I love it when great ideas come together!

I’ve been noodling on a way to work with women managers for quite some time.

I could see there was a group of women who needed the information I was teaching to my coaching clients as well as the Executive women members of my Roundtable; but I wasn’t sure how to find a cost-effective way to reach them.

I knew they didn’t have the development budgets that executives have.

The pandemic actually gave me the kick in the butt I needed to finally figure it out.

Because of the pandemic, I’ve had to get good at using the technology to work online.

That gave me the confidence and the insight to create a zoom based program.

I designed a pilot cohort leadership development program that has 6 sessions over a period of 3 months. I can offer the program every quarter so organizations can enroll women managers at four different times during the year.

The "Women Managers Leadership Develop Cohort" launched last week.

Twenty-four amazing women are enrolled.

It has been delightful to feel their enthusiasm for learning and participating. There was a deep sense of gratitude on their part for being included in the cohort.

They are finding ways to virtually network and get to know each other.

And I’m having so much fun giving them information about how women lead and putting them into small groups to process and apply the information to their own situations.

We do our second session next week.

I can’t wait to talk with them about our next topic, Emotional Intelligence!

I’m currently enrolling women managers in the 2021 Q1 Cohort, which starts in January.

If you have women managers who report to you and would be good candidates for the development opportunity the cohort offers, please reach out to me.

You’ll be glad you did and they will be appreciative for the opportunity to grow and develop as leaders.
​
Until next time,
Dr. Rita
612-598-6614 
Rita@wiseleader.net 
www.WiseLeader.net

​In our Executive Change Leadership Roundtable recently, overwhelm was a common theme.

Roundtable members were dealing with 2021 budgeting frustrations, the balancing of staying informed with feeling emotionally hijacked by the news, helping kids doing distance learning and being cooped up working from home.

We talked a lot about how easy it is to get entangled in the revved-up world we live in these days.

Then I remembered what I diligently started working on a couple years ago.

It was the power of calm.

I deliberately decided I was not going to work from a place of angst and being as revved-up as the world is.

Up until then, I always thought that having that ramped up buzzy type feeling was needed to get things done. And that to be successful I’d need a type A personality.

I made a commitment that I was going to work from a place of calm and that as soon as I noticed the angst and buzzy feeling, I would immediately stop, breath and get grounded.

I have my grandmothers rocking chair in the corner of my home office, so I would go to the chair, sit down and rock and breathe until my calm returned.

I started to notice that I might have been all tensed up about emails I needed to send or a phone calls I needed to make. And after taking my calming break and coming back to my laptop, nine times out of ten, the people I needed to email had already emailed me, or the people I needed to call had already left a voicemail.

The first few times this happened, I thought it was a fluke. But it started happening a lot.

I started to pay attention.

I also read information that said when we’re emotionally charged, we don’t have access to the creative problem-solving part of our brain.

It dawned on me that when I let myself get all charged up about something, I was actually making it harder for the part of my brain that could help me, to do its work.

I decided right then and there that I was not going to make life harder for myself by emotionally hi-jacking the part of my brain that could do me the most good.

Over time, my body got accustomed to being calm most of the time. If that old buzzy feeling started to show up, I actually became uncomfortable.

That was a pleasant surprise.

These days calmness is a way of life for me.

And I’m deeply grateful for my commitment to a calmer way of living.

As leaders living and leading from a place of calm is helpful on more levels than I can name here. Give it a try.

If you’d like to learn more, reach out to me. Or join our Emotional Intelligence Friday afternoon practice group. 

I’m here to help.
​
Until next time,
Dr. Rita
612-598-6614 
Rita@wiseleader.net 
www.WiseLeader.net

As women, we are notorious for taking care of everyone else before we take care of ourselves.
Holidays and winter will be here before we know it.

Given the unending crises and stresses of 2020, this year especially, you've got to take good care of yourself.

For those of you who may be hesitating, you have full permission to put yourself first!

If putting yourself first feels like too big of a stretch, at least put yourself near the top.

This is the year to give yourself permission to let some things drop.

Your health and well-being are way more important than getting through your to-do list.

My dear friend and colleague Sue Hawks at YESS! Recently sent out a list of self-care activities and how they relate to the science of the chemicals our body needs especially with the upcoming darkness of winter.

With her permission I’ll share them here.

There’s a science to giving your body the chemicals it needs during the darkness of winter and the isolation of a pandemic.

Try some of these simple practices to combat the challenges of the season ahead and experience more happiness and well-being.

To feel rewarded (giving yourself a shot of dopamine-- don’t get on any device---you can get a dopamine hit that way, but you also can increase your stress—don’t do it!)

• Complete tasks
• Organize your surroundings
• Self-care activities
• Sleeping, dancing, journaling, meditation, etc.
• Eating food
• Celebration

To feel love (giving yourself a shot of oxytocin)

• Play with a dog.
• Spend time playing with or holding a baby
• Hold someone’s hand
• Hug someone
• Give compliments

To stabilize your mood (giving yourself a shot of serotonin)

• Meditate
• Walk
• Get out in the sun (for 15-20 minutes minimum)
• Spend time in nature
• Aerobic exercise

To strop pain (giving yourself a shot of endorphins)

• Laughter
• Essential oils
• Watch a comedy show
• Eat dark chocolate
• Exercise

If you prefer video you can see and hear Sue Hawks (and watch this corresponding video for more information)

Keep this list handy. It can help you figure out which chemical your body needs more of at any given time.

Remember I am here to support you in your leadership endeavors and in taking the best possible care of you as you can.

Reach out at any time!

​Until next time,
Dr. Rita
612-598-6614 
Rita@wiseleader.net 
www.WiseLeader.net