Ep #36: 5 Secret Things I Learned That You Could Use at Work Today

Episode 36, 5 Secret Things I Learned That You Could Use at Work Today.

Welcome to Clinicians Creating Impact, a show for physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists looking to take the next step in their careers and make a real difference in the lives of their clients. If you’re looking to improve the lives of neurodiverse children and families with neurological-based challenges, grow your own business, or simply show up to help clients, this is the show for you. 

I’m Heather Branscombe, Therapist, Certified Coach, Clinical Director, and Owner of Abilities Neurological Rehabilitation. I have over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, and I’m here to help you become the therapist you want to be, supporting people to work towards their dreams and live their best lives. You ready to dive in? Let’s go.

Hello there, friend. How are you doing today? This week I’m going to a conference and I am so excited. Don’t you love a great learning opportunity? I know I do, and this is what I get this week. I’m headed to Dallas, Texas and I’ve actually never been to Dallas, Texas before and I’m taking my husband with me. So this has just become a fun little getaway that I can’t wait to do. 

I also have a secret that relates to this trip. Now, it’s not really a huge secret, but it’s one that I haven’t really shared a lot about and so I want to come clean on that in this episode today. But before I share my secret, I want to tell you why I’m so excited for this week. 

Truth be told, my conference isn’t actually a clinical conference. It’s actually a coaching conference. I just love being able to help people that work with me co-create their dream jobs. It literally is my dream job to co-create dream jobs for other people. And I know that I’m going to learn so much from this conference that’s going to help both myself and the people that I work with do just that. 

And it reminds me that we do have a select few postings that we’re hiring for right now. We’re pretty selectful, is that the word? Yes. So I’m going to go with that. We are very select in how we hire and when we hire, and we have some of those positions right now. So if you’re a clinician or you know somebody who might be looking to co-create their dream job, I want you to check out the link in the show notes or check out our posted positions on our website. 

You can also reach out to me directly if you want to, just in that confidential way. Because if you’re listening to this podcast, we’re on a new level of relationship, right? We can set up a confidential 30 minute little chat over phone or Zoom and find out a little bit more about what you’re looking for in the next position and see if we might be a good fit for you. 

Now, having said that, let’s get back to this secret. Let me explain, I think you need a little bit of context. In October of 2021 I signed up for what I now know was a transformational learning experience for me. I’ve talked a little bit about it here before, but I knew at that time I really want it to grow in my ability to coach and to be able to better grow my business. 

And I can say almost two years later, I’m recording this in the beginning of September of 2023, I am a completely different person. I not only successfully certified as a life and a business coach after six months, that was my transformational learning experience. And I did that after a series of written and practical testing. 

But I also just completed nine months of actually working for the school that I certified with as a contract coach. So the school that I certified with is called The Life Coach School and this organization is unique in that they not only at this time work to certify coaches, but they also have a program where student coaches, working coaches and other amazing individuals purchase weekly coaching sessions that are implemented by contract coaches for The Life Coach School. And I was one of those life coaches. 

So I decided last summer to apply to be this contract coach for The Life Coach School. So I went through their super extensive process for hiring. Like when I say super extensive, I know that there are coaches that have applied four times and more to do this position and haven’t been successful. So I went through this process to become a contract coach last summer. And then in the fall, I found out that I was actually successful. 

So you might be asking yourself, and this is a valid question at this point, why would a successful business owner sign up for extra work and less pay than what I would be making doing my main job? And I get it, that’s a valid question. But here were my reasons. I actually had two reasons. 

First, I really wanted to practice the art of coaching so that I could be a better coach and a better leader at Abilities. And so I approached this opportunity kind of like a residency, where the actual pay means much less than the actual experience itself. The value to me was much less about the pay and much more about what I gained in the experience, and that was coaching practice repetition. 

Let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. I coached anywhere from 10 to 17 hours a week over the last nine months, I almost said 19 but it really was only nine months, on top of my work of leading Abilities. I literally coached people from all over the world over Zoom on everything and anything using the tools that I gained in my certification. 

Again, did I mention it was amazing? It was amazing. I loved it. And I can confidently say that I am a way better coach and a leader now in Abilities than I was two years ago. 

Secondly, I wanted to see what working for an international organization that had a goal to make $100 million a year and change millions of lives, what that actually looks like behind the curtain. Remember, I have been growing Abilities since 2007, so I also haven’t worked for an international organization on this scale, like ever. 

So my learning about working for this organization is probably a topic for another podcast. But for now, I can certainly say I learned so much about being a contractor that I think does continue to help me as I have contractors that work for me at Abilities. 

Today, what I think is most helpful for you is to share what I learned by coaching other people from all walks of life and from all over the world, and how you can use it in your clinical work today. So here’s my list of five things I learned. 

Number one, no matter how successful we look like we are on the outside, we all have our doubts and insecurities. None of us have it all together. So don’t expect that you need to have it together to create the impact that you want to create. What I learned is whether we are a physician, an athlete, a judge, a lawyer, a stay at home parent, we all have our doubts and insecurities. 

It reminds me of myself when I was little. I remember being little, I must have been like nine or 10. And I literally remember thinking, when I’m 12 I’ll have it all together. Isn’t that hilarious? I don’t know what it was about 12, but I really thought I would have it all together at 12. And then I’d think when I am, insert that new age, I’ll have it all together. Or when I’m done with school, I’ll have it all together. When I’ve taken the certification, I’ll have it all together. 

Does that sound familiar to you? The truth is, you will never have it all together, nor do you need to. I have seen this time and time again. That is the good news, you can just start creating the impact you want today. And when you do create the impact, fun fact, you still won’t have it all together. It is an amazing thing to really see how many people we think, because what we can see they’re creating on the outside we think it means that they have it all together on the inside and it really isn’t true. 

So come create an impact without having it all together right along with me. Now, if you are interested in learning more about that, go right on back to the first episode that I put out of this podcast. And episode one is How To Create A Bigger Impact as a Therapist. It’s a great place to start, even if you aren’t a therapist per se. 

So number two on my list is that brains are amazing. And specifically, your brain is amazing. And learning more about how it works will definitely help you help yourself. And it will also help you create a bigger impact for other people. 

I have so much love and respect for our brains and how they actually help us. There are so many things and ways to learn about the brain. And so no matter what the format, I would encourage you to look at the brain and maybe learn about it from a way or a person who might have a different clinical perspective, or might not even have a clinical perspective, than you do currently. 

Learn about the brain from that perspective and then see how you can apply it to yourself and to your work. I have definitely seen that in the way that the coaching aspect that I looked at how they look at the brain, and then I was able to apply that as a clinician and it was a game changer for me. 

Number three, we have more power in situations than our brain likes to think we do. I’ve seen this time and time again. And I see this with my own brain, which I think is so fascinating. But we all like to think that we feel the things that we feel because of the circumstances or facts in our lives. And that is the way that we are supposed to think initially. 

It’s because the primitive part of our brain likes to make quick meaning from the world. So it likes to think that our circumstances or the facts of our lives or creating or feeling. But the truth is, when we access the higher part of our brain, we can start to see that we actually have influence, and more influence than we initially thought. 

And then when we start to get curious as to where our influence actually lies, that is the magic of where everything changes. So the one question I like to use for myself and I would offer to you to re-see this again and again, is where is my control or influence in this situation, especially if I’m starting to feel kind of stuck, or maybe kind of victim-y because of external circumstances? 

Number four, open-ended questions are powerful. So prior to getting my certification and working as a coach and working as a new contract coach, I used to use a lot of yes or no questions, what we often like to refer to as closed questions, versus more open ended. And I say that especially at work I would do that. 

What I’ve really noticed is using open ended questions that are not yes/no questions when talking to other people really helps you to better understand what the person you’re talking to is actually thinking and feeling. It’s such an amazing place to get really curious. 

So what I would say is think about the questions that you’re asking, whether it be at home, at work and with the clients that you’re working with, and try to ask more open-ended questions so that you can understand on a deeper level. 

And then finally, number five, what I’ve learned is we know what is best for ourselves if we’re given the time and space to explore and decide for ourselves. And what I really like about this is this goes back to this principle that many of us as clinicians have of client-centered service. That principle of choice or autonomy and consent. What I notice is it’s really being recognized in deeper ways in our practice, and I love it so much. 

When there’s decision making for you or someone that you’re working with, one question you can ask yourself is how can you create more space and time for either you yourself or the person who is deciding to explore the options? Also, where can you give yourself space and time to decide ultimately what is best for you, even when you’re working with a client? 

So now you know my secret. My secret was I was working as a secret, not really so secret, but a secret contract coach for the coaching school where I did my certification and I learned so much. And now that you know my secret and some of the things that I’ve loved learning through that experience, I hope that some of these can benefit you and impact the impact that you want to create for yourself and for those that you work with. 

Please let me know how it goes because you know, I can’t wait to see the impact you create with this information today. See you soon. Take care. 

If you enjoyed today’s show and don’t want to worry about missing an episode, you can follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you haven’t already, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review to let me know what you think and to help others find Clinicians Creating Impact. 

It doesn’t have to be a five-star rating, although I sure hope you love the show. I’d really want your honest feedback so I can create an awesome podcast that provides tons of value. To learn more about me and the work that I do, visit my website at www.abilitiesrehabilitation.com/clinicianscorner to download your free getting it all done at work process and to see what I’m up to. Thanks so much.

Thanks for joining me this week on the Clinicians Creating Impact podcast. Want to learn more about the work I’m doing with Abilities Rehabilitation? Head on over to abilitiesrehabilitation.com. See you next week. 

Thanks for joining me this week on the Clinicians Creating Impact podcast. Want to learn more about the work I’m doing with Abilities Rehabilitation? Head on over to abilitiesrehabilitation.com. See you next week.