How do we rediscover our confidence, tap into our unique strengths, and create meaningful growth in both our personal and professional lives?

Today’s conversation delves into these questions with Adele Leah who has dedicated her career to empowering leaders and creative professionals.  From overcoming burnout to mastering personal branding, we’ll explore strategies for breaking barriers and fostering authenticity. We’ll look into on building confidence, shaping a strong personal brand, and creating a healthy workplace culture that inspires connection and growth. 

More information about Adele here.
More information about Step up, Stand Out & Shine here.

Transcript

*Please note that the transcript has been automatically generated and proofread for mistakes. But remains in spoken English, and some syntax and grammar mistakes might remain.

Elisa Tuijnder: [00:00:00] How do we rediscover our confidence, tap into our unique strengths, and create meaningful growth in both our personal and professional lives? Today’s conversation delves into these questions with an expert who has dedicated her career to empowering leaders and creative professionals. From overcoming burnout to mastering personal branding, we’ll explore strategies for breaking barriers and fostering authenticity.

We’ll look into building confidence, shaping a strong [00:00:30] personal brand and creating a healthy workplace culture that inspires connection and growth.

Before we dive in, you are listening to the Happiness at Work podcast by Management 3. 0, where we are getting serious about happiness.

I’m your host, Elisabeth Abner. Happiness enthusiast and Management [00:01:00] 3point0 team member. In this podcast, we share insights from industry experts, influencers, and thought leaders about what it takes to be happy, motivated, and productive at work, so that loving your job becomes the norm and not the exception.

We will be publishing every fortnight on Friday, so be sure to tune in and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome [00:01:30] Adele Lia. Adele is a transformational coach, educator, speaker, and business growth strategist with over two decades of experience in the creative industry. She has dedicated her career to empowering creative professionals and leaders to transform their careers and businesses. Adele, it’s such a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

Adele Leah: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me on. I’m excited. 

Elisa Tuijnder: I’m excited to talk about what you do, how you do it, who you are. But the first thing we have to do on this podcast is always start with the same question, and [00:02:00] that is, what does happiness mean to you? 

Adele Leah: I know, and I, I, I saw this in the kind of, um, the heads up on what we’d be talking about and big, big question, which I think, you know, it’s, um, it’s multidimensional, isn’t it happiness?

Well, I, I think so, um, you know, and happiness at work is, is one thing and I think massively feeds into our overall life happiness. What it means to me is being energized, working in flow, [00:02:30]though work kind of isn’t work. It’s us naturally being us and doing what, what comes to us naturally and brings us joy, energy, inspiration, motivation.

Um, and you know, not every day we’re leaving the office high fiving people and doing, you know, a high sidekick, but there needs to be moments of that where we’re feeling proud and enthusiastic. We’re, you know, one of [00:03:00] the sayings that I use a lot is happiness is what we give, not what we get. And so when, you know, for me really helping people find happiness at work and happiness in their careers is when they’re using what I like to call their superpowers.

to give something, change something, impact, create, develop, often for the greater good. I think that’s where the sweet spot really lies and they feel energized, motivated and inspired. [00:03:30] To do it. Yeah. But I think it’s a, it’s a, an amazing question and it’s not hard to capture capturing kind of one, one word.

’cause I think there’s lots of facets that go into creating happiness. 

Elisa Tuijnder: And it’s very subjective. It’s very subjective. Subjective. And it’s, it’s also, it’s funny how certain words come, come back, like flow comes back a lot. Um, but it’s very subjective and I think that’s also the point of it. I think happiness at work is, that’s why it’s a good.

a good catch all term because it’s sort of what you make of it as well. And for [00:04:00] leaders to understand that, that it’s not for everyone the same thing. It’s not the ping pong tables and it’s not, it’s not the, yeah, the, the, the, the breathing exercises and the high kicks in the morning with everybody. Um, that might help for some, but it won’t help for everybody.

Adele Leah: I think there’s some underlying things with the ping pong table. It’s not the ping pong table that that brings people together and it creates connections. Yes, 

Elisa Tuijnder: absolutely. And so it’s 

Adele Leah: kind of looking at, all the, you know, the different elements that people want and then[00:04:30] how do you facilitate that? 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. And then, and measure it to your teams to measure to what they want to the people who are there. And that’s incredibly important. Hey, you have an incredibly rich background in the creative industries and business development. And I know that you have lived in many countries as well, because we’ve talked about this before, and it’s super exciting.

But I would love to sort of kind of know how you, how you got into this, how you got into coaching and, and focus on helping other people find their voice. [00:05:00] And also sort of, yeah, what was that spark? But, and why you, what, what, what makes you tick? What, what makes that, what does that make you happy? 

Adele Leah: Oh, gosh.

Um, so I was working in recruitment, recruiting for the creative industry, working with a number of. Um, sort of small to medium sized businesses, as well as some of the bigger agencies, but really enjoyed working with the small to medium businesses, helping them grow and helping them grow their team.

Looking at, you know, what’s the [00:05:30] culture they’re creating and how that culture they’re creating attracts the talent that they want. Working with individuals in terms of, you know, where do they want to go in their career. And yeah. The big kind and theme? We all want a job that made us happy. We want to work for a company that makes us happy.

Companies are being built to have a, you know, profitable, thriving company. And you need that happy culture. Um, so that kind of seemed to be the theme that was running it through, through things, but [00:06:00] not many people getting it right on both sides of the, both sides. It’s not easy. I think, no, well, cause you know, often we’re going out just looking for another job and a better job, just want a nice team, but not really identifying what that is, what’s going to make us happy.

We get put into these job title kind of boxes. And so we’re moving within this job title box, but not really understanding, you know, the, the multiple levels and layers that come [00:06:30] within a job title. And it’s not the job title, it’s what we’re doing. Um, and, you know, the same job title could, and, you know, looking at the same role in two different companies, in one we love it and we thrive.

Elisa Tuijnder: Very different. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. And one we don’t, and it’s very different. And sometimes it’s just the balance of certain elements of the role. So I think, gosh, I was in recruitment for on and off nearly, well, over 15 years, probably coming up to 20 years. Also working in business development, [00:07:00] helping small businesses grow.

And I kept seeing the same thing. Um, the, the real kind of turning point was literally seeing people coming to, um, you know, the recruitment agency that I was running and being in tiers. And they’re just unhappy and having been there myself for a 12 month period. I just was like, I don’t want people to have to get up in the morning with that dread and that, you know, I used to literally driving to work feeling sick and it’s awful.

And [00:07:30] I was like, I want to do something to change this and really try and work out how to help people understand, you know, how they can be happy at work. And then a lot of this started coming down to understanding yourself more. And, um, instead of comparing. Ourselves and judging ourselves against others, really owning our uniqueness and what I now term our superpowers and finding a role where we can play to our superpowers.[00:08:00]

So work isn’t really work, it’s us naturally. Being ourselves. In our flow states. Yeah, in our flow states. And so it all started, I don’t know, kind of one thing, you know, evolved into another. That’s another area. And another, and, um, you know, that’s really where I found myself playing in my world of work these days is, you know, helping people find their superpowers, um, their strengths, their talents, and helping businesses really kind of understand.

They’re [00:08:30] individuals so they can build a better, um, happier, more productive team. And I say play because it should be, we should be playing in our work. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yes, absolutely. I think that the concept of faith is incredibly important within work, but we might still have to convince a few more of those. Um, yeah, like, yeah, it’s not always easy, is it?

Yeah, it’s that knowing yourself element [00:09:00] of happiness at work is so incredibly important. It just wrote a module that just came out on, um, um, based on. My interview is with people, uh, for Management 3point0 and it says it’s for, it’s for team leaders and it’s like absolutely this needs to be done. The first thing you need to do is knowing yourself.

Knowing yourself before knowing, knowing others, uh, is, is incredibly important. Adele, you also, you know, on your website and on, and you’ve, when we talked as well, you’ve also [00:09:30]mentioned that you’ve yourself had some issues kind of finding your superpower, not necessarily finding your superpower, but also struggled with the confidence around this.

You know, getting it out there and, and, and, and grabbing it and, and trying to help, um, yeah, and feeling yourself, um, in, in these, in these environments, in this high pressured environment. So maybe you can share a little bit about that and how that sort of informs your coaching and your help with others.

Adele Leah: Yeah, sure. And absolutely, I didn’t know [00:10:00] what my super power was. For a long time, I didn’t have clarity on where I was going, what I was doing, what I wanted to do. I therefore, you know, I think those two feed into not feeling very confident. You know, the term imposter syndrome’s kind of bashed around a lot.

Um, and it’s, you know, I think there’s elements of it definitely are real. Um, more so when we’re comparing ourselves to others, rather than looking inwards at who we [00:10:30] are, what we’re good at. And so I spent a lot of time, really from early years, I had a very high flying academic sister. I’m, I’m dyslexic, was more on the kind of, In the creative archetype, then the, you know, the, the academic side of things really struggled with the education system at school.

And that really kind of stopped me seeing what my superpowers were. And instead I was jumping [00:11:00] into comparison and judgment itis. Then when I did try to do something, I wasn’t sure if I was being authentic. I was, um, you know, not feeling confident, not finding my voice. So a lot of, um, and I didn’t really understand this until I started, um, kind of training more in the coaching world, in the neuro linguistic world.

Programming, understanding mindset behaviors, you know, the penny just kept dropping and dropping and I was like, okay. And I think this is really what drives me [00:11:30] to help people stand out and shine because I spent a lot of my time, certainly, you know, my early years in, in career and in education, not feeling like that.

I’m really helping people understand their uniqueness and their superpowers. So we’re not having to compare. And judge ourselves against others. Some people are great at one thing and we’re actually never going to be great at that. That’s okay. That’s okay. We’re great at something else. I think when we can get that and understand it ourselves, [00:12:00] when companies can have a team of people that understand that, they work better together and the imposter syndrome, judgmentitis, kind of diminishes and it builds a much more positive, impactful team working relationship.

Because I think a lot of the toxicity in businesses comes from us, you know, trying to kind of back ourselves in areas that we’re not great at. And there’s, there’s a good thing go on about that for an hour. Yeah, 

Elisa Tuijnder: absolutely. But it’s so [00:12:30] important, right? You know, if you have a team where five people and one of them hates doing numbers and the other person actually loves it, but it’s doing, I don’t know, lots of client facing things.

Like, yeah, just turn it around. Right. But just having that conversation, knowing that about yourself and then having that conversation with your team can make a world of difference and it can be small things, but it can, it can obviously lead to very significant consequences or, or good consequences. But 

Adele Leah: sometimes it can be tiny changes, um, that just, you know, send us kind of more in that, [00:13:00] um, you know, flow zone.

There was a lot of my own kind of experiences that, that, you know, and then seeing this kind of theme and pattern again through recruitment and working with Um, you know, really has influenced kind of where my, um, my coaching work’s gone. And I’ve created a framework that I use called the Shine Effect to really help people move into their, their kind of light in a sense.

So they’re glowing at work and in, um, and in, in their business or a business. Um, and, you know, it’s a [00:13:30] series of kind of. Different exercises and tools that I use. I have actually just done some more training in this kind of talent and strengths area, which I’m 

Elisa Tuijnder: just fascinated 

Adele Leah: by. Um, I’m really excited to be using kind of more of that in, in the work that I do.

Um, and I just, it’s a game changer. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Knowing yourself, I’ve been really lucky that my mom has worked in the, in, in this sort of field and area since I was younger. So I think I did [00:14:00] my first sort of strength finder and my first insights discovery when I was 15. Uh, so it’s really because she needed people to practice on and we share with our listeners.

These are psychometric tests that will actually explain to you kind of what your areas of expertise are and where your strengths are. And I think that helped me throughout my journey as well. And even then I didn’t fully internalize it, um, but going down through my career and understanding it better.

So it should be. Sort of a standard thing, actually. [00:14:30] Absolutely! It 

Adele Leah: should be part of the education system as you’re leaving, you know, kind of leaving university and going into a role, if not before then, so it’s kind of, you know, navigating some of your earlier career choices at that, that kind of, you know, um, picking a unicorn.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and there’s a lot, you know, at that age, there’s a lot out there that we, you know, roles that we don’t know. Also, industry is moving so fast. There’s roles that are appearing now that weren’t there five years ago. And [00:15:00] yeah, so, um, you know, I just think that kind of, you know, that side of things, um, I don’t think it’s ever too late.

I think we can get it introduced. A lot earlier would, um, you know, would be, would be great. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. And some of them work, I mean, some of them work well for others. Some of them don’t work well for others and, uh, they all have different accents and, and that kind of stuff, but they’re not, you know, they’re not tests like, you know, actual, you have to pass them.

Right. They’re literally just helping you understand who you are. Yeah. It’s just giving more 

Adele Leah: of an insight. Absolutely. [00:15:30] Exactly. Yeah. Why not have a bit more knowledge on how you. How you are, how you learn, 

Elisa Tuijnder: how you, you know, all of these kind of things, everything is there. And you can wait 20 years by figuring this out, or never figure it out, or you can get like the little tiny help in the beginning of doing a questionnaire.

Let’s make it a little bit more tangible. So I know you run a different amount of different programs as well, but say, for example, I’m coming to you now, Adele. I don’t, [00:16:00] I need some help. I don’t know what I’m good at. I don’t know. I’ve not found that role yet. Um, how do you, and you want to help them find their unique values and taking and getting them on their path.

How do we, how do you approach that? And then how do you help them find their unique skills? 

Adele Leah: So I have a framework. It kind of differs for people depending on where they’re at, depending on what we, um, kind of uncovering in an initial discovery session. Also I send a pre-coaching questionnaire, which is quite in depth.

It is [00:16:30] handy. Yeah. And there’s little kind of things that, that come out of that. Um, clarity. I think kind of the, the, the starting point in the foundation of, of it all is clarity. And that’s clarity are on what we want, what we are good at, why we want it, what’s kind of, you know, where’s there an it inside of us for something a bit more.

Um. People often come, um, you know, if it’s an individual, they’re often coming because they’re stuck [00:17:00] or lost, tends to be a lot of words that I hate. With a business, they’re kind of, they’ve hit this, you know, again, it’s that stuckness. We’ve got to this level, but the team aren’t working. We’re just not pushing through.

Often, you know, we’re not really seeing, well, what is it? What’s the kind of big, the bigger picture that we’re working to? Um, With individuals, a lot of the time I would go out five to 10 years from now to really kind of create what’s this vision of success, [00:17:30] because sometimes we’re thriving for something.

Um, and I’ve, I’ve written an article on this about myself, you know, we’re thriving for something that’s not our vision of success. What we think success is. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Should be like, yeah, exactly. Yeah, should. Fed to us by media, the people around us, etc. Oh yeah, 

Adele Leah: yeah, yep. Um, when I did this kind of uncovering, um, of myself of this, it was just laughable.

Um, I think I’d taken a hell of a lot of movies and gone down a career path. Yeah, [00:18:00] The Devil Wears Prada and that’s, and that’s, if I wear the shoes, I’ll be there. Yeah, well, I did start in PR, it was very short lived, but so wait, it’s kind of really breaking, breaking that clarity piece down. Um, we talk a lot about career stories and things that we’ve done, days that we’ve had that, you know, have really stuck with us because they were bloody awful.

Days that have stuck with us because they were great people we’ve [00:18:30] worked with. So there’s all lots of just, and then I kind of see like this golden thread. 

Elisa Tuijnder: It’s the sort of beautiful mind stuff that comes out on the paper for 

Adele Leah: you. And you know, and often other people say, when we’re kind of downloading, we’re asking different questions, um, and then we’re moving the spotlight into, well, actually that is what I want and that’s where I, you know, that’s what I’m great at.

That’s what I love to play. There’s a bit [00:19:00] of confidence building that comes into this. Um, you know, a lot of us aren’t very good at going, you know what, I’m great at that. At that, yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: That 

Adele Leah: is my superpower. Um, but that starts coming as we start seeing it more and we’ve got clarity on how that connects.

With where we want to go, um, what we’re trying to build, um, build or develop. Along the way, we have to slay some limiting belief and, um, you know, some mindset things that are potentially holding us back, but we kind of do [00:19:30] that in the action rather than, um, you know, and I know some coaching is very much about looking at that, um, stuff that’s kind of holding you back.

This kind of comes as we’re going through, going through a process. Um, and, um, you know, it’s amazing to just start seeing people kind of step into it. Flourish, yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And then connect the dots and, you know, their career or their businesses move, um, you know, move forward. Um, so yes.[00:20:00]

Elisa Tuijnder: What do you, what do you see a lot at the moment? Just people. uh, not understanding what their superpowers are, them being in the wrong cultures, the wrong world cultures, where they can’t actually shine their potential. What, what’s sort of the main or the common barriers that you see at the moment, uh, but with your own, and maybe that’s been throughout the years the same thing, but it changes sometimes.

Yeah, 

Adele Leah: I mean, I think, I think it does change. I think, you know, one of the things is [00:20:30]additioned to an early age to fit in. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. That’s the education system. That’s the, that’s the way we see it. Yeah. 

Adele Leah: It’s the education. I mean, there’s a lot about it kind of. And I was talking on a podcast the other day about, you know, finding your tribe.

And when you find your tribe, you’re going to fit in and you’re going to polarize the other tribes that you don’t belong to. But often we’re trying to just, we’re trying to fit in and I, you [00:21:00] know, I see this, you know, whether it be a business owner that’s trying to build a personal brand online to grow their business, they’ve got these very, you know, we’re putting out very bland, generic, beige, like, you know, Because you want to appeal to the 

Elisa Tuijnder: whole spectrum and you can’t appeal to the whole spectrum.

Adele Leah: And you know, it’s the same with job seekers. And then, um, you know, I was working with, um, a guy, he’s actually just starting out And he’s like, I just don’t feel like I could, you know, have a brand out there that’s saying that. And [00:21:30] I’m like, but that’s what you say. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. But what 

Adele Leah: are people going to think?

Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. And then you need to be bold. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. Have I got enough to back it up? And, um, you know, one of the things that I’m really seeing in particular as we’re moving into this world with so much AI happening out there is authenticity is going to be your strongest currency. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Absolutely. 

Adele Leah: And that’s where that slaying the limiting beliefs of I need to fit in, um, [00:22:00] you know, I should kind of tow the party line, or I can’t say that, what will people think? Um, you know, it’s, it’s really trying to get to the edge of, of that kind of boundary condition and going, this is me, this is my opinion.

This is what I believe in and knowing that you’re going to attract the right people when you. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, finding your tribe is incredibly important, but also staying authentic within it is also incredibly important. And staying true to your values. I feel like, I mean, and I don’t know if [00:22:30] you have this as well, but because you’ve also lived in different places in the world, but I always feel like I haven’t really anchored to a place, uh, I always, I mean, because I, I’ve been a proper nomad, right?

So I’ve had to anchor to myself in a way, I’ve had to anchor to my values and anybody who undermines those values, that’s, that’s when I really get really a little bit loose and shaky because that’s, that’s the thing that holds me. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: To the whole, to the whole 

Adele Leah: thing. Yeah, absolutely. And, um, you know, someone who’s moved around quite, quite a lot.[00:23:00]

Um, back in the UK after not being here for gosh, 18, 20 years, um, and making new friends. Um, those values are really, and I think as you, um, you know, kind of go through life and you, you get a bit more mature, those values are really, really key. Um, and they’re just as key when you’re entering into working relationships environment, um, when, when you’re building teams.

You know, there’s so much that I [00:23:30] think sometimes we, we kind of miss the values side on our careers, our businesses and how they link with, um, you know, who we’re going to work with, how we’re showing up. Um, but I think that’s, that’s, um. But until I started 

Elisa Tuijnder: freelancing, until I started freelancing, I don’t think anybody’s ever asked me properly what are your values or, you know, you have to, you sort of have to go through the rick and morale to sort of really go, okay, no, that is really not me.

That is really, this is really me. And you have to sort of do that interplay, I’m [00:24:00] guessing. But again, doing some, some kind of work earlier on around what is me, what is, what do I, what do I stand for? Um, and it would, would probably be beneficial in people finding the right workplaces for themselves as well.

Adele Leah: Absolutely. So that this, um, training that I’ve just done, there’s a lot on values. There’s a lot on career drivers. as well as on talents and how they all, how they all link to link. You know, when I worked in recruitment, I would see some companies [00:24:30] managed to get it really right, finding the right people and the right fit.

I’d see some companies just, you know, and they’re known as the revolving door. Whereas I think if they could take a step back and go right, walk What’s our culture? What’s our values? Yeah. What are the kind of career drivers we need people in our business to have? Could be, um, you know, could have really, really made, made a difference to them as a business and the people, um, and the people working to them.

Elisa Tuijnder: It’s funny because I’m working [00:25:00] on something very similar to that, like trying to help the boardroom, basically, what is our culture, how do we get it on the floor, and that part of what you’re just saying, that’s also then hiring for cultural fit. Cultural fit doesn’t mean everybody exactly thinks like us.

or looks like us, the diversity is incredibly important, but that shares the same values, and that shares the same aspirations, I guess, as well. And I’m sure that’s sort of what you’re saying there, that revolving door, that is just people that go, okay, tick box exercise. [00:25:30] Yeah. Not thinking, does that actually fit?

with the people who are here, do the people that are here actually fit with the culture that we want to create, right? You know? 

Adele Leah: And how can we move that person into a different role and like, you know, so they’re not going to leave because growth comes into it. Yeah. Um, and you know, one of the big things that I see when people, um, you know, come to me is when they’re not thriving, it’s because they’re not growing and they don’t leave jobs necessarily about money.

And job [00:26:00] title is more around culture and leadership and ground. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Absolute. The, the, the, the, the cliche, right? People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Yeah. Uh, but actually it should be wider than that. They leave culture as well because the fact that a manager can act like that to you in a certain way or whatever, that also comes from the culture that allows that.

Adele Leah: Yeah, definitely. Um, so I think, you know, kind of a key thing is, you know, the, the self exploration of what, what do I want? What are my skills? Where [00:26:30] am I happiest? What are the people that I’m happiest with? What are their kind of values, their personality traits? How can I, you know, have that in a working environment?

Because I think you can, when you get clear on it, you know, when you know what you’re looking for, it becomes much easier to find. But we go out to the job market, or we go out to recruit a team. With a tick list of duties that someone’s got to perform or, you know, we’re putting ourselves [00:27:00] to market, I can perform this list of duties, but not really understanding why we’re great at performing that and what’s the right environment for us to, to do that in.

Elisa Tuijnder: And that’s where, where your authenticity piece comes in again as well, or where the companies also need to be authentic because you’re false advertising and people come in and they’re just like, I saw, I was doing some research for a blog the other day and I saw a bunch of. What’s called job applications of openings, where I was just like reading between the lines, like, you are not actually [00:27:30] saying what this job is because you’re too afraid to say what the job is, right?

Almost like just kind of putting words in there. It was clearly a very dry sales role, but you were like putting in like words like happiness. And so this is how I got to these things. No, just say what it is, just call it out. And there are people actually out there who also enjoy that, that sort of, that, that, that marching towards the sales role and getting the clients and all of these kinds of things.

But if you, if you’re going to hire [00:28:00] accidentally an 80 year old me, who’s, who’s then going to sit there, I thought this was about something else. And it’s actually basically just trying to sell things to people. I’m not going to make a lot of sales. And then you’ve wasted your time. I’ve wasted my time.

And then the sort of a perpetual loop, right? Well 

Adele Leah: then you get a bad review on, you know, Glasgow, Glasgow Water. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, there’s, there’s so much that kind of comes into it. Well, you know, I see, um, you know, when I’m working a lot with clients and we’re, you know, scoping out what’s in the market, what people are looking for, there’s a lot of, you know, you’ll have [00:28:30] experience doing X, Y, and z you know, shopping list of some duties, some things.

Yeah. For me, and, um, you know, the requirements are A, B, and C. Really? Like, you know, we’re not playing snap. It’s like, does it, you know, there’s not this, this is what you’ll value. This is what will drive you. This is the purpose that we’re doing it. Does that align with you as a person? Um, you know, and I think there’s a much deeper level that we should be kind of [00:29:00] looking at our careers and looking at building our businesses and getting that connection.

We know that happiness, um, a happier, more engaged team equals more productivity. Less attrition, more creativity, all of the things. 

Elisa Tuijnder: The watch list comes back. 

Adele Leah: Why aren’t we doing it more? It’s like, we’re still using the old school method, even though we know, we know more. So I get really, really passionate about this because I don’t think it’s a, uh, you know, it’s an easy, I think it is an easy fit.

It just [00:29:30] needs a little bit of effort and attention. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, with the, with the AI piece coming in, like you said, It is going to be so much more important, and for companies as well, to be explicit about their culture. Because you want to have already the visibility gap with lots of people working hybrid or working from home.

So they’re way more autonomous, which is great. I’m all for that, but they also need to know how to act. They also need to know how to interact with the clients. They also need to know where the boundaries are with their colleagues. If they don’t have the framework to run [00:30:00] in and the values to run in that the company wants to portray, and we just sort of be like, Oh, read between the lines.

Then that’s a big problem. And then with AI coming in, AI also needs to, or coming in more, AI also needs to act according to your values and according to what you want to do with the business.

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Adele Leah: So on the values thing, I remember when I first started working with a coach, I was probably in my like late twenties, early thirties and One of the first questions was, what are your values? And I remember sitting there thinking, no idea what he’s talking about. 

Elisa Tuijnder: About our values, yeah. 

Adele Leah: What’s the value? I think it, I’m not sure if it’s [00:31:30] just because I’m kind of more in this world, but I think it is more commonly known now than it was, um, you know, we’re talking it’s a number of years ago.

I won’t give my age away, but, um, But yeah, you know, I, and there’s some really, you know, cool values tests to do online, um, so you know, for people that are sat there, um, you know, like I would have been, you know, a number of years back going, what, what on earth are values? What are my values? I think it’s really worth delving into, um, you know, some values tests, [00:32:00] um, just to, to start kind of identifying those.

And also as a, as a business or a business owner thinking like, what do I want my values Um, you know, for the business to be, so I can be aligning that as we’re, as we’re growing and developing. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. That mission, that, that North Star, that, that, um, that values, the things that you don’t just need to put on the wall, but also need to, you know, actually live and breathe.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So one of the things that you also really do, you mentioned it really briefly, is around this personal branding, uh, sort of [00:32:30] aspect, and you said, you know, what you see out there, a lot of people are trying to appeal to like the whole thing, it’s all bland and it’s all beige and all of those kinds of things.

What are some of the key elements you work with, with your clients on developing a personal brand? And I’m guessing those values comes into that massively. 

Adele Leah: Yeah, so, you know, when the kind of clarity piece really comes into play, then we’re seeing our superpowers, where we want to play with being more confident.

It’s then how do we communicate, [00:33:00] you know, sometimes out to the masses, sometimes it’s not out to the masses, it’s just to a smaller groups, but how do we communicate who we are and what we want and to make sure that we’re moving in the direction that we want to go. So many of us spend our time in our careers moving away from stuff we don’t want.

We never get any nearer to what we do want because we’ve not got that clarity piece. We’re then not feeling confident. So that kind of communication and putting ourselves out there. And this isn’t, you know, it’s not everyone [00:33:30] needing to be a thought leader or getting invited on podcasts or speaking gigs.

Some of them want that. Some of them it’s, you know, to build their, their business or build their brand. Build their career. Sometimes it’s just 

Elisa Tuijnder: getting the right role. 

Adele Leah: Getting the right role. Or, you know, sometimes I’m working with people and I’ve worked with businesses to help teams build their personal brand so they get known more internally within the business.

And I say to people, you know, this is the difference between [00:34:00] being known as go and see Jane in accounts or go and see accounts versus go and see Jane, the number crunching. Excel, you know, Guru in account. Yeah. So then it’s what you’re getting known by, your personal brand is your reputation. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

Um, there’s this saying, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I actually think it’s deeper than that. And it’s who knows you and what do they know you for. Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: What you’re known for. Yeah. [00:34:30]

Adele Leah: And often when people hit, you know, out of the clarity and the confidence bit. Then it’s about showing up. So, you know, some of my programs around Step Up, Stand Out and Shine, it is very much about.

We should be proud of who we are. Like, let’s stop hiding in the shadows. Like, stop trying to fit in and be very much like, this is who I am. And I’m, you know, having that powerful, um, you know, personal brand and reputation then that, um, sees opportunities kind of open up for you. [00:35:00]Um, whether that be internally, externally, more blending, more clients.

Yeah. That’s really where it kind of, I think the magic happens. Yeah. Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: How do you work with introverts around this? Cause I mean, I know that Step up and shine doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to go, uh, on, on the, uh, on the stage or, or on the podcast or whatever. It’s way deeper than that. But, um, I can imagine that the first time when they hear you say stuff like that, they’re like, oh God, no.

I just wanna sit around the corner and do my work. Uh, um, or, or, or the equivalent of that. Right. You know, so how do you approach that [00:35:30] one? 

Adele Leah: You know, I’ve worked with, I’ve worked with quite a few introverts. There was one, um, one guy actually, he’s a, was a ct. He’s a CT out. Did not want to be known whatsoever.

And just behind the scenes guys, . Yeah. Yeah. In terms of getting out there, networking and connecting, building a brand online was a big fat No, no. For him, you know, no photo on, on LinkedIn. But actually then when he realized where he wanted to go with his career and he skills, and then when he started [00:36:00] realizing kind of his uniqueness and his, what made him great at what he did.

He wanted to share that more. And this wasn’t about, you know, it’s not going out all singing and all dancing. You don’t have to post content if you don’t want to. Although this guy did get to a point that he was, um, was posting a lot of content and had built his network and actually attending live networking events.

Because it was like, I need to connect with my tribe to [00:36:30] get to where I want to go in my business and, and, uh, my career. But you don’t have, you know, again, it’s being authentic. Um, this isn’t about being an influencer on YouTube. Instagram or TikTok. This isn’t about, you know, Yeah, or putting bullshit content out there.

Only the things that 

Elisa Tuijnder: you really have something to say about and can contribute there as well. 

Adele Leah: And this isn’t necessarily even about putting content out there at all. I’ve worked with a number of people and people that have actually, you know, set up [00:37:00] businesses, people that have grown their careers without putting content out there at all, but just Kind of feeling empowered in who they are, what they bring to the table.

Um, I do an exercise which I call validate your value. Um, so we really know what’s, what’s our kind of unique value proposition, what we bring to a business or we, you know, bring as a service. And it just creates that inner confidence. It [00:37:30] creates higher level conversations. Um, you know, some people want to be a bit more singing and dancing with it.

The extroverts, and absolutely they can be, but there’s a number of people that don’t and don’t have to be. Um, and sometimes, you know, we’ve just got to push a little bit out of our comfort zone to get to the next level. And that’s why. Working with a coach kind of works. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely. Just say that you mostly work with individuals that literally come to you, or would it be more like, okay, a team goes [00:38:00] like, okay, we need to figure out who’s good at what as a team or, or is it just a mixture of that and easier to work with a team that actually already knows each other or is it easier sort of outside?

Yeah, 

Adele Leah: there’s been, there’s, gosh, there’s been a, a whole mixture really. So I work with some associations like women in business associations, where it’s lots of different individuals coming into a room and kind of we’re working through, working through some things. Um, I did quite a bit of work for big corporates that, um, particularly through, and after COVID had all gone [00:38:30] remote and how are they getting known and connecting within, um, you within a business.

Um, and you know, I think we really need to be mindful of people are just sat in, you know, the kitchen in the spare room and they’re not connecting, they’re not being known. You know, we need that connection. If we go back to, you know, the sort of conversation around happiness and connection, we can’t always have the ping pong table in the office because [00:39:00] we’re all working remotely, but we can have ways and elements to connect.

And then it was around, you know, the kind of, when we’re looking at helping people build their personal brand, it’s really building their confidence. So they are better connectors, um, with one organization. And I think they were in like 52 countries, lots of remote workers. We ran some connection challenges to help teams, you know, contact someone in another country and arrange those coffee cart shops.

And, um, you [00:39:30] know, so I think there’s things like that to promote that connection and conversation. Um, you know, we know it’s a big, big deal. human need and feeds massively into, um, making our work better and 

Elisa Tuijnder: our happiness better. Exactly. Yeah. How do you facilitate this? So for example, like in Management 3point0, the way that we often facilitate this is making sure that everybody has their personal maps.

And so that people know about me that I don’t know that I have a dog or that I like coffee or that I am so. You know, you [00:40:00] can only, you only have to share what you’re comfortable with sharing, right? It’s not like, okay, this is a completely network, an organogram of how my life is, is connected and et cetera, et cetera.

Um, so how do you facilitate that with your clients to make sure that sort of they can find out about their connections that they might’ve never known about? 

Adele Leah: Again, it’s, you know, it, it really varies on, in terms of 

Elisa Tuijnder: the setup. Yeah. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. What the setup is, their, their organization. In terms of. say the superpower side of things.

And so I worked with, um, a [00:40:30] smaller organization actually in Manchester just before, um, before COVID here. Um, and we looked at ways, so they were all still in the office there, that they could have their kind of talent and behavioral profile type, and they could come up with kind of their brand word, you know, or their brand terms, and they could have it near their desk.

So it could say, you know, come to me, I’m the number crunching whiz who can write, you know, [00:41:00] Excel macros, or I’m the communicator that will help you, you know, work out how to discuss difficult topics with your client, you know, whatever it was. So yeah. That was kind of nice way to, for people to own their superpowers and share it within the, within the team.

I think when we were working, you know, more in offices, people knew if we had a dog or if we enjoyed running and. 

Elisa Tuijnder: It depends on the office, I think. It depends on the [00:41:30] culture of the office as well, because I’ve worked in offices where lots of people know lots of things about each other. And I’ve worked in offices, I once worked in an office for three months, and I knew the person next to me, but I swear to God, I did not know anybody else or what they did, except for the fact that they were there at nine o’clock and that they left at five.

It was not a great culture, as you can imagine. Yeah, exactly. 

Adele Leah: I think and I hope we’re moving 

Elisa Tuijnder: on from that. Yeah, moving on from that. 

Adele Leah: I do still think there is that, but I think, you know, [00:42:00] for business owners or leaders or managers of teams, it’s really thinking, right, you know, how do I make sure that we connect and how do we have activities or, you know, You know, time in the, in the working month that we’re having some level of, of connection.

Um, and there’s so many ways that you can, you know, that you can do that. And I don’t think it needs to be, let’s all go and get drunk on a [00:42:30] Friday. 

Elisa Tuijnder: It can be very different than that. 

Adele Leah: I think, I think it needs to be much more different than that. And I think there needs to be much more transparency. Um, in terms of what we’re, so one of the team things we did, we, you know, the team came up with the vision, the team came up with the team values 

Elisa Tuijnder: and 

Adele Leah: what they’re driving and thriving for.

Because when you can create that ownership from internally, you’re not doing task and tell management. It’s actually, you know, it’s being naturally driven, which is what it should be because [00:43:00] everyone was there, right? This is what we’re working towards. Cause we’ve all been part of putting down that.

vision of what we want to achieve in the next six months. So not rocket science. 

Elisa Tuijnder: No, and this is why facilitation and effective meetings is also becoming more important, right? Sort of like the not the show and tell, like the let’s get together as a group. Let’s see what we want to achieve and what can we achieve?

What do we want to achieve in the next three months? Who’s taking ownership of what? And that really comes into part in that as well. One of the funnest, funnest [00:43:30] exercises that I’ve done around this is people make a shield for their teams. This was a very creative group and this was actually a virtual thing.

And they came with the most amazing shields, like, you know, like they were literally all nights in different places of the company. And yeah, it was a time, I think it was the time of Game of Thrones still, and they made the most cool things that I was so impressed by them. And but it’s those kind of exercises that people will think back to, and when things get tough.

Adele Leah: And I [00:44:00] think, you know, yes, it can be seen as, oh, that’s a knife to have. And, but we haven’t got time. We’ve got to push on. We need to hit sales. But having that, yeah, having that is going to help you hit sales. Also going to reduce massively the costs on recruitments. Now, when I look at some of those revolving door businesses from when I was in my recruitment years, they were spending thousands.

If you actually just looked at some cultural development, [00:44:30] some really cementing values of the business, working with the team to get everyone on board, looking at career growth plans. Yeah. Because people are leaving because they’re not growing. Also looking at, you know, leadership skills for the leaders.

You could have literally saved, you know, hundreds of thousands on recruitment over, you know, the last two, three years. So, and also it’s not just the cost of paying a recruitment firm, it’s the cost of. Losing a member of staff, onboarding a new member of staff, [00:45:00] retraining, the downtime, you know, you’re potentially losing clients, you’re losing, you know, business.

I think businesses. should be thinking at least every six months there’s some form of this. Really, it should be, you know, should be more, and I, you know, I speak to people, they’re not even having the quarterly reviews because it’s too busy. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, and then if you get into that little, you know, what’s, what’s [00:45:30] the, um, it’s the Eisenhower matrix, right?

Like the, the, the complete, the one that is Rick, um, Uh, very standard and, and, and like, you know, if you’re always firefighting and you don’t have any time for anything else, then everything’s going to fall apart anyway. Like, you know, you have to, you can be firefighting for a few weeks and you can’t say everybody hands on deck for a few weeks is already a lot.

But like a lot of these things are also, honestly, for me, they’re really prerequisites for, for a team to function. Because if you otherwise, with the turmoil and the speed that we have to change because of [00:46:00] AI, because of the way the world works at the moment. You can’t, your teams need to be incredibly resilient.

They need to be self-guided for, for, for a number of it. And they also need to have all the snaps in the same way. And they need to kind of, they can’t necessarily wait for you and then for, for the, for the C-suite to tell you what to do. Absolutely. 

Adele Leah: And so then I, you know, I think from, ’cause I, I said earlier on, you know, it’s kind of both sides of the coin.

You know, the company and the employer as much as the employee. Yeah. And I think both have to take responsibility for it. [00:46:30] So as an employee, you know, if you are. If you are in a business and this isn’t happening, what can you do? Who can you speak to, to try and start creating some of this? So you’re a bit, you know, people are more on the same page.

You’ve got happier, more productive cultures. If you are looking to move and go into the new business, this has got, I mean, I get people, we’ve got safety checklists, you know, so really you’re ticking off. All business is doing this. Don’t just go and say, you know, what’s your culture like? People are going to go, yeah, it’s great.

Oh, it’s lovely. [00:47:00] Yeah, it’s great, see? 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, exactly. That explicit part needs to come in, especially with the hybrid and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it should have been, it should have been there for all these years, right? But with the speed that everything is going, with the fact that not everybody is in the same spaces anymore.

All of these things are becoming incredibly more important and incredibly more, um, needed. Um, and, and especially from, from a startup that needs to think about what that is, to a company that’s been there for a long time, they need to really [00:47:30] re evaluate and whether it’s sometimes the values that they set 20 years ago might not serve them anymore.

Or they might not be what the company is anymore today. 

Adele Leah: Yeah, 

Elisa Tuijnder: it’s that 

Adele Leah: constant evolution, I think. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, absolutely. Hey, uh, we, we’re starting to run out of time. But so I, that always happens every time, uh, unfortunately. But I wanted to ask you, you’re starting a new, um, sort of group coaching thing and it can with, uh, to give people this confidence to find their superpower and then to create that personal brand.

So if people wanted to sign up for that, what [00:48:00] would they expect? How, how you run us through that? And what would be the elevator pitch for this one? 

Adele Leah: Oh my gosh, you’ve caught me on the hop on this one. Um, 

Elisa Tuijnder: so 

Adele Leah: I, I mean, I think the elevated pitch is, you know, are you looking to, are you looking to reach the next level in your career, in your business?

Um, have you got an itch, a burn, a desire inside to kind of do more and be more, to be happier, um, get more business, get bigger, better [00:48:30] opportunities, um, and, you know, really be seeing for, for your value. Um, So we, we kick off with very much this kind of clarity piece. Um, I will be bringing in the, um, the new talent tool that I’ve been, um, I’ve been training in.

So people will really get to see there’s kind of 20 talents that come out from this to really see where they play best. So they are building their business and careers around, um, around their talents. They’ll feel much more [00:49:00] confident. They’ll be positioning themselves not as a job title, like we get so hung up on, well I’m a 

Elisa Tuijnder: accountant or, yeah, 

Adele Leah: I’m an accountant, I’m a copywriter, I’m a marketeer, I’m a career coach and we’re, we’re so much more than this and so we’ll really uncover, you know, your zone of genius, your superpowers, what makes you great at what you do, And this is why then when you’re putting yourself out, whether it’s in the [00:49:30] job market, whether it’s to be seen different.

So I’m working with one guy who needs to be seen different by his clients because he’s walking into meetings and he says, I’m just seen as, and I’m not X anymore, I’m this. So you get to like own it and you said the word flourish before, which really is where people kind of come out, just kind of bigger, brighter, bolder.

They know how to put the personal brand out there. They know, you know, with a lot of this, then it is around how to [00:50:00] connect with people who don’t want to connect with, you know, we go into that, um, you know, who’s my tribe and how do I get known for the right reasons by those people, which again, opens up opportunity.

Okay. So ultimately, you know, from clarity, it’s kind of clarity, confidence, communicate, how am I communicating my message, how am I connecting? And the big goal then is that, that conversion and that conversion can be. You’re going into client meetings and being seen better. You’re getting that promotion.

You’re [00:50:30] getting the speaking gigs. You’re getting more clients. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, it’s very broad. And with the group coaching, I’m guessing also you get people from all different, different walks of life. And maybe you walk away. 

Adele Leah: Yes, 

Elisa Tuijnder: with some new friends and some more insights. 

Adele Leah: Yeah, it’s going to be fairly small. Um, I wouldn’t think there’d be anything more than eight on, um, you know, it’s probably four, four to eight.

But what that does, and I’ve been running something similar with, uh, with a contract that I’m doing called Career [00:51:00] Success Sprint. And actually when we’re hearing from other people, when we’re hearing the stories, we, you know, we’re seeing a lot more in ourselves. We’re seeing actually, it’s not just me that’s kind of judging myself against someone else who’s On a way different journey.

Like, I don’t know why the mind, still not fathomed why the mind starts judging our journey and our skills and strengths against someone that’s not even necessarily related to what we do is maybe five, 10 years down the [00:51:30] career path to us. But when we’re hearing those stories, I really find it helps, um, kind of quash some of that comparisonitis.

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah, and 

Adele Leah: the fear 

Elisa Tuijnder: that it’s just you and the isolation of the fact that you’re thinking it’s just you, right? 

Adele Leah: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There’s quite a lot of laughs, actually, when it’s like, Oh my God, I do that as well. 

Elisa Tuijnder: I can imagine. I can imagine. 

Adele Leah: And you get to practice also kind of your pitch and talking about yourself.

There’s often this kind of, you know, there’s this switch that we need to flick in terms of being [00:52:00] able to go. I’m great at X, Y, Z. You get to practice that pitch a little bit. 

Elisa Tuijnder: I have this as well. I know what I’m great at, but sometimes I really, I get to, I go through this ups and downs with it. And I go like, no, actually, I’m not.

No, no, no. And then I’ll have a week where I’m just a little bit less. And then I’m like, okay, no, I’m actually good at this. Like, so to remind yourself, to continue to remind yourself of this as well. 

Adele Leah: And I think that’s kind of good. You know, there’s something in there that helps us just to keep the edge and to keep the level on that one of [00:52:30] the things.

And, you know, I had, um, last week and often find when I’m, when I’m tired, when things, you know, curveballs are hitting. I can go into that, Oh, I’m no good at what I do. What am I trying to do? You know, it can happen. 

Elisa Tuijnder: Yeah. Yeah. When life gets you, it gets you down. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. And so a really good thing is to go back and have, um, have a list of achievement.

Yeah. And to go back to the list of achievements and go, well, actually I did that really well, and there’s that superpower playing out because that’s what made that great. The mind’s a [00:53:00]muscle. So we have to keep, you know, we have to keep working it. Yeah, we have to keep working it. So just having an achievement list can be a really good thing when we’re having those wobbly weeks to kind of, you know, pull it, pull it back.

Elisa Tuijnder: Oh, that’s fair. That, you know what, that leads me to my perfect, to my last question, right? Because on the podcast, we always want to leave people with a tangible practice, something that they can start practicing tomorrow. Maybe they are not ready yet to find the coach. Maybe they are not ready yet to sort of, but there’s [00:53:30] thinking about this and they don’t want to bring it up yet at work.

So what, what is the first thing they can start doing? And I think this one is a great one. Yeah. You know, make a list of your achievements. Is there any other one that you want to leave our listeners with that you go like, okay, that’s a good one to start to start with? 

Adele Leah: So, uh, well, another thing, and it goes, it’s on the achievement side of things, is So be getting that clarity piece in terms of what do I want?

Where am I going is to think about themselves, you know, five, 10 years out from now, 10 years can be a bit of a [00:54:00] stretch for people, but certainly five years out from now, don’t think about, I want that job title. I want to earn that amount of money, which is what we typically tend to do. But think in five years from now, I want to have achieved, impacted, created, developed.

X or X, Y, and Z. And, you know, you can then think, why do I want to do that? Can take you to the next level. But then we’re chasing being a better version of ourselves through achievement rather than [00:54:30] chasing a paycheck or a salary or a status, which doesn’t bring us happiness. Um, you know, we get happiness from what we give.

Elisa Tuijnder: Not what we get. So 

Adele Leah: when we look at it from, right, what do I want to achieve? I mean, I’ve given something that’s created a result, impacted, developed something, it can be a really, really empowering way, and it can be a much bigger driver from kind of motivation than when I get salary, job, cycle, [00:55:00] car, whatever it is, a goal 

Elisa Tuijnder: that moves.

Once you get there, you just go, okay, now I want a bigger car. Now I want a jacuzzi. Now 

Adele Leah: chase achievements. 

Elisa Tuijnder: That is a very good one. Uh, Adele, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and having this conversation with me. I really enjoyed it. What if people want to join your group coaching? What if people want to get in touch with you with any, for anything else?

Uh, what’s the best way to find you? 

Adele Leah: So you always find me on LinkedIn. It’s my stomping ground. So under my name, [00:55:30] Adele Leah, my website, adeleleah. com, and he’s got all my programs and. Um, he’s got the group program on there. I’ve got some freebies. So, yeah, my email’s on there. So, AdeleLea. com, drop me a line.

Um, and I’ve got lots of kind of free workbooks as well that I share with people. Cool. Along with my coaching. 

Elisa Tuijnder: We’ll be sharing the website on the show notes and your LinkedIn as well. Uh, so that people can easily find you as well. 

Adele Leah: And I hope that, yeah, a little bit more happiness [00:56:00] in the world of work spreads.

Yeah. 

Elisa Tuijnder: In a volatile and crazy world. Let’s maybe get some happiness from work now. 

Adele Leah: Yeah. Thank 

Elisa Tuijnder: you. 

Adele Leah: Thank you.

Elisa Tuijnder: You’ve been listening to the Happiness at Work podcast by Management 3point0, where we are getting serious about happiness. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you enjoy our shows, don’t be shy. Write us a review, share the happiness with your [00:56:30]colleagues, family, or friends. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn under Management 3O.