Lynn Howard, How to Be Your Best Self and Build Better Relationships – InnovaBuzz 467
Lynn Howard, Coaching Consulting Resource Center
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Lynn Howard, from the Coaching Consulting Resource Center. Lynn has started and sold many businesses across the globe for over 20+ years, leading global organizations as a COO, in 26 countries, and on leadership boards of NGOs with a global footprint & impact. She’s driven to be a change agent, a thought leader, and to move the world forward.
As a natural leader, Lynn has always seemed to take charge, create an impact and support the growth of those around her. Yet, that didn’t always come easy to her; she didn’t always have the tools or at least understand and apply them. Now, she understands the world differently, has empathy and an inner drive to create a culture and mindset shift, to get people out of their everyday complacency, or what the “norm” is, and step into a better version of themselves, in their life and business; leading companies into higher levels of success, more streamlined processes and healthier company culture. Her motto is “No excuses, only solutions.”, with a little tough love, intuitiveness, and perseverance mixed in, she’s the catalyst to the next level of what her clients are working on.
In our discussion, Lynn talked to me about:
- Getting really clear on our values, vision, and purpose, to focus our energy
- Connection and meaningful conversation for effective “networking”
- Building a community around her services and resources.
Arliss Dudley-Cash in episode 452 introduced us to Lynn.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
You are your most important client. Put yourself first before everybody else. Lynn Howard on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
Show Notes from this episode with Lynn Howard of the Coaching Consulting Resource Center
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Leave each person, each place, and each thing better than you found it.
- You’ll never know what type of impact it could have on someone’s life when you are able to give them the feeling of being seen and heard.
- The Coaching Consulting Resource Center is a membership platform that is community forward, really engaged and action-oriented. It’s a place where coaches and consultants can go to really focus on working on their business.
- Be a giver. Think about what you can give someone first before asking for something in return.
- Act like a host, not a guest. Do your best to show up and participate. Don’t just sit back and receive.
- Get the idea out of your network of what would be more fun for them.
- Great leaders constantly pull on what they can do new, what opportunities do they have, and where the opportunity is for growth and excitement.
- Celebrate the small wins.
- Make sure that as a leader you are monitoring things and empowering others. You don’t want to leave anyone behind. Leaders should be there amongst their people, and not at the top dictating.
- Learning emotional intelligence is a big thing.
- Great coaches know how to motivate someone in a way that someone needs to be motivated. They allow them to shine and encourage them in the way they need to, on an individual basis.
- The only way we are going to learn, love, and grow is to participate in life and be present.
- You could still have an impact and build connections in a virtual world.
- Being a digital nomad requires discipline, creativity, and harmony in the things you are doing.
- Being a digital nomad means that you may be in a different country but that doesn’t mean you are on a vacation from your business.
- It’s important to constantly be in alignment with your vision, mission and values not just in business but in your personal life as well.
- You are your most important client. Put yourself first before everybody else.
- Participate for yourself. Be smarter about how you work. Make sure that you are always aligned with your vision, mission and values.
- Learn to be creative with your time and resources. Creativity helps us feel to our toes. It helps us to ebb and flow with change. It helps us to get up after we’ve been knocked down.
- Make it a goal to practice the art of being present. Learning the practice of presence overall in life is really important.
- Being present means putting down the phone and looking somebody in the eyes. It is active listening. It is listening to hear, not listening to speak. It is asking people questions about them and hearing what they are saying.
- When attending a networking event, act like a host, not a guest. Think about how you can participate. Be someone who builds relationships and be engaged. Show up and be present. Don’t just use the event to get yourself ahead.
- It’s all about giving before receiving. Add so much value first, before you ask for value.
- Set a goal before you go – How many people do you want to meet? Why do you want to meet them? What value can you add to them?
- Go in the event to meet and engage with new people. Don’t just hang out with people you know.
- Communication is just words but connection is an exchange of humanity; an exchange of soul-ship. You may not have it with everybody, but it changes the dynamic of your relationship with those that you could have that with.
- Make sure that you are adding value to those people. It doesn’t mean you have to solve all their problems, but may be going deeper into their problem.
- People want to feel connected even if we consciously don’t know it. It’s a human need. When we feel seen and heard, it builds a connection.
- You can follow up and thank everybody but it doesn’t mean that you have to build a relationship with everyone that you’ve met. Connect with them, listen to them, and think about how you can build value. Don’t just use them to get to your next step.
- Building connections is all about engagement. It is recognizing and seeing the other person.
- Referral is a two-way street. Ask permission before telling someone that you have a referral for them. Check first if they are even accepting referrals and if you are a right fit for that referral.
When attending a networking event, act like a host, not a guest. Think about how you can participate. Be someone who builds relationships and be engaged. Show up and be present. Lynn Howard on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Lynn’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Look for opportunities and allow them to inspire you. Take advantage of it and create value. Surround yourself with the right people. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
- Best thing for new ideas – Surround yourself with like-minded people that encourage and inspire you. Be comfortable with change.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Google Suites, Miro
- Keep project/client on track – Google Sheets. Have a tracking mechanism and put it in your calendar. Have a base and create benchmarks. Be clear on where you are going.
- Differentiate – Get really clear on your vision, values, and purpose.
To Be a Leader
Get involved in emotional intelligence. That skill set can help you in many different areas. EQ is a non-negotiable skill set that we should all be learning and teaching to our children.
You can either be your best advocate or your worst enemy. Whatever you think, whatever you believe, will be. Surround yourself with people that can help you think differently and get out of your comfort zone to go to the place you want to be, and take action. Small actions every day is what will get you to where you need to be. It’s not the big leaps and bounds, but the incremental ones that will get to you where you need to be in a sustainable and foundational way. Make little choices every day that are aligned with your vision, values, and purpose.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Lynn through her website.
Suggested Guest
Lynn suggested we have a conversation with Joann Seery, Director of BNI Hawaii and Business Consultant, Amanda Furgiuele. So Joann and Amanda, keep an eye on your inboxes for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz Podcast, courtesy of Lynn Howard.
Links
Cool Things About Lynn
- She’s self-described “life-long learner junkie” with the DOING, the ACTION.
- She became a full-time digital nomad in 2019.
- She was raised in Mooseheart, a facility for children in need in Illinois, and overcame extreme adversity to start her first business at the age of 24.