SC Calhoun Training & Coaching

Motivation Monday: EmpowerHER - You Too Are Powerful!

We all have heroes or sheroes. People we admire & look up to and think, "I wish I could be like that." Two of the women I admire have been included in the Barbie Signature Edition collection. They represent some of the most powerful and impactful African-American women in US history, Maya Angelou & Ida B. Wells. Their work has provoked our thinking, changed our culture, and inspired others to do amazing things.

Many people never consider they can also make powerful impacts, in fact, I was one of those people. The difference is those that do have pursued their passions and leveraged their talents. It is as if they are doing what they were born to do! But I would imagine they first had to know what their passions & talents were. In one of the talks I deliver, "The Courage to be Uniquely You", I talk about the importance of self discovery, because it's in discovering our true selves, our passions & giftings, our skills & accomplishments, our strengths.... It's in discovering these that we make the biggest impact wherever we go. And that's why I believe you can make impacts in your world too.

I've said it before, I tried to fit the mold and be what was expected of me & I did I it for years, but it was frustrating. Once I stopped trying to be what was expected, and released the Nicole I kept hidden, that's when I saw that anyone can impact their world, including you. Guess what? You Too Are Powerful!

As always, let me know how I can help you with your career journey.

Nicole Calhoun, The Career Conscious Coach
www.sccalhoun.com

DISCovery Tuesdays: What is DISC?
I worked with this lady once. I won’t mention her name, but she was the biggest pain in the butt I’d ever met! Well, she was a bit bossy and clashed with pretty much everyone. LOL. But would you believe that by the time she retired, we were very close? So close that she taught me everything she knew, and I became the subject matter expert for our team. There’s a long story of how we got there, but through circumstances, which I still believe were orchestrated by my then boss, we got to know each other and learned how to work with each other. And that’s what DISC is, it is a tool to help people to understand each other. In fact, one of my most requested services are my DISC Personality Style workshops, and I can imagine why. These are full of activities and fun while learning about personality styles.
DISC is an acronym that represents the 4 main Personality Styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. According to PeopleKeys, one of the leading providers of DISC Behavioral certification, “the DISC personality styles help to understand that there isn’t just one type of person out there – everyone has different ways in which they operate based on their preferences.” DISC is a tool that helps improve communications, employee engagement and team dynamics. The bottom line? If you can get your people to work better together, you can improve your team’s results.
When I hold these workshops, I can see the lightbulb moments for the attendees. Like my former colleague and I, they start DISCovering how to better improve their working relationships. In fact, I hear the comment, “It all makes sense now”, quite often. See, because people are different, they’ll communicate differently, which can cause conflict & misunderstanding. When colleagues understand each other’s preferences, they work better together. That’s what happened for my colleague and I and that’s why she’s no longer a “pain in the butt” and I was no longer a pain in hers. Ha ha!
If you would like to learn more about DISC and how we can get your teams working better together, schedule a consultation today.
Nicole Calhoun, “Helping teams work better together.”
www.nicolecalhoun.com/DISCover

Back to school Special Offer!

Do you feel stuck?
Are you struggling with achieving your goals?

Do you need help staying on track?

GREAT NEWS! This is back-to-school season and a great time to start working on your goals.

For this week only, the Accountability Partnership Program is offered at a special rate.

The Accountability Partnership Program will enable you to move forward on your goals and dreams, building confidence with action and accountability.

This is an awesome program including seven 1-on-1 sessions and guess what? The first 5 people to register (this week only) will receive a discounted price of $299 (regularly priced $499).

See link below for more info: https://calendly.com/nicolecalhoun/ap-register-disc

Nicole Calhoun, The Career Conscious Coach
www.sccalhoun.com

Motivation Monday: Game Changer

The t-shirt in this picture is one of my favorites. It's funny how one simple sentence can resonate so much. It reminds me that over the years, I'd lost sight of who I was meant to be. See I was raised by a strong-willed, persistent and determined woman, which in turn shaped me to be the same. Into my adulthood I quickly realized that didn't go over very well, especially being a woman & African-American in a male dominated industry. But like lots of women in STEM fields, I realized there are certain expectations of women, no matter who you are or your role. Women are to be humble, mild mannered and meek, and soon I realized as a woman, appearing strong and empowered would be interpreted differently. I couldn't show passion or distain. I couldn't be too confident or direct. So I conformed and started hiding myself. Ladies, you know how we do. We dumb ourselves down. We display a meek, quiet, false humility so that we don’t “offend” anyone.

I remember one day my former pastor telling me, “Nicole… a lamp is not lit and hidden under a bed. A lamp is lit to give light.” The truth is, when we hide ourselves, we hide the very things about us that impacts those around us, the things that makes us great at what we do. Because I was strong willed and determined, it also made me a critical thinker and problem solver, which is what I was hired to be. But it wasn't until I decided, this is me and this is how I'm gonna show up that the "game changed." So if this is you, I'm challenging you to remember who you are and watch the game change for you. And if you need a little help getting there, I'd love to help you, just inbox me and we'll get you headed in the right direction.

Nicole Calhoun, The Career Conscious Coach
www.sccalhoun.com

A little Communication humor:

A teenager sees her Mom busy in the kitchen and asks, "can I help?" Mom says, "sure, take this bag of potatoes, peel half of them and put them in a pot to boil." Did she get it right or what? 🤣

Happy Friday Everyone!

Motivation Monday: How many times have you said: “I thought it would be easier than this?” Let me tell you… I did too. I post a lot about my professional journey on social media and one of the things I posted last year was about my opportunity to speak on stage in from of a crowd of 3,000 people. It was awesome! But that was one moment. To get there it took hard work, growth, tears, failure… you name it. Progression and growth aren’t easy. In fact, John Maxwell says “Everything worth having is uphill.” Reaching your full career potential is challenging but guess what? You can do it.

Think about when a seed is planted. The plant must struggle to break through the soil. Even the butterfly must struggle to break through the chrysalis. Struggle is a part of the process, it brings about maturity. So yes, it’s not easy but stick with it because it is so worth it.

Nicole Calhoun, The Career Conscious Coach
www.sccalhoun.com