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JENN WHITMER

creating positive culture with complex people

Hiya!

JENN WHITMER

creating positive culture with complex people

Oct 15, 2019

Conflict is unavoidable. You might think you can just shuffle-ball-change around it, but you will only tap dance yourself to another side of the same stage. Our solution to the inevitable times of conflict is gaining skills to manage through difficult situations. Leaders learn to use that situation as an opportunity to build trust, strengthen […]

Oct 13, 2019

Have you ever experienced a nurse asking, “How would you rate your pain?” I’m always fascinated by the answers people give. My son had a broken foot and casually threw out, “Yeah, I’d say about two.” A two? Your bone is in separate pieces! And then other people go full-out Brian Regan and throw out […]

Oct 8, 2019

Words can course-correct or crater-create.  In a conflict, words can be tools to increase understanding and connection. Words can bring us back to the purpose and begin healing wounds. Words also damage, deflect and distract.  Every been bewildered by someone’s reaction to your words? You may have created a crater with your words. How do […]

Oct 2, 2019

Top frustrating reality of life: In becoming better, we don’t follow a straight upward curve.  We don’t dance our way from success to success without tripping on our hem. Sometimes you can smile and laugh through it. Other times you slip ‘n’ slide down the stage with an audience of 1000 people. And sometimes that’s […]

Oct 1, 2019

There’s always a story inside my head. And in yours. It’s how the brain makes sense of the information it receives. The narrative we create inside our heads colors every new input and shapes our communication. I once had a leader whose saccharine facade and passive-aggressive nature slowly created a toxic work environment and eroded […]

Oct 1, 2019

Unique, one-of-a-kind, individual. We like to think there is none like us. Although in some aspects that is true, it’s also true we fall into patterns and types that have been around since people were laughing at Noah building an ark. Patterns are helpful. Patterns show others have been on the path before me. They […]

Sep 29, 2019

I pretend I can be all the things and do all the things with no stopping (except laundry. I don’t want to do ALL the things.) I behave as if I am infinite and omnipotent. And then my glass house shatters as soon as the stone of hangry gets tossed and the brick of six […]

Sep 29, 2019

So you see this, and I’m sure you have questions. For many of you, there is no context for Jenn in a chicken pool toy.  So this is the crazy visual for my communication skill today. I like to call this “Hi, and here’s what’s coming.” Conversations have five parts: greeting, feedforward, business, feedback, and […]

Sep 25, 2019

When I was a young mom, people were forever exclaiming, “Enjoy this season! You’re going to miss it.” I wanted to scream and throw a slimy board book in their well-meaning faces. (I wish this were hyperbole.) Yes, people say this all the time:  To single friends, enjoy the season of singleness. When you get […]

Sep 24, 2019

I could not see the giant Schnucks shopping cart. Rolling down the interstate in the Odyssey, my 10yo keeps pointing, trying to help me see the 13-foot cart. “Mom, it’s taller than that truck. It’s going up the ramp. Look, there it is again.”I kept seeing the hill of exit and the flat side of […]