How We Engage with People is Leadership with Cindy Whiston

Learn from Cindy Whiston, a consultant in diversity & inclusion, productivity, strategic planning, corporate wellness and conflict resolution.  She has worked with 8,000+ clients globally, including Microsoft, The Boeing Company, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, REI, T-Mobile, City of Hope, FedEx Ground, Deloitte, Turner Construction, Marriott, Hilton, JPMC, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Premera Blue Cross, The Humane Society of the United States, Planned Parenthood and NPR. Join Seasons Leadership Co-Founders Debbie Collard and Susan Ireland as they talk to Cindy about shifting your mindset to be more productive and seeing and engaging with your people as the essence of leadership. This is part 1 of a 2-part discussion with Cindy.
 
 Show notes

After introductions (2:20), Cindy shares what she wants to talk about...the dynamic that is most relevant to her consultant work - mindset. (3:00) Cindy defines terms like “belief systems” and how they impact our focus. As an example (3:30), Cindy shares how her and Debbie met and the work they did together to help create clarity around Debbie’s own priorities. Cindy gives additional examples of how she has helped others shift their mindset (4:23) and how listeners can too (6:00) through exploring opportunity cost.

The conversation broadens (8:00) to how changing expectations makes someone a better leader. Debbie talks about the power of living out of her calendar (9:00) versus her inbox and how she became more productive (12:45). (13:32) Cindy then talks about the impact of this behavior shift on your team and shares an example of a leader doing a whiteboard activity.

During the show break (14:30), you can learn more about the new Seasons Leadership Workshop offering - Reflection Circles. Debbie and Susan share their experiences with the workshop and one of the founders, Kate Philips-Kaiser – talks more about its development and unique benefits to participants. Learn more on our website: www.seasonsleadership.com

When the show returns, the leaders discuss (18:23) more about mindset and leadership - Cindy jokes this could go on for hours! Cindy contends that the way we produce the most results is through others (18:50) and gives several examples. Each example is centered around the environment in which someone is asked to engage. (21:23) Cindy shares a personal example from when she was holding a group session and the assumptions she made that were incorrect. She encourages listeners to play with changing their mindset and gives advice (24:05) on how to do that. She challenges listeners (25:38) to see themselves as seated side-by-side with their employees – people aren’t problems, people have problems. The group talks about how to play with this concept (26:40) and center yourself on producing results (28:50). Cindy talks about building self-confidence and humility (29:20), how it’s a leader’s job to get it right and not always be right (30:23) and the leader’s role to teach others how to communicate (31:00). 

(32:23) Susan asks how do you become aware of your own mindset? Cindy shares that coaching is for people who are excelling and want to take performance to next level. She alludes to the discussion in part 2 that will address common forms of bias and how to recognize them. (35:08) Cindy encourages people to create situations to push their own buttons. Last (37:20), Susan and Debbie break down learnings from their conversation with Cindy.