Have you ever listened to a piano that was off-key?
The Pianist could be trying their best. Yet, whatever they do it won't sound right. Until the piano gets re-tuned it was always be that bit out.
Sometimes people are a little off-key.
There's something that isn't working. We can all know it. But how do you get them tuned back in?
When a leader is off-key it affects them and their team.
In this episode of The Unified Team I spoke to Michalina Buenk.
Michalina is a Coach who works with leaders on career and leadership transformations. She has a a range of qualifications and experience, but also empathy and intuition. She has a very different style to the way I work.
One I dubbed the piano tuning style.
Listen in to see why...
How do we join with others to achieve and experience more and
Speaker:get in flow as a unified team?
Speaker:This is the question we ask each episode in the Unified Team podcast.
Speaker:Here's your host, Rob McPhillips.
Michalina:I change people's lives through deep conversations, and that can
Michalina:have a very different perspective, view, impact, or way that it shows up to anyone
Michalina:that works with me, that talks to me.
Michalina:I believe very strongly, very firmly in a reason why we meet.
Michalina:Why we talk, why certain things come to place and show up and why we notice
Michalina:things at certain points in time and where those things can lead us.
Michalina:So for me, it's never really about being very prescriptive or very marketing
Michalina:like, this is your transformation A to B and this is what you need
Michalina:to get to B and then there is C and there is a C and D conversation.
Michalina:That's not me.
Michalina:What I do is I take a person in front of me and I have a conversation.
Michalina:That conversation unfolds a lot of the things that are meaningful and that are
Michalina:needed for the person in front of me.
Michalina:And this is why I believe that I can make the bold claim of I change people's
Michalina:lives because they're ready to hear, notice, and do something with their lives.
Michalina:And there is always a smaller or bigger change that comes out of that.
Michalina:In marketing terms, if you want to classify what I've just
Michalina:said, I'm a leadership coach.
Michalina:Coach who also cares about the career.
Michalina:For me, everything is underpinned by purpose.
Michalina:So if you find purpose, everything aligns, everything else is meaningful,
Michalina:fulfilling, and you can carry on with whatever it is that you need to do
Michalina:here in a way that's right for you.
Michalina:If we need labels.
Michalina:That's the label.
Michalina:But if you need a transformation, there's no A to B marketing.
Michalina:There's a deep conversation that really matters and you need it at that point.
Rob:Which I think is really the way that we've evolved.
Rob:For me, conversation is the most natural channel.
Rob:Absolutely.
Michalina:Absolutely.
Michalina:That's the basis.
Michalina:And whether It happens over a platform, social media, day to
Michalina:day conversations, some other forms, it doesn't really matter.
Michalina:The content that matters.
Michalina:It's that exchange of energy between people and everything else that they bring
Michalina:to the conversation and the relationship.
Michalina:And it's just fascinating.
Michalina:You can't really put that in a box in any way.
Michalina:At least I can't.
Michalina:I don't know.
Michalina:Maybe you tell me differently.
Michalina:Yeah, no,
Rob:I totally agree.
Rob:Typically.
Rob:What are the kind of problems someone has when they come to you?
Rob:What is the transformation that they're seeking?
Rob:And is the transformation they're seeking what generally turns out to be?
Michalina:I think the answer is already in your question there.
Michalina:Very often we think That we have a problem called x and it turns out that
Michalina:it sits somewhere completely different.
Michalina:And we're looking at symptoms, not the causes, or not the
Michalina:why's behind other things.
Michalina:So coaching allows you to dig really deep and really look at and
Michalina:examine and reflect on all this.
Michalina:stuff that you think you have a problem with, or you think are your goals
Michalina:versus what's really going on for you.
Michalina:The clients who I work with at the moment come with all sorts of things
Michalina:they all come under being a leader or a manager or people manager in
Michalina:a large or medium organization.
Michalina:They all think that they have goals and ideas.
Michalina:And this could be going solo as a consultant, this could be getting a
Michalina:promotion, it could be going back to the role they've missed out on a while back.
Michalina:It turns out it's a lot deeper and a lot more meaningful than that.
Michalina:A client who wants to leave the organization he's worked for 15 years,
Michalina:actually what he really truly wants is not to go solo as a consultant.
Michalina:He can do this without my help.
Michalina:But he needs to find a way of going through a divorce.
Michalina:The current company he's at, and that is a lot deeper than, and not that
Michalina:easy for him to actually go through.
Michalina:And that's why he needs my help.
Michalina:Someone else talks to me about wanting to go after the role that she missed out
Michalina:on, or she left, or she walked away from a few years back because she thought
Michalina:she couldn't deal with the politics and the toxic environment at that time.
Michalina:Turns out there's.
Michalina:lot about finding out who she is, what she wants and what her values are, to then
Michalina:create a role she would be truly happy in.
Michalina:Someone wants to talk about their strategic skill set and
Michalina:what is it that they're missing?
Michalina:Why aren't they being seen as strategic players in their organization?
Michalina:There is a lot more to that than this.
Michalina:It's a whole set of thinking and approach to what they do that needs
Michalina:to be looked at and examined and checked whether it's still fits and
Michalina:whether it's them or whether they're trying to be someone they don't truly
Michalina:want to be, and they self sabotage.
Michalina:So that's just a few of those things that I'm dealing with
Michalina:at the moment with people.
Michalina:Someone comes to me to say, okay, I'm ready to leave,
Michalina:but I don't know what's next.
Michalina:I need to go.
Michalina:I've been with this business.
Michalina:I've had the most amazing career that I could not care less.
Michalina:about at the moment, 20 years.
Michalina:I'm closing a chapter.
Michalina:I want purpose.
Michalina:I want something meaningful.
Michalina:Turns out she knows what it is.
Michalina:She's known for 20 years and what she wants to do is absolutely incredible.
Michalina:She just needs someone to hold her, to help her, to make it.
Michalina:real and to make it happen.
Michalina:So there is no A to B.
Michalina:They, the, what you come with and what you actually want to work on and what
Michalina:you need are two very different things, sometimes three different things if
Michalina:you start looking deeper into it.
Michalina:It
Rob:really resonates.
Rob:There's some research that most people who want to leave their marriage,
Rob:it takes them about six years from really knowing to actually doing it.
Rob:What you're really saying is that we all get stuck in our own head.
Rob:And we think we need permission.
Rob:We think we need reassurance.
Rob:We need something from someone else.
Rob:Some of the time it's because it's just in our head.
Rob:And when we talk it out, we make it more real.
Rob:When it's out there, we can deal with it.
Michalina:So there is this internal dialogue.
Michalina:That happens all the time.
Michalina:We're very used to it.
Michalina:We don't even recognize that it happens.
Michalina:We just think that's our way of seeing reality around us, which is not true.
Michalina:Then there is the element of permission.
Michalina:Then there is an element of being very desperate to have labels for
Michalina:everything to try to understand, because if we don't have labels, it's
Michalina:so difficult to actually be creative and honest and real, we like navigate
Michalina:through labels because it's easier.
Michalina:So we need to call it going solo.
Michalina:Becoming a consultant.
Michalina:We need to call it starting your own business or we need to call it whatever
Michalina:it is, or the example that you've shared in around marriages, there's so many
Michalina:labels around economic, social, and other perspectives that need to be taken for.
Michalina:The reason that people need.
Michalina:A coach is because they need to be helped.
Michalina:They need that space and they need an honest place where they can think
Michalina:forward and then they can organize their own thoughts and think forward.
Michalina:There is a lot around, so what is and isn't therapy and
Michalina:deep coaching conversation.
Michalina:Very often a deep coaching conversation will draw from the past, will circle
Michalina:into the things that mattered and shaped you and impact you in certain
Michalina:ways to then help you go forward.
Michalina:So those lines can be very much blurred and you pick and choose what you need to
Michalina:create a story you want going forward.
Michalina:But I think overall it's about having that safe space that
Michalina:it's okay to start and then.
Michalina:How do we do this?
Rob:Totally agree with that.
Rob:It's on my mind because my little rant today was about lots of
Rob:therapists become they see everything in their school of therapy.
Rob:Coaches see everything in their way.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:You did mention it this morning.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:When you
Rob:look at therapy, no therapy is more successful than others.
Rob:There are maybe like slight differences.
Rob:Generally, they're about the same success rate.
Rob:And, but the one key thing that determines success, it's not therapy itself, but
Rob:it's the warmth and the trust that someone, that the therapist can create.
Rob:It's someone that they trust.
Rob:And from our interactions, I can see that you have that kind of
Rob:comforting warmth, nurturing.
Michalina:I can totally make you cry if you need that, Rob.
Michalina:Let's just be clear on this.
Michalina:But thank you.
Rob:Yeah so I can see that's what people are looking for.
Rob:That's what they need.
Rob:It's to make that kind of transformation is a jump and it's a jump that brings
Rob:on all our insecurities and our doubts.
Michalina:Absolutely.
Michalina:And.
Michalina:It's a bit of a cliche to say that you need to trust and like the person
Michalina:you work with, but you absolutely do.
Michalina:You can have the most amazing qualifications and experience
Michalina:if it doesn't work for you too in co creating that safe space
Michalina:for you to change your life.
Michalina:It's never going to work.
Michalina:No one really cares about the amazing websites and marketing and
Michalina:accreditations and qualifications and experience and everything else.
Michalina:They just want to feel whether you get them or not.
Michalina:And there's this lovely phrase.
Michalina:Meet someone where they're at it's actually very difficult to do, but the
Michalina:person who has enough skill set and experience and intuition and everything
Michalina:else can find that moment where you can align and build something together.
Michalina:And it's not about if it's a relationship with me, it's not about me, knowing where
Michalina:you're going and telling you and here's the best way and here's how to avoid
Michalina:X, Y, and Z and you will be successful.
Michalina:Couldn't be further from it, but it's about you trusting me that I will
Michalina:challenge you and I will care for you and I will hold that space so you can grow.
Michalina:Very often we're so used to being told what to do and how to do things, being
Michalina:told to follow other examples and just fitting them in somehow and making
Michalina:something meaningful out of that.
Michalina:And when someone says, but what do you want?
Michalina:It can open a flood of tears.
Michalina:Just not being rushed in a conversation can be transformational.
Michalina:When someone have.
Michalina:has three minutes to think about the answer to the question you've just asked.
Michalina:It could be transformational.
Michalina:You can't put this in the marketing material on LinkedIn or anywhere
Michalina:else, but I've seen this truly powerfully happening in front of me.
Michalina:If it comes to working with me, I found a way in my own
Michalina:personality not to judge people.
Michalina:I level the energy levels.
Michalina:So the person is who's in front of me and I allow things to happen.
Michalina:And it's one of those things that you need to feel.
Michalina:You can't describe, you need to experience.
Michalina:So you know what I'm talking about?
Michalina:I find that this truly helps because this truly propels someone forward.
Michalina:And who am I to tell what's your B or C or D is?
Michalina:You don't know that yet.
Michalina:But what you need is that step to go feel empowered that you can, that
Michalina:you could fail, or you could succeed, or you could embarrass yourself, or
Michalina:you could be loved, or you could, whatever it is that you fear, whatever
Michalina:the outcome at the end of the fear is, you could do all those things.
Michalina:So for me, I think it's about leveling up that energy exchange, if I can call that.
Michalina:Very often I work with people who are, who navigate different cultures.
Michalina:National cultures or organizational cultures where they always try to fit
Michalina:in and belong, but they don't really feel that in, in different ways.
Michalina:And because I've got this multicultural background, I can understand
Michalina:where they're floating and what's happening and say, hang on a minute,
Michalina:that's the next boy you need.
Michalina:This is the next step, but then figure out where you want to go from there.
Michalina:And I think it helps.
Michalina:Because the more multi perspective you've got in life the easier it is to
Michalina:be creative because you can say oh i'll take that and i know that works and
Michalina:by the way i don't know what do i call this but if i take this and this from
Michalina:my past i can be empowered fulfilled creative and do everything else and
Michalina:you know as coaches or therapists we use all those big words and all these
Michalina:amazing jargon you know if you're a And you need this, and you need that.
Michalina:No, no one talks like that in real life.
Michalina:They just go, I haven't got a clue.
Michalina:I can't figure this out.
Michalina:I just don't know.
Michalina:And I've very recently heard someone say that, don't know is
Michalina:the best answer you can hear.
Michalina:And I absolutely and truly support it because that's where things
Michalina:going to start to change for you.
Michalina:So if you, if there is something you don't know, you should be really pleased to
Rob:go to that place.
Rob:It's the sign of a great breakthrough.
Rob:Like I always think confusion confusion is.
Rob:is like in between what you knew and a transformation of what you will know.
Rob:It's leveling
Michalina:up.
Michalina:That's a really nice way of putting it actually.
Michalina:And there's so much choice, there's so many possibilities in that.
Michalina:Why is confusion need to mean something negative?
Michalina:There are all these labels again that come in and just going back to your
Michalina:point around so this type of therapy has these answers and this type of coaching
Michalina:has these answers and all of that.
Michalina:I think there is a bit of ego of a professional carrying out certain
Michalina:Ways of working with people.
Michalina:I think we need to constantly bring ourselves back that this is not about us.
Michalina:We lend in certain experiences, energy and knowledge to help on
Michalina:a journey, but not to change it.
Michalina:It's not about us.
Michalina:It's not our success and it's not our ego that needs to come in and
Michalina:it's an ongoing journey there.
Michalina:But equally, it's good to try out different things and pick and
Michalina:choose those bits that we need.
Michalina:And then to your point around the confusion there is.
Michalina:So many things that just are.
Michalina:They're not negative or positive.
Michalina:We make them to be negative or positive.
Michalina:And if we just reframe certain things, and if we just look at things
Michalina:differently, so much can happen.
Michalina:And I see that very often in conversations, where sometimes,
Michalina:if you want to describe it, nothing really changed.
Michalina:The events are still as they are.
Michalina:The stuck, being stuck or being confused.
Michalina:It's still there.
Michalina:The choices are still the same, but the person leaves the session
Michalina:going, everything's changed, but you can't explain what it is.
Michalina:It's that way of thinking, feeling, looking at things that's changed.
Michalina:So back to the transformation.
Michalina:The word transformation can be quite frightening if you trans translate
Michalina:it to in, in, in certain languages.
Michalina:Transformation can mean leaving everything you know behind.
Michalina:So that's threatening.
Michalina:So why would you do that?
Michalina:If you use the word change, there is so much cognitive load and
Michalina:emotional load that comes with it.
Michalina:But if you just change that word, and if you just look at things differently,
Michalina:everything can change in a way.
Rob:Yeah.
Rob:I think we always want to change circumstances, but often what
Rob:we really need to change is
Rob:perspective.
Michalina:That's right.
Michalina:But if you tell someone you need to change your perspective,
Michalina:they'll go, yeah, of course I do.
Michalina:And I've got my own opinion.
Michalina:Oh, yes, everyone has one.
Michalina:So back to labels and back to words, but really listening and asking
Michalina:questions that in that moment can shift that energy level for someone.
Michalina:That's key.
Michalina:And this is why I love coaching and this is where I think it works.
Michalina:And for me, this is where empowerment or leadership truly sits in those moments
Michalina:of feeling that a change is possible, that the mindset is there and unlocks
Michalina:something, I hate that word unlocks.
Michalina:Because it's such a marketing coaching word.
Michalina:Oh, unlock your power within.
Michalina:If you were to truly really use those words, yes, that's what it comes down to.
Rob:It's like authenticity.
Rob:Authenticity is something that is so important.
Rob:It is something that you can use all the time.
Rob:And yeah, people have so much used and abused it that it's it now, it, you like,
Rob:the word I really want is authentic.
Rob:I know people have so much connotations with it.
Rob:And yeah, there's certain words that are so powerful, but.
Rob:We have to avoid them because they've been, they've lost some of their meaning.
Rob:Oh, they've
Michalina:been beaten to death.
Michalina:Absolutely.
Michalina:Sometimes when I say, Oh, it's about being authentic.
Michalina:I immediately go, Whoa.
Michalina:And these are the 10 or 20 things that can be said about this.
Michalina:Take it back now.
Michalina:But again, it's about co creating that space of someone in front of you, and
Michalina:using the words that are right for them.
Michalina:Really listening deeply to how do they express themselves, using those
Michalina:words, bringing that insight and reflection back to them, to really
Michalina:truly for them to find their own way.
Michalina:It's not about me and my way.
Michalina:I can swear all along.
Michalina:My grandma used to say that if you swear you actually change
Michalina:reality because it's magical.
Michalina:Because your emotions change, your mindset shifts, so reality changes too.
Michalina:And I love that.
Michalina:But if I told you that, or if I swore in front of you for 10
Michalina:minutes, you'd be like, She's not for
Rob:me.
Rob:Can you say that again?
Rob:Your grandma said if you swear, you change
Michalina:reality?
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:So if you use swear word, your world around you changes after you've done
Michalina:that, because there is magic in that swear word, because you release your
Michalina:emotions, you change your mind, so you can deal with the world around you in
Michalina:a different way, so it changes reality.
Michalina:Isn't there a lot of depth to that?
Rob:There is, and there's actually research to, to evidence it.
Rob:No!
Rob:Yeah no, because people who swear feel less pain, and it's
Rob:because they release that tension.
Rob:So there
Michalina:we go.
Michalina:I'm.
Michalina:I honestly, I claim that was my grandma.
Michalina:That's what she told me.
Michalina:Whatever research was done.
Michalina:I don't know it was my grandma.
Michalina:So don't take it away.
Rob:That's great.
Rob:And I think also like the whole taboo about swearing because like my
Rob:mom would always, don't swear, what that's doing is it's constraining and
Rob:it's what's wrong with a swear word.
Rob:It's in the vocabulary.
Rob:So why not say it?
Rob:But then we have all these kind of taboos and I think that's probably
Rob:really what you do is people are programmed with all these kind of taboos.
Rob:And they're constrained of, you can't do this, you must do this, you must do this.
Rob:And what you're really doing is opening them up and freeing them to have a
Rob:more authentic, a more true, real
Michalina:experience.
Michalina:I think that's a lovely attempt of putting a label on this.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:But that's okay.
Michalina:Yes, I think it's about creativity in shifts that you want to make.
Michalina:Do what you want to do on purpose, with purpose, aligned to this.
Michalina:Then find the right tools that work for you.
Michalina:Make the right shifts that will help you to get there, but not because they
Michalina:are right by someone else's standards.
Michalina:Whether it's cultural conditioning, economical, social, or organizational,
Michalina:or hierarchical, or whatever else, but do it the way that works for you.
Michalina:So I think that's what what truly matters and what truly is important,
Michalina:when the meaning can happen for you.
Michalina:And once you have that, and you feel that, and you understand that, you
Michalina:can align all the other resources.
Michalina:And then you just need a bit of holding here and there around.
Michalina:If you have those little wobbles, and you doubt yourself, and you listen to
Michalina:your inner critic and everything else.
Michalina:How do you make sure that the change is sustainable and in a way consistent
Michalina:without taking away the fun of it?
Michalina:No one says, Oh, you need to do the same thing for the rest of your life.
Michalina:So there's a bit of leadership, self leadership, a little bit of empowerment,
Michalina:a little bit of shifts in perspectives and creativity around what you want
Michalina:to do and a whole host of other things
Rob:too.
Rob:I'm really curious.
Rob:So what I've noticed and I do, I look for patterns.
Rob:So I do use labels and things because what I try and do is from
Rob:each individual is to make up a pattern to identify what's universal.
Rob:So, when I talk to someone and talking about relationships, a question most
Rob:people have, but they won't say until they kind of trust and they almost all
Rob:say the same kind of question, but with different phrasing, which is, am I broken?
Rob:Is it me?
Rob:Am I unlovable?
Rob:Is there something wrong with me?
Rob:This is where I identified that relationship we have.
Rob:We've been given a frame for relationships that doesn't work.
Rob:And that's why most relationships, more relationships fail.
Rob:By fail, I mean that they don't work as people expected them to.
Rob:People take relationships not working as a failure for them and they take it as
Rob:a sign that there's something wrong with them, and it plays into an insecurity
Rob:and a doubt they're somehow broken.
Rob:Is there a question that you see as a kind of a common thread?
Rob:Reflecting
Michalina:on what you just said I don't recall a question that would be a common
Michalina:thread amongst the people that I'm thinking of now, and when I think about
Michalina:what they bring to sessions with me.
Michalina:But I can see a version.
Michalina:of that sort of feeling of unbroken coming up.
Michalina:So you've made me think here very deeply.
Michalina:They do bring different versions of it.
Michalina:There isn't a question that comes up that would sum up that pattern.
Michalina:What I would say is there is a need for validation that it's okay to be
Michalina:different to what it is that's been programmed to people that comes up in
Michalina:a bear with me I'm replaying some of those conversations in my head now.
Michalina:And it's quite interesting, you've said that there is a definition or a pattern of
Michalina:relationship that's been given to us, and if it doesn't work for us, it's broken.
Michalina:I wonder what you would call that pattern, or what is it specifically
Michalina:that you would label it as?
Michalina:Because across cultures, and I work with people from four different cultures at
Michalina:the moment, there is So many different layers to understanding things and
Michalina:defining things and I wonder whether what it is that you want to share actually
Michalina:translates across those cultures.
Michalina:So what do you mean by a definition of relationship that doesn't work?
Michalina:Do you
Rob:mean why the relationship doesn't work or?
Rob:Okay.
Rob:So we learn about relationships.
Rob:So if you look at 70 percent of our neural pathways are laid down.
Rob:By the age of seven.
Rob:So basically after that, we have this kind of map of the world and we
Rob:think we know it even if we don't.
Rob:And that's where most of our, so I call it like the human operating system.
Rob:And that's where most of our problems and our conflicts come from something
Rob:that was in there, there's like a bug, if you look at how we learn about.
Rob:relationships, most of it is from fairies stories or Disney films.
Rob:And it's the princess meets the prince.
Rob:And so we get what I call the four myths of the fairy tale, which
Rob:is there's one out there for me.
Rob:If I meet the one and I'm beautiful enough, or I'm gallant enough and
Rob:charming enough, they'll fall in love.
Rob:If the love is true, we'll live happily ever after.
Rob:So what people expect is that they shouldn't have any problems.
Rob:So when they, so they go into a relationship and five years later,
Rob:they're got children, they're fed up with each other and.
Rob:They're like, if he really loved me, he wouldn't do this.
Rob:If she really loved me, she wouldn't do this.
Rob:And so I go maybe they're not my one.
Rob:And so rather than and so they think the problem is them.
Rob:They're not lovable enough.
Rob:They think the relationship that they haven't chosen the right one.
Rob:And it's the same in teams as in like project Aristotle from Google, when
Rob:they analyzed the makeup of teams, they were thinking, okay, we need to
Rob:have the right blend of introverts.
Rob:We need to have these people and these people.
Rob:And what they found, it was nothing to do with that.
Rob:It was psychological safety.
Rob:It was how people interacted, not who interact.
Rob:And so in relationship, the differences that like, like my favorite quote is
Rob:Dan Wile always said, when you marry someone, you marry a set of problems.
Rob:If you didn't marry this person, you wouldn't have these problems,
Rob:but you'd have a different set.
Rob:I love that.
Rob:So
Michalina:that's, I'm not a marriage counselor.
Michalina:I wouldn't even want to dare to talk about that sort of stuff.
Michalina:I've got loads of anecdotes from from my friends and family and everyone
Michalina:else, but there is, there's quite a few interesting things in what you've.
Michalina:shared.
Michalina:So in terms of this whole one for me, happy ever after Disney model, I
Michalina:think that comes a lot from religion and from ethical standpoints as well.
Michalina:So forget Disney.
Michalina:I grew up in communism.
Michalina:I didn't watch Disney fairy tales until I was older than seven.
Michalina:So that sort of came later, but there is a bit around how life should be.
Michalina:And there is.
Michalina:Christianity or whatever your religion is that gives you that model of how things
Michalina:should be and is driven by something a lot bigger than you and so you need to comply
Michalina:with this because otherwise you're broken.
Michalina:So this is why I wanted to get into that definition of how do you understand that.
Michalina:There is a lot around ways, social ways, of living in community that
Michalina:dictates how our relationships should be and so you're broken if
Michalina:you don't comply if you're different.
Michalina:So there was a bit about that.
Michalina:My husband is from South Africa and he grew up in an enclosed religious
Michalina:community as a white family around problems with apartheid and longer.
Michalina:There's so much culturally and socially and religiously that they took on as
Michalina:a family around how life should be.
Michalina:I grew up in communism and then capitalism that started emerging
Michalina:and how different that was and how different Christianity is.
Michalina:is there.
Michalina:So there is a lot there on that front.
Michalina:I think we all tend to go, if we don't comply with external norms, we are broken.
Michalina:We don't know who we are and what we want.
Michalina:So we try to fit in with different approaches.
Michalina:When it comes to relationships that we think in those absolutes around one
Michalina:forever, and if it doesn't work, it's me.
Michalina:At work, I think it's a lot easier because we go if it doesn't work,
Michalina:I'll go and find somewhere else.
Michalina:And there is a lot more empowerment and a lot more choice.
Michalina:And I think choice allows us to be more confident and empowered and
Michalina:change jobs and change cultures.
Michalina:But going back to the point that you mentioned around the the research
Michalina:and around how we interact and how we, who are the people and how they
Michalina:bring that additional element of culture and co-creation together
Michalina:and that space that works and makes the two of you better then.
Michalina:Some of parts of the two or the three or whatever, I think there is a lot of
Michalina:learning there where we need to be very creative in how we put people together to
Michalina:work together and towards what and what do we want them to achieve and giving people
Michalina:freedom to actually make those decisions.
Michalina:So there are two different things around those relationships, conditioning
Michalina:and what do we want in a workplace?
Michalina:Which
Rob:comes back to your point about intention, intentionality
Rob:and starting with purpose.
Rob:Absolutely.
Michalina:And I think there is a little bit about consumerism of work
Michalina:as well and how we change things.
Michalina:And technology has changed our lives massively.
Michalina:The way we grew up and what we were prepared for is very
Michalina:different to how we live our lives.
Michalina:now.
Michalina:And being in a global village and working in global teams changes things completely.
Michalina:We were probably growing up in situations where anything that was
Michalina:different as in not good enough or less than or maybe a bit suspicious.
Michalina:Whilst now we work in global teams and we have to navigate all
Michalina:those things for a common purpose.
Michalina:Our parents didn't have a clue what it was all about when they were in the workplace.
Michalina:And now.
Michalina:the rise of short term contracts and working on assignments and freelance
Michalina:work and starting businesses.
Michalina:None of that socially or economically was possible 20, 30, 50 years ago.
Michalina:Now is, it's very easily accessible.
Michalina:So it's about, so what's the purpose?
Michalina:What's the intention?
Michalina:What do I want out of it?
Michalina:What do we collectively want for this particular project?
Michalina:What's our common outcome that we want to work towards?
Michalina:And so then we need to start thinking about the set of tools, set of
Michalina:problems, set of skill sets, and they're called people, and then how do
Michalina:they interact towards that one thing?
Michalina:Not forever, not in absolutes.
Michalina:but for outcomes for common goals.
Michalina:And I suppose if we then take that and we go back to your point around
Michalina:relationships one forever, we could say, okay, so throughout your life, you
Michalina:look for a father for your children.
Michalina:And once you're done and they grown up, that's it.
Michalina:The project is done, right?
Michalina:Consumerism of marriage.
Michalina:And then you look for a partner to travel the world with
Michalina:for the next 10 or 15 years.
Michalina:That's it.
Michalina:And then you look for someone to retire with and have someone to be buried with.
Michalina:I've heard this once as an expression that someone was looking for someone else to
Michalina:end their life, to be with to the rest of their lives and be buried with, because
Michalina:they didn't want to be buried alone.
Michalina:Maybe that's the answer to, I don't know.
Michalina:I don't even want to touch that sphere, not my area of expertise, but if we play
Michalina:around with those approaches, absolute versus creative, I suppose we could talk
Michalina:about that, but we need to be mindful of religious, cultural, social, economic
Michalina:conditioning and everything else.
Rob:Definitely.
Rob:I'm really interested in, I'm fascinated by the idea of what it must have been like
Rob:growing up in, in a communist environment, and then suddenly everything changing,
Rob:yeah, can you share anything about that?
Rob:Can
Michalina:you share a child or early teenage years, and then that sort
Michalina:of how I was uncovering those things and influences throughout my life
Michalina:obviously I wasn't an adult when all of this happened, it was my parents,
Michalina:it's an interesting one because only as an adult you discover what impacted
Michalina:you and shaped you and where it comes from when you start reflecting you
Michalina:don't understand that at that time.
Michalina:I remember, and that everyone was supposed to be the same.
Michalina:Everyone was supposed to do the same thing.
Michalina:There was a script and a plan, you just needed to follow it.
Michalina:It was very easy.
Michalina:It was all about being super resourceful around how do you get food on the table?
Michalina:How do you make sure that your kids have shoes and clothes and go to school?
Michalina:But we all had this pattern to follow.
Michalina:It was all very simple.
Michalina:I remember my parents saying that they were brought up in deep
Michalina:communism and then life changed.
Michalina:They had absolutely no work skills whatsoever, because the job was given
Michalina:and you worked in the same place for a whole year, their whole life.
Michalina:So for us, they had to figure out how to do themselves to then tell us,
Michalina:Oh, it's okay to choose the job you want to do, who do you want to be?
Michalina:Oh no, it's okay to say you want to do this or that.
Michalina:So they had to learn a lot to then bring us up.
Michalina:I remember that everyone was happy and everyone had the same thing.
Michalina:I don't recall jealousy in school because someone had better clothes or
Michalina:better shoes or there were no gadgets or computers or phones or anything like that.
Michalina:So it was very easy in a way.
Michalina:We were all poor.
Michalina:We all had jumpers made by our grandmas from older jumpers.
Michalina:We all knew what to do and how life was a lot simpler, but in a way.
Michalina:When you then grow up and actually, there is competition, there is choice, there
Michalina:are new things you need to deal with.
Michalina:There is a million more decisions to make than you thought that you
Michalina:had to as a young teenager or adult.
Michalina:That was all very frightening later on.
Michalina:Then you started seeing those differences in the society when
Michalina:suddenly people were very rich.
Michalina:So if they, so there's this saying around if someone is a rich capitalist, surely
Michalina:they must have stolen their first million.
Michalina:So there is no other way.
Michalina:You have to steal to have more than other people.
Michalina:Because all honest, hardworking people have jobs that are given to them.
Michalina:And so life goes on da.
Michalina:So all that cultural conditioning then stays with you.
Michalina:And you've got all those massive beliefs about things.
Michalina:Obviously that's how things are, right?
Michalina:And then you end up with capitalism.
Michalina:and a different way of thinking where you go, whoa, okay, this is very different.
Michalina:And by the way, there's a religion and philosophy and
Michalina:everything else that goes with it.
Michalina:So yeah, just a few nuggets
Rob:there.
Rob:That's fascinating because I can see a direct, how that kind of, it must have
Rob:been a struggle from your teenage to young adult lives of coping with the
Rob:choice and coping with that change.
Rob:And it seems that a direct parallel between what you now do for other people.
Michalina:Hey, tell me more.
Michalina:That's interesting.
Michalina:I think there is always the link.
Michalina:Sometimes we are aware of it and sometimes not.
Michalina:One of the things that very recently discovered about myself is that
Michalina:one of my greatest strengths that I'm really proud of is that I can
Michalina:make something out of nothing.
Michalina:I can be extremely resourceful and nothing will ever faze me.
Michalina:I will find a way.
Michalina:And I was talking about it and reflecting on it.
Michalina:And it was quite interesting that my friends play that back to me
Michalina:that's how they see me as well.
Michalina:But it turns out that stops me from having an abundance mindset, because
Michalina:I'm so used to having scarcity mindset as a starting point, so
Michalina:I can go with my resourcefulness.
Michalina:That I can't skip that point, I can't have an abandoned mountain,
Michalina:because I don't know what it's like.
Michalina:Everything that I know is scarcity first, plus resourcefulness,
Michalina:but then creates amazing things.
Michalina:And I suppose And that's just a bit of a, about me, but what I do with the people
Michalina:who sit in front of me is I truly listen to what they bring, what patterns come up,
Michalina:and then just help them understand those.
Michalina:It's not about my interpretations on those things, but bringing them
Michalina:back alive to the conversation.
Michalina:Very much what you've just done with me, that you see a pattern and an impact.
Michalina:Of course, there is always one.
Michalina:Sometimes we're not aware of where it comes from, but there is.
Michalina:And with my husband, he had a very different upbringing.
Michalina:He experienced a lot of different things that I didn't even know existed.
Michalina:I remember as a teenager, I only only ever knew one black person.
Michalina:And it was incredible.
Michalina:And my mom was friends with him and they worked together.
Michalina:It was incredible.
Michalina:Such a completely different, fascinating culture and way of living
Michalina:and stories told and everything else.
Michalina:For him, it was very different.
Michalina:It was half society and constant struggles and changes and
Michalina:what's right, what's wrong.
Michalina:A world that I never really knew or understood.
Michalina:Yeah, so much there.
Rob:I think, like, when someone gets in a romantic relationship, for the first time,
Rob:what they've grown up in a world that they thought everyone else was like them.
Rob:And then suddenly, they go into a different household where they've got,
Rob:someone with completely different culture and experiences, and ways of interacting.
Rob:And I think.
Rob:I think that's what relationship does, is that our differences, if
Rob:we're able to, this is my thing of disagree without drama, so that if
Rob:we're able to learn from each other and share each other's perspectives.
Rob:Then we can broaden and we can overcome our own blind spots.
Michalina:A hundred percent.
Michalina:I agree with that.
Michalina:But it's hard work and it's daily from the point of, so hang on a minute.
Michalina:So do you catch a virus?
Michalina:If you walk without slippers on, from that sort of level
Michalina:of problems and you Google it.
Michalina:So do you, or do you not?
Michalina:Cause in my world, they say this and in your world, they say that
Michalina:I've got millions of those type of conversations to what's the right
Michalina:thing to do offer five cookies.
Michalina:Okay.
Michalina:Bye.
Michalina:to five people you invited or for the whole cake to those five
Michalina:people you invited, what's the right thing to do, I think, again,
Michalina:I'm not a marriage counselor.
Michalina:Oh, it's not my, it's not my bag.
Michalina:But for me, there's a lot around cultures that work that influence how
Michalina:you think and who you are and how you change and the masks that you put on.
Michalina:Because you try to fit in different organizations and cultures.
Michalina:And there are different ways of doing things and different expectations.
Michalina:And you suddenly, you may be a high performer in one and suddenly
Michalina:an underperformer in another.
Michalina:And you go, hang on a minute, how is that possible?
Michalina:Because the set of expectations and influences is such that it's not for you.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:And you need to go somewhere else to find a way for yourself to feel good.
Michalina:And then again, wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
Michalina:So is it you or is it the circumstances?
Michalina:So there is always this play around what's happening internally, what's
Michalina:happening externally for you.
Michalina:But essentially, if you give yourself permission to test and try different
Michalina:places to see what it's like to feel what it's like to be under certain
Michalina:influences from that organization.
Michalina:In terms of, what the reward looks like performance goals, achievements
Michalina:progression, and everything else you want to who are your type of
Michalina:people that you want to work with?
Michalina:Are they there?
Michalina:Are they not there?
Michalina:And how they impact you?
Michalina:And, How do they help you grow as well?
Michalina:Do you want to be a superstar in one team of monists and underperformers?
Michalina:Or do you want to be the one who's got a long way to go amongst truly amazing
Michalina:things, the people who do amazing things?
Michalina:So there's a lot of questions and balances that you need to go
Michalina:through when it comes to that.
Michalina:So yeah, with those relationships, whether they're personal or work ones.
Michalina:There's so many things that need to align for you to fit in and feel
Michalina:good But as I said, you always take yourself with you wherever you go.
Rob:Yeah, that's the common thread.
Rob:You touched upon something that I was I had in my head to ask and that is success
Rob:and value are really about context.
Rob:And there's some contexts that you're succeeding and
Rob:there's some that you won't.
Rob:So I've noticed there's a clear delineation between who I can work
Rob:with successfully and who I can't.
Rob:And.
Rob:I first came up with it is I think some people are power seekers.
Rob:They want to dominate.
Rob:And then someone else phrased it for me as they're people who want to be right.
Rob:Whereas I find I work with truth seekers, people who want to get
Rob:to the root of what it really is.
Rob:And she rephrased that to people who want to get it right.
Rob:Because the people who want to get it right are willing to change
Rob:and they're willing to adapt.
Rob:They're looking for the perspective that's going to help them help everyone succeed.
Rob:Where's the.
Rob:What I call the power seekers are looking to be right and they're looking to
Rob:fit everyone else to make them right.
Rob:So Who do you find that your work resonates with best and is there?
Rob:Instances where of the people who it's not who you don't gel with and
Rob:you don't Have as much success with
Michalina:that's an interesting question It reminds me of my philosophy
Michalina:studies 20 years ago And those questions around, so are there absolutes?
Michalina:Is there an absolute love, absolute truth, absolute this or that or the
Michalina:other, or do we make it to be as such in relationship to ourselves in some way?
Michalina:So you just brought that back for me.
Michalina:I don't know.
Michalina:I haven't thought about it from this perspective.
Michalina:It's an interesting challenge.
Michalina:If I think about this from psychometrics perspectives and all those tests that
Michalina:we can do to try to understand a way how we show up and how we relate to others.
Michalina:So all my tests will tell you that I'm there to support others, but
Michalina:influence drive focus on performance achievement and completion of stuff.
Michalina:So that would imply ego and that would imply people who
Michalina:would follow, and I would.
Michalina:lead them or drive them in a way, but equally the tools that I use.
Michalina:mean that I take a step back and I drive or influence through questions, but they
Michalina:do the work so they are in a driving seat.
Michalina:So I'm changing their power dynamic in a way.
Michalina:So it's really difficult to answer your question.
Michalina:I don't know.
Michalina:All I can tell you is that I wouldn't work with everyone.
Michalina:You will need to come to me and have a conversation with me.
Michalina:And I would know whether we're right for each other or not.
Michalina:And you would know that too.
Michalina:I'm very much a hot and cold person.
Michalina:There, there is no, maybe that doesn't work neither for you or me.
Michalina:So if that helps, perhaps, then you tell me what you're hearing
Michalina:and how would you categorize this?
Michalina:Labels are more your thing than mine.
Michalina:But I think there is a bit about honesty.
Michalina:Cause it's not about me being successful.
Michalina:It's about what successful means to you.
Michalina:I know what.
Michalina:I consider a good session.
Michalina:I know what my goals are for you as my client.
Michalina:But they don't matter if you have taken what you need to have taken from it from
Michalina:that conversation from that session.
Michalina:So there's that ego balance of, I can put that aside.
Michalina:It's not about me, my success.
Michalina:It's about your success, my success can be looked at differently.
Michalina:And then, again, if I coach as part of a job.
Michalina:HR job and organizational context that's different versus one to one tailored
Michalina:conversations to what it is that you need.
Michalina:I don't know.
Michalina:You tell me what you've picked up.
Michalina:I'm fascinated.
Rob:Yeah, it makes perfect sense because I think.
Rob:So I can relate to when you talk about, you were talking about, I can't remember
Rob:the exact words, but getting on someone's levels that you're listening to them.
Rob:So for me, the way I think of that is when I'm talking to
Rob:someone about relationships, all I need to do is listen to them.
Rob:I need to let them speak about whatever they want to speak about,
Rob:because the very words, when I listen, it's someone's drawing me a
Rob:map of what's going on in their head.
Rob:And there I can see immediately their blind spots and I know, okay, you need
Rob:this, and that's how it works for me.
Rob:That's the metaphor I have or the visualization.
Rob:But what I do is.
Rob:I take individual experience and I strip the individual out of it so I
Rob:get principles so minus I abstract and I find this, my biggest struggle
Rob:is being relatable, when I'm writing is that because When someone tells me
Rob:something, this is why I see patterns quite quickly, because I'll hear
Rob:something and I'll go, okay, it's that.
Rob:So over and over again, I've seen relationships and I
Rob:was going, okay, it's that.
Rob:Hang on, this is the same as this, even though the
Rob:circumstances look very different.
Rob:But I strip away the emotion and I look at the structural logistics of it.
Rob:So it makes perfect sense.
Rob:That I get to see patterns and I classify things as patterns.
Rob:And I think, okay, here's the universal pattern where and then I can look at
Rob:someone and I can say, okay you're doing this and this would help.
Rob:Whereas you
Michalina:fantastic for a counselor because that's
Michalina:essentially your job, right?
Michalina:You need to help someone make sense of what's going on.
Michalina:So it completely makes sense.
Michalina:You your ability and your talent is totally aligned with.
Michalina:What are you doing?
Michalina:The next thing for you is teaching.
Michalina:Just put it in books and share with the world so they can learn from you.
Rob:That's the idea.
Rob:There we go.
Rob:Yeah, no,
Michalina:sorry, I
Rob:interrupted you.
Rob:No, no problem.
Rob:Yeah
Rob:and part of that comes from me, so like my, what I was talking about
Rob:today, I've never really belonged to a group because of my own experiences in
Rob:growing up and my own decisions, so I'm good at analyzing, but where, so where
Rob:we contrast is you are right in it.
Rob:You are really empathic.
Rob:You are feeling the emotion.
Rob:Whereas, I understand emotions and I understand what emotion someone's feeling,
Rob:I'm looking at like the logistics.
Rob:If we change this, you can change your emotion.
Rob:And.
Rob:I think that where you are is you're right in the emotion and you're feeling
Rob:it and you're really getting a much, a rich understanding of where someone is.
Rob:And your, the visualization that comes to me is it's like more like music
Rob:for you, that you're listening and it's like a symphony and you're, and
Rob:I can imagine like a piano tuner and go, hang on, that's a little bit off.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:I love that.
Michalina:Thank you.
Michalina:I needed to hear this.
Michalina:Fantastic.
Michalina:This is why we're talking today.
Michalina:That's my takeaway.
Michalina:Love this.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:So if I describe it in, not in coaching terms, therapeutic terms or anything
Michalina:else, but in my own true way of how I see it is that I can tune into what
Michalina:it is you are saying and feeling.
Michalina:I can see through all of this.
Michalina:I'd like to be able to say that there is a bit of a gift there where I can
Michalina:see past and through and I can feel it with you, but still be objective to you.
Michalina:Yes, using your analogy, I can find you in different things.
Michalina:I can filter your emotion and help you change them.
Michalina:So I don't tell you what needs to happen.
Michalina:You do it yourself.
Michalina:I just impact the right.
Michalina:things at the right time and the change happens and the shift happens,
Michalina:the things come up in conversations that very often comes out in tears
Michalina:and grand words and realizations and shifts and some those so called
Michalina:aha moments and sometimes in silence that's so profound and so incredible.
Michalina:Did you feel like you've just had a cathartic experience because
Michalina:it just shifted something and you can't even explain what it is?
Michalina:So yes, I tune in.
Michalina:I can feel what you feel, but be objective enough to say, and here's
Michalina:the way, but you do the steps.
Michalina:You come out of that and you change and you felt and the shift happens
Michalina:in you, not in me, in a way.
Michalina:Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Michalina:But I'm loving the whole tuning the piano.
Michalina:Yes, I did play the piano for eight years.
Michalina:Hated it.
Michalina:But this whole tuning thing completely makes sense.
Michalina:Cause you just know which part where just doesn't quite adapt.
Michalina:So the whole feeling of the symphony or the sonata or anything
Michalina:else makes sense or doesn't.
Michalina:I how do you sell that, Rob?
Michalina:Tell me, how do you market that?
Michalina:That's not coaching conversation.
Michalina:Is it ? Yeah.
Michalina:I,
Rob:I think I think there's maybe something in that piano, but see, I see.
Rob:I think like what the point I was trying to make to today in my
Rob:post was that I think people, when people are making a transition.
Rob:They feel, doubt, insecurity.
Rob:And so they get, they become an ICF coach or they become a trainer or
Rob:they become a mediator or whatever.
Rob:And I know coaching and that there'll be like, everyone needs a coach and
Rob:they'll give you this framework.
Rob:And people will then go out and sell themselves as an ICF code.
Rob:And that's a commodity.
Rob:And your coach my coach, however we do it, we're going to do it individual.
Rob:And it's your own thing that you need to sell.
Rob:You need to, there's your essence that comes through and you can do it
Rob:in a mode, but it's your essence that is the key and that's the individual
Rob:element and that's what we need to, and it's part of what you do is have
Rob:the confidence to step into that.
Michalina:And this is why this profession is an art and this is not the process.
Michalina:You can throw any AI at coaching that you want, it's not gonna work.
Michalina:You can throw any processes that you want, or accreditations,
Michalina:or scripts, or anything else.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:Maybe it helps someone somewhere.
Michalina:I don't know.
Michalina:I'm not going to make round statements, but the true essence of change for
Michalina:someone, call it transformation is the, is walking along together on
Michalina:that journey that needs to happen.
Michalina:But you're doing the work.
Michalina:And it's hard and it needs the right person with you.
Michalina:And we back to the conversation around, it needs to be the right
Michalina:counselor, the right coach, but not the techniques and accreditations around it.
Michalina:These are tools.
Michalina:And yes, go out there and get the best tools you can.
Michalina:I'm very keen on having the best tools in my toolkit, but it's me and
Michalina:my ability to be an empath, to use my intuition, to see through and beyond
Michalina:and listen so deeply as no one else.
Michalina:Listen to you before to then say, okay, and these are the combinations
Michalina:of tools I'm going to use to do this one particular thing for you, but
Michalina:you do the work, by the way, not me.
Michalina:Yeah, we can call it in this way if we want to talk about true essence
Michalina:of relationship of the two people for a purpose, for an outcome of some
Michalina:kind of a change that again, changes along the way, because it's a process.
Michalina:It's really hard to explain in words.
Michalina:The best thing for me is when someone says, Oh yes, I know
Michalina:I've had coaching, I get it.
Michalina:Then you know that you need to feel it rather than listen or read or explain it.
Michalina:So very often what I would do is say, Hey, come and have a coaching
Michalina:experience session with me.
Michalina:Feel it, experience it.
Michalina:And you tell me what the value of it is for you.
Michalina:And you tell me whether this is what you're after.
Michalina:Because you don't know.
Michalina:You come in with symptoms.
Michalina:I tell you these are the causes.
Michalina:You think this is the goal I'm working towards, you end up with something
Michalina:completely different and you're happy.
Michalina:How do you marken that?
Michalina:Again, back to experience and the essence.
Rob:I think, the problem is an experience is, it's diminished when
Rob:you try and translate into words.
Rob:And.
Rob:Yeah, it's one of those things that you have to experience, to
Rob:be able to, yeah, to understand because you can say the words.
Rob:And I think this is why one of the questions that puzzles me is, so my
Rob:daughters are in their 20s now and I see, There's stuff that I didn't see when I
Rob:was 20, but you see when you're older and you've been through it and you're
Rob:like And they're like, yeah dad Life's different now And Yeah, it's just and
Rob:I think there's something that people have to go through the experience before
Rob:they can learn the lesson completely
Michalina:completely and you know that it's a wonderful thing that you guys
Michalina:are talking and she's still listening and she's not telling you to go away.
Michalina:She just says, it's different now, dad.
Michalina:I think you're already a winner that you got to that place.
Michalina:I can see the massive changes with my daughter who's 13 and what she needed
Michalina:last month and what she needs today.
Michalina:I still don't know whether today I'm going to have a child or a teenager.
Michalina:Just don't know.
Michalina:I just need to deal with it as the day comes.
Michalina:But yes, when you think back to when there were toddlers.
Michalina:You didn't stop them from falling.
Michalina:They had to learn to walk.
Michalina:Every time they fell, you would be like, Yay!
Michalina:You fell!
Michalina:Look what you've learned!
Michalina:Off you go!
Michalina:Back around that sofa again!
Michalina:Go cruising and learn!
Michalina:It's the same as when they're older, and the same for people.
Michalina:Sometimes you need to experience those things.
Michalina:And that sort of brings us into A conversation about trauma, how
Michalina:do you explain to someone life transformations if they've never
Michalina:felt any traumatic experiences?
Michalina:I don't think you can.
Michalina:I think everyone needs to go through whatever trauma is for them to understand
Michalina:the value, the gravity, the impact and everything else to then say, Hey, and
Michalina:I value this and I'm grateful for that.
Michalina:So I'm grateful.
Michalina:I don't think we, we should be avoiding anything, living, feeling, going through
Michalina:it and learning from experiences.
Michalina:Yes, absolutely.
Rob:It really comes down to what is life about?
Rob:Is it about the outcome or is it about the journey?
Rob:And yeah, I think you're right that we have to, it's about how we
Rob:navigate through all of those things.
Michalina:That's my view.
Michalina:That's my thing.
Michalina:I'm happy to be proven different, if there is a different way, if there is
Michalina:a different app, I'm happy to try it, test it, feel it, try to understand
Michalina:it, but the way I see it as I am now, at nearly 40 that's what it is.
Michalina:Live through it and find your own way, navigate it, learn it,
Michalina:use tools, but live through it.
Rob:I'm
Michalina:loving this whole psychotherapy moment here.
Michalina:It's I'm learning so much about myself.
Michalina:Thank you.
Rob:When someone's making that transformation, what's
Rob:the barriers that they face?
Michalina:There are two things.
Michalina:There are two things.
Michalina:One is this constant self doubt and inner critic and this pattern that drives you.
Michalina:Call it the paradigm, call it a belief system, call it whatever
Michalina:you want, that programming that goes, Whoa, this is so different
Michalina:to everything you've done before.
Michalina:You're so not doing this.
Michalina:So that's your internal conversation, but to the people
Michalina:who matter to you in your life.
Michalina:And they're not going through that change, you are, so suddenly you're different
Michalina:and it's threatening to them because it changes the story and the context.
Michalina:So these are those two battles that you will be having as you are changing
Michalina:yourself and it's hard and it takes time.
Michalina:And this is why you keep going back to a coach or a therapist because
Michalina:you can't just go, okay, so here's a download, I'm going to insert
Michalina:a new program and we're done.
Michalina:doesn't work this way, because there's that ripple effect of changes
Michalina:that need to be addressed too.
Rob:Yeah, it's because, I can't remember where I heard this yeah, I it was another
Rob:conversation I had with Tony Walmsley, and he talked about in football, you've got
Rob:kind of, 11 players, and he was talking about Liverpool when they took Mane out.
Rob:It just changed everything because the whole dynamics and everything.
Rob:So in a team, or in a work environment, or even a home environment, when
Rob:one person changes, it changes the dynamics for everyone.
Rob:And when people haven't consciously changed, chosen that change,
Rob:if they're not excited about the change, they're threatened.
Rob:And so when I look back, my journey started, I had a gym, and I was looking
Rob:at why don't people stick to their diet?
Rob:And then knowing in the nutrition and why don't people stick to their diet?
Rob:Why don't they stick to the thing?
Rob:And I ended up.
Rob:Go into therapy and I ended up rather than selling gym
Rob:memberships, I was doing therapy.
Rob:And it was but what I learned was that people start a gym
Rob:because of a relationship problem.
Rob:Either they're thinking of leaving, they think their partner's
Rob:cheating or something like that.
Rob:There's usually something to do with a relationship.
Rob:And then in about three months, that problem's passed.
Rob:And so they no longer want to go to the gym anymore.
Rob:But so I can see a direct thread right back 30 years ago.
Rob:Yeah.
Rob:So when everyone changes, so how, when do you see that successful?
Rob:And when do you see someone being held back by those, the
Rob:relationships around them, there's going to be a natural resistance.
Rob:This is how I see you.
Rob:I don't want to see you different.
Rob:Why are you changing?
Rob:Like lots of people talk about this.
Rob:They go into personal growth for, they start a business and
Rob:they become more successful.
Rob:It's why lottery winners are less happy after because they no
Rob:longer have the relationships.
Rob:They don't fit into the new set and yet their role, like it changes
Rob:their relationships so much that they can't really maintain them.
Rob:So what do you see and how do you see when it's successful and when it isn't?
Michalina:I think again, it's two things.
Michalina:It's adaptability and communication, because if you change for yourself, By,
Michalina:by yourself and you don't communicate what has changed, you will suddenly
Michalina:have very different expectations that have never been communicated
Michalina:and you're right there in a, rift and grating and all you get is fights,
Michalina:misunderstanding and you start drifting.
Michalina:And there is a bit about adaptability of the other person too.
Michalina:It's almost if my husband is on a diet, I'm on a diet
Michalina:with him if I like it or not.
Michalina:I will moan.
Michalina:I will not be happy.
Michalina:But I have to adapt to his diet.
Michalina:Simple as that.
Michalina:But again, I am not here to give marriage advice.
Michalina:But couldn't be further from it.
Michalina:But when you and when you at work and you change one team player, you need
Michalina:to be very mindful of what culture and environment you want to have.
Michalina:And then you bring in the right people driving those changes, raising standards.
Michalina:influencing behaviors, and it spreads.
Michalina:You can be inspired by those new team members, you can be in competition with
Michalina:them, you can learn from them, you can, whatever the relationship you go into with
Michalina:them is, but if you're adaptable, you take something from it and something positive.
Michalina:So very often what I see is that when team members are changed in teams, it's
Michalina:usually underperformance are Managed out in some way and you bring in new
Michalina:superstars, you need to be very careful what type of superstars you bring because
Michalina:they will have an impact on everything else, but the success of the team will
Michalina:come from those other people successfully adapting to those new relationships.
Michalina:So whether it's you and your husband or whether it's a team, it's how
Michalina:do you adapt to those changes.
Michalina:And then if it's you going for a coaching and you're changing,
Michalina:it's about unfortunately.
Michalina:People around you and they adaptability because they will drive you back to now
Michalina:don't be stupid, this will never work.
Michalina:Of course, she said this and that because you're paying her to do that.
Michalina:And we're back to square one.
Michalina:So it's about that adaptability.
Michalina:So what I would suggest is that people have those conversations in their
Michalina:relationships before they attempt coaching or therapy because You they
Michalina:need to be with you in that, basically.
Michalina:Yeah.
Rob:Yeah, that makes sense.
Rob:And I'm guessing sometimes there's a subtext.
Rob:Sometimes there's a change that we want to make.
Rob:And I'm wondering maybe subconsciously or not, whether they were already
Rob:looking at changing those relationships.
Rob:Whether there was a relationship issue.
Michalina:It's an interesting one.
Michalina:I focus very much about work and work context.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:But very often problems happen from relationship with your boss.
Michalina:And, you can talk about leadership or the right behaviors all day long.
Michalina:There is so much stuff happening that are shocking still and will be
Michalina:that you almost need to lower the standards and deal with the basics.
Michalina:First, so very often you want a different job or you want to be
Michalina:successful because you're not in the relationship with your boss who you're
Michalina:trying to change and they won't.
Michalina:So if we take that as a starting point, and I've seen this a few times, is that
Michalina:then you need to be very clear on what relationship you actually want first.
Michalina:And if this is the root cause of your problem, what can you do about those?
Michalina:And what does it tell you about you before you deal with, and now I want
Michalina:a new job and I want more money and I want this promotion and everything else,
Michalina:because maybe you don't want a promotion.
Michalina:You just want to run away from that person you work for at the
Michalina:moment, but we back to the symptoms versus root causes conversation.
Michalina:Yeah.
Michalina:Sometimes what I see is that.
Michalina:You can have the most amazing job and take a bigger remit and go from
Michalina:one region to the other and add another one and have a global role.
Michalina:But actually, when you distill the problems that you're running away from
Michalina:is the way, what your parents put into you and how they taught you about life,
Michalina:career and success that you're struggling with because you're trying to match their
Michalina:expectations and have the career for them.
Michalina:So you actually get their love and attention and
Michalina:approval and everything else.
Michalina:And this is a really hard one.
Michalina:And this sometimes creates that tension around is this coaching, is this therapy?
Michalina:And what's the ethical standpoint?
Michalina:What, which way do you take here?
Michalina:So I've found myself in this situation and I needed to be very clear that these
Michalina:are the things that I can help you with.
Michalina:This is what I'm seeing.
Michalina:But if you want to explore those areas a bit deeper, that,
Michalina:unfortunately, that's not me ethically.
Michalina:I cannot help you with this.
Michalina:I'm not qualified.
Michalina:I'm not prepared.
Michalina:I wouldn't be able to help you to the level you need.
Michalina:But if we talk about these bits, yes, absolutely.
Michalina:And we can do this.
Michalina:Sometimes it can open up a lot of different avenues there.
Michalina:But yes, you're right that you can actually trace it down to conversations
Michalina:and relationships with certain people.
Michalina:Before you start talking about goals and achievements and
Michalina:success and everything else,
Rob:it reminds me of that.
Rob:I think there's a book.
Rob:I think some like general or something.
Rob:It's make the first thing you do make your bed.
Rob:That's the same thing.
Rob:Deal with what's in front of you.
Rob:Deal with what's in front of you.
Rob:Make that the best.
Rob:And then Start to move on rather than try and move away.
Michalina:Because again, you take yourself with you.
Michalina:So you end up with the same pattern, the same relationship
Michalina:of your boss or whoever else.
Michalina:And until you deal with it, our minds want us to relive all those
Michalina:patterns to find different solutions.
Rob:How did you go from young Michelina to where you are now?
Rob:What's the most significant experiences?
Rob:What's the, influences that really moved you to where you are now and
Rob:how you see the world as you see it?
Rob:Wow, how
Michalina:much time have we got?
Michalina:Oh my goodness, that is such an interesting question.
Michalina:The first immediate response is there've been a number of massive
Michalina:shifts in my life that pushed me to the edge of understanding and coping
Michalina:with stuff and taught me a lot of the things that are, I find now
Michalina:very powerful and helpful to others.
Michalina:But in the same way, since I was very little to just about to turn
Michalina:40, I've always been very open and I've always reflected on stuff.
Michalina:So it's a continuous process of what's that about?
Michalina:Questioning, reflecting and learning.
Michalina:So as much as there were powerful shifts, there's been this continuous journey.
Michalina:So if I talk about my journey of How I ended up being a coach is
Michalina:I've had quite a few careers and in each of them I've reflected
Michalina:what is it that I really love here.
Michalina:What what's my skill set and what, what works, why are people drawn to me?
Michalina:Why am I successful in those things?
Michalina:So I started out as a journalist.
Michalina:I love people's stories.
Michalina:I loved writing.
Michalina:When I moved to the UK 18 years ago, I couldn't do that.
Michalina:I tried writing feature articles for Polish media in London, but that was
Michalina:a short lived dream and it stopped.
Michalina:I then thought, I love business and I love people.
Michalina:And I literally back then Googled, what jobs could I do
Michalina:if I loved those two things?
Michalina:And I was like, HR, what's that about?
Michalina:I reinvented myself.
Michalina:Firstly I couldn't be, I didn't believe that I could do this, so I reinvented
Michalina:myself around being a teacher.
Michalina:I thought, okay, so I've learned English in very quick, just over a
Michalina:few years to a level that I'm good at.
Michalina:People started asking me, how did you do this?
Michalina:Can you teach me?
Michalina:I said, yeah.
Michalina:Here's what works.
Michalina:So I reinvented my career to teaching English as a foreign language to
Michalina:beginners and intermediate learners.
Michalina:I then found jobs in language schools and then I looked at recruitment of
Michalina:teachers going, what the hell is going on?
Michalina:We can do this a lot better.
Michalina:Until someone said, yes, how I'll give you a job.
Michalina:So I ended up in recruitment.
Michalina:of those teachers.
Michalina:And then from recruitment, I was like, I'm a lot closer to this HR
Michalina:thing that I liked a few years back.
Michalina:And I went into HR, looked at journalists, then I found myself
Michalina:being good at solving problems and helping managers solve theirs.
Michalina:So I ended up in employee relations, dealing with the dark side of people.
Michalina:Where you always deal with the hardest stuff that will test you in a way.
Michalina:So I built my career around that and then after a while I realized
Michalina:that the reason I'm successful and I can work with anyone and I can make
Michalina:anything turn around or almost anything turn around is because I coach.
Michalina:And people start to say, oh, you should be a coach.
Michalina:I'm like, what's that?
Michalina:Oh, okay.
Michalina:So it's like a Socrates used to do.
Michalina:I studied philosophy in Poland, and then I studied business management in the UK.
Michalina:So I started putting things together into patterns and I thought, okay,
Michalina:I can do something with that.
Michalina:And that's how I got into coaching informally and then starting seeing that.
Michalina:I don't know what I'm doing, but they get the results out of it.
Michalina:Hey how do I get a qualification for that?
Michalina:And I did, and I qualified and I can now call myself a coach, but
Michalina:it's very much about what happens.
Michalina:In those deep conversations, it's not about accreditations
Michalina:and it's not about the tools.
Michalina:It's about how you use them that matters.
Michalina:So back to my openness, my empathy, my looking for people and everything
Michalina:else that's always been there.
Michalina:But I would be lying if I didn't say that I've gone through, that I didn't go
Michalina:through traumatic experiences in life.
Michalina:I did.
Michalina:My twenties and thirties were very traumatic.
Michalina:And my biggest realizations and learnings come from those moments.
Michalina:And the ability to tune in to what people feel and go through on a deeper
Michalina:level, I suppose comes from that.
Michalina:Because it's not about preaching or teaching, it's about understanding
Michalina:and it's very different.
Michalina:So I hope that answers your question on different
Rob:levels.
Rob:It does just lead to one question is, in those most traumatic times, did you have
Rob:someone who you could have a conversation with who helped you through it to see it?
Michalina:Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't.
Michalina:And it was about that constant reflection.
Michalina:What is really going on here for me?
Michalina:And I think that.
Michalina:There is this ongoing conversation.
Michalina:So what do you pay a cultural psychologist for?
Michalina:You just go there to talk, right?
Michalina:The cynical mind will ask.
Michalina:But sometimes you need someone to hold you and to talk because you're not
Michalina:able to have the level of reflection or insight on your own that you would
Michalina:do with the help of someone else.
Michalina:So I very much see this as a way of sharing the skill set that I've got
Michalina:with people who need it, because perhaps they have different one to me,
Michalina:but they need the one that I've got.
Michalina:So it's almost sharing a gift, if that makes sense.
Rob:Yeah, no that's perfect.
Rob:It's like at Christmas, we all give gifts.
Rob:And it's a way that we show love and it's the way that we feel that we're
Rob:loved and someone thought of us.
Rob:I think life is really about, we all want, we can't be ourselves without having
Rob:someone you couldn't really be yourself without someone to empathize and to coach
Rob:and to have those conversations with.
Rob:So it's.
Rob:It's there's a, like the fabric of life, it needs all of it.
Rob:And we need the problems in order to I learned that to come to terms
Rob:with what's wrong, like what is wrong, because that's the context
Rob:that gives you something to do.
Rob:And so in the same way.
Rob:I think what we really need is to reduce the friction in being able
Rob:to give gifts, and take gifts.
Michalina:And take it.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:And it can be very hard to take something from other people if you're a giver.
Michalina:Totally.
Michalina:Yes.
Michalina:I like that.
Michalina:I think essentially what you're saying is that it's all about being relational.
Michalina:with things and people at the same time.
Michalina:We can't express ourselves if we're not in a relation to something else.
Michalina:So it's quite interesting.
Michalina:There's no absolute, this is you and this is your authentic core
Michalina:and this is this or this is that.
Michalina:It's relational.
Michalina:It's continuous.
Michalina:I like that.
Michalina:I like that very much.
Rob:That's really what I see is if we can ease the relationships to create
Rob:that trust and the communication and less of us in it and more of
Rob:our gifts, then I think that's how we make the world a better place.
Michalina:There we go.
Michalina:That's your utopia and the perfect state and all of that.
Michalina:And yes, that would be fantastic.
Rob:I'm
Michalina:an idealist.
Michalina:Very clearly.
Michalina:But hey, we can strive towards it, right?
Rob:That's what gives us the purpose, or me anyway.
Michalina:There you go, back to purpose, everything starts and
Rob:ends.
Rob:Thank you for sharing your story and your gifts with us.
Rob:Thank you for having me.
Rob:It's been fascinating,
Michalina:I'm glad you say that.
Michalina:Thank you very much for having me.
Michalina:Thank you for listening.
Michalina:Please like, share, subscribe, and leave a review so we can
Michalina:spread more flow and unify teams.
Michalina:If you're on LinkedIn, please connect with me, Rob McPhillips.