Why Great Leadership Starts in the Brain with Lina Bil

I've had clients not only small to mid sized companies, but even big public organizations where the mandate for HR is to save money on lawsuits.

And it's one thing, okay, there's, there's a misunderstanding, there's a mistake.

Let's do better, let's fix it, let's, let's put in a program, let's do some training.

I've seen situations where clients don't want to fix things.

They want to sweep things under the carpet and keep going.

And then at that point, you really have to ask yourself as a professional, okay, what are my values and what do I want to support?

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more.

This is the Business Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business.

Brought to you by Capital Business Development, CapitalBD CA.

Let's do it.

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hello.

Welcome back to the Business Development Podcast and today it is my absolute pleasure to welcome to our stage Lena Bill.

Lena is the founder and CEO of Elevate Talent Solutions where she serves organizations across Canada as a fractional Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive coach.

With more than 15 years of experience in human resources and talent strategy, Lena has led complex organizational transformations across construction, hospitality and social impact organizations.

Her work brings together strategic hr, organizational psychology, executive coaching and neuroscience to help organizations build people first cultures that achieve sustainable business results.

With an MBA research focus in mindful leadership, Lena helps leaders understand how stress, emotional intelligence, resilience and self awareness influence how they communicate, make decisions and perform under pressure.

She is also the creator of a neuroscience informed, respectful workplace training program delivered across Canada.

Her work challenges leaders to understand not only how people behave, but what is happening beneath that behavior.

Because the strongest leaders do not simply manage behavior, they understand what drives it.

Lena, it is an honor and a privilege to have you with us today.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you so much for that introduction, Kelly.

It was my pleasure.

It is my pleasure.

No, I know when we first started talking the first time and you were kind of explaining your journey which we're going to get into, and then we started talking a little bit about neuroscience because I'm a bit of a nerd for neuroscience.

And I know you are as well.

I was immediately interested in learning more about you and I think you have a lot to offer our listeners.

Thank you so much for having me as a guest on your show.

My pleasure.

Yeah.

So Lina, you know, take us back to the beginning.

How did you end up on this entrepreneurial path going back to the beginning?

My family back in Poland, my parents were entrepreneurs.

They started very young.

It's kind of a interesting story.

They got married at 18 and they had nothing to their name.

They went to the market, they bought some wool, they made some sweaters, they sold the sweaters, bought more wool and then by the time they were in their early 30s, they have built a factory.

They had 35 artisans working for them.

Wow.

My dad had permissions with the state to do import and export.

And if you recall, back then in Poland in know we were under military shutdown so the borders were closed.

And so it was a very interesting family story.

And so when we came to Canada, you know, I had different career options.

I think my mom advised me to find a job in government and of course the thought of that seemed very boring and.

But I started working in industry, started, you know, did my undergrad in psychology.

I've graduated around the recession so, you know, found a role in recruitment.

And then when I was out in Vancouver and then coming back to Edmonton, I've started work with small mid sized businesses that never had HR before and implementing their whole infrastructure.

And then at some point a call came where my friend was running a recruitment agency and she had a medical appointment, surgery coming up, so she requested support with her clients.

And that was 10 years ago.

So that was my first consulting engagement and yeah, it's been quite the journey since.

Since then.

Wow.

Okay.

I want to spend a little bit of time talking about your time in Poland and obviously that transition into coming to Canada because honestly, I don't get to talk to too many people who have made that leap.

Lena.

And I think that's really interesting.

I'd love to maybe understand what were, what was that like and what were some of the challenges that you ran into when you first got here?

Yeah, absolutely.

So I was just turning 14 when we, when we moved and we bought this beautiful house on an acreage and I had very little understanding of what we're doing out here and why is it so cold and why is it so far away to the city and like I had no idea what's going on.

Yeah, for about six months and.

And then I got A computer so I could talk to my friends back home.

But, yeah, it was quite the adjustment.

That's hard at 14.

Yeah, it was interesting.

And then, of course, over time, I realized all the wonderful opportunities available in Canada and, you know, and I think what I love the most about the Canadian culture is how inclusive we are.

And you've got people from all sorts of different backgrounds and cultures, and everyone's getting along, and it's just so fascinating.

And of course, the nature and it's so beautiful.

And I have gotten used to the climate a little bit more.

You never get used to the climate.

I do cold planches.

I'm training for the winter already.

I'm getting ready.

My goodness.

I've spent my whole life here.

I still hate the winter.

Oh, goodness.

Okay, cool.

And then obviously, I know you mentioned that when we talked before, that some of the challenges that you faced when you first got here was with your confidence.

Do you want to spend a little bit of time there as well?

Absolutely.

So my mom made me take all sorts of extracurricular activities as a kid.

So I was in ballet, I was in gymnastics, I was in piano lessons, I was in English lessons.

And I knew that was so important because we're moving here.

And of course, I didn't do any of my homework.

So I've learned grammar from, like, sitting in the classroom.

I didn't learn any vocabulary.

Yeah.

So when I moved here, I could understand we were talking to me most, most of what people were talking about.

But if you asked me a question, like, in grade nine, if you're like, hey, how's it going?

I would freeze.

I would not know what to say to you because my vocabulary was so limited.

And so I think finding my voice and, you know, it took a couple years to really get there, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

What is that like?

Like, I, I, I'm just, I'm trying to understand for myself.

Cause I couldn't imagine, like, I see, I see so many people coming to Canada, and I'm always just, like, frankly amazed.

Because I can't imagine what it would be like, for instance, for me right now to uproot my life.

I don't know German.

To end up in Germany, where I don't speak the language, I don't know how to communicate or, or ask for simple things.

Yeah.

I can't imagine how challenging that must be.

What is it like for people coming here?

And that's the situation.

Yeah.

Like, I think, as I was saying, like, the first year was challenging because we lived out in the middle of nowhere.

I didn't have a vehicle.

I was a little bit too young to drive.

So making friends, it really depended on my parents driving me to meet with friends, etc.

But I think the most beautiful aspect of what I've experienced at that time is, you know, our shared humanity and compassion.

And.

And I think by grade 10, my.

My high school was in.

In Sherwood park, so it was within the city.

Not.

Not out in the middle of nowhere, Punis.

But, you know, I started making friends.

And the friends that I had were.

Were the people who would slow down enough just to, you know, try to communicate and make sure I understand what they were saying and trying to understand what I was trying to say.

And, and even with all those limitations and, and the language barrier, because that specifically was the biggest one initially.

And not just right, but I. I really appreciated that so much, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, super, super cool.

And to see somebody who's come from basically having to start fresh, really, at 14 and go as far as you have, it's very impressive.

Thank you.

You know, Lena, take us into, you know, what came next.

So obviously you got through high school and then what was kind of the passion?

Did you always see yourself ending up in entrepreneurship?

No.

So I, I actually wanted to be a psychologist.

That's why.

Or a teacher.

And my mom kind of talked me out of it because she's like, oh, if you're a counselor, you have to deal with mental health issues, and that would be horrible.

You.

You'd have to like, how are you gonna, you know, go home at the end of the day?

You're gonna be so stressed.

So I was like, okay.

And that's when I started thinking about positive psychology.

And here's a bit of a segue into neuro leadership.

Right.

Cause in positive psychology, we learn about hab people and entrepreneurs, and it's like how to optimize your life.

And, you know, is it going to the gym in the morning?

Is it meditating?

Like, what else can you do to really thrive in life?

And what is important to take care of yourself, especially if you're a high performer or a leader.

And I think my mind started thinking about those topics.

And then I discovered, oh, you know, if you work in hr, you can do leadership development, and that's cool.

So I had this very, like, idealistic perception of what the scope of HR is.

Okay, I'm gonna go into hr.

This sounds great.

Yeah.

And.

And, you know, again, I think I wanna offer some encouragement to other professionals out there because it has been a windy road.

Like, I've seen in terms of the scope of my profession, I've seen a whole spectrum of things.

And you learn from every experience.

You learn about yourself and your values and what's important and what you stand for and how to navigate challenges and, you know, and what you really love, where your passion is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What was it that led you to start Elevate Talent Solutions?

So I had a really great, stable HR role at the time.

I was like, head of HR for a family business, and they were treating me good, like it was.

You know, I've implemented the infrastructure in different areas.

And to be quite blunt, I was getting a little bit bored of my job, and I felt, okay, you know what?

I know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna go back to school.

I'm gonna get my mba so I can put together proposals and business cases for all these new projects I want to do, because I've got an hour of free time a day, and they don't need me anymore.

I was getting anxious.

I had too much time on my hands, so I was like, oh, they don't need me anymore.

I've done all this work, and now I'm just maintaining all this, and I'm just bored.

Right.

So then my boss is the president of the company.

He wrote me this super nice recommendation to go into my mba, and then I got my designation that year after five years.

I think they were questioning, like, how are you in leadership and management?

You know, you've been in the field for five years, like, how.

You know, So I had to, like, defend it.

And anyway, so I've had a lot of help along the way, and.

And all of a sudden, I was at these crossroads, and my friend is like, oh, hey, you want to come do consulting?

And this was again 10 years ago.

And she's like, okay, you know, I'd pay you 100 bucks an hour for this.

And I'm like, oh, oh, great.

Yeah, that sounds all right.

That sounds good.

And that's exciting.

And I always wanted to do more, and I think that was the beginning of it.

And, of course, very little preparation into running an actual business, but kind of figured it out along the way, more or less.

I'm still figuring it out.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You spent your MBA focused on mindful leadership.

What is mindful leadership?

Run.

Run me through it.

Mindful leadership.

That's.

I love that.

That phrase.

And I'm gonna get a little bit personal.

I know we started with the family history, so we're already there.

But I've been meditating every day since I was 16.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I've discovered different tools and techniques.

Some of them are a little bit out there, like a little bit esoteric.

And, you know, it's more like doing energy work and Reiki type of work and chakras and all this stuff.

That's cool.

Now, you know, you think yoga is very mainstream.

Back then, it wasn't.

It was like I was like a closet meditator.

Like, I wouldn't tell my friends that I'm meditating.

Like, it wasn't cool back then.

Okay.

Yeah.

So.

But it's benefited my life in a.

In a good way.

It's helped to ground and even at an early age, to get that perspective of, like, my Northern star and what is important, where I'm going and the potent potential and possibilities of life and the joy of life.

So I've gone through all these personal transformations and opportunities, and this has been one of the single most important things that has helped me along the way.

So I feel like this is something wonderful, and I don't want to be preachy.

I don't want to be, like, knocking on somebody's door, like, hey, have you heard of, like.

I don't want to be like that.

So I don't want it to be dogmatic.

But mindfulness is wonderful because it's been introduced to the west by Dr. John Kabad Zinn in the 70s.

So he studied with Buddhist masters, and he's been given permission from the Dalai Lama to just strip away the dogma and the religious aspect and look at the philosophy and scientific research behind.

Okay, why is mindfulness beneficial?

And how can we make it secular and pragmatic and accessible to people no matter what their philosophy and belief systems are?

So there's.

So.

Kelly, there's so much research behind it.

You know, in the last 10, 15, 20 years, the amount of scientific research around the benefits of mindfulness on different areas of your life.

Specifically for me, I was studying the benefits of mindfulness on work performance.

But there's so much research out there, and I just think from my.

Well, I know from my own experience that it's.

It's valuable.

It's valuable to share.

Absolutely.

Walk our listeners through some of the things they could potentially be enacting in their life to help them have more success through mindfulness.

It's something that comes up in Catalyst Club all the time.

So I'm not.

I'm not estranged to it.

We run lots of different sessions, and some of Them absolutely have been mindset and different mindfulness sessions.

Meditation comes up a lot.

Future self comes up a lot.

But, you know, for the people maybe that haven't heard of this before, why should they consider doing it?

What are some of the benefits?

Thank you for that question.

So in 2019, I did my literature review MBA thesis on this topic.

Specifically.

I've got over 50 pages.

If anyone wants to read it, you know, drop me a line on LinkedIn.

I'd be happy to share that paper.

There's lots of resources there.

To summarize, there are three main benefits of mindfulness on work performance.

One, stress management.

So talking about resilience.

And we can get into how your brain works, but there's a lot of good information out there on this topic.

Two is emotional intelligence.

Three, improved cognitive functions.

So memory, attention, executive function, which is like the functioning of your prefrontal cortex.

So, so there's a lot.

Those three areas, I could, I could probably talk all day about this, but those are the benefits and then the main benefits.

And then did you ask about, like, some introductory practices or like, whatever.

Yeah, like, like if somebody is just hearing this for the first time and you know what I mean?

Like, we've heard a lot of stuff.

I think I, I guarantee you there's somebody listening right now who's like, yeah, I've been told this is important, but I don't really know why it's important.

I don't think it'll work for me.

Or like, what.

Where would I even start?

Love this question.

Okay, so to be pragmatic, the one thing, if there's one takeaway from this conversation, focus on our breathing.

Right?

And there's again, so much research around that.

And if you look at ancient yoga and all these practices, there are books written on pranayama, like whole books about, like, different breathing practices.

Right.

And the key to how this works is that by regulating our breathing, we can actually regulate our physiological state.

Think about it.

So by regulating our breathing, so if we're anxious, our breathing gets more shallow.

And that sends a message to our brain, okay, we're in danger.

Something is off.

And then it just kind of triggers all these hormones and other neurotransmitters and other reactions.

Yeah.

Taking a deep breath and not, not shallow breathing, but, you know, put your hands on your belly, right?

Take a deep breath into your belly.

And like, how, how does that feel?

How is.

And grounding.

Like, put your feet on the ground and posture.

Right.

So roll your shoulders back.

Because we are often slouched and that actually compresses our lungs.

So it's just simple posture and just paying attention.

So Dr. John Kabat Zin defined mindfulness as the ability to pay attention on purpose in the present moment, non judgmentally.

Right.

So there's a lot to unpack there by just, just dropping in.

Right.

And it can take just a few seconds.

But the key is consistent.

So we need consistent practice to develop these habits.

Right.

Pay attention on purpose.

It's a funny way to say it, right?

Because it's like you think you're paying attention, but we're just not, are we?

We're so.

Yeah.

So the research suggests that on average, we only pay attention in the work setting 47% of the time.

So this is this concept called presenteeism where you're clocking in.

And I had to learn about this in consulting, Right.

Cause we're often billing hourly and I can't bill a client if I'm having a coffee.

I can't bill a client if I'm, you know, just chatting with someone about the weather.

Like you gotta be working, Right.

And so it's 47% of the time and think about implications on health and safety, you know, and so there, there's a lot.

Yeah, there's a lot to impact there.

Okay.

So my goodness, like you have so much passion for like the neuroscience and, and obviously, you know.

Yeah, the philosophical side of it, really, what bring me into neuroscience.

How does neuroscience apply to leadership as we move into, say, 2027 and beyond?

So there's a whole new area of study called neuro leadership.

And I love to nerd out about it.

And essentially for me to put it in plain language, someone asked me, okay, tell me about neuro leadership.

What does this mean?

And the way I explain it is again, in a very human, humble way, it's, for me, it's a way to explain the benefits of mindfulness in the workplace by using brain science.

And I've got books behind me.

There's so much wonderful information on that topic and I'm very grateful that this exists.

Right, yeah, yeah.

So like, how is neuroscience affecting leadership as we move into 2027?

Right.

Like if you're working with teams, executive teams, and you're trying to get, you know, better performance, say, out of the organization as a whole.

Right.

How, how does neuroscience play into this?

Like, do we have to think about leadership different than we've ever thought about it before?

Yes, yes, we do.

Because traditionally, and I see that in my consulting work, I still see, I don't say Old school.

But some leaders who think that management by fear will get them best results.

And I don't have to give you too many examples.

I hope we've all seen it right.

Absolutely.

Ego and yelling and like, oh, you got.

Or you got to.

And, and, and this is kind of a power, power struggle.

And some people believe that this is the way to motivate people.

You gotta hold the stick over and make sure they're, they're working, make sure they're, they're doing the job.

And, and realistically, especially in the age of, you know, we've got a lot of knowledge workers, so professionals, people who need to use their brain and not just, it's not just.

They're not digging ditches.

They actually need to think creatively and innovate and problem solve.

So when you're doing that to people, you're shutting down their ability to think outside the box.

And so creating that fearful work environment, going against concepts of psychological safety, it's very damaging to your relationships.

But also the bottom line, more often than not, in cases like what I've seen from my work in human resources.

What have you seen?

Like, bring me, bring me into what's happening behind the scenes.

Obviously you've seen both sides of this, right?

I've seen a lot of different things.

Yeah.

I think we still, you know, I mean, I'm a millennial.

I think we're starting to really enter those leadership levels at a lot of these organizations.

But there are still Gen Zs, you know, in, in, in these leadership roles.

In some cases, there's still boomers in these leaders.

Yeah.

How is the different types of management even working together?

And then maybe on the other side of that, how, how do I phrase this?

Yeah.

On the other side of that, how is mindful leadership starting to work its way into these organizations?

Right.

So of course we're hoping that mindful leadership is working its way into organizations.

I see shifts and changes in different legislation.

I recently wrote a blog on my new LinkedIn newsletter around that.

And we see changes in legislation across different provinces and federally as well.

We see it showing up in health and safety under human rights.

So there are different aspects to that.

It is becoming very pragmatic, like the concept of psychological safety.

There's a standard out there.

You can measure it, you can do assessments, you can do workplace assessments, you can do custom programs.

This typically comes up after workplace investigations where we go in to do remediation.

And so, so there's a lot of work that can be done there.

And then proactively you know, I like to package this framework under like respectful workplace.

So how do we prevent incidents from happening?

So that's kind of the proactive approach.

And what have I seen?

You know, I've had clients and not only small to mid sized companies, but even big public organizations where the mandate for HR is to save money on lawsuits.

I've in many situations like that and it's one thing, okay, there's a misunderstanding, there's a mistake, let's do better, let's fix it, let's put in a program, let's do some training.

I've seen situations where clients don't want to fix things.

They want to sweep things under the carpet and keep going.

And then at that point you really have to ask yourself as a professional, okay, what are my values and what do I want to support?

So there's, I think HR professionals, you know, there's a dark side there.

People are often misunderstanding how lonely and difficult the profession can be.

I can imagine.

Yeah, yeah.

And then there's the whole concept of moral injury that could come in when you're trying to do the right thing.

And then there's only so much you can really do.

So.

Yeah, well, okay, let's spend a little bit of time on HR because obviously you are, you are an expert of experts in the area.

Let's talk about that, that line.

Right.

Because on the one hand, when you are younger and you're working in organizations, you are always taught that HR is on your side, they're here to protect the employee, make sure that they get what they need.

Yeah.

But then on the other side of that, your job is also to work with the executive team.

You work hand in hand with the highest levels of executives in a company.

I can see that being very challenging because on the one hand you are there to protect the employee, but you're also there to protect the organization.

How does HR walk that line?

Oh, absolutely.

And again, as an HR professional, I am very happy to protect the organization.

I know when we, my family business, when we left Poland, my mom gave everyone verbal notice and she didn't have it in writing and then she got sued for not giving notice.

So, I mean, I am very sympathetic to entrepreneurs and employers and I realize that's my client base.

If there's a problem, I'm there to advise and walk them through best case scenarios and risk and help to manage and calculate that risk.

Because there's, you know, fairness has to exist on both sides.

To your point, in the ideal world, case scenario, I'm there to help facilitate win win and get ahead of problems like create good workplace environments.

And you know, and I'm so blessed and grateful because I've just had some, had a big meeting yesterday with a client and I've got a few clients right now where I'm their fractional HR executive leader, VP or Chro or whatever the setup is.

But I have some wonderful clients, the cherry picked clients that I trust and again, senior leaders that want to genuinely want to create people first workplace.

And if we've got that mandate from the top, you know, yes, people make mistakes.

Yes, there's conflict sometimes.

Yes.

You know, you could have a misunderstanding or maybe some issues come up.

But you know what if you have trust in those relationships and it all comes from the top, from that mindful leadership layer and honesty and trust and you've got everything, you can move through any challenge.

But if, and I've seen situations where you don't have that trust in senior leadership.

Yeah.

It's like no matter what you do, there's going to be difficulties, right?

Yes.

It's different in every organization.

I completely understand that.

But yes, I also understand that.

You know, when I look at HR as a role within an organization, I would agree with you.

I think it's actually one of the most complicated roles in any company.

And I could see that getting very lonely, especially at times when you're trying to balance two different sides and hopefully trying to find a win win scenario.

But there, there isn't always a win win scenario.

That there often are.

And then again, I just, I just brought that up, you know, in, in the spirit of transparency.

I'm learning, I'm always very diplomatic, but I'm learning to be more direct and, and I just want to, for any of our listeners, I just want to respectfully, you know, acknowledge and, and put it out there.

Okay.

Hr, you know, hr, those individuals are people too and should have some compassion and for their mental health and sometimes limited resources because they often don't have anyone to go to invent.

So that's good to remember.

Right.

Absol.

I appreciate you speaking up for all of our HR professionals.

I know we have, I know we have a lot listening as well.

Yes.

Appreciate you guys.

Okay, lead us into.

I want to talk about burnout, Lena.

I want to talk about burnout because if there's one thing that I've seen coming up over my hundreds of interviews on this show, it's that high performers are burning out like crazy.

Like I would say at this point, it's not like the exception.

It's the rule.

If you're building business, if you're podcasting, if you're a thought leader, a speaker, a thought, take your pick.

If you are making a difference, making an impact, you're working hard, and we're seeing people burning out left, right and center.

I've talked to people who've ended up in the hospital.

I've talked to people who just gave up on their dreams.

I've talked to people who've quit their jobs.

Yeah, it's a gambit.

What's going on out there?

Why are so many people burning out?

Okay.

I just love how prepared you are, and all these questions are wonderful.

So I do have another newsletter on this topic that I wrote.

And, you know, when we talk stress management, there's a lot to unpack there.

So first of all, not all stress is negative.

Right.

Okay.

Think about, you know, our physical body, how we move through our environment.

Right.

And even going to the gym.

Right.

Think about our muscles.

We need some resistance.

We need some stress to get stronger.

We need gravity.

Right.

To move.

Like, we can't just be floating out in space.

Like, if there's no stress.

Yeah.

There's going to be atrophy.

Like, we're.

We need some challenge.

Right.

But then.

Then the question is, what is the right amount of stress?

What is the right amount of challenge?

And in my newsletter or blog post, you know, I have.

It's hard to explain the visual, but there's.

You can probably look it up.

It's called the stress curve.

And, and.

Or the concept of eustress.

I don't know if you heard that.

I haven't heard that before.

No.

Okay.

So eustress is positive stress.

And then there's a curve where, you know, and the variables are, of course, the challenge, what the challenge is, and then your skill level.

So think about, you know, like, for example, professional athletes versus, like, you know, if you're playing basketball for a team versus with your friends.

The challenge level and the skill level is different.

So then the amount of stress that is favorable towards your performance, like, that varies based on the variables.

And then there's a peak.

Right.

So you have to have a certain amount of challenge.

But then if your skill set, or, sorry, if the challenge exceeds your skill set, that's where that burnout is gonna start coming in.

Okay.

Okay.

And it can be a number of things.

And again, this may be a little bit simplifying the topic because, you know, then you've gotta look at self care and time management as well.

Yeah.

I'm a huge fan of simplifying things, though, because I think, you know, I think humans, we're complex, but we sure do appreciate simple explanations, don't we?

I like the idea of the fact that burnout could.

Could be tied to when you're.

When you're.

When the challenge exceeds your current skill set level.

Right.

So if that's the case, and what we have to do is we have to challenge ourselves, but we don't want to burn out.

How do we balance that?

Because obviously we have to push the limits to get better, but how do we push the limits without failure?

And that's where coaching comes in.

Yeah.

Isn't that a perfect segue?

Because I'm thinking, you know, after so many years, I'm just getting back to the gym and I've got a personal trainer, and she's great.

Because I think I go in there, I'm like, oh, I think I'm doing the things.

You know, at some point, I've learned a few things, and I think I. I think I know what I'm doing.

And then she had me do some exercises.

I'm like, oh, my God.

I.

There's like this empathy machine, and I couldn't even bring it together.

And I'm going, oh, my God, like, what is going on?

My.

My.

My brain was just, you know, fried.

I was like, what is happening, you know, to.

To me and my body?

So we have these blind spots.

Right.

And working.

Working with a coach really helps.

And.

And it can.

Creating safe environments helps.

Right.

Having that support, having someone in your corner and having realistic goals, not goals that, you know, I'm gonna do a thousand push ups today and, you know, get injured.

Oh, well, like, I am out there trying.

So, like, you gotta know what your limits are.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

I'm one of those people who sets, like, way too ambitious goals like, that I would never be able to attain in a year.

Although when I write it down, I absolutely think it's possible.

But then what's funny is I underestimate what I can do in a couple of years.

Right?

Yeah.

So I'm almost always a little bit disappointed with where I'm at, whether it's my podcast, my business, whatever, within that year.

But if I look back and I say, what did I do over the past three years?

It always blows me away.

Yeah, it's good to have goals and keeping track of where you're at.

I think you're already winning if you're looking at data and numbers.

And how you're improving, you know, huge pat on the back for you.

I think that's amazing.

And yeah, sometimes it's hard to get started, but then once you, once you get going, you really start to see, oh, at the beginning, I didn't feel like I'm going somewhere.

But, you know, it's like those incremental habits like you do a little bit every day, and over time it's like, hey, actually I am, I am.

You know what?

I am getting ahead.

I'm moving ahead.

I know it will happen.

And just keeping that being consistent.

I think that's where a lot of people fail.

Yeah, I want to go back to neuroscience because I know one of the other things that you're passionate about is emotional intelligence.

How does emotional intelligence intersect with neuroscience?

So we see the benefits, you know, in terms of mindfulness.

We see the correlation between mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Because emotional intelligence, if you look at the definition, it stems from awareness, so self awareness, which is something that we're cultivating during mindfulness.

So we're not escaping from the things that are challenging or unpleasant or, you know, like, we're really learning to observe our reactions and our thoughts and kind of like what's sitting under the surface.

And so that introspection, that's a part of emotional intelligence, and then it allows us to have hopefully more compassion for ourselves and others.

And then seeing how, you know, that interaction, our relationships, how, how we interact with others, that's the other aspect of emotional intelligence, being able to recognize, you know, our impact on other people.

So, yeah, one of the things that I want to maybe touch on with you, a lot of the stuff we're talking about with regards to mindfulness kind of requires you to stop for a minute and think.

Right.

It's not the automatic response.

And I think a lot of the problems that we're people face is that whenever we're in a situation, whether or not we're afraid, whether or not we're feeling attacked or.

Or we're put on the spot, what ends up happening?

And, and, you know, I mean, you're smarter than me on this one, but what ends up happening is our, you know, I mean, it's like your rational brain shuts down and you go into monkey brain.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's exactly it.

Yeah, Explained.

Obviously, that's something that, that you deal with when you're in conflict situations or you're working with people in high stress situations.

First off, what is happening?

Yeah.

And then how do you fix that situation to get Back to a place where you can think clearly.

Absolutely.

So you called it out, Kelly, I think you can lead the class next time.

Just gotta get a whiteboard and draw some pictures.

I'm in business development, not neuroscience.

Yeah, exactly.

You nailed it.

From an evolutionary perspective, we're really looking at how our brains are wired, right?

So there's the software aspect and there's the hardware.

So, you know, looking at our brainstem, and there's that limbic area and the reptilian brain, as you may call it, and a lot of it is like the, you know, the reflex reactions, which are very useful.

Okay, I can tell you a story.

There's this one time a couple years ago, it blew my mind.

I was doing something very mundane.

I was preparing supper, cutting up some vegetables, and I like my big kitchen knives.

And anyway, the knife slipped from my.

From my hand, and it fell on the ground.

My leg where I was standing has moved out of the way before I even noticed that.

I dropped the knife before I even registered, you know, and it was just a split second, but.

But I was like, it blew my mind.

I was thinking.

I was like, oh, and the mindfulness.

Oh.

In the brain, and it's like, wow.

Cause I could really see that split second.

Like, sometimes we need those reflexes.

There's an emergency or an accident.

And our ancestors living out in nature, you know, those types of accidents happened very rarely.

And so those instincts were very spot on.

We're a little bit oversaturated with what's going on and all the emails and information overload.

So sometimes those, you know, reflex reactions are.

They're no longer an adaptation that's positive.

So we have to be cognizant.

Okay, why is this coming up?

Like, this is just an email.

Like, it's not a bear in the closet.

Like, just, you know, like, you have to override it a little bit.

Yeah.

But, yeah, really, it's how it's wired.

So we've got the reptilian brain, and then we have the mammal brain.

So we've got the newer area of how information is processing, and then we've got the prefrontal cortex, and the outer cortex is the newer area of the brain.

So information has to get filtered through all those different systems before we actually can conceptualize and tell the story about what's happening and rationalize it and.

And act accordingly.

So I love that you told the story where you were able to get out of the way of that knife.

I knocked a knife off the counter the other day, and thank God it didn't fall knife first, but it nailed me right on the toe.

So maybe not all of us have those reaction speeds quite as fast as you, Lena.

Maybe it's just out of the corner of your eye or something.

Maybe you didn't see it.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, yeah, I can tell you it hurt, but it could have hurt much worse.

Oh no.

Exciting.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about essentially neuro leadership.

You have a neuroscience informed, respectful workplace training program.

What is that?

Bring me into that.

Oh, super, super nerdy.

I definitely nerd out on that.

It's, you know, the joy that I have in life when it comes to legislative requirements for workplaces.

There's the floor and then there's the ceiling.

So the floor.

Every organization is required to provide training on anti violence and harassment.

Essential.

That's what it is.

And we have to provide.

There's certain scope in different modules.

So the respectful workplace package contains everything that's required by law to provide to your team and your health and safety, mostly and human rights.

But also I have an introduction that is more proactive.

So everything we talk about, but we're going more in depth.

Right.

So you know, stress management and you and I talked about the brain and how it's wired.

Like there will be a whole section on that science, the exact processes and what it means and why it's important and all those areas from my research.

So I've used my applied project and all those different sections.

So we're unpacking everything and so I'm essentially enriching the content with that preventative aspect and those concepts of psychological safety.

How do we prevent these problems from happening?

And then if there's a problem, what do we do?

And kind of close it off that way.

So.

So it's more comprehensive.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

I think that's a great place to segue into, you know, your organization, Elevate Talent Solutions.

Then obviously you also have started up a very successful coaching practice.

Bring us into both.

What is Elevate Talent Solutions?

Then also bring us into Lena Bill Coaching.

Absolutely.

So thank you for, for that.

Elevate Talent Solutions.

We are an HR consulting firm working with small mid sized organizations primarily in Alberta, across western Canada and really across the whole country.

I'm really happy of all the work and wonderful clients and everything that we've accomplished.

So no project is too big or too small for us to tackle and we do fractional work as well.

And Lena Bill Coaching is a new venture we've just started this year and it's you know, something I'm very passionate about and I've worked towards for the last 15 years.

I've recently got my coaching certification and I just love working with leaders one on one in that supportive capacity.

I think it's very aligned personally, you know, with my strengths and abilities.

And I have to say any day when I get to coach is a good day.

So I couldn't agree more.

I absolutely love coaching.

I had no idea how much I would enjoy it until I started doing it.

So, you know, I haven't talked with the coach yet who didn't say the same thing.

It's like their favorite thing to do.

Good for you.

That's awesome, Kelly.

All right, Lena.

Well, hey, I want to, I want to put you on the spot one more time because we have a lot of, you know, executives listening, a lot of people who are making the jump into entrepreneurship, probably a lot of people from the HR field.

What skill set is going to be most important for leaders moving forward to build strong teams?

Okay, so I'm going to push the envelope a little bit and obviously mindfulness, I'm going to say compassion and yeah, I've been, you know, thinking about my marketing for this mindfulness programs and how I'm going to package it and honestly, if I had to be super transparent, this would be part of the curriculum because I think it's so important.

But a lot of people think compassion is like a soft skill, but actually it is and it's being able to have honest conversations and looking at performance and you know, learn to be human in this so quickly changing world of AI and technology and yeah, I think it's key self compassion as well.

Yeah, yeah, I, I say it on the show all the time.

You might not have heard it, but in a world of AI and robots, be human.

I love that.

That's awesome.

And I gotta say, I've got a coach as well, so that's always good to, to get that support.

Yeah, absolutely.

Lena, this has been incredible for people listening who want to chat with you either about HR solutions or as an executive coach, what's the best way for them to get ahold of you?

I would say LinkedIn is probably the best way.

It's, you know, add me as a connection and send me a DM or I don't know if you put my.

Website or email, but that's your websites and email.

Well, not email.

Your website will be down in the links along with your LinkedIn.

Lena, this has been incredible.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Amazing.

Until next time.

You've been listening to the Business Development Podcast and we'll catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.