From Corporate Climb to Team Triumph

Episode Transcript
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Intro (00:02):
Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an
essential podcast for those wholive, work, visit, and play in
Carlsbad.

Brett (00:14):
Good morning, and welcome, everyone. My name is
Brett Schonzenbach. I am thepresident and CEO of the
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.And I'm your host today, and I'm
very pleased to have with meJani Jackson. Jani is the
founder of Develop Your Team.
Good morning, Jani.

Jani Jackson (00:30):
Good morning, Brett. Thank you so much for
having me.

Brett (00:34):
It's so good to have you here. This has probably been,
you know, needed to be done alot earlier, but we're here. So
I'm excited about this. And, youknow because you've you've told
me you you listen to our podcastfairly regularly, so you know
that I like to kinda go back andsee, you know, what people's

(00:54):
backgrounds were and things likethat. So I saw that you got your
BA in English lit at Cal StateNorthridge.

Yes.

Brett (01:04):
And then headed over to Colorado later for, your
master's in adult ed. So are youfrom are were you born and
raised in Southern California?Or what what's the whole story
there?

Practically.

Brett (01:16):
Okay.

Born in Nebraska, but I only lived there for,
like, 6 months. So I've been inSouthern California since I was,
like, 3. Yeah. California since6 months. But, yeah.

Brett (01:30):
You're a native.

Thank you. I'm essentially a native, and I've
been in Carlsbad since 1981.

Brett (01:35):
Okay. Quite a long time. And what what got you to
Carlsbad in the first place?

My husband at the time, his company moved to San
Marcos.

Brett (01:47):
Okay.

And we had been excited to move out of LA for a
long time.

Brett (01:53):
Sure.

So this was perfect opportunity to get here.

Brett (01:56):
Get out of that rat race for sure.

Yeah.

Brett (01:59):
You spent, a significant amount of time with Farmers
Insurance in your background.Tell us some of the roles you
had when you were working there.

I started at Farmers in college, so it was my
part time job in college. I diddata entry on the night shift,
and then I got into computeroperations. And when I moved
here, that job didn't exist inSan Diego, so I handled

(02:30):
automobile claims for a fewyears. And then Farmers built a
regional office here, I got backin management information
systems, did that for a longtime, that office closed. So I
did homeowner claims, which tookme into the I I had this
tendency to do the job and thensupervise in the department.

(02:52):
Yeah. So I did that withhomeowner claims and then got
into training and then trainingmanager, and that's how I got
into leadership development andteam building and those things
that I'm doing now.

Brett (03:08):
Very nice. And so you're in you're in leadership
development with Farmers, andand you were there pretty, what,
long time overall. But at somepoint, you left, and you decided
to start develop your team. Why?

Because when so farmers restructured as
companies do, and theopportunities available for me
there were not in the same lineof what I wanted to do. So I I
left there and I had thisopportunity that was also right

(03:49):
when I was in the process ofgetting my master's degree in
adult education and training. SoI had this beautiful opportunity
to think about, okay, what do Ireally wanna do? What are the
best things about what I havebeen doing? And it was all about
the teams and the relationshipsand the the coaching and how can

(04:10):
I help people be better?
And, like, really the foundationfor me, I I had some wonderful
opportunities at Farmers to bepart of teams that were
phenomenal

Brett (04:29):
Yes.

That could do anything. And because I was
there for a really long timedoing a lot of different things,
I also had the oppositeexperience with the totally
dysfunctional teams. And beingat work is so much better when
you're on one of those greatteams.

Brett (04:49):
Yeah.

And so, really, what drives me is wanting to
help other people have thatopportunity to be on those great
teams that that kind work inthat kind of place where you
wake up in the morning or it'sSunday evening and you have to
go back to work on Monday andyou are excited because you get

(05:10):
to go be with people you wannabe with and do things that are
important to you.

Brett (05:16):
I love that. As you know, we spend a lot of hours in the
world of work. So, it's great ifyou can actually enjoy it and
look forward to it and like yourteam and and click with your
team. But before we dive indeeper on that, I wanna get back
to you as a entrepreneurstarting

Mhmm.

Brett (05:38):
Up, develop your team. And, you know, coming from
corporate, I know, you know, youhad different roles with
farmers, and so you were good atadapting and and shifting. But
it's still I'm asking, but I Ifeel like it must have been a
little bit scary leaving thecorporate, environment where,

(06:00):
you know, you got, like, asalary and that kind of thing,
and then going completely onyour own to start something new.
Talk about that. Yeah.

Definitely scary. The the analogy that a a way
that I think about it is I Ihave this idea that if I ever
had skydived, which I have not,But I can totally picture myself

(06:34):
in the door of the plane withthe parachute on, everything
ready, and not being able tojump and needing somebody to
push me out the door. Yeah. AndI feel like that's what
happened.

Brett (06:50):
Mhmm.

So, yes, it was scary, and I didn't know how I
didn't know how to run abusiness. I knew how to do team
building, and I knew how to doleadership and coaching, and
that's how I found the chamber.Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully.

Brett (07:09):
Yeah. But that was, they are. That's the whole thing.
Taking that next step, that nextleap is is a big deal. And, of
course, we have huge respect forour entrepreneurs in the
chamber.
They're kind of the backbone ofAmerica. You know? They're what
make they're what make thingshappen here. I'm not sure. Did I

(07:30):
say that right?
They are what make I don't know.You know, you get my point?

I get your point.

Brett (07:34):
But it is scary, you know, taking those leaps
sometimes. So so let's let'sactually let's tell people what
you do with Develop Your Team.

So I work with all kinds of organizations because
people are people.

Brett (07:54):
Yeah.

So it doesn't really matter industry wise. And
some of them are small, 55people.

Brett (08:03):
Yeah.

And for me, I'm typically working with companies
from that small size up to 150maybe, something like that. But
I I work with the teams andprimarily. So there's really 3

(08:26):
different areas of focus workingwith teams, team bonding, which
is the relationship buildingpart and what people often think
of as team building, if they'regonna go out to happy hour or
whatever, that's really aboutbonding. And then the next level

(08:47):
is team development where we getinto focusing on specific areas
that are important to a team orwhere they need to develop. And
that's gonna incorporatedifferent challenging activities
that the team is gonna work ontogether, and then we're gonna
have conversations about whathappened and and what were the

(09:12):
behaviors that that wereexhibited.
And then the next level is whatI would call team development,
which is longer term, morefocused on moving the team
forward. It could be working onculture, building skills around

(09:35):
having more effective meetingsor setting goals. But it but
the, for team development, it'sreally gonna be a longer term
process and commitment.

Brett (09:48):
Yeah. That's fantastic. So we're gonna take a brief
pause. We're talking to JaniJackson, the founder of Develop
Your Team. When we come back,we're gonna talk about some of
the ways that the method sheuses and how she gets this this
amazing work done, and hopefullyinspire you to reach out and
engage her company.

(10:09):
So stick with us. We'll be rightback. So, Janie, before we took

(11:15):
a break, you were just startingto tell us about all the
different things that developyour team does. And I should
have, like, a full disclosuremoment here for our listeners
because we've had the benefit ofhaving you come in and and work
with our team here at thechamber. And as you said, like,
you can work with teams of alldifferent sizes.
We're small. There's 10 of us,11 now, but 10 when you were

(11:38):
working with us. And, but Ifind, you know, sometimes with
small teams, this work is evenmore important. Maybe not more,
but but it feels more importantbecause you you wear so many
hats when you're a smallercompany, and you you have to,
you know, be so versatile. It'snot like we have full blown

(11:59):
departments, you know, which I'msure some in some companies,
maybe you're working with adepartment a or department b.
But Mhmm. You know, as a smallcompany, it's so important that
we all work together really welland functionally. So, so we've
had the benefit of working withyou. So that was a long way of

(12:21):
saying that. But your methodsare very hands on, I feel like.
And they're very engaging, like,tactile. It's not just talking
about developing teams. So talkabout that, the hands on nature
of of what you do sometimes, inthis work.

Okay. So the the foundation is experiential
learning principles and and thatI incorporate that in everything
I do, even if it's a moretraditional workshop, there's
gonna be experiential

Brett (12:58):
Yes.

Hands on learn by doing elements. But a typical
team building day, similar to towhat we did with you, involves a
sequence of activities thatstart with maybe lower risk, low

(13:20):
intensity activities that aremore in the bonding category.
Getting people to haveconversations with each other,
but maybe in a a little bitdifferent way

Brett (13:32):
Sure.

From what you traditionally would. Maybe

Brett (13:36):
You're you're stretching them, but it's still pretty easy
stretch at the beginning.

Exactly. I want people to be comfortable, but I
also want them out of theircomfort zone because that's
that's when we learn, that'swhere growth happens. And so the
sequence is important because itallows people to move safely
Yeah. Out of their comfort zone.

Brett (14:02):
Because this is gonna be a progression the the whole day
or however long you're workingwith them of getting a little
farther out of their initialcomfort zone and then a little
farther.

Exactly. Exactly. So then we'll move into
activities that are focused onthings that we've identified.
The the group that I'm workingwith, in conversations that I've
had with them, what have weidentified as areas that that
they want to improve? Maybe it'scommunication, maybe it's

(14:31):
building trust, maybe it'sproblem solving, decision
making, could be there's a wholerange of things.
So I will put togetheractivities that are designed to
surface behaviors around thoseareas, and then we'll do the

(14:52):
activity. It's typically achallenge, a problem that needs
to be solved. Maybe it'stransferring marbles from point
a to point b, but there arecomplications about how you have
to go about doing it. So and wedo that activity and people have

(15:12):
the opportunity to interact, andthen we talk about what
happened. And one of the thingsthat that I really enjoy about
it is that maybe we set out towork on communication.
And we did this activity andthen we surfaced behaviors that

(15:33):
happen in the workplace, theyhappen in the activity, and
maybe they're not really aboutcommunication. Maybe it's about
leadership or, just the planningor strategies for getting tasks
accomplished. And so we have theopportunity to talk about it and

(15:56):
help people. First of all, we'rewe're talking about things in a
safe environment because if youtalk with people directly about
their work product, it's it'sharder it's harder to talk about
those things. But if you talkabout it in the context of a
game that we just played

Brett (16:16):
Yes.

It's much easier to have those conversations, and
then we make the connection Yep.Back to, oh, how does this show
up in the real world?

Brett (16:27):
Yeah.

And and that's how teams then have the opportunity
to go back to the real world andand progress forward because
they can see, oh, when I actedthis way in the activity, we
didn't get a good result. Butwhen we did it this other way,
it worked out better, and I cando that I can do it that way at

(16:50):
work too.

Brett (16:51):
Yeah. No. That's great. One of the things you said at
the beginning of that was that,you you identify with the
company you're working with. Youknow, what what are things that
they wanna work on.
And I remember you approachingme, and I really appreciated
that. So ahead of time, youknow, you knew what would be

(17:13):
most helpful to us. And so youand I dialogued on that, and so
then you crafted those variousactivities that we did, to that.
And I thought that was that wasso great and so helpful. And and
so it wasn't just like I guesswhat I wanna share with the
audience is it wasn't like youcame in with a preplanned list

(17:35):
of things and just said, here'smy process.
This is how I do it. You metwith me and said, what would be
best? You know, what are youtrying to achieve? And then you
craft it. I love that.
Very personal.

It's always customized. Yes. Always.

Brett (17:52):
Always customized. And then so with us, you we did I
can't remember exactly, but itwas, I wanna say 3, 4 hours.

Yep. Yep.

Brett (18:00):
It's a half day. Half day. Talk about what are the
because you you did mentionearlier, you know, there's
there's that kind of a format,but when you're developing teams
over time

Mhmm.

Brett (18:14):
You know, it could look different. So what are the
different formats that and waysthat you can bring this to a
company and implement it,etcetera?

So there is the half you know, similar to what
we did. Yeah. Sometimescompanies want just an hour or a
couple of an hour hours at thebeginning of some longer event
that they're having, but a alonger term team development

(18:44):
situation, a good example that Ican share would be what I did
with my own team when I wasfirst learning how to use
experiential learning activitiesfor this. So I had the
opportunity when I was workingat Farmers. I got to go to a

(19:06):
full day seminar on teambuilding facilitation, and I
walked away with that thinking,this is the greatest thing ever.
And, hey, I have a team, I'mgonna practice on them.

Brett (19:21):
So Good built in kidney pick.

It was great. It was great. So at that time, I
had 9 people on my team, andthey were spread out all over
the state of California. Ninefield trainers and each one had
an office that they wereassigned to. So our first team
building was a half day part ofa multi day meeting, but half

(19:48):
day doing exactly what we talkedabout, like I did with you.
And then since this was avirtual team, we actually only
saw each other in person aboutevery 6 months. So when we got
together again in 6 months, Iput together a smaller program,

(20:11):
an hour and a half, maybe 2hours, kind of working on the
same kinds of things. And 6months later, another half day,
6 months later, another so andand in between, we incorporated
things that that were relevantto the work that we were doing.

(20:35):
So over this maybe 2 year timeperiod, I love this example
because I could really see theimpact and see the difference,
and this is part of why I wantedto carry on with it. But
companies, again, restructuringas they do, our department was

(20:57):
reduced from 9 trainers for 9offices to 6 trainers for 9
offices.
So we had to figure out how theyhad to we had to figure out how
to work together differently tobe able to offer that same level
of support to those offices,which we did, but it all came

(21:20):
out of the team building and thedevelopment that we did over
time. And, ultimately, by thetime we got this couple years
into it, my team was in demand.There were other other parts of
the country doing my work thatwere asking, can you can your

(21:42):
trainers come out and help us?

Brett (21:45):
Because They saw the results.

They saw the results. Yeah. And people would
comment on how how, you know,your team, you know, they're
they're having so much fun, but,boy, when something needs to get
done, they are on it. Yeah. Itis done.

Brett (22:01):
That's interesting. You know, and you just said a key
point there. They're having somuch fun. Right? So these days,
it was fun.
Right? And this kindainteractive, hands on team
building things, They were veryfun. Lot of laughter.

Oh, yes.

Brett (22:19):
Which is great. It's a and, you know, my, my thing is
is that in continuing developdevelop my team, it's like we're
we're people first, and thenwe're a a job description
second. You know? And we have tobe able to relate to each other
as people, and as human beings,more so than just roles. One of

(22:46):
the things that I've seenthroughout my decades of being
in different work environmentsis we judge ourselves on our
intentions, but we willfrequently judge our coworkers
or others on their actions.

Intro (23:07):
Mhmm.

Brett (23:08):
So rather than stop and take the time to find out, hey,
what what were you thinking whenyou did this or that? We just
jumped to the conclusion, thenarrative we've built in our
mind and, you know, hammerversus if we were to be asked
about something like, oh, well,what I meant when I did this was
this or when I said this wasthat. And so we judge ourselves

(23:30):
always on our intentions andothers on their actions. So
breaking that down to where wecan pause that and say, why
don't we just have aconversation and find out what
they meant? Because it usuallyisn't as bad as the narrative we
built in our head.
Mhmm. But it comes from worklike this and bonding like this

(23:51):
and, you know, that kind ofthing to to create that level
of, interaction.

Right. Right. I think it's that's that value of
building relationships becausewhen you have those
relationships with people, thenyou are more likely to assume
best intent

Brett (24:14):
Yes.

And and understand them, and that they're they have
different experiences than you,and that they may have a
different perspective, but youcare about each other because
you've gotten to know eachother. And so you work harder
for each other. Yeah. And youcan say hard things that need to

(24:40):
be said. And, yeah, you're lesslikely to have those
misunderstandings.

Brett (24:46):
Yeah. Exactly. So, obviously, a key part of this
during, the different exercisesthat you work with, you already
mentioned this is getting peopleout of their comfort zone, so
that you can stretch and and,and get them to to bond. You

(25:10):
also, though, teased up in yourcorporate experience before you
launch, develop your team, Youknow, that that was pre
obviously, that was pre COVIDbecause you've been doing this,
for a while now. But, thatremote working team and, of
course, that's just goneexponentially bigger since

(25:32):
COVID, and everybody got used toZoom as a way of operating.
And so many more people workingfrom home, working remote than
ever used to. What challengesdoes that present for,
developing team dynamics and andgrowing them and keeping them,
etcetera?

Mhmm. Having camera is really important,
really valuable. But the it'sit's interesting because with
with a virtual team, you'reyou're still trying to get at

(26:12):
the same outcomes. And I thinkthis really came to light with
the pandemic. The people in theexperiential learning field,
doing the type of work that Ido.
Typically, it's been in person,and and yet the need was still

(26:34):
there. And so in creating aprogram, changing the focus to
what's the outcome that we want,and then finding a way to do it
virtually. And it turns out,there are all kinds of fun
things that you can do on Zoomthat get people interacting,
that get people moving. Thereare tools like the breakout

(26:57):
rooms help, but there areannotation tools and ways that
you can play on the screen.People can get up and go get an
object and come back and talkabout it with their group.
Just really lots and lots ofways. So it's still thinking

(27:18):
about, okay, what are we tryingto get to here, and let's find a
way to do it.

Brett (27:26):
Yeah. That's awesome. I it's I'm listening to you just
wondering, is there some do youguys people in your world as,
leadership developers, do youguys get together and brainstorm
these ideas? Because that'samazing. Just listening, going,

(27:46):
I wouldn't have thought of that.
I wouldn't have thought of that.That's awesome.

Yes. Yes. First of all, I mean, there are
conferences I attend a couple ofthem every year that one with
the Association For ExperientialEducation and another conference
with a similar group. It's anit's an acronym that I can't

(28:12):
tell you what it stands for. SoNCCPS, I know that, but where
practitioners get together andshare share their knowledge.

Brett (28:23):
Yeah.

It's a really fabulous group in that way, but
also during the pandemic, thesepeople got together on Zoom, and
there were a couple of guidedpractice groups that I was part
of and and still participate atat times, because one of them is

(28:46):
is ongoing, and there would be40 people at these weekly
gatherings and people would besharing what they had learned. 1
of the groups published 2 booksduring, like, 21 2021, 2022. I

(29:09):
have a section in one of thebooks, but it's one of them is
called the learning curve, andit's about that process of
learning how to do these thingsvirtually. And then there's
another one on virtualfacilitation.

Brett (29:23):
Oh, that's amazing. Makes sense. But, you know, when we
don't get to look behind thecurtain, we don't see those
things. So Yeah. That'sfantastic.
So somebody who is hearing aboutthis and is going, oh, man. I I
could use this in my company.You know, this would be great.

(29:45):
This could be so helpful,etcetera, etcetera, is the best
place to go to your website,which I believe is develop your
team.com?

That would be excellent. Yes. And then there's
a button there. In fact, it'sall over to, click on a button
to set up a free 30 minuteconsultation.

Brett (30:05):
I saw that a free 30 minute consultation. So that's
kinda your starting point. Youcan just get a chance to meet
with them and talk through andsee if it's a good fit. So
develop your team.com, get that30 minute free consultation, and
start the exploration journey.Yeah.
Now that's great. Well, I'm abig fan as you know, and I'm on

(30:27):
your website still, singing yourpraises, which, I wholeheartedly
believe. And so anybody outthere, you're looking to take
your team to another level. Janiis definitely a person that can
help you get there. So go todevelop your team.com.
Anything that we missed that youwanted to share? I don't wanna

(30:49):
cut you off.

The one thing that I would add would be for
businesses, like, whoever youare, when you are gathering with
your team, take a few minutes atthe beginning to have some
conversation, whether it's apurposeful question that you ask

(31:15):
people and get everyone toshare. But do something to allow
that time for people to connectand bond. You will get have a
more productive meeting in themoment, but then that's also
gonna pay off over time in thoserelationships that you're

(31:37):
helping people build.

Brett (31:38):
Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. Alright. Well, thank you
so much for your time and forall that you engage with our
chamber.
Just this morning, you wereleading one of our coffee
connection, little networkingmixers, which, they always get a

(32:00):
little taste of what you do tofacilitate groups and,
leadership there. But, you'vebeen very engaged with us
throughout my 6 years here. Andso I really appreciate you and
for all that you do, and, I hopelots of people come, to your
site.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate
you and everything that you'redoing here at the chamber. I I
love this chamber, and I'velearned so much over the years
here. Wonderful.
So grateful. Thank you.

Brett (32:30):
Wonderful. Yes. Our pleasure. Thanks for joining us
today on our Carlsbad People,Purpose and Impact podcast. If
you got value out of our episodetoday, please hit the follow
button on your favorite podcastapp, and please tell a friend.
Can't wait to see you next timeon Carlsbad People, Purpose, and
Impact.

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