People-First Culture with Kristy-Lynn Lechner

“Creating a people-first culture is both our challenge and our greatest opportunity.”
- Kristy-Lynn Lechner

What does a people-first culture mean to you?  What does it look like? Feel like?   In this episode, my guest shares her philosophy and wisdom around people-first culture, and how she has leveraged the Leadership Circle Profile tool to help leaders become more self-aware and more effective at driving business success.

My guest today is Kristy-Lynn Lechner. Kristy-Lynn is the Director, People & Culture with Wesgroup Properties, one of Western Canada’s largest private real estate companies with a diversified portfolio spanning across residential and commercial real estate.  Her mandate is to drive Wesgroup’s people strategy, in collaboration with leaders, employee’s and the People & Culture team, ensuring each element is aligned with their culture, values, and business goals.

Prior to joining Wesgroup, she was the Director, Human Resources with Teekay Corporation, one of the worlds leading marine energy transportation companies. Working in this large, global organization for 20 years gave her the opportunity to grow her career as an HR generalist, supporting countless global people initiatives while engaging with various employee groups and leaders at all levels, including a memorable 7-month secondment to Norway.

Kristy-Lynn is committed to making a difference in the organizations and people she supports.  She believes leading with curiosity and compassion have been foundational to her success. 

In this episode of Talent Management Truths, you’ll discover:

• The importance of deep listening and avoiding assumptions when stepping into a new leadership position
• Insights into the power of the Leadership Circle Profile and how it visually distinguishes between the reactive tendencies and creative competencies you are demonstrating at work and helps you become more agile
• An example of purpose-mapping and its impact on personal awareness and mindset

Links

• Kristy-Lynn Lechner on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristy-lynnlechner/ 

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Transcript

What does a People First Culture mean to you? What does it look like, feel like? In this episode, my guest shares her philosophy and wisdom around people First culture, and how she has leveraged the Leadership Circle profile tool to help leaders become more self-aware and more effective at driving business success.

My guest is Kristi Lynn Lechner. Kristi Lynn is the Director of People and Culture with West Group Properties, which is one of Western Canada's largest private real estate companies. Prior to joining West Group, she was director of HR at TK Corporation, which is one of the world's leading marine energy transportation companies.

She worked there for 20 years and it gave her global experience as an HR generalist. And it included a memorable seven month secondment to Norway. In this episode of Talent Management Truths, you'll discover the importance of deep listening and avoiding assumptions when stepping into a new leadership position.

Insights into the power of the leadership circle profile, and how it visually distinguishes between the reactive tendencies and creative competencies you are demonstrating at work and how it helps you become more agile. An example of purpose mapping and its impact on personal awareness and mindset.

Kristy Lynn is a valued client and friend, and this is a really, really great episode. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Hello and welcome back to Talent Management Truth. I'm your host, Lisa Mitchell, and today I'm joined by Kristy Lynn Lechner. Kristy Lynn is Director of People and Culture at West Group. Welcome to the show, Kristy Lynn.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Hi Lisa. Thanks for having me.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: My pleasure. Well, you and I have a bit of a history since we've worked together, and it's just delightful to, to finally get you on the show. I'm really excited to have you share a bit about your experience with the listeners. So let's maybe kick off by having you tell us a little bit about who you are and your career journey to date.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Absolutely. So I, I might go back to some of the early days, I guess, as a young HR professional and growing up in northwestern Ontario. Finished my schooling and I was so, so excited to make my way out to Vancouver where I lived today in the fall of 2001. And if anyone remembers September. 2001, what was going on in the world?

It was a pretty scary time. So, you know, my dreams of finding an amazing job as a young HR professional kind of crashed pretty quickly because no one was hiring. Kind of had to, to work throughout that process. But eventually I came in touch with a, a really great temp agency and they said, look, we've got something for you.

It's not an hr, but you know, I'll give it a try. I've worked with this company for a really long time. They're great. It's a shipping company. Full stop. I'm like, alright, you know what, I'll, I'll go give this a shot and see what, see where this takes me. I thought I was gonna head up at go to FedEx or UPS or something like that.

And I'll tell you, I couldn't have been further from from that I showed up to TK Corporation and TK Corporation at the time it was an international shipping company that transported LNG and and oil around the world. So, so very, very different from what I thought I was stepping into. And at the time I was there to help them out with some procurement work that they needed some help with, and I had some experience with that from another summer, summer job that I had prior.

So the long story short, I'll get into some of this in a moment about what I got to do in that procurement experience, but I've spent, I spent 20 years at tk. I had no idea that that opportunity would have led to, I. A 20 year career history, really op, you know, opening up and developing me as an HR professional in so many different facets.

So who knew? Anyhow, so, so that was, that was really exciting. But this procurement work that I got to do, I think it was really helpful for me to understand the business and at a ground level, what was happening. So I got to purchase parts for vessels. Vessels around the world, right? So each team, how it was set up at the time, we were given a portfolio of vessels, let's say five to 10 vessels, to to purchase parts for spare parts, consumables, anything that seafarers needed on board, we would purchase for them.

So, got to deal with captains on board Chief engineers. Chief officers, so really, really cool. I thought, wow, amazing. I had no idea what I was doing. But there was also some really helpful people in the office, our, our shore based teams as we called them, to help navigate through all of that. So again, really welcoming culture.

Fantastic, fantastic people to work with. I learned a ton. I stayed there for probably almost two years, which was a bit surprising to me outside of that HR space. And then when a role became. Available in the HR department. I quickly put my hand up and said, I think it's time to move. I really have a calling to get back into the field that

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Your first love. Yes.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: exactly. I wanted to get back to that. So I started again in a very junior role as an HR coordinator. Sort of had a generalist overview, responsibilities and all the things that come with that. And then over time just started quickly moving my way up the ranks to becoming an advisor where I had more people facing responsibilities, dealing with problems and challenges as a frontline, HR support, moving to manager, getting some people responsibilities underneath me, and then ultimately moving into a director role.

So obviously, you know, over the years the scope of the work had changed. The complexity of the work had changed, working with different levels of leaders across the organization had changed and grown. So, had a really wonderful experience there. I think the other highlight of tk and, and probably what kept me there so long was the global nature of the culture.

At its height, we had, I believe, approximately, you know, 15 offices around the globe. Wow. Okay. Asia, north America. So there was a ton of opportunity to, to be part of all these multiple different cultures around the world and rolling out HR programs, policies, what have you, like it really made you think about how are we going to do this?

This will work here in Canada or in Vancouver. How will this be perceived in the Philippines or in Glasgow in the uk?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Oh,

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: definitely not a a one size fits all,

so really challenge the thinking.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: We have policies and programs rolled out, right where that was not taken into consideration. So it's interesting you bring that up, right, where even just the differences between rolling something out in Ontario or the west compared to in Quebec, you know, here in Canada.

Yeah. Very neat. So, so, you know, 20 years is a long time. So first of all wanna acknowledge that that is a tremendous achievement, especially these days, right? You don't see that as often. So clearly it was a good place for you. 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_2_GMT20240529-210218_Recording_separate1: So tell us a little bit about, 

who West Group is.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_2_GMT20240529-210218_Recording_separate2: Sure. So West Group Properties is one of Western Canada's largest private real estate companies, and it's got a really diverse portfolio. 

there's about seven, 3.7 million. Square feet of commercial and multifamily real estate space that we have. 

and we've built over 7,000 homes in over a hundred communities in the greater Vancouver area.

So really, really exciting. The company is doing amazing work, to support that space. And what's more exciting is that portfolio that's currently 3.7 million square feet is really poised to almost double. We're looking at, moving into 7 million square feet over the next five years. So lots of exciting opportunities for our employees to, to be part of that.

if I could just highlight one other thing, I think that's unique to West Group is they're known for their unique master plan communities. So a master plan community can be described as like, its its own contained community or a little village, if you will. that is really intentionally designed for convenience and livability of, of the homeowners that are living in that space or in that area.

So West Group not only builds the homes, but you're giving the homeowners access to services like the grocery stores. And the restaurants, the daycares and the community centers all within walking distance of their homes. Right. So I, I think that's so important because that's such, uh, an innate part of West Group's culture is like this community building and focus on the community and sustainability.

so I, I just love it. And going into one of our master plan communities, you feel so proud walking around the streets. It's like, wow. West Group built all of this. It, it's, it's, it's truly amazing, 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_2_GMT20240529-210218_Recording_separate1: Awesome. I love it. Yeah, and the master plan community I think was, was an art, you know, if you think about in the post-war, there was, there was quite a bit of that done in the Toronto area. Then I, I think they sort of got away from it. It was just slap up this building or this small neighborhood and there was no, no thought to the, to the amenities.

So that's awesome.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: So you moved from tk, I know this because of our history together to West Group, and you've been there for how long now?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Well, I just had my one year anniversary which again, to me, I cannot believe how quickly that year has gone by. And it's been a wonderful year. I love working for West Group, and as you said before, I'm, I'm currently the Director of People and Culture. So I've come in helping to, to round out a, a pretty small team that was there prior to me.

So I've got my manager who's a vice president of people and culture. So we've got a coordinator and a talent acquisition dedicated manager to support talent acquisition. And a lot of things going on in this company, in this organization. I had this mis misperception that I was coming from a very big global, you know.

Large employee base company to a 300 employee company and thinking this will be a breeze. I think you know, things will be so much easier here. It's it's got to be right just because of the scale, and again, I was very wrong. It's just, it's, it's a different business. It has different needs. It has different complexities in its own way.

And I'm finding myself like challenged in a really good way for some of the things that we're facing every day. So, yeah, I, I'm delighted there. There's, there's no shortage of things for us to be focusing on, so 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: It is funny because, yeah, and I'm so pleased to hear that because it's, it's funny that you know, we do sort of, I don't know, tell ourselves that. Oh, you know, that company's bigger or smaller or more global or more domestic or what, you know, and, and so depending on where you're coming from, that's either easier, harder, whatever it is, right?

And yet every business has its own. Believer right in its own way of being and can be equally challenging. I think that's what I've learned working with so many different, different industries and companies. So, something I really would like to dig into for the show today is something I admire about you, which is, you know, how you approached your new role at West Group.

Can you walk us through a little bit about the process?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Sure. Yeah. I think, you know, obviously brand new to the industry there was a lot that I had to learn just like I did with tk and in my own way over the years. So I knew that, you know, focusing on understanding the business was something that was going to be really important. As everyone knows, all the listeners here know that if you're not connected into the business as an HR professional, you, you have a really ti tough time with.

Building trust seem in credible to the, to the people that you're supporting. So it's really, really important that you understand the business. So from day one, I, I have been very focused on that and I've done that predominantly through, you know, setting up regular cadence of meetings with, with business leaders across the organization.

So they're typically once a month and we don't always have a standing agenda. And, you know, we, we, there's things that are coming up. Obviously we talked about their team, what's going on in the business, perhaps things that we're rolling out the people and culture team, but the discussion is always really good.

And oftentimes there's some big surprises as, as to what we uncover in, in some of those meetings. So I, I found those very, very valuable. And I think that establishing those relationships early on and being intentional about that has really, really helped,

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: And 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: me built 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Yeah, I think you did a lot of deep listening and, and and just for listeners, so the, so Chris, Christie, Lynn, and I worked together where I helped her as her coach and thought partner leading into this. Right. So, I think it was so interesting if I, if I may share that you. You were thinking about it before you even got there, like, okay, how do I want to show up from day one?

And I can't underscore enough for listeners how, how incredibly important that is. I think, you know, really trying to visualize like, okay, so I'm coming from somewhere where I worked for 20 years, right? Or, or where it was this or that, and knowing that the context is gonna be different. What does that mean for who I need to be? And I remember you talking about you know, listening. I need to listen or really get to know these stakeholders, understand where they're coming from, and not make assumptions.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I think that was important to me. It's, it's interesting how you highlighted that. I guess I'm assuming that that is just a sort of a natural way. To explore going into a new role. You know, clearly I was really driven to do a great job and I think it's worked out well and do thank you for your help as well.

I think you're a great, a great support for me during that, that transition in.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: I'm glad. I'm glad. But you know, here's what stood out for me with, with you, and the reason why I do, I guess this stands out in my memory, is that I see a lot of people when they get a new job, right? They're absolutely thinking about, wow, how do I wanna show up and what do I want wanna do? But I think there's more emphasis on what do I wanna do?

You know, and what am I gonna show and how am I gonna prove myself? Not always, but with you, and this is actually gonna be a neat segue into the next part of our conversation with you. I did not see that it was more about not, well, certainly how do I prove myself? Like how do I add value from the get go?

It was really coming from a place of how do I meet people where they're at and, and, and, and, you know, be thoughtful in working with the team and with peers and your boss and so on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So let's segue, like I said, you know, something that you've, you had shared with me last time we spoke was that I had mentioned that I was going to get certified or had been CER certified earlier this year.

In the Leadership Circle profile tool and I'm really enjoying using it. And you had kind of like jumped right on and said, oh my God, I love it. So, so we thought listeners that it might be kind of neat to dig into this particular tool and give a little bit of just high level insight about what we value about this tool.

So, leadership circle profile. Is a 360 tool and it's very unique. I've administered debriefed a lot of different three sixties in my career. And I know you, you have to Christie Lynn, and this one is unique. It really stands out as being one that I think is really, really conducive to, to growth, personal and professional growth.

So what do you love about the tool?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: I agree with your sentiments, and I still get really excited about it. I think I've been certified now. Probably just over five years. So I, I think why I got excited about it early on was I, I just really connected with the concepts, concepts that they were pulling together. And, you know, the profile is based on tons of different research.

And in a way I think they've pulled many different diagnostic tools together into one and, you know, trying to demonstrate like, this is the best of the best. We've pulled them all together. We, we believe this makes a lot of sense and I absolutely agree with that. So I guess if we, the tool is quite complex, but for simplicity, I guess the tool is based on one of two mindsets. So as a, as a person going through the diagnostic, I guess you can be perceived as approaching things from a, a problem reacting stance or an outcome creating stance. And the model is based again, on those two different viewpoints is if you, if you continue to have a problem reacting, outlook on how you are.

Approaching things, your leadership impact is likely not going to be that great or impactful. And there's tons of research that shows of all of the, the people who have done three sixties with the LCP. The more problem reacting space that you live in the less likely your, your business is going to be profitable or successful, right?

So tons and tons of research. And then the same is true on the other side of the spectrum. When we approach problems from this outcome creating place, or really driving it through the lens of being purposeful, we're much more likely to have that impact that we want to see. Also the correlation with positive business results.

So again, I find those two spectrums very interesting. And if we take those spectrums just a little bit further for the listeners to, to understand what that means, if we're living in this reactive space or this problem reacting space, it's typically driven through fears, one of one of three fears. We can either fall into these traps of complying.

Where, you know, the fear of not being liked is our worst nightmare. We can fall into the traps of protecting where, again, the fear of not being right or having all the answers is. Our worst nightmare. And then the last one is controlling, where again, we fear that feeling out of control is just not the place that we wanna be.

But when we go into these places that obviously those reactive tight tendencies can really pull us away from, from being great leaders. So where we wanna be are in those creative competencies and looking up and being purposeful. there's a couple of different categories that signify that. So it's how we relate to people.

Are we self-aware? Are we authentic or do we live with integrity? Are we system aware? Do we look at how everything connects together in an organization? Do we see the bigger picture? can we get things done? At a very, very high level. So, you know, clearly, you know, we're guided through this diagnostic tool to spend more time in that creative space and be aware of how we can get pulled into our natural tendencies as human beings to be re to be reactive.

So I, it makes complete sense to me.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Well, and, and if I can just add, like, I, I love how you drew us through the, the whole idea of, you know, you either see things as a problem to be reacted to, to be solved, or it's an outcome that you have the ability to, to create. Right. It's, it's really a reframe. It reminds me a little bit of glass, half full, half empty.

There is a bit of pessimism, optimism here, right? So really, LCP, what they've done is, is they through all of the research and they've had so many people go through the tool and so on, but they took the best of all competencies, right? Like they looked at. A lot of different models and they came up with, I think it's 18 creative competencies that, you know, they'd be typical, like a Fosters team, play collaborator, this kind of thing.

And then reactive styles. So if you picture a circle, the visual is a circle, leadership circle profile. The top shows the creative competencies. The bottom are those reactive tendencies. That may mean you're sort of, you know, withdrawing to protect and, and that kind of thing. What's neat is the visual.

You can immediately see when you get your report, where you rated yourself and where others see you. And so you can see if there's disconnect or if there's alignment. And I think that really is part of what makes the tool helpful is because people can easily kind of self-assess like, where's my biggest opportunity?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's pretty blatantly clear 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Yeah. 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: because it's such a visual tool, your, your eyes will be drawn to where more of the shading is, what's going on here.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Exactly. And it's about creating agility, isn't it? Right. You know about when you were talking about can you, are you getting things done as being one of the competency areas? There's that, along with the system aware that came before it. And, and I was just on a call this morning with some clients where, we're doing an offsite for them at their A GM and, and the, it's the senior leadership group and they, they've been trying to teach them how to do longer term planning, strategic planning, and, and they're, they're getting there. They've been on this journey for a while, but they still tend to retreat or react back into just, you know, heads down, get the job done, and they lose sight of some of those.

Longer term milestones and, and, and can kind of drift a bit. And so it really is about how do you balance both? How do you, you know, look, see everything from the balcony and dance on the dance floor, right?

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Yeah, abs. Absolutely, absolutely.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: What would you say, you know, has been. The biggest aha for you coming out of using Leadership Circle profile for perhaps from your own profile or just in debriefing it a few times.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Yeah. Well, again, like I'd said, I, I think there is something that I just really connect with, with how the framework is set up. I think through my own experience, first and foremost, I can really see myself and where I sit and where I gravitate to, especially on the reactive styles. But, but I might just go back to, I guess, you know, my leadership journey and some of the first moments, you know, when, when you start to really get more involved as an HR practitioner, as a coach, having a bit more heavier conversations. And I, I, I distinctly remember this one moment, this had to be probably 10 plus years ago. I was at TK and I think the setting was a leadership workshop across the, the, the HR team. And there was this opportunity where we had a chance to give each other some feedback based on, you know, how we were leading and showing up.

And one leader that I really respected, a very senior HR leader, said. Christie, Lynn, there's so many great things that you're doing, but one thing that I see that's holding you back is I, I never really know where you sit on a topic or an agenda. You kind of, you're always on the fence. You never, you never really openly share what your perspective is. And of course, in the moment, what you do with that feedback is, that is so not true. I do so right. Like you're, the natural instinct is to sort of deflect it and deny it. And like literally 15 years ago, let's, let's say this conversation happened and it still sits with me. I think about it all the time.

And he was bang on. I, I, I was doing that. I know I was doing that. That little voice kept popping in my head. So flash forward to my exposure to the leadership Circle profile about five plus years ago. That's to me where, you know, we talked about the reactive tendencies and the complying piece.

Specifically where the fear for me is, you know, if I say too much, if I overshare, if I say something that could offend someone, the fear of someone not liking me or having a different opinion of me because of my perspective was overshadowing me being authentic, right? So I wasn't really sharing my full truth or what I really believed in based on that fear.

So. Again, locked and loaded for me. I'm like, oh boy, okay. I, I am so doing that. But this tool gave me that awareness to notice and again, when it was okay, there's some gifts in, in the reactive tendencies as well as, you know, as a practitioner. And one of those gifts in the compliant type tend is the ability to really lead into a compassionate leadership style.

Which I know I have, I, I know compassion is one of my first and foremost core values. As a, as a person, anytime I'm sitting down with someone or meeting someone for the first time, my instinct is to really understand that person, truly understand and listen and who are they and what's important to them.

I, I can't help but do that. That is just my natural tendency to do that, which is great. So I, I have that. And then on the other spectrum of this complying type tendency is a bit of a burden to care too much about what people think about me.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Yes.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: So

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: It, it's, it's, 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: it's, it's, it's

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: It's how we get in our own way. Right? And, and that idea you know, 'cause I, I use True Tilt as well in my practice and it does a great job of, of, of showing some of these same things like this. We all have strengths. They're what make us great. And sometimes because we're human, we overuse those strengths in terms of.

I love this model, frequency, duration, intensity, or context. So we misalign how we're applying it in, in the moment and we can get into trouble. So, for instance I. You know, one of my strengths is speed. I've probably mentioned that on the show before. I get things done at a really fast rate, and people are like, what?

How did you, and, and it's just, I, I like it, but it also, I get in my own way when I overuse it. Because I remember getting feedback years ago that I, from my team, from my senior leaders, that they felt a bit like left behind sometimes, that I was making assumptions about what they knew or what they could go ahead and, and make, you know, start with.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Yeah, 

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: I think that this visual tool here really does a great job of helping you notice where, oh, other people where you might be thinking that you're working really hard to be compassionate. Other people might see you as, I don't know how it would show up the shadow side as well. Not being decisive, not speaking up, and, you know, sharing your opinion as as firmly or boldly.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Exactly. Yeah. And, and that's been the work for me. So, you know, I have to acknowledge that that reactive tendency probably will never go away for me. It, it is who I am and there's reasons probably that started in my childhood that, that are preventing me. I, I, I can continue to work on those things, but I, I don't think it'll truly ever go away for me, like the feeling of, I will never care what anyone thinks.

Like, I wish, I wish I had that. And I know some people that I work with, they do have it. And we had this conversation the other day, we were joking like, why can't people just get over it? I'm like, wow, well give me the magic wand that cascades all of that feeling and that fear away from people. It's, it's just not that easy.

There's so many layers to, you know, why we're built the way we're built. So anyhow, I, I own and I accept, I, I've got that reactive tendency probably forever. I. But I do not let it, let it own me, right? Like it can have me or I can have it, and I try to have it or be in control of

it more often than not. And I notice the signs, like, it's almost like a physical response that I get.

I'm in a conversation and you, and you know, you know, when you start to notice like, Ooh, this is getting into like some unsafe territory right now. I have physical signs. I kind of feel it in my chest sometimes. Like I know it's just, it's coming up and it's there. So little, you know, voice in my head says, there it is.

What are you gonna do about this right now? Are you gonna play it safe? Or are you going to really lean into what's important to you? Take that purposeful route, be courageous, be authentic. Be yourself. And have the hard conversation, what would that look like? And, and that's, that's, that's the place where I want to be more often.

And I do find myself navigating that more often. You know, one of, one of the things that I was getting really clear about with this reactive tendency was putting together purpose map for myself, something I had done again in a workshop with a facilitator. Have you done any work with purpose mapping?

Lisa.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: yes.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: So again, I find it really helpful. It's sort of just layering. Let, let's say for example you know, the key reason why I'm in my role, like why do I lead? Why is it that I do what I do? Like why is this so important? So starting with that big why question, and I go back to in my role, creating and promoting a people first culture is something that is so, so important. To who I am and what I would want to see in any organization that I'm working within. So not only for myself to hold that belief, but for everybody that I'm working with because I, I just, I know that's the right thing that, that we take a people first approach to get, to get things done and, and to move through the business.

And I also have a strong belief or a desire, I think, to help people reach their, their full potential.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Mm-Hmm.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: You know, there's nothing greater for me that if I've been in a coaching conversation with someone or just listening sometimes it could just be that to help someone have a spark or an aha moment about something to help get them to a next step.

They've been stuck there. There's nothing more gratifying

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: That lights you up. Yes, I can see

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: completely, completely lights me up.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Yeah. I love that too.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: So you right, you can't play it safe. You cannot be a person who plays it safe or who doesn't, you know, fully dive in to helping someone move forward. Because oftentimes those conversations come with potentially some pretty difficult feedback, honest feedback.

And again, as long as it's packaged. With kindness and compassion. I, I think it, for me, it works. But it can still feel quite scary. So that for me, again, when I lean into that purpose of like, these conversations are so important to me, you can't play it safe. You have to, you have to go down that path.

And then building on my purpose map a little bit more I've kind of, you know, blocked out some. What we call them, like success factors, I suppose, around what will enable me to do that, to have those conversations. And they, they kind of start with this idea of like, leading with courage. Believe in myself, right?

Like, you, you know what you are doing. You, you are a professional. No one is gonna judge you for this. They're probably gonna admire you for this. Versus the opposite. It continues around this idea also of building trust with others. If I wanna build trusting relationships, I have to be honest with people.

I, I have to be myself and, and come across that way. I have to be present, I have to listen, and I also have to be a person who brings perspectives. Right. And again, you can't bring perspectives if you play it safe all the time. So you, you're not, you're not gonna add value. Yeah. Mm-Hmm.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: you sharing about the, the idea of the purpose map, and I think that could be really useful as an exercise for a lot of, a lot of people listening. What it made me think of too is, is how you know the way you light up when you help people figure out like, oh, like. Get some net new awareness.

That's same for me. That's why I do the work I do. It's just like, ugh. If I could get up in the morning and just see that nonstop all day, you know, and skip the dishes and anything mundane, I would just, that would be amazing. What, what you and I both really, you know, we were talking about before we hit record that we love about Leadership Circle profile is the way the debrief is done.

This is, when we, when I do a debrief for, for different clients, it's 90 minutes and it includes something called the Leadership Journey. And I, I thought, I know you had mentioned that you really like that. Could you describe what, what that's about? I.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Absolutely. It, it's sort of, I, I guess it's an introduction before you start unfolding and sharing the feedback. On the 360 review is you get into a bit of a dialogue about where, where this person's leadership beliefs have come from, what, what has formed them as a leader. And you start with the earliest memories.

Think about your family dynamic, think about your parents and growing up, what shaped you as a leader there? What were you taught? You know, what, what, what did you believe to be true? And then cascading that into potentially university days, you know, or with your peers, what showed up there. What showed up in your first career?

What did your first manager teach you about leadership? You know, what, what didn't you like about that manager, or what, what lessons did you learn not to do? Because that's a, again, another good sign of what, what works and doesn't work. Right. Part, part of how we learn. And it is, it is so amazing to me at the stories that are shared.

Through those three questions, really it's asking about what you've learned about leadership through three phases of your life and pretty deep important vulnerable things will show up in that introduction. And without fail, they often show up again as you're going through the debrief of what's showing up.

And I'm the creator for the reactive styles. Remember when you said that thing that was happening to you and your family dynamic, is it still showing up here? I almost get goosebumps sometimes. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, like now we're really starting to connect the dots on, on the why and why this is so important and maybe why you're getting stuck on something now.

Now let's, let's look at what some of the antidote to that could be. Let's look at this, all the creative competencies and that purpose driven mindset that can help pull you out of that if it is something that's getting them stuck. So I

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Yeah. It goes, it goes a long way to, to creating awareness. And I like how it's framed as a leadership journey. I, I, you know, this is an exercise that coaches use regularly around peak experience, right? Or I call it, you know, at your best. And it's the same thing, three phases. So, you know, and that's what.

Also, I think, differentiates the tool is that the debrief, the tool itself, this isn't about here's the laundry list of all the things people said about you and where you're not measuring up this kind of thing. You know, and all of you know the, to-do list. Now it's, it's about going, okay, so what's stands out?

What's your biggest opportunity? To have even greater impact. So it's very much co-created and there's, there's a sense of empowerment and control for the person who's, who's taking the profile. Right. I, I, I think that's important to underscore.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Yes, yes. Fully agree, fully agree.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Well, we are coming to the end of our time, so I just, first of all, I just wanna thank you for, you know, really sharing your passion with us or in your own personal experience with the LCP.

You know, as you think about moving forward at West Group with your team, and I know you've got a new person coming on board and so on. What, what kind of stands out as your biggest opportunity? Not just related to LCP, but just in general.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Sure. Yeah. There. Is, well, like I said, you know, there's no shortage of things to work on, but part of the, the mandate, I guess when I had started about a year ago was really to start, you know, continuing to evolve all the foundational programs that we're working on across the people and culture team.

Because West Group is poised for so much growth in the next five years. We're talking a lot about scaling and evolving the business. So, you know, we believe that means. It's going to call for a little bit more structure. And how we're designing things and how we're building things and structure. Maybe that sounds like a, like a negative thing.

However, like, again, to grow and scale, we've gotta be a little bit more consistent with, with how some of our programs are being rolled out or even introducing new things to really help help the business thrive and grow. Another thing that I've noticed very quickly with West Group is it, it's got such an entrepreneurial spirit with the culture.

It's very fast paced. People move and adapt quickly just based on the industry itself. I mean, we, we can't help but move very quickly. There's lots of different reasons for that. So one thing that we have to be really mindful of as we're building up the people strategy is. Flexibility is so important, right?

So we have to understand what the business. Drivers are the dynamics there and, and building programs that support them. But not being too rigid that we have to say it, it only has to work this way, you know, with ignoring what's important to the business. So there's this real, paying very close attention to what's happening and working with the business.

I almost co-creating some of the programs, which is really my style to lean in. And I guess what we would call socializing. Does this feel right? Like, does this feel like this is ready to go out to the business? ' cause again, language is really important. The way we roll things out is, is obviously very important.

It, it has to be the right size. Simplicity. I can't, I can't stress simplicity enough for when we're rolling out anything new or even revising anything, revamping something being really clear as to why, why we have to do this, what the purpose is, how it'll help people. Yeah.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate1: Well, that should help with the with the ongoing scaling and evolving Right. As, as, as the company grows. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and speak with us and, and give us a little peek behind. In the curtains and geek out about LCP with me.

Thank you so much.

Kristy Lynn Lechner_GMT20240529-202231_Recording_separate2: Thanks, Lisa,