Season 5 Episode 5: Do Corporate Leaders Need a Life Coach?

How does Life Coaching help if you work in a corporate environment?  Can productivity and wellbeing go hand in hand?  In this episode of Coaching and a Cup of Tea with Mummabear, Master Certified Life Coach Melissa Wiggins talks with EmpoweredLife coaching client and Fortune 100 sales executive Heidi Foster. Grab a cuppa and learn how coaching helped Heidi excel in her job, and created rippled effects in the lives of her clients and family.  

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Melissa Wiggins:

Hello, lassies. Welcome to Coaching and a Cup of Tea with Mummabear. I am very excited today because I get to introduce you to one of my favorite people, Heidi Foster. And you're going to get to hear from her and all of the good stuff that she learned from Empowered Life.

            One of the reasons why I wanted to have Heidi on is not only because she's amazing and you guys are going to love her and her energy, but also because she is a woman in corporate America. And the reality is that there are a lot of differences in terms of what's required of us living in the corporate world versus being an entrepreneur and being someone who maybe runs their business from online. And so I just thought it would be really helpful for you to hear. If you are a Heidi, why would you join Empowered Life, why would you get a life coach? And there's no one better to talk about it than Haiti Foster. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Heidi Foster:

I would. Hello. I'm so excited to be here with you. I listen to your podcasts all the time and I'm so excited that I'm actually in one.

Melissa:

Woo hoo. So excited.

Heidi Foster:

I know, I know.

Melissa:

I love it.

Heidi Foster:

So much fun. So much fun. So first and foremost, I think coaching is really for anyone, but specifically I think for what I do for a living, which is corporate sales, I work for a Fortune 100 company and I have for over 20 years. And I think when you're in sales, especially working for a large organization, maybe the coaching you have would be based on productivity, or efficiencies, or selling, but not maybe so much wellbeing. I feel like corporations are starting to take a look at that.

            But for me, I just really needed some coaching that would help with the overall picture. Especially in the last few years, a lot has changed in corporate America. We've started working from home, our routine drastically changed, but we're still responsible for quotas and maintaining our business. And I think that it was a little bit of a formula for maybe a serious mental and emotional strain, to say the least.

Find the FULL transcript here:  Season 5 Episode 5: Do Corporate Leaders Need a Life Coach?

Transcript

Melissa Wiggins:

Hello, lassies. Welcome to Coaching and a Cup of Tea with Mummabear. I am very excited today because I get to introduce you to one of my favorite people, Heidi Foster. And you're going to get to hear from her and all of the good stuff that she learned from Empowered Life.

            One of the reasons why I wanted to have Heidi on is not only because she's amazing and you guys are going to love her and her energy, but also because she is a woman in corporate America. And the reality is that there are a lot of differences in terms of what's required of us living in the corporate world versus being an entrepreneur and being someone who maybe runs their business from online. And so I just thought it would be really helpful for you to hear. If you are a Heidi, why would you join Empowered Life, why would you get a life coach? And there's no one better to talk about it than Haiti Foster. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Heidi Foster:

I would. Hello. I'm so excited to be here with you. I listen to your podcasts all the time and I'm so excited that I'm actually in one.

Melissa:

Woo hoo. So excited.

Heidi Foster:

I know, I know.

Melissa:

I love it.

Heidi Foster:

So much fun. So much fun. So first and foremost, I think coaching is really for anyone, but specifically I think for what I do for a living, which is corporate sales, I work for a Fortune 100 company and I have for over 20 years. And I think when you're in sales, especially working for a large organization, maybe the coaching you have would be based on productivity, or efficiencies, or selling, but not maybe so much wellbeing. I feel like corporations are starting to take a look at that.

            But for me, I just really needed some coaching that would help with the overall picture. Especially in the last few years, a lot has changed in corporate America. We've started working from home, our routine drastically changed, but we're still responsible for quotas and maintaining our business. And I think that it was a little bit of a formula for maybe a serious mental and emotional strain, to say the least.

Melissa:

Yeah, for sure.

Heidi Foster:

So, obviously I felt like when I started coaching, I needed a lot of help with boundaries, and never really had a lot of time to self-evaluate. And I think, Melissa, you mentioned when we first started working together, "I'm not a friend, I'm not a therapist, I'm somewhere right in the middle." And so that was really different for me, with having coaching in the past based on specific sales goals and company goals. So it was just really more about me, which obviously can translate back out into what I do for a living.

Melissa:

I know. It's funny that you mentioned the friend thing because last week I interviewed Stephanie Bowman, who is a friend of Heidi's now, that they met through Empowered Life in my retreat and coaching. And she said the same thing she said, "You told me I wasn't your friend." And we both laughed.

            But just to sort of explain to the listeners, I feel like I say that early on in coaching for a very specific reason. I think that friends are a different kind of cheerleader. They're the person that's like, "Let me get my blow torch and go with you on the streets and figure out who hurt you. And I'm here for you." And a coach is someone who's like, "Well, let's just make sure that you don't want to have a part in this, and make sure that the story is true and factual, and it's helpful. And then let's to say how much energy would be required to go to that person with our torches and do the things."

            And I really tried to explain that early on, because I don't want for you to be like, "Whoa, why doesn't she just believe everything I say, or every story or every thought?" And a lot of thoughts we have are just simply false. They're not true.

Heidi Foster:

Right. Well, and you told me early on, when you go to friends, you know which friends to go to when you in the back of your brain, know what sort of response that you want. And that would fluctuate depending on which friend you went to.

Melissa:

A hundred percent, which is so true. We're smart lassies in Empowered Life. If we want someone to say yes, we know who to go to. If we want someone to say no, we know who to go to. And Empowerment coaching, the amazing thing about it is actually you already know what the right thing is to do. It's just working with the coach sort of helps you see that more clearer, and then you become like the way you are Heidi, where you make these great, good, value-driven decisions in your life. And you don't need as much of that showing because you have more of a stable foundation now in terms of what is true and real.

Heidi Foster:

Yes, that's true, I think to a certain point, but I think with maybe some of us who are always trying to make good decisions and trying to have an element of always doing the right things, there's a lot of, I would say almost like high-functioning anxiety behind all of that. And sometimes it's not so much a struggle on the exterior, but everything building behind that is. It's sort of like being chronically early for appointments. There's a lot of stress and strain that comes with that. And I feel like some of those little nuggets that I helped deal with and get resources for through coaching.

Melissa:

Yeah. I love it. What would you say was your biggest win during Empowered Life?

Heidi Foster:

So with Empowered Life specifically, I would say obviously we had some great content, some great modules, but I think recognizing the content on a bigger picture. So you automatically think, well, how can this apply to my life right now? But I think having multiple people in Empowered Life, you could see how it would apply to them a little bit differently and how maybe you could look at it a little bit differently and apply those resources to different parts of your life, and things that you can have in your back pocket for later on in life for different situations.

Melissa:

What tool do you like the best that you use? And I know you use a lot of them, and I know we have a lot of different tools for how to decide things and how to set goals and how to self-coach. I really try to make those as simple as possible, but for you, which one stands out the most and why?

Heidi Foster:

Ooh....

Melissa:

Hard question. I know.

Heidi Foster:

Oh, I love the values, the black sheep values, the recognizing your five pillars, your five values, and implementing that into my schedule, into my job, with my clients, with my kids, my husband. That was such foundation work that you get so caught up in autopilot typically in your life that just don't really pay attention to that and don't think about that a lot. So I think that really doing the work and coming up with those values. And it took some time, and I had a few sets of my values before I felt very confident that they were the right ones. So I would say that is my favorite tool. But yes, there have been so many.

Melissa:

I love that you say it took a long time, because I think that's one of the sort of misconceptions about values. You to save them, you put them in a drawer, and capish, we're done. And in Empowered Life....We talk about values like we talk about what we're having for dinner. It's just a part of who we are, I think. And I feel like all of the last season Empowered Life feel that way about the value work. They all talk about how it's just help them make decisions, help them set goals, help them shift things.

            And I love, Heidi, how you always talk about the impact on the people around you. And I know that you have really been impactful in talking a lot about the ripple effect and how this work has changed not just your life, but the people all around you. I would love for you to share that with the listeners.

Heidi Foster:

Yeah. So specifically with values, I have over 250 clients. And when I talk to them about things in relation to our industry, I've really started implementing value work, which has really been very helpful for my clients. So it's kind of like bringing a deeper value to some of the work that I do with them.

            Actually yesterday, with my mother, I was on the phone with her, and we're going to be seeing them later this week out of state. And my mother's very much the same personality with me where she feels like, "Oh, the house has to be perfect for you when you get here." And she's just getting older so it's harder for her to get all those things done. And I said, "Now, mom, I'm going to teach you about thought-detoxing. Is it true? Do you really think that I would hold it against you that every fingerprint is removed before I get there? Is it helpful?"

            So I kind of went through some of the thought detoxing with her and she was like, "Oh, you're right." "When you have some of those thoughts, start thinking about those in a different way. And it's called thought-detoxing." And so she was very impressed.

Melissa:

Aw, I love that. And I love your mom. She's amazing. So we all [inaudible 00:11:13] things like that. She's incredible. And I love it when you share stories like that, more as a group, and sharing the things that have impacted in your life with the people around you. And specifically with work, I love that you took some of the work that we did and then sort of introduced it to the people in your workplace. And other people have done that in the program. In fact, talking about Stephanie one more time, she's got the win wall up in her office and everyone in the team is doing it now. And there's other clients who have group talks with their family, where they thought-detox and have walls of wins and different things. And it's just so cool to see it not just impacting the person that's doing the work, but everyone around them. I love it so much. It's my favorite.

Heidi Foster:

I had a coworker who was having a stressful moment a few weeks ago and I was showing her the tapping method, and it really did sort of calm her down in that moment. And she was like, "Wow, where did you learn that?" I said, "In coaching."

Melissa:

I love it. And I love that we get to have different experts come in and share their wisdom and knowledge. After we did the perfectionism work, I feel like it's such a good indicator to the other people in the group to say you don't have to know all of the things. Me as your coach, I don't have to know how to do tapping. I don't know how to teach tapping, but I know what expert that does. I don't need to know all of the things about play and perfectionism and resilience in order to offer it to my clients. And I feel like that's such elation to most of the people that are in Empowered Life who suffer, deal with manage perfectionism which is a big part of why I think people end up in coaching.

Heidi Foster:

Yeah. Agreed. And I really did enjoy the perfectionism play with Kara. Sometimes, especially in corporate America, we get so caught up in work. Work is very fulfilling, but so is play. And we tend to be very serious and very Navy blue and buttoned up a lot that it's nice to sort of just let it down a little bit, have fun, be free. It's such a good reset for your brain.

Melissa:

Isn't it funny how hard that is for us though?

Heidi Foster:

It's so hard.

Melissa:

It's so hard. I'm like, work is easy. Work is the easy part. We know how to do the work part. It's all the other parts that go with work. And in order to have an Empowered Life, in order to have a beautiful life, you have to be able to do both, you have to be able to manage both of those fears of your life.

Heidi Foster:

A hundred percent.

Melissa:

Yeah. And you figured out so much balance, and it's like a lot of people who come to coaching, you're really good in one area of your life. And it could be the opposite of you. It could be you're the killer wife who makes the meals and is at all of the practices and cooks the homemade cookies for the bake-off. And you could be her and killing it, and yet deeply desire to have a job outside of the home, something that's going to fulfill you, something purposeful. And the opposite can be true as well. And I know yours was the opposite of that, but it applies both ways.

Heidi Foster:

Yeah. And I think being in corporate America, we do tend to get, I don't want to say programmed because I feel like I did it to myself, but you get really well-oiled with work. And it's very autopilot and it's very fulfilling, but I think when you sit back and take the time to look at your values, okay, well this is a little bit one sided. I need to start... This isn't hitting these values if that's all that I do. And I think once you can achieve that balance, like you always say being on the beam, off the beam, so when your true self, who your values are all in alignment, that's when you truly do feel fulfilled. If it's just I'm really good at that one thing, it's almost like a temporary fulfillment.

Melissa:

For sure. And I love on the beam, off the beam, it's my favorite. I just love it so much. It's so good because I feel like it just in our brain, helps us be like, oh, like I'm a little off. And I think what you have done with that entire concept and tool is there's no shame associated with it. You realize and appreciate I am a human, and when I travel or when these things happen at work, I might be a little off the beam, but here's a list of seven things I know I can do to get right back on it tomorrow.

Heidi Foster:

A hundred percent. And that's really those nuggets from coaching. You're like, oh, I know the resource that will help me in this one area. And I know that in order for me to do this, here's a resource for me. And whether it's a book or an exercise or something that we've learned in coaching, you're better in touch with that formula to get yourself back on the beam.

Melissa:

For sure. It's kind of like what you said earlier on. It just creates a new level and sense of self-awareness. It's not rocket science material. The stuff is not hard. It's kind of like when we talked about when you're with a friend. You don't sit down and talk about, well, let's together, discover our values and write down a list of the things that will help us stay on the beam. We just don't do that.

Heidi Foster:

Well, I think it's the difference in living and thriving.

Melissa:

Yeah. Gosh, that's so good, Heidi. It's true.

Heidi Foster:

Because at the end of the day, when I'm that old woman, you want to look back and say, "Okay, well I lived, but did I thrive?" And I think that's that big difference. I want to be that older lady like, "Heck yes, I thrived. Sure did."

Melissa:

I know. Me too, girlfriend. And I want to tie my shoe laces. These are a couple things that I want to do. But it's funny, I saw this reel on Instagram and it was like, there are two people that you should make proud. That's it, two people. And it is your eight year old self and your 80 year old self. And I just loved it. I was like, yes, those people.

Heidi Foster:

Ooh. That's a good way to think.

Melissa:

Right?

Heidi Foster:

Yes.

Melissa:

Wow. Think about that. Eight and 80.

Heidi Foster:

Man, that's deep, Melissa.

Melissa:

Getting deep on the podcast today, Heidi.

Heidi Foster:

We are.

Melissa:

It's good though. And it's good stuff. And that's what I think is the coolest part about coaching, is that stopping, pausing, thinking, reevaluating, and then changing up some of your action that you just don't take the time to do. And I love so much that for a year you have taken the time to do the work. What? I'm so proud of you. You're such an example of Empowered Life, and you're such an example of coaching and the impact it can have. And I also love your humility about the whole thing. You're like, "Yeah, I've done a lot of work, but I know there's more." It's beautiful.

Heidi Foster:

As you mentioned, there's a lot of books on the shelf that can be pulled down. And I think we all have that. We all have our library of different parts of our lives. And what is it, 1% of people work on themselves?

Melissa:

1%.

Heidi Foster:

Yeah, 1%. I think it's been such a great journey to have the time to work on myself, have the resources, but also to be surrounded with others. When you take tough journeys together, whether it be a weight loss journey or a recovery journey, it's helpful to have other people on that journey with you.

Melissa:

Yes. I don't want to do it alone and I don't want other women to do it alone. I really don't. And I think there is so much better, bigger, bolder results when we do it together. Because I'm watching you say, "I'm struggling with this." Or I'm watching you say, "I'm doing amazing with this." And I'm cheering either way and supporting either way, but also seeing those things in myself.

Heidi Foster:

Yeah, and as I mentioned before, it's looking at things on a bigger picture when there's others around you, when you're learning these things. "Hmm. Oh, I didn't really even think about how that could apply that way. That's how so and so is applying that to their life. Well, maybe I would need that down the road. Well, right now this would apply this way for me." So it's just having those tools in the tool belt for when you're pulling those books off the shelf.

Melissa:

I know. And for those of you listening, thinking what the hell are they talking about with books on the shelf, it is an analogy I use sometimes when maybe we're in the thick of something and we don't have space and energy in our life to deal with something else. So we set the book on the shelf and it's for reading later. It's for opening up later and discovering what it is and what it's about, and maybe why we have a belief about something or a perception about something. But right now that's just not something we're going to look at.

            And like you said, there's a lot of those. I have lots of those myself. There's just some that we pull down. I love it. When we talked about money and Empowered Life, and a lot of people being like, "Wow, I've never thought about what I heard growing up about money, or how that might impact me now as a 40 year old woman thinking the only way to make it is slaughtering myself and working a hundred hours a week, and doing all of the things, and trying to get up the corporate ladder. And now all of a sudden, I'm realizing, oh, there can be other ways too, because I'm listening and hearing it from the group. And I can see that in the book that I just pulled down."

Heidi Foster:

Yeah.

Melissa:

That's cool.

Heidi Foster:

Absolutely.

Melissa:

All right, lassie. I just wanted to get you on here. You know I like to keep these episodes short because I think a lot of working mamas are busy, and I just like to inspire and motivate them and show them that there are other people doing the work, and tell them a little bit about Empowered Life. So before we wrap up, is there anything else you would like to add? If there's not, no worries, but if there is, go ahead. Don't want to cut you off.

Heidi Foster:

I just want to thank you for creating ripples. Really awesome. One of your favorite words I know is amaze balls. Very amaze balls ripples.

Melissa:

I really do like that word. I have no idea why. I'm sure one of my kids said they were little or something, who knows. But I love the ripple effect. I know you will continue to have the ripple effect. And I can't wait to see what's next for Heidi Foster. You're amaze balls, and I adore you.

Heidi Foster:

Oh, likewise, Melissa. Thanks for having me on.

Melissa:

Thank you for coming on. Bye.

Heidi Foster:

Bye.