S3, Ep. 1- Q&A- Introducing: The Collective!

Layci (00:05.166)
Hello, hello and welcome back to Confessions of a Terrible Leader. I am your host and former terrible leader Lacey Nelson. If you happen to be watching the clip of this, I'm coming at you from a little different place today. I am in Orlando, Florida with my boys as they're competing in a tech competition, the Technology Student Association and yeah.

Mary was gracious enough to hop on with me this morning as we record this so I can share with you some developments. Mary, welcome back.

Mary Skop (00:45.025)
Thank you, thank you, Lacey. Very glad to be here. Yes. So, yes, Lacey, sorry. I'm going to pause for just a second. I realized, Leif, you can cut right here, please. I just realized, Lacey, I wanted to reference your pod, previous podcast. just briefly reference the one about.

Layci (00:50.222)
Alright.

Mary Skop (01:08.801)
the Dr. John Reeves Agribusiness Leadership Institute. So we'll say go back and listen to season two episode 19. So okay Leaf, we're gonna come back on and Lacey do you want to do you want me to just jump in? Okay sounds good. Okay three two

So Lacey, I have some questions for you, referencing all the exciting new things that are happening in the collective these days. And for you listeners, if you have not heard, you can go back to season two, episode 19 to learn all about Lacey's introduction to the Dr. John Reeves Agribusiness Leadership Institute. It is a really exciting new collaboration. It's going to open up so many new doors.

for just a lot of help, support, training, leadership, all the good things that help us grow. So Lacey, I'm just going to start with a really basic question. What is the collective and how did it come about?

Layci (02:14.158)
I'm so glad you asked. So the collective Transcend Leadership Collective, I named it that before there was actually anyone collecting. It was just me and the reason I gave it that name, I didn't know how it was gonna unfold. I could lie and say, I had this from the jump. I didn't. But what I did know is that there is, there...

Mary Skop (02:25.313)
You

Layci (02:41.07)
What we're trying to do through our Heart First Leadership Principles, through our ability to help people go to work every day and feel engaged, motivated, and inspired, and have leaders that are worthy of being followed and know how to make that happen. I did have the foresight to recognize there is no way that just me could have that level of impact that I would love to see ripple out.

Mary Skop (03:06.305)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (03:10.222)
And in order to make that happen, there was going to need to truly be a movement. And the collective was a holding place for that. I didn't know exactly what it was gonna look like, but that was the genesis of the idea.

Mary Skop (03:24.097)
Yeah. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Layci (03:29.646)
And so what the collective now is how it is forming to meet the demands and the needs of our clients, as well as to grow the capacity for the impact that we want to have. We are welcoming a group of like -minded professional trainers, instructors, many of which have their own businesses.

but we all are uniting under the banner of the Transcend Leadership Collective because we have this shared vision and the shared core values, the things that really matter when it comes to alignment for any sort of collective work together. We're on the same mission. We just have a little bit different flavors and skill sets for how we're gonna get there. And so,

Mary Skop (04:03.937)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (04:27.278)
wanting to bring on the best of the best and the proven commodities to serve people and really bring this to life, what better way than to welcome people in that are in alignment and are excellent in their own right at delivering top shelf training and services to our clients, to the people that we really want to help get to that next level.

Mary Skop (04:56.417)
Yes. Yes, absolutely. And there, there we have so we have instructors coming from different areas of expertise, all kind of like, you know, genius in their own zones. So there can be a huge range of services offered that is really beneficial for all parties involved. So

Layci (05:22.99)
Absolutely.

Mary Skop (05:23.937)
Tell me, Lacey, how does one become an instructor in the collective?

Layci (05:29.134)
Well, first of all, they need to understand and be able to communicate how there's alignment between our core values because we want it to be an absolute win for everyone involved. So if they're like, yeah, I am people over profit, like.

Like I say, we don't dislike money around here. We are a for -profit organization, but we're not gonna step on people and cause harm to get more money. And so, and we're also not gonna train that to any, into any organization. And so if people are, they resonate with that, if they resonate with integrity, doing the right thing, especially when it's the hard thing, if there's alignment with, for trainers, this is gonna be really important with the, we have a show up and show out core value.

which means that we show up for each other, we do what we say we're gonna do, we follow through, and we do that for our clients with White Glove Service, and show out is we are excellent trainers. We meet people where they are, we're able to bend, flex where we need to flex to have the attention and meet the room, train to facilitate the group in the way that is going to be the most beneficial.

And there's a lot of skill required to be a top level facilitator. A lot of people, they don't understand what goes into it. They just know when they have a bad one, right? Like we've all been to a course where like this person doesn't feel like they want to be here. It's not clear. It's like Charlie Brown, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. And you, that, so.

Mary Skop (06:53.185)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (07:07.822)
One of that, you know, so if there's alignment and you're like, no, no, I understand that it's usually equal parts education and entertainment to really capture people as well as an ability to communicate succinctly and and draw your group in. Right. Like they have to enjoy being with you, not just tolerate being with you and being able to connect to people. So if you're listening to this and you're like, that sounds like me, that's step one. Right.

Mary Skop (07:15.969)
Yeah, sure.

Mary Skop (07:24.385)
Mm -hmm.

Right. yeah.

Right.

Mary Skop (07:31.909)
Yup.

Layci (07:37.294)
And then making sure there's alignment there, making sure you're aligned with our mission of really wanting to create, help be the catalyst to give the people the skills to create these workplaces where people want to come to, where they feel like they belong, where they feel motivated, engaged, and inspired. And helping the leadership have the skills to do that. And there's a lot of different skills that go into that. And so...

We excel at teaching people the fundamentals of healthy conflict, honest communication, and building cultures of acceptance, respect, and trust, like the heart first leadership. That is where our expertise lies when you think of how to help people learn how to coach. We'll go into organizations and we will build out entire leadership academies for corporations and organizations. But we'll also support

Mary Skop (08:27.041)
You

Layci (08:31.758)
do the same thing on a smaller level. It doesn't have to be at the corporate level. And so that's one facet of what we do. And we actually have so much demand that that Katalisa and I on our own can't cover it all. So we love to invite people in to help deliver that as well through the collective as trainers. And then there's areas that are adjacent and complimentary, but we are, they're not in our wheelhouse. However, our client may very much benefit.

from a person who owns a business in their own right, like an HR specialist. We're not HR. I mean, we're HR adjacent. We share some things, but I'm not gonna begin to pretend that we're gonna come in and be able to do for you what someone who's SHRM certified can. But wouldn't it be nice for our clients

Mary Skop (09:09.217)
Mm -hmm. Right.

Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (09:18.405)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (09:27.79)
If we have a client that's that we know that they need this service, we can build it into the contract and then we're putting our name on these collective instructors. So these instructors, they, if their collective instructors want to come in, if they want to come into the fold and they've got that alignment, they would subcontract. But we do it differently. I wrote the contracts. Well, my lawyer wrote the contracts, but

Mary Skop (09:52.581)
Sure.

Yeah.

Layci (09:56.558)
I put the terms of the contracts into the favor of really written from the perspective of being someone on the instructor side with a lot of intellectual property who signed so many of these and got tired of redlining them all the time for things like trying to sneak in ownership of intellectual property for whoever it was created for and like, no, you don't get to own my stuff.

Mary Skop (09:59.073)
you

Layci (10:24.942)
for a per hour fee. So really just, it's really written so it's a win for both sides of the equation. So the instructor's IP remains theirs. If they're training, if they write a course, they get paid to write the course and then they get first right of refusal. And we have to ask permission to use it again. So it's really set up in a way that benefits both parties. And so.

Mary Skop (10:47.169)
Mm -hmm.

Yes.

Layci (10:52.494)
we've got this, we're building this group and we already have a group of three that are on their way in and a few hot on their heels that are like raised their hand and said, yeah, let's do this. We wanna be part of this. And the first three had been working with John and Dana before the, listen to that episode and you'll get the context for this, but they had been working with John and Dana and came over and said, yep, we will.

We have such a great relationship with John and Dana and Lacey were willing to give this a shot and to trust you and the rest of your team. And so we've had that dynamic of coming together and it's, it's been a good and mostly smooth and definitely have made a few errors. Thank you. Collective first runs for your extreme patients. And, they're there. We're really forming this group of these like -minded individuals and they have agreed to go through.

Mary Skop (11:36.897)
you

Layci (11:48.462)
Heartfirst certification. So not only is it just, yeah, the alignments there, there's actually a process to get certified by us. So it is a seamless delivery. We have unified language concepts. The underpinning of Heartfirst is there. So that the client is getting a very consistent, smooth experience. They're not necessarily gonna see all of the back of the embroidery, right?

Mary Skop (11:50.689)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (12:18.081)
Mm -hmm, sure. Right.

Layci (12:18.446)
They're not going to see the back. They're going to see the front. And then it's the back where we're putting all those pieces together, but it really will help all of us to extend our reach and all of us to move this shared mission and vision forward.

Mary Skop (12:29.889)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (12:37.601)
Yep, absolutely. No, it's totally fine. It's a lot to cover. It is to describe something like the collective that is a lot to uncover. It's a lot to explain. So it's completely understandable. So we see there's a great benefit for the instructors. Their work is protected.

Layci (12:38.126)
I just talked a lot, Mary. I lectured at you, I'm sorry.

Mary Skop (13:01.569)
They get to go through, there's an alignment of core values there. They go through the hard first certification to deepen that alignment. So that's really beneficial for them as an instructor. Let's talk about how does this benefit the clients?

Layci (13:10.286)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (13:18.158)
Yeah, so a lot of times one of the things that we learned when working, that we've learned working with clients is it's very difficult when they have all this siloed, they're trying to break down silos all the time, but then they have all this expertise that comes in and it's very siloed. They're hiring 14, you know, that might be an exaggeration, but let's see.

Mary Skop (13:34.625)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (13:44.225)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (13:44.75)
four different consulting organizations to come in in a year. And all four have their own language and all four have their, so you've got, instead of breaking down silos, what is unintentionally happening is it's thickening the walls because now they're getting training that's completely disjointed. And the trainers don't even necessarily know, know that the other, or other part of the organization is even getting this training. And sometimes the messaging can even be

Mary Skop (13:47.553)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (13:51.489)
Yes.

Mary Skop (13:59.937)
Hmm

Mary Skop (14:08.929)
Right.

Layci (14:13.934)
contradictory an approach if there hasn't been a macro level discussion of overarching what is our approach. What is our people centric approach? Do we have one? You know, so the benefit for the client besides all of the vetting on the back end that we do and putting our stamp on it and all of that, the benefit really is you get a unified training group that has a has multiple

Mary Skop (14:26.273)
Right, right.

Mary Skop (14:40.705)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (14:42.926)
different areas of expertise, but they're united with core values. They're going to share a lot of the same lexicon. So when we're using terminology, it's terminology that exists across the entire company. Like when we say someone has fallen below the line, everyone in the organization is going to know what that means because they are all, no matter if we're coming in to talk about finances,

Mary Skop (15:01.665)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (15:06.113)
Yes.

Layci (15:10.51)
That would not be me. Or we've brought somebody to come in and talk about somebody to come in and talk about a lean change management or lean process management, Six Sigma. Yes, they're going to be experts in their own right, but the human side of implementation is going to have a shared language and understanding of this is how we do people.

And that is extremely beneficial and powerful for creating a unified culture in an organization.

Mary Skop (15:47.489)
Yeah, absolutely. That shared language leading to a huge increase of clarity and unified that everyone can get on mission and know exactly what they're doing and what's going to happen next. That sounds great to me. So give us a little sneak peek of what we might expect.

from the podcast here and there as the continuation of the collective unfolds.

Layci (16:15.47)
Yes.

As it unfolds and as we officially certify our first members, we are going to be highlighting them. So in the next bit of time, I won't box this in, but in the next bit of time here, just keep your eyes and your ears open and we will be highlighting Hartford certified members of the collective on the podcast. So you can get to know them, get to know their areas of expertise.

We can even talk a little bit more about how this collective, from their perspective, you know, what do you like? What do you hate? I'm really open to them publicly sharing what they don't like as well. I'm okay with that. It's part of being a leader. So having those great discussions and most importantly, us coming together and going, how is this, how is what they're delivering benefiting the people that they're serving? And let's dig into the people side.

Mary Skop (17:00.193)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Mary Skop (17:15.169)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (17:18.03)
So, and of course their confessions, cause we all have to come on with a confession, right? Yeah, no one would want to be part of this collective if they weren't willing to talk about their confessions. So, they have to come in ready to go and yeah, it's gonna be fun. We're definitely getting some amazing interest as well. And we may have to put that little heart first logo next to past guests that have.

Mary Skop (17:18.176)
sure.

Yes. Right. Yep. You have to.

Mary Skop (17:28.449)
Right, yes.

Layci (17:46.67)
come onto the collective since they've been guests on the podcast, as that starts to come together as well.

Mary Skop (17:48.861)
Yes, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, it's been really exciting just seeing how it's kind of grown and taken shape and in people sharing such an interest. And yes, if you listener, if this resonates with you, well, just reach out to us and we can chat more about the collective and even just on an informational level, you know, connect and share a little bit more about that.

Layci (18:03.95)
Okay.

Mary Skop (18:17.121)
Lacey, I... Yes, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Layci (18:17.134)
Yes, and if it's not already up, when you're listening to this, it will be very shortly. There will be a tab on our website at the top where you can go check out more info about the collective for yourself. So by the time this goes live, it may be ready for you. But if you go, then it's not there. Set a reminder to go back because it'll be real quick. It'll be ready to go.

Mary Skop (18:33.345)
excellent.

Mary Skop (18:44.577)
Awesome. That sounds fantastic. Well, Lacey, if you would see us out today, I appreciated your time and going over what the heck is collective, is the collective and what does it take to be in the collective. So thank you for your time and yeah, let's wrap it up for today.

Layci (19:01.998)
Well, thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for listening to Mary and I chit chat about this. And until next time, go manage like a leader.