Kerri Burchill with North Star Coaching

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with North Star Coaching, Kerri Burchill. How are you?

Kerri Burchill: Oh, I’m so pumped to be here. Thanks for having me on.

Stone Payton: Oh, it’s an absolute delight to have you on the broadcast. I got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all. Uh, but, you know, I think a great place to start would be if you could paint a little bit of a picture. Give us an overview, if you will, of me and our listeners. Mission. Purpose. What what are you and your crew really out there trying to do for folks?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, absolutely. So my my tagline, which seems to be ever evolving as I kind of learn more about my audience and their needs, but I help leaders and teams slow down to go fast and achieve ambitious results. So I kind of talk about the day to day firefighting. The spin. Just the world is so fast paced and sometimes we just are constantly dealing with the surface things we never really get to the bottom of what that spin is to figure out the stuff that needs to happen. So we really do the leadership work that makes the difference and achieves those ambitious goals.

Stone Payton: I gotta say, at first it sounds a little counterintuitive, right? Slow down to go faster, to do some of your clients, especially in the early going. Do they bristle with that at first?

Kerri Burchill: It’s I mean, on one hand, they’re like, oh, that sounds lovely. Slowing down. And on the other hand, they’re just like, I can’t like I can’t take four hours away with my leadership team and dive into this work. I can’t this or there’s, you know, even if they commit to the four hours, they’re are often pulled out like it’s so hard to slow down and and yet they recognize that they need help doing that.

Stone Payton: So what’s the backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Right. I sometimes just like, get butterflies. Uh, where I am and where I came from. So I’m a middle school teacher originally. Uh, quickly promoted into leadership roles, and then my partner and I are unable to have kids. And that sort of gave us some freedom that maybe families don’t have. And we we put a couple of rods in a fire. I applied for a principalship on a NATO base in Belgium, and my partner applied for med school, and we sort of said, you know, whatever happens, we’re just going to roll with it. So long story short, I say we did med school, um, which really resulted in that nine period time of my partner doing medicine, of me working in three different countries, six different cities and nine different jobs. And I really honed in on leadership. I saw so many places that were really, um, functional and dysfunctional know, and started to look at this whole idea of slowing down and what value that can give and how people show up when they’re spinning and going really fast. And yeah, so worked in, um, healthcare at the end of med school, finished a PhD, did a master’s, you know, more education as well as experience, and then thought, geez, I really want to do this on my own. I really want to help, uh, a diverse population, different industries. The concepts are the same. Leadership is challenging no matter where you are. That’s where I just want to find my sweet spot. And so I stepped out of corporate America, and here I am.

Stone Payton: What was that transition like? I have to believe it would be a little intimidating to go from that corporate environment because you’re. Yeah, you have to you have to practice your craft, but you’re also running a business and you got to go get the business to to practice the craft. Right?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I think like I started in a unionized public middle school setting and now I sort of negotiate prices and, you know, Just really stretch myself in ways I never would have ever thought I would have done when I was in that really sort of tunneled, um, education career. You know, you teach, you become assistant principal principal like, it’s it’s it’s pretty planned out for you. Um, so, yeah, I, I was nervous at first in 2018, I was feeling really, um, frustrated with the rate of change of the organization I was working in. And just to try to find a sunny spot I incorporated had a couple of clients just on the side, very transparent with my boss in the corporate setting. And, um, realized like, maybe, maybe I’ve got some talent in this area. Maybe there’s a need for how I can help people slow down. And so over time, you know, I kind of got busier and busier. And then we moved to San Antonio a few years ago and I just said, ah, let’s try this full time and, and just see how it goes. So it was a slow play. Uh, and I wish I would have done it sooner, honestly.

Stone Payton: So when, uh, with your affinity for education and knowledge and being a life learner, did you decide to get formally credentialed, like, go through some sort of coaching certification process to get ready for this?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, you know, I did. And when I’ve got 15 years of post-secondary education, 11 of them full time student. And when I think of those 15 years, probably my most applied and I’d say valuable training was my coach training. So I got it back in 2008 when we had, um, just left Canada, where I was teaching. And the the only reason why I even knew about coaching is because when we decided to to move and start med school, I started interviewing people that I thought had cool jobs because I was paralyzed. Like, I couldn’t imagine myself doing something else. I’d just. My mom was a teacher. I’m a teacher. Just was beyond me to sort of think of what I could do. And one of the people I interviewed is a coach, and her job was to liaise community members with the school kids when there was a conflict in the community that bled into the school, and she talked about her coaching skills and I thought, wow, that’s really cool. And so that was my impetus to sort of get the coach training, but I didn’t use it for a long time just because of our moving around. And I really didn’t understand how to get clients. And so it was on pause. Even though I valued it, I didn’t apply it until probably, I don’t know, eight years after I actually got it.

Stone Payton: So now that you’ve been at it a while, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it these days for you?

Kerri Burchill: What is all of it? So fun! Honestly.

Kerri Burchill: Um, I spend maybe 50% of my time training and development, 25% keynote and 25% coaching. And each part of that is just so different and unique. I love how these leaders are so committed to helping serve served their teams helping make an impact wherever they work. Like it’s just an honor to be trusted and be a, you know, a guide on the side with with these people doing this really dynamic work. So I’ve got police departments and city council members and recruitment companies and healthcare, and it’s just all over the place, manufacturing plants. So it’s really fun. And they’re all just so brave doing hard work. I just I think maybe that’s my favorite part is just seeing these people lean into it so much.

Stone Payton: So how do you get the clients? How do you get the new business and maybe speak to how you got the new business early on? Because it’s probably a little different than the way it is at this point in your career. But the reason I’m asking is I find that some people, a lot of people in the professional services arena, you know, that is I’ll be as gracious as I can. The greatest opportunity for improvement near term is, you know, figuring out the business side of their work. Right? Like getting getting the work.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. Uh back. Back when I officially incorporated in 18 into now, 100% of my business has been referral. So I do have a presence on social media. I find that people look on social media to double check that I’m legit, but they’ve been referred to me from somebody, and then they kind of scope out. So I’ve never gotten business directly from social media, which is interesting. Even, you know, in all of those years. And so when I, when I first started, I remember going to a, it was one of those like networking groups, uh, like a Lions or a Rotary Club or something like that. And you had to go around the circle and sort of identify who you were. And it was the first time that I said, like, I’m Kerri Burchill and I’m a leadership coach and consultant. Like it was awkward coming off of my tongue. And after that meeting somebody, you know, networking afterwards said, hey, we’re looking for, um, somebody to put in a proposal to do some leadership development at our company. You know, why don’t you put in a proposal? I’m like, okay, yeah, okay. I go home, I Google what is a proposal? Like, that’s how little I knew. Um, but it was the connections that made it. And so I had recently attended a conference, and the emcee at the conference was just dynamic and super open. And so I actually reached out to her and said, hey, I’ve been asked to do a proposal. I don’t even know if you send these out in word or are they PDF? Like, do you have a proposal that you could share with me? And so that sort of helped me put it together. And of course, you know, one client tells another client and it just keeps going from there.

Stone Payton: So let’s dive into the work a little bit. The mechanism or probably in your case, mechanisms for executing on the work and actually getting in there and serving these folks one on one group facilitation. Like what does that look like?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, all of it. All of it. I really love, um, Donald Miller in one of his books. Uh, Marketing Made Simple. It’s just an oldie, Goldie. I remember reading it and he and he talks in there about framing work around problem solution results. Now, of course he’s talking about marketing. As you know, I identify a problem that people have. Um, think about solutions and then think about the results. And I’ve sort of taken that a level deeper to think, what are the problems that my clients identify, not what I think I can do for them, but what the clients are ready to do for themselves. And so I it’s it’s so, um, just sometimes like, really difficult for me to be present and to stay in that slow moment with my clients because of course, on the outside, it’s easy to see everything really clearly. Um, to have those discussions either with the leaders or with the people I’m coaching with one on one, or with the team members to sort of say like, hey, in your world, what’s working well and what needs to kind of be shifted. And that’s the the starting spot of anything that I would create. Like I don’t have any canned programs or anything. Everything I do is always tailored to that environment and that group of people. So really getting them to put in their words what the problem is, and that tells me what their readiness is to do the work that, um, you know, that I see needs to be done. And they may get to the stuff that I think is important later on, and I may be surprised and learn that what I thought they needed is actually not what they needed. Once we slowed down and really got into it with them.

Stone Payton: This willingness to to meet the client where they are just sounds so wholly consistent with what you touched on earlier in the conversation about slow down to to to go fast. I would um, I would think, I know for me, uh, and I would think for others, you know, that that would require some, some discipline, some rigor, some structure, some it really does have to become a discipline. Right. But that but that does fall right in line with your value system, your ethos, doesn’t it?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, yeah. You know, one of those I actually was just put out a poll recently on LinkedIn On what coaching skill do you think is most valuable? And the group that voted came back saying, like being present was the most valuable in a coach. And so I think mastering that as a coach, I just got my MCC, which is the highest level that the International Coach Federation gives. You have to have something like 2500 hours of paid coaching, etc., and I was not present in the beginning, I’ll tell you that, you know, I wanted to jump ahead of my clients and tell them what their problem was and tell them how they should fix it. And, um, really slowing down to kind of say, hey, this is their journey and my privilege to be a guide on this side. But it’s I’m not the driver, and I certainly don’t know all the environments and the details of their trench. So of course I should trust the client. They’re they’re living it. They know way more than I do. So just slowing down to get in rhythm with them.

Stone Payton: Do you find with some of the the people that you run into that there are sometimes some, I don’t know, myths may be a little bit of a strong word, but misconceptions, misinformation, um, uh, incomplete information about coaching as a domain that you have to find yourself educating what coaching is or can be before you can really serve sometimes.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. All the time. Yeah. And I think people find coaching romantic because it sounds like someone’s going to come in and swoop in and tell you the right answer. And you know, you have you have coaching, which is really where the client drives the conversation. And my job as a coach is to ask those questions, to help them slow down and really figure out in their trends and their experiences with their gifts and talents, you know, where do they want to go and hold them accountable to get their therapy right? Is is more of the psychological side of things. Mentoring is where I tell you the answer. So I think where coaching, you know, kind of gets a bit muddy as you think of an athletic coach, which is definitely somebody telling you what to do, praising you when you do it well, etc.. Um, in sort of leadership coaching, executive coaching, it is very much where, you know, I can be the mirror to help you see what’s going on. But I’m not the one telling you what to do and the one sort of driving what you should do.

Stone Payton: So talk about the keynote work, because that too seems um, I, I’m enamored with that idea of getting in front of a whole bunch of people and knocking their socks off, and which is probably the wrong mindset, should probably be focused on, on serving them. But was it was it a little intimidating early on? And what have you learned from from speaking to to groups like that?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. So interesting again like referral. So somebody was president of an association. They asked me to come to their national conference. I had 20 minutes on the stage, my first keynote. And and it just kind of blossomed and took hold from there. And so it’s the keynote has been a really great opportunity for me to flesh out some leadership concepts that I’ve been rolling around, like the spin, you know, that day to day firefighting and really this challenge that as people are caught in the spin, what they end up sort of showing are what I call askhole behaviors. ASK, askhole behavior.

Stone Payton: You got to talk more about that.

Kerri Burchill: So when I’m stressed and I’m in the day to day spin and I’m trying to get tons more done than what’s realistic, I’m going to ask people to do work for me. I’m going to ask them questions that I knew, but I kind of forgot because I’m just stressed. And I’m going to I’m going to ask them to join committees that maybe I could do, but I’m like, I’m just going to ask, right? Like, and I’m going to push all this work out when really I have the skills and talents to do it. If I slow down and got strategic around the right work and kind of the bonus work and the stuff I should not even care about. And so thinking about helping leaders in a keynote to really slow down and identify, hey, maybe I’m doing everything that asshole has asked me to do instead of slowing down and helping that asshole figure out what they need to do to own their problems and move forward. And so how you know, as a leader, how on earth am I ever going to slow down if I’m doing all of this stuff that’s asked of me all day long, like I’m doing my work and ten other people’s work? So the keynote was having, um, really helpful in kind of floating out some of those concepts and framing it in a way that that I can tell the audience is like, oh, yeah, I’m like, I’m an asshole.

Kerri Burchill: And they’ll give audience examples and the room’s roaring. And, you know, we’re we’re we’re all in it, right? We’re all spinning. We all got assholes around us. And it’s hard to slow down in those moments when somebody asks you to do something really simple or even the hard stuff, you want to jump in and help them. When really what we can be is more of like a coach, with them helping that person slow down and figure out what their path is, what variables in their environment they can leverage, etc.. Um, but you know, as servant leaders, I think sometimes we often become servants and just do it all to everyone’s risk of of burnout and lack of innovation and a bunch of unintended consequences.

Stone Payton: So you authored a book around this topic, and probably knowing you probably a field guide and all kind of and all kind of stuff. What was that? And I do want to dive into the book a little bit in the structure and how you recommend people use it, but I’ll back up a minute. What was that experience like, just sitting down and committing those ideas to paper? Like, did some of it come together super easy and other pieces more difficult, or what was that whole thing like?

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, well, I’ll tell you, it was not the original book idea. So I yeah, I was running a leadership academy where we statistically measured our soft skill development, and I interviewed people and got like IRB approval, like, very empirical sort of research. And, um, nobody was really biting. I mean, I thought it was the sexiest thing alive, right? I this was super fun. And I’m all in the nitty gritty. I’m starting to code the data and blah, blah, blah. And then somebody, a leader was complaining to me about all these people asking them to do things and ask this and finally that. They’re just a bunch of assholes. And I’m like, Bing! And so jumped really? Like, like left the first draft in the Dat. I’ve still got drawers full of these transcripts and blah blah, blah, and, um, dove into the asshole work and started speaking about it, you know, doing some webinars, podcasts. And it just took a life of its own. And I started I framed the the asshole framework. I, I trademarked the word asshole. It’s crazy. And I’ve got a second book diving deeper into some of the concepts. Um, already on the go, and you’ll laugh at this stone. The most productive space for me to write is sitting in an airplane airport gate.

Stone Payton: Wow.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. So just learned a ton of stuff about myself that I just did not know. So I’m doing all these keynotes and traveling a little more than I might like. And I thought, well, I’ve got to make productive use of this time. It turns out that I can just I can just crank out stuff waiting for an airplane.

Stone Payton: I would think having the book, doing the keynote work, appearing on on media platforms where you kind of share your story and promote your, your work or promote the work. Uh, that’s got to really lend itself, again to the authority and the credibility. So when people do meet you in a variety of different ways, maybe they didn’t. Maybe you don’t get business from being out there in the social channels, but then they turn around and go, oh, I’m gonna go check this Carey chick out, right? And then they’re like, oh, okay. She’s. Yeah, like. Like what? I guess my question is, what has the book done for you? It sounds like it’s clearly serving other people, but it sounds like it served you as well to do it. Yeah.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, absolutely. You know, just slowing down the theme to write the book and organize it and the vulnerability of asking my, you know, inside circle to just don’t hold back, give me feedback. All of that has been really validating and stretching. And, you know, when I, when I speak or, you know, give people the book, they buy the book. I’m looking at Amazon royalties. Like all of that just is, is so humbling to me because it is just simply about helping people navigate the messiness of leadership today. And that’s my that’s my big goal.

Stone Payton: I bet you’re finding as you write, as you speak, as you facilitate, as you deliver the one on one work and the group work, I bet you find that doing the work while you are certainly serving them. I bet you continue just to solidify and crystallize your own thinking and explore new ideas. It’s it’s it’s a virtuous circle, my partner would call it.

Kerri Burchill: Yes it is. I’ve got a book club that I’m working with right now. And when I listen to them kind of talk through how they’re applying some of the concepts and wrestling with it, I mean, that’s that’s really a big impetus for book number two. Like I see where book number one introduces the concepts and goes over the ethical framework and the six steps. But I see the need for those really challenging employees or team members or bosses. You know what? What? Maybe not what, but how can some of the concepts in book number one leading out of the trap really lead into book number two, to really empower leaders more with those extra challenging circumstances that we all feel a bit paralyzed to deal with.

Stone Payton: It’s interesting that you mention the term book club, because one of the things I’m envisioning, while I certainly may get a tremendous amount of value from reading the book or listening to an audio version of it or visiting with you, I would think as a member of a of a management team or some department, if we were all reading the book in parallel, and then we gathered periodically to talk about how we are applying or questions we have about, you know, how that how that’s applying in Stone’s world that I’ll bet you that I’d be willing to bet that peer to peer exchange around this as a catalyst would be could be extremely powerful. Yeah.

Kerri Burchill: Absolutely. And it creates a shared language. Um, so, um, the groups that I’ve done book clubs with, they, they, they tell and come back and report to me that. No, we were spending in a meeting last week and we said, we’re spinning. And then they all laugh and they say, Kerry would be so proud of us. And so it’s powerful because there is a shared language. And then, you know, one of the big things that I, I hope I underscored in the book is that asshole behavior comes from a good place. You know, the employee that’s kind of being a pain in the butt is is doing so because they care and they’re committed and they’re spinning and they don’t have a strategy to sort of manage that. And so it’s when book clubs come together, management teams and they read the book. It’s it takes away some of the blame that that can kind of creep in and gives people a safe place to sort of say, yeah, I’m not managing how much I care right now. And so that behavior wasn’t great. And the other person could be like, yeah, because you’re spinning, it’s okay. And you know, we it just gives a framework and some tools and language to neutralize what can be sort of blaming and judgy.

Stone Payton: So I don’t know when or how you find the time, but, um, passions, interest, pursuits outside the scope of the, of the work we’re talking about. You know, a lot of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel and introduce other people to out, you know, to the joys of outdoor, uh, living, if you will, anything you nerd out about like that.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. Gosh, I, I love running. I’m currently nursing a tear in my hip so that I can do the Oslo, Norway either half or full marathon this fall. That’s super fun. And I recently joined a synchronized swimming club.

Stone Payton: Oh, my.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. So never, ever done anything like that. Um, so learning and gosh, some people in my club are over 70. These women are exceptionally dynamic. So that’s a that’s a stretch for me. And I’ll tell you, synchronized swimming or artistic swimming, like they call it now is as much body as it is brain. If you can’t figure out your your surroundings upside down, you’ll lose the position. And so it’s really fascinating experience to just have your brain on fire while you’re trying to do these fun ballet flips and stuff. It’s crazy.

Stone Payton: So here’s my prediction. Just getting to know you a little bit and knowing how you have your your senses attuned to what’s going on around you. I’ll bet you if you haven’t already, you’re going to you’re going to learn things from that experience out, you know, in that world, and you’re going to turn around and at least speak on it. Say something in your keynote. It wouldn’t surprise me if you write a book, bring it to your consulting. That’s that happens, right? That kind of thing happens.

Kerri Burchill: Absolutely. There are tons of parallels with synchronized swimming and leadership. You bet.

Stone Payton: Well, I can I can see a lot of analogies with being upside down and losing your orientation.

Kerri Burchill: Already spinning.

Stone Payton: Uh, Kerry, before we wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners, if we could, with a I call them pro tips. Just something that you want to noodle on. Might be a do or a don’t or a good read, or just some things you’ve learned after, you know, maybe, you know, getting some scar tissue over the years and having some, some, uh, some success stories. And look, the number one pro tip around any of these topics is, uh, reach out and have a conversation with Kerry or somebody on her on her team. But, uh, yeah, let’s leave them a little something to chew on.

Kerri Burchill: All right. Two things that come to mind that I just sort of think as, as sort of themes in my work that will resonate for your audience, too. Number one, the do keep showing up because you never know when it’s going to blow up. So while work may seem slow, or you may be fretting about business like just be you and just keep showing up because your consistency will have it blow up one day. Second thing, you’re the whole package. So don’t start paying thousands of dollars for this program and that program and this service and that service and a million other things, because you feel a bit deficit, you’re the whole package, and you have the skills and the resources to rock whatever you want to do. And so really with a critical eye, engage in some of those extra programs that will make sense, but not all of them, and not as much as you think you need because you’re the whole package.

Stone Payton: I am so glad that I asked. That sounds like marvelous counsel. So what’s the best way for our listeners to continue to tap into your work, get their hands on this book, maybe have a more substantive conversation with you or or somebody on your team? Let’s let’s leave them with some coordinates.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah, absolutely. So everybody can find me@Kerri.com, and I have an asshole trap quiz. That’s two minutes and fun that people can take to kind of assess where they’re at in relation to the asshole trap. Yeah, I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.

Stone Payton: Well, Kerry, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this evening. It’s a thank you for your insight, your perspective, but most of all, your enthusiasm and your in your heart for genuinely serving people and helping them, uh, escape the asshole.

Kerri Burchill: Yeah. Gosh, it’s two like minded people talking together, and you’ve just been an awesome host. Thank you.

Stone Payton: Well, it is absolutely my pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Kerry Burchill with North Star Coaching and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.