My Circus, My Monkeys
My Circus, My Monkeys supports supervisors on every level working in education or any field focused on growth and development. Discover how to manage the chaos by learning essential supervisor skills, increasing employee engagement, and using the CliftonStrengths framework to empower you and your team. We’ll dive into the latest research in fields like psychology, sociology, neuroscience, education, and beyond to help you maximize yourself and your team to make an even bigger impact on your students and clients lives. Just as importantly, you’ll improve your own sense of well being as you decrease the chaos and stress and increase the balance in your life.
Episodes
156 episodes
Addressing Complex Trauma in the Workplace: An Interview with Laura Jarvis Brackett
For many of us in Higher Ed, this semester has risen to the level of traumatic. Now we are used to dealing with trauma to a certain extent, but today I want to tackle a new topic for us - complex trauma. And to do this I’ve invited my sister, L...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 157
•
1:00:24
Why You're Not Getting the Results You Want: Lessons from the Sky
Are you and your team getting the results you want? I know you're busy almost every day. But does that busyness actually get you where you need to be? If you're not getting the result you want, your autopilot programs might need some fine tunin...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 156
•
25:50
Let's Revisit the Impact of Empowered Supervision
Do some of these stressors sound familiar? Are you tired of not getting what you need from your supervisor? Are you frustrated that your team isn’t doing things the right way? Are you and your team rushing from meeting to meeting without time t...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 155
•
33:11
How Can I Develop Younger Leaders & Truly Adjust Our Culture?
Have you found it challenging to develop your younger employees into the leaders of tomorrow? In this episode, we answer a question from a listener that begins with, “Dear Anne, I am feeling like it is hard to build up the next cycle of lea...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 154
•
22:54
Midterms Are Overwhelming! How Can I Get Everything Done?
Whether it's midterms, the end of the semester, or prepping for the beginning of the semester, when things ramp up, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and wonder exactly how you're going to get everything done. In this episode, we'll dive into four ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 153
•
19:18
3 Ways to Use CliftonStrengths on Campus
Did you start having folks do Strengths on campus, but then things just kind of stalled? We often get asked, "How do you actually implement CliftonStrengths on campus?" Whether you already started this process and it fizzled out or you're consi...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 152
•
18:41
The Three S's You Need to Be a Successful Supervisor
If you're a supervisor, you want to be successful - both for yourself and your team. But since most supervisors don't get the training they need, where do you start? In this episode, we cover the three S's you need to be a successful supervisor...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 151
•
20:50
The Most Important Thing You Can Do for Your Team & Students
The new administration certainly started off with a bang. This left many of us scrambling to understand what changes might impact us, our team, and our students. In times of uncertainty, it’s all too easy to get sidetracked by worry. Unfortunat...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 150
•
29:13
What Do We Do Now? An Interview with Dr. LaShawnda Fields
No matter which way you voted, the new administration poses challenges to the Higher Ed field, especially those working in DEI. Many of us are concerned for ourselves, our team, and our students. In today's episode, Dr. LaShawnda Fields, ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 149
•
44:07
It's 2025 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1: Let's Get Moving
Happy New Year! It's 2025. We wrapped up 2024 talking about how small shifts in thinking and behavior can significantly change the trajectory of your life. If you wanted 2024 to turn out differently than it did, you probably had a list of thing...
•
17:16
Create Big Change in Your Life Through Small Shifts
As the end of the semester and year approaches, it's natural to think about all the things you have and haven't done. There's probably a few things that you wanted to change about yourself or your work, but you never quite got there. Thinking a...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 147
•
7:53
Election Edition: Processing the Present, Focusing on the Future
If you work in Higher Education, you're most likely concerned about what the election results mean for you, your institution, and your students. In this episode, we talk about ways to better process all these emotions, understand how we got her...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 146
•
30:16
What's the Root of Your Biggest Problems?
Supervisors frequently encounter similar challenges. When those problems pop-up, it can be easy to focus on the situation. When that happens, you spend loads of time and energy dealing with recurring problems. But when you dig deeper and find t...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 145
•
30:12
Focusing on Supervising #Connectedness
If you want to be a better supervisor, you probably think you need to focus on information related to how to manage your team, right? While you do need to know what effective supervisors do, that's only part of the solution. Who you are now...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 144
•
19:16
Staying Regulated with Morgan Starr-Riestis
We’ve discussed in many episodes just how important self-care and stress management are to you as a person and a supervisor. Today, we have a guest, Morgan Starr-Riestis, who has a degree in neuroscience, is a licensed therapist, and had develo...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 143
•
38:00
Maximizing Your Team & Yourself: An Interview with Karen Smolarek
It can be challenging to give yourself permission and space to invest in yourself. But you cannot effectively supervise your team, if you don’t have what you need. In today’s episode of My Circus, My Monkeys, I interview Karen Smolarek, Directo...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 142
•
29:58
Let's Be Clear: Leading People Can Be Hard
The beginning of the school year brings excitement and challenges. Add to that people's emotions and motivations and leading your team can become complicated. In this episode, we unpack a question from an HR Director about how to manage tea...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 141
•
22:36
Should You Quit Your Job?
It's August. For most folks in Higher Ed, it's one of the busiest time of the year. If you've already been wondering whether you should stay in your job, this episode might seem like poor timing. But if you're trying to decide whether to stay o...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 140
•
18:00
The Truth about Going Above and Beyond
One important aspect of performance management is setting clear expectations for your team members. That can be challenging because supervisors are often so busy, we don’t feel like we have the time to get clear on what we expect. To make thing...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 139
•
14:01
How to Manage Negativity and Chronic Complainers
You know there are plenty of things that need to be fixed on your campus and in Higher Education. But when you have staff members that only seem to focus on the negative or are chronic complainers, it can negatively impact your team and add...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 138
•
27:38
What to Do With All These Emotions Showing Up at Work
In a recent coaching call, someone asked me what they're supposed to do with all these emotions people are bringing to the workplace these days, especially with newer generations. We had a great discussion, so I wanted to break down a few of th...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 137
•
29:26
6 Easy Hacks to Use CliftonStrengths with Your Team
Using CliftonStrengths with your team is a fantastic way to increase your productivity, innovation, positivity and sense of wellbeing. And when we finally find time to set aside for that initial training, it can be a great experience. The trick...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 136
•
21:03
Deconstructing Your Stress
Chronic stress negatively impacts so many things in your life, including your relationships, decisions, creativity, productivity – the list goes on and on. But you know those people and situations that stress you out? You have the power to make...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 135
•
21:16
The Truth About Employee Engagement
Employee retention continues to be a hot topic in Higher Ed. Over the past six months, Alicia and I did a session titled, "The Truth About Employee Engagement" at conferences and as webinars based on the data collected in the CUPA-HR 2023 Highe...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 134
•
16:08
What is Eclipsing Your Brilliance?
Last week, we watched the 2024 solar eclipse. Normally, the sun shines brightly bringing warmth and light into the world. But when there's clouds or a pesky moon that gets in the way, there's darkness. This is a great metaphor for our own lives...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 133
•
13:26