Category: Mariposa Articles

Let’s Leave the Armor Off, for Good

A personal perspective on leading differently in the next pandemic transition

We have choices as we emerge from the pandemic: We can go back to what now seems like an unsustainable pre-Covid frenetic pace, or we can use this next pandemic transition phase to start afresh, to have different kinds of conversations with our teams (and ourselves). What’s at stake is our well-being, actually. The pandemic has taken its toll on us (collectively and individually), and we are still in the midst of having to weather a storm unlike any other in our lifetimes.

So, let us admit that we are more fragile now; that we need to be more patient with each other; and that we need to be more mindful about truly understanding each other and not leave it to happenstance or the occasional meetup.

This next pandemic transition is an opportunity for leaders to be real: We can focus on bringing our full selves to work and breathe a sigh of relief that we don’t have to put on the armor anymore.

It’s an opportunity to care for each other in ways we really didn’t have to in the “Before.” We can deepen connections with our team members, focus on staying flexible and open amidst constant (and continued) uncertainty, and model self-care to keep ourselves and our teams resilient.

CONNECT. FLEX. CARE. Hopefully, you can hang your hat on these, and put that armor in the junk pile.

ONE: Stay close and stay connected.

Most likely your company is sticking to a remote-only WFA (work-from-anywhere) model OR a hybrid model with some over-arching RTO (return-to-office) policies. Whichever work model your company has or is adopting, it’s vital to stay close and connected to your team members in some way, every day. Closeness comes in various forms and builds the trust needed as we enter this transitional and uncertain hybrid phase. With the daunting amount of Zoom calls endured over the past 18 months, we have glanced into our work colleague’s living rooms, kitchens, and makeshift offices in bedrooms and closets; and we have chuckled with each dog and child passer-by. We have also experimented with a myriad of coffee-, drink-, game-, knitting-, movie-, you-name-it affinity-group meet-ups. These glimpses and Zoom micro-meetings have brought us a bit closer and allowed us to stay connected to our work colleagues. And so-called work-life balance has become more like work-life intertwine. Yes, we have struggled with boundaries, but we have also opened up in ways we haven’t before. What are some ways we can continue to open up, to deepen closeness and connection? Here are some ideas to try out, drawn from my own experiences with running a 13-person team of coaches and listening to many leaders tell me their stories. One, encourage others to share thoughts and feelings in 1-1s and team meetings. This flows better if you: a) create a safe space with thoughtful questions, and b) model your own vulnerability and share what’s happening for you. Here are two examples:

Do consistent check-ins at the top of team meetings. We don’t mean just a “how’s-everyone-doing-today” check-in. We have found with our team — and in listening to our clients talk about what works with their teams — having an initial 3-5 minutes to banter is important; then asking one specific question that allows people to be themselves and learn about each other works well. Questions like:
- What is one thing you overcame this week that surprised you?
- What activity did you do with a friend or family member that gave you joy?
- What skill are you working on outside of work that you kicked ass on?
- What movie or show did you watch that you adored?
- What conversation did you have with a colleague that gave you the support you didn’t even know you needed?

Have lunch, coffee, drinks in-person, outside whether you’re WFA or RTO. Perhaps you will discover some new places near the office, renew ties with old haunts, and/or meet up with a team member at a halfway point between your homes. And decide if it’s feasible to travel to see team members (if WFA) or bring them to headquarters. All of these ideas take time and there is nothing scalable about it. On purpose. The presence you share will go a long way. And it sure beats emailing an Uber-Eats gift card.

Two, coaching your team members regularly is also a way to stay close and stay connected. For example:

Put more attention on in-the-moment coaching. Linger after Zoom group meetings by picking up the phone with a team member or use Slack to continue a conversation; or, if you’re in the office, walk team members to their next meeting. These in-between moments are not only ripe for learning and problem-solving, but also demonstrate you’re going the extra mile for your team members.

Listen for the “hard stuff.” By giving your team members more opportunities to be themselves and talk about what’s going on for them, people will inevitably bring up hard things. Like, someone might express grief over the death of a loved one from Covid; or express overwhelm with balancing kids and work; or express fears about coming into the office. Just listening and acknowledging people’s pain may be all they need; yet in some cases, a person may need much more support — from inside or outside the company. You might suggest that they chat with HR and/or Employee Assistance. Perhaps they have their own coach or therapist; check in with them about that, and if not, suggest it.

TWO: Stay flexible, open, and experiment.

(Especially if your company is doing an RTO hybrid.) I have written previously about the importance of a leader thinking like a designer. Staying flexible and experimenting — central tenets of design thinking — is going to come in handy here in this next pandemic transition phase. Back in March 2020, we all went out of the office together, and as tech leaders and employees, you were mostly in the same boat as far as being disadvantaged or advantaged (depending on your perspective) by working from home. Not the case now. The RTO hybrid is about to be different-day-different-company-different-boat. This is concerning for many reasons, mostly because things and people will get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately, this is a perfect storm for even more exclusion and lack of continuity. Yet, there are things you can control and design for.

One, do a mindset re-set: Prepare yourself for even more uncertainty. (“Oh god,” you’re whispering under your breath right now). If you expect that things (i.e., outside-the-company forces, inside-the-company policies), will be in constant motion, then when you hear about (yet again), another shift in mask-wearing, or that you can’t get monitors for your new hoteling desks because the supply chain is four months behind, or that the facilities app that determines who is in-the-office-what-days completely gets f**ked up, then you could say to yourself, “It’s ok, we are expecting these snafus to happen…this isn’t a surprise.” We know this is easier said than done. But this is the point. With prototyping new work models and any new apps/tools/platforms, etc., there will be failures. Fail fast, get the feedback, and try a different way.

Two, in the midst of the grandest prototyping experiment ever, it’s important to check your anxiety along the way. Your anxiety level very much will determine how much uncertainty you can handle. Part of being flexible means being calm in the midst of a big, fat mess. What can you do to be more patient, overall, and catch yourself when things aren’t going the way you want them to, or the way they should be going? We know meditation and breathing helps. We know that people who meditate regularly (sitting for as little as 10 minutes a day) will be able to access the calmness they experience when they meditate when the going gets tough at the office, at home, or in-between (because we know that commuting on those freeways again is really going to suck).

Three, another aspect of being flexible is the discernment you model when dealing with the myriad of new circumstances-turned-dilemmas that are already popping up in the RTO hybrid. From our vantage point at Mariposa (currently working with approximately 24 companies and 70+ leaders), the primary problem in the RTO hybrid is “managing by exception.” This could be related to everything from how many days in the office to traveling to offsites to mask-wearing (and a host of other new policies).

For example, if your company has instituted a mandatory 3/2 hybrid (three days in the office, two at home), and you have a team member who moved away during the pandemic, what do you do? This situation came up with one of our clients recently. The leader — a senior director at a 1500-person tech firm — wasn’t sure what to do with a top performer who had permanently moved 1000 miles away in the early part of the pandemic. She didn’t want to lose the employee, so she granted an exception to the company policy. The leader made the decision based on a lot of communication with her team member — to understand their situation — and she looked at all the possible angles. The leader was definitely concerned about flight risk (because her team member could easily go work for another remote-only company — even a competitor). However, in the end, it wasn’t just about the flight risk. By taking ample time to learn about the employee’s circumstances at home, the leader gained a deeper understanding and more empathy, so ultimately, the decision wasn’t that hard to make. This senior director is not alone in trying to solve for these types of dilemmas. (In fact, her situation is so typical that “remote-only” companies are starting to capitalize on this status as a competitive advantage.) We have all seen the headlines about the protesting at large tech companies (e.g., company wants 3,4,5 days in the office; employees want less). Now multiply that by every tech company. Wow. Each tech company has its own RTO hybrid policies. And bosses on every level are going to be bombarded with exceptions to the policies (e.g., company wants 3 days in the office; employees want 0,1,2). There aren’t scalable solutions here; in fact, by its nature, “manage by exception” IS one person at a time. Thus, in anticipation of this messiness, we have outlined some questions you can ask yourself when you’re working with your team(s):

- What are your initial criteria for granting an exception? While performance most likely is one of the criteria, what other criteria are you considering? (Their home life circumstances, their value to team, etc.)
- What is your opinion of the RTO policies? How might your views be affecting how you’ll be granting exceptions?
- What is your relationship with the person you’re granting the exception to? Are you granting exceptions to people you know better and trust more? In other words, check yourself on favoring people you know better.
- How can you be the most flexible and still hold to the company policies?

Expect the unexpected, continue to hone and experiment, and do the best you can to discern the optimal solution for that day or that situation, person, or team.

THREE: Do self-care and help others do it, too.

All through the pandemic, in our coaching work, we have supported leaders in many areas of skill and design; and self-care and well-being have been a central focus. In the initial stages of the pandemic, we helped clients design boundaries around what-was-work-and-what-was-home — everything from “Zoom Room” logistics to exercise routines to how to hide out from one’s two-year-old. More than anything we focused on helping clients model what Tony Schwartz so aptly calls “manage your energy, not your time.” Now, 18 months later, we have not changed our tune. We still think self-care is the single most important act you can do right now for yourself, and it’s a twofer: Modeling self-care is the single most important leaderly act you can do for your team or organization’s culture.

One, as we move into the next pandemic transition phase, what are the self-care routines you will want to keep that have served you well during the pandemic?

- Are you getting outside every day, for example, and if so, if you’re continuing with WFA, how can you increase that outside time? If you’re going to a RTO hybrid, how can you keep your commitment to outside time (no matter what!)?
- What other exercise routines will you keep and add to?
- What about your nutrition?
- Your sleep?
- Your meditation and/or alone time?

Two, what are some rituals you would like to add now that being social is a thing, again? For example:

- How will you socialize at work?
- When and where will you travel for work and for fun?
- What networking events will you do?
- How will you deal with some of the awkwardness of greetings, leavings, and lingerings? (A colleague said to us the other day that he went to a networking event, and he found himself not knowing what to do with his hands; he had to think about it way too much. While it was so welcomed to get out there, he said, it was super awkward, too. This, too, shall pass…with practice.)
- How will you see your in-work and out-of-work friends regularly? And could you up your game in keeping it real?

Three, how will you encourage others to focus on their self-care and well-being? One way is by making it a standing agenda item in your team meetings by asking: How do you rate your well-being on a scale of 1-10 today? And what could you do to up it a notch the rest of the day? Another way to encourage your team members’ self-care is by matching up team members with each other as support partners or buddies. Ask that they meet up once a week for 20-30 minutes to ask each other how they’re meeting their self-care goals.

Finally, hopefully, it goes without saying, that you, as a leader, need support, too. Please be gentle with yourself and ask for the support you need.

Last week, one of my favorite people, Steve Cadigan, happened to be in Maui at the same time as I, and we took a walk on Kama’ole I, my favorite beach. He asked me: “Sue, how are you doing, really?” I thanked him for asking and said: “Well, the pandemic has kicked my ass, no question about it, and I don’t think I will ever be the same. And…I have gotten through it, thanks to being outside like we are now in this glorious place…and, well, the Giants’ winning ways have helped my spirits immensely.” We both laughed out loud. All kidding aside, I got through the pandemic and will continue to “keep it real” for one primary reason: I ask for support. For example, I have worked with both an executive coach and a therapist on-and-off over the past 25 years; during the pandemic, I have upped this to every week without fail. I have sought out professionals for my teenager to support him through distance learning and to help me support him as well. I have regularly connected with my friends for their support and to get us outside so none of us get too isolated. I initiated and still facilitate two Zoom support groups (one with my best friends which meets Monday nights; and one with executive coaches across the U.S., which meets every other Wednesday morning). My weekly calls with my business partner, Tawny Lees (another one of my favorite people), have been focused on our respective well-being as much (or more) as our strategy and operational agenda items. And Tawny and I shifted the Mariposa team weekly Zoom meetings so we could spend more time on individual and collective well-being, including helping each other through continued uncertainty. In this essay, I have asked you to take the opportunity now, in this next pandemic transition phase, to refresh your conversations with your teams — to connect, to flex, and to model self-care. I can ask (and hopefully, inspire) you to do these things because I am on the same journey to do these things, myself.

My best to you as we all navigate this new world. I welcome your comments and ideas.

Thank You’s

I want to acknowledge the Mariposa Leadership team, all of whom are partners in these white paper endeavors. We try to practice what we preach in giving each other constant feedback and in trying new things (ad nauseam). Special thanks to Tawny Lees and Allison Adams for their edits and insights. And we owe all of this to the Mariposa clients. Their ideas, practices, and successes are woven throughout these pages.

About the Author

Susan J. Bethanis, Ed.D., is the Founder/CEO of Mariposa Leadership, Inc., a 13-person San Francisco-based firm that provides executive coaching and design thinking to tech and biotech leaders. Sue’s book, Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage, is a fly-on-the-wall account of real conversations between a coach and an executive. Sue received her Doctorate in Education at USF, specializing in Organizational Leadership; her dissertation looked at the interdependence between language and change in organization culture. She received her Master’s Degree in Education from Stanford, specializing in Instructional Design. Sue also has a certification in Design Thinking from Stanford’s d.School. Sue lives in San Francisco and Maui with her 15-year-old entrepreneurial teen, Max. When she’s not coaching, Sue’s playing tennis, pickleball, and (attempts) golf; and she makes photographs all over the world. Contact her at 415-265-3142, sueb@mariposaleadership.com. Follow her at @suebethanis on Twitter and Instagram.

About Mariposa

For 25 years, Mariposa has been offering leadership coaching and consulting to tech leaders in both 1-1 and group formats. Mariposa’s recent clients include AppFolio, AWS, Gilead, Honor, Intel, Nvidia, PayPal, Peloton, Tapestry, Twitch, Theravance, Zuora, and Zynga. Leaders are turning to Mariposa’s executive coaches to help pivot, plan, and perform through this uncertainty. For more information, visit us at www.mariposaleadership.com. Download the PDF here

July 27th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Culture, Leadership, Mariposa Articles|Tags: company culture, design thinking, effective leadership, executive coaching, executive leadership coaching, HR Leadership, Mariposa Leadership, sue bethanis|

April 3, 2020 / Blog / Mariposa Articles / Stress / Work-Life Integration

Working Parents + Shelter-in-Place. Mission Impossible?

by Tawny Lees, COO and Executive Coach, tawny@mariposaleadership.com

As I’ve been talking with and coaching clients this week, the reality of long-term school closures and shelter-in-place orders seems to be hitting working parents the hardest.

It can feel impossible for two-parent homes where both partners work from home — and gets even harder when one parent works outside of the home, for single parents, when kids have special needs, or if elder care is thrown into the mix.

Three main ideas here, curated from what I’m hearing, reading, and experiencing myself as a working parent:

Set Expectations

Get radically real about short-term (now to 3 months) expectations of yourself:

As a professional. Anyone responsible for kids at home is just not going to be as productive and/or available as usual. It’s okay. This is an unprecedented situation in our lifetimes; as a leader, you and your team need to figure out how to work through it together. Shift the mindset from “I/we can’t get this all done” to “here’s what I/we can get done.”

Assess your and your team’s current deliverables, initiatives, and capabilities.
Reset short-term priorities and deadlines.
Re-assign/share the workload across the team.
Establish preferred times for meetings or availability for real-time interaction. (E.g. meetings only between 9-12 and 2-5.)

Proactively align on all the above with everyone who needs to know – cross-functional partners, customers, suppliers, boss, etc.

As a working parent. You will not be able to offer the same level of time, attention, and expertise that your children would normally receive from teachers, caregivers, etc. during this time. It’s okay. Do your best, they will survive. Shift your mindset from “I’m being a bad parent” or “my kids are missing out on XYZ” to “we will get through this and learn previously unimagined lessons about life.”

Set Structure

Involve everyone and make a family work plan:

Figure out a schedule and division of labor that works. For all. You’d be surprised that even young kids can contribute to brainstorming ideas and making a plan. (Whip out some flip charts or post-it notes – they’ll love it!) And by involving them, they tend to be more enthusiastic about sticking with it. Things to consider:

Can you and your partner or older kids work in “shifts” to take care of younger kids?
Can you enlist or employ friends, family, babysitters, tutors to virtually engage your kids on a regular schedule that you could rely on? Via video, they could talk, read, play games, sing, do dances, do schoolwork, etc.
What are the most engaging/reliable activities that kids can do with little to no supervision? (e.g. movies, online gaming, schoolwork.) Schedule those activities during important work time. They will be getting more screen time; get over it.
What work can you do while sitting near/with them? (e.g. status reports or emails at the kitchen table while they do schoolwork and ask an occasional question.)
As you prioritize your precious time, what is the best way for you to spend the free time you’ll have with the kids? Having fun? Relaxing? Getting outside? How do you want to “be” during that time?
What are your rules for the time when you need to be uninterrupted? (e.g. door is closed, don’t knock.) How can you reward them for sticking to the rules? (e.g. an enthusiastic high-five, cuddling and reading for 15 minutes, going outside to play.)

Make sure everyone in the family understands the schedule/plan and experiment! Try it for a week and then revisit – What worked? What didn’t? What to try next?

Recharge

You’ll need energy to pull off this mission:

We all know the metaphors – “put your oxygen mask on first,” “you can’t pour from an empty cup,” etc. Well, they are true. Especially now.

You will need to get creative, and insistent, about making sure you are getting adequate sleep and time to relax and recharge.
Include a favorite activity in your plan, make a pact with someone, do what’s needed to make it happen.
Take time off from work, use the weekend as a weekend (it’s still there, even though days seem to be blurring together.)
Give yourself some perspective – look ahead 10 days, 10 weeks, 10 months, and 10 years from now. How will you feel then, how will you look back on what is happening now?

You are not alone! We are all in this together. We would love to hear what’s working for you so we can help share information with others. Often, the first question our clients ask us in a session is: “What are your other clients doing about WFH?” Let’s spread the best practices.

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

April 3rd, 2020|Categories: Blog, Mariposa Articles, Stress / Work-Life Integration|Tags: corporate culture, covid-19, executive coaching, leadership, leadership coaching, work-life balance, working from home, working parents|

March 23, 2020 / Blog / Mariposa Articles

Six Keys to Leading in Crisis

by Barbara Baill, Executive Coach, barbara@mariposaleadership.com

Leaders have an increased responsibility to lead during times of crisis and this current COVID-19 crisis is certainly one of those times. We have identified 6 C’s as keys to demonstrate your leadership today.

Calm

In any crisis, we look to our leaders for signals that we can either, get through this, or on the other hand, that it’s time to panic (the boat is going down). It’s important, as leaders, that we project a sense of CALM – that we can get through this. This can have a huge positive impact on our teams as we focus on addressing the challenges we will face whether they are personal (how do I make working from home work for me) or business (how do we continue to produce, generate revenue, keep our business alive) in this time of crisis.

Connect

Connecting to your team is more critical than ever! Ensure that you are increasing both the frequency and amount of information you communicate to your team. Here are some ideas:

5 minute daily huddles to check in with everyone
Virtual lunches
Slack or text channels that are focused on ideas for working at home with children, surviving social isolation, funny things that happen while WFH
Increase 1:1s, even for short check-ins at the beginning and end of each week
Increase overall business updates, new strategies, redirection of projects, etc.

It’s also critical that you are connecting with your peers and maintaining important relationships across the organization. We are all in this together. Reach out to your peers and colleagues to support them, share ideas for managing in this new environment, for creative ways to socialize where being isolated.

Clarify

Ensure that you take this opportunity to clarify the goals for each of your people. Are they clear on what needs to be accomplished by when? What, if anything, has changed in terms of what they are expected to delivery by when? It’s also an opportunity for you to take the time and space to reflect on your team’s mission and priorities. How might they need to change in this crisis? Is there an opportunity to refocus and/or reprioritize to increase your team’s impact?

Create

Crises are a time for creativity and redesign. Look for opportunities to be creative with your team. Hold a Zoom meeting with the team and use the Chat function to brainstorm ideas, whether about current projects or coping with the “shelter-in-place” challenges. Here is our Design Thinking approach to guide you (all practices can be adapted to videoconferencing formats).

Coach

It’s important to coach your directs, but during a crisis, it is even more imperative. Use this opportunity to reach out and coach your people. We have developed In-the-Moment Coaching that is highlighted by the RAR Model (Rapport, Assess, Reframe). Giving feedback and problem-solving with your team is a daily practice, and it’s also a great time to help each member of your team learn and develop.

Care

Most importantly, it is THE moment to show that you CARE personally about each member of the team. In your 1:1s, ask how they are coping with the crisis, what is most challenging for them, what are their concerns/worries. You don’t have to have all the answers, you just need to listen and ask if there is anything they need from you. This demonstrates that you care about them personally. As the crisis continues, we all need support. Reaching out proactively to your team, your colleagues, your customers is a key leadership role for you now. This is about leading with your heart, not leading with your head. Heart-based leadership breeds loyalty and commitment and is one of the most powerful leadership tools we all possess.

Finally, it’s also important that you practice SELF-CARE. As a leader, the demands on you escalate in crisis. You have your own worries, challenges and concerns. Ensure that you are taking time to rest, regenerate, and exercise. Find a friend, colleague, family member to co-support each other. You can only be your best leader if you are taking care of yourself.

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

March 23rd, 2020|Categories: Blog, Mariposa Articles|Tags: care, communication, covid-19, design thinking, executive coaching, In-The-Moment Coaching, self-care|

March 16, 2020 / Blog / Mariposa Articles

The New Normal: We Ain’t Going Back Now

by Sue Bethanis, CEO/Founder of Mariposa, sueb@mariposaleadership.com, @suebethanis

Whoa, last week was the strangest week I have experienced. Ever.

How are you holding up? Perhaps stop for a minute, and check in with yourself: How AM I actually holding up? You probably haven’t had a chance to catch your breath from the horror of last week, and the ongoingness of the weekend. And, well, today, has unfolded with the biggest stock market drop ever, and a Bay Area “Shelter-in-Place” Order.

In the last week, you probably went to the store(s) and stocked up; you probably have your (tiny) workspace set up in your home; your kids are now out of school and you’re getting them set up in their (really tiny) workspaces; and I am hearing from some of you, you’re already starting to feel isolated (and it’s only been a week!)

You are not alone, for sure. The collective “we are all in this together” feeling might help ease some of the anxiety. That’s the good news. The not so good news — what I am also hearing and sensing — is that many work colleagues and clients believe this is a three-week thing; we can tolerate this for three weeks, can’t we? My guess is this is more likely a three-month thing, which would look like: kids out of the school the rest of the semester, which means they go back in September; WFH will be extended as mandatory by most, if not all, businesses or local government until the end of May; and we continue to be plagued with: when is this going to end?

What if it doesn’t end, per se? What if we reframe the situation we are now all facing to create routines that will help us get through this transition period that will also help us on the other side? I think it behooves us to seek opportunity and to prepare for the New Normal.

What is that new stuff? Things you can start now, that you will be doing more of in the New Normal. The transition might be three weeks, but the New Normal is here to stay.

Here are some ideas:

Birdwatch, mostly alone. The Bay Area “Shelter-in-Place” Order, under the special cases questions section, actually encourages people to get outside — take a walk or run, go to a park — to avoid being cooped up which may amplify your anxiety. It’s good for well being, the notes say, with the very important caveat to practice social distancing — stay 6 feet away from others. And, by the way, don’t forget to watch and listen for the birds.

Exercise at home. You have created your workspace already; please add a (tiny) place to exercise, and to get in some resistance work. Have Amazon send you two 15 or 20 pound weights, along with some resistance bands. Even 10-15 minutes a day of resistance will help. Remember, you’re moving a lot less than normal. And creating specific time for exercise is important for burning calories and lowering stress.

Meditate. I have talked about the importance of meditation in my last two posts here and here. Being mindful of your anxiety and stress level is key to getting through this transition period and in the New Normal.

Set boundaries. For those of us who have been doing WFH for years, the single most important practice is setting boundaries — for when you work and when you don’t, and for how much you and your other family members are on technology. I suggest setting guidelines or rules together and sticking to them as a family.

Socialize. Isolation is already setting in. Consider scheduling a video conference or FT call with a different friend every day (i.e., it’s Tuesday, so I get to chat with my friend Elizabeth today). Start a group video conference chat with several buddies. I am starting a Zoom poker and Scotch group with my friends. Who’s in?

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

March 16th, 2020|Categories: Blog, Mariposa Articles|Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, meditation, new normal, reframe, remote workers, social distancing, video conferencing|

March 9, 2020 / Blog / Mariposa Articles

Working from Home: The Opportunity

by Sue Bethanis, CEO/Founder of Mariposa, sueb@mariposaleadership.com, @suebethanis

If you’re a knowledge worker living in the Bay Area and are not already working from home (WFH) by choice or by company policy, my guess is you soon will be. I suspect we will be following Seattle’s lead this week or next.

I have been working from home for 24 years as an Executive Coach, and I work with tech leaders who have made the transition to WFH in the past. Am working from home today, in fact, keeping tabs on my sick teen (he’s without-a-fever, but keeping him home for public health reasons).

Last Tuesday, I “penned” an article on “How to Be Leaderly in Utter Uncertainty.” Today, I am addressing WHAT AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO WORK FROM HOME. The Economist addresses the business opportunity of WFH here. The WSJ addresses the practical things of WFH, like your tech set up, here.

I am looking at a different opportunity: what you can do with that hour (or two) you just got back from no commuting and not having to sprint from meeting to meeting. And you’re not traveling, so you’re getting that time back, too. So, you really do have more time on your hands. I imagine you’re spending time getting set up and getting used to the idea that you’re using your dining room table or old card table as your workstation.

Once you have your set up, what are you going to do with that extra hour?

Three Ideas: Self-care, Family, Strategic Thinking

Self-care: meditation and exercise

If there is ever a time to practice meditation, now is the time. There is no question our collective anxiety is heightened because of COVID-19, the economy, uncertainty; and our individual anxiety is increased as well. Meditation and mindful breathing can calm us. Perhaps you have let your meditation practice go; if so, start it up again with 10 minutes in the morning. If you have never had a meditation practice, perhaps it’s time to start one up. One way to start is through repeating a mantra. I have used this practice for 30 years; it has never gotten old.

Sit in a quiet place with your feet on the floor.

Focus on your breath so that you can feel it go in and out of your nose.

Repeat this mantra:

May I be happy,
May I be safe,
May I be healthy,
May I live with ease,
May I be free.

Next, choose a person you’re closely connected with. Say his/her name in your mantra. You may want to choose a different person each day or repeat the mantra a couple of times in a day with various people:

May (name) be happy,
May ____ be safe,
May ____ be healthy,
May ____ live with ease,
May ____ be free.

Family: walking and connecting

You can create a “two-fer” opportunity if you walk with one of your family members or friends in the morning or as a break in the late afternoon. What an incredible opportunity we have that we get to see our family members more. Yes, I know – especially if you have kids – you’re going to have to create some boundaries for your work space and time; however, use this opportunity to put attention on your family members that you haven’t been able to do the past year, 5 years, 10 years…you know what I am talking about. Connect with them in a way you haven’t been able to in the past.

Strategy/Design: (Yes, you have been putting this off)

Once you get into your daily routine of WFH, think about that hour you have because you’re not sitting in your car. You have been putting off doing strategy work. And whatever strategic or vision documents you do have, they might need to be revised based on the new normal – the business climate took a huge detour last week, and today, March 9th, the DOW dropped 2000 points.

Re-looking at your business proposition, product, or market(s) might make some sense! So, what new scenario planning should you do? What approach could you take? For the past 10 years, I have used a Design Thinking approach with my company, Mariposa Leadership, and have worked with many execs and their teams using this approach. This requires looking at the market in a different way and bringing in your customers to solve problems WITH you. This Design Thinking method is outlined here. Typically, these types of journeys are done in person. Now, you have the time to do these types of brainstorming meetings via videoconferencing. What a cool opportunity!

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

March 9th, 2020|Categories: Blog, Mariposa Articles|Tags: anxiety, covid-19, design thinking, executive coaching, family, meditation, mindfulness, self-care, strategic thinking|

March 3, 2020 / Mariposa Articles

How to Be Leaderly in Utter Uncertainty (and what behaviors to focus on in this current coronavirus situation)

How HR and business leaders coach their teams in uncertain times

by Sue Bethanis, CEO/Founder of Mariposa, sueb@mariposaleadership.com, @suebethanis

Like you, I have been flooded the last three days with news and emails about coronavirus precautions. To allay my own anxiety, I spent much of this last weekend reading, and today, I am writing because I want to help reduce anxiety and be practical about how we can act as leaders of our organizations. As a leadership coach, it follows that I am focusing on leadership behaviors.

We have an obligation to protect and care for those we work with. It’s on us, and we can’t rely on politicians. There are potentially two pandemics here – wide-spread Covid-19 and wide-spread panic. Whether either becomes a pandemic in the US depends a lot on the actions we take.

What are our primary goals as leaders in this situation?

Plan for uncertainty
Overcommunicate with empathy and clarity
Model diligent healthy behaviors to limit spread

First, planning for uncertainty means planning for the worst-case scenario. If you have not developed a revised travel policy, remote working policy, and sick/leave policy, it’s time to do so now. I also suggest sharing your plans and learnings with colleagues in other organizations. Coinbase, for example, has open-sourced their plans. Check out how HR leaders and Coinbase are on top of this here and how a seven-point plan from McKinsey covers business practices here.

Frankly, I think developing these policies is the easy part; it is tedious, but you can borrow from and benchmark with others on this. The harder part is putting these policies into action and having to make decisions in the moment when you don’t have all the information you need. How do you plan for that?

This is the time to uplevel your flexibility skills and mindfulness. Planning for uncertainty also means expecting the unexpected and priming yourself for surprises. Go into your day thinking that there will be something that happens that you have never dealt with before. This will help you be calmer in a crisis because the surprise doesn’t cause as much of a stress (fight-or-flight) response in you. Your calmness will help others be calm and will lead to less anxiety and overall panic.

This is also the time to re-engage in a meditation/breathing practice if you have let it slip lately. Doing even 5-10 minutes of meditation to start your day will help you through the rest of your day.

Second, practice overcommunicating with empathy and clarity. Here are some examples:

Set up regular communication practices via all channels to get the word out about revised policies and ongoing revisions. It’s important that employees get into the habit of checking @all for the latest info.
If someone wants to stay home because they are sick, potentially sick, or has been in contact with someone sick, grant it without hesitation. But don’t stop there: have a conversation with them and go out of your way to ask about your team members’ concerns and what support they need. These simple words can go a long way to quell fear and anxiety. That’s your job always, but it’s especially your job now: support, support, support.
On the other side of that situation is this: a sick employee or co-worker who insists on coming into work because they have an important meeting with clients/customers or internal colleagues. Gently insist they don’t come in, and work through who else can cover for them. Further, if there has ever been a time to have back up to the backups, now is the time. Look at your team, chat with your team, and think about the importance of supporting each other. Who can back up whom? What does each member of your team need to get up to speed on to be able to cover for each other?
No doubt we are going to be doing more videoconferencing because many employees will be working from home. Be sure to communicate regularly about how working from home can be potentially isolating for you/your team. Give peeps a chance to voice their concerns about this and ways to overcome this.

(Click here for a handy infographic on “overcommunicating” practices.)

Third, it’s vital as leaders that we model healthy behaviors with diligence! This will limit the spread of the virus. Based on what I have read in the last three days, this is a good list for leaders to model:

Wash your hands for at least 15-20 secs, including the top of hands and in between fingers. Good idea to use (and provide) hand lotion as well because our hands are dry from all this washing.
Use hand sanitizer every time you enter a new place and every time you leave; have a personal size bottle with you at all times. Organizations should also have them in every room; and employees should use it at the beginning and end of every meeting. Also ensure to wipe down all touched surfaces with disinfectant anti-bacterial routinely.
Don’t touch your face! The best article I have read is on hand-to-face transmission; read here.
Do not hug, shake hands, or fist bump. Elbow bumping is now in vogue.
If you have not had a flu shot, get one now! It won’t stop the coronavirus, but it will aid in stopping other flus. From a public health perspective, this will have less impact on hospitals and clinics. In the U.S., 32 million people got the flu last year; 310,000 people were hospitalized; 18,000 people died. In Japan, the “regular” flu rate has gone down in the last 2 months because people are hand washing more often. Fascinating article on this here.
If you are sick, do not go into work and expose people (this should be the case for any type of sickness). It will also make it less awkward for everyone. When you have to cough or sneeze, do it into tissues or your sleeve at all times.
Stop buying face masks because they are ineffective for those without symptoms of the coronavirus. These purchases deplete the supplies needed for medical professionals.
Get better at video conferencing! If you don’t already do it on a regular basis, start practicing. Here are a few things to know:
- We at Mariposa have been using Zoom, a video conference software for 3 years and it does take practice. Plan a time with your team to work remotely and start teaching them the protocols. Zoom also offers free webinars and live training guides on how to use their services.
- Get the right technology tools in place NOW and help keep your team connected when they aren’t in the same physical location. Think about what specific tools and devices will be needed, i.e., online file sharing tools, laptops, webcams, smartphones, etc.

(Click here for a handy infographic on “healthy behaviors.”)

If you would like to chat more about how to lead in this time of uncertainty, ping me. Happy to help anytime. 4152653142, sueb@mariposaleadership.com

Finally, here are some more excellent resources in addition to ones hyperlinked above.

Center for Disease Control: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
ELAD: Coronavirus (COVID-19) PSA for Startups
TechCrunch: How to work during a pandemic
Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Hits U.S. Business Activity
Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Is Different. It’s Rapidly Hitting Supply and Demand.
Harvard Business Review: 8 Questions Employers Should Ask About Coronavirus

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

March 3rd, 2020|Categories: Mariposa Articles|Tags: communication, coronavirus, covid-19, executive leadership coaching, HR Leadership, leadership behaviors, uncertain times, working from home|

April 2, 2015 / Leadership / Mariposa Articles

The Communication Toolbox

We all grow up with our own unique communication style. Some people by nature are very direct. They come right to the point. They tell it like it is. They don’t mince words. Other people are more diplomatic, more indirect, more subtle in their communication. Indeed, there are a variety of communication styles—quiet, loud, forceful, caring, showy, authentic, and many more.

One metaphor I have found helpful in working with leaders to develop their communication skills is what I call “The Communication Toolbox.” The idea is that we each have a communication style that is most natural and comfortable for us. Usually, it’s a style we began to develop early in our lives or careers, and that somehow has served us well. But no one communication style is going to be right for all situations, and leaders encounter a tremendous diversity of people and contexts. Part of being a well-rounded leader means having more than just one tool. The further up you go in an organization, the more important it is to have a broader set of tools in your communication toolbox.To read the entire article, visit the Sierra Leadership blog.

April 2nd, 2015|Categories: Leadership, Mariposa Articles|Tags: communication, effective leadership, empathy, Eric Nitzberg, executive leadership, HR Leadership|

August 1, 2013 / Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation / Mariposa Articles

Leader as Designer

Learn how to utilize Design Thinking in your role as a leader. This essay, Leader as Designer, by Mariposa Leadership CEO Sue Bethanis, opens up Design Thinking to different applications and audiences that goes beyond product development. She offers a clear 4 step process to easily move from idea-to-innovation. The results: successful services, new experiences, and novel solutions to old problems.

Download PDF

“We are on the cusp of a design revolution in business. As a result, today’s business people don’t need to understand designers better, they need to become designers.”

—Roger Martin, Dean of University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management

Roger Martin equates the role of “designer” with “leader.” I do, too. He and I are not talking about graphic design or interior design or designing the next Eames-like masterpiece. Instead, we are talking about Design Thinking—a movement, a model, and a philosophy that has caught on in business schools and business settings. Design Thinking taps into imagination and practicality, which taken together form the backbone of creative problem-solving and
innovation.

There are a myriad of definitions of Design Thinking, many of which you can read about in the Executive Guide to Design Thinking. I see it as my role in coaching and writing to curate and translate various available theories and approaches, and my hope is that you use Design Thinking to help your teams think differently, solve problems, and come up with the next new things.

In describing Design Thinking, I have settled on the Breakthrough! model (detailed below) which emphasizes idea-to innovation. Since I was a college student, I have believed an idea is only as good as its usefulness and adding Design Thinking to my repertoire three years ago only deepened my belief in this mantra. Things, services, and experiences can be beautiful and interesting, and practicality is still the key to good design!

In my coaching, I observe leaders who are “popcorners”: They’re considered visionaries who come up with an idea a minute—often in isolation—many of which don’t go anywhere. Even more often, I see leaders who “put all their eggs in one basket” and settle on one idea too quickly—again in isolation from their internal or external customers—and implement it without much testing or gathering enough feedback. For “popcorners” and “eggs-in-one-basket”-type leaders, their ideas often don’t materialize into innovations. A Design Thinking approach offers a practical way to get from idea-to-innovation, and I hope the Breakthrough! model of Design Thinking will serve you well.

When you apply the Design Thinking principles of the Breakthrough! model to leadership, it looks like the following: Ask lots of well thought out questions, brainstorm frenetically, prototype imperfect things and experiences, test out multiple prototypes, fail fast, and start all over again. This is what being a designer is, and this is what leaders who are design thinkers do to help solve some of the seemingly intractable issues faced in this rapidly changing business landscape.

Whether you are trying to make a new product, establish a new service, design a workshop, figure out a new operation or process, delineate a new sales strategy, or productize a service, the Breakthrough! model can be applied. Each facet of the model can be used as a stand-alone tool; however, the overall process provides the necessary arc to set and solve the most wicked problems in a team or organizational setting.

Empathy – Put yourself in your customers’ shoes through interviewing and observation.

We create products, services, and experiences in isolation too much of the time. We need to have intimate knowledge of the users/customers by seeing people in action. We need to ask lots of well-thought-out, imaginative questions; videotape people in action; and sit next to an internal or external customer to experience what they are experiencing and feeling. This gives us context, and gives us a better chance to design something that will work best for the customer, not just for us. Constant customer feedback is vital when we are creating a new product or service. The same is true when we are solving even a simple problem.

A leader who is a design thinker will automatically look at a problem from multiple viewpoints. Good designers and leaders are “T-shaped”: They have both horizontal perspectives and vertical skills. The vertical axis is typically the specialty in which you have been trained (in college and on-the-job) like accounting, psychology, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, graphic design, or marketing. The horizontal axis portrays your ability to both empathize with and master disciplines other than your primary one. Thus, an optimal T-shaper is one who has a strong discipline and also takes the time to empathize with and apply other disciplines. For example, a General Manager (GM) of a game studio may have a vertical background as a product manager and be trained in and terrific at getting product features out the door; by comparison, a highly successful GM of a game studio also understands and applies knowledge in business analytics, user/customer experience, and organizational development. In other words, he or she is part MBAer, part designer, part anthropologist, and part coach.

Two good tools that get at empathy are journey mapping and contextual interviewing.

Journey mapping is plotting out each aspect of a customer’s experience. It is a good primer before you go into contextual interviewing. A couple of months ago, I did a customer journey map with a 7-person data storage marketing team made up of directors and managers. We actually did it over the phone, which I would not normally recommend. Even with that, I was amazed with the insights they were able to gain. This marketing team went through every touchpoint their external customer had in making decisions about buying their company’s most popular storage product. By going into minute detail and putting themselves in the customers’ shoes (their thinking and feelings), they were able to see some areas of opportunity that they had previously missed. When the team’s assumptions became clearer, they wanted to test them out. This required them to influence their sales counterparts to let them interview the customers and offer up a different set of questions than their sales partners had asked in the past.
Contextual interviewing is conducting conversations to understand the customer’s experience in their world. Early last year I helped a big data startup come up with pinpoint questions designed to get as close to potential users’ context and experience as possible. I encouraged the two founders to do as many interviews fact-to-face at the potential customers’ job sites or workspaces instead of on the phone or at their local Starbucks. The founders got such rich data from their “contextual interviewing” that they changed the direction of their startup because they saw a stronger need for a different kind of product.

The kind of data that you can get from journey mapping and contextual interviewing gives you the information you need to “set” the problem you will try to solve with brainstorming and prototyping. And having different perspectives in the room also helps “set” the problem.

Brainstorm – Do frenetic brainstorming that produces 100-200 new ideas; cull those ideas and determine which ones could be breakthroughs.

Remember the last time your team did a “brainstorming session”: You sat around a flip chart, blurted out a few things, and tried really hard not to judge someone else’s ideas as someone tried to write on the flip chart the ideas that he/she heard. Throw that method out and try this one instead. I learned a variation of this at the Stanford Design School:

As the leader, come to your team with a specific question you want answered. This can be a question distilled from journey mapping or contextual interviewing. Or a question related to an internal team matter.
Encourage your team to be fearless, have fun, think differently and imaginatively.
Create 3-4 groups and give each team member a pack of sticky notes; ask each team member to write one idea on one sticky note, and say the idea out loud as he/she puts each sticky up on the wall.
After 10 minutes ask each team to count their stickies; then ask each group to double the amount of their stickies in the next 10 minutes. Remind them to merely put their ideas up on the wall and not comment on others’ ideas.
Let another 10 minutes pass…then see how many ideas were generated.
Take another 10-15 minutes for each group to look at the ideas as a whole.

If you employ this type of brainstorming, you will generate more and more varied ideas. It also nicely balances the individual and the group. People need to have time and space to do imaginative thinking on their own while also getting support from the group. Brainstorming the ideas is the easy part; culling and curating the ideas is harder. Use all or a few of the following questions to help you sort the data:

What are the patterns and/or themes you see in the data?
What are the outlying ideas?
What idea is your favorite?
Based on the problem, what idea(s) carry the most energy for a breakthrough?
Does it make sense for each person to develop one prototype? Or should small groups of 2 or 3 form to build a prototype together (or both)?

I have worked with many groups using this brainstorming protocol, and the key to success is casting a wide net. That little gem in the rough appears when you least expect it.

Prototype – Build prototypes rapidly, get feedback from users, refine product and relationships.

Prototyping is the “design doing” of Design Thinking, and it is the bridge between ideas and innovation. Once you have built an initial prototype, this is your vehicle to collect feedback from users and potential customers. This back and forth process is typically called iteration.

Prototyping takes on many hues depending on whether you are engaging in product or service design or creating an experience.

If your goal is to design a new product, here are some points to keep in mind:
- “Rapid prototyping” is a term IDEO and Stanford d.school adhere to; they mean build your model fast and cheap, and sacrifice beauty for speed so you can get feedback sooner rather than later.
- “Fail fast” is another important guideline that goes against the grain of traditional product development. The quicker you know your prototype doesn’t work, the better, so you can try something else.
- Refine your product by getting customer feedback through interviews and observation. Watch your potential customers use your product in their environment and videotape their experiences. It is great at this stage if you can have an attitude of detachment so you’re more open to feedback and change.
- Hopefully, you started to build a relationship with current users and potential customers in the empathy stage, and now in the prototype stage, here’s where you want not only to refine your product, you also want to refine your relationships. Your goal is to have a long-standing sustainable relationship so you can continue to go back to them for feedback, testimonials, and eventually, referrals.
If your goal is to design a new service, all of the above points apply as well as the following:
- Oftentimes when we design something non-tangible (think Virgin America’s kick-ass flying experience or an experiential workshop on influencing skills or ease of use at the ATM), we describe the experience in 2-D. We put it on PowerPoint and/or we tell a story with a lot of words. Tim Brown of IDEO often refers to prototyping as “building to think.” So even if you are designing a service or experience that seems non-tangible, make it tangible. Draw a storyboard of the step-by-step process of what the user will experience. Better yet, use raw materials with your hands to make a 3-D version of the service or experience.
If your goal is to solve a team problem and design a new experience, I want to strongly encourage you to make 3-D models of the potential solutions that you and your team have brainstormed.
- Here are 3 recent “problems” I have facilitated with teams:
  - Networking Marketing VP/Directors: What is our 3-year vision?
  - City Government Managers: How do we best engage our employees to prevent burnout?
  - Social Media HR VP/Directors: How do we best productize our services?
- There is no question that in coming up with the solutions to these problems, the teams could have used PowerPoint and even added a few nice photos or graphics to their presentations to capture the emotions of the users and/or employees. However, when you add the element of 3-D, it certainly livens up the solutions, and it allows you to use your right brain while you’re building. The 3-D versions act as lasting symbols that you can proudly show to your colleagues, use to decorate your desk, and of course, test with your employees. In the Breakthrough! workshops, I bring in a big backpack filled with raw materials—construction paper, PVC tubing, hot glue guns, straws, tons of markers, pipe cleaners, foam board, rubber bands, LED lights—so participants can turn concepts into breakthroughs. Remember, this process is less about drawing (2-D) and more about making (3-D), like the two examples here.

Last, whether you’re building prototypes for products, services, or experiences, it’s important to put attention into the space you’re using. Be sure you allow ample room for people to spread out, be
messy, and be in their own worlds. Unless you are trained as an artist or product designer, the process of “making” things may cause some anxiety and resistance in people. Ensure that the environment is comfortable and fun and has some natural light.

Implement – Determine what works through testing and influence.

Implementing starts as a very soft launch. In this stage, you will test your product, service, or solution for an extended period of time, continue to refine it, and determine who you have to influence to get your product, service, or solution approved or blessed. Here are some essential elements of this stage:

You will want to test a more refined version of your prototype, and if you are a product developer, perhaps you have now transferred your prototype from handmade to computer-made. Inexpensive technology now available allows you to print prototypes on a desktop 3-D printer. It’s pretty amazing, actually, and if you haven’t seen or used this technology, I highly recommend it. I believe these devices alone will shift the way we design products.
You will determine what users will test your refined product, service, or solution. Perhaps it is the same internal or external customer you partnered with on the prototype, or perhaps you have referrals from these customers. With these users, you can pilot a workshop or ask a customer to use your refined product for a couple of weeks; all the while you will be collecting more data.
- Depending on how refined your product, service, or solution is, at this time, you will need to start planning one or all the following:
- develop your go-to-market strategy
- choose your internal partners to form a team
- gather success data in order to make your business plan
- determine who you have to influence to get budget to manufacture your product, or roll out your service or solution.
Whether you are attempting to implement a product, service, or solution, please keep in mind: No matter how neat your prototype is, implementing requires more than just a happy user or customer; influencing the internal decision-makers is just as essential in order for your idea to become a true innovation. Your idea cannot stand alone on its beauty, coolness, performance, or even its usefulness. So much of what determines whether your idea turns into an innovation depends on your ability to influence your boss, your colleagues, the finance department, etc. More than any other single dilemma I hear from my clients is: How do I convince the so-and-so department to adopt my (you name it)? Influencing skills have always been an essential aspect of leadership (see Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage), and influencing skills are central to Leader as Designer. There are many resources on influencing skills; please consider two of my favorite authors, Dan Pink and Robert Cialdini.

Conclusion

My goal in this essay is to open up Design Thinking to different applications and audiences, and to offer up a clear process to go from idea-to-innovation. The Breakthrough! model is not just a way to design cool products (it is that!); it is also an engagement method that leaders can use to solve problems. If your tendency is to be impetuous, then be sure to interview your users/customers/employees before you try to sell them your product. If your tendency is to sink into scads of data so that you can perfect the ultimate product or experience, then stop, make a prototype of your concept and get it out to users ASAP to see what people think and feel. If you’re already using the Breakthrough! model or some semblance of it with success, fantastic! Then get out there and coach someone else to be a Leader as Designer!

Finally, I welcome your comments and questions! This essay is merely a prototype; there will surely be more iterations!

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October 27, 2011 / Coaching Skills / HR / Talent Management / Mariposa Articles

ITM Coaching in Action: What, When, and How to Coach in Interrupt-Driven Organizations

How can you coach others in interrupt-driven environments? The ITM Coaching™ model is available to support learning and change. In this article, by Mariposa Leadership, Inc. CEO Susan Bethanis and COO Tawny Lees, the model is broken down into a simple three-step framework with numerous examples to illustrate the concepts in practice.

To download the full article, click here.

October 27th, 2011|Categories: Coaching Skills, HR / Talent Management, Mariposa Articles|Tags: executive coaching, HR Leadership, ITM Coaching, Mariposa Leadership, sue bethanis, Tawny Lees|

August 29, 2011 / Coaching Skills / HR / Talent Management / Mariposa Articles

The Brain – Friendly Organization: What Leadership Needs to Know for Intelligence to Flourish

Advances in human neuroscience are giving us a window into why people behave as they do and how we can manage our environments and behaviors with others to maximize results. These new scientific findings challenge old assumptions of what it means to lead. While intelligence is our greatest strategic asset, our way of life has become profoundly out of sync with our neurology. We can fight biology or leverage it. As we understand more about human neuroscience, true leadership may become defined as the art of creating brain-friendly organizations.

Find out how advances in neuroscience and our understanding of the human brain are revolutionizing what it means to lead effectively by downloading the full article here.

About the Author:

Janet Crawford, M.A., has over 15 years of experience working with executives in Fortune 500 companies and high potential start-ups. As Principal of Cascadance, Janet primes leaders and organizations for productivity, innovation and collaboration in the 21^st Century. Her approach combines traditional leadership development and coaching with cutting-edge insights from neuroscience.

August 29th, 2011|Categories: Coaching Skills, HR / Talent Management, Mariposa Articles|Tags: brain science, Cascadance, HR Leadership, human behavior, Janet Crawford, leadership, neuroscience|

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