If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or simply schedule a 20-minute chat with me here: Book Your Chat. Have a great week! Warm regards,
 We have over 150+ women registered for our FREE upcoming live lunch event! Don't miss your chance to join us! Overcoming Imposter Syndrome To Reach Your Full Potential In this free event, learn how to identify imposter syndrome, what it is, and tools for combatting it - for yourself and to help individuals on your team. Topics We Will Cover:
If You Ever…
I hope you can join us! Warm regards,   Today we are at the halfway point of our 10-week challenge! Take a moment to reflect:
Being a leader is hard work. There are plenty of changes, ambiguity, and challenges. We want to take good care of those around us on our teams and at home. And it’s easy to run out of time in the day to take good care of ourselves. When we do that, we invite stress and burnout to be close by. I don’t want that to happen to you. If you are one of those people who don’t have time for consistent self-care, today’s Monday Moment is especially for you. Your daily self-care needs to be at the top of your priority list. I’m not talking about pedicures, although those are lovely. I’m talking about TAKING 15 minutes a day just for you. Yes, I said taking. No one comes up to you and says “Be sure to take your self-care time today.”. It’s up to you to make it a priority. It’s not selfish and there is no need to feel guilty. You cannot be at your best if you are not taking good care of yourself. Quick Tip: Here’s an easy way to get started. Find a consistent time every day and block off 15 minutes on your calendar. Call it whatever you like. What matters is that the people around you know that time is yours and not to interrupt you. Everything will be fine for 15 minutes. Then try out a few different things during your self-care time to see what fills you back up, relieves your stress, and makes your feel a bit refreshed. Yes, all those things can happen in 15 minutes. These are some of the things women I’ve coached have tried: reading a chapter in a favorite book, yoga poses, napping, knitting (my personal favorite), journaling, drawing, taking a bubble bath, sitting quietly with your favorite cup of tea, taking the dog for a walk, arranging fresh flowers (another of my personal favorites), meditating, coloring a mandala, reading poetry, writing poetry. You get the idea. Experiment. Try something. Then STOP, breathe and notice how you feel. You’ll find your favorites. Of course, you can do the bigger self-care things like getting a manicure, going to the gym, skiing, long walks around the lake, doing a spa day, or spa weekend with your favorite friends. These are wonderful. But you’ll benefit even more from doing something daily to let go of any stress or frustration that may have built up inside; often without even realizing it. Week 5 - Monday Moment Habit Creator Take out your calendar right now, and block out 15 minutes for yourself every day this week. It can be the same time every day. It can be at different times every day.
And be sure to do your deep breathing for the first 90 seconds of your self-care time. The deep breathing will help your body and mind get maximum benefit. This is one of the hardest habits for leaders to build. Give yourself plenty of grace this week. Do your best to honor the time commitment you are making to yourself for 15 minutes of every day just for you. The benefits build over time. As my dear friend and colleague, Louise Griffith says, You are Worth It! Let me know how it goes! If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or email me. Have a great week! Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  Is imposter syndrome hijacking your career, maybe without you even knowing it? Join us for a free event to learn how to identify imposter syndrome, what it is, and tools for combatting it. Imposter syndrome strikes men and women equally, affects high-performing and aspiring individuals, AND can be there without you even knowing it. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome To Reach Your Full Potential In this FREE lunch & learn webinar, we'll cover:
If You Ever…
I'm excited to be hosting this with special guests Amy Ferguson and Hannah Hartung. I hope you can join us. Warm regards,   Are you spending 20% of your time doing what you love? Reflect: What did you discover about what you love to do and how much time you get to spend during your workweek doing what you love?
If you’re not sure what you love doing, you’re not alone. Most of us are not asked to focus on what we love to do. We are busy getting a job done, being productive, achieving success, fitting into a role. If those things aren’t aligned with what we love to do, the price we pay in terms of stress, lack of satisfaction, contribution, and true engagement can be high indeed. What to do now? If you are spending at least 20% of your work time doing what you love, congratulations! You’re in good shape. Keep doing what you are doing. If you are spending less than 20% of your work time doing the things you love, you probably already know that you’re not really satisfied with what you are doing. Good chance you are feeling stressed, or maybe overwhelmed and you know you are not using your best talents to contribute in a satisfying way. Take this week and see if there are things you can be doing that you love. When we get in touch with what we love to do, there are often creative ways that 20% of our work can include those things. Take a look at the work Marcus Buckingham is doing. You may find ideas to help spark what you can do to have more of what you love doing embedded in your work. As you become more attuned to what you do love to do, consider having a conversation with your direct manager and brainstorm how you might revise your job to include more of that work. Learn About The Love + Work Book Week 3 - Monday Moment Habit Creator Take the next step: In your next one on one with your direct reports ask them the following four questions that Marcus recommends: 1. What did you love doing since the last time we met? 2. What did you loathe doing? 3. What are your priorities? 4. How can I help? Let me know how those conversations go and what you notice in your direct reports when you ask them what they loved doing. Keep STOPPING to breathe slowly in and out through your nose whenever overwhelm or twinges of anxiety start to show up. Try to catch those feelings right away before they take hold. When you feel relaxed again, resume your work. This breathing habit is one of the most valuable tools you have when leading change and feeling centered in a world that likes to spin us around with things we can’t control. Breathing is always within your control. If this Monday Moment resonated with you, please feel free to share it with a friend or colleague, and remember, if you ever feel stuck, I’m here to help. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or email me. Have a great week! Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  The Monday Moment Designed to get you in touch with and be deliberate about your energy of being. Quick Reflection: How did last week go for you? Were you able to practice the things that contribute to your success and that you want to become habits for yourself? Did you remember to look at your reminders to stay on track? Be sure to keep those reminders in place. It takes conscious effort to build new habits that serve us well. What do you love to do? Today’s Monday Moment is all about love. You may be thinking “What’s love got to do with it? This is work!” According to new research that Marcus Buckingham, the researcher behind Strengths Finder, has compiled, love has everything to do with work. Marcus was troubled by the consistent decrease in engagement scores worldwide. And of course, as only Marcus Buckingham could, he set out to find out why. What he discovered is that when workers spend 20% of their work time doing the things they love, engagement and satisfaction goes up. 20% seems to be the magic number. Less than 20%, scores go down and more than 20% doesn’t have much of an additional impact. He is clear that love and strengths don’t necessarily correlate. We can be good at something but not like doing it. This is all about what you LOVE to do. Week 3 - Monday Moment Habit Creator
Deep inside we all want to make contributions that matter and make a difference. Spending time doing things we love touches that desire. This Week’s Challenge: In the course of this week, notice when you are doing things that you love and make a note of what it is and how much time you get to spend doing it. It might be something you do on a regular basis or it could be something that’s not even part of your official job description. What matters is that you get a clearer sense of what you LOVE to do and how much time you get to spend doing it during your work week. At the end of your week, make a compiled list of the things you LOVED doing and the percentage of time you got to spend doing them. I’d love to see your list and your percentage. Go ahead and email me Rita@WiseLeader.net Learn more about Marcus Buckingham’s Love + Workbook and upcoming webinars. Have a good week. Remember if overwhelm or anxiety gets a grip, STOP and breathe deeply and slowly until the calm feelings return. Those are the feelings that will support you in making your best contribution. Then resume your work. Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/  The Monday Moment Designed to get you in touch with and be deliberate about your energy of being. How did last week go for you? Did you remember to take 90 seconds to breathe deeply throughout the day; especially when anxiety or overwhelm set in? I made a commitment seven years ago that I would no longer work from a state of ramped-up energy (what I fondly call the buzz) and the feeling of pressure to get everything done. I was determined to work from a relaxed, calm state. At first, I was taking 90 seconds to breathe more than 10 times a day. (It only amounted to 15 minutes out of my entire day!) And guess what? Over the course of 6 weeks, the calm state became my norm. I rarely feel anxious anymore, nor overwhelmed. I would argue that I get more done now with a higher rate of satisfaction and quality than I ever did when I worked under pressure. I hope you noticed some nice changes within yourself. Today we’re focusing on Celebrating. When we take time to celebrate, we move our energy to a higher level of positivity. We also help our brain remember the things we are celebrating in a way that makes those things easier to access long term. When I say celebrate, I’m talking about taking a few minutes to reflect and specifically identify those things that went well and your role in that success. It’s easy to check things off our to-do list, but to take full advantage of what we’ve done well, we need to stop and think about what we did. Maybe a difficult meeting went well last week. When you reflect, you realize you took the time to prepare, you set an intention before going into the meeting and you were fully present. That’s worth remembering, making note of, and integrating into how you work. Week 2 - Monday Moment Habit Creator
Make note of what you did that you want to form a habit around and deliberately practice those things this week. Put reminders in prominent places for yourself so you continue to build the new habit. This Week’s Challenge: At any time this week, if you notice your energy dropping, STOP, breathe slowly for 90 seconds, and then resume your work from a place of calm and presence. If you’d like an accountability buddy, go ahead and email me what it is you are focusing on this week. I’ll be doing this exercise along with you. I’m already smiling about the things that went well in my last week. I’ll smile even more when I see what you are doing as well. These are the subtle ways that great leaders manage their energy and build their awareness. As the world continues to change faster than ever, these are the habits that will serve you well regardless of what is going on around you. Warm regards, Rita Webster, Ph.D. The Executive Coach for Women Leaders Connect With Me On LinkedIn 612-598-6614 | http://www.wiseleader.net/ 
Welcome to The Monday Moment! During these next 10 weeks, I’m hosting a grand experiment to notice what happens when you take a Monday moment to be deliberate about how you want to be throughout your week. My hope is that you will gain guidance, have less stress, more meaningful successes. There’s probably plenty of doing in the week ahead of you that you have on your to-do list and on your calendar. But what about your Being? After all, we are human beings. Somehow our work-life often doesn’t account enough for that. Yes, the work to be done is important, but I would argue that what matters, even more, is your being—the type of energy you carry throughout the week. When you learn to work in a relaxed way at least three positive things happen: Time seems to slow down. The parts of your brain that help with problem-solving and creativity become more active. Your stress level goes down. With practice over the next 10 weeks, you can cultivate the ability and the habit to work in a relaxed state. Exercise #1 Breathing
Then notice what feels different throughout your body and in your mind. You will probably feel calmer, more relaxed, and clear-headed. This Week’s Challenge: Your challenge this week, should you choose to accept it, is to notice throughout your workday whenever you are not feeling calm, those moments when overwhelmed sets in or anxiety get a grip. Then STOP and do this breathing exercise just for 90 seconds. Then, when your body relaxes, and your calm brain comes back online, then begin your work again. Let me know how it goes for you. I’ll be practicing right along with you. This is a skill that can be used at any moment anywhere and it works miracles that you will soon start to notice. Let me know how it goes for you. I’ll be practicing right along with you. This is a skill that can be used at any moment anywhere and it works miracles that you will soon start to notice. Warm regards,  Hello! I wanted to reach out and see how the start of your New Year is going? For many, our New Year starts out with a list of goals, resolutions, habits, or things we want to accomplish - but if I'm being honest, with the stress of the last 2 years, some of it can seem a bit overwhelming. That's why I'm excited to share with you I'll be launching a FREE 10-week Monday Moment Challenge starting in February! What do you have to do to join? Nothing at all, but here's what you can expect. 1) Every Monday morning you'll receive your "Monday Moment" in your inbox. 2) In the email will be a quick bit of inspiration for starting your week off well. Why am I doing this? Because I know how hard it is to develop the habit of taking a few minutes to intentionally set the tone for the week. And the research shows us that when we take a few moments of inspiration and take charge of the energy we want to bring to our work week, things go better. Let’s see what happens when we practice together. I hope that you enjoy the Monday Moments, and please share this link with anyone you think may welcome a little guidance as we prepare to take on the rest of 2022, together. Warm regards,  Are you ready to take action to make your career goals a reality in 2022? Then it's time to set aside the excuses and start today - and the best part? You don't have to do it alone! I'm sending this to let you know, this is the last chance to take advantage of the 2021 pricing discount for our upcoming Cohorts. Take Charge of Your Career & Build Next Level Skills
**Please note, our discounted rate will only be available for these two Q1 cohorts. For more information - contact me directly or schedule a call. Rita@wiseleader.net | 612-598-6614 | Schedule Here What People Are Saying..."The biggest benefit of a cohort situation is being able to learn, grow and see different perspectives from many different women. It helps me expand my knowledge more than I would on my own. I have company training with my job that is for everyone and I don’t feel like the topics covered “stick” as much as they do with the cohort program. " "Being in the Cohort made me pause during this crazy time and reflect on my performance, my contributions, and my ability to be a leader in my current work environment. I feel empowered to make confident decisions." "I realized that women leaders ARE different from men and that we should lean into those differences and strengths, instead of trying to work against them to be more like men. I have a better understanding of myself and my strengths and that makes me a better and more authentic leader." Warm regards,  Taking control of your career in 2022. What's the right move for you? When setting your career goals - what's the biggest roadblock you face? This question I asked on LinkedIn last week and 44% of people had answered with a Clear Direction/Action Plan.  In 2022 it's time for you to set and achieve career goals that will take your work to the next level, no matter your industry or level of experience. But how will you make that happen? Coaching, Roundtables, Cohorts, Online Course - the options out there are endless - but I'd love to help you find the right step for yourself and your goals.
It’s my end-of-year gift to you. No strings attached. I want as many women as possible to build the skills they need to make their best contribution in 2022 and beyond.  As the new year approaches, our roundtables and cohorts are filling up fast. For anyone interested in learning more about these programs, I encourage you to reach out before 2022, as prices will be increasing in the new year. So don't miss your last chance to take advantage of our current rates on: Women's Leadership Development Cohort: Take charge of your career
Warm regards, |
AuthorDr. Rita Webster 
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