May 15, 2025 • 58 mins
Alka Sharma welcomes Lynn Peyton to discuss her entrepreneurial journey and principles for success. They delve into mental health and organizational dynamics in the post-COVID era, evaluating and developing leadership skills, and the age-old question of whether leaders are born or made. The conversation highlights overcoming work performance challenges, fostering a strong organizational culture, and building team trust. They explore the role of empathy, compassion, and emotional intelligence in effective leadership, along with strategies for embracing change. The episode emphasizes celebrating small wins for achieving greater success and concludes with Lynn's closing remarks.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome everyone to Ask the Experts podcast.
Really excited for our guest today and reallyexcited the conversations we're gonna have, but
we wanna acknowledge you for taking up yourtime week in and week out to listen, learn, and
grow.
And growth is what it's about, and we want togive you value.
(00:24):
So we wanna give bring on amazing guests to theshow that's really gonna help you to change
your life, elevate your success in life and inbusiness.
My guest today is Lynn Payton.
Lynn has worked in the health sector, in thehealth and social services space whereby she
(00:46):
has held both operational and strategicmanagement responsibilities.
Lynn has in back twenty years ago, Lynnestablished her own business consultancy
whereby she trained a manager's senior seniorlevels and organizations to really achieve
(01:11):
major success and results from Lynn'sleadership.
And so I'm really excited to also share withyou, she has a top core leadership program that
she has unveiling and I really wanna dive intoas to what she is doing.
So the program is what she focuses on, managesat all senior levels and organizations, whereby
(01:38):
they want to improve the culture, the attitude,the the confidence, and performance outcome.
So I'm excited to welcome Lynn Painter.
Welcome to the show, Lynn.
Thank you so much, Alka, for that very generousintroduction.
It's lovely to see you.
(02:00):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Thank you for being here and always good to seeyou.
Now we've met at many events.
And Chicago was the first time we met and thencontinuously we meet.
But, you know, that's what the the life ofentrepreneurship is.
You know, you never know as to where you'regonna meet people.
So it's so good.
(02:20):
Lynne, I want you to share with our audienceyour backstory.
How did your journey begin as to what you aredoing today?
Sure.
So I grew up in Belfast in Northern Ireland Ialways wanted to do lang I was really good at
languages, so I could envisage myself as alanguage teacher, French and German.
(02:45):
And I could see myself in Paris, you know, as aFrench assistant, and all I always loved a bit
of style, Alka, so I my my career aspirationskind of reflected that.
And then this summer I finished school, highschool, I worked in a holiday camp in England.
(03:06):
Seven of us went over, and that just exposed meto a whole side of life that I'd never never
been exposed to before.
We had a very we had a very working classbackground, strong on values, but not
financially that well off.
And but I when I went with this haunted camp, Irealized just how sheltered it had been.
(03:31):
So there were people there who were in seasonaljobs, who had no no home.
They they they always had to take jobs wherethe accommodation came with the job.
And that just seemed so incredibly uncertain.
And there were people who had served jail time.
There were people who, were literally justdrifting through life and some with with quite
(03:53):
extensive issues and problems.
And I thought, gosh, there's a whole lot moreto life than I know anything about.
So I saved up and I got the boat back fromEngland to Northern Ireland and I persuaded
them at university to let me change my courseand this was like three weeks to go.
They let me change my course from languages tosocial science.
(04:16):
And that has just been the most amazingjourney.
So I was a social worker, still a socialworker, but I haven't practiced for years.
I was trained in social work, worked in socialwork for twenty something years.
And as you said in your intro, I was alwaystrying to grow and develop, so it was always
what's next.
So I would, you know, change jobs so that Icould learn more, And I ended up managing
(04:41):
services in Belfast, during a time when therewas considerable political unrest.
I went from that to a strategic management jobfor a bigger chunk of Northern Ireland, and
that was fascinating because that was all aboutdetermining what the need was, where the
services were, and what could we dostrategically in partnership with other
(05:04):
organizations to actually close that gap alittle bit.
And that also involved working cross border,working with other countries.
And then because increasingly when we're to getNorthern Ireland back on its feet, we had
access to piece monies from Europe, then we didbusiness with countries in Europe as well.
(05:25):
So it was a fascinating journey.
Then for a couple of years, I was director of anot for profit organization.
And when I did my first Tony Robbins event inGeneva in 1999, I made three critical
decisions.
One, I was gonna stop smoking.
Two, I was gonna stop drinking coffee.
And the third one was I wasn't ever gonna workfor anybody else again once I had the money to
(05:50):
set up my own business.
So that's what I did.
So in 02/2001, I set up the consultancy, and Istill love consulting to that sector, child
protection, fostering children's services, andmental health agencies.
Beautiful.
Love that story.
Very inspiring.
You know, obviously, you know, it takes a lotto you know, during that period in Northern
(06:15):
Ireland when it's going through a lot ofpolitical unrest, and there were a lot of
uncertainty as to what's gonna happen.
There was you know, no one knew as to what wasgonna happen.
So during that time and everything that has ledyou to what you have accomplished takes a lot
(06:35):
of drive and there's a mindset as youmentioned, you and Tony Robbins that also
elevated you to what you really wanted to do.
What was that passion that really held insideof you that that makes you?
So can you share with us what are the threeprinciples that you live by today?
(06:58):
What were the three principles that you wereliving by knowing that your life was gonna
change for the better?
I think my father always said the only day hewas beaten was the day he didn't show up.
So he always said, if you go, you have a chanceof winning, of getting whatever it is you need
(07:21):
to get done.
But if you don't show up, you have no chance.
So I always showed up regardless of what thesituation, I always showed up.
I think the next thing was I just love people.
And again, coming from a a family background ofin a very divisive society, we were always
(07:42):
brought up to treat everybody equally and withrespect regardless of their politics, their
religion, their background, whatever.
And then the third thing, I think, is always betrue to yourself.
If other things are uncertain, a word that youused earlier, you can have the certainty of
(08:03):
your own integrity and knowing that whatever itwhatever you do, it's going to be aligned with
your values.
Absolutely.
A %.
Yeah.
It's always about the values that you reallywant to, you know, keep in check.
And oftentimes, you know, we we get we get solost into what we are doing that we lose track
(08:26):
of what is our value.
What do we really stand for?
What do we really believe in?
So, absolutely, your values.
And I wanna talk about also, Lynne, you have Iwanna acknowledge you as well.
You have built you know, you established yourconsultancy business 20 ago in 02/2001, and you
(08:50):
have elevated and, you know, builtorganizations, team members to elevate them so
that they are more productive in the workplace.
So can you share with us how do you navigatethe mental and the health and the mental weight
(09:10):
of a team member, of an employee in theorganization?
So I think the this is coming back to valuesagain.
I always believe my role as someone who'scoaching, mentoring or developing teams, my
role is to empower everybody to get to theplace where they can function much more
(09:35):
effectively and function without me becausewe're not building a job for life as a
consultant.
We're hoping that people grow enough where theycan integrate the learning and move on.
So in terms of navigating what eachorganization needs, the number one issue there
(09:56):
is we always need to sit down and listen andhear what's going on from their perspective.
I think as coaches and mentors, we have to stopassuming we know things and we have to actually
learn from the people who are in theorganization what it is they feel they need.
Now I think when we meet the needs that theywant met, then we can add on some of the things
(10:22):
that that we as consultants can see they alsoneed.
But it's always about start where the clientis.
And usually, for organizations, that's aboutknowing what their pain points are.
Mhmm.
And in the health and social care sector, theirpain points over time have been fairly
(10:43):
consistent, and it's around recruiting andretaining high quality staff.
It's about ensuring that their staff grow anddevelop and there are succession arrangements.
Mhmm.
And I think it's also about managing withinconstrained budgets.
So those tend to be the issues that come up allthe time.
(11:05):
Right.
And and listening is a is a bigger factor.
You know, most bosses in organizations don'treally wanna listen to the employee, but I
think that's where the company can fall back.
Because if you're not paying attention to theemployee's needs today, you know, during COVID,
a lot of people had you know, they weren'treally able to it was that isolation period
(11:33):
that we all went through, but COVID was a greatexample that, you know, whatever people are
going through, you wanna make sure that you'relistening to the issues that's happening
internally.
Because what's happening internally, right, sothat's that's gonna affect your work
performance.
You're absolutely spot on there, Alka.
(11:55):
And in fact,
one of the organizations I worked with duringCOVID was the unions.
And and it was really, really interestingbecause when you and we had to do these as Zoom
sessions, so they were online workshops, andyou were absolutely right.
Everybody's reason for not wanting to come backinto the office.
(12:18):
This was when do you remember those earlyattempts when people were encouraged to go to
go back to the office?
Yeah.
Everybody's reason was different.
Right.
So you had to really understand.
And and and whenever you and I are givingpresentations, we're always trying to look at
what's in it for them, but it was so soimportant during COVID and the aftermath of
(12:40):
COVID that we really heard how COVID impactedpeople, what the challenges were for them
currently, and what it would be like and whatwould need to happen for them to safely.
And I think one of the things that wasunderestimated during COVID was the
psychological safety aspect both for peopleworking at home, but also the fear of coming
(13:05):
back to work.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Exactly.
A lot of people did not wanna go back because,you know, they never knew.
I think people did not realize as to what canhappen.
So, yeah, the safety aspect was sure, but, youknow, the the mental, the health, and
well-being of individuals really has to, youknow, had to take precedence.
(13:28):
And even now in the organizations, bosses, youknow, managers, senior level executives need to
pay attention to that.
So, Helene, can you share with us what are theskills that's required as to, you know, whether
you're a small company, a midsize, or a largeorganization, where the company needs to be and
(13:56):
where the company needs to go and they'reexpanding perhaps.
Can you share with us what are the skill setsthat's required for any company?
So I work primarily in my own niche area.
So that's organizations, statutory and not forprofit, who provide services for children and
(14:19):
families and those that provide mental healthservices.
So I did do small business coaching for a time,and I realized that my passion and my heart was
really in working with the service industriesin health and social care.
So I've kind of restricted my my business tothat because there's more than enough work in
(14:42):
that sector, and I always feel there's still somuch to do, Alka.
Right.
Right.
So so it's my belief that in thoseorganizations, you need to be really good at
running a business because those organizationsare businesses as well.
And one of my one of my CEO clients recentlycompeted completed her MBA.
(15:06):
She came back and and she said, now I know allthe things that you were talking about.
And I said, well, tell me, which part of theMBA was most relevant to your organization and
your role as CEO?
And she said, all of it.
You need the finance.
You need the project management.
You need the organization development.
(15:28):
You need the strategic planning.
You need the business planning.
You need the staff well-being.
So so the answer to your question is all ofthat.
I focus particularly on honing people'sleadership skills, And I believe across
organization and across industry, those arestill the same.
(15:50):
So take bearing in mind, we've already said youmust know all the business skills, but you've
got to really be a good leader and a goodpeople person.
So for me, the people skills are about thethat's why I developed the core program.
They need to be brilliant communicators.
Leaders need to know how to communicate.
(16:13):
And we manage things and we lead people.
So in order to lead people, we have to buildrelationships with them, so the r is for
relationships.
They always for optimization of everything atour disposal, and that's not just the budget,
but that's really important.
We have to optimize our own energy.
We have to optimize our time.
(16:35):
I think the the probably the mini course that Ido most often is time management.
And it's not just about time, it's aboutmanaging your energy because energy goes where
follows focus.
So the focus comes from the passion and thebelief and the want the wanting to do a great
job, but you have to optimize something youmentioned already, Alka.
(16:58):
You have to optimize your mindset.
You have to believe in the art of the possible.
And then the a is for evaluation because wehave to evaluate the impact of everything we
do.
If we try something, we need to check that it'sworking before we throw more resources at it.
And I find that in some organizations, they'vebeen doing things the same way for years and
(17:20):
years and years without questioning it andwithout listening to the people on the grind or
the middle managers.
So it's really important that we're constantlyevaluating.
And I have a very, very simple theory on this.
We all need to figure out what's working and domore of it, and we need to figure out what's
not working and stop doing it.
(17:43):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You know, listening to also your customers, Ithink companies are just gonna sort of
sidetrack a little bit, but pertains to thesame thing, whether it's companies,
organizations, you know, brands.
Why do certain brands just go out of business?
(18:03):
Why why do they?
I know, the Hudson Bay here in Toronto, they'vegone bankrupt.
They're just gonna it is so sad just to hearthat.
But what happened?
I think sometimes what some companies do in thecase of Hudson's Bay, I believe that they grew
too quick.
I think they introduced Nordstrom.
(18:25):
So maybe sometimes, you know, you gotta listento your customers, listen to the feedback,
listen to what your employees are saying toyou.
So that does not only happen at the top tierlevel, but also at the bottom listening to
everyone in the food chain can really helppeople, individuals, and, the company is gonna
(18:48):
thrive as a result.
And the reason for that, and you're absolutelyright, Alka, is that organizations have to stay
relevant.
And how can they stay relevant if they're notin touch with their customer base?
You and I both know, how important howcritically important it is that we scale
(19:10):
organizations.
But if you don't manage the pace of the growthand make sure that you don't overextend
financially, then that can be that can be socritically damaging.
I'm I'm I'm sad to hear that Hudson's Bayactually went bankrupt.
(19:30):
I worked in Toronto.
A second job, holiday job I had was actuallyworking in Toronto in my first year of
university because my aunt lived in Dawn Mills.
Okay.
And I worked in a dry cleaner store in Toronto.
I think the biggest learning from that was Inever wanted to work in a dry cleaning store
(19:51):
again.
Not in the summer.
Not in the summer.
Right.
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's so good.
What university did you go to?
I went to university in Belfast, but in in theafter the first year, I got a summer job
working in Toronto.
Okay.
Amazing.
That is so good.
(20:12):
You have you have run a successfulorganization.
You led, you know, team members, managers atall levels.
So I'm just curious to know what makes what howdo you assess the abilities of an individual so
(20:34):
that they become the person who they need tobe, to become the leader that they need to be?
How would you assess?
Do you have a set criteria that you use tomeasure how people can lead or can become good
leaders?
Well, I think an essential tool, I don't thinkfirst of all, I like people to do their own
(20:57):
self evaluation.
So I think scaling questions are great.
So in a in a workshop, I might check out, well,what do people think are the leadership skills?
And they would jot them down, which put them upin a flip chart.
And then I'd say, well, can we prioritize them?
And then I could do an exercise.
(21:17):
I said, okay.
On a scale of five to 10, rate yourself on eachof these leadership skills.
And that's really good because now people haveto learn to be reflective in terms of their own
skills and abilities.
And I always say on a scale of five to 10because, I mean, there are people who are
already in leadership positions.
(21:38):
Uh-huh.
So we have to assume they're at least at themidway point.
And if somebody is feeling down and they ratethemselves as a one, it feels hopeless.
But if you if you're a five on a scale five to10, well, that's okay.
You know, we're halfway.
And then my next question is always, so ifyou're a five, how do you get to a six?
If you're a seven, how do you get to an eight?
(21:59):
Because we want to we want to look for thatincremental growth that is within their reach,
which, you know, they can they can see as apotential.
And even at that, I say to them, well, ifyou're a five now, what's your goal?
Where do you want to get to in the next sixmonths?
And let them choose.
Some of them will say six, some of them willsay eight.
But the next question is always the same, okay,what needs to happen for you to get there?
(22:24):
And again, I use a mainly coaching modalitywhere then they start to figure out, well, I
need to do this, I need to do that, and we cango from there to a plan.
Exactly.
How do you also have there been times that, youknow, when you have assessed individuals and
(22:46):
you find that maybe they have not come up to upto par, they have the ability, they have the
potential to really go far in the organization,but oftentimes, they may lack a certain maybe a
motivation or maybe they don't lack a drive topull them forward.
(23:07):
How do you how do you pull people up so thatyou,
you
know, they have the potential to really excel?
Well, you you use the word that is mostcritical there, Alka, which is motivation.
And, you know, you can take ducks to water, butyou can't make them drink.
(23:28):
So it is really important.
So so it's around finding out why is themotivation so low, what else is going on.
It could be that they're they're not ready, sowe can get them to identify the skills and work
on those.
It can also be it's a lifetime or it's a familymatter or there are other things going on that
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prohibits them right now.
I always want people to think though, well,what can we do to grow in the meantime even if
you're not ready to go for the next position?
Uh-huh.
And some people I have seen situations wherepeople have challenged themselves to go for the
next promotion when they weren't ready.
And the challenge with that is often it's notjust it doesn't just impact them negatively.
(24:17):
It can impact the people that they're leadingnegatively.
And some people have been able to make gooddecisions and take a step back or sideways or
into into something else.
I think the other thing is in the health andsocial care sector, it's very much people need
to be there to serve, and we can serve in allkinds of ways.
(24:40):
We need really good practitioners.
We need people who are really hands on withtheir with patients and clients and service
users.
People with those skills need to be supportedto stay and to feel valued in those roles.
And we don't need a title.
I love Robin Sharma's book, the leader with notitle.
(25:03):
We don't need a title to be a leader.
We show up as leaders Right.
With our confidence, our competence, ourcommunication skills, our service, our
commitment to the organization, our commitmentto service users.
Right.
Exactly.
And I've always been curious to to know and alot of people has, you know, have said leaders
(25:27):
are born.
And I'm of the theory, you're not born aleader, you're created a leader.
Can you share your thoughts on that?
Absolutely.
I think I think some leaders are bornintuitively, instinctively.
They have all that skill set.
But leadership qualities can be learned andpracticed and honed and developed.
(25:49):
Yeah.
And and, you know, and I know that the more wepractice something, the more natural it
becomes.
Mhmm.
And then your leadership skills become morenatural as well.
Exactly.
Lynne, you have led, you know, organizationsand currently, you know, you're working in the
you worked in the health and social servicessector, led huge organizations.
(26:14):
I'm curious to know what the habits that youhave adopted that and now, you know, watching
your journey with you and your husband, how youwhat you have created both of you together,
it's just truly remarkable.
So I'm just curious to know as to what are yourhabits that you have implemented in the past?
(26:38):
What are the habits that you play today, the agame that you have?
I'm just curious to know as to what what hassupported you in the past and, you know, share
that with us.
Sure.
Sure.
And and, you know, my organization is reallysmall but the organizations that I support and
(27:03):
work with could be fairly large public sectororganizations or not for profits.
The I just wanted to finish off that lastconversation.
Sure.
Yeah.
What
works best is if I can do, like, a wholeorganization approach.
So I coach the area manager or the regionalmanager, work on building a really strong top
(27:26):
team that are all facing the same direction.
So you could have somebody who's responsiblefor fostering, somebody who's responsible for
children in care, someone who's responsible forscreening referrals at the front door, someone
who's responsible for the interface with mentalhealth.
But all of them have to feel like they're apart of the leadership team, and all of them
(27:50):
have to be committed to the core principles ofsupporting and empowering their staff,
delivering good quality services, living withinbudget, managing the resources they have
available to them, and troubleshooting andproblem solving in a way that creates learning
and hope as opposed to being a blamingorganization.
(28:13):
So it works best if I can work with becauseculture flows downhill.
It works really best if I can work with them atall levels, then the middle managers and the
frontline managers.
But if we can all get on the same page andagree what the values are so that people feel
engaged in something that is bigger thanthemselves.
(28:35):
So your question was what are what are myhabits?
Yes.
Well, first of all, start early.
I think, you know, getting so much done beforethe phone rings in the morning and being clear
about my agenda for the week and for the dayand checking in at the end of the day and
(28:55):
really celebrating if I got, like, 80 of itdone.
We always Rodney and I always do our atDecember, we plan our next year.
I mean, I think we used to plan five yearsahead, but we've sort of ticked all those
boxes.
The kids are all gone and married and whatever.
So we have planned all of our holidays for nextyear.
(29:19):
So I think always having something to lookforward to, but we start early.
I'm 72, and Rodney is 76.
So everybody thinks we should have been retiredyears ago.
But what would you do?
I love my life.
I love thinking I'm still adding value.
And and the other thing so it's starting early,being disciplined about planning and having
(29:40):
goals.
It's about always learning something new.
So I did a zipline for the first time ever whenI was in Australia.
I persuaded my daughter-in-law to do it.
We climbed a bridge and we ziplined over theriver, you know.
So I'm committed to doing something I haven'tdone before every year.
(30:01):
And I think persistence is the other thing.
I don't give up.
I figure it out and and kind of get on with it.
The other thing that has sustained me, whichwas the other part of your question, is having
a great network of wonderful people.
And some of those are, like, people that youwould your life could depend on.
(30:23):
I've had my Tony Robbins coach for more thantwenty years, and she's a very dear friend.
But she would never let me off the hook if Ineeded that push.
And I have another very dear coach very dearfriend and coach, and we coach each other once
a month.
And I have other people who are my go topeople, and you and I share our wealth and
(30:46):
business coach in the JT Fox world, and I loveBrent as well.
So I have my go to people because we were nevermeant to do this on our own.
And whenever we get stuck, that's okay.
I get stuck all the time.
That doesn't mean that doesn't demean me.
It just means there's something I haven'tlearned yet.
(31:07):
So I go, who can I ask about that?
So I'm always willing to ask and to learn andto and to continue to do new things.
Lynne, I have to commend you.
I have to compliment you.
You are 76.
No.
I'm 72.
But you look fantastic.
(31:28):
You look fantastic.
Well, was at my armchair aerobics this Theother thing I do and that sounds as if for old
people, but it's not really.
It's really a workout.
Must have done we must have done a hundredsquats, you know.
It it just makes you think that you're going tobe sitting.
It's not like that.
So I do three exercise classes a week, and Iwalk 10,000 steps every day.
(31:54):
Other thing that I think organizations havebecome much more committed to is their staff
well-being.
Mhmm.
And if we if you and I don't model that, thenhow can we encourage other people to do it?
So I I I I get my sleep, I drink plenty ofwater, I walk every day, I do my exercises, and
(32:15):
I eat well.
And that's really about reducing sugar.
Absolutely.
Well, incredible, Lynne.
That is so good, but I, you know, I absolutelyagree with you.
You know, everything that we want to do,whether it's in a company, in the
organizations, whether it's in our businesses,really has to stem from within us.
(32:37):
We have to lead by example.
And I think oftentimes, that's missed.
That's missed every way, even the corporations,you know.
People don't want to do that, but they expectof their employees or the team members.
But it has to you have to be the one.
You gotta be the walk and talk of your company,your brand with anything.
(32:59):
So that is so good.
You know, cultivate those habits because evenduring COVID, you know, the mental health and
wellness of individuals, you know, reallyimpacted, but, you know, isolation was there.
And I think also, would you say that whenpeople did go back to work, it was a very
difficult transition for most people afterCOVID to really get into grips with the work
(33:27):
performance.
Would you say that was the reality?
It really was a challenge.
There were the people who actually never wantedto not be in the office and had to be supported
and stay in home some days.
Then there were the people who had got used toremote working.
(33:49):
So the challenge really was rebuilding the teambecause people had gotten out of the habit and
good team leaders tried to keep their teaminvolved and engaged.
But a lot of people a lot of team leaders findthat hard.
Mhmm.
So the challenge really was not just withintegrating individuals, but but recreating and
(34:11):
rebuilding teams.
So I did a lot of work with people post COVIDabout respecting everybody's differences, but
getting a firm commitment mandatory that onWednesdays everybody was in the office and that
was the day that not did we just have the teammeeting, but we also had lunch.
So we embraced the social side of it as well.
(34:35):
Right.
Exactly.
How can how can individuals or how cancorporations really instill that culture?
Because you talked about, you know, culture ishow you built, when you would go to the
organization, build the team members andmanagers at all levels to so that they can
(34:55):
change the culture team members gain theconfidence and performance.
How can they start to instill what needs tohappen?
Can you share one one idea that that they cando today?
Well, first of all, culture is how peopleexperience the organization.
(35:17):
I mean, can have all your fancy definitions,but culture is really what it feels like to the
people who work there.
Uh-huh.
And we can create a culture within individualteams that is more protective and healthier
maybe than the the overall organizationalculture.
(35:39):
I think the key thing is leading withintegrity.
Uh-huh.
It's following through.
It's saying what you're going to do and then dowhat you said you would do.
Yes.
And so that people trust.
Now I love Stephen Covey's work on trust.
It's an amazing book from about fifteen yearsago called The Speed of Trust.
(36:03):
And he said trust depends on intent, integrity,competent track record, and competence.
I probably didn't get those all right, but itwas basically that your people will follow you
if your intent is pure.
So even if if you tell them that they have todo something they don't want to do, they'll go,
(36:28):
well, you know what?
You can trust Alka because in the past, shesaid this and she followed through.
So don't particularly want to do this, but Iknow in the past her intent has always been
pure.
Your integrity.
If if they know that you're honest, that youdeliver, that you do what you say, track record
(36:48):
is hugely important.
So if something goes wrong and they'll say,well, it's not like I'll go to do that because
in the past, she has always.
But if your track record has always been, well,you couldn't depend on Lynn because, you know,
several times in the past, she said, and shedidn't do it.
(37:09):
Then it doesn't matter what the next thing I dois people are gonna judge me against my track
record.
And the other thing is confidence.
People want to follow leaders who show thatthey understand the job and they can do the
job.
So I think that's how trust is built.
So what organizations need to do is work onbuilding trust.
(37:32):
And that can be at the top of the organizationor it can be in every individual team.
And then it comes right down to you and me.
Are we trustworthy as individual team members?
Absolutely.
I think it comes down to you know, trust has tocome down.
It has to be within you.
Because if you if you don't trust the momentyou say you don't you don't trust someone,
(37:57):
well, are you really trusting yourself?
And I think that's also a call that I often,you know, reflect on.
If I'm saying that to someone that I don'ttrust you, well, then do I really trust myself?
And I think a great question for everybody toask themselves is, how can I be more trust
worthy?
(38:18):
Yes.
And when somebody says to me, I don't trust Samor Fred or whatever, I would say, well, what
would he need to do Yes.
With you to trust him?
And is that something that you've talked about?
And and, you know, it can be the simplestthings.
People lose trust because somebody'stimekeeping's poor.
(38:40):
Well, have you had that conversation?
People lose trust because somebody left whilethere was still a crisis going on.
Well, did they have to get home to a child or ababysitter or whatever?
And all the time, it's have you had theconversation?
Now you and I have both interviewed Gabe Karprecently.
(39:02):
Yes.
And it was amazing.
And he always says that the tension arises inthe space between our expectations and reality.
Yeah.
Who's reality are we talking about?
We're always talking about our reality.
Right.
We have to learn more and back to thatlistening.
We have to learn more about the other person'sreality.
(39:23):
Yeah.
Put yourself in people's shoes.
If you don't put yourself in people's shoes,you'd then how then you're just assuming that
this is what happened or this is what is gonnabe.
Lynne, can you share with us the threedistinctions that creates a leader?
How leaders need as we talk you know, as wementioned, leaders are not born, but often some
(39:46):
people can be born into a great leader.
It's how they're being cultivated.
But can you share with them what are the threedistinctions that separates one individual that
wants to be a good leader or is a good leaderor the other person that is becoming a good
(40:08):
leader?
Can you share with us the three distinctions?
This is like an exam.
Okay.
That's a hard one.
I think between great leaders and averageleaders, great leaders are like the proverbial
swan.
(40:29):
They're gliding across the surface.
They might the feet might be going like pistonsunderneath, but they always look as if they
know what they're doing.
And I so I would I would put say that theyprovide certainty.
Great leaders provide certainty in uncertaintimes.
So that would be that would be a really big onefor me.
(40:51):
Right.
The second thing is that they're willing toadmit that they don't have all the answers.
Mhmm.
So they're willing to listen to other people'sideas.
And then the but the third thing that separatesthe great leaders from the good ones is great
(41:13):
leaders are decisive.
Decisive.
Exactly.
So provide certainty.
They're decisive.
And I think second one was I'm just fumbling abit there, but I think it is that be willing to
be vulnerable in certain situations withoutlosing your credibility as a leader.
(41:34):
So be able to say, actually, don't know whatwe're gonna do next, so let's hear from other
people.
And then but then you take the decision.
And it brings me back to a situation many, manyyears ago where a group of kids were going
away, we had some information that suggestedthe people taking them away might have abused
(41:57):
other children sexually.
And in that situation, I had people I it waslike a task force.
I kind of find an information, interviewingpeople, whatever.
I drove 40 miles home to arrange babysittingand then came back, and we rendezvoused again.
And they all shared what they'd find out, and Isaid, okay.
(42:20):
Well, we don't have enough information to act.
So they said, what are we gonna do?
And I said, we're just gonna go home becausethat's it.
We there's nothing else we can do in thissituation.
And they said, well, what are you gonna do?
I said, you're all gonna go home and have thenight off, and I'm gonna go home and not sleep,
but that's how it that's how it is.
You make that decision.
(42:42):
It was the right decision at the time.
It was an uncomfortable decision.
But as the leader, I had to let them all befreed up to go because I was taking the
decision and I was the one that was going tolive with it.
Right.
Exactly.
Well, it could go backward.
It could go the other way around too.
You know, you're a good leader and you have allthe good intentions of how your team members
(43:07):
are feeling or how they are to be moreempathetic.
And I think that's also would you say that'sthe missing link as well in most organization
or even just, you know, small businesspractices that they are not empathetic and you
gotta be compassionate.
(43:27):
You know, working with as you worked in thehealth and social services, you had to be, you
know, working with children and families, whichis a very, very delicate, you know, situation
that you had put yourself in, especiallyduring, you know, Northern Ireland's political
unrest at that time.
(43:48):
You had to be compassionate.
And I think compassion and empathetic are oneof the key skills that's also neglected that
people don't you know, they they they find andI'm seeing that more and more anyhow that
people are not compassionate and they are notempathetic to, you know, to other people.
(44:11):
But I think that stems from what we talkedabout.
It starts with you.
How can can you show empathy?
Can you be compassionate?
So I think that is that's the bottom line, butpeople are just not doing that.
I think the other word I would add to
that is kindness.
You know, sometimes it doesn't it feels likethere's not enough kindness to go around it.
(44:34):
You know.
So working on that situation of always leavepeople better than you find them.
Actually, what I'm seeing, Alka, is that thereis growing emotional intelligence in
organizations nowadays.
And with that is coming, the empathy, thecompassion, the kindness, the caring for
(44:58):
others.
So I do think that there's there's with all ofthe talks since COVID, maybe during and since
COVID, about maintaining people's mental healthwith recognizing that our physical well-being
is totally linked to our mental well-being,that we have to encourage and support our staff
(45:21):
to be healthier generally, and that includesrecognizing when people are stressed and
overwhelmed and actually supporting them totake some space.
I do think that there is growing emotionalintelligence in organization and that self
care, empathy, self love, and compassion forself as well as compassion for others.
(45:49):
And as you say, we have to have compassion forourself.
I do see that that is growing.
Right.
Okay.
Well, that that's a great thing.
That's growing, then that's what's needed.
How can you assess emotional intelligence?
How can you assess, with an individual theiremotional intelligence?
(46:11):
It's a question of whether they react orrespond generally, isn't it?
So when we're emotionally intelligent, we takethat breath.
If something triggers us, we take that breathand we wait for a minute before we before we
respond.
And we that just that breath can be enough forus to stop reacting and stop taking it
(46:36):
personally and then just thinking, okay.
If I ask a question here, I'll find out moreabout where that came from.
Because sometimes people fire things at us andthey go, like, where did that come from?
Or it comes across as hurtful or you feel I'mgonna and and you and I have been in so many
rooms where somebody gets defensive becausesomebody because maybe the person at the front
(47:03):
of the room on the stage is trying to role playsomething, and the person immediately gets
defensive.
Well, that goes nowhere.
We have seen those situations, and we're allcringing for them.
So the more emotionally intelligent we get, themore we recognize that we need to ask questions
to better understand where the other person iscoming from.
(47:27):
We need to, first of all, understand whattriggers us.
Right.
So, you know, what triggers anger, whattriggers guilt, what triggers frustration.
Frustration's probably the most overused wordin business these days.
But what is it?
So when when when we get triggered tofrustration, it just means we're doing the same
(47:48):
thing and we're expecting a different result.
Right.
So we have to understand what triggers us, andthen we also have to, as leaders, figure out,
well, what triggered Jimmy?
Why did he suddenly react over here?
So we need to better understand what triggersother people.
And then we need to teach people by rolemodeling, by training courses, by having team
(48:12):
discussions.
We need to help people better moderate theiremotions.
You know what just came to mind, Lynne?
I will also add to your brilliant answer to thequestion is self awareness.
Oh, totally.
If you're not you know what?
And I will share with you, I you know, therewere times I would react.
(48:35):
Someone would say something to me and I didn'tlike it, I would immediately rather than sort
of seeing at that time, I'm talking about goodnine years ago, I would be more reactive and I
immediately would react, oh, I don't want toknow.
Don't tell me this, you know, etcetera.
But now, the same me, the same situation, ifsomebody wants to say something to me, I'm more
(49:00):
proactive.
I wanna listen to you and I'm saying, oh, okay,sure, tell me, tell me Lynne, how do I do this?
How would you suggest, you know?
So it's being self awareness.
Having that self awareness, what ticks you off?
What triggers you in that moment?
And how can you change?
(49:20):
That's another thing.
People don't wanna change.
And how can we expect that in organizations orwithin the the culture that you mentioned?
How can how can we adapt to that?
Yeah.
How can we yeah.
First of all, you're you're so right.
We need by reexamining what it is that triggersus, we become much more self aware.
(49:45):
I think to as leaders and with experience, andyou said you're you're more mature nine years
later than, of course, we all are, provided wedo that work on ourselves.
Yes.
So I'm always working on myself.
I went to India and studied suffering for tendays, you know, and we really looked at that
(50:06):
how pain is real, but suffering is a choice.
Right.
In ten days, we studied that concept for.
But it's amazing either through Tony Robbinsand through Success Resources, now through JT
Fox and and three, one of the podcasts that I'mloving at the moment is Andy Stanley's
(50:28):
leadership podcast.
And it's amazing how much reflection and selfawareness he personally does as a leader and
encourages us to do as leaders.
And then I've forgotten the question, Alka.
How can people change
as we're talking Yes.
Change.
(50:48):
We have to stop trying to avoid change.
Change is inevitable.
Change is constant.
It's how we embrace it that is so so important.
And I like what you said earlier about gettingahead of things.
Tony Robbins always says the people whoanticipate what's going to happen in the next
couple of years are the people who are thegreat leaders.
(51:10):
You have to work two or three or four movesahead.
Change is inevitable, so start looking what'sgonna change in your family and how do you
prepare for it, what's going to change in yourworking life.
Sometimes people get health issues thrust uponthem, they have to work, how are we going to
accommodate this change?
Worked with someone this morning who that was areal issue for them.
(51:34):
So we have to learn to embrace change, and wehave to learn to manage it.
At organizational level, why change doesn'twork very often.
And let's face it, most organizational changecomes a cropper at some stage.
And the reason is why they understand the needto communicate the change for maybe the first
(51:57):
two parts, and then they stop communicating it.
And what you know, we change, we get buy infrom people, and then we communicate.
We issue the plan, and we get the buy in, andwe communicate.
And then the next step is steps one to two.
And then we need to, after each one, come backand evaluate and communicate.
(52:18):
And if it's going well, we cheer and celebrate.
If it's not going well, we work with people andwe communicate how we're gonna tweak it.
But sometimes we tweak too soon because thingshave to get a chance to bed in.
So change has to be managed, but the way themanagement is through engagement and
communication.
Absolutely.
And you mentioned, you know, change isconstant.
(52:42):
We're always evolving.
So the moment you don't want to change, youdon't change, you don't evolve, you stay the
same, you add a plateau, that's the moment youstart shrinking and you disintegrate.
So as human beings, we don't want to do that.
We're constant.
We're always evolving and, this is the placethat we wanna be.
(53:05):
Lynn, And
it's fun.
It's fun.
It's fun to keep learning new things andevolve.
It is.
Absolutely.
I mean, you know, you do the ziplining, so Icommend you.
I congratulate you on that.
Good for you for doing that.
I wanted to, but I chickened out.
Well, know why I
did it?
I chickened out about forty years ago Uh-huh.
(53:28):
And I had made excuses, but the real reason wasI was too afraid to do it.
Uh-huh.
So I had to in my head, all these years, it wasunfinished business.
So this year, I did it.
Good for you.
And we celebrate you.
That is amazing.
Good for you.
Lynn, your final question.
This has been a phenomenal conversation.
(53:50):
I really has been so enlightening.
Thank you so much.
Your final question, every success that you'vehad, you worked with major corporations, you
built the teams, you've, you know, elevated theteam members, managers, and you opened your
consultancy business twenty years ago, so verycommendable.
(54:12):
Everything that you have accomplished, iftomorrow you were to wake up and all your files
are deleted, Can you share with the audiencethree truths, meaning the three three
principles that the audience can take away fromall your teachings?
(54:38):
Anything is possible.
Right.
If you're clear on what it is you want toachieve, if you have a plan, and if you
surround yourself with the team that you needto get the job done.
And I really, really do believe that.
(54:59):
The second thing is if it was all taken awaytomorrow, rather than focus on loss, it's
really important to focus on where we're at andwhere we came from and where we got to and to
be grateful for the things like, I am sograteful for our three sons, for my three
(55:25):
wonderful daughter in laws.
I would be grateful to have more grandchildren.
I just have one at the moment.
Just to be grateful for the opportunity ofhaving been able to add value.
And I think we too many people out therelooking up that mountain and looking at how far
they have to go.
(55:47):
Mhmm.
And it's important sometimes to look back andthink, look how far we came.
Yes.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
And just be thankful.
Just be thankful.
I mean, at the end of the day, we've all hadgood lives, all had lives that are worth living
and hopefully hopefully added value somewherealong the way.
(56:08):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Lynn.
You certainly have added tremendous value forbeing on our show for you know, to our
audience.
Can you share with us as to where can peoplefind you and how can we support you?
Oh, sure.
Thank you so much.
Well, I have to say it's been an absolutepleasure.
(56:30):
Really challenging too.
Really made me think some things out there, sothat was really good.
And I've made some notes as well.
You can find me on LinkedIn or my website isjust www.lynnpaton.com.
Email me at Lynn@LynnPayton.com, and my mypodcast, success is never accidental, is on
(56:52):
Spotify.
Wonderful.
That is so good, we're more than happy.
We'll drop the links in the show notes.
Thank Thank you so much everyone for tuning into another episode of Ask the Experts podcast.
And the takeaways that I want you to justreally challenge is to know, as Lynn mentioned,
(57:17):
number one is to be grateful.
To be grateful that we have our health.
As Lynn mentioned, to be grateful as to whatyou have today.
And, you know, as Lynn also said, you know, youneed to celebrate even the smallest wins.
And oftentimes, we miss out that, oh, we needto have the bigger wins.
(57:38):
Yes.
The bigger wins will come.
But what are you doing in the momentintermittently?
The smaller wins that you have are gonna leadto the bigger wins.
So we are so grateful to Lynn, Payton to be onthe podcast today, and we are grateful to each
and every one of you who tunes in, and we wannaadd value to you every single day.
(58:04):
So stay tuned for the next episode on Ask theExperts whereby we bring amazing guests to add
value.
And so we wanna challenge you every time, butstay tuned and it's goodbye for now and we
wanna welcome you.
Thank you, Lynn.
(58:27):
That was amazing.
Oh, thank you so much.
You've you've stopped the recording.
Yeah.
Welcome everyone to Ask the Experts podcast.
Really excited for our guest today and reallyexcited the conversations we're gonna have, but
we wanna acknowledge you for taking up yourtime week in and week out to listen, learn, and
grow.
And growth is what it's about, and we want togive you value.
(00:24):
So we wanna give bring on amazing guests to theshow that's really gonna help you to change
your life, elevate your success in life and inbusiness.
My guest today is Lynn Payton.
Lynn has worked in the health sector, in thehealth and social services space whereby she
(00:46):
has held both operational and strategicmanagement responsibilities.
Lynn has in back twenty years ago, Lynnestablished her own business consultancy
whereby she trained a manager's senior seniorlevels and organizations to really achieve
(01:11):
major success and results from Lynn'sleadership.
And so I'm really excited to also share withyou, she has a top core leadership program that
she has unveiling and I really wanna dive intoas to what she is doing.
So the program is what she focuses on, managesat all senior levels and organizations, whereby
(01:38):
they want to improve the culture, the attitude,the the confidence, and performance outcome.
So I'm excited to welcome Lynn Painter.
Welcome to the show, Lynn.
Thank you so much, Alka, for that very generousintroduction.
It's lovely to see you.
(02:00):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Thank you for being here and always good to seeyou.
Now we've met at many events.
And Chicago was the first time we met and thencontinuously we meet.
But, you know, that's what the the life ofentrepreneurship is.
You know, you never know as to where you'regonna meet people.
So it's so good.
(02:20):
Lynne, I want you to share with our audienceyour backstory.
How did your journey begin as to what you aredoing today?
Sure.
So I grew up in Belfast in Northern Ireland Ialways wanted to do lang I was really good at
languages, so I could envisage myself as alanguage teacher, French and German.
(02:45):
And I could see myself in Paris, you know, as aFrench assistant, and all I always loved a bit
of style, Alka, so I my my career aspirationskind of reflected that.
And then this summer I finished school, highschool, I worked in a holiday camp in England.
(03:06):
Seven of us went over, and that just exposed meto a whole side of life that I'd never never
been exposed to before.
We had a very we had a very working classbackground, strong on values, but not
financially that well off.
And but I when I went with this haunted camp, Irealized just how sheltered it had been.
(03:31):
So there were people there who were in seasonaljobs, who had no no home.
They they they always had to take jobs wherethe accommodation came with the job.
And that just seemed so incredibly uncertain.
And there were people who had served jail time.
There were people who, were literally justdrifting through life and some with with quite
(03:53):
extensive issues and problems.
And I thought, gosh, there's a whole lot moreto life than I know anything about.
So I saved up and I got the boat back fromEngland to Northern Ireland and I persuaded
them at university to let me change my courseand this was like three weeks to go.
They let me change my course from languages tosocial science.
(04:16):
And that has just been the most amazingjourney.
So I was a social worker, still a socialworker, but I haven't practiced for years.
I was trained in social work, worked in socialwork for twenty something years.
And as you said in your intro, I was alwaystrying to grow and develop, so it was always
what's next.
So I would, you know, change jobs so that Icould learn more, And I ended up managing
(04:41):
services in Belfast, during a time when therewas considerable political unrest.
I went from that to a strategic management jobfor a bigger chunk of Northern Ireland, and
that was fascinating because that was all aboutdetermining what the need was, where the
services were, and what could we dostrategically in partnership with other
(05:04):
organizations to actually close that gap alittle bit.
And that also involved working cross border,working with other countries.
And then because increasingly when we're to getNorthern Ireland back on its feet, we had
access to piece monies from Europe, then we didbusiness with countries in Europe as well.
(05:25):
So it was a fascinating journey.
Then for a couple of years, I was director of anot for profit organization.
And when I did my first Tony Robbins event inGeneva in 1999, I made three critical
decisions.
One, I was gonna stop smoking.
Two, I was gonna stop drinking coffee.
And the third one was I wasn't ever gonna workfor anybody else again once I had the money to
(05:50):
set up my own business.
So that's what I did.
So in 02/2001, I set up the consultancy, and Istill love consulting to that sector, child
protection, fostering children's services, andmental health agencies.
Beautiful.
Love that story.
Very inspiring.
You know, obviously, you know, it takes a lotto you know, during that period in Northern
(06:15):
Ireland when it's going through a lot ofpolitical unrest, and there were a lot of
uncertainty as to what's gonna happen.
There was you know, no one knew as to what wasgonna happen.
So during that time and everything that has ledyou to what you have accomplished takes a lot
(06:35):
of drive and there's a mindset as youmentioned, you and Tony Robbins that also
elevated you to what you really wanted to do.
What was that passion that really held insideof you that that makes you?
So can you share with us what are the threeprinciples that you live by today?
(06:58):
What were the three principles that you wereliving by knowing that your life was gonna
change for the better?
I think my father always said the only day hewas beaten was the day he didn't show up.
So he always said, if you go, you have a chanceof winning, of getting whatever it is you need
(07:21):
to get done.
But if you don't show up, you have no chance.
So I always showed up regardless of what thesituation, I always showed up.
I think the next thing was I just love people.
And again, coming from a a family background ofin a very divisive society, we were always
(07:42):
brought up to treat everybody equally and withrespect regardless of their politics, their
religion, their background, whatever.
And then the third thing, I think, is always betrue to yourself.
If other things are uncertain, a word that youused earlier, you can have the certainty of
(08:03):
your own integrity and knowing that whatever itwhatever you do, it's going to be aligned with
your values.
Absolutely.
A %.
Yeah.
It's always about the values that you reallywant to, you know, keep in check.
And oftentimes, you know, we we get we get solost into what we are doing that we lose track
(08:26):
of what is our value.
What do we really stand for?
What do we really believe in?
So, absolutely, your values.
And I wanna talk about also, Lynne, you have Iwanna acknowledge you as well.
You have built you know, you established yourconsultancy business 20 ago in 02/2001, and you
(08:50):
have elevated and, you know, builtorganizations, team members to elevate them so
that they are more productive in the workplace.
So can you share with us how do you navigatethe mental and the health and the mental weight
(09:10):
of a team member, of an employee in theorganization?
So I think the this is coming back to valuesagain.
I always believe my role as someone who'scoaching, mentoring or developing teams, my
role is to empower everybody to get to theplace where they can function much more
(09:35):
effectively and function without me becausewe're not building a job for life as a
consultant.
We're hoping that people grow enough where theycan integrate the learning and move on.
So in terms of navigating what eachorganization needs, the number one issue there
(09:56):
is we always need to sit down and listen andhear what's going on from their perspective.
I think as coaches and mentors, we have to stopassuming we know things and we have to actually
learn from the people who are in theorganization what it is they feel they need.
Now I think when we meet the needs that theywant met, then we can add on some of the things
(10:22):
that that we as consultants can see they alsoneed.
But it's always about start where the clientis.
And usually, for organizations, that's aboutknowing what their pain points are.
Mhmm.
And in the health and social care sector, theirpain points over time have been fairly
(10:43):
consistent, and it's around recruiting andretaining high quality staff.
It's about ensuring that their staff grow anddevelop and there are succession arrangements.
Mhmm.
And I think it's also about managing withinconstrained budgets.
So those tend to be the issues that come up allthe time.
(11:05):
Right.
And and listening is a is a bigger factor.
You know, most bosses in organizations don'treally wanna listen to the employee, but I
think that's where the company can fall back.
Because if you're not paying attention to theemployee's needs today, you know, during COVID,
a lot of people had you know, they weren'treally able to it was that isolation period
(11:33):
that we all went through, but COVID was a greatexample that, you know, whatever people are
going through, you wanna make sure that you'relistening to the issues that's happening
internally.
Because what's happening internally, right, sothat's that's gonna affect your work
performance.
You're absolutely spot on there, Alka.
(11:55):
And in fact,
one of the organizations I worked with duringCOVID was the unions.
And and it was really, really interestingbecause when you and we had to do these as Zoom
sessions, so they were online workshops, andyou were absolutely right.
Everybody's reason for not wanting to come backinto the office.
(12:18):
This was when do you remember those earlyattempts when people were encouraged to go to
go back to the office?
Yeah.
Everybody's reason was different.
Right.
So you had to really understand.
And and and whenever you and I are givingpresentations, we're always trying to look at
what's in it for them, but it was so soimportant during COVID and the aftermath of
(12:40):
COVID that we really heard how COVID impactedpeople, what the challenges were for them
currently, and what it would be like and whatwould need to happen for them to safely.
And I think one of the things that wasunderestimated during COVID was the
psychological safety aspect both for peopleworking at home, but also the fear of coming
(13:05):
back to work.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Exactly.
A lot of people did not wanna go back because,you know, they never knew.
I think people did not realize as to what canhappen.
So, yeah, the safety aspect was sure, but, youknow, the the mental, the health, and
well-being of individuals really has to, youknow, had to take precedence.
(13:28):
And even now in the organizations, bosses, youknow, managers, senior level executives need to
pay attention to that.
So, Helene, can you share with us what are theskills that's required as to, you know, whether
you're a small company, a midsize, or a largeorganization, where the company needs to be and
(13:56):
where the company needs to go and they'reexpanding perhaps.
Can you share with us what are the skill setsthat's required for any company?
So I work primarily in my own niche area.
So that's organizations, statutory and not forprofit, who provide services for children and
(14:19):
families and those that provide mental healthservices.
So I did do small business coaching for a time,and I realized that my passion and my heart was
really in working with the service industriesin health and social care.
So I've kind of restricted my my business tothat because there's more than enough work in
(14:42):
that sector, and I always feel there's still somuch to do, Alka.
Right.
Right.
So so it's my belief that in thoseorganizations, you need to be really good at
running a business because those organizationsare businesses as well.
And one of my one of my CEO clients recentlycompeted completed her MBA.
(15:06):
She came back and and she said, now I know allthe things that you were talking about.
And I said, well, tell me, which part of theMBA was most relevant to your organization and
your role as CEO?
And she said, all of it.
You need the finance.
You need the project management.
You need the organization development.
(15:28):
You need the strategic planning.
You need the business planning.
You need the staff well-being.
So so the answer to your question is all ofthat.
I focus particularly on honing people'sleadership skills, And I believe across
organization and across industry, those arestill the same.
(15:50):
So take bearing in mind, we've already said youmust know all the business skills, but you've
got to really be a good leader and a goodpeople person.
So for me, the people skills are about thethat's why I developed the core program.
They need to be brilliant communicators.
Leaders need to know how to communicate.
(16:13):
And we manage things and we lead people.
So in order to lead people, we have to buildrelationships with them, so the r is for
relationships.
They always for optimization of everything atour disposal, and that's not just the budget,
but that's really important.
We have to optimize our own energy.
We have to optimize our time.
(16:35):
I think the the probably the mini course that Ido most often is time management.
And it's not just about time, it's aboutmanaging your energy because energy goes where
follows focus.
So the focus comes from the passion and thebelief and the want the wanting to do a great
job, but you have to optimize something youmentioned already, Alka.
(16:58):
You have to optimize your mindset.
You have to believe in the art of the possible.
And then the a is for evaluation because wehave to evaluate the impact of everything we
do.
If we try something, we need to check that it'sworking before we throw more resources at it.
And I find that in some organizations, they'vebeen doing things the same way for years and
(17:20):
years and years without questioning it andwithout listening to the people on the grind or
the middle managers.
So it's really important that we're constantlyevaluating.
And I have a very, very simple theory on this.
We all need to figure out what's working and domore of it, and we need to figure out what's
not working and stop doing it.
(17:43):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You know, listening to also your customers, Ithink companies are just gonna sort of
sidetrack a little bit, but pertains to thesame thing, whether it's companies,
organizations, you know, brands.
Why do certain brands just go out of business?
(18:03):
Why why do they?
I know, the Hudson Bay here in Toronto, they'vegone bankrupt.
They're just gonna it is so sad just to hearthat.
But what happened?
I think sometimes what some companies do in thecase of Hudson's Bay, I believe that they grew
too quick.
I think they introduced Nordstrom.
(18:25):
So maybe sometimes, you know, you gotta listento your customers, listen to the feedback,
listen to what your employees are saying toyou.
So that does not only happen at the top tierlevel, but also at the bottom listening to
everyone in the food chain can really helppeople, individuals, and, the company is gonna
(18:48):
thrive as a result.
And the reason for that, and you're absolutelyright, Alka, is that organizations have to stay
relevant.
And how can they stay relevant if they're notin touch with their customer base?
You and I both know, how important howcritically important it is that we scale
(19:10):
organizations.
But if you don't manage the pace of the growthand make sure that you don't overextend
financially, then that can be that can be socritically damaging.
I'm I'm I'm sad to hear that Hudson's Bayactually went bankrupt.
(19:30):
I worked in Toronto.
A second job, holiday job I had was actuallyworking in Toronto in my first year of
university because my aunt lived in Dawn Mills.
Okay.
And I worked in a dry cleaner store in Toronto.
I think the biggest learning from that was Inever wanted to work in a dry cleaning store
(19:51):
again.
Not in the summer.
Not in the summer.
Right.
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's so good.
What university did you go to?
I went to university in Belfast, but in in theafter the first year, I got a summer job
working in Toronto.
Okay.
Amazing.
That is so good.
(20:12):
You have you have run a successfulorganization.
You led, you know, team members, managers atall levels.
So I'm just curious to know what makes what howdo you assess the abilities of an individual so
(20:34):
that they become the person who they need tobe, to become the leader that they need to be?
How would you assess?
Do you have a set criteria that you use tomeasure how people can lead or can become good
leaders?
Well, I think an essential tool, I don't thinkfirst of all, I like people to do their own
(20:57):
self evaluation.
So I think scaling questions are great.
So in a in a workshop, I might check out, well,what do people think are the leadership skills?
And they would jot them down, which put them upin a flip chart.
And then I'd say, well, can we prioritize them?
And then I could do an exercise.
(21:17):
I said, okay.
On a scale of five to 10, rate yourself on eachof these leadership skills.
And that's really good because now people haveto learn to be reflective in terms of their own
skills and abilities.
And I always say on a scale of five to 10because, I mean, there are people who are
already in leadership positions.
(21:38):
Uh-huh.
So we have to assume they're at least at themidway point.
And if somebody is feeling down and they ratethemselves as a one, it feels hopeless.
But if you if you're a five on a scale five to10, well, that's okay.
You know, we're halfway.
And then my next question is always, so ifyou're a five, how do you get to a six?
If you're a seven, how do you get to an eight?
(21:59):
Because we want to we want to look for thatincremental growth that is within their reach,
which, you know, they can they can see as apotential.
And even at that, I say to them, well, ifyou're a five now, what's your goal?
Where do you want to get to in the next sixmonths?
And let them choose.
Some of them will say six, some of them willsay eight.
But the next question is always the same, okay,what needs to happen for you to get there?
(22:24):
And again, I use a mainly coaching modalitywhere then they start to figure out, well, I
need to do this, I need to do that, and we cango from there to a plan.
Exactly.
How do you also have there been times that, youknow, when you have assessed individuals and
(22:46):
you find that maybe they have not come up to upto par, they have the ability, they have the
potential to really go far in the organization,but oftentimes, they may lack a certain maybe a
motivation or maybe they don't lack a drive topull them forward.
(23:07):
How do you how do you pull people up so thatyou,
you
know, they have the potential to really excel?
Well, you you use the word that is mostcritical there, Alka, which is motivation.
And, you know, you can take ducks to water, butyou can't make them drink.
(23:28):
So it is really important.
So so it's around finding out why is themotivation so low, what else is going on.
It could be that they're they're not ready, sowe can get them to identify the skills and work
on those.
It can also be it's a lifetime or it's a familymatter or there are other things going on that
(23:52):
prohibits them right now.
I always want people to think though, well,what can we do to grow in the meantime even if
you're not ready to go for the next position?
Uh-huh.
And some people I have seen situations wherepeople have challenged themselves to go for the
next promotion when they weren't ready.
And the challenge with that is often it's notjust it doesn't just impact them negatively.
(24:17):
It can impact the people that they're leadingnegatively.
And some people have been able to make gooddecisions and take a step back or sideways or
into into something else.
I think the other thing is in the health andsocial care sector, it's very much people need
to be there to serve, and we can serve in allkinds of ways.
(24:40):
We need really good practitioners.
We need people who are really hands on withtheir with patients and clients and service
users.
People with those skills need to be supportedto stay and to feel valued in those roles.
And we don't need a title.
I love Robin Sharma's book, the leader with notitle.
(25:03):
We don't need a title to be a leader.
We show up as leaders Right.
With our confidence, our competence, ourcommunication skills, our service, our
commitment to the organization, our commitmentto service users.
Right.
Exactly.
And I've always been curious to to know and alot of people has, you know, have said leaders
(25:27):
are born.
And I'm of the theory, you're not born aleader, you're created a leader.
Can you share your thoughts on that?
Absolutely.
I think I think some leaders are bornintuitively, instinctively.
They have all that skill set.
But leadership qualities can be learned andpracticed and honed and developed.
(25:49):
Yeah.
And and, you know, and I know that the more wepractice something, the more natural it
becomes.
Mhmm.
And then your leadership skills become morenatural as well.
Exactly.
Lynne, you have led, you know, organizationsand currently, you know, you're working in the
you worked in the health and social servicessector, led huge organizations.
(26:14):
I'm curious to know what the habits that youhave adopted that and now, you know, watching
your journey with you and your husband, how youwhat you have created both of you together,
it's just truly remarkable.
So I'm just curious to know as to what are yourhabits that you have implemented in the past?
(26:38):
What are the habits that you play today, the agame that you have?
I'm just curious to know as to what what hassupported you in the past and, you know, share
that with us.
Sure.
Sure.
And and, you know, my organization is reallysmall but the organizations that I support and
(27:03):
work with could be fairly large public sectororganizations or not for profits.
The I just wanted to finish off that lastconversation.
Sure.
Yeah.
What
works best is if I can do, like, a wholeorganization approach.
So I coach the area manager or the regionalmanager, work on building a really strong top
(27:26):
team that are all facing the same direction.
So you could have somebody who's responsiblefor fostering, somebody who's responsible for
children in care, someone who's responsible forscreening referrals at the front door, someone
who's responsible for the interface with mentalhealth.
But all of them have to feel like they're apart of the leadership team, and all of them
(27:50):
have to be committed to the core principles ofsupporting and empowering their staff,
delivering good quality services, living withinbudget, managing the resources they have
available to them, and troubleshooting andproblem solving in a way that creates learning
and hope as opposed to being a blamingorganization.
(28:13):
So it works best if I can work with becauseculture flows downhill.
It works really best if I can work with them atall levels, then the middle managers and the
frontline managers.
But if we can all get on the same page andagree what the values are so that people feel
engaged in something that is bigger thanthemselves.
(28:35):
So your question was what are what are myhabits?
Yes.
Well, first of all, start early.
I think, you know, getting so much done beforethe phone rings in the morning and being clear
about my agenda for the week and for the dayand checking in at the end of the day and
(28:55):
really celebrating if I got, like, 80 of itdone.
We always Rodney and I always do our atDecember, we plan our next year.
I mean, I think we used to plan five yearsahead, but we've sort of ticked all those
boxes.
The kids are all gone and married and whatever.
So we have planned all of our holidays for nextyear.
(29:19):
So I think always having something to lookforward to, but we start early.
I'm 72, and Rodney is 76.
So everybody thinks we should have been retiredyears ago.
But what would you do?
I love my life.
I love thinking I'm still adding value.
And and the other thing so it's starting early,being disciplined about planning and having
(29:40):
goals.
It's about always learning something new.
So I did a zipline for the first time ever whenI was in Australia.
I persuaded my daughter-in-law to do it.
We climbed a bridge and we ziplined over theriver, you know.
So I'm committed to doing something I haven'tdone before every year.
(30:01):
And I think persistence is the other thing.
I don't give up.
I figure it out and and kind of get on with it.
The other thing that has sustained me, whichwas the other part of your question, is having
a great network of wonderful people.
And some of those are, like, people that youwould your life could depend on.
(30:23):
I've had my Tony Robbins coach for more thantwenty years, and she's a very dear friend.
But she would never let me off the hook if Ineeded that push.
And I have another very dear coach very dearfriend and coach, and we coach each other once
a month.
And I have other people who are my go topeople, and you and I share our wealth and
(30:46):
business coach in the JT Fox world, and I loveBrent as well.
So I have my go to people because we were nevermeant to do this on our own.
And whenever we get stuck, that's okay.
I get stuck all the time.
That doesn't mean that doesn't demean me.
It just means there's something I haven'tlearned yet.
(31:07):
So I go, who can I ask about that?
So I'm always willing to ask and to learn andto and to continue to do new things.
Lynne, I have to commend you.
I have to compliment you.
You are 76.
No.
I'm 72.
But you look fantastic.
(31:28):
You look fantastic.
Well, was at my armchair aerobics this Theother thing I do and that sounds as if for old
people, but it's not really.
It's really a workout.
Must have done we must have done a hundredsquats, you know.
It it just makes you think that you're going tobe sitting.
It's not like that.
So I do three exercise classes a week, and Iwalk 10,000 steps every day.
(31:54):
Other thing that I think organizations havebecome much more committed to is their staff
well-being.
Mhmm.
And if we if you and I don't model that, thenhow can we encourage other people to do it?
So I I I I get my sleep, I drink plenty ofwater, I walk every day, I do my exercises, and
(32:15):
I eat well.
And that's really about reducing sugar.
Absolutely.
Well, incredible, Lynne.
That is so good, but I, you know, I absolutelyagree with you.
You know, everything that we want to do,whether it's in a company, in the
organizations, whether it's in our businesses,really has to stem from within us.
(32:37):
We have to lead by example.
And I think oftentimes, that's missed.
That's missed every way, even the corporations,you know.
People don't want to do that, but they expectof their employees or the team members.
But it has to you have to be the one.
You gotta be the walk and talk of your company,your brand with anything.
(32:59):
So that is so good.
You know, cultivate those habits because evenduring COVID, you know, the mental health and
wellness of individuals, you know, reallyimpacted, but, you know, isolation was there.
And I think also, would you say that whenpeople did go back to work, it was a very
difficult transition for most people afterCOVID to really get into grips with the work
(33:27):
performance.
Would you say that was the reality?
It really was a challenge.
There were the people who actually never wantedto not be in the office and had to be supported
and stay in home some days.
Then there were the people who had got used toremote working.
(33:49):
So the challenge really was rebuilding the teambecause people had gotten out of the habit and
good team leaders tried to keep their teaminvolved and engaged.
But a lot of people a lot of team leaders findthat hard.
Mhmm.
So the challenge really was not just withintegrating individuals, but but recreating and
(34:11):
rebuilding teams.
So I did a lot of work with people post COVIDabout respecting everybody's differences, but
getting a firm commitment mandatory that onWednesdays everybody was in the office and that
was the day that not did we just have the teammeeting, but we also had lunch.
So we embraced the social side of it as well.
(34:35):
Right.
Exactly.
How can how can individuals or how cancorporations really instill that culture?
Because you talked about, you know, culture ishow you built, when you would go to the
organization, build the team members andmanagers at all levels to so that they can
(34:55):
change the culture team members gain theconfidence and performance.
How can they start to instill what needs tohappen?
Can you share one one idea that that they cando today?
Well, first of all, culture is how peopleexperience the organization.
(35:17):
I mean, can have all your fancy definitions,but culture is really what it feels like to the
people who work there.
Uh-huh.
And we can create a culture within individualteams that is more protective and healthier
maybe than the the overall organizationalculture.
(35:39):
I think the key thing is leading withintegrity.
Uh-huh.
It's following through.
It's saying what you're going to do and then dowhat you said you would do.
Yes.
And so that people trust.
Now I love Stephen Covey's work on trust.
It's an amazing book from about fifteen yearsago called The Speed of Trust.
(36:03):
And he said trust depends on intent, integrity,competent track record, and competence.
I probably didn't get those all right, but itwas basically that your people will follow you
if your intent is pure.
So even if if you tell them that they have todo something they don't want to do, they'll go,
(36:28):
well, you know what?
You can trust Alka because in the past, shesaid this and she followed through.
So don't particularly want to do this, but Iknow in the past her intent has always been
pure.
Your integrity.
If if they know that you're honest, that youdeliver, that you do what you say, track record
(36:48):
is hugely important.
So if something goes wrong and they'll say,well, it's not like I'll go to do that because
in the past, she has always.
But if your track record has always been, well,you couldn't depend on Lynn because, you know,
several times in the past, she said, and shedidn't do it.
(37:09):
Then it doesn't matter what the next thing I dois people are gonna judge me against my track
record.
And the other thing is confidence.
People want to follow leaders who show thatthey understand the job and they can do the
job.
So I think that's how trust is built.
So what organizations need to do is work onbuilding trust.
(37:32):
And that can be at the top of the organizationor it can be in every individual team.
And then it comes right down to you and me.
Are we trustworthy as individual team members?
Absolutely.
I think it comes down to you know, trust has tocome down.
It has to be within you.
Because if you if you don't trust the momentyou say you don't you don't trust someone,
(37:57):
well, are you really trusting yourself?
And I think that's also a call that I often,you know, reflect on.
If I'm saying that to someone that I don'ttrust you, well, then do I really trust myself?
And I think a great question for everybody toask themselves is, how can I be more trust
worthy?
(38:18):
Yes.
And when somebody says to me, I don't trust Samor Fred or whatever, I would say, well, what
would he need to do Yes.
With you to trust him?
And is that something that you've talked about?
And and, you know, it can be the simplestthings.
People lose trust because somebody'stimekeeping's poor.
(38:40):
Well, have you had that conversation?
People lose trust because somebody left whilethere was still a crisis going on.
Well, did they have to get home to a child or ababysitter or whatever?
And all the time, it's have you had theconversation?
Now you and I have both interviewed Gabe Karprecently.
(39:02):
Yes.
And it was amazing.
And he always says that the tension arises inthe space between our expectations and reality.
Yeah.
Who's reality are we talking about?
We're always talking about our reality.
Right.
We have to learn more and back to thatlistening.
We have to learn more about the other person'sreality.
(39:23):
Yeah.
Put yourself in people's shoes.
If you don't put yourself in people's shoes,you'd then how then you're just assuming that
this is what happened or this is what is gonnabe.
Lynne, can you share with us the threedistinctions that creates a leader?
How leaders need as we talk you know, as wementioned, leaders are not born, but often some
(39:46):
people can be born into a great leader.
It's how they're being cultivated.
But can you share with them what are the threedistinctions that separates one individual that
wants to be a good leader or is a good leaderor the other person that is becoming a good
(40:08):
leader?
Can you share with us the three distinctions?
This is like an exam.
Okay.
That's a hard one.
I think between great leaders and averageleaders, great leaders are like the proverbial
swan.
(40:29):
They're gliding across the surface.
They might the feet might be going like pistonsunderneath, but they always look as if they
know what they're doing.
And I so I would I would put say that theyprovide certainty.
Great leaders provide certainty in uncertaintimes.
So that would be that would be a really big onefor me.
(40:51):
Right.
The second thing is that they're willing toadmit that they don't have all the answers.
Mhmm.
So they're willing to listen to other people'sideas.
And then the but the third thing that separatesthe great leaders from the good ones is great
(41:13):
leaders are decisive.
Decisive.
Exactly.
So provide certainty.
They're decisive.
And I think second one was I'm just fumbling abit there, but I think it is that be willing to
be vulnerable in certain situations withoutlosing your credibility as a leader.
(41:34):
So be able to say, actually, don't know whatwe're gonna do next, so let's hear from other
people.
And then but then you take the decision.
And it brings me back to a situation many, manyyears ago where a group of kids were going
away, we had some information that suggestedthe people taking them away might have abused
(41:57):
other children sexually.
And in that situation, I had people I it waslike a task force.
I kind of find an information, interviewingpeople, whatever.
I drove 40 miles home to arrange babysittingand then came back, and we rendezvoused again.
And they all shared what they'd find out, and Isaid, okay.
(42:20):
Well, we don't have enough information to act.
So they said, what are we gonna do?
And I said, we're just gonna go home becausethat's it.
We there's nothing else we can do in thissituation.
And they said, well, what are you gonna do?
I said, you're all gonna go home and have thenight off, and I'm gonna go home and not sleep,
but that's how it that's how it is.
You make that decision.
(42:42):
It was the right decision at the time.
It was an uncomfortable decision.
But as the leader, I had to let them all befreed up to go because I was taking the
decision and I was the one that was going tolive with it.
Right.
Exactly.
Well, it could go backward.
It could go the other way around too.
You know, you're a good leader and you have allthe good intentions of how your team members
(43:07):
are feeling or how they are to be moreempathetic.
And I think that's also would you say that'sthe missing link as well in most organization
or even just, you know, small businesspractices that they are not empathetic and you
gotta be compassionate.
(43:27):
You know, working with as you worked in thehealth and social services, you had to be, you
know, working with children and families, whichis a very, very delicate, you know, situation
that you had put yourself in, especiallyduring, you know, Northern Ireland's political
unrest at that time.
(43:48):
You had to be compassionate.
And I think compassion and empathetic are oneof the key skills that's also neglected that
people don't you know, they they they find andI'm seeing that more and more anyhow that
people are not compassionate and they are notempathetic to, you know, to other people.
(44:11):
But I think that stems from what we talkedabout.
It starts with you.
How can can you show empathy?
Can you be compassionate?
So I think that is that's the bottom line, butpeople are just not doing that.
I think the other word I would add to
that is kindness.
You know, sometimes it doesn't it feels likethere's not enough kindness to go around it.
(44:34):
You know.
So working on that situation of always leavepeople better than you find them.
Actually, what I'm seeing, Alka, is that thereis growing emotional intelligence in
organizations nowadays.
And with that is coming, the empathy, thecompassion, the kindness, the caring for
(44:58):
others.
So I do think that there's there's with all ofthe talks since COVID, maybe during and since
COVID, about maintaining people's mental healthwith recognizing that our physical well-being
is totally linked to our mental well-being,that we have to encourage and support our staff
(45:21):
to be healthier generally, and that includesrecognizing when people are stressed and
overwhelmed and actually supporting them totake some space.
I do think that there is growing emotionalintelligence in organization and that self
care, empathy, self love, and compassion forself as well as compassion for others.
(45:49):
And as you say, we have to have compassion forourself.
I do see that that is growing.
Right.
Okay.
Well, that that's a great thing.
That's growing, then that's what's needed.
How can you assess emotional intelligence?
How can you assess, with an individual theiremotional intelligence?
(46:11):
It's a question of whether they react orrespond generally, isn't it?
So when we're emotionally intelligent, we takethat breath.
If something triggers us, we take that breathand we wait for a minute before we before we
respond.
And we that just that breath can be enough forus to stop reacting and stop taking it
(46:36):
personally and then just thinking, okay.
If I ask a question here, I'll find out moreabout where that came from.
Because sometimes people fire things at us andthey go, like, where did that come from?
Or it comes across as hurtful or you feel I'mgonna and and you and I have been in so many
rooms where somebody gets defensive becausesomebody because maybe the person at the front
(47:03):
of the room on the stage is trying to role playsomething, and the person immediately gets
defensive.
Well, that goes nowhere.
We have seen those situations, and we're allcringing for them.
So the more emotionally intelligent we get, themore we recognize that we need to ask questions
to better understand where the other person iscoming from.
(47:27):
We need to, first of all, understand whattriggers us.
Right.
So, you know, what triggers anger, whattriggers guilt, what triggers frustration.
Frustration's probably the most overused wordin business these days.
But what is it?
So when when when we get triggered tofrustration, it just means we're doing the same
(47:48):
thing and we're expecting a different result.
Right.
So we have to understand what triggers us, andthen we also have to, as leaders, figure out,
well, what triggered Jimmy?
Why did he suddenly react over here?
So we need to better understand what triggersother people.
And then we need to teach people by rolemodeling, by training courses, by having team
(48:12):
discussions.
We need to help people better moderate theiremotions.
You know what just came to mind, Lynne?
I will also add to your brilliant answer to thequestion is self awareness.
Oh, totally.
If you're not you know what?
And I will share with you, I you know, therewere times I would react.
(48:35):
Someone would say something to me and I didn'tlike it, I would immediately rather than sort
of seeing at that time, I'm talking about goodnine years ago, I would be more reactive and I
immediately would react, oh, I don't want toknow.
Don't tell me this, you know, etcetera.
But now, the same me, the same situation, ifsomebody wants to say something to me, I'm more
(49:00):
proactive.
I wanna listen to you and I'm saying, oh, okay,sure, tell me, tell me Lynne, how do I do this?
How would you suggest, you know?
So it's being self awareness.
Having that self awareness, what ticks you off?
What triggers you in that moment?
And how can you change?
(49:20):
That's another thing.
People don't wanna change.
And how can we expect that in organizations orwithin the the culture that you mentioned?
How can how can we adapt to that?
Yeah.
How can we yeah.
First of all, you're you're so right.
We need by reexamining what it is that triggersus, we become much more self aware.
(49:45):
I think to as leaders and with experience, andyou said you're you're more mature nine years
later than, of course, we all are, provided wedo that work on ourselves.
Yes.
So I'm always working on myself.
I went to India and studied suffering for tendays, you know, and we really looked at that
(50:06):
how pain is real, but suffering is a choice.
Right.
In ten days, we studied that concept for.
But it's amazing either through Tony Robbinsand through Success Resources, now through JT
Fox and and three, one of the podcasts that I'mloving at the moment is Andy Stanley's
(50:28):
leadership podcast.
And it's amazing how much reflection and selfawareness he personally does as a leader and
encourages us to do as leaders.
And then I've forgotten the question, Alka.
How can people change
as we're talking Yes.
Change.
(50:48):
We have to stop trying to avoid change.
Change is inevitable.
Change is constant.
It's how we embrace it that is so so important.
And I like what you said earlier about gettingahead of things.
Tony Robbins always says the people whoanticipate what's going to happen in the next
couple of years are the people who are thegreat leaders.
(51:10):
You have to work two or three or four movesahead.
Change is inevitable, so start looking what'sgonna change in your family and how do you
prepare for it, what's going to change in yourworking life.
Sometimes people get health issues thrust uponthem, they have to work, how are we going to
accommodate this change?
Worked with someone this morning who that was areal issue for them.
(51:34):
So we have to learn to embrace change, and wehave to learn to manage it.
At organizational level, why change doesn'twork very often.
And let's face it, most organizational changecomes a cropper at some stage.
And the reason is why they understand the needto communicate the change for maybe the first
(51:57):
two parts, and then they stop communicating it.
And what you know, we change, we get buy infrom people, and then we communicate.
We issue the plan, and we get the buy in, andwe communicate.
And then the next step is steps one to two.
And then we need to, after each one, come backand evaluate and communicate.
(52:18):
And if it's going well, we cheer and celebrate.
If it's not going well, we work with people andwe communicate how we're gonna tweak it.
But sometimes we tweak too soon because thingshave to get a chance to bed in.
So change has to be managed, but the way themanagement is through engagement and
communication.
Absolutely.
And you mentioned, you know, change isconstant.
(52:42):
We're always evolving.
So the moment you don't want to change, youdon't change, you don't evolve, you stay the
same, you add a plateau, that's the moment youstart shrinking and you disintegrate.
So as human beings, we don't want to do that.
We're constant.
We're always evolving and, this is the placethat we wanna be.
(53:05):
Lynn, And
it's fun.
It's fun.
It's fun to keep learning new things andevolve.
It is.
Absolutely.
I mean, you know, you do the ziplining, so Icommend you.
I congratulate you on that.
Good for you for doing that.
I wanted to, but I chickened out.
Well, know why I
did it?
I chickened out about forty years ago Uh-huh.
(53:28):
And I had made excuses, but the real reason wasI was too afraid to do it.
Uh-huh.
So I had to in my head, all these years, it wasunfinished business.
So this year, I did it.
Good for you.
And we celebrate you.
That is amazing.
Good for you.
Lynn, your final question.
This has been a phenomenal conversation.
(53:50):
I really has been so enlightening.
Thank you so much.
Your final question, every success that you'vehad, you worked with major corporations, you
built the teams, you've, you know, elevated theteam members, managers, and you opened your
consultancy business twenty years ago, so verycommendable.
(54:12):
Everything that you have accomplished, iftomorrow you were to wake up and all your files
are deleted, Can you share with the audiencethree truths, meaning the three three
principles that the audience can take away fromall your teachings?
(54:38):
Anything is possible.
Right.
If you're clear on what it is you want toachieve, if you have a plan, and if you
surround yourself with the team that you needto get the job done.
And I really, really do believe that.
(54:59):
The second thing is if it was all taken awaytomorrow, rather than focus on loss, it's
really important to focus on where we're at andwhere we came from and where we got to and to
be grateful for the things like, I am sograteful for our three sons, for my three
(55:25):
wonderful daughter in laws.
I would be grateful to have more grandchildren.
I just have one at the moment.
Just to be grateful for the opportunity ofhaving been able to add value.
And I think we too many people out therelooking up that mountain and looking at how far
they have to go.
(55:47):
Mhmm.
And it's important sometimes to look back andthink, look how far we came.
Yes.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
And just be thankful.
Just be thankful.
I mean, at the end of the day, we've all hadgood lives, all had lives that are worth living
and hopefully hopefully added value somewherealong the way.
(56:08):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Lynn.
You certainly have added tremendous value forbeing on our show for you know, to our
audience.
Can you share with us as to where can peoplefind you and how can we support you?
Oh, sure.
Thank you so much.
Well, I have to say it's been an absolutepleasure.
(56:30):
Really challenging too.
Really made me think some things out there, sothat was really good.
And I've made some notes as well.
You can find me on LinkedIn or my website isjust www.lynnpaton.com.
Email me at Lynn@LynnPayton.com, and my mypodcast, success is never accidental, is on
(56:52):
Spotify.
Wonderful.
That is so good, we're more than happy.
We'll drop the links in the show notes.
Thank Thank you so much everyone for tuning into another episode of Ask the Experts podcast.
And the takeaways that I want you to justreally challenge is to know, as Lynn mentioned,
(57:17):
number one is to be grateful.
To be grateful that we have our health.
As Lynn mentioned, to be grateful as to whatyou have today.
And, you know, as Lynn also said, you know, youneed to celebrate even the smallest wins.
And oftentimes, we miss out that, oh, we needto have the bigger wins.
(57:38):
Yes.
The bigger wins will come.
But what are you doing in the momentintermittently?
The smaller wins that you have are gonna leadto the bigger wins.
So we are so grateful to Lynn, Payton to be onthe podcast today, and we are grateful to each
and every one of you who tunes in, and we wannaadd value to you every single day.
(58:04):
So stay tuned for the next episode on Ask theExperts whereby we bring amazing guests to add
value.
And so we wanna challenge you every time, butstay tuned and it's goodbye for now and we
wanna welcome you.
Thank you, Lynn.
(58:27):
That was amazing.
Oh, thank you so much.
You've you've stopped the recording.
Yeah.
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