Cultivating Growth and Connection: Reflections and Aspirations for 2025

Amidst a whirlwind January, I find myself reflecting on how quickly time has passed and the impactful connections made along the way. From reconnecting with Leadership Kansas classmates to engaging with both longstanding and new clients, the month has been nothing short of exhilarating. As I gear up for workshops at the Kansas Park and Recreation Association conference, I'm reminded of the personal intentions I've set for the year. Instead of focusing on traditional goals, I'm embracing daily habits that fuel personal growth, especially after a tumultuous 2024 filled with family health challenges and changes within my business team. With cherished colleagues Jenna and Emma pursuing their dreams, I've embarked on soul-searching and therapy to navigate this new chapter.

Guided by my word of the year, "cultivate," I'm committed to nurturing meaningful relationships with friends, family, clients, and the Catalyst community, ensuring they remain a priority even during the busiest times. As Catalyst Development approaches its third anniversary in July, I'm eager to explore new opportunities to enhance leadership skills across all career stages. Join me in this solo episode as I share my aspirations for 2025 and the steps I'm taking to cultivate a fulfilling and successful year.

Follow Catalyst Development on LinkedIn @catalystdevelopment and @drkatieervin

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Learn more about Supervisor 101 at www.cdleaders.com/supervisor101

Theme music by Emma Jo https://emmajo.rocks/

Transcript

Dr. Katie: 0:42

Hello and welcome back to the Talk to Leadership. Hope you all are doing well. A special solo episode today. I've had so many great guests over the last couple months and it has been so much fun catching up with my Leadership Kansas classmates and just other great leaders, not just in Kansas City but across the region. And as I was getting ready to upload this week's episode and I have some great ones that are coming up I realized January is gone. I mean, where did it go? The holidays went so fast. I know it's cliche, everything just speeds up and keeps going, but it's really true. I mean, as I'm recording this, it's January 27th. When this comes out it'll be the 28th.

Dr. Katie: 1:35

This week is the end of January and I've had so many great conversations with people this month. I've had so many great engagements and having so much fun with long-term clients and new clients and doing a lot of beginning of the year kickoffs and retreats and it's just been a really exciting month. And it just allows me today to just pause for a minute. I've got a couple workshops this week. I'm actually going to Manhattan, kansas, for the Kansas Park and Recreation Association's conference. I'm doing a couple workshops there and, as I'm preparing for the week and as I'm just reflecting on the month, I can't help but think about my word of the year. I'm a very big like word of the year person. I don't set annual goals. I mean I set business goals, but when it comes to my personal goals, it's you know, what am I doing every day? What are those habits every day? That is helping me grow, that's helping me really be who and what I want to be throughout the year and just keep getting better every year.

Dr. Katie: 2:54

So this year in December, as I was really reflecting on 2024 and I've shared with a lot of people was a real challenging year. My business hit a extreme roller coaster. I thought we were doing really well and then, because of family sickness, um, it dang near, came to a screeching halt, um, which was gut-wrenching but also allowed me to do some kind of soul-seeking and reflection. And unfortunately, those of you who've listened for a long time, you know that Jenna and Emma worked for me. They no longer work for me. Emma is out chasing some really fantastic dreams to just take her music career to the next level and she's so fantastic with that and so so proud of her for that. Jenna, at the end of the year, took a job with the Kansas City Economic Development Council, which is so fantastic for her. It gives her the stability of health insurance and, you know, a steady paycheck every week.

Dr. Katie: 4:09

When you're starting a business, even when you're two years old, there's still, as a small business, that roller coaster of waiting on payments. Waiting on payments the payments will eventually come from a client, and so I'm just so excited and proud of them. Also, for me, selfishly makes me sad, because I love to work around people all the time, and so going from having three people to just myself is a bit that I am getting used to. But so I did all that reflection and ramped up therapy again, because I think it's so healthy, when we find ourselves in these really tough spots, to do work on ourselves, to really pause, and so really worked on what is my word of the year, what do I really want that to be? And my word of the year for 2025 is cultivate, and it is really cultivating relationships, making meaningful and deep relationships with my friends, with my family, you know, with my clients, with my catalyst family. How am I making those meaningful relationships and making sure that I'm nurturing those throughout the year? Then we never get too busy to not pause and spend some time nurturing those relationships.

Dr. Katie: 5:31

The next thing is cultivating opportunities. Really, as you know, catalyst development is two and a half. We'll be three in July. It's really. You know what are those opportunities? At this point we know we have a pretty good, solid foothold in the business that we're in. Catalyst goes in and helps build meaningful leadership skills across the level. So early career, emerging leaders, senior leaders, like meaningful leadership skills. So I found the things that I don't enjoy doing or that there's probably other people out there that can do it better, and so really figured out the niche and then, even more beautifully, people will always say you know, katie, who's your ideal client? And it's like well, anyone who needs leadership development and that is everybody, we know that who needs leadership development? And that is everybody. We know that.

Dr. Katie: 6:28

But in the work that we've done fallen into this really neat niche where we're doing a lot of work in construction and, as I like to say, kind of construction, adjacent everything, that kind of hatches construction. We've been doing a lot in these kind of more typically and I'm doing quotes here. Doing a lot in these kind of more typically and I'm doing quotes here, these male dominated areas. So construction, sports, agriculture, doing things in the area of trucking and logistics I mean just this really neat area IT and security. I was just last week with one of my Leadership Kansas classmates and his team yeah, with INA Alert, and I'm going to talk about them because really they are a case study in small, family owned business. That really really gets the importance of culture. But as I sat there and was doing my four hour session with them, it was me and these installers and these tech guys and just really amazing, phenomenal people. And then Laura, who is the founder and owner of INA Alert, she was in the room and I was kind of teasing with her like this makes me so comfortable to be in a room of these men talking about feelings and values and what roots them in the work that they do. So it's just a really neat area.

Dr. Katie: 7:56

So cultivating opportunity is really honing into the work that I do and it doesn't mean that I don't work with other industries or other areas. Nonprofits are still a really strong area for me. But really, how am I cultivating opportunities? And then the most? But really, how am I cultivating opportunities? And then the most important thing is how am I cultivating myself, how am I taking care of myself, how am I pausing to make sure that I'm continuing to grow, that I am continuing to take care of myself, that I am continuing to check in with myself and really show that appreciation and gratitude for what I'm so fortunate to have and the work that I'm able to do and the opportunities around me? And so, when we started Catalyst Development, you know we started the company and who we are and what we're doing, and, as I've been doing, these reflection exercises throughout January with all of these amazing companies kept pulling back and showing catalyst core values, which is growth we are, we value lifelong learning includes personal and professional development, and, and so how am I modeling that, making sure that I'm doing that work? And so how am I modeling that? Making sure that I'm doing that work?

Dr. Katie: 9:14

Autonomy, knowing that we have solutions for clients, but clients also need to make a decision for their team. Every team is different, and so there's no cookie cutter answer to anything. And so making sure that we're realizing that, that we're helping organizations really build that trust from within and create their autonomy, naturally, and so that's really important. And then community and so community is really making sure that everyone has an opportunity, everyone has a seat, that we create an environment where friends and clients and our networks really have a sense of belonging, not just with Catalyst but in our communities. Having that so everyone feels connected, which is so important, and I really enjoyed sharing that with people. And so, again, as I reflect on all of this amazing work, I'm going to close with something I encourage everyone to do We've talked about this before is really create our own leadership philosophy Again through this work that I've been doing.

Dr. Katie: 10:21

In January, that's been the homework for so much of the work I'm doing, whether it is Journey to New Life, which is this amazing new nonprofit that's come on board as a retainer client. We did their first session, which is lead. So who are you as a leader? How do you want to show up as a leader? What does it really mean to be a leader to them? To doing a couple long sessions for retreats and strategic planning and strategic focus, and then also doing a couple long sessions for retreats and strategic planning and strategic focus, and then also doing a couple Build a Genius teams, which was really fun, and also doing some Supervisor 101. January has been a very, very blessed month, which is pretty cool. But all of the homework for all of January has been writing your own leadership philosophy, and I always share mine and I always encourage people to share it, but also to pull it up and to reflect and make sure it still fits you.

Dr. Katie: 11:22

And I have to say, with Cultivate being my word of the year, my leadership philosophy could not be any more true today. My leadership philosophy could not be any more true today. It just really is who I want to be on my best day and who I'm striving to be on those days that are a little tougher than others. So I'm going to share my leadership philosophy with you. My leadership philosophy, my core values are acceptance, integrity and relationships. I believe in accepting people as they are, maintaining unwavering integrity, integrity and relationships. I believe in accepting people as they are, maintaining unwavering integrity and nurturing strong relationships. Open communication and growth is how I'm gonna achieve this. To achieve my philosophy, I actively foster open communication by being transparent, authentic and humble, being open to growth. I encourage big thinking and risk-taking and ensuring continuous growth for all. I'm committed to leading by example. I aspire to always model the behaviors I expect from those around me. I am bold, speak up and give significant responsibilities to all to help them develop. So that's my leadership philosophy. Again, that's who I strive to be every day, some days better than others, but as I go through the year, to cultivate everyone around me, to cultivate myself, to cultivate relationships in my business, this is how I intend to show up this year.

Dr. Katie: 12:53

So I just wanted to pop on here and do a little kind of reflection. For January. I was doing that every Monday I block off time on my calendar to just prepare for the week and to prepare myself, and then every day at four o'clock I pause to again show gratitude, reflection and connection. And as I was doing that this morning, I was thinking this would be a really great thing to share with you all as I continue to work through this year and as it goes so fast. Really, my goal this year is to pass off and give meaningful tools to everyone. So if you're not following me on LinkedIn, I really encourage you to do that.

Dr. Katie: 13:38

I have some really neat LinkedIn series going on this year where I'm really making sure not only am I sharing the cool work that my clients are doing and the really fantastic work that I'm so fortunate to be able to do. I'm really really making sure that I am sharing tips and tricks and things. So on Mondays it's all about cultivation, and so I'm sharing the work that I'm doing with, with these tips that you can use to cultivate the different areas for you. And then on Wednesdays, I have a video series called Lead with Action and I'm I'm taking leadership skills, power skills I call them career and power skills, and I'm really highlighting them with these quick videos to help you grow these skills each day. And then on Thursdays, I'm sharing some of my favorite quotes from my work that I've done, whether it be my book, whether it be other writing. I've done just different things. So I'm sharing kind of these fun little quotes that have helped me throughout my career. That really has been fun to share and to get interaction with. And then on Fridays, this kind of unlikely series has occurred where I am posting these polls of leadership skills and giving some kind of tips and tricks there, but also hearing from you all. You know what's going well, what's not, what are the skills that you're working on, what are the lessons you've learned. And so, please, again, if you're not following me on LinkedIn, all the information is in the show notes, but I would love to have you connect and follow with me and engage with the post. I just really my goal this year is not to just cultivate myself, but you all as well as leaders. So thank you so much for joining me on the path to leadership and thank you for everyone who listens and subscribes and shares.

Dr. Katie: 15:41

This podcast was something I've wanted to do for so long. It's always been something, even before I had Catalyst Development. I love a good podcast and it was something I've always wanted to do and to see the growth of the podcast, and it's just a huge thank you to you all. So please like, subscribe. Leave a review is always helpful. I appreciate that that will help me grow this year and to increase my reach. So if you have suggestions on guests or topics for podcast or for LinkedIn, please let me know as well. I want to make sure that I'm offering you tools that help you grow. Have a great day and I will talk to you next week on the path to leadership. Bye everyone.