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Tuning Leaders In Through Transformational Conversations
Episode 6618th January 2024 • The Unified Team • Rob McPhillips
00:00:00 01:04:04

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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...

Transcripts

Speaker:

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.

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