In this extended episode, I spoke with Shawna Pelton, a transformational leadership expert, about navigating change and bringing out the best in people. We discussed the obstacles that hold back individuals and organizations from reaching their full potential and how to create psychologically safe environments. Shawna shared insights on embodying values, leading with inspiration, and the importance of self-mastery for adaptability.

Key Topics Covered:

- Why mindsets and inner beliefs create the biggest obstacles to change

- Identifying signs of unhealthy stress and conflict in organizations

- Fostering trust and respect to enable open communication

- Aligning with a higher purpose beyond profits to serve society

- Making values actionable through acknowledgment and rewards

- Leading change through inspiration rather than control

- Developing personal mastery to know your strengths and sense pivots

Timestamps:

0:00 - Meet Shawna Pelton

5:00 - Beliefs and mindsets as barriers to change

10:00 - Recognizing unhealthy stress signals in organizations

15:00 - Creating psychological safety for team cohesion

20:00 - Businesses balancing profits with social responsibility

25:00 - Turning values from words into actions

30:00 - Importance of inspiration and motivation for leaders

35:00 - Knowing yourself for greater adaptability

Guest Info:

Shawna Pelton is a transformational leadership expert who helps executives and organizations unlock their full potential.

Her website: http://www.shawnpelton.com

Free Gift - Goal Activator - An Easy Step-By-Step System for Purpose Driven Professionals to Master the Art and Science of REACHING GOALS through the Power of Neuroplasticity and Visualization

Hello, and welcome to the adaptive executive. I'm your host, Greg Ballard. And I am joined by Shawna Pelton, Sean and I have had the privilege of the privilege of working together on a project last several months. And I've been really excited to have her here on the show. And we're going to be talking about some amazing things

Hmm. Well, it's a bit of one of those unexpected journeys and and it started off my background was actually in natural medicine. So I was working in the holistic health world as a practitioner, and that started, gosh, a very long time ago. So I've been doing transformational work for about 20 or more years now.

who I would attract would be people who had serious hard to treat conditions. And I started to recognize that there were patterns that were involved in, like how it was they had health issues, and it was tied to unresolved conflict. And so then I started to kind of go down that rabbit hole. And next thing, you know, I just couldn't stop. I'm a

Fantastic. So here's my first question out of the gate. And it's a two part question.

I actually started consulting physicians, and I was working in clinics to teach them how to implement natural medicine into a clinical setting. And my favorite thing to do was train, I loved putting together training material, educating the practice the doctors and other clinicians on how to teach the content. And then I would essentially

owners, every day leaders and professionals who are really wanting to make a positive impact on the world with their work, and recognize that there's some things whether it's behavioral, and to personal, you know, things that need to change, and they want to evolve themselves, they want to evolve their company culture, for the benefit of not just

Fantastic. So here's my first question out of the gate. And it's a two part question.

So when we think of transformation, we think of change. And and I know you're phenomenal at this. So we, again, like I said, we've had a chance to work together. What do you see? What are you experiencing? On the on the front lines? That is, number one, what is the biggest obstacle for an individual? Right, so that's part one, part two, what

Mm hmm. Yeah. So I think that I'll speak on it through my lens of experience. So I'm going to preface this by saying, obviously, I'll have a bias this way. So what I believe from my experience, and what I see biggest the biggest obstacle, you know, we stop ourselves with our mindset. And it starts with belief, right? Sometimes people know

know, you have this pattern. There's this problem that keeps happening and you keep doing the same thing expecting different results, and it causes people to stay stuck. And the reason why that's also the same problem for the organization is because this is not an uncommon problem in the organization is made up of people. And we have people

believe that they're not safe, they're not safe enough, they're not loved enough. You know, they're, they don't change gender, whatever it takes to make that change. These are all internal stories and belief systems that stem from, you know, usually childhood.

So I hear everything you're saying, Shawn, and I completely agree, I see this in the work that we do as well. However, don't most people like not change? I mean, isn't there a point at a certain age where you're just going to be who you are. And, and really, there's no point in trying to change. That's the exact

story that people with a closed mindset would have for themselves, right? Like, what why bother? Why bother is an attitude that keeps people safe, it keeps people familiar, change is inevitable, we're constantly changing, and either happens to us, right? And we don't usually like when it happens to us, or we initiate it, we spark that

itself, your experiences that you have that are new experiences are reshaping your brain, not the fixed part. But the part that's that's more immutable and flexible. So it is possible to actually change. And then also, there is something to be said about, I think that there is an inner desire, like if someone doesn't want to change, you can't force

whatever the conflict might be? Or whatever the growth might be right what they can bring to that change. And I think that it takes some finessing, and that's really what a transformational leader can learn to do, is to learn how to motivate and inspire people to fulfill their potential for greatness.

So so that touches on something. So if I'm hearing your right, one, we're always changing to, you can change regardless of how, how ingrained or how long of a pattern, a habit that you've been in. You need to have the desire to do so. Yeah. And so let's talk about what when we deal with somebody that is resisting change, right

would need to look for? So let's let's think about this organizationally, right, because move out of the individual and move into the organizational so say you're a change management leader, you're you're you're a divisional leader, a department or organizational leader, and you know, you have to initiate a new pattern of being, but you also

Yeah, so the there's two pieces to this, the first has to do with self, right? So what that means is in order to meet resistance in the workplace or within others, you have to know how to be with someone who's in resistance and the reason and I'll explain what this means and why it's so important. Whenever you're in a A situation that

right, because we we get uncomfortable when other people are in resistance. And this is happening usually, on an unconscious level, I believe that some people are conscious of a percentage of it. But the majority of these responses tend to be unconscious. And so what we want to start with is making the invisible visible for these change leaders. So

you don't lose hope in its possibility. So that's the first and foremost thing to do is work on being with resistance to change. And then once you do that, then you can learn to work with resistance. And there's it's a skill set. That takes a little finessing, but I think that when you learn how to be with it, then you know exactly what's happening

So energy real quick, because when you say working with resistance, so the last couple years, I've picked up some jujitsu, I roll around, have a lot of fun with it. And in that case, you're always working with resistance, right? You're, you're sensing your partner wanting to go in one direction. And you're thinking, okay, I can let

Yes. And one of the things that I often tell people what I love about martial arts, and also, the military or professional athletes, they share something in common. They know how to respond in a predictable way to unpredictable scenarios. And people's emotional responses to change is unpredictable terrain. I mean, you have variations on

I love that. So I'm gonna highlight that, again, having a predictable response to an unpredictable situation.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. I love it. Yeah. And so

I don't know, if you had more to add your point before I interjected there. Go fine. Okay, so let's, let's stick with this for a second. I want to stick with these organizational change. And I'm very curious, I think before the show we talked a little bit about and I think it's I think it's important to highlight what are the costs

organization that make the organization what it is. Right, we you cut us we bleed people matter kind of thing. Yet when we look at senior executive leaders in larger organizations, and it's not that they minimize people, it's just that their focus is on business structure. It's on market, it's on sale. It's it's on the technical aspects,

not able to get control of when we're going through a change initiative, or going through a transformation, right. So maybe you could speak to that for a minute, that's great.

You know, if there is some research to suggest that there is actually measurable costs associated with resistance to change. Stress is, essentially it's costing 300 billion a year, and health care costs and lost productivity and turnover. And so on one level on an individual level, they might experience like, for example, it said that up

I've got stressed, I've got to manage this thing. And they have behaviors that kind of ignore the bigger picture. And so they're not taking into consideration, well, how is this response to my stress going to impact me overall? And so that's one of the problems, that's why it becomes a big health issue that people end up.

Let's click on this for a second. What is stress look like? So if I'm a leader, I'm a manager, I'm an executive, what am I looking at? Or am I looking for people being frustrated? Am I looking for people, you know, just acting out? What are the things I should be looking for, that are telling me that stress is becoming a problem?

chronic health issues is one of them. On account to Yeah, chronic health issues. And to be fair, there are some people who have conditions like say, you know, an autoimmune condition, for example, like I have a history of autoimmune conditions that came before I did my self help work, when I get stressed, and I'm not taking care of

protective, they don't want to, you know, they don't want to be babied, or they don't want to be seen as, like, not a good working member of the team, or they don't want to be, you know, cast aside or, or taken off a project, that kind of thing. So people tend to hold back from saying that they feel anxious, overwhelm depression, setting in,

there might be low morale, right. It could be, you know, productivity, and engagement is affected. Absenteeism, right, people are missing work, which, of course, increases the costs for the employers, there could also be high turnover. I know that, you know, during the pandemic, we talked about quiet quitting, as a big thing. I think that's

into the actual work, because stress affects how we feel relationally to the work that we're doing. So all of these are our, you know, essentially

costs. So I want to say I want to help shape this a little bit. So we talked about some things to look for, right? And for pay, these are indicators of stress. And and these are the ones that may not be obvious. There's there's other obvious ones. I mean, the last several clients we've had, you know, I have people coming in my office

Yeah, this is a really Good question. I think that the idea of a healthy culture really has a foundation in psychological safety. Because as I mentioned, you know, one of the key things that that causes, you know, kind of conflict is the mindset. But it's this more than so mindset, it is about how we feel, it's the feeling that leads to how

hey, there's something here, let's be respectful of the person, even if we don't agree with the topic, for example. So respect is key, recognizing that there is a structure to feedback, for example, how you provide feedback, as a leader can really up lift someone, or it can cause them to lose their sense of self esteem. So we want to be able to have

of, I'm not going to be gossiped about, right, that's a psychologically safe environment and a culture that I believe is essential. And at the heart of the healthy. And community.

Team. I love it. I love it. And I think it's good to understand what both sides of that coin look like. So that we know you can you know, because if you don't see those things that you just described, there's a huge opportunity in your organization. Huge opportunity. And you may be overlooking it, right? Because you're focused on

and let's talk about what is the obligation responsibility of businesses in this space?

Hmm, this is such a great I love this subject so much, because, you know, fostering a sovereign society is at the heart of what I do. And I do believe what sovereign first of all sovereign to me is, we of course, have the archetype of a sovereign, which means are at their noble, their royal, right, the queen, the king, but take that to a

the, like, that feeling of autonomy, and that sense of, like, freedom to pursue their personal interests and passions and with with respect to the whole, right, so that means they love the society that they're part of, they love the culture that they're a part of, they love the mission of the organization, they love the culture of their, of their,

supports the whole. And that whole body is the society that we're talking about. So it's optimally it's essentially it's a it's about the optimal function of our humanity. And I think that in business, you know, we could say that, you know, of course, there's businesses. You know, there's a profit associated with business, but if we only focused on

essentially you want to be aligned with. And so I think that a professional organization needs to be conscious of that, like the people that they that they attract in their teams, and the people that they attract to buy their products, or services, or they provide, you know, something for I believe that we are becoming more conscious as an as

Alright, so I want to take the take a look at this and talk with you about it. And, and not challenge but I want to, I want to push on 10 concepts here. So I see two aspects of this one is the individual right, and, and you're saying we want people to be sovereign in their own space, to be able to choose and go and create the space

this world. Would you say that's pretty accurate? Sure. Okay, so that's one side. But then the other side is the, the organization. And And I'm hearing some things in there, you're talking about how an organization has some now responsibility to the society it's in. And this is a big part of the narrative, right? We have environmental, social

I think it's very difficult to expect that the entire society will be able to make that transformation. Here's why. Because there are always going to be or Currently, there are roles and duties that are not desirable, that people are in and they don't desire them. And they're there because that's what's available. It's in our in our what we call

make sure life. Yes, yeah, there are some roles and duties that people don't want to do, but they have to do them.

Right, exactly. So if we,

if we can get rid of all that we can maybe that gets us a little closer to this idea of sovereign sovereignty anyway. So so that's one aspect of this, right? So on the individual side, and we could talk more about it. But I also think being able to have what the work you do align as closely to an organization where you feel what

embodied as to the degree possible, but to anticipate full internal alignment, I think is a little high. You see what I'm saying? I think there may be a lot to ask. Yeah. And if you do that, you may not be able to get the organism, the people that align with you. Right, right. I'm gonna put a put a parenthesis around this, I think with COVID and

seeing a big sorting process in my own language of people looking for organizations that they align with. Yes, you're looking for.

So true, right? Okay. So they want to have purpose and meaning in their work. They do. And they want to align with with people that match their values. Right. But they also need a paycheck. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

And so yes, yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead. This phenomenon. So a couple of things you you hit on, first of all, it is idealistic. And I think that's the point, right? It's an ideal to aspire for, you know, like, what is it? What's that saying, shoot, shoot for the moon, you might miss and hit the stars kind of thing.

Stars, and you hit the moon,

something like it.

I know, you aim for the eagle, you hit the pheasant and you don't eat crow. I know that one.

I didn't know that one. So it's this ideal to aspire for, with the knowing the not the attitude and the knowing, like not everyone's going to be there. And transformation takes time. And I've said it to you before, it's like breakthroughs happen in an instant, you're gonna have a breakthrough and be like, Aha, I got it. But to

recognizing, you know, you have this ideal that you're aspiring for. And you also have to have, it's like the detached philosophy of a Buddhist, which is like, you know, you're not attached the outcome, the path of that, that, you know, ideal is what changes you so that you become transformed by just simply walking that path of your

shift in direct proportion to that challenge. Just like when we lift those heavy weights, we're going to grow the strength in the areas that we are, you know, developing. And so that's one of the things that ends up happening for people, is they become developed in their own unique way, and submerge, because they have those ideal aspirations. But

Well, let me talk. Yeah. So okay, so So I love that like, walking, and it is solid, right? So I'm walking into solved by walking into salt. And I think as an individual, as an individual, I completely get that as someone in this space. That makes sense to me. I think I operate on that without kind of content not consciously,

that. Like, what is walking? What does that look like? What it looks like to you is very different than what it looks like to me. So if you're, if we're talking to folks that are listening to this that are leading organizations are like, Oh, sure, what is something that we can do that becomes measurable in this space? I have a couple ideas. But I

Sure. So I think that first and foremost, we want and I usually break down three different pieces. We think of goals as like one thing but in truth, there is a component of a few things. There's a Trinity here. So first and foremost, you have a vision. And so this vision is the over arching theme, so like, for example, in this

almost like the strategy that you're you're placing, to walk that, that path to towards your aspirations. And those are the things that are manageable, and track, you can track them. Now, sometimes they might be, like, not the favorite things to track, like, you know, oh, this many dollars was brought in. It might it might be, oh, we had less

for these, you know, higher aspirations. We also want to think about, like, here's the characteristics to consider, like a transformational leader needs to have that clear vision for the future. But they also need to know how to be able to inspire and motivate others to achieve that vision. So that could be a mile marker. Right, you could

note on. If again, if it's like, if we're keeping track of these things, do we feel aligned? Or don't we, and if we tap into that compass will be able to know, oh, hey, I'm, I'm on track to meeting these goals. I'm in alignment with this, you know, vision, that kind of thing can can be managed. And also, like, you know, I believe tapping into the

want? And then kind of think in that outward mindset, like, how can I help you get that? So those are kind of, I guess, tangible, strategic things that someone could think about.

Let me throw a couple on the plate, and you use react if you could, okay, so I think this would work at the individual level and the organizational level, but putting time and intense, intense focus on identifying, you know, your core purpose, right? What's motivating what you want to achieve. If it says an individual, where's the

individuals know your values. I think you and I've done a lot of work on this within our project. People that know their values, and knows their intrinsic, okay, there's a couple of different groups of values, there's intrinsic values, the way you operate, whether it's consciously or unconsciously. And then there's aspirational values, the kind

not

a value, that point, right? If

you know yours, if you know yours as an individual, and you're looking at organizations that are very clear on theirs, it becomes a matter of a decision and exercising like alignment check. Hey, I know who I am and what I'm going to do you know you are what you want to do. Now we can see, are we a match? But statistically, I think was it, I

having them up. Having them on a website, having them on the wall is nothing. Okay? It's something today, wow, you need to they need you need to go further. embody them, reward them, acknowledge them, if you're going to have any value of them, if they're going to be worth it, for people to make decisions. So if we're talking about a sovereign

Yes. Ah, I love how you? Yeah, that just made me think also of, you know, as a country, for example, one of the things that America values is freedom, right? So people are passionate about freedom. And what do we do every year we celebrate our freedom, right? Now, people might have opinions on whether or not we're actually meeting the mark.

meeting with your high level executives, you want that value statement, or that mission statement, and those values stated, and also, like, call people out for their alignment, you know, acknowledge Was it you who made this, it's like, it's like basically acknowledging those people on the team, that are actually embodying those values, or

And those priorities that are like are meeting our baser needs. And we forget all about those aspirations, or we forget all about, like, the things that we are aligned with, so that we can like do the, like, kind of just fill in the gaps and, and meet the needs of the day. So keeping it top of mind intentionally is usually what I encourage people

Yes, it's got to be something you're drinking from almost on a daily basis

if you're going to have them. Yes, exactly. All right. So Shauna,

we've covered a lot today, we've covered a lot. Before we go, I want to ask you, if you're, you're speaking to our audience, our listeners, and you know, we're all you know, the adaptive executive. So, what's one tip or one skill that you might recommend to folks they can use to be more adaptive in their work and in their leadership?

Once I'm like trying to make it meaningful, what's if it's going to be one thing, it's going to be meaningful. So the one thing I believe would be to know thyself, to know thyself, and that means recognizing your own unique strengths your your geniuses, your you know, there's multiple and with it within us, these archetypes within us. And

as like a constant like when people work out, they don't work out to reach that goal, whether it's a weight or strength and say, Okay, I'm done. I hit that. They maintain that development. And so with personal mastery When you're When you know yourself, you're developing personal mastery into your routine your your regular operating system.

Fantastic. So if I wanted to work on self mastery and and reaching my goals, is there anything that you might be able to offer? To help with that?

Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, I start everyone on this journey with that specifically in mind. And so I have my, you know, through the course of the past 20 years, I have figured out what that beginning of the journey actually looks like for people to develop their mastery and to, to know themselves to bring that, you know, again,

difference between their egos value systems versus their higher aspirational souls motivations, and to understand their behaviors that they need to like, acknowledge and work on, and then transform any subconscious programs, the trauma patterns, and the layers of these defenses that we have kind of embedded within our pap patterns. And then we work

Fantastic. So Shauna, Pelton, thank you so much for joining us today, if folks would like to follow up or connect with you, how would they do that?

So they can easily go to my website, which is just my name, Shawna pelton.com, where there'll be guided towards whatever, you know, prompted to do whatever they want. So if it's, you know, reach out for a discovery call that will be there. And I also have, you know, I think I'm in your system is well, right. And that's actually, if it's

I think, if I were to guide them anywhere, I would guide them to you, Greg, so that they can have that conversation with you. And then they get me as part of that package.

Thank you so much. Yes, we've we've done some work on projects. And if you end up working with us, you'll likely be introduced to Shauna, as well. So Shauna, so your website, and then tell us about the goal activator, if you

so sure, I have a tool that I like to share with people. It's called The Goal activator, and it does help people establish that vision that I talked about. And it also helps them break down the steps needed to identify Well, what are these goals that are going to help me meet that that higher, aspirational, you know, thing that I have in

that's what's needed. You can't just think, Oh, this is what I want to do. You need to be able to actually condition your brain to be able to spot those mile markers or to be able to align with that, that goal that you have in mind. So it's all the components are included in that course. All right,

so we'll put a link in the show notes for that. Great well, and so, Shauna Pelton, thank you so much.