Kelli Thompson’s Post

When you see an employee struggling with a task you could do easily, it’s only natural to want to step in and help. But from the other side, this can feel more like micromanagement than support. And when leaders over-function by keeping too much work for themselves, they allow those around them to under-function. We all know how important it is to delegate — both to help employees grow and to create a more collaborative, empowered, productive team. How can you get better at this key leadership skill? ▫️First, shift from a doer to a leader mindset. ▫️Second, embrace the discomfort of the learning process. ▫️Third, identify low-stakes tasks that are less risky to delegate. ▫️Finally, be curious and facilitative instead of prescriptive. What a day maker to be featured last week alongside one of my friends, Shanna Hocking for a Harvard Business Review feature by Vasundhara Sawhney (she/her) on how to crush your delegation skills! (Article links in comments) #leadershipdevelopment #careers #confidence #delegationskills

I believe that corporations will lead more social change than government ever will. Why? Because in the United States, corporations primarily bear the responsibility of providing an individual's benefits. This is why it's so important to have women in the decision making rooms of companies driving these changes. Do you want to be known as a woman who changes policy? The best place to start in leading change is to start where you are. Start With Your Team. If you want to see a culture change, how can you implement what you want to see with your own team? Make sure to track and communicate your results. Lead With The Data. Types of data you can look into include: Employee attraction (who’s coming?), employee attrition (who’s leaving) and employee promotion (who’s advancing?). Find Best Practices. Here are great places to review what other organizations are offering to attract talent and lead benefit offerings: ▫️“Best Places To Work” Lists ▫️Society for Human Resource Management ▫️WorkHuman Share Wins. Many of the best policies we created in HR came from feedback in our teams based on what they were hearing in the market. Advocate For Change. The best way to influence the leaders in your organization who make the policies is to connect and communicate with them on the data, the best practices and what's working. Frame it in a way that communicates how the company can make/save money, reduce risk or lead change. Try this next: What's one policy in your organization that you'd like to change? What's a small step in your control that you can take towards influencing it? #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment

In 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, another unprecedented action happened - many corporations offered to pay for reproductive health care travel, which proved to save many women's lives who needed to leave their state to obtain time-sensitive care for life-threatening pregnancy complications. Watching companies step up to support women, while also watching more organizations provide fertility treatment benefits (which my husband and I gratefully used via his job at Wells Fargo) led me to this aha moment, which feels especially timely: 💥 Corporations will lead more social change than government ever will. Why? Because in most countries, paid leave and insurance is government provided and protected. But in the United States, corporations primarily bear the responsibility of providing an individual's benefits. In talking with a colleague who spent a majority of her working career working with factories in China, it was the corporate brands (Adidas and Nike) that demanded the factories to provide safer working conditions, not the government. As companies chase talent today, they continue to offer more flexible, lucrative and family-friendly benefits that set new standards and drive social change that fill in the gaps where government isn’t driving policy changes. A few weeks ago, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup announced they would be providing 16 weeks of family leave to both parents + 8 extra weeks to the parent who gave birth. Finally, a solution that attempts to catch the US up with paid leave that hundreds of other countries provide. Yes, it's critical to see more women represented in local, state and national government who will continue to advocate for equity and equality, it benefits everyone. However, since corporations still drive a significant amount of social change, it's very important that women are in the corporate rooms where decisions are made to ensure that all perspectives are heard - it ultimately benefits everyone’s peace, potential and paychecks. Are you a leader who changes policy? What policies can you begin to influence at your workplace? #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment Picture courtesy of The Female Quotient

In my coaching conversations with leaders, there’s a topic they want to avoid but we always keep coming back to... Discomfort. I think sometimes when we say yes to a leadership role or set exciting goals, we make a plan for everything to happen in a straight line with no challenges. 🙃 Here's a list of discomforts we discuss: 1. The discomfort of delegating a task and watching someone struggle and how hard it is not to step in and take over or give advice 2. The discomfort of taking bigger risks as your career accelerates and you become more visible 3. The discomfort of speaking up and sharing new ideas or a contrasting opinion 4. The discomfort of being brand new in your role and feeling like you know nothing! 5. The discomfort of giving difficult feedback In times of discomfort, it's tempting to use short-term strategies like taking over a task, shying away from the risk, staying silent or procrastinating to temporarily get rid of the icky feeling. It’s tempting to avoid the hard feelings, but they end up costing us in the long term because they keep us micromanaging, taking over, playing small and remaining silent. We lose because our ideas go unheard and our goals go unrealized. We stay stuck as doers instead of leaders. Our teams lose as when we fear the feedback necessary for their growth. But the magic happens when you can learn to EXPECT and even embrace the discomfort that comes with career and leadership growth. This is why great leaders are frequently uncomfortable leaders. What discomfort can you welcome today? #womenleaders #careers #leadershipdevelopment #confidence

Early on in my human resources career, my boss made a comment that stuck with me: "You're really direct, and many people aren't going to know how to handle you." After years of working in human resources, I finally learned to view my directness as a competitive advantage in business. If I hadn't learned to blend direct communication with empathy and compassion, it might have developed into an approach that was detrimental to my career and relationships. My latest article from Business Insider on how to turn your personality critiques into strengths at work. #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment

It's hard to see what we've accomplished when we're in the thick of things, and taking a break to look back helps us move forward. At a few inflection points during the year (like mid-year!), I love to “reflect to advance.” I think it's so easy to focus on everything we haven't achieved yet and become discouraged. This is our dang scarcity mindset kicking in. However, I find so much power in owning what we've accomplished, what worked, what didn't and use that evidence to make smart tweaks so we can continue to be intentional about the types of leaders, partners and people we want to become. Check out a few of the questions I ask myself to reflect and advance. What’s your smallest, bravest next step? #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #careers #confidence

Why are we still talking about imposter syndrome? I know people get frustrated with the term because they believe our organizations perpetuate it due to a lack of representation of women and people of color at the top, and thus, we shouldn’t blame women. (This is partially true.) Some people say it’s a made up term, probably by men to keep women fighting against a made up thing. (It wasn’t, it was based on a study called the Imposter Phenomenon by two women). This morning, my feed is filled with posters saying we can officially be “over it” after two 80-year old men revealed on a debate stage that they are too old and out of touch to be running for the highest office in the US. (Really, is this the best we can do?) And yet, the normal, everyday emotions of doubt and feeling like an imposter CONTINUE to hold women back from running for office, applying for roles they are fully capable of, asking for salary increases and promotions, voicing their ideas and so much more. It’s why my talk, Leading With Clarity & Confidence is still my most popular. It’s NOT about telling women they’ll never feel these very real feelings, it’s about giving them the tools and strategies to rise confidently WHILE also feeling doubt. It’s about showing up fully because someone is counting on your unique calling. It’s time. #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment PS: If your organization is booking for fall women in leadership talks, my calendar is filling quickly! DM me

Rest versus recovery - Why does the difference matter for leaders? One of my clients had recently come off a streak of intense work projects - ones that consumed her mind, heart and energy for far too long into the evenings on most nights. While she was proud of her work and excited about what she accomplished, she was tired…and also a little nervous that burnout was waiting for her around the corner.    I asked her, “What are you doing to recover?” She let me know she was taking a Friday off, but that it would likely be filled with catching up on some home projects she'd been putting off - and maybe even replying to a few emails.   I told her that sounded a lot like rest and not recovery.   Why is not just rest, but recovery, so important for women? According to the 2023 Women @ Work Global Outlook from Deloitte, 46% of women reported feeling burned out. The reason for this is the inability to “switch off” from work and the burden of childcare and maintaining household tasks. It's hard to build sustainable confidence if you are overworked and overwhelmed.   As a former corporate leader and a leadership coach, I see health consequences like fatigue, anxiety, health issues, sleep disturbances, etc., from leaders who refuse to give themselves a break.   Pushing harder when we're already tired doesn't help us better solve problems or lead our teams confidently, it just makes us more anxious. For me, my best ideas often come after extended periods of not just rest, but recovery.   🔥 What is the difference between rest and recovery to you? Drop how you rest or recover in the comments! #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment #wellbeing

“ 'I don’t have a single good idea left in me.’ This went through my head multiple times when I was editing my book. I had failed to predict how time-consuming the editing process would be, and I’d conveniently jammed my calendar with speaking events. As a result, I struggled with sleep, my anxiety peaked, and my creativity felt depleted. With the inklings of burnout creeping in, I was intentional about taking vacations over the summer, reducing my client workload, and allowing more downtime in my daily schedule. This felt so reenergizing that I became intentional about setting boundaries and having a lighter workload for the fall when my book was set to officially launch. I prioritized recovery, not just rest.” Read one of my most popular articles on Quartz on prioritizing not just rest, but recovery, when you’re feeling burned out. What recovery activities can you prioritize this summer? #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment #wellbeing

Are you coachable? No matter how long you’ve been in your role or the amount of success you’ve had, are you truly coachable? Even at the highest levels of leadership, that’s the tone that John Cook lead with last week when I heard him speak at ACG Nebraska. If you don’t know John Cook, he’s the mastermind behind orchestrating the largest, world-record breaking women’s sporting event in history when they packed the Nebraska football stadium with 92,003 fans for a women’s volleyball game. He’s lead the Nebraska volleyball team to four national championships and so many consecutive sellouts it feels impossible to get a ticket. While he dropped so many gems and I was dying for a chance to ask him what advice he’d give to corporate leaders on why betting on women works, the top lesson I took away from him was that winners are coachable. Winners and leaders have a growth mindset that helps them admits that the longer they are leading, the LESS they know. In fact, he said that one of the things that made him more coachable was to have a hobby (learning to ride and rope with horses) outside of his day job. He believes the hobby beats burnout because you are learning something new. Here are three powerful self-coaching questions courtesy of John that he asks himself that are great for all leaders to consider: 1️⃣ Who needs me today? 2️⃣ Would I be chosen again for this role today? 3️⃣ Would I want to be coached / lead by me today? Are you coachable? #womenleaders #careers #confidence #leadershipdevelopment University of Nebraska-Lincoln