The Pause Before You Lead
Leadership today asks a lot of people.
Leaders make decisions with incomplete information, navigate competing priorities, support others through change, and respond to challenges that rarely have simple answers.
In the midst of all that, it's easy to keep moving without creating space to think.
Hosted by Heather Haigh and Alicia Saint, The Pause Before You Lead is a podcast for leaders navigating growth, complexity, and uncertainty. Each week, Heather and Alicia explore the conversations, assumptions, patterns, and tensions that influence how leaders think, decide, communicate, and lead.
Drawing on decades of leadership experience and more than ten years coaching, consulting, and partnering with leaders and teams, they bring thoughtful dialogue, practical wisdom, and powerful questions to the real challenges leaders face every day.
Whether you're leading a team, an organization, or your own next chapter, these conversations will invite you to pause, reflect, and see something you may not have noticed before.
New episodes released weekly.
Episodes
18 episodes
What Do Our Team Values Look Like in Action?
Our team values are written down. Would someone watching us work know what they are?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather and Alicia explore the connection between states values and everyday behaviour. A personal...
What Do You Mean by That?
We use words like trust, respect, innovation, accountability, and collaboration to describe how we want to work together. But do those words mean the same thing to everyone on the team?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead
What If I'm Wrong?
What if the question you most resist is the one worth sitting with?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather shares why “What if I’m wrong?” once sparked such a strong reaction in her, while Alicia explores the diver...
When Did I Stop Being Curious?
What happens when you’re asking curious questions, but you’ve already decided where you want the conversation to go?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather and Alicia explore the difference between using curiosity ...
Why Didn't I See That Coming?
How often do we think we know what someone else is thinking without asking?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather and Alicia explore how easily leaders can fill in the gaps about what someone thinks, wants, or is ...
When Is Transparency Not Helpful?
As a leader, being honest, authentic and transparent can feel like the right thing to do. But does that mean sharing everything you know?In this episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather and Alicia explore the pressure leade...
How Do I Get My Team Thinking Together?
You know there's wisdom around the table. But how do you create the space for your team to actually think together? In this solo episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather explores what can happen when leaders try to cre...
Why Is It So Hard for Leaders to Let Go?
Why is it so hard for leaders to let go?It’s often not for a lack of desire. You want to let go. You intend to let go.And yet, somehow you keep holding on.What makes letting go so difficult when you genuinely want to do it?...
Why Do I Keep Stepping Back In?
You delegate. You build a capable team. You genuinely want others to take ownership. So why do you keep stepping back in?In this solo episode of The Pause Before You Lead, Heather explores a pattern she noticed in he...
Why Do I Feel Like I Have to Carry It All?
Leadership can sometimes feel lonely.But is loneliness simply part of leadership, or could it be connected to the stories we carry about what leadership requires? In this first solo episode of The Pause Before You Lead,
Why Do My People Avoid Hard Conversations?
Many leaders work hard to create psychologically safe teams. But when safety becomes the goal without the emotional maturity to navigate disagreement, teams can unintentionally avoid the very conversations that lead to better decisions, stronge...
Why Does Everything Feel So Urgent?
When every request feels urgent, leaders can find themselves trapped in a cycle of constant reaction. Strategic work gets postponed, boundaries disappear, and teams begin believing that everything is a priority.In this episode of The...
Why Does Everything Keep Coming Back to Me?
Many leaders become successful because they're dependable. They solve problems, step in quickly, and keep everything moving.But over time, those same strengths can become the very thing that prevents others from learning, growing, and ta...
Why Does My Team Stop Speaking Up?
Trust doesn't usually disappear overnight.More often, it erodes quietly through everyday interactions that seem helpful on the surface. Leaders offer advice, share ideas, move conversations forward, and try to help. Yet somet...
If Only I Had More Time
"If only I had more time."It's one of the most common frustrations leaders bring into coaching conversations.More time to think. More time to lead. More time for what matters most.In this episode, Heather and Alicia explore...
Why Am I Having This Conversation Again?
Have you ever walked away from a conversation thinking, "We've talked about this before"?Many leaders find themselves repeating the same messages, giving the same advice, and feeling increasingly frustrated that nothing seems to change.<...
Who Feels Left Out on Your Team?
Alicia recently joined a breakout discussion about psychological safety and immediately found herself feeling excluded.The irony wasn't lost on her. A group gathered to discuss psychological safety unintentionally created an experience t...
Why Is It So Hard for Leaders to Pause?
Leaders today face constant pressure to respond, solve problems, and keep things moving. Yet many tell us they're capable of clearer thinking, better decisions, and more intentional leadership than they're currently accessing.So why is i...