Step Into Your Potential: The Power of Self-Leadership

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. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Business RadioX. If you were a coach or a consultant who is tired of selling and ready to lead by serving, set up a call with Stone Payton at bookstonephone.com to learn how to give local leaders a voice and become the premier connector in your market. Today on High Velocity Radio, we have Jane Bishop, who is a leadership coach positive interrupter with Take The Next Step. Welcome, Jane.

Jane Bishop: Healy. It’s good to be here today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about take the next step. How you serving folks?

Jane Bishop: Well, Billy, the short answer is I am helping people be empowered to really step into who they are, stand on their story, and lead with confidence.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in coaching?

Jane Bishop: Oh, well, I don’t think we have enough time for that. So but I will give you the short version of it. How about that?

Lee Kantor: Sounds good.

Jane Bishop: Great. I have always been interested as long as I can remember, about helping others be the potential within them and to release it. I was an athletic coach for several years, a coach in another organization, and then had the opportunity to start my own business, take the next step. So it was a series of events in different contexts that I’ve consistently used my coaching skills and interests and passions, and it has evolved through the years and I’m very grateful.

Lee Kantor: So what’s the difference between coaching athletes and coaching business people?

Jane Bishop: That is a great question. Athletes are there out of assignment or they have been. They have been selected to join. Perhaps if it’s in an academic setting where they get scholarships, that sort of thing. So there are different approaches to connect with them. However, the coaching principles are the same. It’s helping to bring out what is within them. They don’t know it. There’s a little bit more guidance, directive, guidance and coaching athletes than coaching business leaders. You do provide the guidance in business leaders, but that is kind of a secondary result of the coaching. You want to help them create an awareness within themselves and understand that they have that potential within them. Perhaps they haven’t recognized it or they haven’t been encouraged to use it. So I would say the essentials are similar, but the approaches can be different.

Lee Kantor: Now, what are some signs that maybe you don’t realize the potential you have? Maybe you’re selling yourself short. Are there some signs that a person could maybe recognize in themselves once you bring it to their attention?

Jane Bishop: Yes. In coaching business leaders or coaching non-athletes, let me put it like that. Even athletes, there are little nuances. If you are being present with people, sometimes it’s small word choices when they introduce themselves, for example, and they say, I’m just a and give whatever their title is. Their body language communicates a lack of confidence sometimes where they are not feeling empowered or don’t feel like that they fit somewhere, how they carry themselves, how they interact in group meetings. Are they hesitant? But yet you can see on their face they have something to add. So those are kind of the the nuances to look for. I think also in conversation with them. You just pay attention. You listen and you learn and you observe.

Lee Kantor: Now, what is kind of the challenge your clients are having right before they contact you? Is something happening in their lives where, um, contacting Jane is the right first move for them?

Jane Bishop: Yes. It could be a variety of dynamics that are happening in their life. Lee there generally is a common thread regardless of what the topic is. That is, they are stuck. They are feeling overwhelmed or they have a desire to expand and do more. They don’t know how. Those are the three common. They’re not the only commonalities, but those are the three most common that I have experienced with clients that are there. And then we focus on the topic and kind of nurture and tend to what’s underneath so that they can release what is within them and have a plan.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, is it something where they’re going to you, um, to help kind of unlock this challenge they’re going through or maybe uplevel a little bit or get through a plateau and they are relying on you kind of to hold their hand throughout the process. Or is it something that you’re coaching them on how to kind of be their own coach so they can take on the ability to kind of self coach down the road?

Jane Bishop: Is both both happen sometimes. The second one happens naturally as part of what they’ve come to me first. But in terms of the accountability piece, in fact, I had a client earlier today and part of working with this client is he has. He wanted to work with the coach to begin with for an accountability factor. So every session we check in with what his field work was, the session before we get an update on that, holding accountable and then focus on his topic. And at the end of the session, he decides what he wants to be held accountable to for the next session.

Lee Kantor: And, and how would you describe your ideal client? Are they, um, are they in a certain industry? Are they at a certain stage in their career? Like, like what’s going on in the ideal clients world that you’re able to help them in?

Jane Bishop: In my particular client base that I deal with, it can cross any industry. So it’s not industry specific. And the common denominator there, the ideal client is someone who realizes they have a gap and they’re not satisfied with that, and they want to close the gap and shift and be empowered to do more.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for those emerging leaders? Are there some do’s and don’ts on how to be a great leader today?

Jane Bishop: Yes, and that that is another great topic. Lee, to to focus on. I would I would offer a couple of things. I mean, obviously there are several, but one for emerging leaders understand the core of who you are. Identify the core. You know that your character, your operating system, your relationships and your emotional intelligence, how does that show up in you? And then a second encouragement I would give emerging leaders is stay aligned to that core. Often emerging leaders will want to waver and be more fluid than they need to be, to think that that’s what is best to fit in, and that is not what’s best if it compromises who they are.

Lee Kantor: So if you are maybe incongruent with your true north and then your behavior. Are there ways to tell that you’re kind of a little off track? Or is it something that it takes kind of outside eyes to, to kind of remind you, hey, you’re saying this, but you’re doing that.

Jane Bishop: Depends on how self-aware the person is. Li if it’s somebody who innately has learned and developed and practices self-awareness, commonly they can pick up most of it. However, I think all of us benefit from outside eyes benefit from outside observations. It’s just like driving a car. Every car has a blind spot and as effective as leaders are, we still have our blind spots.

Lee Kantor: And then that’s just part of being a human. Is that.

Jane Bishop: Yes, exactly. You know, there are different there are different techniques that any leader can learn, develop, you know, what works with them. I, I will often, I have, uh, I discipline the EYE, you know, five best practices of self-leadership. And I think self leadership is where effective leaders focus on to begin with, because how well we lead others flows directly out of how well we lead ourselves.

Lee Kantor: So do you mind sharing some of those?

Jane Bishop: Oh, I don’t, I don’t mind at all. Uh, I there’s five that I generally, you know, share with people. And being a former basketball coach, I’ve used the, the athletic world to transfer to the to the business world. But just very quickly, one is block out in a basketball court. You block out if you’re a defender so that the offensive player can’t get the rebound, should the ball not go in. But when we block out we are protecting our space. We are giving ourselves permission to allow time for meetings, allow time for conversations, relationships and it helps us protect our space from distractions. Another one is pivot. You know, just like in basketball, it’s a technique. We plant the foot. We can offer reflex with adjust. But pivot in the business world for me is about poise, perspective, position, and being planted with a purpose. So we want to pivot and be flexible. But we just as in basketball, where one foot has to stay planted to the floor, we want again stay aligned with who who we are. Another key component of I discipline is boundaries. You know, structure binds anxiety. Just like a basketball court. If the ball goes across the line, it’s out of bounds. So how do leaders, how do we as leaders create boundaries for ourself and honor those boundaries? And then rebound is another one. Blocking out helps helps position us just like basketball, but leading inside out. We have to be able to to rebound and handle disappointment or any failure or any mistakes because as you said, we’re human, so we’re not going to be perfect. And then whatever anybody comes up with for their own discipline. Uh, the fifth in my five that I generally offer to people is practice and play. You know, what works for you. Practice it, implement it, let it become innately part of your routine and play with it, you know, have some fun with it along the way. So those are five best practices of Self-leadership just as a quick bullet point.

Lee Kantor: Now. How do you coach your clients that are charged with managing some of the. It seems pretty chaotic and dramatic transitions that are happening in the business world, like, for example, AI and, and how that’s such a disruptive technology and how it’s impacting so many people in terms of just the speed at which change is occurring and changes is a challenging, um, issue for a lot of people. So how do you, how do you help them kind of manage this kind of, it seems like every day there’s a new change in the business world.

Jane Bishop: Oh, you know, it’s phenomenal. The, the, as quickly as our technology has advanced, we can’t keep up with the pacing of it. To your point, you know, the AI, the, the quick, how quickly things shift. Generally, I work with clients and help them see. We want to identify the context, sometimes with the doll, the distractions and all that’s going on. They they haven’t blocked out and they haven’t protected their space to, to identify the context that they’re in. And that kind of serves also as a way to take a step back, take a look and charge, but then navigating that, once you identify the context it is, you are positioned to identify, then what steps and actions are best appropriate to take or not take. We don’t always have to act going forward. Sometimes we act by standing still that what is needed in the context that we’re in to lead successfully. So it really is understanding your context and and navigating the landscape, to use a familiar phrase.

Lee Kantor: And isn’t it a challenge, though, as fast as things are changing, like one of your disciplines or play and practice that when you’re practicing and playing something now, something new has occurred. So just by the time you figure it out, the thing it could be a week in today’s the speed of today. You know, it seemed like, you know, yesterday was a good day to learn about a certain AI skill. And then today it seems like that skill is almost obsolete.

Jane Bishop: Oh, absolutely. It’s really focusing on developing skills about pacing and flexibility and adaptability in an understanding. Again, going back to your to the self leadership, how do I function best? How do you function best? Lee. What is the pacing of your day on a on a consistent basis and then being flexible and adaptable to, to accelerate that pacing when it’s called for or D accelerated when we need to back off and just take a moment and stop and breathe. And along with that is giving ourselves permission. And this is I work with leaders a lot in this, in my coaching, working with how they can give themselves permission to understand. They don’t have to keep up with everything going on just to understand again, their context and be able to pull resources to help them be effective in that context. And that permission granted is a real challenge for some clients because of the pressure they feel and the expectations that is the perception that they believe has been put on them. So we work through that and kind of, um, shatter some of that for them so they can go forward and lead more effectively.

Lee Kantor: Now, one of the ways you describe yourself is a positive interrupter. Can you talk about what that means and how you do it.

Jane Bishop: Yes. Positive interrupter for me is a mindset. It’s a perspective of life. It is not to imply that everything is in life is positive because it is not. And it’s an approach to being able to create those moments that allow you to stop, pause, and think. So when I self, as I describe myself as a positive interrupter, I practice that myself by taking a moment, stepping back, changing rooms, changing gears, changing focus, whatever the situation calls for, to allow my brain to stop, pause, and think. But then the benefit of that with neuroscience of our brain, it gives our brain just a moment where there’s five seconds, 30s or three minutes or longer to just pause and breathe. And then that’s we then we can step back into the chaos, if that’s what we’re in, or we can change directions or we can change decisions. I believe as humans, we don’t have enough of that. So I not only practice that with myself, but I practice it and be a positive interrupter to other people. It’s encounters how to do that. What’s a win for you today? So, Lee, if you and I were having a heavy work conversation, I would say, Lee, what’s a win for you today? Or what can I celebrate with you today? Or what’s the highlight of your day when I’m in line at a store? Just those little caveats to disrupt the brain for a moment.

Lee Kantor: So, um, can you talk about kind of the science behind, um, putting one of those, uh, interruptions into play? Like how does that change kind of the, maybe the pattern that you’ve been on and how does that change it for the good?

Jane Bishop: Okay. Sure. Short answer to that for for clarity and the context that you and I are in today, we all have neural pathways or habits that we have created in our brain. So the brain reacts. Whatever we have created, a positive interruption disrupts that pathway in our brains. Oh, here’s new information. I didn’t know that. So it has to stop because it hasn’t experienced that either before, or the brain has not experienced that in some time, and it doesn’t momentarily know what to do with that. So it just has to back off and rest for a moment. And that allows kind of the there’s no there are there are scientific terms that allows all that’s going on in our brain to regroup.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there something that has to be done by another person to me in order to kind of have that pattern being disrupted, or is this something I can do myself? Maybe put a reminder on my phone that pops up with some message like, or is this something that I it requires a coach to really do?

Jane Bishop: No, no, no, you can do it on your own. You. It’s easy to put a reminder on your phone. There was a case study done years ago that it kind of started this whole concept, not not the positive interrupter, but a different. And he was trying to free himself of being, for lack of a better word, addicted to his emails. He couldn’t get anything done because he was always going back and forth to emails. So how he began to disrupt his brain and give himself a positive interruption or brain break. He put reminders on his phone and when that reminder went off, then he stopped focusing on the on the emails and went something else. It. So all a person needs to do is be self aware, have the awareness. Mm. I need to create some positive interruptions in in my life or in my day. So what works for me now?

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates what it’s like to work with you? Um, don’t name the individual or the company, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Jane Bishop: Sure. Um, I will because it’s recent again, another client earlier this week came to me several months ago because the awareness had been made that. She, she was not allowing herself to be the full potential within herself that she could. And she didn’t like that. Basically, the words to me, and I can say this without common name, I don’t like myself very much and I want to. I want to change. So that was in April. Fast forward to earlier this week and through our sessions together, we have created awareness. We have created a plan each session for her to focus on, to break that pattern and those neural pathways that created what she didn’t like. We created steps that created new pathways for her to step in to the person that she knew she wanted to be. And now, several months later, she not only has stepped into that, but continuing to make progress and identifying other areas now to, to take the same steps with when people work with me. We work hard. Lee. But we have fun along the way, so there’s lots of laughter in some of our my sessions with clients depending on the subject. But she has. She said earlier this week she was so grateful that she had recognized that months ago, and that she decided that she deserved working with a coach. And she reached out to me by referral.

Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things where this doesn’t take years to see a result. The impact can happen pretty quickly.

Jane Bishop: Exactly. Coaching. Coaching is about coaching is about helping people see, as I said, the potential within them that’s maybe covered up and they hadn’t thought about for a while. But coaching is very practical and applicable in the moment and going forward. If the Coachee chooses to act on it. Coaching is not something that I am responsible for making sure the client does. I am responsible for creating the context and the environment for that awareness to happen within the client. And then together we collaborate a plan and then they act on it. If they choose. You asked me earlier an ideal client. It’s the one who’s teachable and coachable.

Lee Kantor: And it takes action.

Jane Bishop: It takes action. I can’t do that. If you decide to do something, that’s great. I’ll hold you accountable. I’ll be your cheerleader. I will help you create a plan. But ultimately, it’s up to you to take the action.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you. Um, what is the best way to connect?

Jane Bishop: They can, they can go to my website, uh, janebishop.live. They can call me happy to give my phone number if that’s permissible over the air. I know this is a this lives on in perpetuity, as they say when we.

Lee Kantor: That’s your call there. I mean.

Jane Bishop: Uh, the the they can contact me by messenger on Facebook. The easiest thing, I think, for people nowadays is to simply go to my website, jane.live. Complete the contact form and I’ll be in touch.

Lee Kantor: Now what is the ways you deliver your coaching? Is it one on ones? Is it group? Do you do workshops and training? Um, how do you deliver the coaching?

Jane Bishop: Check check check check check. All of the above. I do, I do training with groups. In fact I did one yesterday. We did an overview of the disc assessment to understand have a better understanding of self awareness for those listeners that may not be familiar with that. Highly recommend that as an assessment tool. I do training and there are I do a coach approach in any training that I do. So the coaching skills is there. I do one on one, I do groups and I do teams.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Jane, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Jane Bishop: Well, thank you for having me, Lee. I think everybody deserves a coach and everybody deserves to to be themselves. In fact, if I may, one of my favorite quotes is by John Mason. You were born an original don’t die a copy. And that’s what I’m about. I help people not be a copy.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you again. All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.