438 Pivot Point: Noticing Progress - a monologue from Sarah Elkins

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Not every meaningful moment is big and dramatic. As a matter of fact, smaller moments can be even more electrifying when we take the time to notice them. I had one of those moments last week when I performed as a backup vocalist and played my flute with the band of a friend and talented singer/songwriter at a local bar to a crowd of enthusiastic fans. We were on the patio and the crowd was much bigger for the last hour of our performance, so we pulled out our faster, more danceable tunes. My friend called the name of the last song for the night and it was one I didn't know. She counted off the song for the band to begin and I couldn't hear vocal harmonies right away, so I started improvising on my flute instead. I've been performing in bands for more than 15 years, but performing on my flute for an audience is still new to me. In 2020 when I picked it up after more than 30 years, I found sheet music and learned songs I wanted to play. But this - improvising - is new to me and I'm still tentative as I find the notes and scales to fit the keys of each song. The pivot point in this episode is my observation of myself that evening and the realization of my progress as a musician. It also applies to my journey as speaker and communication coach. I can look back and objectively say I did a good job with my keynote presentations, workshops, and coaching. I have the long-term clients and thank you notes as evidence. I can see my progress over the past 5 years, I know I'm significantly better at these things than I was before. And, even more importantly, I can imagine that in another 5 years I'll be even more competent in my work, because I know I'm not done yet. I still have so much to learn, to practice, and to grow into. ----- Listeners, now it's your turn: What memory popped into your head when you heard my story? Will you jot down a note so you can share a quiet, meaningful story with someone when the opportunity presents itself? From previous episodes you may have a specific image of who I am, did today's story shift that image at all? Did it fill in some gaps for you? The stories we share say a lot about who we are. What's one story you can share to demonstrate one of your talents? About Sarah: Sarah is a Montana based workplace communication trainer, TEDx [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW-zrlsZPHk] speaker, DisruptHR [https://disrupthr.co/vimeo-video/show-dont-tell-why-your-stories-win-at-work-sarah-elkins-disrupthr-talks/] speaker, public speaking coach, professional storyteller, musician, and podcast host. Her workshops and coaching packages with teams and their leaders are known to address and reduce miscommunication – the most common cause of tension and stress in the workplace. Using the team's results from the StrengthsFinder assessment, she guides teams in learning to speak each other's "language", learning to value each other's strengths and connecting with each other through enhanced self-reflection and effective listening. Sarah's nearly 20 years working in government agencies inspired her to complete her MBA and to achieve her StrengthsFinder certification to improve work environments for others, guiding teams toward increased satisfaction, productivity, and happiness. Visit her website [https://elkinsconsulting.com/books] to purchase her book, Your Stories Don't Define You in paperback or audiobook.

439 Pivot Point: Revealed with the Right Question - A Monologue from Sarah Elkins

You won't be surprised to hear that I had another moment of inspiration on a recent hike… This time it was about seeing meaningful, pivotal moments not as the experience itself, but in how we talk about it later. In late August of 2018 my husband and I had an amazing opportunity to travel to southern France to perform with a jazz quartet at two venues. The first was in Arudy on the edge of the Pyrenees Mountains near the border with Spain. It was a sold-out community event attended by 200+ residents of the surrounding villages. Most of our audience didn't speak English or had very limited experience with it. The second performance was on the patio of a small bar in Eygalieres in Provence. We had some serious challenges over those two weeks, some obstacles we couldn't have anticipated and others we simply weren't prepared for. I had lots of meaningful moments, but most of them felt like lessons about what not to do, how to be more prepared for things, what to avoid in the future. About a week after we arrived back home in Montana I had a call scheduled with a new connection I made on LinkedIn a few weeks before our trip. At that point I had resolved not to talk about it because it felt like I could only share the obstacles. In my ears it sounded like I was just complaining about the adventure and ignoring the privilege of the experience, the honor of performing for audiences in those extraordinary places, like I was acting like a spoiled, entitled American. But the first thing my new friend asked was: "How was the trip? I was thinking about you and hoping you were enjoying yourself!" She heard the hesitation in my voice, the pain in my "it was fine" answer. And she switched gears. It was the question she asked next that was the pivot point, not necessarily my answer to it. --- Listeners, now it's your turn: What memory popped into your head when you heard my story? Have you been the person on the receiving end, asked a perfect question to shift your perspective? Have you been the person to ask a question that positively changed something for someone else? From previous episodes you may have a specific image of who I am, did today's story shift that image at all? Did it fill in some gaps for you? The stories we share say a lot about who we are. What's one story you can share differently to reframe the experience with more perspective and context? --- After more than 430 episodes of this podcast, I was recently inspired to change the format of the show. The new format for my show aligns with what I'm learning about narrative identity (how the stories we tell about ourselves internally and externally influence our identity) and demonstrates what I've been teaching for years: Sharing a story to reveal who you are and what matters to you. My hope is that future episodes will offer more clarity about great storytelling and how to find and explore pivotal moments to demonstrate who we are. --- About Sarah: Sarah is a Montana based workplace communication trainer, TEDx [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW-zrlsZPHk] speaker, DisruptHR [https://disrupthr.co/vimeo-video/show-dont-tell-why-your-stories-win-at-work-sarah-elkins-disrupthr-talks/] speaker, public speaking coach, professional storyteller, musician, and podcast host. Her workshops and coaching packages with teams and their leaders are known to address and reduce miscommunication – the most common cause of tension and stress in the workplace. Using the team's results from the StrengthsFinder assessment, she guides teams in learning to speak each other's "language", learning to value each other's strengths and connecting with each other through enhanced self-reflection and effective listening. Sarah's nearly 20 years working in government agencies inspired her to complete her MBA and to achieve her StrengthsFinder certification to improve work environments for others, guiding teams toward increased satisfaction, productivity, and happiness. Visit her website [https://elkinsconsulting.com/books] to purchase her book, Your Stories Don't Define You in paperback or audiobook.

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438 Pivot Point: Noticing Progress - a monologue from Sarah Elkins

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