Keeping It Real with Tiff and Carl

In this episode of Keeping It Real with Tiff and Carl, listeners are taken inside Part One of a class Carl taught at the 2025 CalWORKS Training Academy, focused on building deeper awareness of bias in everyday practice. Carl guides participants through an exploration of dominant and counter narratives, helping frontline professionals recognize how assumptions, intentions, and lived experience shape interactions with clients and col...

This episode shows he second part of Tiff's class at the CalWORKs Training Academy for helping professionals from counties across California. The conversation reframes the role of CalWORKs social workers, case managers, and employment counselors, challenging the traditional gatekeeper mindset rooted in compliance and rules.Tiff facilitates an exploration of what it means to act as concierges of service—trusted guides who build ...

This episode introduces the first segment of a class taught by Tiffany at the CalWORKs Training Academy for helping professionals from counties across California. The conversation reframes the role of CalWORKs social workers, case managers, and employment counselors, challenging the traditional gatekeeper mindset rooted in compliance and rules.Tiff facilitates an exploration of what it means to act as concierges of service—trusted ...

In Part Two of this special Parent Voices panel, Tiff and Carl continue the conversation with powerful firsthand stories from parents whose lived experience is shaping real policy change in California’s human services system. The panel highlights how authentic parent partnership has influenced reforms—such as reducing sanctions for new parents, improving childcare transitions, expanding measures of success beyond work participation...

In Part One of this special two-part series of Keeping It Real with Tiff and Carl, Carl introduces us to an incredibly meaningful experience for he and Tiff while serving as co-emcees at the CalWORKs Training Academy. In this episode, listeners are introduced to a powerful parent panel featuring members of Parent Voices, an organization of parents who have navigated the human services system firsthand and now advocate for families ...

In Part Two of this segment, you'll hear the second half of the CTA class, "Empowering Clients Through the Coach Approach". Tiff and Carl continue the conversation by unpacking the Persecutor and Rescuer roles within Karpman’s Drama Triangle and how these patterns quietly show up in human services, leadership, and client interactions. They explore how well-intentioned behaviors—overcorrecting, fixing, enforcing, or re...

In this episode of Keeping It Real with Tiff and Carl, recorded live from the California CalWORKs Training Academy in Sacramento, Tiff and Carl reflect on a powerful week of teaching, facilitating, and connecting with human services professionals, while serving as the co-emcees of the conference. They dive into the Academy’s focus on resiliency and client-centered service, exploring how shifting power, elevating participant voices,...

In Part Three, Carl and Tiffany reflect on the realities of leadership and the shift from peer to supervisor, with Carl sharing his experience becoming a boss in a small community and the importance of consistency, trust, and accepting that leaders can’t control how others perceive them. They dive into effective feedback practices, emphasizing the power of timely, supportive communication that holds people accountable while helping...

In Part Two of the episode, Carl and Tiffany explore how real learning happens when skills are practiced, not just taught, with Carl sharing his shift from lecture-based instruction to interactive, experiential learning that transfers into everyday life. They dive into the upcoming California Training Academy and the move toward a more client-centered culture, highlighting the power of a coaching approach that replaces telling with...

To kick off our episode, Tiff and Carl swap stories about dancing—from stage nerves and overthinking moves to family dance routines and playful traditions at home. The conversation shifts to Thanksgiving plans, creative takes on turkey, and shared gratitude for family, along with a joint commitment to a post-holiday spending blackout. They then dive into a humorous yet thoughtful discussion about the idea of a “chokeslap” as a meta...

In this segment, Carl and Tiff unpack the power of discomfort, vulnerability, and intentional leadership in helping people grow. They explore why effective coaching isn’t about giving quick answers but about guiding individuals to develop their own problem-solving abilities and build new neural pathways for thinking and decision-making. The conversation highlights the role of leaders in challenging the status quo, stepping out of t...

In the second part of the episode, Carl and Tiff dive deeper into the art of coaching and leadership, beginning with Carl’s insights from a strength-based counseling class that highlighted the importance of helping people build their own problem-solving abilities and the neuroscience behind motivation. They explore the balance between support and independence in leadership—drawing parallels to parenting—and emphasize treating emplo...

In this episode, Carl and Tiffany reflect on Tiffany’s recent trip to the Bay Area, where she witnessed stark contrasts between wealth and poverty and taught a class on government funding during the federal shutdown, emphasizing civic engagement. Their conversation expands into empathy in multilingual education as Tiffany describes teaching highly educated students facing language barriers, prompting a discussion about communicatio...

The final segment of our conversation explored the foundations of authentic leadership and inclusive workplace culture, emphasizing the need for genuine human connection, alignment between values and actions, and environments that foster true belonging. Tiffany, Koi, and Carl discussed how organizations must move beyond surface-level commitments to embed authenticity and inclusion into everyday practices, recognizing diverse expres...

In Part Two of this episode, Tiffany, Carl, and Koi dive into the complex dynamics of cultural privilege, bias, and belonging—both in society and the workplace. They explore how lived experiences shape perceptions, why getting proximate to others’ stories breaks down stereotypes, and how intentional curiosity can build bridges across social divides. The conversation also shines a light on the overlooked strengths of introverts in e...

We were honored this week to be joined by Koi Rivers, owner of Movemeant Coaching and Consulting. In this first part of our conversation, we learn about Koi's journey from corporate marketing and communications to starting her business. We'll also hear about her process of helping leaders discover their leadership presence, starting with identifying their "6-word story". Koi's bio is included below.After two d...