February 5, 2025 • 43 mins
Are You Growing Your Business on Purpose—Or by Accident?
Many leaders struggle to align their people, purpose, and processes for sustainable growth. In this episode of Simply Feedback, Claire Chandler, author of Growth on Purpose, reveals the four fundamental needs every employee has—and how fulfilling them fuels both engagement and business success.
Claire shares the eye-opening feedback that changed her leadership approach, why trust accelerates performance, and how leaders can balance vulnerability with confidence. If you're ready to build a culture where people want to follow you, this conversation is a must-listen.
Tune in to learn how purposeful growth can transform your organization—without burning out your people.
Claire Chandler is the author of Growth on Purpose and a seasoned expert in leadership and organizational growth. As the president and founder of Talent Boost, she helps businesses expand sustainably by aligning their purpose, people, and processes. With a focus on building strong leadership teams and high-performing cultures, Claire’s strategies have guided organizations to achieve impactful, long-term success.
Check out the free Q&A videos that we have produced with tips to help you receive feedback graciously and act on it visibly at www.learningbridge.com/tips.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claire Chandler (00:00):
It's not just enough to hire the rockstar and
pay them a whole boatload ofmoney and give them unlimited
power and hope that they'll getalong with others and play nice
and help you fulfill yourgrowth strategy. It really is
an orchestration, but what itcomes down to is fulfilling
four basic needs that allemployees have.
Troy Blaser (00:23):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Simply
Feedback, the podcast broughtto you by LearningBridge. I'm
your host, Troy Blaser. It'sgreat to have you along
listening with us today, I amexcited to introduce our guest
today, Claire Chandler, who isthe author of a book, Growth on
Purpose, and Claire is aseasoned expert in leadership
and organizational growth. Asthe president and founder of
(00:47):
Talent Boost , she helpsbusinesses expand sustainably
by aligning their purpose,people and processes. Claire,
welcome to Simply Feedback.
It's great to have you with ustoday.
Claire Chandler (00:57):
Thanks, Troy.
It is so great to be here.
Troy Blaser (00:59):
We'll start with a question that we actually ask
all of our guests, and that is,I wonder if you could tell us
about a time that somebody gaveyou feedback, maybe it had an
impact on your life or on yourcareer. Is there a story that
you could share with us aboutfeedback?
Claire Chandler (01:12):
Absolutely.
I've been a business ownerslash entrepreneur since 2011,
but prior to that, I spentabout 20 years in corporate
America as a full-timeemployee, and I had the
occasion to participate in anassessment center , many years
ago now when I was a risingleader. So first of all, if
you've, if you've never beenthrough an assessment center,
(01:33):
it is very intense. It is afull day. You're, you're
basically in a fishbowl withseveral of your colleagues who
are also rising, you know,stars, high potential, et
cetera. And you are studiedfrom all angles. You're
scrutinized, you, you know, youcomplete a pile of assessments
and you go through a series ofsimulations, and after that you
(01:55):
have a one-on-one feedbacksession with one of the , uh,
the , the experts who ran theassessment center mm-hmm
. And one of thepieces of feedback I got in
that one-on-one download stayedwith me because the , uh, the
expert, very astutely observedsomething that I had never
realized I did. He said, whenyou were in a room with a group
(02:16):
and you feel like not everyoneis contributing equally or ,
um, you know, working toward ashared goal, you mentally leave
the room. And I, when he saidthat, I sat back, first of all,
'cause I was astounded that hewas able to pick up on that
(02:36):
because it wasn't anything Isaid, it was more body
language, it was tone, it wasprobably a light in my eyes
that had gone out. Right.
. And , and so thatfeedback was so astute , um,
and very telling, and I'vecarried that with me to this
day because it is a constantreminder that you will always
be in a combination of peoplearound you who have different
(02:59):
skills, different strengths,different energy level, and
different level of commitment.
And it is really important foryou to control what you can
control, which is the level ofinput and contribution you give
to the situation. And it's aconstant reminder to me to be
really intentional about beingfully present in the situation
at any given time. It was soimpactful on me as I continued
(03:25):
to ascend the corporate ladderand something that I take with
me and my business now.
Troy Blaser (03:30):
How interesting.
So the observer was saying thatthey could see that you would
sense that others maybe hadchecked out of the conversation
or the goal or, or whatever washappening, and so you would
kind of also check out as well?
Claire Chandler (03:42):
Yeah, it was something around, during the
simulations, I think it wasmore so in observing how I
interacted with the otherpeople in the room, and less so
how I answered the, thedifferent assessment ,
questionnaires, diagnostics.
But it was so interesting to methat he was able to pick up on
the fact that I, myself, myenergy shifted my , um, my
(04:04):
level of engagement througheither my tone, my body
language, you know, whether Iwas leaning in or sitting back,
et cetera. But it was somethingthat he was trained to pick up
on .
Troy Blaser (04:13):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (04:14):
And something that once he pointed it out to
me, I absolutely could see thatthat's something that I, that I
did. And I think often, youknow, with feedback like that,
as with anything, part of thegoal of feedback is to have
that person who's the recipientimprove, but it starts with
raising their level ofself-awareness of how they're
showing up in the world.
Troy Blaser (04:34):
Yeah. Sometimes we talk here at LearningBridge
about we can, we can only seeourselves through the eyes of
others. We, we can't seeourselves through our own eyes
because they're only lookingout, you know, out from us. And
so it just took that observerto say, here's what I see when
this happens. I can see thechange in your body language.
And, and that was news to you.
Right. But it's also somethingyou could control or be more
(04:57):
aware of once it was pointedout to you.
Claire Chandler (04:59):
Absolutely.
Yeah. We, I mean, we don't, wedon't know what we don't know.
Right.
Troy Blaser (05:02):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (05:03):
And, and as I said with our eyes, we, we
can't see ourselves. We alwaysonly see a reflection.
Troy Blaser (05:10):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (05:10):
Whether it's, you know, in a mirror, in a
camera lens, or certainly withother people in our world who
care enough about our ownimprovement and our own journey
to point out things to us thatmaybe we just were not aware of
and couldn't see in ourselves.
Troy Blaser (05:25):
Yeah, so , uh, now I'm curious, going forward, did
you, first of all, I guess youkind of talked about it, but
you, you made it a point tostay engaged or focused on the
goal. Did you find that youwere also trying to rally some
of those people back into the,to be engaged in the, in the
activity?
Claire Chandler (05:44):
I wouldn't say directly, but I think as a
byproduct of me making surethat I stayed engaged and did
what I could to keep my energylevel up , um, it's an amazing
thing when you consciously staypresent in the moment. And I
find that it gets harder andharder. I, I have a lot of
coaching clients and we go, youknow, we, we do specific work
(06:06):
around this concept of beingpresent in the moment because
it is harder and harder not tomultitask. Which by the way, is
a myth. Right? You and I knowthat multitasking is not
actually possible, and yet we,we fool ourselves into , um,
you know, into thinking that,that , that is true. That while
we are having this conversationand making sure it's highly
(06:27):
engaging and informative, thatwe're also compiling other
lists or thinking of otherthings. And it's, it's just not
true. But it's a muscle that wehave to develop over time
because it's too easy to drift,it's too easy to worry about,
"What am I neglecting by beingfully present here with you?"
Troy Blaser (06:45):
Yeah. Or getting distracted. Oh, there goes the
alert on my phone. I wonderwhat I need to pay attention to
there. Right.?That's just supereasy. So, as I was getting
ready for our conversationtoday, I noticed on your
LinkedIn profile, you have thetitle leadership therapist, and
I thought, I don't know thatI've ever heard that as a title
before. Where does that comefrom? What does that mean for
you and in the work that youdo?
Claire Chandler (07:06):
Yeah, so full disclosure, I am not a licensed
therapist by any Stretch. And Imean, no disrespect to , uh, to
those who are in thetherapeutic field, who I have ,
uh, amazing appreciation forthe, the , uh, the, the title,
which is a little bit tongue incheek , came out of my , uh, my
work with my clients. So Ispecialize, as you said, at the
(07:27):
top of the show. I specializein helping organizations build
stronger cultures , um, buildmore of a high performance type
of a culture, but not at theexpense of, you know , uh,
individual wellbeing and all ofthat sort of thing. And a large
part of my work, while it's ingroup settings, whether I'm
facilitating a , a strategysession or a team building
(07:48):
event, et cetera, a lot of itis built through one-on-one
interactions with differentpeople within the organization,
from the top executive throughtheir senior leadership and
into their rising, you know,next gen talent. And
invariably, during theseconversations, people seem to
always say to me, why does thisconversation always feel like a
(08:12):
therapy session? And the reasonfor that, I think, is one,
because I'm , uh, you know,I've been doing this for a
while now. I've been inbusiness--I formed my company
in 2013--but I've been out onmy own since 2011. Prior to
that, I had about 20 years, youknow, in, in corporate. I've
been in their shoes, I've beenwhere they are. I've been in
(08:33):
the thick of the forest thatthey are trying to navigate
their way through. And I kindof create this environment,
especially when we're workingone-on-one, when the cameras
are off, they're not on astage, they're not trying to
rally the troops or stick to ascript or some set of talking
points that we can get real andwe can , uh, really relate to
(08:53):
each other in terms of thejourney that they're on. And so
it just, you know, it, it, itbecomes, there's this moment
that happens in thoseconversations where, you know,
my client will, will, will sortof just let down those walls
and let down that facade thatthey have all the answers, that
they have it all figured out,and that they're not scared as
hell, that they're gonna screwit up. And so when we can kind
(09:15):
of get past that wall andreally get real, it's when they
really start to break throughand understand that one,
they're more receptive to somefeedback about how they might,
you know, show up differently,do certain, you know, some
things more of some things,less of , um, and really
understand that it's not aboutfeigning self-confidence, it's
(09:37):
about becoming confident inyour own skin, with your own
vulnerability and with, youknow, the access to the, the
people and the talent aroundyou to make a bigger impact in
the world.
Troy Blaser (09:46):
Yeah. It's interesting. I, I hadn't ever
necessarily thought of this ina corporate setting, but I know
from experience that sometimesbeing a leader can be lonely.
Right. You, you can'tnecessarily, all of your
interactions with the , thepeople that you're trying to
lead , um, there's a certainrelationship there and, and it
means that certain boundariesare in place and you can kind
(10:07):
of feel alone. Um, and so I cansee why having someone like you
to talk to, and they're nottrying to be a leader for you,
and so it gives them a chanceto have a different kind of
conversation that probably canfeel very therapeutic , um, to,
to, like you said, to let downsome of those, those walls and,
and really talk about things ina different way than they can
(10:29):
maybe with the , the peoplethat they're trying to lead.
Claire Chandler (10:32):
A hundred percent. I, I , I think the
higher up people ascend in theleadership hierarchy,
especially within the corporateenvironment, it can be
incredibly isolating. I haveC-level leaders who will
confide in me all the timethat, you know, they, they do
feel less confident thanthey're projecting to their
team. Yeah . But they can'tshow fear to their team. Yeah.
And they also feel like theycannot demonstrate
(10:52):
vulnerability in the boardroom.
Right. They can't admit tothings that they don't know.
They have to project thatthey've got a handle on their
role, their function, theirteam, so that they can
contribute equally. But spoileralert, even the CEOs that I
have worked with and spokenwith have those same fears in
the backs of their, of theirminds. Yeah. But it's, you
(11:14):
know, there, there is this,there is this general
hesitation , um, from admittingto that , uh, you know, Brene
Brown is brilliant in the spaceof vulnerability. She works
with, you know, really highpowered CEOs who behind closed
doors will acknowledge thatthey're, they're scared, right?
(11:34):
They're, they're,
Troy Blaser (11:35):
They're humans.
Claire Chandler (11:36):
They're human.
And if we let a little bit moreof that leak through our own
leadership style, that's whatbuilds a following. That's what
gets people to follow you, iswhen they can relate to you and
say, wait a minute, he's notjust the CEO or she's not just
the COO , they're also a humanbeing, and that's something,
something that I can relate to.
Troy Blaser (11:54):
Yeah. They , they start to follow you, not
because of the title that youhold or you know, the office
where you sit, but because ofwho you are and, and the values
that you have and how it in itinspires them to want to follow
you as a leader.
Claire Chandler (12:07):
That's right.
Troy Blaser (12:08):
Claire, I can see that , um, our producer,
Michael, has appeared and has aquestion that it sounds like he
, uh, maybe has some thoughtsabout something you said
earlier in the conversation.
Michael, what do you have toshare with us?
Michael Crowther (12:20):
Claire ?
Where is the balance ofvulnerability but leading with
enough confidence that othersare willing to, to follow? I'm
thinking about situations... SoI volunteer with our search and
rescue team. I am an advancedEMT. And in those situations,
you show up, and you can't befreaking out. Right? I can't be
(12:40):
vulnerable in the sense ofinside. I'm going, ah , you
know, like, this person's in abad way. I can't do that for
the sake of the person who's ina bad way. And the people
around me are, it's, it's justgoing to cause more havoc. So I
was just thinking about thatbalance of vulnerability. And
yet putting on enoughconfidence that it works.
Claire Chandler (13:01):
Yeah. There is truly a fine line between
vulnerability andself-confidence. I think
employees initially relate toleaders, and leaders become
followable when they can showtheir human side, when they can
acknowledge that they don'thave all the answers. Which by
the way, us employees alreadyknow that. Right. We know that
(13:21):
leaders don't have all theanswers because, oh , by the
way, they're human just like me. I think where you, where you
tread that line and youmaintain that balance, is to
demonstrate enoughvulnerability, which comes from
self-awareness of what I'mnaturally talented at and what
are not my areas of expertiseand self-confidence that where
I lack, I have the presence ofmind and enough experience to
(13:46):
surround myself not with yesmen or women, but with a
balanced team that docollectively come up with the
right solutions. I do thinkthat leaders, you know, you ,
you , you share the very realexample of, of search and
rescue, where the, the leaderof the pack does not have the
luxury of saying, I've neverseen this situation before. I'm
(14:08):
kind of freaking out right now.
Right? In the corporatesetting, it's less life and
death, but it is certainlymission critical. And so
leaders do need to understandthat where they have
vulnerability, where they havedoubts that they don't project
them as doubts, they projectthem as opportunities for other
people to come together and tocoalesce around conquering a
(14:31):
common enemy in search andrescue, that becomes very real.
Right. That shared mission,that common enemy that people
can rally around, that they canput aside their other petty
worries and concerns and, and,and strife. And come together
collectively for a mission thatis, you know, more, that is
bigger than themselves. Right.
(14:52):
Right. So, I do think there'sa, there is a balancing act,
but it is really incumbent uponleaders, one, to, to, to
understand what the goal is.
Right. What is the, what is themission? What is it we are
trying to accomplish together?
And what am I in thisleadership role to achieve? And
having enough self-awareness tosay, these are the things that
I can step into because they'renatural strengths for me, and
(15:15):
this is where I can rally theteam around me, because each of
them has a design and a purposethat balances out the rest. So
balance becomes a really keyword here.
Michael Crowther (15:24):
That's Great.
Claire Chandler (15:25):
For sure. And maybe in a search and rescue
situation where time iscritical, command and control
style of leadership still hasan important role. Right. But
as, as you know, Michael, ifyou're the leader of your team,
you know their skills and theirstrengths and can assign them
quickly to step into areaswhere they're strongest. Right.
(15:46):
And it may be that not in the,in the time critical situation,
but it's another time during atraining or another kind of, or
a debrief or another kind ofmeeting where some of that
vulnerability can leak throughto your team members so that
they know, oh yeah, I was, Iwas freaking out in this
particular situation, but, andso was Michael A. Little bit.
But I, I was able to see how hecarried through it and was
(16:10):
still able to lead effectivelyin spite of those feelings of
doubt or, or whatever mighthave been there. The leader has
to know what the mission is,right? Whether it's in search
and rescue or a corporateenvironment, you have to know
what it is that we haveassembled to solve or to
accomplish. They also have tohave enough of an understanding
of what the other roles are inthat situation or on that team,
(16:32):
and be able to delegateeffectively. I think
delegation, you know, not, notto go down that rabbit hole,
but quite honestly is one ofthe biggest leadership gaps in
any company, in any industry. Ihave seen that time and again,
where people struggle withdelegation, and it comes from a
lack of clarity, lack ofclarity on what is the purpose
of us coming together in thissituation, in this time, in
(16:53):
this point of our evolution,and what is it that I have, you
know, why have I built the teamthat I have? What are the
different strengths andperspectives and roles that we
have put them in or that we canleverage to go and get this
mission accomplished? So theleader does not have to have
all the answers, but they haveto have clarity of purpose,
which helps dictate clarity andconsistency of message. And
(17:14):
they have to understand whatare, what are the pieces in
that overall team that makessure that there are no gaps.
Troy Blaser (17:21):
Gaps . Yeah.
Alright . I wanted to talk alittle bit about your book
Growth On Purpose. Can youmaybe tell us a little bit
about the book and, and isthere something from it that
you would wanna share with our,our Simply Feedback audience?
Claire Chandler (17:34):
Thank you for opening that door. There's so
much I Would love to share .
Troy Blaser (17:36):
There's a lot there , right ? It's a whole
book , right ?
Claire Chandler (17:38):
Well, I'll , I'll sort of narrow it down.
So, Growth on Purpose arosethrough my many years now of,
of doing what I do. Not justsince I opened the doors of my
own company, but even in mycorporate experience, I love,
and I'm super passionate aboutall things talent, about
helping organizations. Um,first when I was in corporate
building from the inside out ,and now as an advisor, helping
(18:00):
companies from the outside ,um, really design and build
talent infrastructures thatwill propel the growth journey,
right? Because companies cannotgrow without the right talent
in place. And so. Growth onPurpose is a sort of a deep
dive exploration into the , uh,the methodology that I've
developed over the years tohelp organizations to attract,
(18:23):
retain, engage, and advance theright talent to fulfill their,
their growth strategy. Um, sothat's the premise for the
book. Since you've asked thequestion, I'd love to share
with your audience sort of the,the four building blocks , uh,
or the four pillars of themethodology.
Troy Blaser (18:39):
Okay. Yeah.
Claire Chandler (18:40):
And really what they boil down to is it's
not just enough to hire therockstar, right? And pay them a
whole boatload of money andgive them unlimited power and
hope that they'll, you know,get along with others and play
nice and, you know, and helpyou fulfill your growth
strategy. It really is anorchestration, right? But what
it comes down to is fulfillingfour basic needs that all
(19:02):
employees have . The first oneis they need a reason to
believe the , the right talentthat is looking at your
organization from the outsideand weighing whether they want
to become part of your journey.
And even the employees youalready have, they need a
reason to believe in themission and the journey that
you're on. You mentioned valuesbefore. They need to feel like
(19:25):
what you care about as anorganization aligns with and
does not conflict with whatthey personally believe and
care about, right? So they needa reason to believe. So that
first pillar is aroundaspiration. It's about
designing a truly aspirationalmission, purpose, growth on
purpose, right? Is the name ofthe book, name of the
(19:45):
methodology , um, but allaround attracting the right
talent so that , um, they cansee themselves being part of
your journey. And then they arelined up at the door, you know,
eager to work with you. Sothat's kind of need one pillar
one. The second one is theyneed a place to belong. Gone
are the days where employeesspend their entire career
within one company. They movearound, they try things out,
(20:08):
they look for jobs that , um,play to their strengths
certainly, but also kind of fitin with the rest of the
lifestyle that they want tohave. And really the way that
you retain employees for alonger period of time is by
helping them to understand thatthey are not joining just a
company, but they're joining acommunity of people that they
(20:28):
can actually enjoy spendingtime with in roles that play to
their strengths, right? Thatthey're naturally talented at,
that they can feel good about,you know, at the end of the
day, the end of a performanceyear that they actually did
something and it aligned withwhat they're, what they're good
at. And so pillar two is calledAwareness, and it's really
about awareness of self first .
(20:49):
I mentioned earlier, you know,one of the gifts of feedback is
to raise self-awareness. It'sone of the traits that, that
unlocks higher levels ofperformance, right? Is to be
far more self-aware of what weare naturally good at, what we
believe, and how we can putourselves in alignment with ,
um, you know, those sorts ofattributes and those sorts of
(21:09):
activities that really play toour, our genius zone. The third
sort of fundamentalfoundational need of all
employees is they need a spaceto break stuff. And what I mean
by that is most companies areplagued with low engagement,
low morale, a lot ofinfighting, a lot of us versus
them. And the way to counteractthat is to give people some
(21:31):
room to question the statusquo, to question, you know,
past precedent to, to sort ofchallenge the notion of, well,
we can't do it differentlybecause this is the way it's
always been done. Um, the devilwe know, you know, there's a
reason all of these phraseshave come into, come into
existence. And so the thirdpillar of the growth , growth
(21:51):
on purpose methodology iscalled acceleration of trust.
And it's really important thatleaders understand that trust
is not something that they canmanufacture. It's not something
they can fake, but it issomething that if they are not
careful, they can destroy in aninstant. And trust is one of
those things that's slow tobuild and fast to burn, right?
(22:12):
And so we have to be, and thiscomes back to some of what
we've already talked about,leaders have to acknowledge
that they're human first. Theyhave to acknowledge that they
don't have all the answers, andthey have to look at the team
around them and be vulnerableenough and human enough first
that people want to supporttheir success and the success
of their colleagues. So it'sreally important that you get
(22:33):
that pillar right. And thefourth and final pillar , um,
really speaks to the employeeneed for a future that they can
buy into and build. Too often Ithink, you know, I, I mean I
talk to organizations all thetime, and one of the things
that they, they sort of talkabout is not only are they
experiencing high turnoverbecause maybe they're not
(22:53):
hiring the right people in thefirst place, or if they are,
they're not utilizing them totheir fullest ability . They're
also not bringing them alongthe journey. They're not, you
know, when they're finding thatthere are holes in their talent
pipeline, they don't havepeople ready to step up when
they lose a critical positionholder, or they have to hold
back promoting one of theirhigh performers because there
(23:14):
is not somebody who can taketheir place and, "Oh, we can't
create a hole . You're toovaluable in the role that
you're in." And all of this isa continuum. And so it's really
important that organizationsimplement this fourth pillar,
which is called Alignment, andit's alignment on what matters.
Leaders have a, a duty andobligation and honestly a
(23:34):
privilege to make reallypowerful connections for their
talent between what it is thatthey do, what it is that they
believe, what it is, you know,that you are paying them to
occupy in terms of a role and afunction and, and, you know,
critical responsibilities andwhy that matters to the shared
mission. If employees can't seethemselves reaping the benefits
(23:56):
of an organization, fulfillingits mission, achieving its
vision, demonstrating itsvalue, and achieving its growth
strategy, they're gonna checkout, they're gonna do just
enough not to get fired, notenough to, you know, attract
negative attention. And you'renever going to achieve your
growth journey. And soorganizations that , um,
implement those four pillars inthe right sequence with the
(24:18):
right talent, and do it in away that fulfills those four
fundamental needs, can growbeyond their wildest dreams.
Troy Blaser (24:26):
Thank you. First of all, thank you for kind of
walking through those. I thinkit's a really useful framework,
a useful way to break it down.
I noted something that you saidearlier in our conversation.
You talked about the idea ofhelping a company, helping an
organization to grow and, andto fulfill their goals, but not
at the expense of theindividual. Um, and I think the
(24:48):
, the four pillars that you'veoutlined really work well to
achieve that, right? When youthink of maybe the
stereotypical law firm where anassociate comes in and works 80
hours, 90 hours a week and ,and eventually burns themselves
out with that idea of advancingthe firm, that's not what we're
after. That's not what we'retalking about, right? We're
talking about how can we makethe organization grow, improve,
(25:11):
reach, its goals, and at thesame time allowing those
individuals to flourish andfeel , um, passionate about
what they're doing , um, andnot like they have to just burn
themselves out for the good ofthe company.
Claire Chandler (25:24):
Yeah. The reality is that the, the
average tenure of an employeehas shortened, right. Has
decreased. You talk about the,the CEO level. Um, the average
tenure is about three to fiveyears, depending on the
organization, the industry, etcetera. Most senior leaders as
well , uh, executive leaders,middle managers , um, very few
(25:47):
people are staying, as I saidbefore, with the same company
in the same role for, you know,for decades. You don't have the
Jack Welsh generation anymorewhere you have a CEO of a
company for decades. Andemployees, even at the
individual contributor level,don't necessarily stay within
an organization for very long.
My last corporate employment, Iwas with that company for about
(26:09):
15 years, which in, so it was ,uh, an environmental utility
industry. So, you know, 10years uh 20, 40 years was not
unheard of. Um, but what keptit fresh for me was I kept
moving around. I had theopportunity to, to change jobs
, um, multiple times. Uh , youknow, it's, it's funny because
I, I always said to my HRcolleagues, I would never work
(26:32):
in HR. I could never do whatthey do. It seems like a
thankless job. You get people,you know, at their most
vulnerable and their weakest,and, you know, whether it's
because they're having employeedrama or health issues or what
have you, you, it's a verychallenging space. Um, and then
I spent the last several yearsin my, in my corporate
experience within HR, becausethere was an opportunity to get
(26:52):
involved in employeedevelopment, career counseling
, um, and that that, you know,eventually took off into all
things talent, and it unlockedwhat I was passionate about.
But employees in general don'tstay in the same company,
certainly not in the same rolefor years on end anymore. And
so for organizations, first ofall, they have to acknowledge
that. They have to understandthat the tenure may have
(27:14):
decreased, you know, over themore recent generations. But
it's not about locking peopleinto a long-term commitment
because they just won't. It'sabout making the most of their
time in your organization andpreparing them for what is next
for them. And so it reallyflips the notion of a company
(27:35):
that has a revolving door oftalent to being a company that
cultivates and creates anenvironment where the right
talent can come in, they can dotheir best work, they can make
an impact, they can breakthrough and be creative. They
can see a , a connection to thestrategy and the mission and
the vision that theorganization is trying to
achieve. And they can move onwith a positive experience that
(27:57):
they're gonna talk to otherpeople about. Which in turn, as
we know, employee referrals arethe number one source of, of
the right talent, right? Soit's gonna feed that front door
in a much higher quality levelif we treat the talent that we
have for however long we havethem in a way where we, I don't
wanna say drain the life out ofthem, but squeeze out and
(28:20):
leverage as much of theirtalent and their passion and
their energy as they're willingto give for as long as they're
willing to give it in ways thatlift them up, right. That
don't, don't burn them out.
Troy Blaser (28:29):
And and you said it a second ago too, also in
ways that set them up forwhatever's next for them.
Claire Chandler (28:35):
That's right.
Troy Blaser (28:36):
You know, I, I come to an organization, the
organization knows that I'm notgoing to be there for a decade.
I'm gonna be there for three tofive years, or whatever it
might be. And there's attentionpaid to not only how can I get
the passion from this employee,but how can I help that
employee be ready for the thingthat comes next, right? And,
and like you said, that createsa positive referral that
(28:58):
increases the quality of thepeople coming through our front
door. And so I think that makesfor wonderful place to work and
(31:19):
to want to be, I wonder howfeedback plays a role in, in
driving purposeful growth?
Claire Chandler (31:27):
I do think at the end of the day, everyone
wants to do their best work.
Um, they, they don't wanna feellike they've wasted a day, a
week, a year doing somethingthat is just monotonous. Um,
unfortunately, we're at apoint, and I think I just saw a
statistic yesterday from, fromGallup, that employee
engagement in the US is, is atan all time low or is sharply
(31:48):
declining. And that's somethingwe need to pay attention to and
understand, not just the metricof, you know, sort of that
lagging indicator, butunderstand why. What is it in
those four fundamental needsthat I listed earlier that
people feel like they're notgetting? And so, you know, like
, again, I think it comes backto the obligation and the
privilege that leaders have tomake stronger connections. It's
(32:11):
not enough to just build arecruiting machine that brings
in a whole bunch of peoplethrough the front end , knowing
that you've gotta account for,you know, high attrition and
high turnover and lowengagement. It's like pouring
into the top of the funnel andfinding that at the bottom,
it's a siv, it's not a, youknow, it's not a catch base. Um
, so it's really important for,for leaders, you know, I, I I
(32:32):
always say leaders have thebiggest impact on, on the
culture of an organization. Um,they're the ones who shape
culture and culture determinesyour success. So you either
feed culture through yourleadership through the level to
which they demonstratevulnerability, the level to
which they speak withconviction about this journey
(32:52):
that we're all on. It'sinteresting, and it always
astounds me how few leaders askthemselves on a regular basis
what it is that they are inthat leadership role to
accomplish. I ask people thatall the time, and it's not
meant to be a gotcha question,but it kind of turns into one
because when I, you know, whenI ask a leader at any level in
an organization. Why does yourrole exist, and why are you the
(33:16):
one specifically in it? Whatare you getting out of it? They
all kind of look at meinitially, you know, with a
start, and they go, I haven'tthought about that in a long
time. Probably not since the,the moment they made the
decision to take that role.
Troy Blaser (33:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Claire Chandler (33:29):
And it's what's lacking, right? Because
I do think that many executiveshave become salespeople. And
what I mean by that is they,they lock themselves in a room.
They, you know, they pay someconsultant to help them
identify and map out what theirstrategy is going to be for the
next five, you know, plusyears. And then they come out
(33:52):
and they sort of have thesetablets that come down from the
mountaintop and say, this isour brilliant growth strategy,
get behind it. And the problemis, because they've done that
in the vacuum, the employeeswho actually have to have boots
on the ground, shoulder to thewheel, pick your analogy and
fulfill the growth strategy,are not inclined to do so. They
don't have ownership, theydon't see a connection, they
(34:14):
don't feel emotionallyconnected to what it is that
you're trying to achieve. And alot of executive leaders, I'm
not even gonna say most, but alot of them make the mistake
that once they have paid someconsultant to help them map out
the strategy, that all theyneed to do is go and sell it.
That they have to go, you know,do road shows and town halls
(34:34):
and all this sort of trendything. And just, you know, talk
, uh, the employees into whythis is gonna be good for the
company. And what they need todo instead--and listen, I get
it. You , you can't involve theentire workforce in the
development of your strategy.
There are certain things thatare trade secrets. There are
certain things that only a, youknow, a small conclave of
(34:55):
leaders can be involved in, andI get that-- But if the
executive leaders don't go outfrom those meetings and help
make connections with people,and first of all, buy into it
themselves, right? It's like,gone are the days where you can
emerge from the boardroom orthe executive, you know,
management room and say, Ididn't agree with the direction
(35:17):
that we set on, but I'm a goodsoldier and I'm gonna go out
and I'm gonna use the talkingpoints and I'm going to toe the
party line. That doesn't workanymore. Employees need more
than that. They need to feellike you as their leader,
totally buy into and believe inthe direction we're going as a
company. Because if you don'tbelieve it, you can't sell it.
(35:38):
And so there's this, this shiftthat leaders have to embrace,
which is to go from trying toconvince employees to get on
board or get out. And I've,I've actually heard employers,
you know, executive leaders saythat. Um, you know, if , iif
this isn't something you canget on board with, there are
other, you know, organizationsthat will have you. And that's
true. But shifting from goingout and trying to convince
(36:00):
people to get on board andactually speaking from a place
of conviction, because theytruly believe as executive
leaders who have the biggestimpact on culture, that the
direction that we're going, thestrategy, the outcomes over the
next five plus years and thetrajectory that we have to
follow to get there are thingsthat they personally believe
(36:21):
in. Because , again, we're notgonna follow people that we
can't relate to. Right? We , wedon't do the command and
control type of leadershipanymore. People don't respond
to that, and they no longer arerequired to. And so leaders
need to choose a different way.
Troy Blaser (36:37):
I like that. I like that idea of making those
connections, coming at it withauthenticity , um, to say, you
know, I'm all in. 'cause peoplecan sense when it , when
they're , when that convictionisn't there, they can kind of
see through it. Claire, at the,at the beginning of our
conversation, you told us astory about receiving some
feedback. I always love storiesaround feedback, and I know in
(36:59):
the beginning of your book,there's a , a fantastic story
about some feedback that youreceived. Can you share that
story with us?
Claire Chandler (37:08):
Yeah. So I, I don't know if I would call it
fantastic, but I do think itwas, it was quite emblematic,
right? So this was back in mycorporate days, probably about
two years before I ultimatelyleft. Um, I was a, a VP of
human resources by then. And Iwas traveling, I don't know ,
three weeks out of every four.
And on one of the weeks that Iwas in our corporate
(37:28):
headquarters, I was walkingback toward my office, and my
boss stopped me in the hall,and he said, "You need to tone
down your walk." And I, youknow, was so eloquent, and I'm
like , um, what? Like, what?
And
Troy Blaser (37:42):
Just out in the blue .
Claire Chandler (37:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
Like , just, you know, and , because you know ,
your walk , it's , it's toobouncy, it's too happy . And,
and people are gonna , youknow, start to think you're up
to something like, like, youknow, something they don't
. And, you know, hewas, people say to me, like,
how , why did you not quit?
Like, right then? And I'm like,honestly, it was so , um, it
(38:05):
was kind of typical, quitehonestly, of this sort of, you
know, fatherly advice that thisparticular executive would
impart upon me , uh, with allof his years of, of wisdom.
And, you know, I thanked himfor the feedback like, you
really should. 'cause that allfeedback is a gift. And I
returned to my, my office and,and, you know, spoiler alert, I
, I didn't, I didn't alter mywalk. I mean, I, I happened to
(38:28):
have a, a spring in my step. Ihappen to have a, you know, a
bounce to my step. And it'sinteresting because Michael had
sort of alluded to this, youknow, this notion of projecting
self-confidence, even when you,you know, you maybe internally
you're freaking out or youdon't feel like you have all
the answers. There are days Idon't feel like having a bounce
in my step. There are days whenI don't have all the answers.
(38:50):
In fact, I have way morequestions and more doubts and
more fear than I have any sortof clarity. But my walk doesn't
change. You're never gonna seeme like trudging through a
hallway like. Eeyore. Right?
Um, you're never gonna see medragging, you know, the , the ,
my mindset behind me. Like, woeis me. Because for me, that
(39:10):
walk gives me energy. And inthose, those times when I'm
feeling a little swept under ora little bit intimidated or out
of my depth, it's the walk thatkind of propels me forward. I
do believe that it , it reallydoesn't matter the size of the
step that you take, as long asit's in a forward direction.
And so, for me, you know, I , I , so kind of coming
(39:31):
back to that story, I didn'tleave right then because I
don't think I recognized in themoment how emblematic that bit
of feedback was. But what Icame to understand in hindsight
was it was emblematic ofleaders who don't get it, of
leaders who don't truly embracetheir role in impacting the
culture that they expect fromother people. And so, you know,
(39:54):
and this is a company like 99%of companies on the planet that
advertise for people to come inwith an entrepreneurial spirit,
right? We want people whobring, you know, the, the
latest trend is to say, bringyour full authentic self to, to
work. And the first time youcolor outside the lines, the
first time your walk is toobouncy. Uh , you know , and ,
(40:15):
and, you know, might besuggesting that you've got an
answer that other people don't.
They mandate conformity ratherthan create that environment,
you know, which is why one ofthe pillars in, in my book is,
is around, you know, feedingthis need for employees to
break stuff, giving them thespace to break out of, you
know, the corporate box. Not ina disrespectful or overly
(40:36):
disruptive way, but in a waythat does inject some energy
into the status quo.
Troy Blaser (40:42):
Yeah. I , I was just thinking about that. You
know, if you , if you were togive advice to that leader,
your boss, or to other leaders,if you were to give them advice
around how to avoid making thatmistake that your boss made in
giving you that feedback, itsounds like something you would
tell them and feel free to addon, is to celebrate the, the
(41:03):
individuality. Celebrate thatentrepreneurial spirit that you
are advertising for in yourhiring .
Claire Chandler (41:08):
Yeah, this particular person who gave me
the feedback was not terriblyreceptive to feedback. Yeah .
So it's, it's , it's a littlebit, you know, difficult.
However, there are other peoplewho unwittingly give feedback
that is either conflictingwith, with sort of the brand
promise of the organization,whether it's entrepreneurial
spirit, bringing your authenticself to work. Here's a place
(41:29):
where you can be innovative,whatever it might be. Um, I , I
think the biggest thing for me,the biggest lesson as a leader
that I tell all of my coachingclients, I tell all , all
organizations, is you need tocontextualize your feedback.
It's really important, as Isaid earlier, that leaders are
(41:49):
self-aware. It's reallyimportant that they remind
themselves why they're in theirleadership role to begin with.
And it's really important forthem to be dialed in and bought
into the mission of theorganization so that they can
speak with conviction versustrying to convince other people
to get on board or to , or toget out. But it's also
exceptionally important to tellpeople why, back in my
(42:12):
corporate days when I had anoffice and I had a big desktop
and a big, you know, monitor, Ihad this post-it note above my
line of sight, and it said,tell them why. And it was a
daily reminder for me that whenI was delegating something,
when I was sharing information,when I was meeting with my
team, or meeting individuallywith, you know, different
people in the organization thatI didn't wanna take for granted
(42:34):
that a direction that I gave ora bit of information that I
shared was as understood by therecipient as it was from the
sender. Right? It takes 10extra seconds to contextualize
for people why it is that youare inviting them to complete
something, do somethingdifferently. This is especially
important with feedback, andit's particularly important
(42:57):
when that feedback isconstructive. Because if you're
dialed in on your purpose, yourmission, you have a set of
values that you believe inpersonally, and that you see
how they are going to helppropel your growth journey,
then when you give feedback,you can put it into the context
of this is how doing thingsdifferently or doing more of
(43:20):
this and less of that willactually help you have a more
visible, tangible impact on thegrowth journey that we're on,
right? It will make thatstronger connection for
leaders. So I cannot emphasizeenough the skill to have in
your hip pocket at all timeswhen you're giving feedback,
when you're giving direction,when you're making a course
(43:41):
correction to tell them "why."
Troy Blaser (43:44):
I love that.
That's fantastic. Okay . And Iwas gonna say, if people want
to know more or if they want toconnect with you, what are the
best ways to get in touch withyou?
Claire Chandler (43:52):
Find me on LinkedIn, email me at
claire@talentboost.net. Uh, oryou can check out my company
website, which is talentboost.net . Just the other thing,
just as a , uh, as a finalsendoff, I would love for your
audience to go check out thebook. They can go to growth on
purpose.com. There is a link tothe book, which they can buy on
Amazon, or there's also a linkto a , uh, Growth on Purpose
(44:15):
Scorecard. It's completelyfree. It takes about five
minutes to complete, and itwill give you not only a score
overall for growth on purpose,but in those four individual
pillars I talked about. But itwill give y ou a pretty
detailed report with customizedrecommendations of how you can
improve your score across allfour pillars.
Troy Blaser (44:34):
Awesome. Claire, thank you so much for joining
us today. I've really enjoyedour conversation. It's been
great to , uh, talk about thesedifferent topics with you.
Thank you.
Claire Chandler (44:43):
Thanks, Troy.
It's been a pleasure.
It's not just enough to hire the rockstar and
pay them a whole boatload ofmoney and give them unlimited
power and hope that they'll getalong with others and play nice
and help you fulfill yourgrowth strategy. It really is
an orchestration, but what itcomes down to is fulfilling
four basic needs that allemployees have.
Troy Blaser (00:23):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Simply
Feedback, the podcast broughtto you by LearningBridge. I'm
your host, Troy Blaser. It'sgreat to have you along
listening with us today, I amexcited to introduce our guest
today, Claire Chandler, who isthe author of a book, Growth on
Purpose, and Claire is aseasoned expert in leadership
and organizational growth. Asthe president and founder of
(00:47):
Talent Boost , she helpsbusinesses expand sustainably
by aligning their purpose,people and processes. Claire,
welcome to Simply Feedback.
It's great to have you with ustoday.
Claire Chandler (00:57):
Thanks, Troy.
It is so great to be here.
Troy Blaser (00:59):
We'll start with a question that we actually ask
all of our guests, and that is,I wonder if you could tell us
about a time that somebody gaveyou feedback, maybe it had an
impact on your life or on yourcareer. Is there a story that
you could share with us aboutfeedback?
Claire Chandler (01:12):
Absolutely.
I've been a business ownerslash entrepreneur since 2011,
but prior to that, I spentabout 20 years in corporate
America as a full-timeemployee, and I had the
occasion to participate in anassessment center , many years
ago now when I was a risingleader. So first of all, if
you've, if you've never beenthrough an assessment center,
(01:33):
it is very intense. It is afull day. You're, you're
basically in a fishbowl withseveral of your colleagues who
are also rising, you know,stars, high potential, et
cetera. And you are studiedfrom all angles. You're
scrutinized, you, you know, youcomplete a pile of assessments
and you go through a series ofsimulations, and after that you
(01:55):
have a one-on-one feedbacksession with one of the , uh,
the , the experts who ran theassessment center mm-hmm
that one-on-one download stayedwith me because the , uh, the
expert, very astutely observedsomething that I had never
realized I did. He said, whenyou were in a room with a group
(02:16):
and you feel like not everyoneis contributing equally or ,
um, you know, working toward ashared goal, you mentally leave
the room. And I, when he saidthat, I sat back, first of all,
'cause I was astounded that hewas able to pick up on that
(02:36):
because it wasn't anything Isaid, it was more body
language, it was tone, it wasprobably a light in my eyes
that had gone out. Right.
and very telling, and I'vecarried that with me to this
day because it is a constantreminder that you will always
be in a combination of peoplearound you who have different
(02:59):
skills, different strengths,different energy level, and
different level of commitment.
And it is really important foryou to control what you can
control, which is the level ofinput and contribution you give
to the situation. And it's aconstant reminder to me to be
really intentional about beingfully present in the situation
at any given time. It was soimpactful on me as I continued
(03:25):
to ascend the corporate ladderand something that I take with
me and my business now.
Troy Blaser (03:30):
How interesting.
So the observer was saying thatthey could see that you would
sense that others maybe hadchecked out of the conversation
or the goal or, or whatever washappening, and so you would
kind of also check out as well?
Claire Chandler (03:42):
Yeah, it was something around, during the
simulations, I think it wasmore so in observing how I
interacted with the otherpeople in the room, and less so
how I answered the, thedifferent assessment ,
questionnaires, diagnostics.
But it was so interesting to methat he was able to pick up on
the fact that I, myself, myenergy shifted my , um, my
(04:04):
level of engagement througheither my tone, my body
language, you know, whether Iwas leaning in or sitting back,
et cetera. But it was somethingthat he was trained to pick up
on .
Troy Blaser (04:13):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (04:14):
And something that once he pointed it out to
me, I absolutely could see thatthat's something that I, that I
did. And I think often, youknow, with feedback like that,
as with anything, part of thegoal of feedback is to have
that person who's the recipientimprove, but it starts with
raising their level ofself-awareness of how they're
showing up in the world.
Troy Blaser (04:34):
Yeah. Sometimes we talk here at LearningBridge
about we can, we can only seeourselves through the eyes of
others. We, we can't seeourselves through our own eyes
because they're only lookingout, you know, out from us. And
so it just took that observerto say, here's what I see when
this happens. I can see thechange in your body language.
And, and that was news to you.
Right. But it's also somethingyou could control or be more
(04:57):
aware of once it was pointedout to you.
Claire Chandler (04:59):
Absolutely.
Yeah. We, I mean, we don't, wedon't know what we don't know.
Right.
Troy Blaser (05:02):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (05:03):
And, and as I said with our eyes, we, we
can't see ourselves. We alwaysonly see a reflection.
Troy Blaser (05:10):
Yeah.
Claire Chandler (05:10):
Whether it's, you know, in a mirror, in a
camera lens, or certainly withother people in our world who
care enough about our ownimprovement and our own journey
to point out things to us thatmaybe we just were not aware of
and couldn't see in ourselves.
Troy Blaser (05:25):
Yeah, so , uh, now I'm curious, going forward, did
you, first of all, I guess youkind of talked about it, but
you, you made it a point tostay engaged or focused on the
goal. Did you find that youwere also trying to rally some
of those people back into the,to be engaged in the, in the
activity?
Claire Chandler (05:44):
I wouldn't say directly, but I think as a
byproduct of me making surethat I stayed engaged and did
what I could to keep my energylevel up , um, it's an amazing
thing when you consciously staypresent in the moment. And I
find that it gets harder andharder. I, I have a lot of
coaching clients and we go, youknow, we, we do specific work
(06:06):
around this concept of beingpresent in the moment because
it is harder and harder not tomultitask. Which by the way, is
a myth. Right? You and I knowthat multitasking is not
actually possible, and yet we,we fool ourselves into , um,
you know, into thinking that,that , that is true. That while
we are having this conversationand making sure it's highly
(06:27):
engaging and informative, thatwe're also compiling other
lists or thinking of otherthings. And it's, it's just not
true. But it's a muscle that wehave to develop over time
because it's too easy to drift,it's too easy to worry about,
"What am I neglecting by beingfully present here with you?"
Troy Blaser (06:45):
Yeah. Or getting distracted. Oh, there goes the
alert on my phone. I wonderwhat I need to pay attention to
there. Right.?That's just supereasy. So, as I was getting
ready for our conversationtoday, I noticed on your
LinkedIn profile, you have thetitle leadership therapist, and
I thought, I don't know thatI've ever heard that as a title
before. Where does that comefrom? What does that mean for
you and in the work that youdo?
Claire Chandler (07:06):
Yeah, so full disclosure, I am not a licensed
therapist by any Stretch. And Imean, no disrespect to , uh, to
those who are in thetherapeutic field, who I have ,
uh, amazing appreciation forthe, the , uh, the, the title,
which is a little bit tongue incheek , came out of my , uh, my
work with my clients. So Ispecialize, as you said, at the
(07:27):
top of the show. I specializein helping organizations build
stronger cultures , um, buildmore of a high performance type
of a culture, but not at theexpense of, you know , uh,
individual wellbeing and all ofthat sort of thing. And a large
part of my work, while it's ingroup settings, whether I'm
facilitating a , a strategysession or a team building
(07:48):
event, et cetera, a lot of itis built through one-on-one
interactions with differentpeople within the organization,
from the top executive throughtheir senior leadership and
into their rising, you know,next gen talent. And
invariably, during theseconversations, people seem to
always say to me, why does thisconversation always feel like a
(08:12):
therapy session? And the reasonfor that, I think, is one,
because I'm , uh, you know,I've been doing this for a
while now. I've been inbusiness--I formed my company
in 2013--but I've been out onmy own since 2011. Prior to
that, I had about 20 years, youknow, in, in corporate. I've
been in their shoes, I've beenwhere they are. I've been in
(08:33):
the thick of the forest thatthey are trying to navigate
their way through. And I kindof create this environment,
especially when we're workingone-on-one, when the cameras
are off, they're not on astage, they're not trying to
rally the troops or stick to ascript or some set of talking
points that we can get real andwe can , uh, really relate to
(08:53):
each other in terms of thejourney that they're on. And so
it just, you know, it, it, itbecomes, there's this moment
that happens in thoseconversations where, you know,
my client will, will, will sortof just let down those walls
and let down that facade thatthey have all the answers, that
they have it all figured out,and that they're not scared as
hell, that they're gonna screwit up. And so when we can kind
(09:15):
of get past that wall andreally get real, it's when they
really start to break throughand understand that one,
they're more receptive to somefeedback about how they might,
you know, show up differently,do certain, you know, some
things more of some things,less of , um, and really
understand that it's not aboutfeigning self-confidence, it's
(09:37):
about becoming confident inyour own skin, with your own
vulnerability and with, youknow, the access to the, the
people and the talent aroundyou to make a bigger impact in
the world.
Troy Blaser (09:46):
Yeah. It's interesting. I, I hadn't ever
necessarily thought of this ina corporate setting, but I know
from experience that sometimesbeing a leader can be lonely.
Right. You, you can'tnecessarily, all of your
interactions with the , thepeople that you're trying to
lead , um, there's a certainrelationship there and, and it
means that certain boundariesare in place and you can kind
(10:07):
of feel alone. Um, and so I cansee why having someone like you
to talk to, and they're nottrying to be a leader for you,
and so it gives them a chanceto have a different kind of
conversation that probably canfeel very therapeutic , um, to,
to, like you said, to let downsome of those, those walls and,
and really talk about things ina different way than they can
(10:29):
maybe with the , the peoplethat they're trying to lead.
Claire Chandler (10:32):
A hundred percent. I, I , I think the
higher up people ascend in theleadership hierarchy,
especially within the corporateenvironment, it can be
incredibly isolating. I haveC-level leaders who will
confide in me all the timethat, you know, they, they do
feel less confident thanthey're projecting to their
team. Yeah . But they can'tshow fear to their team. Yeah.
And they also feel like theycannot demonstrate
(10:52):
vulnerability in the boardroom.
Right. They can't admit tothings that they don't know.
They have to project thatthey've got a handle on their
role, their function, theirteam, so that they can
contribute equally. But spoileralert, even the CEOs that I
have worked with and spokenwith have those same fears in
the backs of their, of theirminds. Yeah. But it's, you
(11:14):
know, there, there is this,there is this general
hesitation , um, from admittingto that , uh, you know, Brene
Brown is brilliant in the spaceof vulnerability. She works
with, you know, really highpowered CEOs who behind closed
doors will acknowledge thatthey're, they're scared, right?
(11:34):
They're, they're,
Troy Blaser (11:35):
They're humans.
Claire Chandler (11:36):
They're human.
And if we let a little bit moreof that leak through our own
leadership style, that's whatbuilds a following. That's what
gets people to follow you, iswhen they can relate to you and
say, wait a minute, he's notjust the CEO or she's not just
the COO , they're also a humanbeing, and that's something,
something that I can relate to.
Troy Blaser (11:54):
Yeah. They , they start to follow you, not
because of the title that youhold or you know, the office
where you sit, but because ofwho you are and, and the values
that you have and how it in itinspires them to want to follow
you as a leader.
Claire Chandler (12:07):
That's right.
Troy Blaser (12:08):
Claire, I can see that , um, our producer,
Michael, has appeared and has aquestion that it sounds like he
, uh, maybe has some thoughtsabout something you said
earlier in the conversation.
Michael, what do you have toshare with us?
Michael Crowther (12:20):
Claire ?
Where is the balance ofvulnerability but leading with
enough confidence that othersare willing to, to follow? I'm
thinking about situations... SoI volunteer with our search and
rescue team. I am an advancedEMT. And in those situations,
you show up, and you can't befreaking out. Right? I can't be
(12:40):
vulnerable in the sense ofinside. I'm going, ah , you
know, like, this person's in abad way. I can't do that for
the sake of the person who's ina bad way. And the people
around me are, it's, it's justgoing to cause more havoc. So I
was just thinking about thatbalance of vulnerability. And
yet putting on enoughconfidence that it works.
Claire Chandler (13:01):
Yeah. There is truly a fine line between
vulnerability andself-confidence. I think
employees initially relate toleaders, and leaders become
followable when they can showtheir human side, when they can
acknowledge that they don'thave all the answers. Which by
the way, us employees alreadyknow that. Right. We know that
(13:21):
leaders don't have all theanswers because, oh , by the
way, they're human just like me. I think where you, where you
tread that line and youmaintain that balance, is to
demonstrate enoughvulnerability, which comes from
self-awareness of what I'mnaturally talented at and what
are not my areas of expertiseand self-confidence that where
I lack, I have the presence ofmind and enough experience to
(13:46):
surround myself not with yesmen or women, but with a
balanced team that docollectively come up with the
right solutions. I do thinkthat leaders, you know, you ,
you , you share the very realexample of, of search and
rescue, where the, the leaderof the pack does not have the
luxury of saying, I've neverseen this situation before. I'm
(14:08):
kind of freaking out right now.
Right? In the corporatesetting, it's less life and
death, but it is certainlymission critical. And so
leaders do need to understandthat where they have
vulnerability, where they havedoubts that they don't project
them as doubts, they projectthem as opportunities for other
people to come together and tocoalesce around conquering a
(14:31):
common enemy in search andrescue, that becomes very real.
Right. That shared mission,that common enemy that people
can rally around, that they canput aside their other petty
worries and concerns and, and,and strife. And come together
collectively for a mission thatis, you know, more, that is
bigger than themselves. Right.
(14:52):
Right. So, I do think there'sa, there is a balancing act,
but it is really incumbent uponleaders, one, to, to, to
understand what the goal is.
Right. What is the, what is themission? What is it we are
trying to accomplish together?
And what am I in thisleadership role to achieve? And
having enough self-awareness tosay, these are the things that
I can step into because they'renatural strengths for me, and
(15:15):
this is where I can rally theteam around me, because each of
them has a design and a purposethat balances out the rest. So
balance becomes a really keyword here.
Michael Crowther (15:24):
That's Great.
Claire Chandler (15:25):
For sure. And maybe in a search and rescue
situation where time iscritical, command and control
style of leadership still hasan important role. Right. But
as, as you know, Michael, ifyou're the leader of your team,
you know their skills and theirstrengths and can assign them
quickly to step into areaswhere they're strongest. Right.
(15:46):
And it may be that not in the,in the time critical situation,
but it's another time during atraining or another kind of, or
a debrief or another kind ofmeeting where some of that
vulnerability can leak throughto your team members so that
they know, oh yeah, I was, Iwas freaking out in this
particular situation, but, andso was Michael A. Little bit.
But I, I was able to see how hecarried through it and was
(16:10):
still able to lead effectivelyin spite of those feelings of
doubt or, or whatever mighthave been there. The leader has
to know what the mission is,right? Whether it's in search
and rescue or a corporateenvironment, you have to know
what it is that we haveassembled to solve or to
accomplish. They also have tohave enough of an understanding
of what the other roles are inthat situation or on that team,
(16:32):
and be able to delegateeffectively. I think
delegation, you know, not, notto go down that rabbit hole,
but quite honestly is one ofthe biggest leadership gaps in
any company, in any industry. Ihave seen that time and again,
where people struggle withdelegation, and it comes from a
lack of clarity, lack ofclarity on what is the purpose
of us coming together in thissituation, in this time, in
(16:53):
this point of our evolution,and what is it that I have, you
know, why have I built the teamthat I have? What are the
different strengths andperspectives and roles that we
have put them in or that we canleverage to go and get this
mission accomplished? So theleader does not have to have
all the answers, but they haveto have clarity of purpose,
which helps dictate clarity andconsistency of message. And
(17:14):
they have to understand whatare, what are the pieces in
that overall team that makessure that there are no gaps.
Troy Blaser (17:21):
Gaps . Yeah.
Alright . I wanted to talk alittle bit about your book
Growth On Purpose. Can youmaybe tell us a little bit
about the book and, and isthere something from it that
you would wanna share with our,our Simply Feedback audience?
Claire Chandler (17:34):
Thank you for opening that door. There's so
much I Would love to share .
Troy Blaser (17:36):
There's a lot there , right ? It's a whole
book , right ?
Claire Chandler (17:38):
Well, I'll , I'll sort of narrow it down.
So, Growth on Purpose arosethrough my many years now of,
of doing what I do. Not justsince I opened the doors of my
own company, but even in mycorporate experience, I love,
and I'm super passionate aboutall things talent, about
helping organizations. Um,first when I was in corporate
building from the inside out ,and now as an advisor, helping
(18:00):
companies from the outside ,um, really design and build
talent infrastructures thatwill propel the growth journey,
right? Because companies cannotgrow without the right talent
in place. And so. Growth onPurpose is a sort of a deep
dive exploration into the , uh,the methodology that I've
developed over the years tohelp organizations to attract,
(18:23):
retain, engage, and advance theright talent to fulfill their,
their growth strategy. Um, sothat's the premise for the
book. Since you've asked thequestion, I'd love to share
with your audience sort of the,the four building blocks , uh,
or the four pillars of themethodology.
Troy Blaser (18:39):
Okay. Yeah.
Claire Chandler (18:40):
And really what they boil down to is it's
not just enough to hire therockstar, right? And pay them a
whole boatload of money andgive them unlimited power and
hope that they'll, you know,get along with others and play
nice and, you know, and helpyou fulfill your growth
strategy. It really is anorchestration, right? But what
it comes down to is fulfillingfour basic needs that all
(19:02):
employees have . The first oneis they need a reason to
believe the , the right talentthat is looking at your
organization from the outsideand weighing whether they want
to become part of your journey.
And even the employees youalready have, they need a
reason to believe in themission and the journey that
you're on. You mentioned valuesbefore. They need to feel like
(19:25):
what you care about as anorganization aligns with and
does not conflict with whatthey personally believe and
care about, right? So they needa reason to believe. So that
first pillar is aroundaspiration. It's about
designing a truly aspirationalmission, purpose, growth on
purpose, right? Is the name ofthe book, name of the
(19:45):
methodology , um, but allaround attracting the right
talent so that , um, they cansee themselves being part of
your journey. And then they arelined up at the door, you know,
eager to work with you. Sothat's kind of need one pillar
one. The second one is theyneed a place to belong. Gone
are the days where employeesspend their entire career
within one company. They movearound, they try things out,
(20:08):
they look for jobs that , um,play to their strengths
certainly, but also kind of fitin with the rest of the
lifestyle that they want tohave. And really the way that
you retain employees for alonger period of time is by
helping them to understand thatthey are not joining just a
company, but they're joining acommunity of people that they
(20:28):
can actually enjoy spendingtime with in roles that play to
their strengths, right? Thatthey're naturally talented at,
that they can feel good about,you know, at the end of the
day, the end of a performanceyear that they actually did
something and it aligned withwhat they're, what they're good
at. And so pillar two is calledAwareness, and it's really
about awareness of self first .
(20:49):
I mentioned earlier, you know,one of the gifts of feedback is
to raise self-awareness. It'sone of the traits that, that
unlocks higher levels ofperformance, right? Is to be
far more self-aware of what weare naturally good at, what we
believe, and how we can putourselves in alignment with ,
um, you know, those sorts ofattributes and those sorts of
(21:09):
activities that really play toour, our genius zone. The third
sort of fundamentalfoundational need of all
employees is they need a spaceto break stuff. And what I mean
by that is most companies areplagued with low engagement,
low morale, a lot ofinfighting, a lot of us versus
them. And the way to counteractthat is to give people some
(21:31):
room to question the statusquo, to question, you know,
past precedent to, to sort ofchallenge the notion of, well,
we can't do it differentlybecause this is the way it's
always been done. Um, the devilwe know, you know, there's a
reason all of these phraseshave come into, come into
existence. And so the thirdpillar of the growth , growth
(21:51):
on purpose methodology iscalled acceleration of trust.
And it's really important thatleaders understand that trust
is not something that they canmanufacture. It's not something
they can fake, but it issomething that if they are not
careful, they can destroy in aninstant. And trust is one of
those things that's slow tobuild and fast to burn, right?
(22:12):
And so we have to be, and thiscomes back to some of what
we've already talked about,leaders have to acknowledge
that they're human first. Theyhave to acknowledge that they
don't have all the answers, andthey have to look at the team
around them and be vulnerableenough and human enough first
that people want to supporttheir success and the success
of their colleagues. So it'sreally important that you get
(22:33):
that pillar right. And thefourth and final pillar , um,
really speaks to the employeeneed for a future that they can
buy into and build. Too often Ithink, you know, I, I mean I
talk to organizations all thetime, and one of the things
that they, they sort of talkabout is not only are they
experiencing high turnoverbecause maybe they're not
(22:53):
hiring the right people in thefirst place, or if they are,
they're not utilizing them totheir fullest ability . They're
also not bringing them alongthe journey. They're not, you
know, when they're finding thatthere are holes in their talent
pipeline, they don't havepeople ready to step up when
they lose a critical positionholder, or they have to hold
back promoting one of theirhigh performers because there
(23:14):
is not somebody who can taketheir place and, "Oh, we can't
create a hole . You're toovaluable in the role that
you're in." And all of this isa continuum. And so it's really
important that organizationsimplement this fourth pillar,
which is called Alignment, andit's alignment on what matters.
Leaders have a, a duty andobligation and honestly a
(23:34):
privilege to make reallypowerful connections for their
talent between what it is thatthey do, what it is that they
believe, what it is, you know,that you are paying them to
occupy in terms of a role and afunction and, and, you know,
critical responsibilities andwhy that matters to the shared
mission. If employees can't seethemselves reaping the benefits
(23:56):
of an organization, fulfillingits mission, achieving its
vision, demonstrating itsvalue, and achieving its growth
strategy, they're gonna checkout, they're gonna do just
enough not to get fired, notenough to, you know, attract
negative attention. And you'renever going to achieve your
growth journey. And soorganizations that , um,
implement those four pillars inthe right sequence with the
(24:18):
right talent, and do it in away that fulfills those four
fundamental needs, can growbeyond their wildest dreams.
Troy Blaser (24:26):
Thank you. First of all, thank you for kind of
walking through those. I thinkit's a really useful framework,
a useful way to break it down.
I noted something that you saidearlier in our conversation.
You talked about the idea ofhelping a company, helping an
organization to grow and, andto fulfill their goals, but not
at the expense of theindividual. Um, and I think the
(24:48):
, the four pillars that you'veoutlined really work well to
achieve that, right? When youthink of maybe the
stereotypical law firm where anassociate comes in and works 80
hours, 90 hours a week and ,and eventually burns themselves
out with that idea of advancingthe firm, that's not what we're
after. That's not what we'retalking about, right? We're
talking about how can we makethe organization grow, improve,
(25:11):
reach, its goals, and at thesame time allowing those
individuals to flourish andfeel , um, passionate about
what they're doing , um, andnot like they have to just burn
themselves out for the good ofthe company.
Claire Chandler (25:24):
Yeah. The reality is that the, the
average tenure of an employeehas shortened, right. Has
decreased. You talk about the,the CEO level. Um, the average
tenure is about three to fiveyears, depending on the
organization, the industry, etcetera. Most senior leaders as
well , uh, executive leaders,middle managers , um, very few
(25:47):
people are staying, as I saidbefore, with the same company
in the same role for, you know,for decades. You don't have the
Jack Welsh generation anymorewhere you have a CEO of a
company for decades. Andemployees, even at the
individual contributor level,don't necessarily stay within
an organization for very long.
My last corporate employment, Iwas with that company for about
(26:09):
15 years, which in, so it was ,uh, an environmental utility
industry. So, you know, 10years uh 20, 40 years was not
unheard of. Um, but what keptit fresh for me was I kept
moving around. I had theopportunity to, to change jobs
, um, multiple times. Uh , youknow, it's, it's funny because
I, I always said to my HRcolleagues, I would never work
(26:32):
in HR. I could never do whatthey do. It seems like a
thankless job. You get people,you know, at their most
vulnerable and their weakest,and, you know, whether it's
because they're having employeedrama or health issues or what
have you, you, it's a verychallenging space. Um, and then
I spent the last several yearsin my, in my corporate
experience within HR, becausethere was an opportunity to get
(26:52):
involved in employeedevelopment, career counseling
, um, and that that, you know,eventually took off into all
things talent, and it unlockedwhat I was passionate about.
But employees in general don'tstay in the same company,
certainly not in the same rolefor years on end anymore. And
so for organizations, first ofall, they have to acknowledge
that. They have to understandthat the tenure may have
(27:14):
decreased, you know, over themore recent generations. But
it's not about locking peopleinto a long-term commitment
because they just won't. It'sabout making the most of their
time in your organization andpreparing them for what is next
for them. And so it reallyflips the notion of a company
(27:35):
that has a revolving door oftalent to being a company that
cultivates and creates anenvironment where the right
talent can come in, they can dotheir best work, they can make
an impact, they can breakthrough and be creative. They
can see a , a connection to thestrategy and the mission and
the vision that theorganization is trying to
achieve. And they can move onwith a positive experience that
(27:57):
they're gonna talk to otherpeople about. Which in turn, as
we know, employee referrals arethe number one source of, of
the right talent, right? Soit's gonna feed that front door
in a much higher quality levelif we treat the talent that we
have for however long we havethem in a way where we, I don't
wanna say drain the life out ofthem, but squeeze out and
(28:20):
leverage as much of theirtalent and their passion and
their energy as they're willingto give for as long as they're
willing to give it in ways thatlift them up, right. That
don't, don't burn them out.
Troy Blaser (28:29):
And and you said it a second ago too, also in
ways that set them up forwhatever's next for them.
Claire Chandler (28:35):
That's right.
Troy Blaser (28:36):
You know, I, I come to an organization, the
organization knows that I'm notgoing to be there for a decade.
I'm gonna be there for three tofive years, or whatever it
might be. And there's attentionpaid to not only how can I get
the passion from this employee,but how can I help that
employee be ready for the thingthat comes next, right? And,
and like you said, that createsa positive referral that
(28:58):
increases the quality of thepeople coming through our front
door. And so I think that makesfor wonderful place to work and
(31:19):
to want to be, I wonder howfeedback plays a role in, in
driving purposeful growth?
Claire Chandler (31:27):
I do think at the end of the day, everyone
wants to do their best work.
Um, they, they don't wanna feellike they've wasted a day, a
week, a year doing somethingthat is just monotonous. Um,
unfortunately, we're at apoint, and I think I just saw a
statistic yesterday from, fromGallup, that employee
engagement in the US is, is atan all time low or is sharply
(31:48):
declining. And that's somethingwe need to pay attention to and
understand, not just the metricof, you know, sort of that
lagging indicator, butunderstand why. What is it in
those four fundamental needsthat I listed earlier that
people feel like they're notgetting? And so, you know, like
, again, I think it comes backto the obligation and the
privilege that leaders have tomake stronger connections. It's
(32:11):
not enough to just build arecruiting machine that brings
in a whole bunch of peoplethrough the front end , knowing
that you've gotta account for,you know, high attrition and
high turnover and lowengagement. It's like pouring
into the top of the funnel andfinding that at the bottom,
it's a siv, it's not a, youknow, it's not a catch base. Um
, so it's really important for,for leaders, you know, I, I I
(32:32):
always say leaders have thebiggest impact on, on the
culture of an organization. Um,they're the ones who shape
culture and culture determinesyour success. So you either
feed culture through yourleadership through the level to
which they demonstratevulnerability, the level to
which they speak withconviction about this journey
(32:52):
that we're all on. It'sinteresting, and it always
astounds me how few leaders askthemselves on a regular basis
what it is that they are inthat leadership role to
accomplish. I ask people thatall the time, and it's not
meant to be a gotcha question,but it kind of turns into one
because when I, you know, whenI ask a leader at any level in
an organization. Why does yourrole exist, and why are you the
(33:16):
one specifically in it? Whatare you getting out of it? They
all kind of look at meinitially, you know, with a
start, and they go, I haven'tthought about that in a long
time. Probably not since the,the moment they made the
decision to take that role.
Troy Blaser (33:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Claire Chandler (33:29):
And it's what's lacking, right? Because
I do think that many executiveshave become salespeople. And
what I mean by that is they,they lock themselves in a room.
They, you know, they pay someconsultant to help them
identify and map out what theirstrategy is going to be for the
next five, you know, plusyears. And then they come out
(33:52):
and they sort of have thesetablets that come down from the
mountaintop and say, this isour brilliant growth strategy,
get behind it. And the problemis, because they've done that
in the vacuum, the employeeswho actually have to have boots
on the ground, shoulder to thewheel, pick your analogy and
fulfill the growth strategy,are not inclined to do so. They
don't have ownership, theydon't see a connection, they
(34:14):
don't feel emotionallyconnected to what it is that
you're trying to achieve. And alot of executive leaders, I'm
not even gonna say most, but alot of them make the mistake
that once they have paid someconsultant to help them map out
the strategy, that all theyneed to do is go and sell it.
That they have to go, you know,do road shows and town halls
(34:34):
and all this sort of trendything. And just, you know, talk
, uh, the employees into whythis is gonna be good for the
company. And what they need todo instead--and listen, I get
it. You , you can't involve theentire workforce in the
development of your strategy.
There are certain things thatare trade secrets. There are
certain things that only a, youknow, a small conclave of
(34:55):
leaders can be involved in, andI get that-- But if the
executive leaders don't go outfrom those meetings and help
make connections with people,and first of all, buy into it
themselves, right? It's like,gone are the days where you can
emerge from the boardroom orthe executive, you know,
management room and say, Ididn't agree with the direction
(35:17):
that we set on, but I'm a goodsoldier and I'm gonna go out
and I'm gonna use the talkingpoints and I'm going to toe the
party line. That doesn't workanymore. Employees need more
than that. They need to feellike you as their leader,
totally buy into and believe inthe direction we're going as a
company. Because if you don'tbelieve it, you can't sell it.
(35:38):
And so there's this, this shiftthat leaders have to embrace,
which is to go from trying toconvince employees to get on
board or get out. And I've,I've actually heard employers,
you know, executive leaders saythat. Um, you know, if , iif
this isn't something you canget on board with, there are
other, you know, organizationsthat will have you. And that's
true. But shifting from goingout and trying to convince
(36:00):
people to get on board andactually speaking from a place
of conviction, because theytruly believe as executive
leaders who have the biggestimpact on culture, that the
direction that we're going, thestrategy, the outcomes over the
next five plus years and thetrajectory that we have to
follow to get there are thingsthat they personally believe
(36:21):
in. Because , again, we're notgonna follow people that we
can't relate to. Right? We , wedon't do the command and
control type of leadershipanymore. People don't respond
to that, and they no longer arerequired to. And so leaders
need to choose a different way.
Troy Blaser (36:37):
I like that. I like that idea of making those
connections, coming at it withauthenticity , um, to say, you
know, I'm all in. 'cause peoplecan sense when it , when
they're , when that convictionisn't there, they can kind of
see through it. Claire, at the,at the beginning of our
conversation, you told us astory about receiving some
feedback. I always love storiesaround feedback, and I know in
(36:59):
the beginning of your book,there's a , a fantastic story
about some feedback that youreceived. Can you share that
story with us?
Claire Chandler (37:08):
Yeah. So I, I don't know if I would call it
fantastic, but I do think itwas, it was quite emblematic,
right? So this was back in mycorporate days, probably about
two years before I ultimatelyleft. Um, I was a, a VP of
human resources by then. And Iwas traveling, I don't know ,
three weeks out of every four.
And on one of the weeks that Iwas in our corporate
(37:28):
headquarters, I was walkingback toward my office, and my
boss stopped me in the hall,and he said, "You need to tone
down your walk." And I, youknow, was so eloquent, and I'm
like , um, what? Like, what?
And
Troy Blaser (37:42):
Just out in the blue .
Claire Chandler (37:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
Like , just, you know, and
your walk , it's , it's toobouncy, it's too happy . And,
and people are gonna , youknow, start to think you're up
to something like, like, youknow, something they don't
how , why did you not quit?
Like, right then? And I'm like,honestly, it was so , um, it
(38:05):
was kind of typical, quitehonestly, of this sort of, you
know, fatherly advice that thisparticular executive would
impart upon me , uh, with allof his years of, of wisdom.
And, you know, I thanked himfor the feedback like, you
really should. 'cause that allfeedback is a gift. And I
returned to my, my office and,and, you know, spoiler alert, I
, I didn't, I didn't alter mywalk. I mean, I, I happened to
(38:28):
have a, a spring in my step. Ihappen to have a, you know, a
bounce to my step. And it'sinteresting because Michael had
sort of alluded to this, youknow, this notion of projecting
self-confidence, even when you,you know, you maybe internally
you're freaking out or youdon't feel like you have all
the answers. There are days Idon't feel like having a bounce
in my step. There are days whenI don't have all the answers.
(38:50):
In fact, I have way morequestions and more doubts and
more fear than I have any sortof clarity. But my walk doesn't
change. You're never gonna seeme like trudging through a
hallway like. Eeyore. Right?
Um, you're never gonna see medragging, you know, the , the ,
my mindset behind me. Like, woeis me. Because for me, that
(39:10):
walk gives me energy. And inthose, those times when I'm
feeling a little swept under ora little bit intimidated or out
of my depth, it's the walk thatkind of propels me forward. I
do believe that it , it reallydoesn't matter the size of the
step that you take, as long asit's in a forward direction.
And so, for me, you know, I , I
(39:31):
back to that story, I didn'tleave right then because I
don't think I recognized in themoment how emblematic that bit
of feedback was. But what Icame to understand in hindsight
was it was emblematic ofleaders who don't get it, of
leaders who don't truly embracetheir role in impacting the
culture that they expect fromother people. And so, you know,
(39:54):
and this is a company like 99%of companies on the planet that
advertise for people to come inwith an entrepreneurial spirit,
right? We want people whobring, you know, the, the
latest trend is to say, bringyour full authentic self to, to
work. And the first time youcolor outside the lines, the
first time your walk is toobouncy. Uh , you know , and ,
(40:15):
and, you know, might besuggesting that you've got an
answer that other people don't.
They mandate conformity ratherthan create that environment,
you know, which is why one ofthe pillars in, in my book is,
is around, you know, feedingthis need for employees to
break stuff, giving them thespace to break out of, you
know, the corporate box. Not ina disrespectful or overly
(40:36):
disruptive way, but in a waythat does inject some energy
into the status quo.
Troy Blaser (40:42):
Yeah. I , I was just thinking about that. You
know, if you , if you were togive advice to that leader,
your boss, or to other leaders,if you were to give them advice
around how to avoid making thatmistake that your boss made in
giving you that feedback, itsounds like something you would
tell them and feel free to addon, is to celebrate the, the
(41:03):
individuality. Celebrate thatentrepreneurial spirit that you
are advertising for in yourhiring .
Claire Chandler (41:08):
Yeah, this particular person who gave me
the feedback was not terriblyreceptive to feedback. Yeah .
So it's, it's , it's a littlebit, you know, difficult.
However, there are other peoplewho unwittingly give feedback
that is either conflictingwith, with sort of the brand
promise of the organization,whether it's entrepreneurial
spirit, bringing your authenticself to work. Here's a place
(41:29):
where you can be innovative,whatever it might be. Um, I , I
think the biggest thing for me,the biggest lesson as a leader
that I tell all of my coachingclients, I tell all , all
organizations, is you need tocontextualize your feedback.
It's really important, as Isaid earlier, that leaders are
(41:49):
self-aware. It's reallyimportant that they remind
themselves why they're in theirleadership role to begin with.
And it's really important forthem to be dialed in and bought
into the mission of theorganization so that they can
speak with conviction versustrying to convince other people
to get on board or to , or toget out. But it's also
exceptionally important to tellpeople why, back in my
(42:12):
corporate days when I had anoffice and I had a big desktop
and a big, you know, monitor, Ihad this post-it note above my
line of sight, and it said,tell them why. And it was a
daily reminder for me that whenI was delegating something,
when I was sharing information,when I was meeting with my
team, or meeting individuallywith, you know, different
people in the organization thatI didn't wanna take for granted
(42:34):
that a direction that I gave ora bit of information that I
shared was as understood by therecipient as it was from the
sender. Right? It takes 10extra seconds to contextualize
for people why it is that youare inviting them to complete
something, do somethingdifferently. This is especially
important with feedback, andit's particularly important
(42:57):
when that feedback isconstructive. Because if you're
dialed in on your purpose, yourmission, you have a set of
values that you believe inpersonally, and that you see
how they are going to helppropel your growth journey,
then when you give feedback,you can put it into the context
of this is how doing thingsdifferently or doing more of
(43:20):
this and less of that willactually help you have a more
visible, tangible impact on thegrowth journey that we're on,
right? It will make thatstronger connection for
leaders. So I cannot emphasizeenough the skill to have in
your hip pocket at all timeswhen you're giving feedback,
when you're giving direction,when you're making a course
(43:41):
correction to tell them "why."
Troy Blaser (43:44):
I love that.
That's fantastic. Okay . And Iwas gonna say, if people want
to know more or if they want toconnect with you, what are the
best ways to get in touch withyou?
Claire Chandler (43:52):
Find me on LinkedIn, email me at
claire@talentboost.net. Uh, oryou can check out my company
website, which is talentboost.net . Just the other thing,
just as a , uh, as a finalsendoff, I would love for your
audience to go check out thebook. They can go to growth on
purpose.com. There is a link tothe book, which they can buy on
Amazon, or there's also a linkto a , uh, Growth on Purpose
(44:15):
Scorecard. It's completelyfree. It takes about five
minutes to complete, and itwill give you not only a score
overall for growth on purpose,but in those four individual
pillars I talked about. But itwill give y ou a pretty
detailed report with customizedrecommendations of how you can
improve your score across allfour pillars.
Troy Blaser (44:34):
Awesome. Claire, thank you so much for joining
us today. I've really enjoyedour conversation. It's been
great to , uh, talk about thesedifferent topics with you.
Thank you.
Claire Chandler (44:43):
Thanks, Troy.
It's been a pleasure.
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