Executive Dysfunction 3 Jul 2024, 5:27 pm

Wow, I could take one of two directions on this and although I have a lot to say about the dysfunction of some organizational executives, that’s not what this post is about!

I’m here today to talk about squirrels, I mean Executive Functions. Colleen here. I actually learned about executive functions while in college after being warned that I was going to face academic suspension if I didn’t get my act together.

I did great in school prior to college, so what was the deal?

After the academic counselor talked with me, she met with my professors and determined that I was in fact giving my best effort based on what I knew how to do. I went to every class. I took thorough notes (when I was focused). I even organized study groups for exams. Yet, when it came to meeting the course requirements I failed – literally! I couldn’t keep organized in my head or in my life – academic or otherwise. I struggled to figure out priorities and even found myself having major gaps in my notes and couldn’t stay on track long enough to demonstrate what I was learning.

Remembering where I parked my car in the one of 4 b’zillion parking lots didn’t help. I even had a friend see me wandering around looking for my car while he was looking for a spot to park. He followed me and after 30 minutes or so he pulled up and offered to drive me around until we found my car (the next parking lot over!).

I was a mess, and the messier I got the more I felt like I was losing control. I started thinking I needed to drop out of school. But that academic counselor taught me something invaluable that not only got me on track to graduate and get mostly A’s in my coursework as an undergrad and in my Master’s program, but get me on a career path that I am forever thankful for — incorporating Executive Functions into training programs for various organizations and coaching individuals who are dealing with executive dysfunction.

So what is executive dysfunction? These are the ‘symptoms’ that I hear from clients and see in myself at times when I forgot to focus on being ‘functional’.

If you have ever thought to yourself – “self…

…then you may be experiencing a dysfunction in your Executive Functions. Find out more about the 12 Executive Functions here.

Work with us to tame the squirrels and ease the struggle you face in daily life and work. Our 1:1 coaching and training programs empower individuals and teams to embrace and maintain good practices that support time management, focus, task completion, planning, prioritization, flexibility, emotional control and so much more! Contact us to learn how we can work with you or your teams to build and reinforce Executive Function skills.

70:20:10 Development Plans 19 Jan 2023, 6:48 pm

Did you know that employees learn most of what they need through their job? In fact, most experts agree 70% of professional development comes from on-the-job experience.

That doesn’t mean we don’t learn in other ways. Around 20% of learning comes from mentoring, feedback, job shadowing, and other social experiences. Ironically, only 10% of learning comes from formal training such as an eLearning, a seminar, or watching training videos.

So, what does that mean for your employees or yourself? Develop a 70:20:10 plan that captures what you want to learn about and how you will do it.

For example:

Above are examples of on-the-job tasks/activities (70%), social learning – mentor/manager/learner questions (20%) and ‘formal’ learning – articles, presentations, and trainings (10%) in the above example. Would you like a personal/professional roadmap for your own use? Contact us and during a 30-minute call we will co-create your 70:20:10 initial framework. Within a couple of days we will have a formal customized plan ready for you.

Mentoring | Coaching | Consulting Comparison Chart 17 Jan 2023, 12:42 pm

We receive a lot of questions about mentoring, coaching, and our consulting services. Here is a comparison chart that outlines the goals, relationship factors, role of emotions in the partnership, and the process for how it works (high level). Contact us to discuss your needs further and we would be honored to provide the best service in alignment with your goals.

en / em dash/hyphen – I had no idea! 30 Aug 2022, 8:50 pm

So, I’ve taken journalism classes, I’m technically a published writer and have been for years. Even wrote for magazines and newspapers early in my career. I am open to learning new things. However, I just learned something that I’m shaking my head wondering does it really matter?

One of my proofreaders came back with an edit around using a hyphen. She suggested using an em dash instead of a hyphen. Say what?

I dug into a bit more and learned there are en and em dashes and hyphens.

Ok, so here’s how it works:

Confused? I shared this with Jeff and Emma (The J and E in the business name of JCE) thinking, ok, this could be an interesting conversation. I received a couple versions of responses via text – both representing the sentiment I kind of have — WTF???? I just broke a few rules with the prior sentence, but once again. Who technically cares. Well, my proofreader did. I’ll be honest, Word doesn’t correct any of the above examples either, so it must not be that big of deal. Thoughts?

We had another conversation too – around the use of a or an. A unicorn? An unicorn? A unanimous decision? An unanimous decision. I could swear that I was taught to use ‘a’ infront of consonants and ‘an’ in front of vowels. Yes, sort of – only in front of the sounds of a vowel or a consonant, so you have to sound it out. Emma is right, English is soooo confusing.

If you want to learn more about grammar/punctuation, I found a cool just in time resource. let me know what you think. Good luck with the em/en/hyphens. Looks like next time I will address slashes!

https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/

Working Through Burnout – Complete the Stress Response Cycle 19 Feb 2022, 11:08 am

I have been presenting to healthcare groups about burnout and stress since ‘new normal’ kicked in… One of the most well-received resources I have shared is from Drs Emily and Amelia Nagoski called Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle. Although the book is an incredible and easy read, I have found various podcasts and videos that effectively summarize their findings.

Watch the below 7:00 video and listen to a bit of the science behind stress response and practical strategies that support stress release.

Print Friendly + PDF 18 Feb 2022, 6:55 pm

I love printing out favorite recipes, capturing screen information, and research for work. Not trying to waste paper or kill trees, I just am old school once in awhile and do much better on paper than digital at times. I don’t need all the headers, footers, images, and ads though. Using Print Friendly + PDF is a dream! I use the Chrome Extension and makes my life so much simpler.