The big end of year bonus!

Lee: 00:00:00

Mics drop

Carrie-Ann: 00:00:01

That's why I was really quiet.

Carrie-Ann: 00:00:02

I'm like, don't ruin it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:00:03

That was a brilliant ending.

Lee: 00:00:44

Well, you didn't think we were just gonna sleek off into

Lee: 00:00:47

the sunset and leave you stranded, did you at the end of series two?

Lee: 00:00:50

No.

Lee: 00:00:51

As usual, we are popping up for a little bonus, little cheeky mid Christmas,

Lee: 00:00:57

pre-new year bonus to kind of do, are, are, are We like the Jules Holland

Lee: 00:01:02

of the podcast world carrie Ann.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:04

Yeah, apart from, we haven't recorded this one in like April.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:08

We genuinely have been quite close to Christmas.

Lee: 00:01:11

Yes, we are in, I think my watch is telling

Lee: 00:01:14

me,

Lee: 00:01:14

oh, it's minus four now, so

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:16

Stop.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:17

I've just been,

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:17

before we

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:18

came on, I was just saying it's practically Dickensian around

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:21

here and I've got no hot water, so, um, yeah, I'm, I'm feeling,

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:26

feeling wintery

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:27

vibes for sure.

Lee: 00:01:28

And I apologize because you are the first person I've spoken to today.

Lee: 00:01:32

So, um, I've got that morning croaky voice thing and I have tried to do,

Lee: 00:01:36

you know, in my very professional way,

Lee: 00:01:39

vocal warmup exercises before we came on air.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:42

I love it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:43

I've now got visions of you doing them, so I want, I want to see them at some point.

Carrie-Ann: 00:01:48

, I feel like I've missed out.

Lee: 00:01:49

I'm, I'm, I'm partly saying that I jest, but there was a video

Lee: 00:01:54

that came up on my Insta feed

Lee: 00:01:55

when I was doing

Lee: 00:01:56

the Doom scroll this

Lee: 00:01:57

morning.

Lee: 00:01:58

And, um,

Lee: 00:02:00

it was telling you how to warm up your voice before you did a podcast.

Lee: 00:02:03

And I was like, oh, how apt.

Lee: 00:02:04

I really do feel like I need that today.

Carrie-Ann: 00:02:06

thought you were gonna say, you warmed your voice up by

Carrie-Ann: 00:02:08

having

Carrie-Ann: 00:02:09

to holler at the dog for doing something it wasn't supposed to in the garden.

Lee: 00:02:12

Oh no, the dog is eating snow.

Lee: 00:02:15

That's his favorite thing at the minute.

Lee: 00:02:16

It's like

Lee: 00:02:17

holding

Lee: 00:02:18

it like it's a snow cone and just chewing on a, on a snowball.

Carrie-Ann: 00:02:22

sweet.

Carrie-Ann: 00:02:22

I love, I love it.

Lee: 00:02:24

Anyway, we thought we would pop on one last time for 2022 and do a bit

Lee: 00:02:31

of a

Lee: 00:02:31

roundup of the year, but also a bit of a look ahead to 2023 and try to

Lee: 00:02:36

make it a little bit practical, um, so

Lee: 00:02:39

that you can

Lee: 00:02:39

use it as a chance.

Lee: 00:02:41

To reflect and get ready for the new year as well.

Lee: 00:02:44

So we're freshly back.

Lee: 00:02:46

It's been a week, but I, I still feel fairly refreshed from it.

Lee: 00:02:50

We, Carrie Ann and I had a mini retreat last week

Lee: 00:02:53

where we

Lee: 00:02:53

had one day working on our own businesses, but using each other as a bit of sense,

Lee: 00:02:59

checking a bit of accountability, a.

Lee: 00:03:02

A bit of a cheerleader when we weren't like perhaps being

Lee: 00:03:04

generous enough to ourselves.

Lee: 00:03:06

Um, and

Lee: 00:03:07

then one day

Lee: 00:03:08

where we focused on how to take the lead and all

Lee: 00:03:10

the great things that

Lee: 00:03:12

we've, you know, we've celebrated where we've come from and we've got

Lee: 00:03:16

some pretty darn exciting things that we want to do in 2023, of which I'm

Lee: 00:03:21

sure we'll talk about a bit later.

Lee: 00:03:23

It's been super helpful, I think, certainly for me to take that time out.

Lee: 00:03:27

And we normally have a check-in anyway, don't we?

Lee: 00:03:30

Every quarter.

Lee: 00:03:31

I mean, we meet up monthly to do a bit of a co-working and how to

Lee: 00:03:35

take the lead working session.

Lee: 00:03:37

And then every quarter we do a bit of a check-in on how we are progressing

Lee: 00:03:41

with the plans that we set each year.

Lee: 00:03:43

Cause this little mini retreat, I say, is an annual occurrence.

Lee: 00:03:45

It's the second annual

Carrie-Ann: 00:03:47

Well, we're, we're calling it a tradition now.

Carrie-Ann: 00:03:49

It's definitely a tradition

Lee: 00:03:51

So, um, we, you know, we make sure that we take that time to reflect

Lee: 00:03:56

on where we're going, but also, Get real, I suppose, with where we want

Lee: 00:04:00

to go and how we're going to do that.

Lee: 00:04:03

And I don't think the concept of that type of planning is just limited to

Lee: 00:04:09

people who run their own businesses.

Lee: 00:04:11

I think anyone in a leadership position needs that time to

Lee: 00:04:15

reflect, to explore, to plan,

Lee: 00:04:18

and even to have a lot, a bit

Lee: 00:04:19

of a play.

Lee: 00:04:20

You know, you need to have that creative time as a leader so that you can really.

Lee: 00:04:26

push yourself, stay fresh.

Lee: 00:04:28

Make sure you're staying intentional to the things that matter to you.

Lee: 00:04:32

And also to make sure

Lee: 00:04:34

you're not blindly carrying

Lee: 00:04:36

down a path where the results aren't what you you seek.

Lee: 00:04:41

So that's kind of my view on why it's important and why we do it.

Lee: 00:04:45

I dunno whether you've got any other thoughts on it.

Lee: 00:04:47

Carry.

Carrie-Ann: 00:04:48

No, I absolutely agree.

Carrie-Ann: 00:04:49

It isn't just for business owners.

Carrie-Ann: 00:04:52

I think it's definitely something leaders should be doing, and we've

Carrie-Ann: 00:04:55

probably touched on it in other episodes about that importance of taking the

Carrie-Ann: 00:04:59

time out to reflect and also to.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:01

To consider kind of your intentions going forward.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:04

So I definitely think it's important

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:06

for,

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:06

for leaders to build that in.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:08

And in my day job

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:09

with my

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:09

deputy, actually we book in every six weeks, we call it a strategic

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:14

planning day, and we go offsite and we meet together and we use that time

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:18

to focus on, uh, sometimes it's team development, sometimes it's kind of

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:23

strategic goals for the future, but just taking ourselves out of the day-to-day.

Lee: 00:05:28

Hmm.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:28

To have that time to focus and it's, it's really useful

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:31

time for us for sure, and I think as

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:34

well.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:35

Um, there's something for me about, it doesn't have to be with other people,

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:39

and it doesn't have to be a whole day or a two days like we've done.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:43

It could be a couple of hours, but actually just making, making that time

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:47

and blocking it out maybe to, to just be focused on developmental things,

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:51

the future, reflecting on what's been working for you is really important.

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:55

And it's something through, um, the Thrive program that I talk about with

Carrie-Ann: 00:05:59

communications leaders as well around.

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:02

You know, you do a 12 week program and we do a whole session on intention setting.

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:06

Um, but actually maybe you should think about how you build that into every

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:11

three months, every two months, whatever

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:12

that

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:12

looks like for you.

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:14

Um, don't just do it as a one-off.

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:16

I think it's really important to keep doing that check-in, to make

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:19

sure you're on the right track.

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:20

But also, do you know, do you need to flex?

Carrie-Ann: 00:06:22

Do you need to adapt as a leader and do something differently?

Lee: 00:06:25

I think that's really important

Lee: 00:06:26

because if you think back to, I mean, even just when I think back to my corporate

Lee: 00:06:31

days, you would, every year it would become this big arduous process where you

Lee: 00:06:38

would do your operational plan for the year or your strategic plan for the year.

Lee: 00:06:42

And it sometimes felt like you were putting your finger in the air and and

Lee: 00:06:45

guessing where you were gonna get to cuz it wasn't necessarily based in reality.

Lee: 00:06:49

Or you do your big term strategies and it'd be for the next five years.

Lee: 00:06:54

And then obviously covid struck and it's shown that you can't really

Lee: 00:06:57

do that long-term planning in the way that you perhaps used to,

Lee: 00:07:02

because you need to be more nimble.

Lee: 00:07:04

And that's why I love the, the thought of, you know, whether it's six weeks,

Lee: 00:07:08

whether it's every quarter, but just taking that time out and doing, yes, you

Lee: 00:07:12

can have an eye to the, the longer term future, but unless you make those shorter

Lee: 00:07:18

steps, you're never gonna get there.

Lee: 00:07:20

So it's better to focus on what you need to do in the here and now with

Lee: 00:07:24

a to the mid-term rather than always look into the unachievable long term.

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:32

Yeah, I agree with you and there for me in that there is that

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:35

thing about what are the short-term steps you need to take to get there,

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:38

but also just that opportunity to go, are they the right ones?

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:42

Because as you said, like Covid showed us that didn't it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:44

Things can change dramatically very quickly and actually if you

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:47

are just rigidly sticking to,

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:49

right, well, we've got our

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:49

five year strategy and once a year we're going to review our progress against it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:55

Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:55

That doesn't feel, to me agile and it doesn't feel like, as a leader, you

Carrie-Ann: 00:07:59

are responding to the needs of the people around you at that moment in

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:02

time, which might be very different from day one when you set the strategy.

Lee: 00:08:06

Yeah.

Lee: 00:08:07

You need to be more, more speedboat, less like Ocean Liner.

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:13

Love

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:13

it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:13

Where did that

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:14

little reference come from?

Lee: 00:08:16

dunno.

Lee: 00:08:16

I dunno.

Carrie-Ann: 00:08:17

boats on the brain,

Lee: 00:08:19

Yeah, So on our retreat we did a bit of an exercise, um, and I thought

Lee: 00:08:26

it might be helpful just to talk through some of the questions that we

Lee: 00:08:29

asked ourselves so that if listeners want to note those down as prompts and

Lee: 00:08:34

they can do as their own reflections.

Lee: 00:08:36

So we started with our skin, I suppose, starting with what's our why?

Lee: 00:08:41

Why we do what we do.

Lee: 00:08:43

And we obviously did it from a business perspective, why we run our

Lee: 00:08:46

businesses, but I think that's a really important check point as a leader.

Lee: 00:08:51

You know, why?

Lee: 00:08:51

Why am I doing, why am I a leader?

Lee: 00:08:53

Why am I working in this organization?

Lee: 00:08:55

What's my purpose?

Lee: 00:08:57

What's driving me is a really, is the obvious first point, isn't it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:01

Yeah, it's that bit about purpose I think is really

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:04

important and I think checking in with yourself about your why actually at

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:11

certain points might be quite helpful because it's okay for that to change.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:16

I think.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:17

So for me it's like you, you know, you might have some fundamental things

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:20

that you really believe in, in terms of kind of what you strive for as a leader

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:24

and they might not change, and they're probably very based on your value set.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:28

But actually it's okay to think.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:31

You know, now the thing that I is really something I want to have impact

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:35

and influence is something a bit different to what it was a year ago.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:39

Because as we've just been saying things around you change.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:42

So doing that, check-in on your why and your purpose for me feels

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:46

like a really important thing to do quite regularly as a leader.

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:49

Just so that actually then, the actions that you're taking and the

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:53

way that you are interacting with other people is aligned to what it is

Carrie-Ann: 00:09:58

that you are all about as a leader.

Lee: 00:09:59

So we started with our why, and then we went on to, well,

Lee: 00:10:03

what's the impact we want to make?

Lee: 00:10:05

Because it is, we are in, in all different guises of the way we run our business or

Lee: 00:10:11

we lead, we are there to serve others.

Lee: 00:10:14

It's not necessarily, obviously there's things that we do that we

Lee: 00:10:18

want to achieve for ourselves and for our families and, and all of that.

Lee: 00:10:22

But the impact we want to make, I think is always a really important thing around

Lee: 00:10:27

how are you gonna serve other people?

Lee: 00:10:29

So that was our second.

Lee: 00:10:32

I suppose anchor for, for the rest of the conversations.

Lee: 00:10:35

Cause we wanted to make sure that everything that we discussed, everything

Lee: 00:10:38

that we do in our businesses as we do in a collaborative way, um, feeds that

Lee: 00:10:46

purpose and impact that we want to have.

Lee: 00:10:49

And then we did an exercise where we looked at what we would need to do

Lee: 00:10:54

more of in order to close the gap.

Lee: 00:10:57

So to make that impact really happen and often you can overlook cuz it can feel

Lee: 00:11:03

a bit grand ose, this impact I want.

Lee: 00:11:07

And you don't necessarily look in the here and now of what might

Lee: 00:11:10

need to change to make that happen.

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:12

Yeah, I think the bit that I, that was really helpful, I think

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:16

for me around that impact point was also that challenge and that, um, kind

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:22

of identification of evidence that you are or aren't having that impact.

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:26

So actually, you know, it's all well and good for me in my business to want to have

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:30

an impact around creating communications leaders for the future, but actually, have

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:35

I got any evidence that the things I'm delivering in my business and the way that

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:38

I'm leading that, is having that impact.

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:41

So for me, that was an important part of that conversation, both in terms of

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:45

what steps do I need to take to have that impact and, and what is the impact

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:49

that I am actually having and, and does that align with what I want to do?

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:52

So I think that's also quite important to, to think about where

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:56

are you getting that feedback?

Carrie-Ann: 00:11:57

Where are you getting that evidence that demonstrates the impact you are or

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:01

possibly aren't having, which will help you to identify what those next steps.

Lee: 00:12:06

Yeah.

Lee: 00:12:06

And we, if I remember us, I suppose we challenged each other, didn't we?

Lee: 00:12:12

In, in our conversations, uh, on the retreat where we had limiting beliefs

Lee: 00:12:18

or things that we would say didn't go so well, or things that we thought

Lee: 00:12:23

were a barrier and we would challenge the other person to go, well, where's

Lee: 00:12:26

your evidence to say that's true?

Lee: 00:12:28

And actually nine times out of 10, we didn't really actually have the evidence.

Lee: 00:12:32

It was just some internal self talk.

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:35

Yeah, absolutely.

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:36

And having, having said at the start, you can make this time

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:38

as a leader to, to do this by yourself, which you absolutely can.

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:42

There are bits of this you can test out of your trusted network for

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:46

sure, because you are, you are right.

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:48

Some

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:48

of that

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:48

limiting self-belief that you might have or the story that you tell yourself might

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:53

be very

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:53

different from what's happening in reality and, and based, you know, on your, on

Carrie-Ann: 00:12:57

the things that your own experiences and the things that might be holding back.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:01

But actually externally, people might not be seeing that at all and be going,

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:04

yes, you are having a really positive impact because remember when X happened.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:09

Um, so I think if there are bits of it that you can feel comfortable testing out

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:13

with

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:14

other people as a leader, with your trusted network and peers,

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:17

then then definitely do that.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:18

Or with your coach.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:19

You know, I, I found it helpful Lee cuz I felt like.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:23

Coached

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:23

me

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:23

through quite

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:24

a lot and I prob

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:25

you're probably gonna send me an invoice for the mini retreat for

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:27

how much coaching you had to do

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:29

with me.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:29

But,

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:29

but that was also quite helpful to, to kind of have those questions

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:33

posed to you to make you really think by someone else who might

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:36

give you a bit

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:37

of that challenge rather than you just asking yourself and then go,

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:40

yeah, I'm just not very good at that.

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:42

Or I, you know, I don't think I have had an impact because, and then actually

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:46

that further conversation helps you to see that, that the external story

Carrie-Ann: 00:13:50

and perception is quite different.

Lee: 00:13:52

And then we, we moved on to a bit of what we want to

Lee: 00:13:56

achieve by the end the year.

Lee: 00:13:58

So for us, we looked

Lee: 00:14:00

at what,

Lee: 00:14:00

what we wanted, um, our businesses to be doing by the end of the

Lee: 00:14:04

year for, for anyone listening in leadership position, it could be,

Lee: 00:14:08

what do I want my team to be doing?

Lee: 00:14:10

Or what do I want my organization to be doing by the end of the year?

Lee: 00:14:13

What

Lee: 00:14:13

do I

Lee: 00:14:14

want to have achieved by

Lee: 00:14:15

the end of the year?

Lee: 00:14:16

Um,

Lee: 00:14:17

and it wasn't just the.

Lee: 00:14:19

What I want to,

Lee: 00:14:21

but we also put that

Lee: 00:14:23

I would love to, so some of that really ambitious stuff started to come out.

Lee: 00:14:28

Then the,

Lee: 00:14:28

the big

Lee: 00:14:29

thinking that, oh, if only I could, and actually I found

Lee: 00:14:34

when I started to note some

Lee: 00:14:35

of that down,

Lee: 00:14:36

I was like, right now actually I've, I've put this down on paper.

Lee: 00:14:39

How am I gonna make that happen?

Lee: 00:14:41

I can't just say this.

Lee: 00:14:42

So it became more real writing it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:44

Yeah,

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:45

I, I agree with you on that one.

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:47

Definitely it, that setting your intentions in your

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:50

head, is one thing, but

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:52

actually having the

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:53

ability to kind of work through.

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:55

How, how could I actually

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:57

do

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:57

this?

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:57

Makes it feel

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:58

more real

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:59

and more achievable.

Carrie-Ann: 00:14:59

And even the scary bits when you have had a big, lofty kind of goal

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:03

or a massive light bulb moment, which you weren't expecting to have.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:07

Just, it just feels exciting to get it down on paper and start working out

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:11

how, how do I get from here to there.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:13

I think as well some of that creativity is, um, hugely important cuz you sometimes

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:19

don't have the opportunity to be so creative and to, to say things out loud

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:25

that might feel a bit silly in your head.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:27

Like, I'd

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:28

really like to.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:29

Do this and then you sort of go, I would actually, yeah, I would.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:32

And now I've said it out loud.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:33

I'm gonna write it down.

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:34

Now I've written it down, I'm gonna write some actions and it just starts

Carrie-Ann: 00:15:38

to become more than an aspiration, which I think is really nice.

Lee: 00:15:42

Yeah.

Lee: 00:15:42

And I think for me, that's the difference between the, I want to.

Lee: 00:15:47

, which can be maybe some of the transactional stuff that your business

Lee: 00:15:51

might do, some of the routine stuff that

Lee: 00:15:53

you might deliver in your

Lee: 00:15:54

organization or in your team, that that feels like a continuation of the norm,

Lee: 00:15:59

whereas the I'd love to is the, this is where I'm gonna get the fire in my

Lee: 00:16:03

belly.

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:04

Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:04

It's the passion bit, isn't it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:06

And the excitement of exploring something that perhaps you

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:09

haven't quite understood was.

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:12

There before something that you want to achieve.

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:14

So yeah, I think it does take it from the operational, just how do we

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:19

get from A to B in our strategy to actually what is it that I'm gonna

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:23

be really passionate and excited

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:24

about delivering that will

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:26

have an impact Because it all goes back to the questions that we answered

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:30

and asked ourselves previously.

Lee: 00:16:33

and then obviously as the ever practical planner that I am, I

Lee: 00:16:40

then got us to whittle it all down into three intentions for the year.

Lee: 00:16:45

So not smart goals or anything like that, but more, although you took

Lee: 00:16:50

it to a smart goal immediately.

Lee: 00:16:52

Uh, whereas

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:52

Which is very weird for me because normally I'm the big idea.

Carrie-Ann: 00:16:57

I've got this amazing idea and then no idea how to make it happen.

Carrie-Ann: 00:17:01

And um, I, yeah, I think you might have rubbed off on me a little bit,

Carrie-Ann: 00:17:04

Lee, if I'm honest, or this, or this collaborating and co-working is

Carrie-Ann: 00:17:08

finally having

Carrie-Ann: 00:17:08

an impact.

Lee: 00:17:11

So we broke, we broke

Lee: 00:17:12

it all down to what are three

Lee: 00:17:13

intentions?

Lee: 00:17:14

So everything that we were going to.

Lee: 00:17:17

Plan for for the year needs to easily sit under one of those intentions, and that

Lee: 00:17:22

becomes almost your red line then of does it fit under one of these intentions?

Lee: 00:17:27

Yes.

Lee: 00:17:28

No, no.

Lee: 00:17:29

Then park it.

Lee: 00:17:30

Don't overwhelm yourself with other stuff that doesn't truly

Lee: 00:17:33

align with where you want to go.

Lee: 00:17:35

Now we've chosen three.

Lee: 00:17:37

You could go for more five.

Lee: 00:17:39

I personally think

Lee: 00:17:40

that's, that's

Lee: 00:17:41

been a bit too, um, detailed and probably unrealistic, but if you believe that

Lee: 00:17:48

that's what you can achieve, then absolutely you can have as many intentions

Lee: 00:17:52

as you want, but you do need to put

Lee: 00:17:54

it through a

Lee: 00:17:54

lens of testing yourself.

Lee: 00:17:56

And so breaking it down into those quarterly goals where

Lee: 00:17:59

you do get a bit more smarter.

Lee: 00:18:02

. Then suddenly you realize, so that I've got three intentions, but I've actually

Lee: 00:18:06

got something like 15 goals spread

Lee: 00:18:09

out

Lee: 00:18:09

over the year that sit under those intentions.

Lee: 00:18:12

If I had five intentions, I mean, hell, I'd need to

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:16

Your Trello board would be melting.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:20

can we stop?

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:21

Stop putting things on me.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:25

I, I think the point about overwhelm is a really important one though.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:28

And thinking back to a week ago where you did have to coach me off a ledge where my

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:32

overwhelm got to me at, um, at one point in the conversation, Lee, that, that,

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:39

uh, comment you made about being generous to yourself and kind to yourself I think

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:43

is really

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:43

important.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:44

So, yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:45

Why would you go into this almost setting yourself up for the overwhelm.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:50

There will obviously be times in your leadership career and journey where

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:54

you will be overwhelmed and things will all feel too much and feel challenging.

Carrie-Ann: 00:18:58

But by doing an exercise like we've done, I think, you know, that does

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:01

really help you to break it down and try as much as possible to avoid

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:05

that overwhelm when you

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:07

are thinking about where you want to be in in a year's time and what you want to.

Lee: 00:19:11

So what

Lee: 00:19:12

were

Lee: 00:19:12

your, I suppose, going through that whole exercise, and we've touched on a few

Lee: 00:19:16

things that that occurred to us as we were

Lee: 00:19:19

doing

Lee: 00:19:19

it, but was there any big things that it threw up for you Carry on?

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:24

I think the impact piece, it definitely came up for me.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:28

Um, you know, we talked about, uh, we did this for how to take the

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:31

lead as well

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:32

as our, you know, our own selves personally.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:34

And it's just about how can I continue to have a positive

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:38

impact

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:39

for people.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:39

And part of that has to be about.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:42

asking and understanding what people need to help them.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:46

Um, so for me, that definitely came up for my own business,

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:49

for my team and my day job.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:51

Um, and, uh, for how to take the lead for sure.

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:55

There was something for me as well around taking my own advice and to

Carrie-Ann: 00:19:59

continue working on my boundaries.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:01

So trying to

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:02

juggle.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:03

The

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:03

role I do

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:04

every day in,

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:05

in the N h s and my own business and being part of the how to take

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:10

the lead collaboration and then everything else that life throws at

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:13

you can sometimes feel a bit much.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:15

Um, so there was lots of conversation and lots of.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:18

Thoughts provoked for me that have continued since we had that, that

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:22

mini retreat around how can I get better at managing my own boundaries?

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:27

And you've

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:27

already been my accountability buddy once this week, or on exactly

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:31

that, which has been really helpful.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:34

Um, so that definitely feels like it's

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:35

something that's important

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:36

for me.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:37

But through doing the mini retreat exercise, I've realized

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:41

that from a career and a and a work point of view, you know, my

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:44

n.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:46

Directorship, my business focused on supporting communicators and then how

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:50

to take the lead focused on leadership.

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:52

They actually

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:53

all really

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:53

nicely align, and it's probably been a while since I felt that with other

Carrie-Ann: 00:20:58

things that, you know, I've been spending my time and energy doing.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:01

So going forward into the next year, it feels like for me, those three things

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:05

are really well aligned, which makes me feel like I'm gonna start the year, you

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:08

know, in a really positive frame of mind.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:11

And then I would say the only other thing that I've been reflecting on

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:15

since Retreat and also since an episode that we recorded for the podcast, is

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:21

around that psychological safety thing.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:23

And there's just been something that's been kind of niggling

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:27

me about.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:29

How well am I supporting my own team in my day job to feel psychologically safe?

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:34

And I think some of the things that I've reflected on is the fact that we all

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:39

work virtually the majority of the time.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:42

Does that make it more difficult to create that sense of psychological safety?

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:46

What are the impacts of my own behaviors on creating that

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:50

psychologically safe space as a team, but also that balance between.

Carrie-Ann: 00:21:56

people's wellbeing and the psychological safety of the team and the team

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:01

performance and how you start to create alongside that psychological

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:06

safety and being really focused on people's, uh, personal wellbeing,

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:11

that sense of accountability.

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:13

So it's been a lot going through my head in the last weekly, I have to say,

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:17

but all in a good way, taking me to where I need to be, I hope as a leader.

Carrie-Ann: 00:22:21

So how about.

Lee: 00:22:23

Well,

Lee: 00:22:23

I think the,

Lee: 00:22:25

I

Lee: 00:22:25

suppose the enlightening and reassuring moment was that understanding that I

Lee: 00:22:31

have got that complete alignment, like you talk about between the things that

Lee: 00:22:35

I'm really passionate about and the businesses that I've developed and.

Lee: 00:22:41

Yeah, some of this has grown and evolved over the last two years, but

Lee: 00:22:46

I feel I'm in a place now where I'm totally focused on doing, serving

Lee: 00:22:52

the people that I want to serve, and

Lee: 00:22:55

working on the

Lee: 00:22:56

things that really, I think in my ze genius, but also.

Lee: 00:23:01

Bring that joy to me and I really enjoy

Lee: 00:23:03

getting involved

Lee: 00:23:04

and seeing people grow and develop in, in that area.

Lee: 00:23:06

So I'm, yeah, like you just liking the synergy and alignment between everything.

Lee: 00:23:12

Uh, I absolutely underestimated how much I'd achieved in the years that,

Carrie-Ann: 00:23:19

you did

Lee: 00:23:20

going,

Lee: 00:23:21

going back

Lee: 00:23:21

to that point about having someone else that can be a bit of a check and

Lee: 00:23:25

challenge for you was, was really helpful.

Lee: 00:23:29

and I realized, I suppose that for me, I, you know, I, I love to plan.

Lee: 00:23:37

But

Lee: 00:23:37

for all the planning I do, I do need to be a bit more ruthless

Lee: 00:23:41

around what I need to do.

Lee: 00:23:43

Um, and I've recently finished reading, atomic Habits by James

Lee: 00:23:49

Clear in there is a quote that he, well, well, it's just a sentence.

Lee: 00:23:53

I've taken it as a quote cuz it really sung to me.

Lee: 00:23:58

And it was, it's easy to be in motion and convince yourself that

Lee: 00:24:02

you're still making progress.

Lee: 00:24:04

I thought that's so true.

Lee: 00:24:05

You can get so caught up in planning and doing the detail and then you,

Lee: 00:24:11

but you are actually not going any further forward cuz you're not

Lee: 00:24:13

either not doing the things that

Lee: 00:24:15

are

Lee: 00:24:15

gonna move the dial in the right direction

Lee: 00:24:18

or you

Lee: 00:24:18

are so caught in planning mode, you're not, you're not actually doing

Lee: 00:24:22

the act execution of, of the plan.

Lee: 00:24:24

And so that was a bit of a moment that I need to be more ruthless with.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:30

That feels quite profound.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:33

And actually I hear that a lot

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:34

in, in

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:34

conversations about leadership,

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:36

about, you know,

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:37

progressing teams forward.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:39

Are

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:39

we doing the

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:40

things that actually.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:42

You know, create the outcomes we're trying to create, or are we just going

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:45

through the motions of doing stuff that we've always done that actually

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:49

as you say, is not moving us forward.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:50

So I think really good learning point as a leader actually.

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:53

And if you can be clear on your purpose,

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:55

clear on your

Carrie-Ann: 00:24:56

intentions, um, that should really help you with g with checking back and going,

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:01

actually, if I'm spending two thirds of

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:04

a day a week doing

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:05

X, how is that progressing me towards my goal?

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:08

And if it isn't, why am I doing it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:10

And there will always be, won't there.

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:11

The things that you sort of have to do, particularly if you work in a,

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:14

an organization where potentially there's a bit of bureaucracy or you

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:17

know, really strong theme around governance, that there'll always

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:20

be the meetings that

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:21

you have to go to, even if, because.

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:24

Part of having that role or that title for example.

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:28

But I do think there is always an opportunity

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:30

and ruthless,

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:31

I like ruthless in a positive way, cuz it sounds like it should have

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:35

negative connotations, but actually being a bit more ruthless about

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:38

where you are putting your time and energy to actually achieve things

Carrie-Ann: 00:25:42

feels like a really good thing to do.

Lee: 00:26:02

So looking more broadly to the leadership world, what have

Lee: 00:26:06

your reflections in 2022 been?

Lee: 00:26:08

Has it been a good year for leaders?

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:12

I'm taking a deep breath here so

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:17

I could

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:17

go with, it's been a mixed bag.

Lee: 00:26:19

Oh my

Lee: 00:26:20

God.

Lee: 00:26:20

That is literally the word that I.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:24

it's disco.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:25

I've written it down as Well's been a mixed bag on the leadership front in 2022.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:31

So, my, I'll try and keep this brief and concise, but where my head

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:35

is at with

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:36

leadership in 2022 is politically.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:40

Absolute bleep show.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:42

Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:42

Okay.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:43

She's going straight in absolute shit show, which I think probably can just be

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:48

summed up all of that cuz there's been so

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:50

much in there.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:51

And I don't want us to do an episode on, on political leadership

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:53

again cuz we verveer into that quite a lot in other episodes.

Carrie-Ann: 00:26:57

But, uh, you know, I think it can be summed up by Matt Hancock.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:00

Thinking it was a good idea to go and I'm a celebrity and that's

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:03

all I'm gonna say about it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:04

I've been very disappointed

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:06

by the

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:07

lack of integrity that many leaders in the public eye have demonstrated for sure.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:13

But on the positive side, my personal experience has been, I've seen lots

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:20

of really great examples of good leadership in local communities, in

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:25

small businesses with entrepreneurs.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:29

But also what I've been really pleased about is that I've also seen

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:33

a younger generation of leaders really starting to do it their own way.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:39

And I think that's maybe in a kind of pushback to what we're

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:42

seeing on that bigger stage.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:45

So I, I'm gonna stop there because Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:47

I'm gonna let you have your say Lee

Lee: 00:27:50

Well, to be honest, I think you've literally picked every word.

Lee: 00:27:53

I think we'd be good on a show of like Mr.

Lee: 00:27:55

And Mrs.

Lee: 00:27:55

Or something where you gotta

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:56

We're better than we would be with our own partners,

Carrie-Ann: 00:27:59

probably

Lee: 00:28:00

Probably

Lee: 00:28:02

because that,

Lee: 00:28:03

I mean, you've summarized where, where my views were.

Lee: 00:28:05

I do think that there's been some poor leadership demonstrated, but in a very

Lee: 00:28:11

old school, traditional, you know,

Lee: 00:28:13

even if you look at, yes, we've talked about the

Lee: 00:28:15

political, but p and o, Elon Musk, Twitter, or the big companies,

Lee: 00:28:20

old-fashioned views, all of that kind of stuff still out there, which is

Lee: 00:28:24

really disappointing and I have been, Upset and angered by the recurrent

Lee: 00:28:33

issues with people's outdated views, with outdated attitudes, with

Lee: 00:28:38

stereotypes, racism, sexism, all of that.

Lee: 00:28:42

I just think it's still far too loud and prevalent out there, and there's

Lee: 00:28:47

been some really big examples this year of stuff coming to the fore, and I, I

Lee: 00:28:53

suppose there's just been We, or words that organizations have said where they've

Lee: 00:28:59

said they've supported x cause and then they haven't, they haven't necessarily

Lee: 00:29:03

demonstrated that when it's come down to

Lee: 00:29:06

it or their

Lee: 00:29:07

own personal practices in their organization don't, um, match the

Lee: 00:29:12

aspirations that they set out to.

Lee: 00:29:15

So

Lee: 00:29:15

that I've, I've, you

Lee: 00:29:16

know, I still think that's a fight

Lee: 00:29:17

we all need

Lee: 00:29:18

to continue to fight as we, we looked to next year.

Lee: 00:29:21

But, but again, I've.

Lee: 00:29:23

I feel

Lee: 00:29:24

positive, I feel more

Lee: 00:29:25

aware.

Lee: 00:29:25

And maybe it's one of those things about once you've brought awareness

Lee: 00:29:29

to something, you see it everywhere, isn't it, ? Um, but I've definitely

Lee: 00:29:33

seen more people taking a stand, showing that there's another way.

Lee: 00:29:38

So I have, I have got hope that that will grow and continue.

Lee: 00:29:45

But you know, there, there's a few things that worry me that the

Lee: 00:29:49

narrative, particularly around women in leadership worries me.

Lee: 00:29:53

The, the fact that the recent evidence around women leaders don't seem as

Lee: 00:29:57

trusted in organizations that that.

Lee: 00:30:01

is not a great place to be at the end of 2022 for all the stuff that's, that we've

Lee: 00:30:06

been trying to fight for and go for the fact that there's been a legal change

Lee: 00:30:10

recently or, or the announcements around

Lee: 00:30:13

flexible working in

Lee: 00:30:14

organizations, which is a really positive move forward.

Lee: 00:30:16

But then you've got male stale leaders of organizations still bashing on

Lee: 00:30:23

about needing a nine to five model, not wanting flexible working, not

Lee: 00:30:27

wanting hybrid working, all of that.

Lee: 00:30:29

So a mixed bag.

Lee: 00:30:32

Yes.

Lee: 00:30:33

So not to go all miss World on you, but what, what would your

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:38

What you gonna ask me to do?

Lee: 00:30:40

no.

Lee: 00:30:40

What

Lee: 00:30:41

would your wish for 2023 be from a leadership perspective?

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:45

My wish for 2023 is for, um, I'm not gonna say world

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:51

peace or they wouldn't that be

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:52

lovely, um,

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:53

leaders to act with more integrity and to take the time to truly try

Carrie-Ann: 00:30:59

to understand what other people they are leading need from them.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:03

That's, that's my wish for leaders in.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:07

I wish the listeners could see Lee's, uh, reaction to this.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:11

Um, that is my wish for 2022 and personally for me, 2023.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:16

2023 got him a year behind myself.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:18

2023.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:19

That's my wish.

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:20

And personally for me, it's to keep being focused on my boundary setting

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:26

and to role model, good boundary setting to others as a leader.

Lee: 00:31:30

Okay.

Lee: 00:31:31

So like you've read my mind, I, I was, I had my head in my

Lee: 00:31:35

hands when she started talking.

Lee: 00:31:36

Not because I didn't like,

Carrie-Ann: 00:31:38

Because she was like, oh my God, what's she saying?

Lee: 00:31:40

But

Lee: 00:31:40

for me, my wish is around leaders to be stepping up and thinking

Lee: 00:31:46

about the impact they're making.

Lee: 00:31:49

Really understanding

Lee: 00:31:50

their

Lee: 00:31:50

purpose and that connection with their staff, their

Lee: 00:31:54

customers, their stakeholders.

Lee: 00:31:57

, but doing that on a really human level, that's kind

Lee: 00:32:00

of

Lee: 00:32:00

where I want to get to next year and people

Lee: 00:32:02

having more of those

Lee: 00:32:03

conversations.

Lee: 00:32:05

Uh, so on the flip side, what do you hope gets firmly left in 2022?

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:10

Do you wanna go first in case I get the reaction again?

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:13

Like just saying everything.

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:14

I was gonna say mixed bag.

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:18

Asking people how they wanna be

Lee: 00:32:19

Okay, I'll

Lee: 00:32:20

go first.

Lee: 00:32:20

Uh, so this is, this might seem really random,

Lee: 00:32:24

but I'm

Lee: 00:32:25

totally over motivational quotes.

Lee: 00:32:30

I'm really over.

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:32

That is quite random.

Carrie-Ann: 00:32:33

Cause that is not what I was expecting you to say.

Lee: 00:32:38

I'm really over like motivational quotes.

Lee: 00:32:40

I'm over gurus who keep getting put up in a pedestal.

Lee: 00:32:43

I'm like bored of the Simon Sineks the world and the Mel Robbins and all of that.

Lee: 00:32:50

Everyone just keeps putting them up on this pedestal and

Lee: 00:32:53

I'm just a bit tired of it all.

Lee: 00:32:55

I'm tired of toxic positivity and I really.

Lee: 00:33:00

You know, the cliques that I see in the online and in real life world can just do

Lee: 00:33:06

one for me.

Lee: 00:33:07

So there's just something like, I just feel, I feel overwhelmed by all

Lee: 00:33:11

of that, and this year just feels, is

Lee: 00:33:13

felt a lot

Lee: 00:33:14

with every, and it, every time I see it now, it just gets me in a place

Lee: 00:33:18

of, oh, where's the practicality

Lee: 00:33:20

in it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:21

Toxic positivity.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:23

That's something I'd like us to talk about in the future.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:25

But anyhow, um, I would like to leave behind.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:29

ego-driven leaders who are only in it for themselves.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:33

And you mentioned, um, you know, we all have our own personal goals.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:38

We all have our lives outside of being a leader, um, and things that

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:42

we want to achieve and people that we care for and, and want to look after.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:46

So there's always gonna be an element in whatever you do of, of

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:49

wanting to do something for you.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:51

But leaders who are clearly only in it, just further

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:55

their own ego.

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:57

They can do one for me

Carrie-Ann: 00:33:58

in 2023.

Lee: 00:34:00

Yes.

Lee: 00:34:00

I'm, I'm completely with you on the ego thing, but I think that's almost

Lee: 00:34:04

also where I'm with, with some of these guru people because I do think that

Lee: 00:34:09

it's, it's become very ego driven now, and I'm not sure the value add that,

Lee: 00:34:14

that

Lee: 00:34:14

they're giving to people.

Lee: 00:34:16

So what's next for you carrie Ann with Cat's Pajamas for 2023.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:22

what's next for Kat's Pajamas for 2023?

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:24

Well, I am on a mission to create communications leaders

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:27

of the future for sure.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:28

So there are going to be more thrive programs, uh, one

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:32

starting at the end of January.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:34

So if there are any comms professionals listening, um, to this podcast when it

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:38

goes out, who, want in on that, visit the.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:42

Get the dets, all of that kind of stuff.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:43

So I'm really excited about that.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:45

That will be the fourth Thrive program and I want to run a couple

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:48

of those next year definitely.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:50

There might be a bit of podcast action happening.

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:53

There might be

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:55

Lee's got more of the, uh, intel on that, but I'm just, yeah, just ploting

Carrie-Ann: 00:34:59

the seed cuz like you, I'm like, if you say it out loud, , you have to do it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:03

So that's quite exciting.

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:05

Um,

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:05

so yeah, more

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:06

of just building on what I've done this year in the business, um, supporting

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:11

communications professionals to really grow and thrive, and thinking

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:15

about

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:15

how I can use my skills and experience.

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:18

And I loved you talking about your zone of genius earlier Lee, to

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:21

have an impact for other people who work in communications.

Carrie-Ann: 00:35:25

What's gonna happen in 2023 with Sunday skies?

Lee: 00:35:29

Wow.

Lee: 00:35:31

Um, so for me, a bit like you just really doubling down on, on what I

Lee: 00:35:37

want to focus on, so, For me, that's how leaders can make an impact.

Lee: 00:35:44

And I've, I've spo, I suppose I've zoned in on three particular areas.

Lee: 00:35:49

So how do leaders connect through their vision and strategy?

Lee: 00:35:52

How do they communicate confidently?

Lee: 00:35:55

and then how do they personally set themselves up for success?

Lee: 00:35:58

So next year I'm gonna be doing

Lee: 00:35:59

a lot

Lee: 00:36:00

more around those three topics in particular, I've got some training planned

Lee: 00:36:05

early next year around helping people determine what their leadership brand is.

Lee: 00:36:10

I've got some freebies around comms planning and getting organized

Lee: 00:36:13

with both things I absolutely love.

Lee: 00:36:16

So I've got some nice new shiny magpie things to come.

Lee: 00:36:22

And yes, I, I've also been perhaps toying with a little podcast idea as

Lee: 00:36:27

well, not, but that doesn't mean that

Lee: 00:36:29

there is,

Lee: 00:36:30

will be no how to take the lead.

Lee: 00:36:31

So we absolutely have got big plans next year for how to take the lead.

Lee: 00:36:36

Definitely more series will be coming in.

Carrie-Ann: 00:36:38

Definitely

Carrie-Ann: 00:36:38

more series and without letting any cats out of bags, uh,

Carrie-Ann: 00:36:43

I think we're going beyond

Lee: 00:36:45

Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:36:47

Yeah, I'm just gonna leave it at that.

Carrie-Ann: 00:36:49

Is that intriguing enough to keep people hooked?

Lee: 00:36:52

Well,

Lee: 00:36:52

I think, I think Revel, as you say, not not giving too much away, but

Lee: 00:36:56

we've been really digging into looking at some related projects so that

Lee: 00:37:02

listeners can get even more involved and get our advice and guidance to

Lee: 00:37:06

help them in their leadership journeys.

Lee: 00:37:08

So we've got a few pots on the boil.

Lee: 00:37:12

Is that the phrase, What

Lee: 00:37:15

is it?

Carrie-Ann: 00:37:16

yeah, it's, but you just, I love the way that you start everything

Carrie-Ann: 00:37:20

as if it is not gonna be right.

Carrie-Ann: 00:37:21

It's like just the way the tone of your voice changes makes me laugh.

Carrie-Ann: 00:37:25

But we have got a few pots on the boil,

Lee: 00:37:28

Okay.

Lee: 00:37:29

But as ever, we would love for you to let us know what you'd like to see, both

Lee: 00:37:35

in terms of what you'd like us to cover in future series of the podcast, but

Lee: 00:37:41

also more broadly, how can we help you?

Lee: 00:37:44

How do you want

Lee: 00:37:45

to get involved

Lee: 00:37:45

with the how to take the lead thing, . So as ever, just, just.

Lee: 00:37:50

Hit us up, either personally on social or through our how to take the Lead accounts.

Lee: 00:37:57

We'd love to hear from you.

Lee: 00:37:59

Final thoughts as we wrap up this mega bonus episode.

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:03

Mega bonus episode.

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:05

Honestly, what a year 2022 has been and from, uh, how

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:09

to take the lead perspective.

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:11

Just a massive thank you to you, Lee, for believing in what we're

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:15

doing for, uh, putting up with me and some of the weirdness that

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:19

I bring to this collaboration.

Lee: 00:38:22

right back at you!

Lee: 00:38:23

Yeah.

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:24

Um, and I'm really looking forward to collaborating

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:28

further with you next year.

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:29

There are some properly exciting things to come, so, um, yeah, I hope people

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:33

stay tuned and continue to engage with us and just a massive thank you to

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:37

everyone who's listened and helped us to make this podcast an actual, real thing

Carrie-Ann: 00:38:43

that is having an impact for people.

Lee: 00:38:46

I echo super grateful for all the support this series and in series one.

Lee: 00:38:52

I can't believe we've done two series in this year.

Lee: 00:38:55

Everyone who's listened, everyone who's shared their reflections who've helped

Lee: 00:38:59

to promote the podcast, we really, really appreciate your input and support.

Lee: 00:39:05

And then I think it's like, my final thought

Lee: 00:39:08

for the

Lee: 00:39:08

recording is as leaders.

Lee: 00:39:12

I think we just need to remind ourselves to double down on the things that matter.

Lee: 00:39:16

Tune out the noise, tune out the bluster.

Lee: 00:39:20

Remember our purpose.

Lee: 00:39:21

Stay true to our values because that's what

Lee: 00:39:24

we,

Lee: 00:39:25

our staff, our communities, deserve.

Lee: 00:39:28

Deserve.

Lee: 00:39:30

Mics drop

Carrie-Ann: 00:39:32

That's why I was really quiet.

Carrie-Ann: 00:39:33

I'm like, don't ruin it.

Carrie-Ann: 00:39:34

That was a brilliant ending.

Lee: 00:39:36

So until 2023, farewell.