The Wisdom in the Room with Jodie Goldberg (Summer Friday Bonus!)

New Summer Friday Bonus episode is live!

We are back with more from Jodie Goldberg, and this time we are talking about collective intelligence, leadership, and how to bring out the wisdom already sitting inside your team.

Because sometimes the leader does not need every answer — they just need to create the space for the best ideas to rise.

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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband

Transcript

Bonus Setup And Big Idea

Jess K 0:00

Work Besties, we had so many great conversations with Jody Goldberg that we knew we couldn't fit it into just one episode. So today we're bringing you a summer Friday bonus. In our main episode, we talked about how to make meetings actually work. But in this bonus conversation, we're going to go deeper into the collective intelligence leadership and how to bring out the wisdom already sitting with inside your team. Because sometimes the leader does not need to have every answer. Sometimes the real magic is creating the space for everybody else's ideas, strengths, and voices to rise. So let's get back into our conversation with Jody Goldberg.

Claude F 0:39

Hi, I'm Claude.

Jess K 0:40

And I'm Jess.

Claude F 0:41

W e are corporate employees by day, entrepreneurs by night, and work besties for life.

Jess K 0:47

Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up, laugh through the chaos, and thrive together in every industry. Work besties. So it feels, and please correct me if I'm wrong, looking into your background, you have talked about this collective intelligence and how do you bring these groups together to be the best. From that perspective, what is what does that mean to you and what are you saying for us to be thinking about?

The Wisdom Is In The Room

Jodie Goldberg 1:17

Yeah, um, look, I deeply believe that the wisdom is in the room, right? That each person who shows up has a unique set of wisdom to bring to any space that they're a part of. And while that feels kumbaya and visionary, it's actually true, right? We're hired on teams for a specific purpose, right? And the challenge is that purpose is never really shared out loud, right?

Jess K 1:42

Interesting. Yeah.

Jodie Goldberg 1:43

And um, nor are we really given the space all a lot of the time to be able to share the purpose of who we are and what we bring to the space and the gifts of who we are. And sometimes, oftentimes there's a gap between what we were hired to do and what our real strengths are, right? And a lot of times in the work environment, I see that and um I see a manager trying so hard to just pigeonhole that person into that idea rather than give them the space to be able to shine. So because I believe in that, I believe the job of a leader of any team is to help create the container for that wisdom to rise. And that takes skill, right? A, that takes an understanding of your team and what their strengths are, and it takes a real deep belief that you can learn from anyone. And I think teams that really understand that, leaders who really understand that create the space for this collective intelligence. And there's real cross-shared learning that can happen.

Claude F 2:42

Thanks. That's great. Um, one other question is we are looking about the meetings on the lens of the manager, right? Or the leader. Now, let's look, in fact, on the people that are actually attending the meeting that have been invited.

What To Do In Bad Meetings

Claude F 3:04

How can we make changes if we are all stuck in meetings and you know, no agenda could have been an email? One of what what are one of the strategies that someone that is stuck in those meetings can do?

Jodie Goldberg 3:20

Yeah, no, I I think it's this is the million-dollar question, right? Sitting in that meeting and just like falling asleep, being exhausted and not knowing what to do, right? So, first of all, I've been going off the assumption that a lot of the time leaders are are planning and organizing these meetings, and that's actually not true, right? There's a lot of times that there are people in the meetings that are empowered. So, my suggestion for anyone who's leading a meeting for other people to be part of is find ways to empower people in your meeting, right? I think part of it is invite people to answer a question. Give people a role to be able to contribute, right? And if you're just sitting in one of those meetings and you feel like there isn't clarity, get curious. Ask for clarity in order to understand or to better understand what your role might be and how you might be able to contribute in a deeper way. And guess what? Sometimes you're not gonna get that. Actually, oftentimes you're not gonna get that. That's an aspirational idea. But the more you can ask for clarity, the more you can understand the ways in which you can contribute, the more you can.

Let Your Team Lead Meetings

Jess K 4:27

Judy, do you ever feel or think that it's wise, based off of that, to flip the script and as a manager, have people on your team take turns leading meetings?

Jodie Goldberg 4:37

So I will tell you that I think is the smartest strategy to building connection on a team. Like I said, I think an excellent manager understands the role of both task and relationship management and recognizes that they don't need to be the sage on the stage, right? That they can actually be the guide on the side and empower people take to really lead. And we talk, right, this idea of collective intelligence that we each have something to bring, right? This is an amazing way to showcase the strengths of your team members, right? And it's also a great way to learn about the strengths that they that they bring as well, and how people could actually partner based on complimentary strengths in order to lead meetings or gatherings or retreats or whatever it is that your that your group is thinking about and creating.

Jess K 5:25

Oh that's that's what was it, the wisdom on the the side? Is that what you said?

Jodie Goldberg 5:30

The stage on the stage is like on the side. I love that.

Jess K 5:34

That's exactly my new go-to phrase.

Making Strengths Visible And Shared

Jess K 5:38

One of the things that you also said that struck as a light bulb for me was the purpose of our team members are not always shared along or shared out loud. Let's talk a little bit about that because I agree. I think there's a lot of times we hire individuals or are provided individuals, and we as managers figure out, even if they weren't necessarily the skill set we were looking for that team to have, we find out what their skill sets are and adapt a team to work around, right? But we don't always share that back. From your perspective, should we be sharing that? And and if so, what's the right way? And how do you coach around that?

Jodie Goldberg 6:24

Amazing. So I think one of the best ways is actually first to invite um the team to share what they believe their strengths are and what they contribute to the space. So I actually do this great activity and meetings where what I'll do is I will have cutouts of like 10 to 15 different adjectives, like energy, passion, wisdom, knowledge, creativity, zest, love, right? And invite the group to share what are one or two things, strengths that you believe you're bringing to this meeting and why. Um, and so what's so beautiful about that is it allows them to first really think about what are my strengths? What am I bringing to this space? It allows them to physically grab it, right? Because sometimes when we can physically touch something, then it's real, right? And to be able to share that allow. And that as a manager gives you a cue to try and understand does this person really understand, understand what those strengths and gifts are, right? And I will also share that we have many things to bring, right? As human beings, there's not just one thing that we can offer, but we might have two to three things that are our strengths. So I think that's a great way to, as I, as a facilitator, I like to say, sort of read the room to understand where people are coming from, and then to be able to use their language to lift that up. That's even more powerful than the reason for articulating that.

Jess K 7:46

Follow up with a quick question on that one because you another light bulb went off. You made the comment of, okay, let's let them provide to us what their strengths are. And as a manager, we can see then how and if we see that come to life. In some cases, I have done those examples where what they have picked as their strengths, I am currently not seeing that. In those particular instances, I would never call them out on that. When you have seen that, what are things that you would do to really, or maybe you don't? Well, let me leave that to what would you do in those situations?

Coaching When Strengths Dont Show

Jodie Goldberg 8:21

Yeah. Okay, so I want to validate Jess, that's real. That is like so real. The gap between who we think we are and who we actually are.

Claude F 8:29

Correct.

Jodie Goldberg 8:30

So look, that I think is a great place for a manager to get curious and to actually follow up with that person during a one-on-one to say, hey, I noticed that you identified creativity as one of your strengths. And I'm so curious to learn more about how you see that playing out. And nine times out of 10, what usually happens is they will tell you about something about how they exercise creativity in their life beyond work. I have seen this happen multiple times. So it might be that they're creative, but they're stuck. They don't know how to manage or leverage that creative energy within the work environment, right? And let's say that's something that actually you need more of from them. Right. Yeah. Right. I think that's a great place to say, I love how this is something you feel strongly or you feel like is a strength of yours. And I love the example that you gave around how it's showing up in your personal life. I'm curious, how might you leverage that a little bit more in your professional world? And use that as a turn it back on them, empower them, and then see. Are they then more curious? Does the light bulb go just go off for them in a different way? Is this finally feedback that they can hear because it starts with who they are?

Jess K 9:43

So just some things to consider. That that's super helpful because in the instances that I've had, yes, they wind up being more personal than work-related. So I have tied that back in. There have also been times where the individual has provided examples that don't actually match what they think is the skill set, too. So what would you do in that regard? So they say an example and you're like, that's not creative, but you're not gonna say that. You're like, well, interesting. Talk to me how you thought that the creativity came through on that.

Jodie Goldberg 10:14

Yeah, no, look, I think part of it is putting it back on them to do more of the work and the talking. Okay. I think that's the overarching theme here. Is that as leaders and managers, I think the strongest ones are when we do less of the talking and we create the space to empower them to share their voice and ideas. And like I said, there is often a gap between who these people are, right? Like what we think we think we are and how we actually show up. And this could also be a place to give feedback and be candid and be like, I appreciate how you're seeing it. I'm not sure I'm seeing it. And let's think about how together, how we might be able to see more of that. What are three concrete steps that you can take in order to leverage creativity more deeply in the in the workplace? I see also when we give people structure, like numbers, what are three ways we can try that out? Um, that that feels a lot more change tangible than saying, how might you do it now? Right. That just feels like a large question.

Jess K 11:15

Yeah, no, I agree. Right.

Committees That Build Engagement

Jess K 11:17

I I do want to go back to what are the ways that the leader can help create that feeling of engagement that lasts outside of the events that they are engaged in or meetings that they're involved in.

Jodie Goldberg 11:30

So one of the things that I think I talk about a lot with planning retreats, but I also think could be really applicable here for meetings is to actually have committees. What could it look like if your team was divided, if you have a large team, into three or four subcommittees for each meeting, right? And one of those committees could be culinary committee. They're thinking about what snacks are going to be at our meeting. One of those committees is thinking about community. How are we really building community within our team? And how are we welcoming new people onto our team? How are we helping them feel seen and heard? And one could be a reflection committee, right? One of the things that I love to say that's coined by educational philosopher Don John Dewey is that we don't learn from experience. We learn from the opportunity to reflect on our experiences. And what a great meeting does is at the end asks us what we've learned so that we we can help think about what our next steps are. So there could be a whole committee that's helping to think about how do we reflect on what we've learned and think about next steps. Right. So by empowering our team and empowering people to see themselves represented within that meeting, they feel more empowered to show up and to bring their full selves.

Work Besties Plus Where To Find Jody

Jess K 12:44

All right, Jody. The most important question of the whole podcast do you have a work bestie?

Jodie Goldberg 12:51

Oh, I love this. Okay. So now I feel like I've I've made two new work besties here. And Dennis Claude, thank you for having me. Very honored. I will tell you, um, as a um as someone who owns their own business. I'm the founder and principal of Flourish Consulting. Um, I have another consultant who um I like look to for collaboration, for thought partnership. We work together within an organization. Um, and we are 20 years apart in age. She's 20 years older than me. And she has taught me so much about who I am and the person that I want to be. And it's beautiful as we've both started our own businesses. We are there. We each hold complimentary strengths. And it's our job um to hold each other accountable and to really challenge each other. Um, and we're on it. And it's beautiful. Yeah. I love that. That's amazing. I know. Well, look, I think it really goes to show you that you don't just have to be within a more traditional work setting to have a work bestie.

Jess K 13:55

For sure.

Jodie Goldberg 13:56

For sure.

Jess K 13:57

Our whole first season was all about that. Every industry you could think of, everybody had work besties, and every single um group that came on would talk about how it changed their um level of excitement and engagement within whatever industry they were in. And we're talking like anything you could think of, like writers, those that were actors. Yeah. I mean, so you don't just think of it in the traditional sense. Right.

Claude F 14:22

Yeah.

Jess K 14:22

A lot of entrepreneurs like yourself that had their own organization, their own companies, like if they didn't have a work bestie, they said that their day would be just not as fulfilled. So it's so great to hear. That's awesome.

Jodie Goldberg 14:35

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Jody. For the opportunity to learn with and from you to connect. It really just so much fun. You both exemplify what it means to be in connection and relationship and to be those work besties. Jody, if people want to learn more about you, how can they do that? Beautiful. So feel free to find me on LinkedIn. My handle is uh Jody Goldberg. I'm also doing uh TikTok videos to help you learn new uh relational strategies to elevate your meetings and gatherings. Um, and finally, you can visit my website, www.flourishconsultinginc.com. Would love the opportunity to learn more about you and to partner.

Jess K 15:15

Jody, this has been awesome. Thank you so much. Work besties.

Closing Challenge And Subscribe

Jess K 15:20

I loved this reminder that leadership is not about having every answer. Sometimes it's about creating the room where the best answers can actually show up. And maybe your team has more wisdom, creativity, and ideas than you think. They just need that space to share them. So this week, ask yourself Am I being the sage on the stage or the guide on the side? Thank you again to Jody Goldberg for such a thoughtful conversation, and thank you all for listening. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and to all the work besties out there, keep supporting each other, keep creating space for each other, and we'll see you next week. Having a work bestie is like having your own personal hype squad.

Claude F 16:10

So keep lifting each other up, laughing through the chaos, and of course, thriving. Until next time, stay positive, stay productive, and don't forget to keep supporting each other.

Jess K 16:23

Work besties!