Valerie Chhokar
WIA Canada had the pleasure of hosting a Virtual Lunch & Learn, Becoming your Authentic Self at Work,with Kathleen Redmond, an executive coach who facilitates a learning session called Coaching in a Character Culture. WIA-Canada had a fabulous turnout and everyone shared genuine, heartfelt conversation about the importance of taking care of ourselves, showing up authentically, and supporting our organizations particularly in this virtual world.
Kathleen is the author of five workplace-based books, and an adjunct faculty in the MA (Leadership) Program at the University of Guelph where she teaches Coaching and Developing Others. She has spent over 30 years working with leaders across North America, focused on the themes of communication, collaboration and creating a healthy, dynamic, engaging, effective workplace.
During the virtual event Kathleen highlighted a number of ways we can become our more authentic selves and how this will create success for us in the workplace. Three key items she is convinced of are:
• that leading people is one of the most challenging aspects of the workplace
• coaching is a powerful and important leadership skill for every leader to tap the potential of their team members, and
• that the current situation has broken boundaries between work and home and requires a new focus for leaders – starting with taking care of yourself.
Following Kathleen’s presentation, participants broke out into smaller groups and had the opportunity to speak candidly on self-care practices they have been using over the past year, how they most effectively support their team, and their best approaches for keeping focused on work. Everyone had excellent takeaways from the presentation and break-out sessions, leaving with a renewed sense of self purpose and motivation towards their work and teams!