May 13, 2025 • 37 mins
Leadership coach Audrey Boydston shares how intentional collaboration and clear purpose transform teams, drawing from her 25 years of experience across corporate and educational settings.
• Moving beyond processes to focus on people and helping them do their best work
• Establishing clear purpose, mission, and values for any successful team
• Sharing knowledge rather than hoarding it to empower the entire team
• Creating supportive communities that help members regain momentum when they lose it
• Using running and physical activity as tools for creative problem solving
• Reframing "you are enough" to "you are more than enough" to tap into untapped potential
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie (00:02):
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to
the NorthStar Narrative, apodcast from NorthStar Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisweek's episode.
This week's episode, I'm excitedto share another new friend
(00:26):
with you that I have metrecently, right along at the
same time, Stephen Carter, whichwas on the previous episode at
Cincinnati Hills ChristianAcademy.
At the conference, I was ableto meet Audrey Boydston, and she
is a seasoned leadership coachand master facilitator with over
25 years of experience inleadership development and
(00:48):
product strategy.
She is known for helping teamsmove from ideas to action
through intentionalcollaboration, and she
co-created a virtual edition oftraining from the back of the
room and also trains offeringsfrom Crucial Learning, the Table
Group, and Lego Strategic Play,from Crucial Learning, the
Table Group and Lego StrategicPlay.
Audrey is passionate aboutconnection within teams,
communities and classrooms, andshe brings a wealth of wisdom
(01:10):
from both the corporate andeducational worlds.
She's also a committed mentor,volunteering her time to invest
in high school students andfuture leaders.
Audrey, I'm so excited that youwould sit down with us today to
talk for a little bit.
Audrey (01:25):
Yeah, stephanie, it was great that we met.
What has it been like a monthor so?
Stephanie (01:28):
Yeah, it doesn't seem long though it's gone by so
fast.
Yeah, it was so amazing beingat Cincinnati Hills, getting to
meet you, hang out with all theeducators there to learn about
the entrepreneurship program,and then to getting to meet the
students your son, Blake.
It was so fun watching them inaction.
(01:49):
And, yeah, I'm just excitedthat we were able to share
information and now you canshare a little bit about your
journey and what God's beendoing in your life.
So I can't wait for you toshare a little bit of your
journey.
So tell me a little bit of howthe leadership, the coaching,
education all of that began tointersect and your journey
(02:11):
through corporate life and nowwhere you think God's going.
Where have you seen a thread ofjust God's goodness through all
of this?
Audrey (02:20):
Lots and lots of threads .
Let me try to find the steelthread that really connects all
of them together.
I think in corporate, I reallystarted helping manage and lead
projects, so helping get teamsorganized really the way of
working, like how can they workbest together, right?
(02:45):
So many different personalities, so many different ways that
you can make decisions.
So many, just so, so much.
I could probably go on foreverabout this.
And then we really moved intothe agile space, which is more
about innovation, it's aboutexperimentation, it's about
incremental delivery.
What I noticed, actuallythreading through both of those,
is that I have a passion forpeople that I guess I didn't
realize right away, so it wasnot about the process.
(03:08):
It was never about the process.
Yes, that seemed to be frontand center of everything that we
did leading through this,because businesses need to grow
and thrive.
In order to do that, you haveto deliver.
You know, deliver things,deliver on projects, deliver on
initiatives and stuff.
And so I started really delvinginto the world of why does it
feel like this was so much morefun and so much more inspiring
(03:32):
than this other one?
Or why are these teamsstruggling and these other teams
are doing?
Okay, what seems to be.
What are some of these commonthemes that are helping people
be successful versus not?
And what I found is that, whenteams had leaders who believed
(03:52):
in them, who spent the timecultivating their growth and
development, creating the spacefor them and then teaching them
some of these what you call justbasic human skills, giving them
opportunity to have offeringsof.
What does it mean to be a trueteam leader?
What does it mean to have ateam purpose?
How do we need to interact witheach other?
(04:15):
How do we make decisionstogether?
And so I realized thatequipping people to be able to
do the best work of their livesI know that sounds dramatic, but
really enjoy what they're doingis actually translating into
real outcomes, not just for thempersonally and professionally,
(04:37):
but also for the organizationsthat they're a part of.
Stephanie (04:41):
Yeah, that's good.
At Northstar we talk a lotabout our mission, alignment and
our purpose and it really iscool that everyone understands
and believes and so it makes ahuge difference in how the team
works, and I think that tricklesdown to the students here at
Northstar Academy.
(05:01):
But what have you learnedhappens when there is not a
mission and purpose alignmentwithin a team?
Audrey (05:10):
That's when the fun begins.
No honestly, that's where someof the really difficult
conversations happen.
So I've had the opportunity tospend a lot of time with
leadership teams sitting aroundas they're creating the new
strategies for Go Forward,looking at what brought them
here, what they need to change,and I have a few different
(05:30):
questions that I ask.
The first one is what is yourpurpose?
Why did you start your companyin the first place?
Why are you here?
Some of them have it, some ofthem don't.
Some of them will experiencethe, what we call the Audrey
silence that I will give a spacefor them to start to think
about.
What does that mean if we don'thave one?
(05:52):
Or do we have one that we justmaybe have not aligned on?
So there's the purpose, there'sthe mission, Like what do we do
?
It's great that this is why westarted, but what do we really
do and who do we serve really asthose customers?
And then what your vision isgoing forward.
The fourth, though, is the.
(06:13):
To me, this is like theoverarching.
If you were going to havesomething in neon lights, it
would be what are the values inyour organization that drives
everything in your organizationthat drives everything?
And if I don't have any clearprinciples, then how am I really
making decisions that I knoware going to help move us
forward?
How do I act?
(06:39):
And so I think those are reallythe four key things that I've
really spent a lot of time on,and I'm glad that you mentioned
that Northstar has those inplace.
To me, those are game-changingif you want outcomes, because
it's a really great opportunityto align all of the teams and
individuals, Because even thoughwe're on teams, we're still
individuals.
How do I align everybody andhelp them really truly
understand the impact thatthey're making and how that
(07:03):
translates into moving usforward as a company?
Stephanie (07:06):
Yeah, and how much better is it when you have an
eternal purpose?
So it's so easy to get behindNorthStar Academy's mission and
purpose because we're eternallyimpacting the kingdom of God and
bringing up these students andteaching them the skills in
God's word and how you view theworld through the biblical lens.
(07:27):
And, yeah, what's the worldteaching you and how do we
navigate this?
And it's so, so fun.
So I know your son Blake hashad so much fun at Cincinnati
Hills Christian Academy and thenyou've told me how y'all are
just innovators, idea generatorsand love to get together and
you're writing a book.
So I want you to share a littlebit of how you've seen him
(07:48):
journey through thisentrepreneurship program, what
he's learning, how he's beenchallenged and then how y'all
are able to take that and evenmove in bigger directions.
Audrey (08:00):
So I was really excited when he I think I went to one of
those parents' webinars atnight when they were first
talking about this programbefore Blake started high school
, and I was like you are takingthis Well, it's your choice, but
I really, really, really wantyou to take this.
And so, when he was takingperspectives, he took the online
, the summer version, rightbefore he started his freshman
(08:21):
year.
Right before he started hisfreshman year, and it was the
coolest thing to me that he washearing from leaders such as
John Maxwell and he was hearingfrom, or there were references
to, patrick Lencioni and all ofthese that are actually on my
bookshelf back there.
So here I am, teaching aboutthis in the corporate setting
and using all of these greatthought leaders to help
(08:44):
organizations move forward.
And now I have my son in thisentrepreneurship program, who's
actually learning the same thingand like a freshman, yeah it
was right before he was afreshman, and so that's actually
how Stephen Carter and I met,because Blake started writing
like oh yeah, my mom met PatrickLencioni and all this stuff,
and he was like I'm fully in,like help me understand more,
(09:04):
like how do I get in that circle?
So, um, so it was reallyinteresting to me and the growth
that I've seen in him.
He's young for his, for hisgrade.
I will just tell you that he'sprobably about a year younger
than a lot of the students inhis class.
He's probably the youngest, ifnot, um, you know, the second
youngest.
And just the growth in himbeing a leader on the team and
(09:26):
my husband always tells himbefore he goes to school
anything, be a leader today,help influence others, help
mentor others, be that personthat's going to help move
something forward when peopleare stuck, and I think he really
internalized that.
So we um, I do want to sharejust one quick story related to
this he shared with me the otherday.
(09:46):
It actually is the full storiesin the book, but they have this
thing called I think it'scalled Thankful Thursday as part
of the lacrosse team, and sothey don't actually practice on
Thursdays.
They go to practice, butinstead they sit around, they
talk about teamwork and stuff.
I was like well, help meunderstand more.
The coach shares a message aboutteamwork and he always brings
(10:12):
this back to the Bible and hegives a verse and he's like God
created us for this.
Here's something related to youas a team and how we can move
forward.
And he's like well, this wasthe message that Blake shared
with me, he said, and he's likewell, this was the message that
Blake shared with me.
He said it doesn't reallymatter what you're playing, it
just.
It just matters how you'rerelating with a team and how you
(10:34):
help it I almost feel emotionalwhen I'm saying this and how
you help each other, build eachother up and hold each other
accountable for your actions.
And you're doing this during theschool year, the school day.
You're doing this during yourtime at home.
So, basically, the coach istelling them they want to take
everything that they're teachingabout teamwork and apply it
(10:54):
everywhere.
And I asked him about how theBible then comes into play and
he said there are certainpassages that he will talk about
how we are not created to justbe individuals.
We are created for community,and there's so much more that we
can create and do togetherthrough some of those
interactions.
So to me that was a powerfulmoment how this together on the
(11:18):
field, as well as in theentrepreneurship program and
everything that we're trying toteach them here at home it all
seemed to intersect quite nicelyover the last couple of years.
Stephanie (11:28):
Yeah, that's incredible.
And what year is he nowSophomore, and so what has he
been learning that you've seenreally transform his mind and
give him some real, tangibleskills so far.
Audrey (11:40):
Yeah, so there is an Eagle Pizza Kitchen and it's one
of the internships that theyhave at Cincinnati Hills
Christian Academy, and so thisis his second year of doing it,
and just the growth of he's likemom.
I have another idea.
I think that this is likeanother offering we could do, or
this and and helping him, uh,coach him on how he can even
(12:02):
present an idea, not just to theteacher but the entire team,
cause there's a team of studentsthat are working on this.
And so during actually, um, itwas the day I met you, stephanie
, when we were in the greenhouseand then we were in the uh for
the appetizers and horsd'oeuvres and stuff that they
had one of the uh teachers inthis program came up to me and
said you know, well, we'rereally thinking of having Blake
(12:24):
be a leader in the program nextyear.
What do you think Like?
What would he?
What would he like to do?
Would he like to really managethe operations, part of it?
Would he like to be mayberesponsible for coming up with
new ideas and stuff?
And, of course, doing Blake,yeah, that's the one that
resonated.
So I've just seen a lot ofgrowth in him personally and
(12:44):
being able to interact even withpeople on the other team.
If he's on the lacrosse team,everything the joy that he has
and the leadership skills thathe's developing, he's using
pretty much everywhere that wego.
Stephanie (13:01):
So, cool to see so fun yeah.
Audrey (13:04):
Being a mom and watching you flourish and blossom.
Not that, in my opinion, iscompletely objective.
Of course there's somesubjectivity here too.
Stephanie (13:13):
No, I was there on the campus.
I saw all these students andheard from them and their
testimonies and you could justfeel the intensity of the joy
and the fun and the learning andtrue engagement.
Yep, I loved it, Loved everymoment there.
(13:33):
So you told us on the surveyabout running and you've run
marathons.
I know you've written a blogrecently about that and that you
run on the Little Miami Trailand this helps you solve
problems while you're running.
So talk a little bit about Iknow how important everybody
tells us exercise is and how ithelps clear your mind and the
problem solving, but tell us alittle bit of, yeah, how this
(13:56):
really does help you.
Some practical tips from it.
Audrey (13:59):
Sure, I have found that sitting in front of a computer
is not inspiring for me.
I could sit here for hours like, oh, I have this new
presentation or something thatI'm writing a chapter in the
book.
Sitting in front of a computerliterally does nothing for me,
and so when I actually go out onmy morning runs, that's when
the ideas just start coming.
(14:20):
And what I've learned to dowhich gosh, I wish I would have
learned this a couple of yearsago is I'll stop and I'll just
talk to text or something andstart capturing, and it could be
even one phrase.
That can become somethingthat's way bigger than that when
I get back.
But I think sometimes, ashumans, there's so much noise
around us, even if we're sittingsilently in a room by ourselves
(14:43):
, because there's things thatyou're thinking about, like what
I have this to do, I have thisto do when I'm running to me.
That clears my head and I canthen start to think about gosh,
I have no idea where to startwith this Kind of you know those
silent prayers like help mefigure this out.
And as the miles are going on,you know that kind of stuff is
(15:03):
happening.
And there's one thing that Iwant to point out that I use in
this, that I think Blake isusing as well.
There is a book called GettingThings Done and thankfully
there's a teenager version ofGetting Things Done for
Teenagers and there's somethingcalled a open loop, and I don't
know if you've heard of thisbefore, but one of the
(15:24):
techniques is about closing openloops, which means I have
something in my brain that'sbeen I have to remember.
There's something I have to do,there's something that I have
to remember, that specific pieceof data, it's an open loop and
it happens over and over andover and over again, and so the
tip on those is there's also thetwo minute rule.
(15:47):
If I have an open loop and it'sgoing to take me less than two,
two minutes or less to do toclose it, do it.
I started doing that on thetrail, Like, oh, I have to
remember to call this person, Ihave to remember to do this.
So what it happens, what helps,too, is it helps me close a lot
of those open loops so that Ican free up the space to think
creatively and determine what Iwant to focus on next.
Stephanie (16:11):
That's so good, so important, because when you have
those loops just going, I knowfor me it exhausts you because
you're always thinking about it.
I'll do that, I'll do that, butthen when you don't do it, yeah
decisions and closing loops andyou know how the alignment
(16:41):
works together as a team.
I'd love to hear more what wecan learn today from you about
that.
Audrey (16:47):
Sure, one of the biggest things and I learned this from
Sharon Bowman when I firstlearned about training from the
back of the room and it's aboutneuroplasticity, and people
think sometimes that you know, Ican't keep learning.
Like you know, I've got enough,I'm kind of full.
But your brain can continue toexpand and you can continue to
(17:10):
learn new things.
And, like I remember you know,a close family member a couple
of weeks ago was like I'm done,I'm this age, I'm not going to
learn anymore.
I'm like well, actually, thescience behind it is you can
continue to learn and you cancontinue to make connections,
but part of it is you have towant it, and we talk about this
(17:32):
all the time, especially even onteams.
You have to want this.
If you want this win, then youhave to figure out what it's
going to take to actually getthere.
And I think what happenssometimes is people get stuck in
their minds and it just breaksmy heart when I see students
that are like this, like well,this is really all I know or
(17:52):
this is all the experience Ihave.
There's so much more for themand there's so much room for
them to grow, and the more thatyou actually you tried it once.
It didn't work Awesome.
What did you learn from it?
You tried it twice.
It didn't work Awesome.
What did you learn from it?
You tried it three times.
The more you're practicing it,the more you're creating these
connections, the better you'regoing to get.
(18:15):
Whatever it is whether it's aspecific skill set that you're
trying to gain, maybe it'sknowledge that you're trying to
gain.
Whatever that might be, I thinkpart of it is we get in our own
way, and so if I had onemessage for students here maybe
even physically, step out ofwhatever box that you've put
(18:37):
yourself in, like where you'restanding now.
Step out of that box, find outand explore what else.
What else would you like tofocus on?
What else do you think thatyou're interested in that you
haven't even tried before?
What's scary about it?
Sometimes that fear is the fearof the unknown.
Okay, maybe something's notgoing to work out like I want,
(19:00):
but maybe it is and maybe I'mgoing to have a really great
story that I can share witheverybody else.
That's going to help them learnand grow as well.
Stephanie (19:07):
That's good.
A recent little phrase quote orsomething I learned or saw was
are you scared?
Like do it scared?
Yeah, so sometimes we just doit if we're not scared, but
sometimes you might be scared,but you just do it.
So, thinking about that fear,fear can just completely
paralyze you.
Um, and then the fear of change.
(19:30):
I know we see that.
So students not wanting to trysomething new or even to
challenge your brain to thinkthrough the questions you just
laid out, right, so, yeah,getting in the way, that's so
true.
And so having people around you, how important is it to have
that team that will challengeyou if they see you stuck?
You know accountability aboutthings.
(19:51):
What do you teach about reallyspeaking into one another's
lives?
Audrey (19:56):
Well, I have a great example actually that I just
witnessed it, um, a couple of ofweeks ago at CHC.
So I want to share that one andthen and then share how it
helped teams.
The uh, uh, the cross countryteam, um, practiced at the same
time.
The lacrosse uh team was in abunch.
There's like five differentteams going on at once.
And there's this one day.
(20:17):
I came early and I like to justwatch the practices because
that's where you can kind oflearn, you know, about some of
the dynamics and stuff.
And so the cross country teamthink about it running is an
individual sport, is it not?
It's an individual sport.
And yet, as they were endingtheir day, ending their practice
, all of a sudden I see them allcoming together and they're all
(20:38):
like hooting and hollering andgetting excited about each other
.
And nice job, john, you didbetter at this.
Or nice job, you know, fill inthe blank with whoever their
name is.
And it was amazing.
And I saw the coach on the wayout.
I was like, wow, you createdquite the team.
And he said, actually, I have,but it's all them.
(20:59):
But the most important thing isthey hold each other accountable
and they help each other ifthey're not doing as well as
they wanted to.
Maybe it's the form.
I know I've had times where Ifeel like I run sloppy and I
need somebody to look at my formand help me get back to where
it's going, to help me be moresuccessful and propel me forward
(21:20):
.
No pun intended on running, andso the same thing with teams.
Sometimes I think the bestgrowth happens in teams when
they're open to share not justtheir experiences but their
knowledge with one another.
Holding knowledge to somepeople is power, but when you
look at that from the otherperspective, sharing that
knowledge is also power, butit's power for that team and not
(21:44):
just for that person that hasit.
And so as a team, if we like,say we're a team and here's our
purpose and this is what we doon a day-to-day basis.
Does that mean that's all weever do?
Is what we do on a day-to-daybasis?
Does that mean that's all weever do?
What's that growth anddevelopment look like?
Maybe some of it is justorganic from you know, some of
(22:10):
the members of the team that arelearning on their own Like, oh
my gosh, I just learned thisreally cool thing that I want to
bring it in and share with you.
Maybe it's from external forceswhere they're bringing in you
know other, you know talent,development mechanisms and stuff
for that team.
But once you look past that one,just as an individual, and you
start to act more as we have acommon let's let's bring that
(22:32):
purpose word back in If we havea common purpose and no, and we
know why we exist.
We know why we exist.
How does what we're doing helpmove that forward and reflect
that?
And so I think getting out ofthat space of it's just about me
and as an individual.
(22:52):
Yes, we're individuals, butwe're also part of something way
bigger, and so acknowledgingthat and finding ways to figure
out how to navigate in thosesituations, I think is really
crucial.
And so that's another thingthat I've seen with like, we're
always talking about teams.
I think my family is alwayslike is it always about
(23:13):
leadership and teams and mindsetand all these other things?
I'm like well, kind of it is.
Stephanie (23:22):
Yeah, that's good.
And you can't help to thinkabout the scripture, the body,
the church body, and how theeyes, the hands, the feet, you
know, without each otherwouldn't function and how and
look at the energy that happenswhen you all come together.
Yeah.
Audrey (23:39):
I think the energy alone from that yeah.
Stephanie (23:43):
Yeah, I could picture that story as you're telling it
All the guys high-fiving eachother, smacking each other you
know woo great job.
However, they all you knowrunning together.
Or girls there's girls on theteam too, yeah.
Audrey (23:57):
Some of them are faster than some of the boys.
Stephanie (24:00):
Yeah, boys, girls, everybody just loving each other
.
Yeah, that's an inspiring story.
And if we can remember to dothat, because we know especially
organizations that have thateternal purpose and they know
their mission, how much can ourflesh, our own self, get in the
way, the enemy get in the way,you know, just the world get in
(24:23):
the way.
What do you share about that?
About how to, because you mighthave a place that's really
mission-driven, but you have tobe intentional about keeping it
right.
You don't just get to a pointoh yay, we're here, and then
just be able to fall back.
Audrey (24:39):
You do, and so I presented a number of times at
conferences on intentionalpurpose, because purpose is one
thing that's great I know why weexist.
But intentionally embeddingthat into everything that you do
, it's hard, it's not theeasiest thing to do.
It's like a tie back.
How do I tie this back to whywe exist?
How do I tie this back even towhere we want to be next?
This, how do I tie this backeven to where we want to be next
(25:02):
?
That, to me, is the mostcritical, I would say, role of
any leader, whether you're in aschool, whether you are a
teacher, even if it's a socialstudies or biology or whatever.
That is right being able tohelp grow these skills.
Because I want you to thinkabout even a geometry class.
(25:23):
Grow these skills, because Iwant you to think about even a
geometry class.
They're doing projects together.
Blake was just building a kiteout of I think it was like
garbage bags and straws andstring and all this stuff.
But they had to find ways toactually work together in teams
to do this.
They also had to know why theywere doing it.
It wasn't just hey, this iskind of cool, let's build a kite
(25:44):
.
No, this is the purpose of it.
This is what we hope to achieve,and here's what your mission is
to be able to create that, andI think to me you can do that,
and especially in theeducational system, I feel like
there's so many differentopportunities and so many
different ways that you do it.
That's how you grow people,that's how you grow as humans,
(26:05):
and then the more differentinteractions like this that you
can create.
You're creating communitieswithin communities, and isn't
that why we exist?
It's not why God created us.
It wasn't to be.
I'm on my own and I'm justAudrey and you're Stephanie, and
we go about doing our ownthings Like how do we continue
to form these connections so wecan continue to grow and learn
(26:28):
from each other and then pass onall of this to others as well?
Stephanie (26:33):
Yeah, because that energy is contagious.
It is.
That's fun.
Yeah, such fun, incredible,important stuff, beautiful stuff
we're talking about and, yeah,it's much harder to actually go
out and do it than to talk aboutit.
But it's just that it's onemoment at a time, the next right
(26:53):
thing, the next right step.
I mean just, you know, nottrying to do it all at once,
right?
Audrey (27:02):
There's one chapter that we're working through, called
momentum in the moment.
Okay, how do you create that?
And life is a series of moments, isn't it?
Yeah, so how do you createmomentum in each one of those?
And how do you know how toregain that momentum if you've
lost it?
Because we've all lost it,probably millions and millions
(27:22):
of times?
If you've lost it Because we'veall lost it, probably millions
and millions of times, right, welose momentum.
How do we gain it?
Rather than focusing on I lostmomentum, okay, it happens to
all of us and community.
I think the power of communityis helping people regain that
momentum.
And there's one.
I see these signs all over.
(27:43):
I don't know if you've seenthem, where you are, for some
reason, they just say you areenough.
I like to change the dynamic.
You are more than enough.
We have more than enough toaccomplish everything that God
created us for.
Sometimes we haven't tappedinto it because we don't know
how to tap into it.
So that's another power ofcommunity.
(28:03):
I might have a purpose and I'mlike this is why I exist and
this is why this is what youknow, I have been tasked to do
and these are my passion areas.
Sometimes we tap out a littlebit too soon Like I'm enough, I
can.
I'm enough to do this, that'sit.
So how do we then instill inall of the students that
(28:26):
Northstar supports, that CHCsupports, that, all of these
other schools around the globethat they all support?
How do we then instill that youactually have more in you and
help them understand how theycan tap into those reserves?
Stephanie (28:41):
Yeah, so important.
Audrey (28:43):
It is important.
Stephanie (28:45):
And how fun it is when you watch students doing
that with students.
Yeah, just like back to therunning team.
Yeah, yeah.
Audrey (28:55):
Because we inspire one another.
Stephanie (28:58):
And I think one thing I've been telling myself
because I find myself toosedentary, not moving enough,
not doing exercise enough.
You know, sometimes you get sobusy and I do have to be in
front of the computer a lot.
But I think about the physicsan object in motion stays in
motion.
Object at rest is going to stayat rest.
I'm like, ok, if I've been atrest a long time, how do I get
(29:19):
myself moving?
Because once I get moving, youknow that energy builds and then
you're able to keep moving andkeep doing stuff.
You know whether I'm going on awalk and then I'm able to come
back.
Okay, clean the kitchen now orcook dinner, you know.
And so I think we can help eachother do that too, cause I feel
sometimes stuck.
Well, it's just easier to sithere, or it's just easier not to
(29:41):
go do the exercise or not, youknow, and I don't know.
Do you see how that's a goodpicture of a team and just
really helping each other stayin motion?
Any advice on that?
Audrey (29:55):
Sure, and it's interesting.
I read a quote the other day.
It said something about like,the days that you don't want to
go run or you don't want to dosomething are usually the days
that you need it the most.
Yeah, now do I always take thatadvice?
No, there's days when we getbusy, right.
I think being part of the team,too is we're all going to have
our bad days.
(30:15):
We're all going to have ourdays where we don't feel like
doing it, where we don't want todo it, where there's other
things that potentially could beweighing on us.
Maybe it's things at school andthere's just like huge projects
coming up, things like that.
Maybe in the corporate setting,it just feels overwhelming
because you feel like you're anexpert in everything and
everyone's coming to you and yetyou're not able to really move
(30:37):
forward with your own evenprofessional development that
you want to do.
Sometimes I think that's therole of the coach.
I look at even teachers ascoaches.
I don't know if they all lookat each other that way, but they
are, and I just love all theteachers around the planet that
are really embracing the factthat these are all amazing human
(31:00):
beings, that you have theopportunity that you are given
the opportunity to pour intoyour knowledge and it extends
beyond what's in that textbookor are there even textbooks
anymore?
They're really all online buteven more into like those life
lessons and things that you cando.
And so one of the things as ateam, when the thing that I
(31:22):
think is one of the mostpowerful moments in a lacrosse
game or in any kind of a game isthat when a player gets hurt,
everyone on that team andeveryone on the other team
kneels down and they pause andthey wait until that kid gets
back up I get emotional when Isee these things, because I can
actually just picture it on thefield and the support that's in
(31:44):
place for that team member fromthat moment forward.
if they can't be there for therest of the game, or even if
they can't come back for acouple of weeks, that support's
there for them.
And what the cooler even thecooler part is that team member
that was hurt, that might noteven be able to play.
We have a few of them this year.
(32:04):
They've come to every practice.
They've come to every game,Everything that that team does.
They come even though theycan't participate in the way
they want to.
What a powerful team dynamicCan you imagine if we could,
just you know, have this type ofmessage, like everywhere, that
you're part of a team, that,even if at that point in time,
(32:27):
you can't contribute in the waythat you are typically used to,
you're not the one that's, youknow, defending the goal.
You're not the one that's, youknow, the top person in one of
those relays.
The top person in one of thoserelays you're not.
You know you're not able to bethe one that's driving that
(32:48):
project forward.
In an organization you mighthave, there's another place for
you and being able to find whatthat place is and help the rest
of the team navigate throughthat specific situation, I think
is actually another form ofgrowth of that player, that
person.
Stephanie (33:06):
Yeah, and you might find it's more powerful to be
that voice and that, you know,because if you're hurt and you
can't defend the goal, but youcould be that voice on the bench
.
That's encouraging andempowering and, yeah, can be
just as exciting or more, sothat's incredible.
Thank you so much for all thatyou've shared with us today,
(33:27):
that you've learned in yourexperiences and just excited for
the good work you're doing andthe fun things coming for you
and Blake with the book.
And do you want to tell peoplethat want to find out more about
how to get in touch with youand some things that you offer
where they can find that?
Audrey (33:43):
Sure.
So we started Thoughtful Agile,I think like 2018, and we
really expanded it to.
I think there's three areas inpeople that are working in an
organization profit, nonprofit,whatever it is.
It could education, corporate,whatever, education, corporate,
whatever.
So, focusing on the employeeexperiences, the student
(34:06):
experiences or their learnerexperiences and your customer
experiences, and like connectingall three, that's what we focus
on at Thoughtful Agile, so Iwould love to connect with
anybody.
I'm LinkedIn all the time, likeI love LinkedIn.
I learn so much like every day.
I feel like that's my extra funtime when I need a break from
whatever it is that I'm like Ilove LinkedIn.
I learn so much like every dayI feel like that's my uh, that's
my extra fun time when I need abreak from whatever it is that
(34:26):
I'm doing from from work.
So, yeah, I would love toconnect with anyone who's
interested in any of these areas, or even just to talk about
running Cause we could probablytalk about that all day.
Stephanie (34:36):
Yeah, that's good.
Um, okay.
One last thing for theentrepreneurship program, the
foundations class it's startingup for Northstar.
Would you recommend parents gettheir students involved in this
course and, hopefully, thebigger program that will be
forming, and why, if so?
Audrey (34:56):
Yes, absolutely, because the tie-ins that you're going
to find in this program to whatyou probably do in some way
shape or form working with teamsand working with organizations
like whether they're local ornational or what have you really
great lessons, like I rememberwhen Blake was listening to some
of the podcasts from some ofthe CEOs and I was like I want
(35:17):
to know, I want to know, I wantto hear, because all of these
what it really boils down to.
You can say we can bucketthings into leadership lessons
or into I don't like the wordsoft skills.
I like to say human skills.
You know some of these other.
You can bucket them into all ofthese different areas, but at
the end of the day, this isabout us as humans and how we
(35:41):
can interact together and how wecan learn and grow together.
And if they want to be anentrepreneur, awesome Like this
is setting them up for success.
To think about what uniquegifts do I have that I could
then rely on, to think aboutwhat my business could be, what
would my offer be, and so that'smy guidance.
(36:05):
A lot of times when studentscome to me and say that you know
I want to do this, or like whydid you start your business and
what made you decide what yourbusiness was about?
And getting crisp on what youroffer is what you truly enjoy
doing, and my number one pieceof advice for them is just enjoy
(36:25):
it, learn from it, really enjoythe community that you've built
around this and move forward.
But yeah, I love it.
I'm a huge proponent for it.
Anyone wants to talk directlyabout this.
I would love to Another one ofthose topics.
Stephanie (36:40):
Hey, awesome, it was so good just to meet with you
today and then to meet you atthe conference to learn more,
and so I'm so excited to see,yeah, where God's going to
continue to take you and Blake,your family and Cincinnati Hills
and NorthStar, and just as wecontinue all to lean into
community and inspiring oneanother and, yeah, god's purpose
(37:03):
for our lives.
So thank you so much forsharing today.
Audrey (37:07):
Absolutely.
It was great to be with you,Stephanie.
Thank you again.
Stephanie (37:12):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(37:36):
upcoming stories.
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to
the NorthStar Narrative, apodcast from NorthStar Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to thisweek's episode.
This week's episode, I'm excitedto share another new friend
(00:26):
with you that I have metrecently, right along at the
same time, Stephen Carter, whichwas on the previous episode at
Cincinnati Hills ChristianAcademy.
At the conference, I was ableto meet Audrey Boydston, and she
is a seasoned leadership coachand master facilitator with over
25 years of experience inleadership development and
(00:48):
product strategy.
She is known for helping teamsmove from ideas to action
through intentionalcollaboration, and she
co-created a virtual edition oftraining from the back of the
room and also trains offeringsfrom Crucial Learning, the Table
Group, and Lego Strategic Play,from Crucial Learning, the
Table Group and Lego StrategicPlay.
Audrey is passionate aboutconnection within teams,
communities and classrooms, andshe brings a wealth of wisdom
(01:10):
from both the corporate andeducational worlds.
She's also a committed mentor,volunteering her time to invest
in high school students andfuture leaders.
Audrey, I'm so excited that youwould sit down with us today to
talk for a little bit.
Audrey (01:25):
Yeah, stephanie, it was great that we met.
What has it been like a monthor so?
Stephanie (01:28):
Yeah, it doesn't seem long though it's gone by so
fast.
Yeah, it was so amazing beingat Cincinnati Hills, getting to
meet you, hang out with all theeducators there to learn about
the entrepreneurship program,and then to getting to meet the
students your son, Blake.
It was so fun watching them inaction.
(01:49):
And, yeah, I'm just excitedthat we were able to share
information and now you canshare a little bit about your
journey and what God's beendoing in your life.
So I can't wait for you toshare a little bit of your
journey.
So tell me a little bit of howthe leadership, the coaching,
education all of that began tointersect and your journey
(02:11):
through corporate life and nowwhere you think God's going.
Where have you seen a thread ofjust God's goodness through all
of this?
Audrey (02:20):
Lots and lots of threads .
Let me try to find the steelthread that really connects all
of them together.
I think in corporate, I reallystarted helping manage and lead
projects, so helping get teamsorganized really the way of
working, like how can they workbest together, right?
(02:45):
So many different personalities, so many different ways that
you can make decisions.
So many, just so, so much.
I could probably go on foreverabout this.
And then we really moved intothe agile space, which is more
about innovation, it's aboutexperimentation, it's about
incremental delivery.
What I noticed, actuallythreading through both of those,
is that I have a passion forpeople that I guess I didn't
realize right away, so it wasnot about the process.
(03:08):
It was never about the process.
Yes, that seemed to be frontand center of everything that we
did leading through this,because businesses need to grow
and thrive.
In order to do that, you haveto deliver.
You know, deliver things,deliver on projects, deliver on
initiatives and stuff.
And so I started really delvinginto the world of why does it
feel like this was so much morefun and so much more inspiring
(03:32):
than this other one?
Or why are these teamsstruggling and these other teams
are doing?
Okay, what seems to be.
What are some of these commonthemes that are helping people
be successful versus not?
And what I found is that, whenteams had leaders who believed
(03:52):
in them, who spent the timecultivating their growth and
development, creating the spacefor them and then teaching them
some of these what you call justbasic human skills, giving them
opportunity to have offeringsof.
What does it mean to be a trueteam leader?
What does it mean to have ateam purpose?
How do we need to interact witheach other?
(04:15):
How do we make decisionstogether?
And so I realized thatequipping people to be able to
do the best work of their livesI know that sounds dramatic, but
really enjoy what they're doingis actually translating into
real outcomes, not just for thempersonally and professionally,
(04:37):
but also for the organizationsthat they're a part of.
Stephanie (04:41):
Yeah, that's good.
At Northstar we talk a lotabout our mission, alignment and
our purpose and it really iscool that everyone understands
and believes and so it makes ahuge difference in how the team
works, and I think that tricklesdown to the students here at
Northstar Academy.
(05:01):
But what have you learnedhappens when there is not a
mission and purpose alignmentwithin a team?
Audrey (05:10):
That's when the fun begins.
No honestly, that's where someof the really difficult
conversations happen.
So I've had the opportunity tospend a lot of time with
leadership teams sitting aroundas they're creating the new
strategies for Go Forward,looking at what brought them
here, what they need to change,and I have a few different
(05:30):
questions that I ask.
The first one is what is yourpurpose?
Why did you start your companyin the first place?
Why are you here?
Some of them have it, some ofthem don't.
Some of them will experiencethe, what we call the Audrey
silence that I will give a spacefor them to start to think
about.
What does that mean if we don'thave one?
(05:52):
Or do we have one that we justmaybe have not aligned on?
So there's the purpose, there'sthe mission, Like what do we do
?
It's great that this is why westarted, but what do we really
do and who do we serve really asthose customers?
And then what your vision isgoing forward.
The fourth, though, is the.
(06:13):
To me, this is like theoverarching.
If you were going to havesomething in neon lights, it
would be what are the values inyour organization that drives
everything in your organizationthat drives everything?
And if I don't have any clearprinciples, then how am I really
making decisions that I knoware going to help move us
forward?
How do I act?
(06:39):
And so I think those are reallythe four key things that I've
really spent a lot of time on,and I'm glad that you mentioned
that Northstar has those inplace.
To me, those are game-changingif you want outcomes, because
it's a really great opportunityto align all of the teams and
individuals, Because even thoughwe're on teams, we're still
individuals.
How do I align everybody andhelp them really truly
understand the impact thatthey're making and how that
(07:03):
translates into moving usforward as a company?
Stephanie (07:06):
Yeah, and how much better is it when you have an
eternal purpose?
So it's so easy to get behindNorthStar Academy's mission and
purpose because we're eternallyimpacting the kingdom of God and
bringing up these students andteaching them the skills in
God's word and how you view theworld through the biblical lens.
(07:27):
And, yeah, what's the worldteaching you and how do we
navigate this?
And it's so, so fun.
So I know your son Blake hashad so much fun at Cincinnati
Hills Christian Academy and thenyou've told me how y'all are
just innovators, idea generatorsand love to get together and
you're writing a book.
So I want you to share a littlebit of how you've seen him
(07:48):
journey through thisentrepreneurship program, what
he's learning, how he's beenchallenged and then how y'all
are able to take that and evenmove in bigger directions.
Audrey (08:00):
So I was really excited when he I think I went to one of
those parents' webinars atnight when they were first
talking about this programbefore Blake started high school
, and I was like you are takingthis Well, it's your choice, but
I really, really, really wantyou to take this.
And so, when he was takingperspectives, he took the online
, the summer version, rightbefore he started his freshman
(08:21):
year.
Right before he started hisfreshman year, and it was the
coolest thing to me that he washearing from leaders such as
John Maxwell and he was hearingfrom, or there were references
to, patrick Lencioni and all ofthese that are actually on my
bookshelf back there.
So here I am, teaching aboutthis in the corporate setting
and using all of these greatthought leaders to help
(08:44):
organizations move forward.
And now I have my son in thisentrepreneurship program, who's
actually learning the same thingand like a freshman, yeah it
was right before he was afreshman, and so that's actually
how Stephen Carter and I met,because Blake started writing
like oh yeah, my mom met PatrickLencioni and all this stuff,
and he was like I'm fully in,like help me understand more,
(09:04):
like how do I get in that circle?
So, um, so it was reallyinteresting to me and the growth
that I've seen in him.
He's young for his, for hisgrade.
I will just tell you that he'sprobably about a year younger
than a lot of the students inhis class.
He's probably the youngest, ifnot, um, you know, the second
youngest.
And just the growth in himbeing a leader on the team and
(09:26):
my husband always tells himbefore he goes to school
anything, be a leader today,help influence others, help
mentor others, be that personthat's going to help move
something forward when peopleare stuck, and I think he really
internalized that.
So we um, I do want to sharejust one quick story related to
this he shared with me the otherday.
(09:46):
It actually is the full storiesin the book, but they have this
thing called I think it'scalled Thankful Thursday as part
of the lacrosse team, and sothey don't actually practice on
Thursdays.
They go to practice, butinstead they sit around, they
talk about teamwork and stuff.
I was like well, help meunderstand more.
The coach shares a message aboutteamwork and he always brings
(10:12):
this back to the Bible and hegives a verse and he's like God
created us for this.
Here's something related to youas a team and how we can move
forward.
And he's like well, this wasthe message that Blake shared
with me, he said, and he's likewell, this was the message that
Blake shared with me.
He said it doesn't reallymatter what you're playing, it
just.
It just matters how you'rerelating with a team and how you
(10:34):
help it I almost feel emotionalwhen I'm saying this and how
you help each other, build eachother up and hold each other
accountable for your actions.
And you're doing this during theschool year, the school day.
You're doing this during yourtime at home.
So, basically, the coach istelling them they want to take
everything that they're teachingabout teamwork and apply it
(10:54):
everywhere.
And I asked him about how theBible then comes into play and
he said there are certainpassages that he will talk about
how we are not created to justbe individuals.
We are created for community,and there's so much more that we
can create and do togetherthrough some of those
interactions.
So to me that was a powerfulmoment how this together on the
(11:18):
field, as well as in theentrepreneurship program and
everything that we're trying toteach them here at home it all
seemed to intersect quite nicelyover the last couple of years.
Stephanie (11:28):
Yeah, that's incredible.
And what year is he nowSophomore, and so what has he
been learning that you've seenreally transform his mind and
give him some real, tangibleskills so far.
Audrey (11:40):
Yeah, so there is an Eagle Pizza Kitchen and it's one
of the internships that theyhave at Cincinnati Hills
Christian Academy, and so thisis his second year of doing it,
and just the growth of he's likemom.
I have another idea.
I think that this is likeanother offering we could do, or
this and and helping him, uh,coach him on how he can even
(12:02):
present an idea, not just to theteacher but the entire team,
cause there's a team of studentsthat are working on this.
And so during actually, um, itwas the day I met you, stephanie
, when we were in the greenhouseand then we were in the uh for
the appetizers and horsd'oeuvres and stuff that they
had one of the uh teachers inthis program came up to me and
said you know, well, we'rereally thinking of having Blake
(12:24):
be a leader in the program nextyear.
What do you think Like?
What would he?
What would he like to do?
Would he like to really managethe operations, part of it?
Would he like to be mayberesponsible for coming up with
new ideas and stuff?
And, of course, doing Blake,yeah, that's the one that
resonated.
So I've just seen a lot ofgrowth in him personally and
(12:44):
being able to interact even withpeople on the other team.
If he's on the lacrosse team,everything the joy that he has
and the leadership skills thathe's developing, he's using
pretty much everywhere that wego.
Stephanie (13:01):
So, cool to see so fun yeah.
Audrey (13:04):
Being a mom and watching you flourish and blossom.
Not that, in my opinion, iscompletely objective.
Of course there's somesubjectivity here too.
Stephanie (13:13):
No, I was there on the campus.
I saw all these students andheard from them and their
testimonies and you could justfeel the intensity of the joy
and the fun and the learning andtrue engagement.
Yep, I loved it, Loved everymoment there.
(13:33):
So you told us on the surveyabout running and you've run
marathons.
I know you've written a blogrecently about that and that you
run on the Little Miami Trailand this helps you solve
problems while you're running.
So talk a little bit about Iknow how important everybody
tells us exercise is and how ithelps clear your mind and the
problem solving, but tell us alittle bit of, yeah, how this
(13:56):
really does help you.
Some practical tips from it.
Audrey (13:59):
Sure, I have found that sitting in front of a computer
is not inspiring for me.
I could sit here for hours like, oh, I have this new
presentation or something thatI'm writing a chapter in the
book.
Sitting in front of a computerliterally does nothing for me,
and so when I actually go out onmy morning runs, that's when
the ideas just start coming.
(14:20):
And what I've learned to dowhich gosh, I wish I would have
learned this a couple of yearsago is I'll stop and I'll just
talk to text or something andstart capturing, and it could be
even one phrase.
That can become somethingthat's way bigger than that when
I get back.
But I think sometimes, ashumans, there's so much noise
around us, even if we're sittingsilently in a room by ourselves
(14:43):
, because there's things thatyou're thinking about, like what
I have this to do, I have thisto do when I'm running to me.
That clears my head and I canthen start to think about gosh,
I have no idea where to startwith this Kind of you know those
silent prayers like help mefigure this out.
And as the miles are going on,you know that kind of stuff is
(15:03):
happening.
And there's one thing that Iwant to point out that I use in
this, that I think Blake isusing as well.
There is a book called GettingThings Done and thankfully
there's a teenager version ofGetting Things Done for
Teenagers and there's somethingcalled a open loop, and I don't
know if you've heard of thisbefore, but one of the
(15:24):
techniques is about closing openloops, which means I have
something in my brain that'sbeen I have to remember.
There's something I have to do,there's something that I have
to remember, that specific pieceof data, it's an open loop and
it happens over and over andover and over again, and so the
tip on those is there's also thetwo minute rule.
(15:47):
If I have an open loop and it'sgoing to take me less than two,
two minutes or less to do toclose it, do it.
I started doing that on thetrail, Like, oh, I have to
remember to call this person, Ihave to remember to do this.
So what it happens, what helps,too, is it helps me close a lot
of those open loops so that Ican free up the space to think
creatively and determine what Iwant to focus on next.
Stephanie (16:11):
That's so good, so important, because when you have
those loops just going, I knowfor me it exhausts you because
you're always thinking about it.
I'll do that, I'll do that, butthen when you don't do it, yeah
decisions and closing loops andyou know how the alignment
(16:41):
works together as a team.
I'd love to hear more what wecan learn today from you about
that.
Audrey (16:47):
Sure, one of the biggest things and I learned this from
Sharon Bowman when I firstlearned about training from the
back of the room and it's aboutneuroplasticity, and people
think sometimes that you know, Ican't keep learning.
Like you know, I've got enough,I'm kind of full.
But your brain can continue toexpand and you can continue to
(17:10):
learn new things.
And, like I remember you know,a close family member a couple
of weeks ago was like I'm done,I'm this age, I'm not going to
learn anymore.
I'm like well, actually, thescience behind it is you can
continue to learn and you cancontinue to make connections,
but part of it is you have towant it, and we talk about this
(17:32):
all the time, especially even onteams.
You have to want this.
If you want this win, then youhave to figure out what it's
going to take to actually getthere.
And I think what happenssometimes is people get stuck in
their minds and it just breaksmy heart when I see students
that are like this, like well,this is really all I know or
(17:52):
this is all the experience Ihave.
There's so much more for themand there's so much room for
them to grow, and the more thatyou actually you tried it once.
It didn't work Awesome.
What did you learn from it?
You tried it twice.
It didn't work Awesome.
What did you learn from it?
You tried it three times.
The more you're practicing it,the more you're creating these
connections, the better you'regoing to get.
(18:15):
Whatever it is whether it's aspecific skill set that you're
trying to gain, maybe it'sknowledge that you're trying to
gain.
Whatever that might be, I thinkpart of it is we get in our own
way, and so if I had onemessage for students here maybe
even physically, step out ofwhatever box that you've put
(18:37):
yourself in, like where you'restanding now.
Step out of that box, find outand explore what else.
What else would you like tofocus on?
What else do you think thatyou're interested in that you
haven't even tried before?
What's scary about it?
Sometimes that fear is the fearof the unknown.
Okay, maybe something's notgoing to work out like I want,
(19:00):
but maybe it is and maybe I'mgoing to have a really great
story that I can share witheverybody else.
That's going to help them learnand grow as well.
Stephanie (19:07):
That's good.
A recent little phrase quote orsomething I learned or saw was
are you scared?
Like do it scared?
Yeah, so sometimes we just doit if we're not scared, but
sometimes you might be scared,but you just do it.
So, thinking about that fear,fear can just completely
paralyze you.
Um, and then the fear of change.
(19:30):
I know we see that.
So students not wanting to trysomething new or even to
challenge your brain to thinkthrough the questions you just
laid out, right, so, yeah,getting in the way, that's so
true.
And so having people around you, how important is it to have
that team that will challengeyou if they see you stuck?
You know accountability aboutthings.
(19:51):
What do you teach about reallyspeaking into one another's
lives?
Audrey (19:56):
Well, I have a great example actually that I just
witnessed it, um, a couple of ofweeks ago at CHC.
So I want to share that one andthen and then share how it
helped teams.
The uh, uh, the cross countryteam, um, practiced at the same
time.
The lacrosse uh team was in abunch.
There's like five differentteams going on at once.
And there's this one day.
(20:17):
I came early and I like to justwatch the practices because
that's where you can kind oflearn, you know, about some of
the dynamics and stuff.
And so the cross country teamthink about it running is an
individual sport, is it not?
It's an individual sport.
And yet, as they were endingtheir day, ending their practice
, all of a sudden I see them allcoming together and they're all
(20:38):
like hooting and hollering andgetting excited about each other
.
And nice job, john, you didbetter at this.
Or nice job, you know, fill inthe blank with whoever their
name is.
And it was amazing.
And I saw the coach on the wayout.
I was like, wow, you createdquite the team.
And he said, actually, I have,but it's all them.
(20:59):
But the most important thing isthey hold each other accountable
and they help each other ifthey're not doing as well as
they wanted to.
Maybe it's the form.
I know I've had times where Ifeel like I run sloppy and I
need somebody to look at my formand help me get back to where
it's going, to help me be moresuccessful and propel me forward
(21:20):
.
No pun intended on running, andso the same thing with teams.
Sometimes I think the bestgrowth happens in teams when
they're open to share not justtheir experiences but their
knowledge with one another.
Holding knowledge to somepeople is power, but when you
look at that from the otherperspective, sharing that
knowledge is also power, butit's power for that team and not
(21:44):
just for that person that hasit.
And so as a team, if we like,say we're a team and here's our
purpose and this is what we doon a day-to-day basis.
Does that mean that's all weever do?
Is what we do on a day-to-daybasis?
Does that mean that's all weever do?
What's that growth anddevelopment look like?
Maybe some of it is justorganic from you know, some of
(22:10):
the members of the team that arelearning on their own Like, oh
my gosh, I just learned thisreally cool thing that I want to
bring it in and share with you.
Maybe it's from external forceswhere they're bringing in you
know other, you know talent,development mechanisms and stuff
for that team.
But once you look past that one,just as an individual, and you
start to act more as we have acommon let's let's bring that
(22:32):
purpose word back in If we havea common purpose and no, and we
know why we exist.
We know why we exist.
How does what we're doing helpmove that forward and reflect
that?
And so I think getting out ofthat space of it's just about me
and as an individual.
(22:52):
Yes, we're individuals, butwe're also part of something way
bigger, and so acknowledgingthat and finding ways to figure
out how to navigate in thosesituations, I think is really
crucial.
And so that's another thingthat I've seen with like, we're
always talking about teams.
I think my family is alwayslike is it always about
(23:13):
leadership and teams and mindsetand all these other things?
I'm like well, kind of it is.
Stephanie (23:22):
Yeah, that's good.
And you can't help to thinkabout the scripture, the body,
the church body, and how theeyes, the hands, the feet, you
know, without each otherwouldn't function and how and
look at the energy that happenswhen you all come together.
Yeah.
Audrey (23:39):
I think the energy alone from that yeah.
Stephanie (23:43):
Yeah, I could picture that story as you're telling it
All the guys high-fiving eachother, smacking each other you
know woo great job.
However, they all you knowrunning together.
Or girls there's girls on theteam too, yeah.
Audrey (23:57):
Some of them are faster than some of the boys.
Stephanie (24:00):
Yeah, boys, girls, everybody just loving each other
.
Yeah, that's an inspiring story.
And if we can remember to dothat, because we know especially
organizations that have thateternal purpose and they know
their mission, how much can ourflesh, our own self, get in the
way, the enemy get in the way,you know, just the world get in
(24:23):
the way.
What do you share about that?
About how to, because you mighthave a place that's really
mission-driven, but you have tobe intentional about keeping it
right.
You don't just get to a pointoh yay, we're here, and then
just be able to fall back.
Audrey (24:39):
You do, and so I presented a number of times at
conferences on intentionalpurpose, because purpose is one
thing that's great I know why weexist.
But intentionally embeddingthat into everything that you do
, it's hard, it's not theeasiest thing to do.
It's like a tie back.
How do I tie this back to whywe exist?
How do I tie this back even towhere we want to be next?
This, how do I tie this backeven to where we want to be next
(25:02):
?
That, to me, is the mostcritical, I would say, role of
any leader, whether you're in aschool, whether you are a
teacher, even if it's a socialstudies or biology or whatever.
That is right being able tohelp grow these skills.
Because I want you to thinkabout even a geometry class.
(25:23):
Grow these skills, because Iwant you to think about even a
geometry class.
They're doing projects together.
Blake was just building a kiteout of I think it was like
garbage bags and straws andstring and all this stuff.
But they had to find ways toactually work together in teams
to do this.
They also had to know why theywere doing it.
It wasn't just hey, this iskind of cool, let's build a kite
(25:44):
.
No, this is the purpose of it.
This is what we hope to achieve,and here's what your mission is
to be able to create that, andI think to me you can do that,
and especially in theeducational system, I feel like
there's so many differentopportunities and so many
different ways that you do it.
That's how you grow people,that's how you grow as humans,
(26:05):
and then the more differentinteractions like this that you
can create.
You're creating communitieswithin communities, and isn't
that why we exist?
It's not why God created us.
It wasn't to be.
I'm on my own and I'm justAudrey and you're Stephanie, and
we go about doing our ownthings Like how do we continue
to form these connections so wecan continue to grow and learn
(26:28):
from each other and then pass onall of this to others as well?
Stephanie (26:33):
Yeah, because that energy is contagious.
It is.
That's fun.
Yeah, such fun, incredible,important stuff, beautiful stuff
we're talking about and, yeah,it's much harder to actually go
out and do it than to talk aboutit.
But it's just that it's onemoment at a time, the next right
(26:53):
thing, the next right step.
I mean just, you know, nottrying to do it all at once,
right?
Audrey (27:02):
There's one chapter that we're working through, called
momentum in the moment.
Okay, how do you create that?
And life is a series of moments, isn't it?
Yeah, so how do you createmomentum in each one of those?
And how do you know how toregain that momentum if you've
lost it?
Because we've all lost it,probably millions and millions
(27:22):
of times?
If you've lost it Because we'veall lost it, probably millions
and millions of times, right, welose momentum.
How do we gain it?
Rather than focusing on I lostmomentum, okay, it happens to
all of us and community.
I think the power of communityis helping people regain that
momentum.
And there's one.
I see these signs all over.
(27:43):
I don't know if you've seenthem, where you are, for some
reason, they just say you areenough.
I like to change the dynamic.
You are more than enough.
We have more than enough toaccomplish everything that God
created us for.
Sometimes we haven't tappedinto it because we don't know
how to tap into it.
So that's another power ofcommunity.
(28:03):
I might have a purpose and I'mlike this is why I exist and
this is why this is what youknow, I have been tasked to do
and these are my passion areas.
Sometimes we tap out a littlebit too soon Like I'm enough, I
can.
I'm enough to do this, that'sit.
So how do we then instill inall of the students that
(28:26):
Northstar supports, that CHCsupports, that, all of these
other schools around the globethat they all support?
How do we then instill that youactually have more in you and
help them understand how theycan tap into those reserves?
Stephanie (28:41):
Yeah, so important.
Audrey (28:43):
It is important.
Stephanie (28:45):
And how fun it is when you watch students doing
that with students.
Yeah, just like back to therunning team.
Yeah, yeah.
Audrey (28:55):
Because we inspire one another.
Stephanie (28:58):
And I think one thing I've been telling myself
because I find myself toosedentary, not moving enough,
not doing exercise enough.
You know, sometimes you get sobusy and I do have to be in
front of the computer a lot.
But I think about the physicsan object in motion stays in
motion.
Object at rest is going to stayat rest.
I'm like, ok, if I've been atrest a long time, how do I get
(29:19):
myself moving?
Because once I get moving, youknow that energy builds and then
you're able to keep moving andkeep doing stuff.
You know whether I'm going on awalk and then I'm able to come
back.
Okay, clean the kitchen now orcook dinner, you know.
And so I think we can help eachother do that too, cause I feel
sometimes stuck.
Well, it's just easier to sithere, or it's just easier not to
(29:41):
go do the exercise or not, youknow, and I don't know.
Do you see how that's a goodpicture of a team and just
really helping each other stayin motion?
Any advice on that?
Audrey (29:55):
Sure, and it's interesting.
I read a quote the other day.
It said something about like,the days that you don't want to
go run or you don't want to dosomething are usually the days
that you need it the most.
Yeah, now do I always take thatadvice?
No, there's days when we getbusy, right.
I think being part of the team,too is we're all going to have
our bad days.
(30:15):
We're all going to have ourdays where we don't feel like
doing it, where we don't want todo it, where there's other
things that potentially could beweighing on us.
Maybe it's things at school andthere's just like huge projects
coming up, things like that.
Maybe in the corporate setting,it just feels overwhelming
because you feel like you're anexpert in everything and
everyone's coming to you and yetyou're not able to really move
(30:37):
forward with your own evenprofessional development that
you want to do.
Sometimes I think that's therole of the coach.
I look at even teachers ascoaches.
I don't know if they all lookat each other that way, but they
are, and I just love all theteachers around the planet that
are really embracing the factthat these are all amazing human
(31:00):
beings, that you have theopportunity that you are given
the opportunity to pour intoyour knowledge and it extends
beyond what's in that textbookor are there even textbooks
anymore?
They're really all online buteven more into like those life
lessons and things that you cando.
And so one of the things as ateam, when the thing that I
(31:22):
think is one of the mostpowerful moments in a lacrosse
game or in any kind of a game isthat when a player gets hurt,
everyone on that team andeveryone on the other team
kneels down and they pause andthey wait until that kid gets
back up I get emotional when Isee these things, because I can
actually just picture it on thefield and the support that's in
(31:44):
place for that team member fromthat moment forward.
if they can't be there for therest of the game, or even if
they can't come back for acouple of weeks, that support's
there for them.
And what the cooler even thecooler part is that team member
that was hurt, that might noteven be able to play.
We have a few of them this year.
(32:04):
They've come to every practice.
They've come to every game,Everything that that team does.
They come even though theycan't participate in the way
they want to.
What a powerful team dynamicCan you imagine if we could,
just you know, have this type ofmessage, like everywhere, that
you're part of a team, that,even if at that point in time,
(32:27):
you can't contribute in the waythat you are typically used to,
you're not the one that's, youknow, defending the goal.
You're not the one that's, youknow, the top person in one of
those relays.
The top person in one of thoserelays you're not.
You know you're not able to bethe one that's driving that
(32:48):
project forward.
In an organization you mighthave, there's another place for
you and being able to find whatthat place is and help the rest
of the team navigate throughthat specific situation, I think
is actually another form ofgrowth of that player, that
person.
Stephanie (33:06):
Yeah, and you might find it's more powerful to be
that voice and that, you know,because if you're hurt and you
can't defend the goal, but youcould be that voice on the bench
.
That's encouraging andempowering and, yeah, can be
just as exciting or more, sothat's incredible.
Thank you so much for all thatyou've shared with us today,
(33:27):
that you've learned in yourexperiences and just excited for
the good work you're doing andthe fun things coming for you
and Blake with the book.
And do you want to tell peoplethat want to find out more about
how to get in touch with youand some things that you offer
where they can find that?
Audrey (33:43):
Sure.
So we started Thoughtful Agile,I think like 2018, and we
really expanded it to.
I think there's three areas inpeople that are working in an
organization profit, nonprofit,whatever it is.
It could education, corporate,whatever, education, corporate,
whatever.
So, focusing on the employeeexperiences, the student
(34:06):
experiences or their learnerexperiences and your customer
experiences, and like connectingall three, that's what we focus
on at Thoughtful Agile, so Iwould love to connect with
anybody.
I'm LinkedIn all the time, likeI love LinkedIn.
I learn so much like every day.
I feel like that's my extra funtime when I need a break from
whatever it is that I'm like Ilove LinkedIn.
I learn so much like every dayI feel like that's my uh, that's
my extra fun time when I need abreak from whatever it is that
(34:26):
I'm doing from from work.
So, yeah, I would love toconnect with anyone who's
interested in any of these areas, or even just to talk about
running Cause we could probablytalk about that all day.
Stephanie (34:36):
Yeah, that's good.
Um, okay.
One last thing for theentrepreneurship program, the
foundations class it's startingup for Northstar.
Would you recommend parents gettheir students involved in this
course and, hopefully, thebigger program that will be
forming, and why, if so?
Audrey (34:56):
Yes, absolutely, because the tie-ins that you're going
to find in this program to whatyou probably do in some way
shape or form working with teamsand working with organizations
like whether they're local ornational or what have you really
great lessons, like I rememberwhen Blake was listening to some
of the podcasts from some ofthe CEOs and I was like I want
(35:17):
to know, I want to know, I wantto hear, because all of these
what it really boils down to.
You can say we can bucketthings into leadership lessons
or into I don't like the wordsoft skills.
I like to say human skills.
You know some of these other.
You can bucket them into all ofthese different areas, but at
the end of the day, this isabout us as humans and how we
(35:41):
can interact together and how wecan learn and grow together.
And if they want to be anentrepreneur, awesome Like this
is setting them up for success.
To think about what uniquegifts do I have that I could
then rely on, to think aboutwhat my business could be, what
would my offer be, and so that'smy guidance.
(36:05):
A lot of times when studentscome to me and say that you know
I want to do this, or like whydid you start your business and
what made you decide what yourbusiness was about?
And getting crisp on what youroffer is what you truly enjoy
doing, and my number one pieceof advice for them is just enjoy
(36:25):
it, learn from it, really enjoythe community that you've built
around this and move forward.
But yeah, I love it.
I'm a huge proponent for it.
Anyone wants to talk directlyabout this.
I would love to Another one ofthose topics.
Stephanie (36:40):
Hey, awesome, it was so good just to meet with you
today and then to meet you atthe conference to learn more,
and so I'm so excited to see,yeah, where God's going to
continue to take you and Blake,your family and Cincinnati Hills
and NorthStar, and just as wecontinue all to lean into
community and inspiring oneanother and, yeah, god's purpose
(37:03):
for our lives.
So thank you so much forsharing today.
Audrey (37:07):
Absolutely.
It was great to be with you,Stephanie.
Thank you again.
Stephanie (37:12):
Thank you so much for listening today.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
(37:36):
upcoming stories.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.