Category: Promotion

New Horizons

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Picture by me (Fiona)
Words by me based on an interview with Priyani

30 years after migrating to Australia, Priyani headed off once more to accept a 2 year assignment in Thailand!

“Having delivered some quite large projects, the region headquarters asked me to come and do kind of similar work over there. And I thought this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, also to be recognised for having done something felt good . And that was one. Number two was I was coming out of a very difficult and traumatic personal experience. So it was an opportunity for me to move away to a different environment as well.”

Priyani didn’t have much time to think about the big decision – after 2 years of discussion the announcement came while she was travelling overseas, and she had less than a month to move once she found out!

There were so many things to love about living in Thailand – from an apartment from where she could see the office (a very short commute!) to “The office environment was really refreshing. It was even fascinating that it was the same company here. It is a very refreshing culture also, probably because I was coming from the backdrop of very high intensity project delivery, 13 – 14-hour days, working weekends. All of that is very fast paced, very intense, So that was fabulous. Thai people are just absolutely lovely, but we also had about 14 different nationalities working in the office, so it was nice. It was a really good balance. And, I just loved it. I was able to get involved with a few groups outside work and expand my network and volunteer. So many women “expats” and locals who have become really good friends.”

Solo travel was something Priyani also embraced while in Thailand, northern Thailand was special and brought fond memories of growing up in the hill country. Being brave and getting around solo in unfamiliar surrounds was liberating and gave her more confidence.  She built on that by taking a longer holiday alone through Spain which gave her time for personal discovery and reflection but also expanded her boundaries around exploring, doing “her own thing”, finding a “safe spot” that was right for her.

Aside from discovering her strength and courage, Priyani loved how much she learned in this role “the actual work was completely outside my comfort zone. The people I dealt with were much more senior level. I designed and delivered an online training program across seven countries for over 3000 employees within three months! I didn’t know the topic to begin with, I had to study the whole policy from the word go. There were a lot of natural roadblocks – we had to deliver it in three languages, access for everyone to the online platform. It’s fascinating because especially in the Asia Oceania region, there’s so many different cultures. Every country is a different culture and a different language. So again, totally outside the comfort zone, huge learnings, and I really am grateful.”

Priyani has advice for anyone considering stepping out of their comfort zone “Take a risk – you never know what is on the other side”

“I think for me, taking those risks is what has helped. That not being afraid or being worried because sometimes it’s not fear – it’s just about those niggling doubts. It may not be perfect but put your head out of comfort and get in the zone!

 “It’s just opened up fabulous opportunities, amazing horizons that I hadn’t seen before.

“I am grateful for the support that was behind be, with me and ahead of me that helped me learn and grow.”

Thank you Priyani!

Find Your Own Path

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Image by me (Fiona)
Words by me based on an interview with Gordon

Gordon wants to make a difference in the lives of the majority – the 99% not the 1%. He wants to help people achieve extraordinary outcomes. He says he gets called a square peg in a round hole.

I think he is a man with great passions and an unconventional approach!

One of Gordons biggest steps outside his comfort zone was when he put his hand up for a C-suite role in the international firm he worked for. He was only about 20-25% qualified for the position! What Gordon did was obtain the support of the COO and a really respected financial adviser so when he asked for the role he went in with support ready to go! His first task was to make part of the team redundant – so he certainly stayed uncomfortable once he started the role.

Gordon believes that our experiences shape our comfort zones “I think it stems from my childhood.  I think there’s five or six different instances that change your life. Maybe it’s being bullied three times a day school. And the way I got myself out of that was to learn martial art. Then I came to Australia where I didn’t know anyone. And the first question you get asked in Australia is which football team do you support? Which school did you go to? Well, I don’t support an Australian football team. And I’ve never been to an Australian school so I had to find my own way.

“I’m dyslexic, so I can’t read well.  So, I can’t write a book. But I can produce a book, I found a different way to produce a book. And then that book was produced in four days. It cost virtually nothing to produce it. And it’s sold over 4000 copies. And I haven’t paid for any advertising at all. “

Gordons advice is not to follow other people’s paths. That may be the right path for them but not necessarily for you.

The benefits Gordon finds outside of his comfort zone are often side effects! One example is that his wife was very ill, requiring a double lung transplant. Unable to keep working in the corporate world, Gordon discovered a passion for medical science and research – and started a very successful charity as a result!

“Life’s too short, a we’ve got to make every day count. And the last thing we need to do is go to the cemetery wondering what if!

“And when you take that step forward, tell people why you have taken that step. Tell people what it means to you, when you take that step. And what you’ll find very quickly is a group of people (I call it  your ecosystem), who are really supporting you. Supporting you in terms of that advice, that support network, that healthy support network that will encourage people to push through. And what will happen is all those toxic people, those people that love to say no will suddenly disappear. So, do it, ‘just do it’ and take people with you . It’s your pathway, but it’s our journey. I’m here to – help and encourage you and support you along the way. I may not have taken the actual step, the same step as you. But I’ve got experiences.”

Thank you, Gordon, for your great story and outlook.

A little about Gordon:

Gordon Jenkins is an authority on visibility and unconventional business growth. As an executive coach, accomplished entrepreneur, speaker and author of Network with Purpose, he helps entrepreneurs and professionals breakthrough their plateau to achieve sustainable business growth and personal life goals. His intention is to facilitate growth that aligns with an individuals’ values and strengths so they achieve success that is meaningful to them

Gordon’s success and that of his clients stems from the strong belief that it’s okay not to conform to the system, it’s refreshing to be different, and that being a square peg in a round hole is a good thing. He is a supporter of the underdog and his purpose is to help ordinary people achieve extraordinary and meaningful outcomes every day. For more information about Gordon, please visit www.iamgordonjenkins.com or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamgordonjenkins/ There is also a free resource: 30 ways to make networking feel less like work

Remember Your Why

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Photo by Valentín Betancur on Unsplash
Story by me (Fiona) based on an interview with Tessa

I heard Tessa speak recently and I immediately found (stalked?) her online and asked if she was willing to be interviewed for this blog. To my excitement she agreed – and the interview did not disappoint me! 

Tessa believes that stepping out of your comfort zone helps you grow. And that sometimes you need to do it to get where you want to be in life. 

“I’d worked in marketing for some time, probably for about 10 years of my career. My comfort zone got pushed, but I’d say moderately, such as when you learn a new role you step up.  

“I had this conversation with my GM of HR at Spark Digital. And she said, ‘What is your ambition? Where do you want to go?’ And told her that one day I’d love to be a CEO of kind of moderate sized organization. ‘I’m trying to work out the skills I need to get there. And I think I need more commercial skills.’ 

“And you know, that moment where you put something out into the universe, but you never expect anyone to act on it? Probably within about three days, she came up to me: ‘We’ve had this business manager resign in our enterprise sales team, one of the sales managers, I’m putting you up for the role’.” 

Tessa wondered what she could add as the leader of a team much more experienced than she was, particularly in sales. But her GM encouraged her (strongly!) to take the jump, to get those skill she needs. There was a full interview process and testing, and Tessa got the job! 

Her new boss told Tessa that she needed a marketer in sales, a big thinker. Someone to shake up her leadership team. 

The announcement of her new role – alongside an internal promotion announced at the same time – was really hard “It was deathly silent, you could have heard a pin drop. And then there were a couple of people who knew me from marketing who started to click. This was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I was taking on sales in a big portfolio. And I had a room of 80 people who had no idea who I was and were confused as to why a marketer was given one of the most preeminent positions in sales.” 

Tessa realised that she needed to focus on coaching her team as a leader, not trying to coach them in sales. This she realised would stand her in good stead as a CEO – after all you cannot be the expert in all aspects of the company you run. 

It was not easy! “About the 10-week mark, I had a complete meltdown. I didn’t know how to coach these people. They were much older. They were older than me, and more experienced than me in sales. I ended up back in my GM of HRs office in floods of tears. And with my GM of Sales basically picking me up off the floor because I said ‘I can’t do this, I have to leave. I’m not the person you need. I’m not doing anything.’ And they quickly got support around me. They listened and then said, ‘Okay, so how do we move forward?’  

“And they gave me a leadership coach who helped me to separate fact from myth. I had a whole lot of language in my head. I suppose that voice that you talk to yourself with was really highly critical. And that voice kept saying to me, ‘you’re getting this wrong and you don’t know that, you don’t know this’, and I couldn’t hear the things that people were actually saying to me. I had a person on my team, who said to me ‘You’re a breath of fresh air. You just bring something different. I love watching you in front of customers.’ And I couldn’t hear that I could only hear. ‘I don’t know what to tell them to sell and I don’t understand the system well enough to sell it.’ 

“My coach helped me to grow my understanding. ‘Listen to the voice in your head and write down what it says and then see if there is any data that supports it. Is there anybody said that directly to you? Is there anything that backs it up?’ and then ‘Okay, now write down the facts. What are people saying to you?’ Understand that difference between fact and myth. 

The lessons Tessa learned in her first 12 months – that it is ok to ask for help, and that sometimes you don’t know what help you need until you hit rock bottom being two of those lessons – aided her in putting up her hand when Spark Digital decided to go Agile. 

“I learned at that point that ambiguity is fine. And I don’t know what I don’t know and no one else does either. So we’re going to learn and I think the year of sales had taught me how to learn again, taught me how to walk into something that’s really uncomfortable and realize you’re going to be okay. My husband said to me at one point ‘What’s the worst that can happen? You leave sales and get another job? Is that so bad? You know, there are worse things.’ 

“And sometimes I think we compare up too much. We imagine if this was better, or if only this was like this. Instead [we could be] saying ‘at least it’s not like this. I haven’t got an illness, at least I’m not struggling to make ends meet at the moment. I’ve had a successful career so far’. And I think sometimes comparing down is a really helpful technique to make you realize that you’re okay.  You’re just learning, and learning can be uncomfortable when you’ve been really good at knowing everything. 

“It did fundamentally shift me as a person and my ability to then take on the next challenge, and to now help other people take on bigger challenges.” 

Finally, Tessa advises to remember why you are doing what you are doing. What your north star is. That can help in tough times. 

Thank you Tessa for sharing your story with us! 

About Tessa:

As Product Director Tessa is responsible for designing and delivering products and service experiences that customers value. Tessa is also responsible for shaping Spark’s investments and maturing capability in digital, IT, data and experience design to deliver on future business needs. 

She joined Spark in November 2015 as the Manager of Brand, Communications and Events for Spark Digital before moving on to become Business Manager. In 2017, Tessa joined the team that was responsible for successfully transitioning Spark into an Agile organisation, and is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading Agile and product development practitioners. 

Tessa brings to the role more than 16 years of experience in information and communication technologies, having previously held a variety of roles at Vodafone New Zealand. She has a Diploma in Communications Studies from Manukau Institute of Technology. 

Two for the price of One

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Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Words by Fiona Whitehead based on an interview with Andrew

Andrew shared with me two experiences of stepping out of his comfort zone. In an inception like move one was contributing to my blog! 

The common theme I noticed in Andrews experiences is that he plans. I personally find planning a great way to get out of my comfort zone too. Something about controlling what you can I think. 

Anyway, back to Andrew’s stories. 

His first example was taking the opportunity to act in a higher position at work. He took the opportunity as it was great for his career development, and has now done it on numerous occasions. After initial excitement about the chance to show that he could do the role, Andrew ‘’soon changed to feeling anxious and nervous about not having the skills to do the role adequately and the sense and fear of failure kicked in. I was thinking ‘I can’t do this. I am not capable; do I have what it takes?’” 

Andrew’s next steps were to “seek support and set out a plan so I wouldn’t fail’’. This included speaking with mentors, reading as much as he could and trusting his existing skills and knowledge. 

And the result?  Success! 

‘’The outcome in the end was I found this experience to be challenging but at the same time I learnt so much from the experience both personally and professionally. For me stepping out of my comfort zone does not come naturally but when I reflect back on experiences that required me to do so they are generally always beneficial.’’ 

I see similarities to Nolle’s ‘Valley of Despair’ in Andrews story.  

And then to our story about the story.  

‘’Being a naturally introverted person it is certainly out of my comfort zone to put myself out there and express myself in a public forum about my insecurities and or weaknesses. But when I read the post for this I thought why not…… I volunteered to partake in the blog because I am not a strong writer and felt it would help with self-reflection and my development as a leader in Telstra.’’ 

Once Andrew had volunteered I sent him an email with my interview questions, which triggered ‘’oh no what am I going to write about and how is it going to be perceived?’’ thoughts. 

Once again Andrew started with a plan. Some pencilled ideas, a plan on how he was going to attack the challenge and just started. ‘’ Sometimes just getting making a start is all it takes, then the ideas start to flow. I think this goes for anything in life getting started is the hardest thing whether that’s at work on a new project, fitness program or a New Year resolution.’’ 

I will let Andrew have the last words, they capture his experience (and I think those of many others) well: 

”When I look back on both of these experiences I feel a sense relief (that I survived) and satisfaction at being able to complete something that required me to “Step Outside My Comfort Zone”. 

”It is not always a positive experience when you step out of your comfort zone but I think there are always valuable learnings taken from all these experience whether it is positive or negative. I think there will be many more occasions in the future where I step out of my comfort zone, it probably occurs every day at work with a something as simple as a difficult conversation with a colleague or customer. 

”If someone is hesitating at stepping outside their comfort zone (something big or small) I would say jump at it and enjoy the challenge. You will certainly look back on it and think wow did I actually do that.” 

Thanks Andrew. 

A bit about Andrew: 

* I am Andrew Morgan a Field Technician in Nth NSW Tamworth Team 

* I have been in Telstra since 2014 starting as a trainee. 

* Since joining Telstra I have been fortunate to do relief work as the NBN ROS 

* I am currently participating in the Step into Leadership Program 

* I recently completed an Adv Dip Business Leadership and Management 

* I have a keen interest in Change Management 

* Lastly, I follow the AFL and I barrack for the Mighty Hawks!! 

The Valley of Despair

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Photo by Mario Álvarez on Unsplash

Words by Fiona Whitehead based on an interview with Nolle

When I spoke to Nolle about a time she stepped out of her comfort zone professionally, her story was something I could really relate to – that moment when you move from being a team member to being a team leader within the same team!

Nolle spoke about there being many different examples of professionally stepping out of your comfort zone, but this one stood out for her. ‘’It’s a great compliment and it’s a great achievement, pay off for all your hard work but it also brings a lot of anxiety because where people were your friends and confided in you … they can become a little bit guarded. And it’s hard for human beings because they still want to be liked. It’s fundamental in our nature to still be liked. And when the dynamic changes … [it] can’t be the same … and the thing that you learn about stepping outside your comfort zone in that environment is that you can’t operate the way you would have previously.”

Next Nolle passed on to me something she learned from a mentor, the “Valley of Despair”. This I have experienced many times, I imagine you have too!

The Valley of Despair starts with the excitement of a new position or role. “This is fantastic”. This is the top of the valley. Then the time comes for you to start the role, and the doubts kick in. “I hope I can do this” which leads to you realising just how much you have to learn and you start going down the slope into the valley. You start thinking ‘’oh my god, is this is too much for me?. I don’t know if I can do it.” In addition, you are in the situation of managing people who were once your peers, so you are rebuilding relationships too.

In Nolle’s words “This is where some people check out and say ‘this is not for me’ or ‘I can’t do this’. But what happens is that if you can give yourself the time … be a bit easy with yourself and understand that this is what always happens with change. So then you start to get to know what you’re doing, start to establish relationships with people around you, start to get your self-belief back again, and start to learn the new systems, processes,  then you start to make that role your own. So you’re coming back up the other side of the valley, and then when you kick a couple of goals, whether the low hanging fruit or you think you’re getting the job done, you get feedback from your one up or two up, then you start to see you’re climbing right back up to the top of the valley.’’

What Nolle loves is that this pattern repeats every time she steps out of her comfort zone. When you know it is coming you can deal with it. ‘’It’s going to be a bit tough for a while, but then I’m going to be okay.”

And why does Nolle step out of her comfort zone?

“Well, I was always career hungry.  I think that’s because I grew up in Ireland where we didn’t have many opportunities, where I left school and went straight into full time work …  I was forever trying to prove to myself if I am I good enough … As I’ve got older and wiser, I think instead of trying to prove something to yourself … we have to ask ourselves what do we really want?”

As discussed with Nolle, professional risks tend to be more public and failure more frightening than risks in your personal life. She believes it is important to have goals, and that stepping out of your comfort zone is often needed to achieve those goals.

I found Nolle’s description of the Valley of Despair really helpful, I know I have experienced it often without having this great image to refer to. Next time I will know that the tough times will pass!

A bit about Nolle:
Currently working as a Business Partner Principal in the Transformation Delivery Office at Telstra.
Background:
Having worked in IT & Business roles spanning over 2 decades in Australia in various different sectors including Health, Media, Technology & Telecommunications
Working primarily  in the project and program space, moving into leadership and management roles and over the last few years into partnership and engagement roles
Moving to Australia at 23, married with 5 children (blended family) loving life and all that it brings 🙂