It's the weekend! Have you taken time for your Sanctuary?

Your sanctuary could be a walk, run, hike, bike ride, reading a book, gardening, day at the spa, or simply time by yourself doing anything that comes to mind. Whatever it is, when we get busy, we tend to cut this out of our lives, and that is when we need it the most.

Women with elite education opting out of full-time careers: Women with MBA's are most likely to work less

Women with elite education opting out of full-time careers: Women with MBA's are most likely to work less

The battle for work-life balance among female white collar employees, especially those with children, is something women have struggled with for decades. Though past studies have found little evidence that women are opting out of the workforce in general, first-of-its-kind research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch shows that female graduates of elite undergraduate universities are working much fewer hours than their counterparts from less selective institutions..

Expats/repats - are you currently struggling with adjusting to your recent move abroad or return back to your home country?

Naragochi, Mexico

- Searching to find your identity within your new community or workplace?

- Experiencing difficulty making your new location feel like home?

- Feeling like a “trailing spouse”?

- Searching for a sense of community within your new host country?

I've been there! Through my coaching program, I can help you with your adjustment in a new country and culture along with repatriating back to your home county. Compassion and understanding are core to my unique approach of empowering transformational growth by embracing these challenging; yet rich, life-changing experiences.

http://www.sullivanglobal.net/content/expatriate-and-repatriate-coaching

To schedule a complimentary 15 minute introductory call, click here

Work/Life Balance – Easy, right?

In today’s workplace, the pace and demands are ever increasing. With this continuous pressure, when does one find time in their busy life for health and overall well-being? 

I'd be interested to hear what many of you practice to maintain a healthy lifestyle given the demands of "life."

As your coach, I draw upon a vast array of experience including nearly 20 years in the corporate world, with the requisite 10+ hour days across global time zones, early mornings to late nights, triple booked meetings, lunch meetings, etc., and competitive sports time commitments as a former professional athlete. However, I always managed to incorporate health into my daily life. From the little everyday things to making healthy eating and exercise simply a “habit” – I made it happen and stuck with it. I will work with you in creative ways to help you achieve attainable and sustainable goals - allowing you to regenerate and remain focused.

http://sullivanglobal.net/content/worklife-balance

Are you an effective leader?

Are you an effective leader?

Understanding the differences between a manager and a leader... are they mutually exclusive? Leadership is a topic that has been studied and debated for centuries, and simply one definition of leadership would not be adequate. There are distinguishing differences between a manager, leader, and an effective leader. Over time, leadership styles have changed to adapt from a stability model to change and crisis leadership; some willingly and some hesitantly. The greatest leaders are high influencers, relationship builders at all levels, and are highly adaptable to diverse situations and personalities. 

Effective leaders exhibit an advanced level of emotional and contextual intelligence, and often encompass both management and leadership qualities. To lead high-performing teams, you must first create a motivated team. Many managers do not realize that directive and authoritative leadership is not effective in the modern business world and is counter-productive. I believe that we are people, not workers or simply a number, but in order for an organization to be profitable and competitive, it needs to be high performing. In the long-term, leading out of fear in an environment of low morale will not prevail. Employees need to be motivated to be high performing, and in order to accomplish this, the organization needs to employ effective leaders.

Effective leaders know how to adapt to each employee and understand if intrinsic or extrinsic rewards motivate them. One employee may be motivated by an increase in salary whereas other employees might be motivated by recognition for a job well done. Once the motivating factors are determined based on dialogue with your employees, you need to create a personal development plan, which should include incremental goals. The key is to create a “great place to work” where everyone looks forward to coming to work, feeling their work has a sense of purpose and meaning. Once there is a positive work culture, even menial tasks are not looked upon as loathsome.

I have been in situations where morale has been exceptionally low due to several factors such as previous poor leadership, mistrust, downsizing (“do more with less”), bureaucracy, unethical business practices, etc., and I have introduced several methods that were effective. Team building is one of the first steps to creating a motivated workforce. Depending on the team location and culture, determine an exercise that will take the employees offsite, out of their comfort zone, and engaged in interactive activities. In the case where there may be teammates who are known to have interpersonal issues between each other, I suggest pairing them together for a fun activity. It is amazing what an impact icebreakers can have on easing the tension. This allows individuals to view each other in a positive perspective that they perhaps never had up until this point. In my experience, if there are issues in the future, they will be more mindful and not as emotionally reactive; they will become better team players. 


In instances where teams consist of varying cultures, it is important to provide cross-cultural training. This helps reduce misunderstandings and how to effectively work with other cultures. For example, as an American working with China, I know that in a meeting, I will have to directly engage with individuals who are below me in position or if their manager is in the meeting. Their culture is not to be forthright even if there is an issue, so I know that I cannot expect them to openly discuss an issue or debate with a superior. I also establish what I call 1:1’s where I meet regularly with people on my team to have an open discussion in addition to setting and tracking goals and development plans. As a follower, this was tremendously beneficial for me to have with my managers. Depending on the team and employee, I suggest meeting weekly or bi-weekly for 30 minutes to an hour at set times to ensure they do occur.


To keep the team engaged, either creating or revisiting the mission and as a team through participative decision-making is optimal, and having regular team building sessions (quarterly or bi-annually depending on the situation) will ensure this is executed. This is in addition to regularly scheduled team meetings, which should be held weekly or bi-weekly.In summary, ask yourself, are you an effective leader who is capable of being adaptable, open-minded, and willing to change?