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 coach or consultant who is tired of selling and ready to lead by serving, set up a call with Stone Payton at book Stone phone.com to learn how to give local leaders a voice and become a recognized authority in your market. Today on the show, we have leadership coach with Calle Foster Coaching & Consulting, Calle Foster. Welcome.

Calle Foster: Hi, Lee. So glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn about your practice. How you serving folks?

Calle Foster: Yeah, I support people kind of in two ways that that interact with each other. Um, I am a leadership coach that primarily supports millennial and Gen Z professionals as they sort of ascend in their professional and leadership journey. But I also support leaders of organizations that lead very multi-generational teams and are trying to create better team cohesion. And I do that through educating those leaders and organizations on the generational background. We’ll call it like the sociological context that raised each generation that leads to all these, you know, very specific what seems like generational workplace behaviors that play out in real time that we see every day in the workplace. So that’s how I’m serving people all through that generational lens. And I’ll tell you the, my favorite part of the work is getting to nerd out on the sociology of it all. So it’s a lot of fun.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Calle Foster: Yeah. Thanks so much for asking. Well, my journey is probably pretty similar to a lot of coaches where we were experiencing, you know, we were in corporate roles. And so for me, I was in corporate learning and development for about 12 years, and I ended up leaving corporate to make a move to support my husband’s growth. And I couldn’t stay in at my company in the vertical that I wanted to be in, which was people development, uh, and also move. So they needed that leadership to stay in the city that I was in. And so I left and I was, uh, as I was leaving, I was supported by a couple of different people to help me figure out what I wanted to do next. Internally. One of my peers was this phenomenal coach, and he took me into a meeting room and did this coaching exercise with me, and I came out of that room thinking, heck yeah, I’m gonna stay in corporate learning and development. That’s what I want to do. I’m going to find another role in corporate learning and development. And I woke up probably like two weeks later going, what the heck? No, I don’t, I want to, I want to coach people. And the reason why I decided that why I landed on that was because the moments where I felt like I was providing the most value that I got the most joy from when I was in corporate were the really safe moments where I was connecting to my direct reports and my skip level direct reports and the teams that I was supporting as we were executing all of this learning strategy.

Calle Foster: And, um, I just wanted more of that. They were so powerful. People would walk out saying, Holy crap, Carly, I really needed that. Thank you so much. Or I was able to, um, you know, find my way into cracks to get to know people and help them and support them in ways they typically wouldn’t have asked for on their own. That helped accelerate their growth, and it was a special little sauce that I had that allowed me to do that. And when I would come out of those conversations and they would express how much they appreciated it, I was like, I just want more of that. I want more of that every day, all the time. If I could just do that for a living, that would be great. And so, um, that’s what I decided to do. I went back to school for coaching, invested all of my time in becoming a really dedicated coach. And so I built my practice around supporting people that have walked in similar shoes and are looking to like accelerate their professional growth to now.

Lee Kantor: What was it like, um, going from kind of a corporate setting and a comfortable, I’m sure you sounded like you still loved it. Everything was great there. And you would have stayed there, uh, had you not moved. What was it like saying, okay, now, not only am I a coach, I am an entrepreneur. I am my own boss. This is my own thing now. What was it like that first day when you were. Okay, I’m in business.

Calle Foster: Yeah. Uh. Holy crap. How am I actually gonna make money off of this? Because I was ready to just support people. I just wanted to get clients. I just wanted to get people to support. Because part of my value system and part of the reason why, um, I, or the ways that I feel good is through supporting and helping other people. And so I just wanted to get that moving and, um, wondering how I was going to start to find clients to support me. I also remember the coaching school that I went to is called iPAC, the Institute for Professional Excellence and Coaching. And I remember coming out of it on my first day of class and saying to my husband, hey honey, I am learning some things and I probably am going to start talking a little bit differently and like addressing things or expressing curiosity a little bit differently. And it’s going to feel weird. It’s going to feel funny because it’s not the way that we’ve ever talked or engaged before. It’s like new for us. And so bear with me while we navigate how weird it is to be communicating in a totally different way. And he was like, oh. Mm. Yeah. That’s fair. Okay. And from there, I felt free to be able to explore, um, and be more curious than I had in the past. So I would, I want to give credit to kind of that really, that first couple of days of coaching school in how I approached and thought about this journey, which was to approach it with a lot of curiosity.

Lee Kantor: And when you come into something with that kind of beginner’s mindset, like you’re describing, how do you convey that to a potential client or a prospective client? How do you start kind of letting your network and the people who already know and like and trust, you know, that, hey, remember Calle from last year? This is a different Calle. This. It’s the same Calle. But maybe I’m going to be communicating differently. How’d you kind of get the word out to, you know, create some escape velocity for your practice?

Calle Foster: Yeah. I mean, if I think about what I did specifically and if it worked or did anything for me, I think those are two stories. So like what I did specifically was capture all of the emails of all the people I could possibly think of that I worked with, either as people that I supported as stakeholders and clients when I was working in corporate, or just the people that I worked alongside, partnered with leaders inside the corporate space or anything adjacent to that. I compiled that all into one enormous email and sent out the notification, uh, and started kind of communicating that way. Did that do anything for me? I’ll be honest. No it didn’t. And I was playing a lot to this audience, and this was a big learning moment for me that my mentor helped me with. I was playing a lot to this audience that I had, and hoping that this audience would put in some work for me. And I’ll be honest with you, they didn’t. Um, I don’t know if it was a credibility thing. I don’t know if it’s because I, you know, may have been perceived as younger or earlier in this journey. Um, or if it’s just that thing where somebody’s doing something new and they’re like, I don’t know how long that’s gonna last. So they just don’t invest any time in it. Those are all narratives that were going on in my head, but I have no idea what the answer or the reason was.

Calle Foster: What I do know is that I spent so much time being concerned about playing to that audience, that I wasn’t thinking about how I wanted to play and care for the audience that I actually wanted to have, so I. And that included how I was posting on LinkedIn, how I was reaching out to people via email, who I was contacting, how I was posting on Instagram and social media because my audience is so heavily Gen Z and millennial that I felt like I needed to be there too. And again, I was playing to this audience that was my existing audience, the people that I thought that I had to show up for, not necessarily my new audience. And so when I was able to remove that limiting belief at the help of, uh, my mentor and coach at the time, uh, that opened up a whole world of possibilities for me to think more about who I wanted to serve and making sure that my messaging and what I was communicating was about them and that audience, instead of this audience of people who had seen me grow up in a company that I’d worked for since I was in my early 20s, right? So I was looking to change perception and focusing so heavily on changing perception that I wasn’t focusing on the audience that I really wanted.

Lee Kantor: So when you started, were you not going after the millennial Gen Z leaders? It was kind of more generic. I’m a coach.

Calle Foster: Yes. I think so many coaches, when they first start, they cast a wide net because you want to capture it all. And the more I niched, the more clients I got. And I think that that’s a product of not just like getting experience and being in the space and building credibility, but it’s also honing your messaging and playing to who you really want. So casting that wide net, you know, people didn’t necessarily understand what I did and who I served and how my services might be different or my support or my special sauce was different than another leadership coach, right? Or conflating career coaching and leadership coaching and executive coaching. There was a lot of that happening. So how do I separate Myself. Well, um, I needed to figure out how to communicate who I support better.

Lee Kantor: So what were some of the clues for you and signals and signs that said, you know what, I am going all in with millennial Gen Z leaders and that is who I’m going to be serving from this point forward.

Calle Foster: Yeah. This works. This actually worked for me in two different ways. So, uh, because I am, uh, a like middle millennial, but I’m still very engaged in social media culture. I’ve seen a lot of what Gen Z was doing. I was engaged in a social collective in Chicago that had primarily like millennial and Gen Z individuals. So I was exposed to a lot of like Gen Z trending, um, like things that were happening. And so when I would go into networking groups and I would talk about some of the things that these Gen Z individuals that I was talking to or I would see on social were talking about, I would get almost like this visceral, physical, physiological reaction from people, oh, that Gen Z, oh, Gen Z, this stereotypes, opinions, um, lots of questions and curiosity. And I started to feel a little bit defensive for my Gen Z friends out there because there were so many stereotypes. And so after, uh, this happened, I’ll tell you like probably a good handful of times, I was like, wait a second, there’s something here. There’s something about this generation that people don’t quite understand. And there could be a way to create a bridge between this newest cohort of people entering the workforce and the people that have been there since before Covid. And so, uh, that’s where a lot of the genesis, if you will, of my work and my focus came from being that I am a millennial, Obviously that’s a walk in my shoes, so I want to continue to support them. And I again, I found myself fiercely advocating for this generation that I felt like was misunderstood.

Lee Kantor: So what are some of the like, what are some of the signals of Gen Z or millennial has right before they contact you? Like, what are they going through where, uh, you know, talking to Calle and being coached by Calle is the right move for them. Are there certain things that are happening in their life or their certain kind of those precipitating events that are like, okay, if maybe they went for a promotion and didn’t get it or, and they’re frustrated and they’re like, that’s not fair. Or however they’re feeling, is that the trigger? Like what is happening in their life where having a coach is the right move for them and or having you as a coach is the exact right move for them.

Calle Foster: Yeah, you’re you were spot on there. I think there’s two main things that come up. One is how do I get the pay raise and the promotion right? When we historically in the workforce, it’s very much earn your stripes. I did this so you should too. I had to wait for my turn. And Gen Z doesn’t feel that way if they’re running circles around you because their skill is higher and they’re doing better work, then they feel as though they should be the ones getting the promotion, not the people that have been standing in line that are now maybe falling behind or shorter on the skill set than they are, and they communicate their dissatisfaction with that, which I think is awesome, right? Because just because it’s always been done that way doesn’t mean it has to continue to be done that way. So getting that raise and promotion, I think, is one of the things that people come to me for a lot. And then another thing that I think is probably the most common is confidence, imposter syndrome, and really building your brand in the way your, your professional brand inside an organization in a way that helps you achieve your goals. And typically the gap in the brand build that’s happening has to do with the confidence to show up the way that they want to in those moments. So again, that confidence piece and then the how do I get the pay raise and the promotion piece?

Lee Kantor: And then when they’re going through the coaching, how coachable are they? Are they are you finding these people are hungry for this? And they’re like, thank you. Where you been all my life? Or this like, okay, you know, sounds good for you, but this is a different world now.

Calle Foster: Yeah, yeah. Uh, well, I mean, if they came to me and they wanted my support, it’s because they’re ready for a change, right? So, um, I typically find that the people that I work with are very coachable. I think that if you’re matched with somebody, um, through systems or, or you’re being matched with somebody inside of an organization as sort of a punitive, uh, reason for coaching, then there might be more resistance. But I do find that the people that seek me out are often very coachable. They want to grow and learn, and so much of what we do is tailored. It’s entirely tailored, uh, container for them that, um, I don’t have an agenda when I come in. I think most coaches are that way, but there’s no agenda. All we know is that we’re fiercely going to support and tailor, uh, what we do in that container towards what it is that they’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: And then when you’re working with them over time, does what they’re, what they thought they hired you for, does it change sometimes where you start working on something and then maybe you help them achieve that thing they thought they wanted, but then they realized that maybe this is, you know, it’s like the, the dog that catches the car. Like, you know, do I really want this after all?

Calle Foster: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got a client, uh, right now actually, who has been so fun to work with. She came to me because she didn’t get the promotion, and she was pretty frustrated with it, and she was exploring other roles and opportunities, different companies. She was ready to go, like ready to leave her company. And in tandem, we were working on the feedback that she received about why she didn’t get that promotion. And that feedback was that she needed to be more strategic. She needed to operate more strategically. She needed to flex her strategic thinking muscle. And that is often feedback that is very ambiguous and doesn’t have a lot of actionable things that you can go and run after and do. It’s very tailored to the context of the job. And so while we were searching for roles and different companies for her to work for and doing values alignment and all the things that you do for people that are trying to make a transition into something else. Um, we were working on what strategic thinking and operating strategically looked like inside of her role maybe three months into it, she shut down all the applications she was getting good feedback on, um, like her ability to shift into being more strategic. And she’s now with the company, her boss, her, um, the leader that she has today has already put her up for promotion and is advocating for her promotion, which is very different than it has been in the past. So, um, you know, again, the, the arc here was she came to me because she wanted an exit, uh, and wanted to think about where she wanted to go because she got this feedback around needing to be more strategic and didn’t get the promotion. And she ended up staying with the company, stopping the applications, loving what she was doing because she was getting recognition for her shift into being much more strategic. And now she is like getting ready to be promoted in 2027.

Lee Kantor: Now, is your work primarily with individuals like that? Um, or do you work with organizations you mentioned earlier that have multi-generations on their team, and then maybe they’re struggling in communication or maybe there’s a lot of turnover?

Calle Foster: Yeah, absolutely. So I primarily in coaching settings, I primarily work one on one for people development. And then the way that I work with organizations is typically by doing talks and meetings and workshops to help people understand cross-generational nuances and the backstory of the different generations and why those generations, those that backstory is yielding, the behaviors that they’re seeing play out, or the values that they’re seeing play out in real time in workplaces. For the most part, every generation wants the same thing, right? They want respect for their experience. They want people to value the work that they do. They want to be able to hold their boundaries and have their workplace honor, work life balance, right? So they, want the same things, but the way that those values manifest in the workplace shows up differently based on your background, right? Based on the societal context in which you were raised in. And so, um, I help organizations understand more of that backstory and more about how to collaborate and understand each other regardless of the generation that you’re in or from.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there an industry that you work in primarily? Like a sweet spot or niche, or is this something that it sounds like it could be industry agnostic, but maybe in your work you’ve worked in certain areas primarily.

Calle Foster: Yeah, you’re exactly right. It’s totally industry agnostic. But I find myself in tech, fintech and finance.

Lee Kantor: And do you think that just because they have that kind of a lot of millennials and Gen Zs?

Calle Foster: Mhm. Uh, I think it’s partially because it’s the area that I came from. I came from an organization that was big tech adjacent and supported big tech and, um, or that’s the company that I came from. And, uh, a lot of the people that I’ve supported and, uh, embedded myself in, in networking organizations happen to be in finance and there’s so many incredible and powerful millennial and Gen Z women that are, uh, you know, in, you know, financial institutions that are predominantly male and trying to grow and establish their leadership presence. And so that’s, uh, that’s the space that I find myself in kind of organically, right?

Lee Kantor: That’s the kind of the niche within the niche.

Calle Foster: Mhm. Yeah, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any advice you would give an organization that might be struggling with some of the generational challenges that you were describing? Is there some low hanging fruit for an organization out there, uh, that they could be doing to just have better culture in this area?

Calle Foster: Yeah, I think there’s a couple of things that, uh, come to me most immediately. One is that, um, if we expect anyone, especially Gen Z, which is that newer cohort coming in, uh, to understand how we want them to work, what our expectations are around what a good output looks like. Uh, if we have those expectations and haven’t communicated them in detail, then we’re setting ourselves up for frustration. My recommendation for Gen Z is to explain almost painfully in detail what those expectations are, get them documented so that they can refer back to it. Uh, that’s one of the, the most critical things that I recommend. And I think that goes to having a very robust onboarding experience because, uh, Gen Z has the highest rate of anxiety of any generation documented. And one of the most common responses to anxiety is avoidance. So if Gen Z has questions and is lacking clarity about what right looks like to you, they’re concerned they’ve got more anxiety around how are they going to think of me or about me if I go ask this question and they’ll just decide not to ask the question, so they’ll avoid it, and then the output or the product that they end up giving you might be lackluster. So that creating that safe space so that they can ask those questions, I think is huge, but also being very, very, almost painfully clear about what the expectations are upfront so that their onboarding is easier.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that clarity of communication, it seems like that’s at the heart of so many issues for so many people and companies.

Calle Foster: Yeah, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about your practice or get on your calendar, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Calle Foster: Yeah, it’s callefoster.com, callefoster.com is my web address, but then you can also obviously find me on LinkedIn or Instagram at Millennial Leadership Coach. I post a lot of tips there, so if people are looking for quick tips both on generational dynamics or things like how to ask for the promotion or prepping, uh, worthwhile, helpful performance reviews and things like that, then that’s a great space to do it. Uh, at millennial leadership coach on Instagram.

Lee Kantor: Well, Calle, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Calle Foster: Thanks, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.