Welcome to Courage into Clarity

Jackie: Welcome to the first episode of Courage into Clarity and why I built my journey into Courage into Clarity. So over the last eight years, and that's how long I worked in a business focused around mindset, I learnt many, many things about working with teams and leaders and individuals and really loved the work. But earlier this year, I decided to walk away from that area of work because for me there was something more that I wanted to explore. And I guess this podcast is the first part of that exploration and that step into courage to explore some more learning for me. So I'd reached a certain time in my life. I didn't leave the mindset business because it wasn't fantastic. It absolutely was. And we had some great clients who worked with and really taught me a lot. But I really wanted to play around with, be creative and courageous, I guess, with clients around their learning and see where that really took the focus of a lot of things that we're doing in the room. So there came a point where I just felt it was time for me to step away from that business. And then the new business really emerged when I did that. So when I took that first, I guess, courageous step. I guess I felt that I wasn't really living myself. So, you know, this story, this episode is that story of welcoming you into the courage, into clarity view that I have, explaining a bit more about it and getting some really lovely guests on board and clients and associates that I've known over the years to join me. to talk about courage and talk about how that plays out for them every day. So I'm Jackie Grier. This is the podcast about those moments that we ask more of us than we think we have. The role sometimes maybe you're not sure you're ready for, the risk that keeps you up at night, the version of yourself you haven't quite given permission to show up, or maybe just believing in yourself. That's something that was a journey for me for many years. So everything in this show starts with courage. It's the first step in the courage into clarity framework, which is courage, clarity, alignment and action. Because nothing changes for a person, a team or an individual unless someone is brave enough to move first. Once we have the courage to act, clarity follows, clarity brings alignment with yourself or with the people around you. And alignment is what finally turns into action. So this first episode is a personal one. I want you to know who's talking to you each week and why I've built this business and the way I have. So let's start at the beginning. the decision to move on. So I spent eight years in a business in the mindset field and emotional intelligence and in emotional intelligence before that. Eight years of really working with some fantastic clients, a great team, a really close colleague and helping people build something that I was really proud of. But I guess in connection as well with the time in my life, I just got to a place where I felt it was time for me to make a change. If you'd asked me a couple of years ago, I don't think I probably would have said I'd be sitting here today having walked away from that business and those friends and colleagues and starting something new. I'd have probably thought that I would have gone perhaps into retirement by now. But given everything that I've learnt over the years, I really feel like I've got so much more to offer. to people and organisations and I also love what I do so I wanted to build on that. The decision didn't come lightly. It was a slow build, I guess, of noticing for me that what I was doing was not really sitting with my own personal purpose. There were more things that I wanted to explore. You know, our work was very specific, actually underpinned so many other things, but there were so many things that I was interested in. So I've always been someone that's read a lot, listened to podcasts, interested in learning. and I was picking up things that were really connected to me in the way I wanted to work and I wanted to really explore something a bit more. So, you know, it often can be easy to keep going with something and feel much riskier to leave than staying, but I've learned that working and being right for you aren't always the same thing. And that's probably happened in several times, occasions in my life. where I've got to a point and I just felt like it's just time for me to move on. you know, using the old language of the business I was working in, I've had to really check in and make sure that wasn't a survival response. That wasn't just me moving away from something that was a bit more difficult, but moving towards something rather that is a passion and something I want to do. It wasn't a big... you know, jump off a cliff time of moving. was lots of discussions with my colleague about leaving and how I might do that and how I might, you know, support the business going forward or whether we'd have a clean break and whether, you know, we'd stay as associates. And of course, we're always going to do that, having the journey that we've had. But it just felt time for me to really make that decision, say it out loud, have those conversations and then to think about what was going forward. Now I don't think that actually the courage part of my business, the courage into clarity really came out until after I'd made that decision. Being courageous is something that I've been told quite a lot in my life that I am. I think that's probably true. There have been many moments in my life where I would consider myself courageous and not afraid of taking risks. So actually when I started to explore what I might do as a business going forward, more of a lifestyle business maybe, the word courage as part of the framework was really key to me. And I guess it's important to say courage is not about having no fear, it's about using courage and the response and the emotional response from courage to act before the fear goes away. So then I guess moving on forward, it was time to maybe find the second part of my framework for myself. So I'd made the decision. I didn't have a five year plan. I didn't really know what I was going to do. I know I wanted to carry on coaching and working with teams and I didn't really know how I was going to do that. But then I became curious about those things. I had a real curiosity. I think that's definitely a strength of mine. And I decided to follow. a few things that I felt were really interesting to me and to maybe go back to being a bit of a student and learning myself. So in the last few months I've done my yoga teacher training which I absolutely loved and enjoyed and learnt so much about myself and the connection between mind and body and I think the biggest thing that really struck me about the yoga was that the philosophy and the knowledge of yoga. has been present for so many thousands of years and connects so much to what we do in organisations, how we talk with people about self-awareness, about connection to our body and our mind and our emotions. All those principles have been there for thousands of years and as human beings we've perhaps disconnected from those because of the busyness and pace of our life. I've also signed myself up for All Done. and partially completed a team coaching course at Henley Business School, which wasn't really part of a strategic plan, but it definitely fits with the learning and the curiosity that I've got and has pulled me into areas where I've looked at different ways of team coaching and team development and facilitation, questioned and challenged the practice that I've had for many years. and met some really lovely people as part of that group who I think will form a really nice network going forward and I know we're sharing that learning journey with me. Now I definitely know is that even though there was clarity in doing that and it helped me form some of what I wanted to do in the business, it's also been quite scary at times. So doing a yoga teacher training at 63, the oldest one in the group. taking on some of that learning and physically taking that on was really quite hard. I thought I was quite fit but that was really quite challenging. Also doing the Henley Business School, the learning in the room has been really interesting and the reading things, I've really loved that and the practical side but now I have to do some assignments and as I've discussed in the room with my fellow participants I haven't written an assignment for years, so writing an academic assignment, doing referencing, etc. on a case study, a team case study, is something that did fill me with horror. But they'll be glad to hear that I'm beginning to become more comfortable with that. And I'm sure when I get going and with all the support that I've got, that will be a really great experience and I'll be very proud of myself at the end. But I've definitely questioned my self-belief. my courage at times in making the decision to go on that course with the assignment looming at the end. I guess one of the big things that it's also taught me both in the team coaching and the yoga is that it's taught me things about presence and the body that I now bring into how I coach. I think I always did that. But I think that's heightened that. I'm very, very aware of my body. I notice things in other people's bodies from a physicality. And being curious around that, exploring that somatic side, linking to systems thinking, et cetera, I think is really powerful in coaching. I think the team coaching really sharpened how I think about working with teams, about the courage. not just being an individual quality, but something that teams need to move forward together to get to that point of clarity, alignment and action. It's about exploring our defensive behaviour, it's about exploring what goes on between you and me in the moment, it's exploring what's going on inside the room, it's about having honest conversations. We could link it to things like psychological safety, but I think it's a bit more human than that It's really about how I feel about myself How I feel about you and how we feel about each other and what really goes on in those moments I guess the second part of the framework clarity rarely arrives before you've acted So the creativity of building something new was a key thing And I guess I want to be honest that I've genuinely enjoyed this learning and exploration and not quite knowing yet what building courage into clarity will come. And I think actually it's still forming now, even using the model, starting to use it with teams and individuals. I'm beginning to learn, you know, what's really sitting at each stage of the framework. But I also think that's some of its strength. It's brought a creativity back into my work that I've missed. And there's something different for me about building a business around something that's really personal to you. Being courageous, having clarity, taking action, I would say is definitely three strengths that I personally have and values that I have that really link to my purpose. So blending those into coaching and teams within the model and then with the yoga, still including mindset work, of course I'll always carry that with me. feels like a real extension of how I want to live and work with individuals, teams and people generally. So alignment, the third part of the framework is what happens when different pieces of you, your work, your values, your curiosity, stop pulling in different directions and start pointing the same way. And here's the part that I think that matters most and that really connects to me and where I am in my life. So the part that's easy to do, I guess, is to leave a business to move on, but none of that exists separately from the rest of my life. So I am a grandma, a mama, as my granddaughter calls me, have two lovely grandchildren and another one on the way. I'm a mum, obviously, to my two beautiful girls who are now mums themselves, and I'm very proud of. I'm a wife and I'm a friend. So, and have many lovely friends who've supported me on this transition and encouraged me to step out and do things for myself. So I guess those roles are not things that I want to fit around my work. They are part of me. They're part of the whole person who shows up to coach and to teach and to build this business. You know, being physically fit, exercise, nutrition, longevity. My interest in health, which comes from my background as a nurse and health visitor, is all built into my coaching team or individual and part of the business and my philosophy to really look at that holistic perspective of working with people. And it's all about balance as well. So that, you know, isn't perfect. That's symmetrical split of hours, but it's making sure that I build. a business that I enjoy, obviously gives me some return, but it's also given me room to be the person I want to be outside of work, to leave me time to see my family and my grandchildren and my friends and do some lovely holidays with my husband Richard and spend some time together having experiences too. So I think that was really part of leaving my old work and business. It wasn't just a career decision, it was a about what kind of life I wanted to be living and who I wanted to be present for and how. So I guess thinking about wise courage my word. So if I look back over the choices I've made over the last eight years but also over probably 20 plus years in my career and even longer than that. So back to being a nurse, a health visitor. in the sort of corporate world as a trainer moving more into the emotional intelligence space and coaching. There have been many times where I've, you know, I've needed to make some quite courageous choices. There was, and I always believe they lead you to something else when you do that. So I remember probably, what would it 15 years ago being in a business, I wasn't feeling that purpose attachment to the role. I was running a... behavioural tool for a nationwide company but just wasn't feeling connected. Somebody offered me a chance to go and do the human element, Will Schutz's firework in America, which I then decided to do. So I put myself on a plane to Chicago on my own, arrived in Chicago, 30th floor of a hotel, turned up in a room the next day to sit the five-day human element. a room full of Americans, and actually some people from India and Canada and things as well, so multinational group. We started the process, we did a check-in, we were asked to say how we feel. I was member sitting at the end of the circle, quaking in my boots, thinking how am I as this stiff upper lip, strong Brit, gonna sit here and share how I'm really feeling, which is terrified. And it makes me smile when I think about that now. I think about nothing of doing that and working that way in a room with people. But that was definitely a courageous decision. And then I followed that up a few months later by going back to do the train, the trainer in that human element, which was where I met someone which led me to the business around emotional intelligence. And then ultimately my business partner in the mindset world as well and our collaboration together for many years. So, you know, it's a word that I've used I think to describe me, people have used it to describe me, they describe me as having courage and resilience, making choices that maybe other people wouldn't make. I think my husband sometimes is horrified when I say I'm going to step out of something without a plan or no revenue, but I just have this belief often when the time's right that I know it's going to work out and it's not right for me to stay. in a business where it doesn't feel like it's, I guess, meeting my needs and noticing the emotions are shutting down a bit. So other people really gave me this word when I started to form the business because I hadn't really thought about calling it anything. I was just going to call it me, Jackie Greyer. And then, you know, the courage word kept popping up. So it really came to me that it was a word that really seemed to fit. where I wanted the why of my business and where I wanted to go with the work I want to do. So I want this work, the podcast, the next chapter to be delivered from that authentic place and I'm really excited to start exploring that and what that might mean. Already beginning to work with some teams and individuals, doing let's say lots of creativity and learning and I've got some really nice guests lined up. from both the corporate world but also personal friends and colleagues who are really keen to come on and talk to me about what courage means to them. So if you're listening to this podcast and you'd like to send me a message, please do. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what courage means to you and how it maybe plays out in your life or not. What it could do if it was more prominent or you could understand what it meant for you. So I look forward to connecting with you all on the next journey, the next episode and hearing your feedback. Please follow me on all the platforms and I look forward to speaking to you more soon. Have a courageous day.