Discovering Strengths: How this Nurse Educator Uses Her Talents to Succeed - Feat. Bonnie Meadows S4E60

Have you ever met someone whose passion for making a difference is so palpable that it inspires you to rethink your path?
 
In this podcast episode, I sit down with Bonnie Meadows, a dedicated nurse educator and president-elect of a state nurses association.  We delve into her Top 5  CliftonStrengths and how she can use them in her current career and moving forward.   She recounts her experiences and shares her excitement for her mission to empower nurses and improve the nursing profession.

"I just want to make an impact. I'm starting to see some lanes where I want to do that, but I can't say exactly what I want to do. I just know I want to make a difference."

This conversation showcases Bonnie's unwavering passion, her strategic and thoughtful approach to leadership, how she uses her Top 5 CliftonStrengths to succeed in her career, and her relentless pursuit of making a positive impact in the nursing profession.

 When you listen to this conversation, you will gain inspiration from Bonnie's dedication and passion for nursing education, along with:

• Understand the importance of discovering and following one's calling
• Reflect on the significance of personal strengths and how to leverage them
• Understand the importance of not just taking the CliftonStrengths assessment but fully understanding what your talent themes mean
• Insights on Bonnie's journey as a nurse educator and her vision for improving the nursing profession
• Insights on Bonnie's Top 5 CliftonStrengths and their impact on her professional and personal life
• Consider the broader implications when you work within your calling

Bonnie's Top 5 Talent Themes:
Relator, Belief, Connectedness, Learner, Individualization

Resources:

• Connect with Bonnie:  www.linkedin.com/in/bmeadowscns
• Listen to her Podcast:  The Ambitious Nurse 

Transcript

UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:00:02) - All right. So welcome to the podcast, Bonnie. I am so excited to have this conversation with you and to really dive into your Clifton Strakes. Thank you for taking the assessment, for reaching out, and for allowing us to do this conversation so others can hear like what happened. When they have a cliftonstrengths start with strength session with me and we're doing a little mini version, but it's going to be pretty powerful. So welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:00:35) - Thank you. I am, quite excited to be here, as I like learning about myself. just to I always have this mindset of improvement and I'm like, how can I just improve just a little bit more? and so I always like self assessments. and the cliftonstrengths just gave me an opportunity to just kind of do I took it years and years ago. but of course, since then, it's been updated. People would ask me, oh, what are your strengths? I don't I didn't even remember. And I have a feeling they probably changed since then.

Speaker 2 (00:01:09) - Anyway, so it's just a good opportunity to get some coaching around it also at the same time. So thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:01:17) - Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I hear that so many times of oh yeah I think straight. But wait. Yeah I think I took that, you know like five years ago. Ten years ago I think this was my strength. And they come up with these weird words. It's like, oh no. Oh yeah. Okay. That's this, you know. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But they never so many people. Never. Their co-star added they never really understood what they mean, how they how they can be helpful to you, right? Right. and I was guilty of that myself, so, but let me know. So let's just before we jump into your strengths, just a little bit of where are you at right now in your life and where do you want to be in your life?

Speaker 2 (00:02:07) - Hey. All right. Good question. So right now I am working somewhat full time.

Speaker 2 (00:02:15) - as a nurse educator, I've been a nurse for about. It'll be 20 years in July. I've done lots of things within nursing and have transitioned to this place of wanting to. Grow more outside of my organization versus inside of my organization. I love nursing and I actually don't plan to leave. My organization anytime soon. Like if if anybody sees my name and they're like, is she leaving now? Nope. but there's a lot of growth that is happening for me outside of my organization, which then helps me to be able to impact health care and nursing on a daily, on a day to day basis. So I work as a, nurse educator specifically for new graduate nurses. so that's my way of being able to mentor, because I love mentoring new nurses. and then I'm also in a president elect's, position for my state nurses association. all of these booths have really been God moves because they weren't none of them were my choice. I know I'm trained as a clinical nurse specialist, which is which is an advanced practice nurse.

Speaker 2 (00:03:40) - So we are kind of in those we are in that that bucket of nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist. And then there's the clinical nurse specialist who works on health care quality and nursing practice. And so I thought that my trajectory was going that way. And then something happened, really. I kind of hit a wall of burnout earlier this year and last year. Had some conversations with the Lord and he was like, yeah, I got a different way for you to go. In the meantime, I was preparing to run for president elect again. He tapped me on the shoulder when I was at our convention on last year. I'd already been on the board of directors for about four years, and I was preparing to just kind of hang back for a year or two and see where I was going from there, and. I ended up running and won and just how things have unfolded in my life. have one been a good place? So sometimes people will say, oh, well, I'm in a direction that these are things that I didn't choose, and I'm not really quite sure what is.

Speaker 2 (00:04:51) - I still don't know what he's doing, but I'm walking with it. But I'm in a pretty good place where I know that where I am in my organization, I'm good. But I'm seeing other things that I want to grow into even as I am walking through this president elect and then going into presidency. I am a, how how would I say this? I am I am a mom of older age, so I'm 45 with a three year old. and so I'm enjoying life with him. I'm enjoying life with my husband. So, and then building a business on the side. so that's pretty much kind of where I am. I had. At this point I'm very ambitious, but. All I can say. Like when when people ask me, okay, what do you want? I just want to make impact. I'm starting to see some lanes where I want to do that, but I can't say. Let me take that back. I can possibly say what I want to do. I just don't know if that's the direction I'm actually supposed to go.

Speaker 2 (00:06:04) - So I could say what would be nice, but that's kind of where I'm sitting right now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:06:13) - Thank you for sharing all that. And I'm I'm kind of smiling here because. You know, I spend time prepping for these calls and reading through, you know, each person's strengths and the details on it and help us look at these. I call it a debrief session, but really it's almost like a palm reading session in a weird way, you know? It's just like, I feel like I get to almost step inside people's souls and and what I'm hearing you say is like, oh, yeah, yeah, I can see why. She said, yeah, yeah. You know, so it's it's not fun for me to be able to help connect the dots. And based on your Cliftonstrengths are and I have these, as a coach, we get these insight cards. And one of the things I do when I'm prepping is I just pull these out, and I just. There are really, really brief overview of each of the Cliftonstrengths themes.

Speaker 1 (00:07:16) - And your themes. You know your top five themes are relator. Belief. Connectedness. Learner. Individualization. We're going to dive deeper into those in a minute, but I just do a high level, look at who is Bonnie Meadows according to her strengths. According to her talents. Really? It's really your talents because the goal is to turn them into your strengths. Some of them may already be your strength. Some may already. Some may be there, but they need to be. Worked on a little bit. I always say it's like a muscle, you know, we have biceps inside of us. Some people have invested time and effort building that biceps. It's a strike. Others of us need to work on it, but it's there, you know? and when I do the high level, this is who I see as Bonnie Meadows. And I want to see here. I want you to just take this in, even close your eyes, Bonnie, and take it in and and let me know how this description of you, this high level description resonates.

Speaker 1 (00:08:28) - So I see you as somebody strong in faith. It sees humanity as beautiful and full of possibilities. You're someone who loves to connect with others on a much deeper level, and enjoys learning how to make the world a better place. How does that all resonate with you?

Speaker 2 (00:08:53) - Well, I guess that's spot on based on what I just said. That's pretty spot on.

Speaker 1 (00:09:03) - And without hearing what you said, that's why I was kind of smiling is like oh I think I nailed that I think and I didn't cliftonstrengths nailed it you know. Yeah. Nailed it.

Speaker 2 (00:09:13) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:09:14) - So that's really the high level. So I think a lot the fact that you are so faith driven. Shows through because you know your belief is there and it's kind of like, which came first, the chicken or the egg? It's again, you were talent themes, if you really believe them like I do is they are your talent DNA. It is their inside of you. I like to think of it as when God designed us.

Speaker 1 (00:09:43) - He put these inside of us and they show up at different times in our lives, and they develop in different ways, and sometimes they don't develop. Sometimes they're for some people, they're actually smushed. And it's not the only way into adulthood that they get blossomed. Yeah. But like your belief, you can hear that shining through, you know, and beliefs and always come from a faith center necessarily with God. For most people it does not always. But for somebody like you, it's like, yeah, belief is totally tied to following God's plan, you know? Yeah. So I don't get too off track here because I can go in a different direction. But what I would love to do is I'm going to do a screen share, because the other thing I do when I'm prepping is I go through your, you know, that was the high level based on what each of those themes means for everybody. Now look at like, what does Bonnie Meadows themes look like? Okay. And this is where I want to do a screen share for us.

Speaker 1 (00:10:55) - And.

Speaker 4 (00:10:57) - If this.

Speaker 1 (00:10:59) - Makes it onto YouTube. People can follow along here. The body did the top five. And can you see that body and you see. Yep. Okay, so. What I love is Gallup. They this is new. So they always done very customized reports for the full 34. They just started doing these customized reports for top five. So they've always had a top. They've had a top five report. But this part is new. This beautiful report. Yes. Oh and this is what's so cool. So this when you're looking at your report. So we're looking at relator first. And what is relator. This is the you know the Gallup definition of it that anybody with relator has this name description there. But what I would really love to hone in on with our, you know, limited time is why your relator is unique. So all of this in that's already highlighted in blue. Not my highlights, but the blue part that is your relator definition based on how your other themes show up in your assessment.

Speaker 1 (00:12:15) - Okay. So you could take somebody else's assessment and read them later. This part is not going to look like yours.

Speaker 2 (00:12:23) - okay okay.

Speaker 1 (00:12:25) - So this is where I love to spend the bulk of the time initially with like my coaching clients, because this really will hone in on you and it's taking in not just and it's not even just your top five. Like you can start to pick pieces in here like you'll see as my notes. It's like, oh, she must have this theme in there too. That's probably in six through ten because you can hear other themes showing up. Yeah. And so some of the things that jumped out at me and I recommend if you haven't done this yet, is to take. The reports, print them out and go through and highlight what jumps out for you. Okay. It could be that maybe it's things that are you know, I used to do that a lot. And I haven't in a while. Let me get back to that. Kind of hone that muscle, you know.

Speaker 1 (00:13:24) - Or it could be like. Well, that's interesting. I never thought about it that way. Or maybe it just leaves you with questions. You know, or maybe it just reminds you is like, oh yeah, this is why I am so good at what I do, or this is why this energizes me. Yeah. You know, or this is why I'm going to be such a great president. Now. It's like, no, you know, you start to see those things. So highlight circle make. No. But some of the things for relator that really jumped out from me, that I thought were unique to you is, you know, once that you naturally gravitate to tasks where facts, events, processes or idea ideas are methodically outlined. And I put nursing question marks, I knew you have you know, you come from a nursing. So. When you read that, like how do you see, how do you see that? Oh yeah, that's definitely how I naturally gravitate.

Speaker 2 (00:14:25) - I actually was just having a conversation with a friend of mine earlier.

Speaker 2 (00:14:30) - and we were just talking about work in general. And, you know, for both of us, we were talking about actually talk about micro managers and like structure of things. And so I told her, I said in my like in my work as a nurse educator, yes, I like structure. but I also like to autonomously be able to think through my processes and to be able to create and develop things. But when I'm in the clinical setting, I need all the structure I can get, which is why I was a cardiac surgery critical care nurse because I absolutely loved and craved the structure. Because once I understood the structure then and I understood the norms then when things deviated, I could easily critically think through what do I need to do next quickly? Which is why, yeah, that's probably I gravitate to because that's where I'm going to gravitate towards first. My foundation is what are the facts? What are the processes like? What is the norm. And then outside of that, what is the abnormal and abnormal? I can work with that.

Speaker 2 (00:15:40) - But I need to know what is the foundation and what is the baseline first.

Speaker 1 (00:15:45) - And it's so interesting to me because relator the definition of relator for as Gallup describes it, is it's how you build relationships. It's about relationship building. And relator. Relator love to just go deeper with a smaller group of people basically. Yeah. You know, they may come off as sometimes closed. They may and I have relator like at number seven for me. So, I think sometimes people may think you're either shy or, Could be negative. Like. Allow for. You know, there's different ways. Yeah. But it's it's just that we're not selective in a bad way. It's just like, I got enough friends. I don't need to make another friend. But. I want to know about you. If I get if I get in a conversation, I don't want superficial. I want to go deep. Like, tell me something deep. Tell me something unique about you.

Speaker 2 (00:16:52) - Share that spot on.

Speaker 1 (00:16:54) - Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:16:54) - Because I have I have said that before. Like, I'm. I got plenty of friends. I've got plenty of friends. I have friends from, like, I have my best friend. We've been friends since ninth grade. And so I have friends from church. So I'm like, I'm I'm good on friends. But I still like engaging with people. I still like knowing people. But usually my engagement with people is, how can I serve you? Not what can I get from you? But in this moment, while we are here together, what can I do to help you? What can I do to make your day better? What? What can I do now that also turns around to. If it starts like if if people start pulling on me too much, then I put, I pull back and I'm like, no, no, no, that's not I didn't come here for all of that. I only have like a piece of me to give.

Speaker 1 (00:17:47) - Yeah, not totally makes that.

Speaker 1 (00:17:49) - And that explains why. Because you're you're relator again as I'm reading the the customized description is like, well, that's interesting because it's not necessarily about the people relationships. It's made that, okay, maybe once this is set, then I can open up the doors to become get to know you.

Speaker 2 (00:18:08) - Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. This is very interesting.

Speaker 3 (00:18:13) - So.

Speaker 1 (00:18:14) - some of the other things I highlighted in, in relator was just by nature, you thrive in settings where you can accomplish things, and that shows up a lot and the themes. But, as long as you can stick to your preferred plan of action. I think we just talked about this. You usually enjoy handling the details and deadlines related to jobs, chores, projects, hobbies, assignments, or errands and the questions that came up for me that I wanted to ask you with like. How do you see that show up in your in your life, whether at work or at home? And then piggybacking on that, thinking about that, like what environments do you realize, like you need in order to thrive? And maybe you can think back of a situation where you didn't have it and it was a frustrating environment or an environment that you're like, oh yeah, when all these things are met, that's where I'm happiest.

Speaker 1 (00:19:07) - That's what I do my best work.

Speaker 2 (00:19:11) - I could, I could probably think of, I thought I would say probably my my job life within the last year. so I came in to do this nurse educator position after. Working in a clinical setting. And the clinical setting, depending on the manager, was very autonomous and as my work as when I was a clinical nurse specialist. It's give her the project and then let her work through it with the team. And so I've when I encounter micro managers who want to tell me how to work the project, I have an issue with that. That's where this comes in.

Speaker 3 (00:20:01) - Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:20:01) - You could because just just give me the date. Just give me the deadline that I would and the details I will work it out from there. But don't tell me how to actually do it. I'm open for suggestions. All of that. Tell me what what your goal is. I want to know what your goal is. I want to know what my what's my deadline.

Speaker 2 (00:20:22) - And then I'll take care of everything else. And then I just need your support. Whenever I have questions, whenever I run up against something, I'm. I'm not coming to you for just something. And so in my current job, that is how I that's how we operate. I have I have my own deadlines. I work my own projects. They tell me what, what what is it that I need to have done? And then I work from there. And so it's a much better environment for me to be able to thrive. And again, like I said earlier, I have ambitions and things that I want to do outside of work that relate. They all relate to work. But I like to be able to have that room to be able to, to do those things.

Speaker 1 (00:21:08) - Yeah. That makes so much sense. Yeah. Well the things you said about, you know, to thrive, I mean that's the whole goal. That is the whole goal. And that's why knowing what your strengths and talent themes are and knowing these details about yourself, that's why you can you can say, oh yes, this is why I am thriving in this setting right now, or this is why this isn't working for me.

Speaker 1 (00:21:35) - And the other thing, too, is when we can work in our in our talents and our strengths, that energizes us. Yeah. And? When we're energized in our careers, we have more energy left at the end of the day to pursue our hobbies, to absolutely things to give to a family.

Speaker 3 (00:22:02) - Yep.

Speaker 1 (00:22:04) - So it's so beneficial to make sure that you are in a thriving environment.

Speaker 3 (00:22:09) - Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:22:12) - Yeah. And we already kind of just talked about this with your, you know, last thing on relator is your enduring friendships have survived because they're built on loyalty and trust over time. And for you these traits are essential. And you already know that.

Speaker 3 (00:22:26) - Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:22:29) - so that's your relator, you know, quick, quick little overview of the relator. The other thing I love on this report is it gives you a little, You know, application of how to really continue to work on investing on in your relationships, investing and relator so that they do become your strength.

Speaker 1 (00:22:50) - And, you know, in here, it just really is important to create that lifestyle that allows you to spend time with your friends, you know, your close friends and space to work with and what you want in the future, too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:23:08) - Love it.

Speaker 1 (00:23:09) - Any any questions or anything around? Relator.

Speaker 2 (00:23:14) - Not that I can think of. Yeah, not that I can think of it just. I don't know, I've. I've moved. I don't think that I thought that relator was going to be my number one, but I know that like I do. But this was spot on that hands down.

Speaker 1 (00:23:35) - And then again, it sometimes it's how it's showing up. That's why I think that really dive in into how it's unique to you, because then that makes it because sometimes you can read the the Gallup description, I think. I don't know. I don't really see that. But then when you dive in, it's like, oh yeah, that's really good. Yeah, it's how it plays with the other talent.

Speaker 3 (00:23:57) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:23:58) - We're not going to get into this part today, but I just want to point this out that it's pretty cool. Again, this is something new to this report is how. That they put in is how that theme blends. And I love that word blends with your other top five themes. So that's something for you to go back and look on. It's like, oh yeah, now I see my relator and belief working together, my relator and Lerner working together, and how they complement or work together again. I like their word blends. So let's go to belief. And you were describing who you are, where we first opened. I mean, again, you could hear your belief really coming through. Bonnie. You know, in Gallup's brief description, I'll just share a little nugget is that, you know, people with strong belief talents have enduring principles that they live by. these values vary from one person to another, but they're powerful beliefs that are deeply held and that, like, that is the core of your being or your your core beliefs are so strong and that's like, is your guiding light, whatever that belief is for you.

Speaker 1 (00:25:12) - but when we look at your unique belief based on, again, your other talent themes, some of the things that I had highlighted was, the first thing is you identify what you can do as a person to make life better for others. Your values are expressed through your words and deeds, your sense of mission. What a bird happens to be. Fills your life with meaning and purpose. What would you say your mission is, Bonnie. Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:25:48) - It depends on. So my ultimate, my ultimate mission is to please God. but that's real. That's really grand. Like, we could do that every day. We could do that in big things and small things. but I don't want it to be said that I didn't do what he asked me to do. so.

Speaker 3 (00:26:12) - I'm.

Speaker 2 (00:26:12) - To not I do not want it to be said when. no. Yeah. I asked you to do this and you didn't. And plus that's just, it's just not a good place to be. Like I just, I feel the tension in that.

Speaker 2 (00:26:26) - and so I that's, that's my ultimate mission. Now when it comes to nursing, I, I have such a mission and a passion for improving the nursing profession and increasing the value of the nurse, I feel like. And I've. I've been a nurse in the South. And so I know nurses in other states, they they have a different swagger about them. I would say, you know, when I speak to some of the nurses who are more experienced than I, who have been in nursing for about 30 to 40 years, they talk about how when the doctor walked in, walked in the room, they got up out of their seat so the doctor could sit down. And so we've evolved from that. but we have more power than we operate in, and I, I don't say that we need to tear people down, but I think that we need to stop asking for favors and get into action ourselves. And so I want to be able to empower nurses to get into action, to get in the flow, to not be passive.

Speaker 2 (00:27:36) - There are some of us who will be passive and that's. That's that's what that's that is the part of our, our profession and I there's no digs on that because they are needed in the profession also. their priorities are somewhere else, but they still love to be in that setting when they are able to be in that setting. And so they're present when they're there. but it is my nursing, but it is my passion to increase the value, and the presence of nursing and just to help us to empower ourselves to do better, to be better, because it then just helps our patients and our patients, as you and I, we're all patients, we we fare better when. Especially when we are the largest part of the health care profession. When it comes to my son, my mission is to help him to be who God has called him to be, whatever I can do. So I don't want to stand in the way of that. But whatever it is that I need to know in order to help him, me and my husband and I to help him to be wherever God wants him to be, that that is that is my mission.

Speaker 2 (00:28:46) - My mission with my marriage is that I want our marriage to be a blessing to others, which means that we have to pour into ourselves, and we have to pour into our other and into our own marriage. And then. Outside of that, it's just my mission is just to serve.

Speaker 1 (00:29:05) - Well, that's. You've thought about this before.

Speaker 2 (00:29:09) - I'm a thinker.

Speaker 1 (00:29:12) - And it's funny because one of the things I highlighted under here was instinctively, you think before you act.

Speaker 2 (00:29:18) - All the time, and when I don't have time I'm like resistant. I'm like.

Speaker 1 (00:29:24) - Yeah. Meaning you don't have if you don't have time to think.

Speaker 2 (00:29:29) - If I don't have time to think. And I've not already like thought of a solution or had a solution, I get very resistant until I can come up with a solution. And it doesn't have to be like all the way, but I have to have a somewhat of an understanding before I act.

Speaker 3 (00:29:45) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:29:46) - And that's a really again important thing to know about yourself. Yeah. Because if you especially even in nursing I'm sure like.

Speaker 1 (00:29:54) - Did you ever work as a E.R. nurse?

Speaker 3 (00:29:57) - Oh, no.

Speaker 1 (00:29:58) - Okay, because I could see that probably would not be the right place for you, then.

Speaker 2 (00:30:03) - No, but when you're working in cardiac surgery, critical care, like, I've had patients where they're doing fine. And the next thing you know, like, I was literally bathing a patient, and the monitor started going off. She closed her eyes. I literally I immediately dropped the bed, got on her chest, started doing CPR, but I was I was experienced at that point in time to where I knew what the process was like. If somebody's going down, you jump on their chest, you start CPR. so it's not that I can't think in emergency situations, but I'd been through enough situations to where I knew my resources, I knew what the sequence of what I needed to do in an emergency situation.

Speaker 1 (00:30:53) - As you had thought about it in the past you know. Right. Yeah. My husband, he's a you know retired firefighter.

Speaker 1 (00:31:00) - So we talked about that before of just why basically SOPs are so important. Because yes. You know in just doing because you've been trained so much on the. Yes. And those. Yeah. For certain you know, situations. So yeah. so one of the other things I had highlighted under belief here was that you were willing to work alongside possibility thinkers who dedicate themselves to humanitarian or philanthropic philanthropy. I can never say that word causes like like them. You imagine a world without refugee, without refugees, war, hunger, incurable diseases and weapons of mass destruction. Now that's pretty deep, but I think what you said, though, it it may not be about war and hunger and diseases and weapons of mass destruction, but. You summarized your mission. Really in the same vein, in your own words, of what you feel like your mission is around the nurses and the calling for them and how they, Show up.

Speaker 3 (00:32:13) - Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:32:15) - and I think about this like, I feel like this whole I will say.

Speaker 2 (00:32:20) - I feel like I've grown into this as I've become an entrepreneur, as I've been in the entrepreneurial space, because the entrepreneurial space allows you to think of the possibilities, there's no limits. You could do whatever you want to do. It's just it just has to work.

Speaker 3 (00:32:40) - But you keep.

Speaker 2 (00:32:40) - Working on.

Speaker 3 (00:32:41) - It.

Speaker 2 (00:32:42) - I, I never Sherry I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Speaker 3 (00:32:48) - I would be in.

Speaker 2 (00:32:49) - High school and there would be like the future entrepreneurs of America. And this I'm like, why would you want to work for yourself now? Again, I don't I don't want to work for myself like my my entrepreneurship is more so about the mission of helping nurses build their careers. But I also see the fact that it is a possible it is a opportunity for possibilities and all of the possibilities of the things that you can do. So I no longer have a ceiling for what I can do at work, because that's there's always going to be a ceiling in some and, and a mission. The mission is the patient, but it's still guided by somebody else.

Speaker 2 (00:33:28) - I'm good with that. And I will work that mission. But I also am able to do what I want to do outside of that. And it's that humanitarian, philanthropic, that growth in professional nursing organizations. That's not really about the money. It's about what impact are you making in the profession and on our patients. And I realize that. I'm really only here for the period of time that I have to do the work, but hopefully it just moves the needle just one bit further so we can get just just a little bit further. That's that's it.

Speaker 1 (00:34:06) - I love that and I hope in and again, this is one of the things I love about with the Cliftonstrengths is a lot of times you may be aware of your talents and the, you know, strengths that are showing up. But this can just be great affirmation that you're on the right path.

Speaker 2 (00:34:27) - That's true. That's very true.

Speaker 1 (00:34:29) - And when I look at your belief. And hear what you're saying. I hope you are receiving that. That like, yes you are.

Speaker 1 (00:34:38) - You are on the right path.

Speaker 2 (00:34:42) - That is always good to know.

Speaker 1 (00:34:46) - and even down just the last little thing on believe here that I had highlighted and you mentioned this with your son, that you want to leave future generations a much better world than the one you inherited. And and I say that I mean, a way the different world, but also just your passion for making sure you know your son. Yeah. What things going to look like for him. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:35:11) - Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (00:35:12) - I, I.

Speaker 2 (00:35:13) - Don't even I try to be optimistic about that.

Speaker 3 (00:35:17) - Job. Right.

Speaker 2 (00:35:18) - Because you can do you have to be because you can be doom and gloom. The world is going to look different. But you know, how can we how can we work so that he's well equipped for whatever happens.

Speaker 3 (00:35:32) - Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:35:37) - Anything else that really jumped out at you with regards to belief and your mission? When you see this.

Speaker 2 (00:35:46) - you feel impelled to do whatever you can as a solo performer. Driven by your talents.

Speaker 2 (00:35:56) - That that's that stood out to me. Because I'm like, I just, I if nobody goes, I'm there. If I gotta go by myself, somebody will join me. But somebody got to step out there and do it.

Speaker 3 (00:36:16) - Yeah. Beautiful.

Speaker 1 (00:36:21) - So this is I wrote in big bold letters here. So let's go back and see what I was thinking. This is a big clue to find in your calling is what I jotted down here.

Speaker 3 (00:36:30) - Yes it is.

Speaker 1 (00:36:32) - So, you know, around belief, it says, think about your best day to better understand what you like the most about what you do daily. How did your values contribute to the satisfaction you felt that day? What can you do to have more days like your best day? So we need about that. What does a one of your best days look like? What did it look like?

Speaker 3 (00:37:01) - Jeff are.

Speaker 2 (00:37:06) - I will say one of my I mean, I have a lot of great days.

Speaker 3 (00:37:13) - Are.

Speaker 2 (00:37:17) - That's a good question. I don't really.

Speaker 2 (00:37:21) - I don't really know what, but like a best day could be me laying on the couch or our best day could be laying on the beach. in my so in my mission. In my. My best day is connecting people. That's that's that's what my best day looks like when I've been able to connect somebody with someone else, or when I've been able to help somebody. They have that little light bulb of just changing that thought process just a little bit, helping them to get just a different perspective on. So within my within that work, within within nursing and things like that. I think that's why I like coaching people, especially for their careers, because I feel like we as nurses, we don't see the possibility.

Speaker 3 (00:38:16) - Is.

Speaker 2 (00:38:18) - And there are lots of possibilities out there. but that's that's usually my best day.

Speaker 3 (00:38:27) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:38:27) - Yeah. And a lot of times like this is just a great assignment for you Bonnie or, you know, somebody listening. this gives a really big clue to what your true calling is and that is, you know, think about, again, a day at work and it could be your current job.

Speaker 1 (00:38:48) - It could be something you did in the past one of those days that you just like, oh my gosh, this was such a powerful day. This was such a fun day. And you're energized. You might be tired. Yeah, but there's a difference between exhaustion because you're frustrated and exhaustion because you just put it all out there and in a good way. And what are the details about that that made it such a powerful day? Like, what was it you were doing? And you just mentioned connecting people like, that's great. You know, look at those things. Like what? What was it? Because the more you can really define in detail the things that energize you. Yeah. On those really good days. Then the goal is then to figure out a way to keep repeating it. So you have.

Speaker 3 (00:39:42) - Absolute.

Speaker 1 (00:39:43) - Days.

Speaker 3 (00:39:44) - Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:39:45) - But sometimes we just go about our days and we come home. It's like, oh no, it's a really great day. But we don't give it thought to what made it a great day.

Speaker 2 (00:39:53) - And I know you are right. I remember when I went to and I'd been going to our State Nurses Association convention for a couple of years, and I'd been getting involved, and there was a point where I went, there was one year when I went and I came back and I was like, that was. Hands down the best. That was when I loved. That was when I started to love networking because I understood, like my thought process and networking just shifted because I'd gotten I'd already like I'd gotten to know so many people. I might have been like maybe 3 or 4 years into the organization, but I'd gotten to know people. I now go to the convention to see the people that I saw the last time I went, but I was doing true networking, but it wasn't networking, it was connecting. And so every time I'm like, trying to create that same scenario and, and every year it's the same thing of, like, I barely even go to get the education. I go to network and talk to people and connect with them.

Speaker 2 (00:40:56) - But that's what that's what helped me to lean more into nursing. And to see the change that could be made. So you're right. You are. You are exactly right. And it was exhausting by the time I was done. But it was a good exhaustion.

Speaker 1 (00:41:11) - And it says right because you've used it a couple times now or next talent thing. We'll just move right into that is connectedness.

Speaker 3 (00:41:18) - So there we go.

Speaker 1 (00:41:21) - And it's even you know it's funny because we do tend to speak in our talent themes. We will use words like connectedness or belief or strategic thinking or problem solving. You know, it's it's funny how we do speak our own. We speak our own language. I connectedness is like finding the connections between people, between things, between thoughts. It can be a lot of different things. they people with high connectedness don't believe in coincidences. They know that all things happen for a reason. you know, they give others comfort that there is purpose behind everyday existence. And again, faith can play a part in here.

Speaker 1 (00:42:13) - Their faith is strong. It sustains them and their close friends in the face of life's mysteries. So they see that all the parts are somehow connected.

Speaker 3 (00:42:23) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:42:26) - now you're connected as Bonnie again, a couple of things that, like, had jumped out at me, when I was reviewing this with, you know, your openness inspires others and frees them to communicate and collaborate more easily. And you kind of started talking a little bit about this on your mission and how you want how you work with other nurses, but where have you seen that? Like how does. Do you see that happen when you're working with, Well, either either of the being in the nurses Association or, you know, at work in your career.

Speaker 2 (00:43:09) - I have I. I when I was working as a clinical nurse specialist. I'm usually again, I'm, I'm 20 years in. So the majority of the nurses that I'm working with, especially in the critical care setting, they're in their 20s. and so, you know, you can have intimidation about that and you can wonder, you know, how am I going to connect with them? This, that and the other.

Speaker 2 (00:43:39) - And maybe about a month before I was preparing to leave, they, they said, you're so accepting.

Speaker 3 (00:43:48) - Of of of.

Speaker 2 (00:43:49) - People. And I was like, yeah, I just I try to, you know, I try to be open and give everybody an opportunity to just be who they are. you can't be me, and you can't. You can't meet my eye. I don't have any expectations of you, but for you to do what you're supposed to do. but that I find that that has opened others up. And especially, like I've not been in an operational leadership position. I've always been in an influential leadership position, which to me. And I've said this before, but to me, I feel like that's harder to do because you're not signing anyone's cheques, but you need them to do the work.

Speaker 3 (00:44:31) - Mum of the teen.

Speaker 2 (00:44:33) - And so you have to be open. Together and help other people to collaborate together in order to move things forward.

Speaker 1 (00:44:48) - Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Being an influential leader, meaning that you need people to follow you, but you're not like you said, the title or the paycheck.

Speaker 3 (00:45:01) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:45:01) - It's like leading a volunteer army. Right. Yeah. it's much harder because. But the cool thing about that, when you are in that position, if you do it well, is there's a lot of respect that doesn't have to be there. And that. Absolutely. So other things in connectedness were that is that chances are good that you occasionally link together a variety of people who otherwise might not know each other. Perhaps you create a work climate, one where individuals begin to understand each other and cooperates. Where have you experienced that? Or where has that shown up and anything you've done?

Speaker 2 (00:45:51) - I'm trying to think, where have I? Where have I done that? Where? I feel like you're occasionally linked together of a variety of people who might not know each other. To me, that's actually more so happened in the friendship setting. So I may have friends that I know from different parts and walks of life that I might bring together to go out to dinner or to do whatever the case may be.

Speaker 2 (00:46:28) - Now I am strategically bringing them together like I know who can come together and who can't.

Speaker 3 (00:46:34) - All right. That's great.

Speaker 2 (00:46:38) - I know who they invite and who not to invite.

Speaker 3 (00:46:41) - Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:46:42) - But essentially that's what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (00:46:45) - It's a great example.

Speaker 3 (00:46:46) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:46:48) - the last thing here. Yeah, I just want I want to mention this one. So by nature, you intentionally get to know people individually in your quest to gain wisdom. Discovering the qualities that distinguish someone from everyone else is an essential aspect of your personal search for truth. What does that mean to you? Because that was deep for me. I was very deep. That was not like, oh.

Speaker 2 (00:47:18) - How like I feel like that comes out in my coaching and it comes out very naturally in my coaching. And sometimes I get nervous about it because I'm like, well. What are they going to ask? Something that sticks out and I'm thinking, well, no, that's a prime example I was talking to. now, of course, this is like a best friend of mine, but she's a nurse, and she clearly just told me that she loved working in the clinical setting, but she was having a frustrated that she, like she had told me that like maybe 2 or 3 weeks before that.

Speaker 2 (00:48:01) - And then we were out to dinner and she was talking about how maybe I should just go and work remotely somewhere. I was like, you don't want to do that. And she was like, what do you mean? That's not what you said three weeks ago. That's not what you want to do. And she's like, you're right. So it's just I like I listen intently to what people say, because sometimes what they say is not really what they want to do. Or I start to dig into, what have you done in the past? So what brings you joy or what? That those are the things that I, I try to pull out when they're talking and I'm like, that's not really what you want to do. What you really want to do is, or what you really should lean into is and they're like, you think so? Yep. You do. so that I, I have a knack for just kind of it's not a, a a sad I don't know, I just it's just in my listening quality.

Speaker 2 (00:49:00) - It's, and that's just the gift of God gave me.

Speaker 3 (00:49:03) - To.

Speaker 2 (00:49:04) - I don't I don't predict anyone's future. I just kind of pull it out and I'm just like, okay. That's just kind of what I understand about people, which is, I don't know, it's just the curiosity in me.

Speaker 3 (00:49:18) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:49:19) - Yeah, I love that. And you know, by you listening you really do distinguish that what makes them unique. Yeah. And pulls out their own wisdom. It sounds like you you're able to do that. Yeah. So we're going to kind of speed along here just for the sake of, time. But I really because I really want to jump into your last two is learner and individualization. And again, we kind of been talking about them because they all fit together, you know, like one does not live by itself.

Speaker 3 (00:49:54) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:49:56) - so for Lerner and, you know, if you're a listener on the podcast, you've heard me talk about Lerner because it's one of my top themes, and we just love to learn.

Speaker 3 (00:50:04) - Like, yes, but yes.

Speaker 1 (00:50:09) - And so your Lerner body, one of the things that instinctively you this oh, this I thought was really interesting. So you might prefer to enroll in a difficult class rather than register for the easiest one. Perhaps comparing how well you are doing in relation to others has meaning only when you earn the best grades in the hardest courses, to some extent you crave recognition for your knowledge and winning spirits.

Speaker 2 (00:50:40) - Oh that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (00:50:43) - So I just put my question. But this is true. Like, how does that like, how does have you seen that in yourself?

Speaker 2 (00:50:52) - I don't think so. To some extent you crave recognition.

Speaker 3 (00:50:57) - For your.

Speaker 2 (00:50:57) - Knowledge and winning spirit. Maybe my winning spirit, I don't know. I haven't seen that show up. Or maybe I just haven't been looking for it. I will definitely enroll in, in the, in the more difficult class. Like I am not getting ready to register for the easy one unless I have a harder load. Like if I'm registering for the easy class, it's because I've got ten other things going on and I my brain can't take it, so I just need the easy route.

Speaker 2 (00:51:31) - but otherwise yeah I'm, I'm, I'm going for, for what's, what's the hardest. I'm. The one who's at and I just talked about this in my podcast. I well, first of all, I have two master's degrees in nursing, so let's just start there. There you go with the learner. And in my first master's degree in nursing, it was, nurse leadership. master's degree, but we took classes. And the MBA program, and one of my favorite classes was economics. Now I was struggling in there. It was a lot of writing in this economics class. It was a lot of math. It was a lot of. And that's when I really understood the true meaning of economics and just the cause and effect of things. And I see it everywhere. so, yeah, I don't know about the last sentence, but everything else I would, I would probably.

Speaker 3 (00:52:27) - Say, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:52:28) - I don't do a whole lot of comparing though, but maybe I do and I just don't, don't know it.

Speaker 1 (00:52:34) - And I read that, that comparing like. It may be. So like when I was in network marketing and to me and I, I struggle with this now as a solopreneur because I love the scoreboard. And it wasn't because I needed to beat you. Now my husband would tell me I am competitive and we're playing board games. I do want to beat you if we're playing a board game, but when it comes to business, it's not necessarily that I want to beat you, but I and even with podcasting and I know, you know, you have a podcast as well. I like to know where I'm at. Just. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:53:09) - Oh yeah, I where am I.

Speaker 1 (00:53:11) - At, you know, am I, am I in and I do it okay or like are you doing better like it. So it's more that comparing just so you kind of kind of know how am I doing.

Speaker 3 (00:53:23) - Right.

Speaker 1 (00:53:25) - Right. Should I be doing better. Should I be doing. And I you know, so sometimes it's that comparing.

Speaker 1 (00:53:30) - It's not comparing like, well, she's way cuter than I am or right, they're doing this. You know that it's not Instagram comparing this. It's comparing just so I know. How am I doing. Yeah. What else do I need to learn so I can be better.

Speaker 3 (00:53:47) - Right.

Speaker 1 (00:53:48) - That right.

Speaker 3 (00:53:49) - Comparing.

Speaker 2 (00:53:50) - Gotcha okay okay.

Speaker 1 (00:53:52) - It's how I see that in there. The other thing with the learner that again jumped out because I have the privilege of seeing other people's learners descriptions. So I like to highlight things that, like, I may not have never seen before and in one and again, it's not good or bad. It's just. Yeah. So let's let's dive into it. Let's talk about it is that normally you accumulate. And again it may just be one of these things. It doesn't have to be all of them. But found data stories, examples or background information from the people you meet determining what they want to accomplish in the coming weeks, months or years generally satisfies your curiosity.

Speaker 1 (00:54:35) - I think you already talked about this in coaching, that these insights also allow you to understand why individuals behave the way they do in different situations. So how does that part of your learner help you?

Speaker 2 (00:54:50) - It helps me now understand what your what's your motivation? Because whatever your motivation is, that's what I'm going to tap into.

Speaker 3 (00:54:57) - And I love that I love that.

Speaker 2 (00:55:00) - To me to either serve you to meet your need or not. Every not your every need, but whatever it is that I'm here to help you with. Or to motivate you to do something that needs to be done. Yeah, that's usually how that applies to me.

Speaker 3 (00:55:18) - That totally.

Speaker 1 (00:55:19) - Makes sense. Totally makes sense. yeah. And this kind of fits right in there. It says you aim to understand the basic whys and hows of the situation. Proper opportunity. People trust you to be cautious.

Speaker 2 (00:55:33) - Very true. Very true.

Speaker 4 (00:55:41) - And then the.

Speaker 1 (00:55:41) - Last is people. Because of your strengths, you often join teams to acquire new skills and gain additional information.

Speaker 3 (00:55:48) - Always. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Speaker 2 (00:55:52) - Like I need to know more. Sometimes I have to slap my my my self on the hand and just be like, no, you don't need to know anymore. You have more than enough.

Speaker 3 (00:55:58) - No.

Speaker 2 (00:55:59) - Just move forward.

Speaker 3 (00:56:01) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:56:01) - Just take what you know and work. Right. I know.

Speaker 3 (00:56:04) - You'll get.

Speaker 2 (00:56:05) - Clarity as you go. Just keep going.

Speaker 3 (00:56:07) - Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:56:09) - And one of the things here, just to pause again and looking at all the what the, the talent things we've looked at so far is as a coach, you know, as a, as a cliftonstrengths coach definitely is evident that for you to thrive, the right environment for you is definitely time to ponder and not be rushed. Time to gather facts or gain information and acquire knowledge that you might need before moving forward. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:56:40) - Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:56:41) - And then we'll just wrap up here with and again and I'll send you this copy. Bonnie. Yeah. I pilot so you can go back and things that we haven't had time to jump into today.

Speaker 3 (00:56:52) - Okay.

Speaker 1 (00:56:52) - but individualization and individualization is a great theme that just sees that each person is unique and they're intrigued by the uniqueness of each person. and one of the things I had highlighted under your, individualization is you talk. You talk to observe or study individuals who produce nothing less than excellence to identify what inspires them. Unquestionably, you prefer to associate with those who share your passion for taking something good and making it better. And when I read that is like, I would bet some money on it that if you open up your full 34 report maximizer is going to show up in your six through ten, because that was like maximizer description there. To me.

Speaker 3 (00:57:45) - That's

Speaker 1 (00:57:47) - You know, maximizes like to take something that's already great and just make it better versus like there's developers and they like to start from scratch and just build from nothing. And you're shaking your head.

Speaker 3 (00:58:01) - So.

Speaker 2 (00:58:03) - only in certain situations. Only in certain situations. But I like to know who has done it before so I can work from there.

Speaker 3 (00:58:11) - Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:58:12) - And I can see why the role you're in is, you know, a perfect role for you right now and where you're going to and where you're going. Yeah. the other I saw empathy show up here too, in this, in this description for you, is that you might sense what particular people are thinking before they utter a word. And you kind of talked about that earlier. When you're talking about talking to your friend or making the utter the words, you hear, what they're really trying to say or what they're.

Speaker 3 (00:58:48) - Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that.

Speaker 2 (00:58:52) - That does show up a lot.

Speaker 1 (00:58:54) - So again, I, you know, I'm guessing empathy probably shows up in your 6 to 10.

Speaker 3 (00:59:00) - And then the last.

Speaker 1 (00:59:00) - Thing here was that.

Speaker 3 (00:59:01) - Perhaps.

Speaker 1 (00:59:02) - You agree that the hole is greater than the sum of its parts. That when everyone asks questions, offers solutions, describe situations, or raises issues, the group's collective intelligence may exceed that of any single person.

Speaker 3 (00:59:22) - Amen.

Speaker 2 (00:59:24) - No one person has all the answers.

Speaker 1 (00:59:28) - Yeah. And that's probably why I am assuming you love to work in a good team.

Speaker 2 (00:59:34) - Oh absolutely. Yes. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:59:39) - So again I would add on your things that I need to thrive is you know get in in brainstorming situations where you can brainstorm with. Eric was. Not see it now. Yeah. Mentorship. I did write down mentorship and coaching as again, which you're already I know moving you already do and you're moving towards two is how to become aware of others other's unique needs. People will come to you for insights into other people's motivations and actions. but there is a quote which I thought was really.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29) - Kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30) - I don't remember now where it was.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34) - I'm sorry. I keep looking at my phone. I actually have another podcast interview booked, like somebody called me, okay, like literally today. And they were like.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41) - Can you jump on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42) - This call at 4:00? I'm like, yeah, I guess so.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47) - Yeah. so. As we just close this up the body too.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55) - Well, what I want to see. Do you have any questions about any of the things?

Speaker 3 (01:00:59) - No, it was very much so.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01) - Spot on. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04) - What did you find helpful about diving into them a little deeper.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09) - I found it helpful. Knowing that I was that I found it interesting but helpful. That knowing that I was more of like that. Relator. The relator piece. That that's what that was. That was definitely what I and Conectar. It just kind of as you said, like it helped me to realize I was on the right track.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37) - Good, good. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39) - If it's all right with you, I'm going to give you what I call self work. I don't call it homework, okay? He likes homework, but self work, some things to work on. So one Gallup has and there's links right in your report a lot of resources for you to plug into and learn that feed your learner. Learn a little bit more about your talent themes. the other thing I would recommend is if you haven't yet download I have it's it's called a five to thrive guide and Challenge.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09) - And what it does is it helps you kind of learn again based on your talent themes. You know, how you thrive. what are your energy trainers? And they're like one sentence. So they make it very, very clear. So you can just take apart what your superpowers, what might get in the way of your six month, your bear. And. Oh, we didn't get into that at all today. so it's really powerful if just quick, quick little nuggets on each of your themes. Now that you have your top five, you can go in and look at that. So and I'll post that link, I'll send it to you, but I'll post it also in the show notes. but thank you, Bonnie, for, you know, taking time to let me help you dive into your strengths and discover a little bit more about yourself today.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57) - Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58) - I feel like I probably needed about 90 minutes for this.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02) - This was fun.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03) - And that's what I normally do. We had a really brief session of this, so.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07) - Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07) - Yeah. And that.