Nicola: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Women at the Top of Telecoms and Tech. I am Colaco and I am the coach who works with organizations in telecoms and tech to help them recruit, retain. And develop their female employees so they’re very senior leaders, their future talent to create more inclusive culture and to address the gender pay gap.

Nicola: So today I, this is a subject that’s come up for me and my clients, especially clients who I’m working with in organizations on leadership programs over the last three or four months really, and it’s just really a really important subject around. When you are feeling demotivated, how to refine that motivation.

Nicola: So how to refine that sense [00:01:00] of having the energy, having the passion, having the purpose, and then the energy to really focus in, deliver and have that real resilience when things don’t go right or when things need to change. Because what I’m seeing in the corporate world at the moment, especially within Telco and.

Nicola: And those organizations that are in those really fast moving industries that tend to be male dominated, is that a lot of women that are the glue organizations that are holding together, the teams that are delivering, that are leading the teams that are taking. Bids that are won and actually implementing that are leading huge areas of the business through a period of change of transformation.

Nicola: These women are the glue. They’re holding together whole parts of the company. They are the unicorn employees of women that are at that very, very senior level have a lot of respect, a lot of recognition, but they’re being squeezed. Their [00:02:00] time is being squeezed, their energy is being squeezed. because it’s just, it’s a really challenging environment at the moment.

Nicola: And what I’ve seen and what I’ve experienced are head camp freezes and budget cuts and. When people are leaving, there’s no replacements yet. There’s still that same expected level of delivery. There’s still that same expected meeting, the same goals yet with less and less resource. So what it leads to for some women is that overworking overdelivering.

Nicola: The presenteeism of always being online, always being available, being the first to respond, that wanting to be perfect, and knowing all the answers to help the organization through this really tough period. And just off the back of that, that kind of kills motivation because when you’re giving so much for so long, it just, you can’t sustain.

Nicola: It’s not something that should be the norm. It shouldn’t be the norm to [00:03:00] give everything of yourself to your role because you have a life outside of that. But if you just think of the context of the last two years and we’ve been through just a, a. A period of what I would call collective trauma that we’ve all been through, um, lockdown, we’ve all been through covid, we’ve all been through this world changing event.

Nicola: And off the back of that now, this year even, and I don’t wanna be a doom manger, I don’t wanna be a voice of doom and gloom, but the reality is, even this year, there’s no straight back to normal. There’s been an ongoing war in the Ukraine, there’s been a recession, or we’re in a recession. We’ve seen big businesses kind of issuing profit warnings and revenues are being have been cut.

Nicola: Goals not being met. And all of that just pits a lot of pressure on the workforce. It pits a lot of pressure on employees and it also means that in terms of individual employees, just nervous systems are just shock and just [00:04:00] exhausted and just that resilience that needs to be there to kind of get through another tough period and dig in.

Nicola: There’s nothing to dig into. , there’s no, there’s been no period of recovery. There’s been no period of pauses and reset. There’s been no, there’s been no time to just switch off and just go again. So we’re almost replacing demands upon demands really for a period of huge uncertainty. And that is gonna affect motivation.

Nicola: So what I’m gonna talk about today is how to. You to refine your motivation when you might be really struggling. When you are thinking, what is the point? Is this it? Is this what my life is feeling like? You’re not making a difference at work like you really want to not feeling heard. I just feel like you’re giving so much, but it’s not really leading anywhere.

Nicola: Last week’s strategy that you’ve galvanized a team, you’ve shared the vision of what it is, you’ve started taking steps to implement and [00:05:00] now it’s in doubt and it, it’s likely to change again very soon. So just bringing your team through that constant change cycle is really, takes a lot of energy. So if you are feeling like you are not motivated at the moment, Absolutely know that you’re not alone.

Nicola: I’m hearing this an awful lot in organizations. And the other part of what I see in organizations is when, obviously when there’s budget cups and opex spend, it’s just really limited or not at all, and headcount, freezers. So training and coaching and support for employees tend to speak up with that because it feels like it’s an expendable line.

Nicola: It’s something that isn’t really needed. It’s not an immediate need when there’s obviously this client support and delivery and. System changes that are needed to actually just support the clients that you already have. But what that means is you, if you’ve had support and you take away that support, you’re kind of, you’re setting an expectation of it’s not consistent, it’s not true [00:06:00] support, it’s not there, it’s not got longevity.

Nicola: And if it’s individual support, it’s almost a sense for employee of the, what’s that support in whatever shape that was. It might be coaching sessions. It might. Mentoring and now that’s not available. Plus, you’re still asking that employee to perform at the same level and you still have those same expectations.

Nicola: So I just really urge you if you are a HR leader, and in this world, and you are listening to this today, just where possible, keep support, keep the frameworks, keep the coaching, keep the training, even if it’s in a different format, even if it’s a more informal way, even if it’s were kind of self-study and learning, even with, it’s just getting groups of people in a room and just having them share how they’re feeling.

Nicola: It’s needed more than ever , and to take it away, it’s. , it’s gonna cause more damage in the long run. Absolutely. So if you are feeling like you don’t have that [00:07:00] motivation at the moment, just know you’re not alone. But what I want to start with today, so we’re, we’re gonna talk about today. So first of all, I wanna talk about the difference between motivation and inspiration and why it’s really important to understand that difference.

Nicola: This is something that I share with all my clients as well when we’re talking about motivation and having that energy, having that passion, um, that really high level of energy as well to make a real differe. and then just really into four or five steps that I work with my clients on to help them to refine that motivation and to get some energy back and to refine that resilience so that they can keep supporting their teams and keep being there for the, the business and their peers and their, their senior leaders.

Nicola: So, First of all, let’s start off with what is the difference between motivation and inspiration? It might be something you’ve not really thought about before, but motivation is more externally applied, if you think about it in that way. So when I had my gym business, a lot of my clients would say to me, you’re such a great motivator.[00:08:00]

Nicola: You are the person that makes me want to come in the morning. You are the smiling face that I see. You are the one challenging me and pushing me. You are the expert that I have in my corner. And that mo that gave them the motivation to show up to sessions, to look at what they’re eating, to look after themselves more, to get to bed on time.

Nicola: But that motivation was external, so that was all through me and they kind of, they fed off my energy. So at times I could find that when I had, when my gym business got really successful and it was really busy and we had upwards a hundred plus clients. , it would just be really, really demanding of me and it would just drain my energy because I felt like I was, I was almost the battery charger for every single one of my clients, yet I wasn’t necessarily looking after myself, which is also something I’ve worked really hard on.

Nicola: So motivation is external. So think for yourself now, what is your motivation? What are the external factors that have motivated you? So was it joining a particular organization? Was [00:09:00] it a certain level of role? Now is that motivation that you wanna be seen as an expert in your area? You want us to be seen as an expert in the industry?

Nicola: Just think about what is your motivation? What is the thing that keeps you, has kept you going, and what’s changed? Why is it different now? Um, so Mo that’s motivation. Then. If we take inspiration, and this is what I work with all my clients on to understand this difference and then help them to find that inspiration.

Nicola: Inspiration is internal. Inspiration is from the heart. Inspiration is your, your, if you want to use the word soul, your soul speaking, it’s, it’s something that you are, you are called to do. It’s part of your bigger purpose. It is purpose. It is passion. It is from the heart, and you’ll feel it. It’s a, it’s an endless energy.

Nicola: Even on the days you have a wobble, when you have inspiration. That lights that fire of passion and purpose. When you have that, it’s internally, it’s internally. [00:10:00] The energy there is just it. It is endless, and it keeps, it keeps going, and it’s all from you. So inspiration is really finding the things that connect your heart, the things that make your heart be a bit faster, the things that you feel physically excited about that makes your hair stand up on end a little bit, and just have that physi energy of excitement and passion and purpose.

Nicola: So, Just to understand the difference between two with motivation then. So motivation externally applied. It’s probably from someone else or something outside of you. Inspiration is internal. It’s very much led from the heart. It’s very much creates that cycle of endless energy keeps you going on the days when you’re having a wobble, when you’re not feeling great and you’re feeling demotivated.

Nicola: So the tips that I’ve got today are really gonna help you to refine that inspiration. And if you, just some questions to ask yourself if you felt, feel like you’ve lost your motivation as well. Just ask yourself [00:11:00] when you felt your most motivated and inspired, what was the context? So, What were you doing?

Nicola: What was your role? What did you love about that role? Who was around you? Who were you working for? What was the organization? What were you delivering? What did you love about it? How did you know that that was your real area of strength that you love, that you enjoyed? And what is different now? So what’s changed?

Nicola: What’s different? What’s missing for you? And think of it again as a list of ingredients. So, Your emotions, your brain is a prediction and response mechanism. So what that means is you’ve felt every emotion in the world there is to feel, which always kind of blows my mind. Um, so it means that at times you felt really motivated, really inspired, and at the times you felt really demotivated, uninspired.

Nicola: So think about your ingredients for both of those. Think about what needs to be, what needs to [00:12:00] be. in your world what needs to be, what sort of work do you need to be doing? Who needs to be supporting you? Um, what sort of recognition do you need to kind of feel that real motivation and inspiration versus when you’ve not had it, what’s different, what’s been taken away?

Nicola: Um, and part of that might be out of your control. Part of that might be just due to the situation within the business or the company. But really think from your perspective, what keeps you motivated, what makes you excited, what gives you that energy? Have a real think about energy, because when you are energized, when you’re excited, that’s, that’s your fire being lit.

Nicola: That’s your passion, that’s your purpose speaking. So, Have a real thing. Go through those questions and just some questions kind of help you find where you are with this right now. And also think one to 10, use the scale of one to 10. So one to 10. How motivated and inspired are you feeling right now, and where were you?

Nicola: When you are at your most inspired and motivated versus where you are now. Plus one [00:13:00] strategy is a strategy I often use with clients, which is just take your score now and add one to that score. So if you are currently at a four for motivation, inspiration, how do you make it a five? What’s gonna help you?

Nicola: What’s a one or two actions you can take to move that score? Okay, so let’s start with some tips, some quick tips to help you find, refine that inspiration. And the first one that I wanted to kind of mention about was just energy. So a lot of my clients, we, we can always give more time to something and a lot of my clients tend to overwork and over deliver when we first started working together.

Nicola: Which can often lead to them being overwhelmed. So really think about your energy, think about your diary, how much of your energy is that taking? And with energy as well. And when I talk to clients about energy management, sounds like a strange thing, but actually we often have. energy razors and energy drainers.

Nicola: So energy razors are the things, the people, the [00:14:00] situations that raise our energy and give us more. And then the energy drainers are situations, people and things that drain our energy and take away from our energy. So think about at the moment what is increasing and raising your energy versus what is decreasing your energy.

Nicola: And then also with. Think about energy leaks. So energy leaks are kind of unfinished loops. So that could be something that you’ve meant to do at home for a long time. So it might be the loft that you’ve meant to have cleared out. It might be the direct debit you meant to have, um, you meant to have stopped.

Nicola: It might be that you need to. Get the dogs tablets for them. So think about where those energy leaks and loops are, um, and close them. So take a day and just create a list of things that are taking your energy, that are adding to that feeling of not being motivated. Um, and just work for your list and just close all those different loops you can think of.

Nicola: And that can be around career. That can be. Home [00:15:00] and work and just spend a day and close all those loops. It just really releases a lot of energy releases, a lot of things that are on your mind, closes some of the tabs in your brain. So the second tip is around control. So when you are finding that motivation is kind of ebbed away and you just wanna get back to that place of feeling inspired and motivated, or at least being a bit more energized, just think about are you overly focusing on things you can’t control?

Nicola: So there’s a great tool that I use for clients, which is called the locus of control. The sphere of control. Spheres of control. And imagine it is three circles moving. So the middle circle is what you are directly in control of. Um, so that could be around your diary, for example. That could be around when you, you start work and you finish work.

Nicola: That could be around how you spend your weekends. So what are you directly in control of? The second circle out then is what you can influence. So, [00:16:00] That could be around saying no to a particular project that could be around pushing back on boundaries of what your team’s being asked to deliver. So think about what can you influence that could be around pushing for a next promotion or role.

Nicola: Even with the headcount freeze, kind of lining up stakeholders in your network to get some support with that. And then the third circle out is what you are not in control of. So you are not in control of what’s going on in the Ukraine. Um, you are not in control of the world recession, you’re not in control of your company’s revenue.

Nicola: But if you go back to what you can control, you can look at what your team is spending. You can look at the revenue that your team are generating. So use that sphere of control model to really clear your head to, again, close some of those energy loops, to really bring you back to where you can focus your time, your energy and expertise, and make the biggest difference right now.

Nicola: Tip number three is gets super clear on what you’re expected to deliver. So in times of [00:17:00] challenge like this, when there’s just a real pressure to drive revenue and save costs, Understandable, absolutely. But with that goes just shifting away from the core strategy, shifting away from the bigger, the bigger strategy and more deliverables.

Nicola: So really get very, very clear on what you and your team and your area are expected to deliver and what you can deliver and deliver well. So, , if you’ve had a headcount freeze each, you might have gone from a team of six down to a team of four. If you’ve got someone on maternity leave, you might not be replacing them for the year that they’re off, for example.

Nicola: So what can you deliver and deliver really well with the resource that you have and push back on anything outside of that and be super clear. And if you have to make trade offs, go and own those trade offs and suggest them, but get the permission, get the buy-in. I can deliver all of these things, but these are the things that we need to park for now, or these are things that we need to sit somewhere else.

Nicola: So own your [00:18:00] goals, own the strategy for your area, and just a tip leading on from that as well is just. From the most senior level, the board members just get that sense of strategy, and if it’s silence, share that with your team. So share that actually, you don’t know at the moment exactly what’s going on, but have that sense of what is the strategy that we’re following and get really, really clear on that.

Nicola: Refining motivation. So fourth tip is really around finding, refining your passion, refining what excites you, what you love doing, what energizes you, what you just, you skip out of the bed in the morning to do. And passion can be at work and at home because if you, if you’re just feeling more passionate, if you’re feeling more energized and excited, even if that’s for something at home, that can carry through into work and that can keep your energy, that can keep you.

Nicola: Just feeling like you can manage your week more at work because you have, you have that, that bookend of something [00:19:00] that you are really passionate about. So that could be a hobby that you wanna pursue. So for me, it’s sea swimming and it’s committing to the channel swim, for example. And even though I’ve had a really challenging month or so at work, that keeps my passion, that keeps me excited about something that spills then back into my.

Nicola: And then my final tip is also just to give you a nudge to go back to your purpose. So Simon Sinek does a lot of great work on finding your why, and he’s got a brilliant TEDx talk, which is all about finding your why and. Just really urge you if you’re feeling demotivated, go back to your why. Go back to your purpose.

Nicola: Go back to what’s important to you. Go back to what you believe in, what you stand for, and similarly what you stand against. And I have a process that I take clients through to really help them find their purpose. And that purpose is what we call light. It re lights their fire. It’s helping them to find their fire because their purpose is a thing that will get them off on the days that it’s feeling a bit hard.

Nicola: They’ll get ’em off on the days when [00:20:00] they’ve got a really challenging meeting, or they need to have a difficult conversation with someone, or they need to say no or make a trade off. So start reshaping that purpose and really, really think about. What’s important to you? Is it making a difference? Is it developing your team?

Nicola: Is it getting to the next level and having more impact? And just go back to spend some time thinking about what is your purpose and also put in place the things that are gonna help you to find, refine that passion inside and outside of. and with purpose as well. I’d really recommend you watch a TEDx Talk by Adam Lipsig, and it’s called How to Know Your Life Purpose in Five Minutes.

Nicola: And it’s part of the part of the structure that I use to help clients kind of step out of their day-to-day, step out their busy lives, step out of that pressure that they’re under, and actually go back to what is my purpose, what’s important to me. So I really recommend that you have a look at that. And my final tip for refining your motivation is [00:21:00] just really focusing on you.

Nicola: Really focusing on supporting yourself, really focusing on self-care, really focusing on doing things that you love. So, This is the first area that I always talk to clients about, which is all about feel good foundations. So if you’re feeling demotivated, if you’re feeling like you are uninspired, it might be that you’re not taking the best to care of yourself.

Nicola: It might be that you’re punishing yourself and self-sacrificing. It might be that you are overworking to over-deliver and de demonstrate to everyone and just trying to support the business in moving forward. But actually that’s at cost yourself and as a leader. You are a role model. So just think about my final tip is really think about what you want to role models.

Nicola: You want to role model someone who’s demotivated, uninspired. Do you wanna role model someone who’s excited and passionate about what they do and put back in place those feel good foundations? So the non-negotiables in your week to help you feel good, to help you feel energized [00:22:00] so that you as a leader of one at at the heart, the start of your life through all of your life.

Nicola: You just have that energy, you have that resilience to come through these challenging times. So that’s everything I wanted to talk about today. But uh, just to reiterate, if you’re feeling like you’re not motivated, if you’re feeling uninspired, you’re certainly not alone at the moment. Just think about the context of the last few years.

Nicola: Think about the challenging world that corporate world is right now. Have a think about the difference between motivation and inspiration, and then those four tips. So looking at energy and energy leaks, using that sphere of control model. Refining that passion. So if it’s not in work, outside of work, rethinking your purpose.

Nicola: So some focus on your why, and then just around clarity of goals and clarity of delivery. So that’s it for today, but if you are finding it hard to find your motivation, this is something I work with clients on, just really to help them find their fire Again, as my program is called Drop Me a Message. I do [00:23:00] have availability for a couple of clients to start work with me in January, so I look forward to hearing from you, but.

Nicola: Thanks so much for listening today. If you do have any questions or comments, all my contact details are in the show. Thanks, bye.

Nicola: If you love what I have to say and you’d like to find out more about working with me, easiest way to do that is to book a Get to Know You call. So there’s a link to that in the show notes. I can help you through working with your organization to help close the gender pay gap through Women’s leadership Program.

Nicola: To help empower your women at the top to be more influential and impactful leaders and really own their leadership identity. Or I can create workshops around confidence, around emotional intelligence, creating a career strategy, or developing your own leadership identity. Or I can work one-to-one or group coach your senior leaders to help them to overcome a very specific problem or just again, [00:24:00] really own their own leadership identity.

Nicola: Or I can work with you one-to-one. I do work with a small number of private clients and you can work with me either on my shorter focus coaching program where we pick one specific thing and we just really focus in on it and help you to move past it or my deep dive Final five v i P program. Which really gets the root cause of what’s holding you back and also helps you to create a very, very clear idea of what you want for the future.

Nicola: And within that, your leadership identity. The results that I get from clients are as varied as they are. Brilliant. I’m incredibly proud of them. So some examples. My client being promoted twice within the six months they worked with me. Another client being invited to join the board, another client being offered a brand new role that wasn’t available to anyone else with a big promotion and a big pay rise and a client that was pushed out of an organization to them being offered three dream roles that they could choose from.

Nicola: And finally a client that decided that the [00:25:00] corporate world wasn’t for her anymore and helping her to re get really, really clear on what she wanted and sell a new company that she’s absolutely in love with. If you are not quite ready to work me yet, that’s absolutely okay. You can download my Overwhelm to On Fire Guide, which is.

Nicola: Five simple steps to help you clear your head and help you get back to feeling on fire and take that inspired action and really be that leader that you know you can be. Or you can subscribe to my newsletter, which comes out on a Friday, which has the best bits of the week. And also hints and tips, new stats that have come out and things that I’m reading or watching.

Nicola: So that’s a great way to keep in touch and a few quotes to my clients. I can talk about what I do all day. I absolutely love it. One client said, Thank you for the transformation. Who I am now at home and at work is who I am meant to be. I can feel it, and that difference is just incredible. Thank you for what you do.

Nicola: Nick, for another client who just stepped into a new exec director role. [00:26:00] Her quote was, it felt like I was wearing a coat that didn’t fit. It was a coat that was new, that didn’t quite fit me, that I didn’t feel that I was good enough for now. I step proudly stand tall and proud who I am wearing that coat of leadership.

Nicola: I am confident to speak up. I am the right hand woman of the CEO, and I have that coat that just looks great and I feel it fits, and I am just incredibly empowered leader. So thank you so much. So if you are looking to get some help just to be that most impactful and influential leader or help women in your organization by closing that gender pay gap.

Nicola: Do Booker get to know you? Call me. All the details of this are in my show notes. I can’t wait to work with you. Um, and thank you for listening. Hi, I’m Nick and you are listening to my podcast, women at the Top of Telecoms and Tech. This podcast is produced by the podcast boutique and podcast boutique, have been absolutely [00:27:00] invaluable for me in helping take my fuzzy headed concept.

Nicola: Develop the plan of what it was gonna be, what the podcast was gonna be, create a launch plan that then put us in the top 10 charts on launch week, in launch week, and for the first few months. And then also they just put together the editing. They get it ready to launch. Uh, so it means each week you get to listen to a new, very well edited, put together episode, and they are the experts and they help you to really develop your podcast so that you can have more downloads, you can reach more people and serve your audience by really creating relevant subjects for right now.

Nicola: So I really, really recommend them. It’s great to have someone on your side, and they’re absolute experts in this. So you can contact them at www.thepodcastboutique.com, and that’s also in the show notes. Thanks for listening.