The Word on Coaching

Season 5 Episode 2: The Word on Coaching - Soul

Kevin Fuselier

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0:00 | 31:11

This episode is full of energy and thoughtful conversation about Leading with Soul. We have the opportunity to catch up and engage with Chanda Frenton. Chanda is a longtime colleague and friend; she works as the Learning and Development Director for Park National Bank. Chanda is known for being energetic, inclusive, and brilliant.

In our conversation with Chanda, she shares her perspective on the importance of doing work that feeds your soul, creating an environment that encourages others to pursue meaningful work and engaging in self-care. She shares her self-care etiquette checklist and her acronym FLY.

Get your pencil and paper ready. Listen in and consider whether you are living, working and creating a space where you can do worthwhile work that feeds your soul.

We hope you enjoy this episode.

Check out our best-selling book The Word on Coaching released on June 14, 2022.

Amazon.com: The Word on Coaching: 9781737643807: Neely, Debby, Auger, Joann, Fuselier, Kevin: Books

Also, please check out quick guide about powerful questions: "Embrace the Power of Questions!"    A Quick Reference Guide to Getting the Answers You Need. 


Recommended Books:

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone: Brown, Brené: 9780812985818: Amazon.com: Books

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: Mackesy, Charlie: 9780062976581: Amazon.com: Books

Our Book:

Amazon.com: The Word on Coaching: 9781737643807: Neely, Debby, Auger, Joann, Fuselier, Kevin: Books

Debby

hi everybody. Welcome to the word on coaching podcast. I'm Debbie I'm here with Kevin and Joanne. Hey Kevin. Hey, Joanne.

Kevin

Hello. Hello everybody.

Debby

So we are coaches three, three friends with years of leadership and coaching experience. And you know what? We just like to share our passion for those two things with other people and our podcast, the word on coaching or for leaders. Whether you have the formal title or not, because we see you out there. We know some of you are leading at home at work in your community and you don't have that formal title. So we're talking to you too.

Chanda

We focus

on

Debby

one word that relates to leadership and coaching because we know leadership is hard. So we, along with our fabulous guests, wanna give you some tips, some information, a fresh perspective, but always lot of support because we got your back. So today we are very excited to welcome Chanda Fronton learning and development director at park national bank. Hey

Chanda

Chanda. Hello. Thank you.

Debby

I'm really excited to have Chanda. I I've been thinking about her for a long time and I'm like, we've gotta get her on this podcast. And then recently, I think we were connecting a little bit on LinkedIn. I'm like, I'm just gonna ask her if she, if this is something she'd like to do. And I had the pleasure of working with Chanda and you know, it's really nice when you work with people and then they become your friend, right. That you just like to hang out with them. You just like that person a lot. Let me tell you a little bit about Chanda. And it's funny when I was thinking about, okay, what do I wanna say about her? And I thought, you know what? This is all gonna come out in the podcast, but I'm gonna tell you guys anyways. What I admire about Chanda is her

Chanda

positive spirit.

Debby

It's not that toxic positivity that you hear a lot about. It's very contagious. It's just that, Hey, you know,

Chanda

things are gonna be good. Let's make it a good

Debby

day. Let's, let's get over these obstacles and end move forward. I love that can do attitude about her. She is so great at making a safe space for learning. So for people to feel like they can ask questions and challenge things and yeah, just, just. Learn as much as it, as they can. She's so great at making that, that room and that space for that

Chanda

great collaborator. She's very

Debby

much that approach of, Hey, I could do a good job and I bet it could be even better if, if we all did it together she strives for the best. So you'll notice that about Chanda she's, she's definitely someone who

Chanda

does really great work, but the cool thing

Debby

about it is she helps you do good work too. So she helps you strive for your. And it's funny, cause she said this right before we got on the podcast. One of the things I wrote down Chanda is that you're so authentic and it's not just that you're authentic that you pull that out in other people, right. That, Hey, let's just all be ourselves. We don't have to pretend to do someone else. And right before we jump in this podcast, folks Chanda said, Hey, but we're just gonna be who we are. Right. And I think the most important thing is that Chanda is a lot of fun. I think she's kind of got that attitude is if we've gotta do it, let's have some fun while we're doing it. So you're gonna see all this come out tonight, which is why I thought was really funny when I was kind writing down some of my thoughts about Chanda. Chanda, I kinda gave them my spin on you. what would you like the audience to know about you?

Chanda

Wow. I, that introduction just leaves me speechless. I don't even know if I can do this podcast. This is uh, this made my year. Thank you so much. And I just wanna say how lucky I am to reconnect with all three of you from my past. How cool is that? We all used to work together in some form or fashion and just really proud of your accomplishments too. So thank you for trusting me to share today. And I hope people leave with something of value. So I've been in the learning industry and I can't believe I'm gonna say this but 15 years, which is crazy to me. I was always very, very passionate about it. And I've had multiple rules from, I probably can't even list them all, but consulting, coaching, which we're talking about today, leadership development, high potential development in recently. I'm a learning and development director at park national bank. I've been there four years already and was brought in to stand up a function and build a strategy and a framework. And it's been super, super fun and interesting. And, you know, w and I were talking, what challenged you, or what has pushed you? This job has pushed me in so many different ways and so many great ways.. I've met so many great people and. I just really love coaching because I love getting to see people do that paradigm shift or that aha, that gets me so excited. So that's a little bit about me. Professionally, but I thought, cuz like you said, I love, you know, I just wanna be me. So I wanna just tell a little bit about my personal side, because that makes me me and that, that feeds into my work every day. But I'm a mom and I'm married and I have two little girls, which we might talk about, but I love supporting local. I love being in the community. I do a lot with the chamber and hospice, but my most recent passion is Alzheimer's research and collecting, you know, Money for that or raising money for that because my mom was diagnosed in 2019 and has early onset dementia. Alzheimer's so it's just something that I think when I think of the word soul, it's something that feeds my soul. It makes me happy to do that and, and, and be passionate about that. So that's a little bit about me. Yeah. Awesome. Well, and like I said, we're gonna learn a lot more about you as we go along. So as Chanda just said today, our word is soul. And you know, some people may be like soul. That's an interesting choice. Right. But Chanda and I talked a lot about, okay, what should the word be? We bounced a lot of words. Off of each other. I had a really hard time because Chanda has a passion and knowledge around so many topics that every word seemed like a good fit.

Debby

But when she said, how about the word soul and the more we kind of dug into that, the more excited I think we both got about it. And that could be a really great topic and it's not a common word in leadership circle.

Chanda

So I think there's

Debby

gonna, you might be surprised at where, where we take this conversation today. So Chanda getting to the soul of things. Isn't easy, right? When we talk about,. Getting to that soul, getting to the core of things and most great leaders have stories of overcoming professional and personal obstacles that really shape them into live leader, that they are, like you said, the personal and the professional are connected. So what were some of the obstacles that you face that you feel like really shaped your soul as a leader? And what encouragement would you give to leaders facing obstacles

Chanda

right now? Yeah, that's a big question. I think it's really important because I feel like leadership just keeps transforming and becoming more and more important. I think the one big challenge for me and, and I used to coach leaders around this, but then when it happened to me, I was like, wow, is becoming, you know, going from individual contributor to a leader. Because it just changes. You get results through yourself, you have high expectations of yourself. Well, now you have that of other people and, and that's really important to build trust in that relationship. And starting that from ground zero. I also think delegation, that's one that I'm still really working on. You know, I love learning and I love building learning, and I love facilitating and all those things, but I have to hand that over and let other people do that so that I can be more strategic and just learn and trust in them. And that's something that I'm still growing in. And then. I think you said it too, as prioritization. There's so much out there that there really isn't thing, a thing called work-life balance. you know, it's, it's there really, isn't, it's really hard and it's about setting boundaries and that can be that that's a choice and I've been challenged by that. You know, being a mom and working and doing all the things in the community. So it's really about that. When I think of the other side of that question. The encouragement or advice I would say, and you said this, and I think you're opening, but you're a leader, no matter what your title is or whatever your role is, you're a leader and you should always see yourself that way. And I think one thing that has helped me be successful and especially in this role is to get to know your colleagues laterally. Don't be so focused up the chain or down the chain, but laterally, like I call my phone of friends. you know, who are my phone of friends and who am I a phone of friend to so they can contact me. And I can reciprocate that. I think that's so important, especially in the learning industry to get that support. And then going along with that is getting to know your. You know, you get to know your team, you get to know their strengths, their likes, their dislikes. You can give them fulfilled work. And I think that's, that's something that's really important to me. And the last thing that I'll hit on this, cause I could talk about it all day is feedback. I think we have to be very receptive of feedback and open to feedback and ask for it and ask for it and ask for it until people get comfortable with giving it to you. That's something I've really grown in over the years and still growing. Yeah.

Debby

Awesome. I love that fulfilled work. I like that phrase a lot. And I hear, I've been hearing that a lot over the last few years, if that's what people want. Right. They want to find that fulfillment and that purpose in their work. Yeah, I agree. I

Chanda

asked my team, mid-year just, Hey, and I did throw out a disclaimer. Like I can't take everything away from you that you don't like mm-hmm but I want you to enjoy majority of your work. And so I just ask them. What do you enjoy? What do you not enjoy? What do you want more of? What do you want less of and how can I support you? Because I don't know, unless I ask. And I think that that really went a long way. Cuz there were things that came out of those conversations. I was like, I didn't know. And I don't know that they were doing some things that fulfilled them. So I think it's important to ask those pointed question.

Kevin

Yeah, I think that's great. You know, really when you find out what feeds a person and makes them better and more of who they are, the more we can do that for people the better off we will all be. Chanda. I was so excited to know that we were going to get to have you on our podcast. Let's start with some of the basics. And I want to think about the basics of soul. I'm not surprised that you came up with the word like soul, because Chanda is going to come at you from a different direction. I can tell you that and it is gonna be positive. We talking about worthwhile and meaningful work. For a lot of that, it's focusing on your, why. What is your why? What I'd like you to do is to share with us, what is your why for being a leader and how does knowing your, why tap into your soul?

Chanda

Yeah. I don't know if you guys have heard the Simon Senate quote, it's something to the effect, like leadership is a choice, not a rank you gotta go into leadership for the right reasons. and I think for me, and you've all three, know me, I lead with heart and that good or bad. That's just what I do. I lead with heart. I think it's important to start there, build relationships, connections, and get to know the real person. And then all the other things follow. I think my why too is helping other people feel valued and supported and proud of what they're doing. And that comes with feedback as well. So not only do I want feedback, but I wanna be able to give people feedback and them have the psychological safety that I'm giving it from a good place and that they can take it and do something with it. And also when it comes to that safety it's I want people to be able to show up, to work being themselves their best selves, their whole selves. Because that's when they do awesome work and that's when they're happy and back to being fulfilled in that fulfillment. And then I would probably say too, as me always getting better, you know, we we can always grow even being in a learning space for 15 years. I learn something new every day and, to fail forward, learn from your failures and your mistakes and grow from. So I think those are all my whys. and going back to that word soul,

Kevin

I know one of your wives, you just care about people and that always comes through whenever you're around Chanda you'll know that she's a person who cares about people.

Chanda

I appreciate that. Thank you.

JoAnn

I'm impressed that so much of what you've talked about, we have this phrase and say, what feeds your soul? And it's so obvious what feeds your soul, right? Because we know when we're feeding our soul, we have much more freedom and joy. And that's one of the things that I know personally, when I work with leaders is that we talk about what. What is it you really want, you know, what feeds your soul, what makes you happy and joyful? It's such a pleasure to hear all of that. How would you describe for our audience of what it looks like to lead with soul?

Chanda

Yeah to lead with soul, I would say. And it's really simple. It might sound kind of silly and cliche, but be the leader you want to work for. I've had so many great leaders throughout my career that I emulate a lot of their behaviors because I respect and I think it goes back to. And I know this word, emotional intelligence, it came up today, emotional intelligence. A lot of people can't connect with that term. So whatever you wanna call it, relationship management, self-awareness whatever you wanna call it. I think that is so important in, in leadership, in leading with heart and being vulnerable. I love that word vulnerable, and I don't think it's a bad word. I think sometimes it comes across as a bad word. I'm vulnerable. I know how to be on the CU, you know, not go too far with vulnerability, but being able to share it the right time in the right way. I'm still learning that because people are messy, right? We're messy, we're human. We make mistakes, we're emotional. But I think vulnerability goes a long way. And then I think the other side of that is probably showing that appreciation and recognition. Talking to others about their wellbeing. I just met with the team a few weeks ago and I said, Hey, your wellbeing comes first, work comes second, because if you are healthy and happy, that is brought into your work. And I really believe in that. And I think I could even do a better job of that myself at times. Jan,

Debby

when we spoke previously, you mentioned a phrase the best. Yes

Chanda

mm-hmm. can you tell us a little bit

Debby

about what is, what does that mean? What's that all

Chanda

about the best? Yes. Yeah. I did not coin that phrase. I wish I would've, I'm not even sure where I heard it from something probably on LinkedIn or an article that I read, but I have a word of the year and Debbie is so funny. I found something. I have a It's a folder just filled with positive words and or words to live by. And there is an email from you in there talking about one word. And this is years ago. This is before I even started doing one word. I think I started in 14, 2014 and this year happened to be sold. So I think that's why, why we alluded to that this year or for this podcast, but it's my north. It kind of guides me for the year of how to say the best. Yes. I also complete a vision board every year. And just, it kind of just, you put pictures and words and phrases that keep you grounded for the year and best. Yes. Has been on that board more than once and back to creating boundaries. I think for me too, it's saying no more often, which is really hard for me, cuz I'm a connector, I'm a collaborator. And I have FOMO, which is fear of missing out. If I say, no, I feel like I'm gonna let someone down or I'm gonna miss out on something really spectacular. But it's been really rewarding to say, no, you know, that sounds kind of silly, but it it's been really rewarding. That's what best yes. Is to me.

Debby

So maybe we'll change it to the best. No, maybe it's the best. No. And

Chanda

a better, yes. I don't know. But I feel like we're coming up with really good blogs right now. All these titles, but yeah, that, that, that's what it is to me.

Kevin

Yeah. Think about. That best. Yes. That's something that we all have to manage, especially when we're in the business of people, because we want to care for people and make sure that they can be their best. And sometimes that for us, meaning we have to choose to say yes to our best. Yes. And even sometimes no, to something that seems awesome. When I think about. Always being ready and being in a place where you can make that right decision. You have to be a continuous learner. You have to know about yourself. And then you're also continuously learning and, and getting better and even taking on challenges, like being able to say no. When we think about you being a continuous learner, and I know that's part of the thing that feeds you and helps you be who you are What I'd like to know is you're a VP, you're a director, you're a wife, you're a mother you're involved in your community? How has being a continuous learner helped you be successful in all those different roles?

Chanda

Yeah, I would say, I like to have mentors. I, and I would say I have mentors that I know and don't know, and I know. Sounds kinda weird, but what I mean by, I don't know, is on LinkedIn or somebody. I follow on social media and that's helped me with my career journey. And I was telling you, I have the words to live by folder. I just recently looked at that. I try to go into it, you know, often enough to see how I'm mountain up as a leader. Cause there's a lot of good thoughts in there and it's in this bright yellow folder. So I can't miss it. it was with me at my old job. It's with me at this new one. and just really like referring back to that, to see am I really being that leader that I wanna be? I think it also I've said this before, but it gives me energy just to be better. I've learned from a lot of groups. I have a lot of core groups of women that we support each other and we learn from each other and we don't compare ourselves. It's. Lessons learned, and we share that and then we've lift each other up. And that has really helped me. And within that core group, of course, is my mom and my sister, because they're my true soul sisters. If you will, we're going with soul. And I've learned so much from them about work ethic and those are my learning people. Those are my cohort, you know, that's my cohort. And you don't get very far without good people in.

Debby

We give that advice a lot, right? The people you surround yourself

Chanda

with is so important. Yes. Agreed.

JoAnn

well, just before we got on the podcast, we were talking about your two girls. I know you were proud mom of your two girls and that. That self-care is really important for you. And, and part of that is because you wanna be a good role model to your girls. I can imagine, I've been in this business for a pretty long time. and. Taking care of myself. I'll be really honest, was never really a priority for me. And so it's refreshing to hear younger generations talking about the importance of self care. How do you first maybe answer the question? Why should that be a priority? There's some obvious reasons why it should, but how do you make it a priority?

Chanda

You can't fill other people's bucket unless your bucket's full or somewhat full. This is something I'm doing I'm right there with you. This is something that I, I really am still, still figuring out. There's a lot around this and I've read a lot about it, but self care is not selfish. It's not selfish because for you to give back and to learn and to grow and help others, you have to be okay too. And so you talked about my girls. I really want them, I want them to have strong career goals. I want them to be dedicated. I want them to have work ethic, but I also want them to travel abroad and learn new cultures and meet new people and be open to new perspectives before they get into their career. And that's self care. And so for this last year I've been, or two years, I've been fo focusing a lot on my health and eating and healthy food that feeds your soul. You know, cuz that's important too for brain health and energy. But as it relates to my girls uh, one day my oldest, we were in the car and she said, mommy, you're doing your best. And that is enough. And I was like, okay, they're listening and they're learning and they're watching. And it really struck me. I was like, okay. Yeah, I am, I'm doing my best. And that is enough. And then the inner work is really important, you know? There's this acronym, I know there was an acronym on one of your other podcasts. I love acronyms, but fly first. Love yourself. And I like that. Cause I can remember it. But you have to give yourself, you know, have reflection and gratitude for yourself and, and be able to give that back.

Kevin

That's that's awesome. Now, excuse me. I'm just going to interrupt here just for a second. Yeah. Sometimes when, when you use the words like self care, you mean I'm bubble bath and I'm. Get a massage or, or whatever that might be, or take a yoga class, or I'm going to start focusing on, you know, whatever, whatever that term might be. That sounds all groovy, but I'd really like you to talk about. What can, what else can self care look like? You mentioned eating healthier, different things, but you know, for leaders out here, we're going through um, I was listening to something on the radio and they were talking about, we collectively, we have gone through trauma as a society. Dealing with all the pandemic and everything and isolation and quarantines and all this. And the person is trying to get people to understand that we've been through a lot in these last two years. People are just emotionally, physically people are tired. One of the things you said we have to do is we are going to have to learn how to take care of ourselves better during this time. So when you share these, really share some practical tips that people can do, leaders can do to take care of themselves so they can be the best for themselves and the best for their teams.

Chanda

Yeah. This is a tough question. I wish it was the whole bass and yoga all the time. I love that. I think. One thing for me. And I know this sounds weird cause of what you just said. And there was a lot of alone time in these last couple years, you know, where you're not surrounded by your friends and family, but I've learned to be okay with alone time and reflection and journaling and, and really thinking I've never been a loner. But I'm okay with it now. And I think it's really important to stop and pause and breathe and reflect. Also, I, I have to remind myself too, and I think leaders should that it's progress, not perfection. Hmm. And I think we all wanna be perfect and we all wanna be this best leader and we wanna do all the things and for people to see us that we're doing all the things be included. But it's progress. Not perfection. We're not perfect. And my husband tells me this and he is gonna be so happy. I said this, but, and I need to listen to him more often, but he, he's a pretty smart guy. I'll give it to him, but don't waste energy on things you can't control. We have a lot of things we can control as leaders and as parents and friends or whatever that might be. But there's a lot of things that we can't. So let's not dwell on those, but dwell on the things that we can control because that's wasteful. You know, doing that and being anxious over that. And for me, daily affirmations. I'm not kidding. I have'em right here in front of me daily after affirmations, I have,'em sent to my email. They come up on my phone. It's just something I really, really enjoy because you can just wake up and you read it and you're like, okay, I can do this today. And then I share them because other people just see them and maybe it makes their day positive. But I think daily affirmations are really important to. Set you off in the race, the right head space for the day. So those are a few that I call it my sole etiquette checklist.

Debby

There's probably so

Chanda

many other things I think, oh, another thing I have breath, just hanging here on my, on my desk. Breathe, just stop and breathe and pause. Breathing. There's a lot to breathing. There's a lot around that mentally and physically just taking breaths and then just being proud of other people's success because when you're lifting up other people, I, that, that does that for you too. So those are some of my, I guess that's my checklist, Kevin. I'll let you know if I add anything,

Kevin

send us, send us that checklist and we'll include it in the show. We'll include it in the show notes. How about that? Okay. I love that we can do, we can do that, thinking about something that you said earlier about your cohort, I thought about, having those people who help you be the best you and I was doing some reading on happiness and one of the rules for. Increasing your happiness. It was very simple. It said spend more time with people. You really like, oh,

Chanda

that's so easy and simple, but. So complex,

Kevin

right? Yeah. And so, you know, and that's part of what we do is coaches three, you know, spending time, me, Joanne, Debbie, we like each other. We spent time with each other. We learn and we grow and it's always wonderful to pull in other people in, you know, into this process. And I think that's really important. Whenever our path would cross, it was always a joy to come in contact with you Chanda, because you were always. Just a burst of energy and it was awesome to spend time around you. And, and it's good to have you back in this circle a little bit.

Chanda

Thank you we'll we can set up our cool this us part. I like that.

Debby

Yeah. And I think you need to copyright that sole etiquette checklist. I think, I think that's a keeper

Chanda

for sure. Okay. You're giving all kinds of great ideas before

Debby

we let you go today. We have three questions that we like to ask our guests kind of our, our fun way to end the podcast and give a little. More information and tips

Chanda

to our audience. So I'm gonna ask you those now. Okay. Mm-hmm so

Debby

the first one is what is a book that you think a leader coach should read?

Chanda

Yeah. Thinking on that question. So. I am not a huge book reader. I love to read articles. I don't have a lot of time to read. So I listened a lot on audio and I can't get through it all. But one book that has really resonated with me and struck me is braving the wilderness by bene brown. And I think anyone should read this, not even just. Formal leaders, anyone, because it talks about or helps you understand the importance of belonging and appreciating differences. And I've already talked a lot about, yeah, a little bit about that, that psychological safety being able to give feedback, being able. To work together collectively, cuz we're different and we all have something to bring forward. So that book love, love, love. And I have to share another one so sorry, Debbie, but I have another one and because this one and I just said I don't read, but okay. It's called the, and I should seriously start getting proceeds for me. I tell so many people about this book. It is uncanny, but it's the boy, the mole, the Fox and the horse. And it's by Charlie Mackey. When you talk about feeding the soul, I'm not kidding you. This book, the illustrations are beautiful. They're just simple messaging. It's great for children, but there's a page and it says something like, what do you wanna be when you grow up? You know, to the little boy. And he says, I wanna be kind. I mean, it is just such a good book. Check it out. I promise you. You will not be disappointed. Okay.

Debby

Good recommendations. Yeah. So what question have you been asked Channa that gave you pause? It just made you kind of stop think a little deeper, maybe look at something a little

Chanda

differently. I've been asked a lot of really thoughtful questions because I've so many great coaches. I don't know the exact question, but if something to the effect of I, if I were to ask people I interact with on a daily basis or ongoing basis, how would they say I positively contribute to their. And I mean, that's, that's thought provoking, what do I do to positively contribute to people in their lives? And I think it can be work, you know, it doesn't have to just be personal. And so that one, always that one gave me pause cause that's very self reflective and how you show up every day. you know, we have good days and bad days, but how do you consistently show up? Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. What's your brand, right? Yeah,

Debby

mm-hmm so Chanda, what is your

Chanda

word on coaching? I love words. You're already getting me pumped up for 2023. I would go with, and it's re it's kind of a different word. So in 2018, I went through a huge transformation of leaving a company I was with for 17 years and going to a new company, new industry, new job, and my word was bloom And I, I promise you I'll be using it again because I love the word so much. And when I think about coaching, it's about blooming. It's about growing. It's about changing, evolving, and my mantra in 2018, which I've carried on is wherever each day, plants you bloom with a sense of hope and purpose. And that's what I think coaching is. So I'd go with bloom.

Debby

Okay, so we'll have to have you back and your word

Chanda

will be balloon. How about that? Oh, okay. I don't know if that'll be next year. I already have a list. So I don't know. well, unfortunately we can't talk online. I wish that we could, but Shannon, Joan and

Debby

Kevin, it has been such a pleasure talking about soul tonight. We wanna thank our audience as always for listening, check out more of our podcast, the word on coaching podcast. You can find it in Buzzsprout in all kinds of places. You can also connect with us on our coaches three Facebook page, and especially, we're very excited that our book, the word on coaching, our bestselling book, the word I'm coaching is out now. So buy copies for yourself and to share with others. And until next time, that's the word on coaching?