In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kantor interviews LauraLynn Jansen, a human-centered leadership innovator, keynote speaker, professional coach, and author, about preserving the human connection in an increasingly technology-driven world. LauraLynn shares insights from her coaching experience and PhD research on humanity, connection, emotional agility, and the importance of recognizing individual values. She also explores how leaders and professionals can navigate rapid change, strengthen relationships, and stay connected to their humanity while working in increasingly digital environments.
Dr. LauraLynn Jansen is a pioneering voice in human-centered leadership, assisting individuals in leading roles and as a keynote speaker and professional coach. For over twenty years she has worked with leaders, teams, and organizations to strengthen one of the greatest competitive advantages of our time human nuace, the capacity to create workplaces where people genuinely feel seen, valued, respected, and engaged with one another.
Blending cutting-edge research with real-world leadership development, she assists organizations navigate a growing paradox. As technology accelerates efficiency, automation, and scale, the human need for trust, belonging, empathy, and authentic connection becomes even more essential.
Her work equips leaders to cultivate the human nuance that technology cannot replicate – creating cultures that drive engagement, innovation, resilience, and sustainable performance.
Her groundbreaking doctoral research explored the lived experience of humanization (feeling one sees one’s humanity) among globally diverse individuals, identifying how intentional proactive interactions foster deeper engagement, trust, and collective flourishing.
Her research earned her the Academy of Management’s Promising Dissertation Award, one of the field’s highest recognitions for emerging scholarship. She is also a Fetzer scholar, and a Fellow of the International Humanistic Management Association, reflecting her commitment to advancing leadership that places humanity at the center.
Her influence extends beyond academia. She has designed and facilitated transformational leadership experiences for executives, health care professionals, military leaders, nonprofit organizations, and private-sector companies throughout North America and Europe.
From Washington, D.C. to Hawai’i and across international settings, she creates immersive learning environments that move beyond traditional leadership training, inviting participants into experiences that transform not only how they lead, but how they related to themselves and others.
As an accomplished Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (PCC), she has coached individuals for over two and a half decades, assisting them navigate complexity, uncertainty, organizational change, and personal growth with greater clarity, grounded courage, and intentionality.
Her facilitation and speaker style is highly engaging, combining thought-provoking research, interactive dialogue, reflective practices, and practical leadership development tools that audiences can immediately apply.
Drawing from both Eastern and Western philosophical understandings, she integrates leadership, coaching, mindfulness, somatic awareness, and whole-person well-being into an approach that recognizes as both and internal and relational practice.
She believes sustainable leadership begins with the quality of our presence – how we show up, how we relate, and how we create environments where people grow and thrive together.
Whether delivering keynote presentations, facilitating executive retreats, or leading transformational leadership programs, she challenges audiences to rethink what truly drives high-performing organizations.
Her work demonstrates that while technology will continue to reshape how we work, our greatest opportunity lies in strengthening the distinctly human capacities that build trust, inspire innovation, and foster meaningful connection.
LauraLynn’s vision is simple yet profound: to help create a future where leadership is experienced as deeply human-centered – where organizations and the individuals within them succeed not despite their humanity, but because of it.
Recognized for her cancer advocacy and foresight In a world where technology is evolving faster than human interaction, Dr. LauraLynn Jansen equips leaders to cultivate the one capability that cannot be automated: the ability to lead in ways that are deeply, intentionally, and authentically human.
Connect with LauraLynn on LinkedIn.
What You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Applying human-centered leadership in a technology-driven world
- Strengthening authentic human connection and communication
- Recognizing the impact of assumptions, judgments, and autopilot thinking
- Developing emotional intelligence and emotional agility
- Understanding personal values through lived experiences
- Navigating rapid technological and workplace changes
- Building meaningful social connections in increasingly remote environments
- Using coaching to turn self-awareness into forward movement
- Creating greater alignment between personal values and daily life
- Maintaining humanity while embracing technological innovation
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Business RadioX. If you’re a business coach who’s tired of being a best kept secret, set up a call with Stone Payton at books.phone.com to unlock your perpetual prospect pipeline. Today on the show, we have human centered leadership innovator, keynote speaker, professional coach, author with LLJansen, Laura Lynn Jansen. Welcome.
LauraLynn Jansen: Thank you so much for having me.
Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn about your practice. Tell us all about LLJansen. How you serving folks?
LauraLynn Jansen: Well, there’s several ways. Uh, one of the oldest ways that I’ve been a coach for 26 years. So kind of when the field started, I became a professional coach. And I’ve been coaching in all different capacities from civilian world to through military. And then sometimes those evolve into people asking me to come do leadership development training. My focus a lot of times is on how we create more human centered, especially I. My tagline is the human nuance in a tech world. And part of that comes based out of the research that I did for my PhD, where I, where I interviewed people from literally all over the world about how they feel people see their humanity. And then I write, I’m actually writing a new book now based on my research from my PhD work. And I also have a memoir. And then sometimes I write for publications, and then I speak whenever I have the opportunity to do keynote speaking or speaking with local groups, or sometimes I volunteer to speak for leadership groups that are working with youth.
Lee Kantor: So what was it like at the beginning when coaching was kind of a new thing? Um, what drove you to get involved with coaching at that point?
LauraLynn Jansen: You know, everybody has asked me that lately because I’ve been out more in the coaching field than I ever have been. Uh, as my main thing and I really, I don’t remember, um, but I know what keeps me in it. That’s, that’s something I know for sure. And what keeps me in it is just like why I continue to facilitate with individuals is just to be a witness to people having those aha moments in their life that create change for them. So just to be a witness to that, help be a part of it. You know, I’m a co-active coach. So basically that means I hold people creative, resourceful and whole. I see them as holding the answers. And my job is to ask questions, offer different exercises, things that they can do to bring that out in them because it’s been forgotten or pulled over and not seen, because there’s what I call gremlin voices or saboteur voices that have forgotten. Or maybe they’ve gotten them for, you know, their whole life and they’re just uncovering them now to really just see what it is that’s underneath that is genuinely and authentically them.
Lee Kantor: Well, you describe yourself as human centered leadership innovator. What does that mean?
LauraLynn Jansen: So right now it means different things based on what’s happening in our culture and our society. But right now, what it really means is as we automate more and more and more, there’s a human nuance that we have to stay in touch with, right? Because so biologically, neurologically, we are wired to be in connection human to human. And when we don’t allow that to happen, when we deny it, we start to become a psychologically more sad, disconnected, which you can kind of see as an epidemic somewhat in our culture around how we’re getting less and less connected and there’s more depression and things like that. It also focuses on like those, those subtleties around, are you listening? But not in the sense of like active listening. Like I there’s layers to it and there’s ways in which you do it to yourself and to others and in groups. And so it’s, it’s activating those different levels of listening. It’s, it’s knowing how to acknowledge which was the number one thing that I found in my research that made people feel humanized was that ability to acknowledge another person and see their humanity beyond if they had social stigmas or whatever. So those are some of the things when you’re human centered that help bring towards more connection, more authentic engagement, also engage looking at autopilot, thinking, right. Like we were when we were cave people. Let’s say, you know, we quickly judged a tiger and we looked at it and went, not safe. Gotta run. Right. And but in the modern world, we’ve kicked those into high gear sometimes without really reflecting on when we judge. Set expectations, make assumptions. And so part of the work I do around human centered is how do we slow down? How do we notice what we’re feeling? What is our need in the moment? Are there assumptions jumping into the space? So those are some of the things when you work around human centered leadership, it’s looking at not only emotional intelligence, but emotional agility, moving it into action.
Lee Kantor: Now, throughout time, hasn’t there always been these periods of transition like we’re going through now where, um, humans gather and then something changes and whether it’s technology or, you know, the invention of fire or it could have been anything. Um, and then we kind of change our behavior based on that because it’s new. And then we make some sort of adjustments and then we go back to some form of elevating community and humanity.
LauraLynn Jansen: Um, I think it’s true. And I kind of think of it like a spiral. You know, like maybe we’re coming back, but we’re at a different place. So maybe we’re not in the exact same circle as where we were. Maybe we’re in another layer lower or higher, depending on how you want to think about it. I think the difference is with what’s happening right now. I just posted about this on my LinkedIn, is that there is this way in which we’re starting to lose our ability to understand how to communicate emotions or deal with each other through emotions, because we have automations that are just. It’s just assuming that we know. They know that it knows exactly what we need. And it’s not always true because it can’t read our body language. It can’t read our facial expressions, it can’t read certain cues. So what I worry about, if we are coming back around, what is lost, that was part of that human nuance in that process and is.
Lee Kantor: But isn’t that just part of the evolution? I mean, there was a period where we all stayed in one small location and that’s all we knew. And now kind of we have access to the world. And so our communication with the world would be different than it would be if we were just right across from each other. So we have to evolve and learn, relearn maybe some of those things that worked well face to face that maybe don’t work as well virtually. Or I think you’re talking about maybe AI driven where it’s not even a human, it’s a, some sort of a software machine.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah. But as I said earlier, you know, we are biologically wired to be in connection with each other, right? So if we lose the cues on how to genuinely do that, what, what happens to us as a species, right? Like, do we, do we, I mean, maybe we devolve.
Lee Kantor: Or maybe we evolve. It could be a good thing. I mean, we don’t know.
LauraLynn Jansen: I’m you can tell where I’m on this. You know, for me, it’s like, I don’t want to lose touch with humanity because when we lose touch with humanity, things happen that aren’t always really kind. I mean, history has shown that, right? And so like, we always like, we think about nine over 11 or other events where, you know, where each other, we saw each other’s humanity and for whatever brief moment it was, there was a different way in which we were with each other. Right? But what if we continually have a state of where we don’t connect. Like what will that how will that change us as human beings and will it change us? You know, I don’t know, I just I, as someone who works around relational cultural theory and has worked with individuals who have been stigmatized by our society, like I worked with foster girls for many years, and I’ve seen the impact of that and how it is so damaging to the individual when they are disregarded or disconnected from the larger sphere. And that’s kind of what’s the studies are showing is happening. So.
Lee Kantor: So now in your work, how does that translate to your clients?
LauraLynn Jansen: Well, it’s it’s a matter of some people will self-identify that, like I, I don’t know if I know how to have a conversation with someone in a way that’s respectfully curious or how to acknowledge or I noticed that my autopilot thinking is, is running me over, right? Like I jump into judgments or assumptions. So I coach executives, I coach, you know, a high tech people. I coach artists in New York who, you know, that need that communication skill. Even if they’re in a tech world, they need those communication skills to be able to, you know, exist in this world. And so there’s, it’s just a matter of refining it in a way that they show up with it. Every person is different. So I don’t have like a patent way that I work with every person because everybody shows up differently.
Lee Kantor: So what is kind of the sign or signal that individual needs right before they call you? That is kind of the trigger that says, hey, maybe I should call Laura Lynn.
LauraLynn Jansen: So some of the triggers people have told me that they have had is they feel very distant from their spouse. They notice that at work, they can’t seem to have their team function well, right? Like there’s just this discombobulation within the space and they want to know as a leader, like, how can I support creating more connection for more productivity or, you know, whatever it is? Um, and for people who are sales people, you know, their number one thing is they have to be able to be in connection with other people to sell their products or, you know, create an experience of, um, the need. Like a lot of, I mean, just like me as a coach, people come to me because they have a need salespeople. You know, when they’re good. What I know is that you, you know, what the need of the customer is. And you, you go into that. But if you don’t know how to relate to a customer to find out what that need is, that could be a challenge. So it just really depends on the angle you’re coming in.
Lee Kantor: And then when they, when you work with them, is it primarily one on one or do you do group coaching or cohorts or is it kind of.
LauraLynn Jansen: All of it? I do. It just depends on what avenue they come through. So with my private practice, you know, it’s usually one on one. I do do group coaching, especially if an organization requests it. Sometimes it’s coaching in the moment when facilitating, you know, a communication course or, you know, some kind of part of the leadership development course that I have. It just depends on what what is needed in the moment. I’m very adaptable. If it’s needed in the moment to do individual and group. We do that, which I do with some groups, which I’ll be doing at the end of October with a group I’m working with on the East Coast. Um, I do individual coaching ahead to help them define their values based on their lived experience versus just pulling it from a list. And then that creates a foundation for them when we come into the group for them to understand when conversations start to happen, maybe if they feel tensions or whatever, they can start to think about, okay, well, I know this tension is happening because I know I value this certain thing and they may know from people they work with. I know that they don’t value that. And maybe that’s why we have attention. And that’s part of that emotional agility is like not only understanding your own needs or values, which are very, you know, they can go either way. Those words are kind of interchangeable in some level. Um, so it’s just, it’s just a matter of what, what’s in the space and how do I work with it? And if anything taught me to be agile around that was when I worked with teenage girls.
Lee Kantor: So now when you’re working with technology leaders, are, are they right now involved in artificial intelligence and the deploying of that?
LauraLynn Jansen: All of it. They work.
Lee Kantor: In.
LauraLynn Jansen: Software AI.
Lee Kantor: Are they reaching out to you because they have a fear that, um, there would be less humanity if with their own service or products and they want your help to make it more humanized or like what’s, what do you think is behind it?
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah, I’ve had some people reach out for that and I don’t, I don’t take those jobs. Um. Uh. But I have had others who are working in tech companies who are working on developing stuff like that, and I’m helping them manage the stress of the competitiveness of being in positions like that. So I’m not directly working on the AI element itself, but I’m working with them to manage, you know, the work themselves as human beings.
Lee Kantor: But not for the output to be more human centered.
LauraLynn Jansen: No, no, I’ve been asked for to do stuff like that, but I have I have not done it at this point.
Lee Kantor: And then is that by choice or is there a reason behind that?
LauraLynn Jansen: I just um, at the moment the choice is, is that I don’t, I don’t want to be part of it at the moment. So I, I’m very conflicted because environmental impacts and things like that. I’m a long term cancer survivor. So I always look at like, what is the impact this is having, you know, on multiple levels. And it’s just not something I feel like I can do at the moment.
Lee Kantor: So but you believe that it’s something that if you were to guess if there’d be more of it or less of it in the near to mid-term future, I would imagine you think there’s going to be more of it.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah, I think there is. I think it’s already proven that like the trajectory of it is quite rapid. So, you know, and I have friends that do it and work in it and it’s they’re still my friends. It’s just not something, you know, I, it’s just a thing that I, you know, we all, it’s part of my values, right? So we all have individual values that kind of guide us to where we go. And I watched through coaching integrity wise, I don’t, you know, I don’t like, I, I’ve been approached by companies that are building AI things that are coaching. And I don’t believe that that can replace coaching because of all the things I mentioned before. You know, when you coach someone, there’s facial things, right?
Lee Kantor: There’s nuance that the technology can’t grasp.
LauraLynn Jansen: No, no, the breathing, the anything. And that’s, that’s what I talk about in my because my literally, like I said, my, my tagline for speaking is human nuance in a tech world, right? And I’m not saying the tech world shouldn’t exist. I’m just saying I’m, I’m, I’m here saying we also need to pay attention to these, these things because as humans, we need this to live healthfully.
Lee Kantor: So, um, when you’re working with them, what’s the outcome they desire when working with you? Because if they know clearly, you know where you stand on this, what are they looking to get out of it?
LauraLynn Jansen: Many of them are just trying to de-stress their lives.
Lee Kantor: So it’s just a personal kind of for them, their own sanity.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah, yeah. I mean, some of them are in leadership roles. And so my PhD is in leadership and change. So sometimes I’m coaching them around how to, you know, manage being a leader in those realms. So some people come to me for that. So sometimes it’s professional that way. Sometimes it’s personal through the the stress or trying to keep their life on track because they’re just so busy and working so many hours in these tech startups and such.
Lee Kantor: So this must be a stressful time for you where your all of your life’s work is around humanity and human centered work. And the world seemingly is pulling to a more virtual and artificial interactions.
LauraLynn Jansen: I don’t know if I’m stressed about it or I can really see how I’m really needed. Right. To help keep that balance. Um, you know, when I finished my PhD three years ago and I came out of it with my research, there was an inkling that it could be really important in the near future. And I was living in Europe at the time, and it wasn’t as obvious there. But when I came back to the US, it became incredibly obvious to me. And it was at the time when everything was changing as far as around Dei and all that stuff, which is a field I had worked in in the past as well. And, um, and so, but when you look, if you look out at some of the things that people are asking for, there are now companies that are seeking out people like me that are tech companies to help make sure that the people in their work. Do remember that humanity side, right? There’s actually literally calls for people just like me to speak in those realms, which keeps gives me hope. Right? So that’s kind of where I’m one of those people. I’ll kind of go towards the hope side versus get negative as I’m, you know, you could probably tell I’m trying not to go there. So it’s one of those things where It’s gonna happen. I’m not fighting it. And I’m just gonna offer how we can keep it in balance.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s. I mean, I tend to be an optimist in general, directionally optimistic, let’s put it that way. Okay. And, um, I just, I just believe that in humanity is, is getting better in the net. And I know that it’s not perfect, but I think just if you look at the frame of humanity as a whole, we’re in a lot better place than we were a hundred years ago, 200 years ago on the whole. Um, and this type of change is extremely disruptive. And humans, I believe, and you, you’re the expert, but we’re not great at change. Um.
LauraLynn Jansen: No, that’s.
Lee Kantor: As a species.
LauraLynn Jansen: Around it, there’s change management degrees and everything. Yeah. I know people don’t like change.
Lee Kantor: So. And the speed of which change has been occurring in my lifetime at least, has been insane. Just if you just start writing down the things in our lifetime, as opposed to when you looked at your parents and you were like, oh, did you have cars or movies? Like those were the big things. But it seems like every week there’s a new thing that’s like earth shattering, um, in our lifetime. Um, and maybe it felt the same for them. You know, a hundred years ago. I don’t know. Uh, but it just seems the, the speed of it is what is disconcerting that we’re having trouble by the time you even can partially adapt to one thing, it’s already changed again.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yes. And that is hard on our nervous system, right? That is incredibly hard on our nervous system, not just our mental, you know, but the whole nervous system can be really challenged by that kind of rapid change.
Lee Kantor: So what what advice would you give a person like, especially a young person today that’s in this that are kind of digitally native. So I guess maybe they’re more used to the speed of which things change than maybe somebody of my generation would be. Is there any advice to kind of manage that? Um, how quickly once you’ve figured something out, it’s different.
LauraLynn Jansen: Right? Well, the coaching me would want to know what their need is, right? Like, I never like to give advice unless people come to me and say, you know, I have this thing and I’m working on so, but I, I so I’m thinking of my niece and nephew right now. One of them is in college and one of them is a senior in high school. And when I watch them, they are incredibly anti AI. Um, they are really working towards trying to stay in that human. And so I, I don’t know, because that’s probably different than a lot of the young people who are very tech like, very into tech. And so I think for all of them, it’s, it’s like, you know, stay in touch. If you can’t stay in touch with other people, at least stay in touch with your own humanity.
Lee Kantor: Are they creatives? Are you are the niece and nephew? Are they creatives? Is that they’re.
LauraLynn Jansen: One of one of them is a music major. The other one is in high school. So she, I mean, she’s president of her student council. And you know, they, I should say they identify as they um, are the head of student council. And so they are, you know, they’re in a lot of different things, softball and band and such. So there isn’t really a pigeonhole for that, which is one of the things I really love about this younger generation is that they’re not as willing to go into any box that we’re putting out there for them anymore. And I think that’s kind of cool. But, um, yeah.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s, I, I’m finding I have a son that’s 28, he’s a creative and he’s super anti AI like, yeah, not interested.
LauraLynn Jansen: Like, yeah. Um, well, it’s, it’s, I mean, the studies are starting to come out showing how it is killing those parts. Like we’re losing the ability to think for ourselves creatively, like when writing and things like that. Like that’s slowly starting to, you know, there’s a, um, we gotta watch that. But as far as me, like, I think throughout time, when we stay in touch with our humanity as individuals, we tend to do better. No matter what is going on in the world.
Lee Kantor: And then in some ways, um, people can stay in touch with their humanity. What are some of the ways that they can do that? Is it just, you know, kind of make the effort to do more things with more people in group settings and just connect with people.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah. I think they need to look at their values and, and understand what their values are. So when I, like I was saying earlier, when I teach, when I help people learn their lived their values, I looked at lived, lived experience. So like, if you think of a moment in your life that you felt really alive. Like, for example, I can think of a time I was climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa, or I was hiking on the rim of, you know, Marin County, the headlands in Marin County, and looking out at the water. Like both of those were really aligned with my values of being in adventure and pushing myself, you know, physically, but also at the same time, not like having to be a super athlete. Right. And then being near water and the fluidity. So like fluidity is something that is important to me as a person. So when, when we stay in touch with our own humanity, it’s being able to know what we value and be aligned with that. Because the minute we don’t live aligned with it, things start to happen for us. And we don’t, you know, that’s a lot of people come to coaching because of that, because they just feel unaligned. They don’t know why. They don’t know what it is, but there’s something just not flowing.
Lee Kantor: So So there’s some incongruence like the the way they see themselves and the way that the reality is, is kind of in, uh, conflict.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah, yeah. There’s an incongruence and that can change over life, right? Like what my incongruence was when I was 20 is very different for me now, decades later. Right. My incongruence has changed over time. Like now all so one way, another way people might do it is through faith or spirituality, right? So I’ve been a meditator for 40 years. I started when I had cancer, when I was young, I had cancer at a very young age. And, um, it taught me that being connected to myself was the most important thing on this planet. I got, I got, I got the lesson really early. So, um, yeah, so, you know, there’s different ways in which people do it. It just depends on what it is that that resonates most with them.
Lee Kantor: Now, isn’t there kind of a, I don’t want to say a backlash, but isn’t there less people like going to, you know, religious services?
LauraLynn Jansen: I don’t know. I’m not an expert on it, but I have watched, um, like when I went through cancer and then after I went through cancer and I ran support groups and I spoke on cancer survivor panels. And if there was anything I learned from that, when I would speak with other people who were supporting people who had cancer and such was, I always said, find the thing that they believe in, whatever it is they believe in, it doesn’t matter. You know? You know, if it’s if it’s God, if it’s Buddha, if it’s, you know, a frog, whatever it is, you know, that’s the way to support them and have them help them stay connected towards life because that’s the thing that matters to them again, their values. So.
Lee Kantor: Right. So it’s values and also being part of kind of the tapestry of a bigger thing.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah. If that’s if that’s part of their value. Most people have some kind of value around that, even if it’s a non connection to a figure. They might be connected to something around nature or the bigness of the world or you know, I don’t I don’t know, I’m not a philosopher in that way. But that’s kind of what I’ve noticed over time working because I worked in hospice for a while after I had cancer and, and stuff like that. So, you know.
Lee Kantor: So in your practice, what is kind of the ideal client for you? Is it just somebody who’s struggling with this in some form or fashion?
LauraLynn Jansen: The ideal client for me is anyone who really wants to, you know, figure out how to have the life they want to have, right? Like if they, I mean, I have people who come, I think genuinely, they think they want that, but they really aren’t ready to do it coaching on any level. Excuse me. Is about forward movement. So if you were going to come to it, like if you have a lot of stuff from your past that isn’t healed. That’s therapy. That’s what you go to therapy for, right? That stuff may appear in coaching, but it’s not the focus of coaching. Coaching is about forward movement. So my ideal client is someone who is ready to kind of look at where they’re at and assert, you know, work with me to figure out where they want to get to and how to get there. And they’re willing to work through the things that show up to get to that place.
Lee Kantor: And when you say willing to work, does that mean take action? Or is it just intellectually understanding that? Yeah, that’s something I should do. Or you’re more interested in the person that’s willing to do the thing rather than think about doing the thing.
LauraLynn Jansen: Right? Because I’m just, we’re both wasting our time. I don’t want to waste their money if they’re not gonna actually do what they want to do to go somewhere, you know what I mean?
Lee Kantor: Yeah, I agree.
LauraLynn Jansen: You could, you could pay me to come just sit and we could just talk. I mean, but, you know, I don’t know if it’s doing a service to them.
Lee Kantor: Right? But there’s a lot of people that are at that stage, they’re getting ready to do stage.
LauraLynn Jansen: Right. Well, there’s a so I did my master’s is in, uh, in health education. And so there’s a behavior change model that health educators use. There’s a precontemplation, a ready for action action. You know, those three stages, somebody who’s in precontemplation and, and maybe ready to move towards, you know, or no, I miss there’s another step that’s like a not and not ready at all. Right. So if you come into coaching and you really just came to see what it is, but you really aren’t willing to take any steps, I, you know, maybe a few, maybe a few sessions would get you there, right? So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that few sessions would get you there. But most people who come to me, they have a they’re at least in that stage of precontemplation, right? They’re like kind of thinking about it and they want someone to help them to get into action.
Lee Kantor: Right. They realize that they can’t do it themselves, that maybe they’ve tried over time and haven’t been able to get the outcome they desire. And they say, okay, now I need somebody that can help me maybe get over this hump or get past this plateau.
LauraLynn Jansen: Right? But if somebody else is telling them you should do coaching and they don’t even have any inclination as to why.
Lee Kantor: Right. That’s a waste of time for everybody.
LauraLynn Jansen: It, it probably would be, I can’t say 100%, but it’s probably going to be a real challenge to get them to move forward if they’re not even thinking about it.
Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share? Don’t name the individual or the organization, but maybe share a story, what it’s like to work with you, maybe share what the challenge was that came to you with, and how you were able to help them get to a new place. And maybe it’s something that’s a rewarding one where you’re like, oh, I really made an impact.
LauraLynn Jansen: Oh, there’s so many. Um. I mean, I think about the foster girls I work with. I think about, um, there’s, there’s a gentleman who’s an immigrant, uh, who works for a tech startup and he was dealing with all kinds of different things around society and, uh, being an immigrant in the US at the moment. And I could tell he came to me pretty downtrodden about the whole situation, but he really wanted to figure out what could he do to make the best of it. And also, he was having some issues with his manager, um, at the tech company. And what I’ve, I’ve seen a couple times happen more than a couple times, several times is certain people at work. What happens is they come in under a manager and they seem to create this beautiful bond with this person Or, you know, a good working bond, if nothing else. And then the new manager comes in and takes over, which I’m learning is a very common constant, uh, flow in, in these tech companies. And so when he came in, I didn’t, I wasn’t sure where we would be able to go or what we would be able to do. But what was, what was amazing was that because of where he grew up, it’s a country I’ve been to, um, India. There was a way in which I could understand culturally what was going on from my little bit of understanding of India having been there multiple times. And, and so there was a way in which he the trust was built.
LauraLynn Jansen: So that’s one of the first things as a coach is to really assess, you know, when the trust is built and if the trust is building, you know, there’s different levels at which you can implement. So as I got to know him and he, I could feel he was starting to trust me more, you know, I could relate to his background and bring things that I understood about the culture or things he had disclosed to me about it into the conversation so that more and more he became at ease and started to find ways to reach out into. He needed social connection. It was something he had a lot of back in India and less so here in the US. And. And he got to the point where he trust he felt safe enough to go out into his part of where he lived, um, in New York City and find a, a men’s group that he joined and it became this safe haven for him. And then that began to change all of our conversations because he had that social connection, he felt safe in the social connection. And then he could now now he’s like on to, you know, he just asked his his girlfriend to marry him. And he is starting to consider building his own business. And so it may not seem like a lot to us, but the overcoming of things like that that are can be major barriers is really significant for people. And this is all just in a matter of months.
Lee Kantor: Now, is that for just people in general? I know you don’t like to talk generally, but, um, finding your people is that if.
LauraLynn Jansen: You’re a social person, it’s incredibly important. And so that again, goes back to that connection piece. Like if you feel disconnected because you work in your apartment, you’re, you’re in a remote role, you have no connection with people other than when you go out on the street, maybe and walk around or, you know, whatever, and have social connection, which it is inbred in all of us, but not everybody says they need it. Um, there is something that shifts. I mean, just think about the different, like think about how all of us, many of us were so eager to be able to leave our houses at the end of Covid and see our people, right?
Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, people were hungry for. They couldn’t wait.
LauraLynn Jansen: Exactly. And that is that is my point. Right? Like we need to be in connection with each other that way. And, and so I had never seen it come to life so much as I did with coaching him and how much it changed.
Lee Kantor: It was like an unlock, like it just all of a sudden now the world is in color again.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah. Or something like that. I mean, he’s definitely coming out of, out of all of his shell, you know? And so, you know, it’s just one of those things I’m really grateful for that it happened for him.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, the impact is real with coaching. And I, I, I just wish more people would be vulnerable enough to try it because I think there’s a lot of people who would benefit from coaching. When you find the right coach, it really can have a.
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah. And that is the key to find the right person, find the right fit. That’s why I do discovery calls with everybody to start. Because now after about, you know, 26 years of coaching, I can kind of usually tell in the first several moments, you know, if it’s going to be a good fit for me or them or, you know, whatever. So.
Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about your practice, get on your calendar, get Ahold of your books or hire you for something, is there a website? What’s the best way to connect?
LauraLynn Jansen: Yeah, my website is Laura lljansen.com. So Laura Lynn L l uh, so, and I’m on LinkedIn too.
Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Laura Lynn, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
LauraLynn Jansen: Oh, thank you for inviting me. It was lovely.
Lee Kantor: All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.
