BrightWays Coaching & Consulting

04/08/2026

How many conversations are you putting off right now?

Not one. Probably a few. Maybe more than you'd like to admit.

It’s the feedback you keep meaning to give. The dynamic you’ve been watching go down hill. The talk with your boss that’s overdue. The person whose behavior you’ve addressed (sort of) but not really.

You're waiting for the right time. You're reading the room. You're picking the right battles. Sometimes, that's true. But a lot of times, it isn't.

As a coach, I see this all the time. I wrote about what this pattern costs - and ideas on how to actually break it. I call it the "Cost of Comfort."

Check out the link below if this resonates.

Not one. A few.

09/23/2024

You likely think you’re a better leader than your employees do. OUCH!

I loved a recent webinar by Rasmus Hougaard, founder of the Potential Project, that featured research on leaders’ CARE and COURAGE in the workplace. No surprise, leaders need to demonstrate both to be effective.

The more unexpected nugget that hit home with me is – when the same survey was given to more than 20,000 people to assess their leaders’ care and courage – employees rated their leaders significantly lower than the leaders rated themselves. What gives?

Doing hard things in a human way is a challenge for all of us, but it’s that challenge that makes us better leaders.

My best advice: Fill the gap by getting feedback (e.g., a 360° assessment) that includes your team, peers, and boss. You will become a more CARING leader because you had the COURAGE to take it on and grow in response to the feedback.

07/15/2024

I often get a surprised/confused/interesting response when I send a coaching session invite with – wait for it – my PHONE NUMBER to call. Nope, not a Teams or Zoom link, not FaceTime – no video involved.

From my perspective, audio by itself is a powerful communication channel that is increasingly underused for one-on-one communication. Research is surfacing that supports this POV – so much so that I recently invested in two new high-quality sets of earbuds to ensure pitch-perfect coaching!

DID YOU KNOW ...
.. Our ears and brains can process facial expressions. Try it – you can actually “hear” someone smile over the phone. (The same is true for crying, BTW.)
.. Without the intensity of eye contact, we are more likely to be open and vulnerable over the phone. It creates a safer space for sharing.
.. Limiting the senses (aka, no visual overload) to audio helps us tune into vocal tone and pitch, which increases our ability to understand and share someone else’s feelings.

Does this surprise you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on using audio vs. video.

Shout out to Liane Davey, who shared this information (and more) at a recent Coaching.com webinar on hybrid teams.

P.S. If you’re interested in the dense research that influenced this post, please send me a direct message and I’ll happily provide the studies.

06/10/2024

Can you believe all of these great pics were from ONE client team meeting? I'm late posting, but the ELEVATED sentiment prevails -- so much smart comms work and special team building!

06/10/2024

"I WON YOU." Much is written about networking, and I have clients with strong views of loving it or hating it. I am more in the camp of loving it -- as long as it's authentic, like my dinner last night with Crystal L. Lauderdale, MBA. Crystal and I met (*we think) in 2017. I was getting BrightWays off the ground and sponsored a PRSA Tampa Bay awards event where, in addition to my obligatory 5-minute BrightWays spiel, I had a business card drawing for a free coaching session. Crystal's card was pulled out of the fishbowl, and the rest is history. We have since coached, connected, shared business referrals, and become FRIENDS. She says she "won" me, but I think I'm the real winner! Cheers to networking that matters in business and in life.

06/10/2024

Working together with Becky Carver to take the team’s performance to new heights (get it?!? 😉). I had a ball showing her my little slice of heaven in downtown St. Petersburg, FL, last weekend.

06/10/2024

How lucky am I? Last week I spent time with my awesome clients at Off Base Productions. We made some key business decisions — all while playing video games and eating famous hot dogs! Not a bad combo.

08/24/2023

I ❤️ My Job! Geeking out today with 1,000 other coaches at the ICF Converge 2023 Global Coaching Conference. It is my slice of heaven!

BrightWays Clients: I am bringing back all kinds of good stuff for you! 😉

08/18/2022

Great dinner with our very own Christi Birdsong, Social Media Manager, Laura Rhodes, Senior Account Executive and Jennifer Vickery, CEO. We had a fun day and evening touring Tampa Bay!

08/04/2022

I am feeling the love for this leadership team at Off Base Productions. They are tackling the agency’s amazing growth with candor and care at our (wait for it) IRL workshop this week! San Francisco Bay is the perfect setting for our work — so bright and shiny 😉