Resilient Leaders, Resilient Teams: Nicole Van Valen’s Guide to Success

Join us for this episode of Riveo Impact Lab as we explore resilience and well-being with Nicole Van Valen, CEO of Keane Insights.

Nicole shares her journey from professional dancer to licensed therapist and business leader, as well as insights from her Three Stages Along Your Resilience Journey™. Discover how leaders can foster team resilience, manage stress, and create cultures of joy and inclusion, all while improving performance and well-being. 

Gain actionable tips for cultivating resilience and bringing more joy into your leadership and life. Tune in for a conversation full of inspiration and practical advice!

The Riveo Impact Lab is produced for you by Riveo Creative. For more Riveo Impact Lab content, including the video versions of all our episodes, please visit https://riveocreative.com/riveo-impact-lab/.

Transcript

0:00

[electronic music starts]

Emily Adams: 0:04

Welcome to the Riveo Impact Lab, the podcast in which we explore what it means for small businesses to have real impact in an evolving world. On this podcast, we engage our curiosity around topics like sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and the ethical outcomes of our decisions, all from a small business perspective.

Elin Barton: 0:24

I'm Elin, and this is my co-host, Emily.

Emily Adams: 0:27

This month we've been thinking a lot about resilience. What does resilience look like on an individual level and on an employee or business level? How can we build resilient teams that are prepared to face the challenges that are an inevitable part of running any type of business or organization?

Elin Barton: 0:43

In this episode, we spoke with Nicole Van Valen, CEO and founder of Keane Insights. Nicole is a senior business leader, a speaker, an author, and a licensed behavioral health clinician. As if that resume isn't impressive enough, Nicole is also a former Miami Heat dancer and Miami Dolphins cheerleader. Nicole brings a vibrant and positive energy to her work, and she has developed a signature platform called The Three Stages Along Your Resilience Journey, which she uses to help organizations increase employee satisfaction through empathy and transformative approaches to dealing with stressors and setbacks. Let's jump into this fantastic conversation with Nicole.[electronic music concludes] So hey, Nicole, I'm really excited to talk with you today.

Nicole Van Valen: 1:39

Oh, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Elin Barton: 1:43

Yeah, this is going to be great. We've known each other for a while now, and yet, I, there's, there's so much I don't know about you. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to invite you on our podcast. I know you're doing very cool work, and, I want to know more about that. So how did you get started on this path career wise?

Nicole Van Valen: 2:03

My journey started as a Miami Dolphin cheerleader and Miami Heat dancer while I was obtaining my master's degree in family therapy. And that led me into the behavioral health space where I focused on mental health and well-being. And then over time, I became passionate about helping people not only just survive, but thrive in different high-pressured environments. And that led me to found Keane Insights, and I wanted to create a company that helps organizations build resilience and well-being. And I was able to combine my expertise as a licensed therapist with my experience as a corporate consultant and advisor. The core of my work revolves around just empowering people to be their best selves. I like to say to be your best, professionally-authentic self.

Elin Barton: 2:54

I love that. And, and it's really interesting. You know, you just dropped that in there, “from professional cheerleader to...” [Laughs.] ...this this place you're at today. I'm sure you have a million stories, but let's start with where you're at with Keane Insights. And specifically, you talk about team resilience. And I want to dig into that a little bit. What is that and why is that important?

Nicole Van Valen: 3:25

So when we think about resilience, we think about individual resilience. But when we are an individual, many times and we’re in organizations, we work on teams, right? So we will impact the environment around us. So a lot of times in corporate I would notice this gap between what corporations expect and what is available for mental health and well-being tools for employees. So resilience needs to be at the core individually, but it also needs to be among teams, with a leader that understands the importance of how to manage stress, how to overcome challenges, so that their employees and their teammates are not on the brink of burnout, that they're not engaged and they're not struggling from any kind of mental health needs that would prevent them from their impact in the organization, their ability to do the work that's in front of them, to help increase productivity and, and meet the bottom line that the organization has. So the team has a strong influence on an individual. But together, when they're working to nurture resilience, they are managing stress overall and then going out and being able to help impact the clients that they serve in the community.

Elin Barton: 4:43

Mmm. Interesting. So I have a question about— the society that we live in, we put so much value on being busy and being stressed, like it's almost a badge of honor to say, “Oh, I'm so stressed.” So how do you build a team where people feel safe enough to say, “Not only am I stressed, but actually I need help.”

Nicole Van Valen: 5:04

It's so important for the leader to understand that. And I always say that leaders kind of model the way of how the teams should operate. So if there is a leader that is open, is authentic and has the trust of their team, their team is more likely to follow suit. So if we have a manager that is taking their PTO, that is engaged in self-care, that is engaged in activities that they enjoy outside of work, and bringing their joyful, authentic self into the team dynamic, then they're leading from a place of trust, authenticity, vulnerability, where they can, where the, the teammates can see that this is a safe place, that I'm psychologically safe, and I feel empowered to take risks. And it's okay if I make mistakes because that's the process of innovation to elevate the organization and the team. So if we have a leader that has this open communication, that they're actually able to actively listen to their team and they provide these growth opportunities for the team where it's safe enough where they can take risks and make mistakes and work together as a team to overcome. These are the skill sets that a leader needs to have that is critical to help a team grow and prosper.

Elin Barton: 6:27

When you were talking about that, I had to think, you know, about myself a little bit. And I like to think of myself as a, as a good leader. You know, I have a small team. And, yet as you were speaking, I thought, “Ooh, am I actually modeling the correct behavior by maybe not taking enough PTO or, you know, doing enough of those things that I like to encourage people to do.” But even, I guess we're never done evolving as, as team leaders, we need ongoing like, reminders and training and help from people like you. Do you, do you find that?

Nicole Van Valen: 7:03

Oh, yes. So, you know, I had to become a lifelong learner. It's looking at yourself and saying to yourself,“I need to invest in my own personal development.” And then as leaders, we need to look at our teams and say, “Okay, we need to make sure we're investing in our teams’ professional development,” and giving them the space to develop themselves personally as well. And this is really about us normalizing conversations around mental health. And like we said before, leading by example, showing vulnerability. It goes a long way to building that trust and resilience within the teams.

Elin Barton: 7:39

Nicole, I want to ask you about empathy. And, what's coming to my mind is there is this idea of—and I think it's a little bit of an old fashioned idea, yet many people still hold on to this—that a leader has to be like a top-down leader, where, where direction is coming from, from them, they know all the answers, etc. And I don't feel like empathy is so much part of their MO as perhaps it could be, and maybe should be, in a culture that's truly resilient and sustainable. So can you speak to that a little bit?

Nicole Van Valen: 8:19

Yeah. You know, when you're talking about this is, I'm visualizing all the generational differences that we find in the workplace. So that top-down mentality was from the older generations. And now we're having younger generations come in, and they're looking for leadership that has an emotional intelligence, where emotions, mental health, all of those things are at the forefront and it's basically expected. What we need from leaders now is a leader that has this self-awareness and they're able to self-regulate themselves. They have this emotional intelligence where they're providing a motivation and they have empathy, and they have the social skills that are needed to build strong relationships with their teams. So a leader that can cultivate it by engaging in this self-reflection, and they seek feedback from their team members and they're really being intentional about developing their interpersonal skills, because to be a leader, it takes lifelong learning. So building this emotional intelligence allows leaders to navigate all of the different challenging situations, but do it with grace and, and foster more engagement and have a more productive team. That's the ultimate goal, to, to have this productive team so they can meet the goals that are set in front of them.

Elin Barton: 9:46

That's so important. It reminds me. I used to have horses, and I used to do natural horsemanship with them. So you get into horse psychology, and it's really cool. It's really interesting. The horse becomes more of a partner with you. But there was a saying that we always used to refer back to, that was, the horse never cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And I think that can be, you know, somewhat true of a leader in a work situation, too, that you can be a strong leader, you can be the leader and still have this kind of empathy. It's not like one precludes the other one.

Nicole Van Valen: 10:27

Yes, exactly. Because when you're looking at empathy, you're really making sure that the emotional and mental health is there. So we want to make sure that this becomes a top priority for organizations. And that this trend is only growing, right, where we're seeing mental health and well-being becoming a core element of leadership development. So I've worked with and talked with other leaders who have empathy coaches. Right? They're looking at social skills. So all of that hard work and drive may have gotten you to a certain place to be a leader, but what's going to keep you there is that emotional intelligence, is that ability to build relationships. And now we need to see this as a corporate strategy overall. So in the future, I'm looking for companies that will provide well-being to not only have more engaged employees, but also to see improved performance and innovation. And that's what all organizations are really looking for.

Elin Barton: 11:31

So beyond just being able to notice that you're getting more people, you know, that you, as a leader, are getting more people coming to you and being more open to talking about their problems. Are there other ways that you can measure, the, the resilience like, quota, quotient of your team? Is there a way to measure, like how well you're doing as a team in this area?

Nicole Van Valen: 11:58

Yes. You know, I took a poll not too long ago about this very question. And many leaders just kind of look at the engagement of the employees. So that can be kind of subjective, right? So at Keane Insights, we use a mixture of the qualitative and quantitative methods to measure resilience. So, you know, employee feedback is a really strong indicator of success. But we can also track key measure, metrics like retention rates, engagement scores and overall performance. So at Keane Insights we have this proprietary Sphere of Resilience Assessment. And this can be used to evaluate an individual or a team's ability to manage stress and navigate the challenges that they face. And this allows us to tailor our approach or ensure that the strategies that we implement in an organization are delivered, delivering the real impact that we need. So that's something that I offer as a free assessment right on my website. You can go on there and take that Sphere of Resilience assessment to see where you are on your resilience scale. But when we're looking at teams, the team can take that assessment and then we can give some space like a quarter, look at key metrics that that organization has with that team, look at the retention rates, look at any engagement scores over that time or overall performance of the individuals. Let them take that assessment again and see where the percentages increase and see what the improvements are, or see where there are other areas of opportunity. And then that's when Keane Insights comes in again and we might provide additional services, whether it's individual coaching or group mastermind coaching or coming in and giving presentations or diving in deeper and having them utilize our e-workbook or e-learning course. So there are all of these different things that we can do to impact but also measure, because if it doesn't get measured, it didn't happen, right?

Elin Barton: 13:57

Exactly. And how can you improve, how do you know if you're improving if you don't measure it? So I love that you have that tool. That's very cool, Nicole. And, and beyond resiliency, or maybe it's part of resiliency too. When I think of a workplace that I would like to be part of, certainly inclusion, equity, you know, belonging, all of those attributes are present. How do you help leaders kind of navigate that maze of challenges?

Nicole Van Valen: 14:33

Yeah. So, you know, it starts at the core of self-awareness for that leader, right? Being aware of themselves, of how they see things, how they take things in, how they are influencing others. The first step to that self-awareness is actual active listening to their teams. So they may go on a listening tour, right? Or we might provide some exercises and tools for that leader to utilize during their team meetings, so that they open up the space for that psychological safety so that they can hear what their team is saying. And that allows them to understand the unique challenges that the team has, the experiences of their people, and then they get to make belonging and inclusion a priority in every single decision that they make. Because now that they understand their, their team, they can make impactful decisions and choices when it comes to hiring or how they're going to manage a project or promotions. So providing training on unconscious bias per se, and, this can ensure that there's a clear pathway so that every team member is contributing, but they're contributing in a meaningful way that they're being heard. And most importantly, the leader is creating this culture where all the different various voices from different backgrounds, experiences, expertise and skill set, their knowledge, are celebrated. It's not just tolerated. It's all putting together, making it better than the sum of its parts separate.

Elin Barton: 16:09

Wow. And like, when you're doing all of that, do you, do you, do you typically come in and you kind of have your, you know what offerings you're going to be bringing to this organization. Do you sometimes get surprised or do the participants get surprised by what’s, what they, what's uncovered or, you know, or is it like, “Oh, yeah, we knew that was going on. That's, that's to be expected here.” Big surprises.

Nicole Van Valen: 16:39

Big surprises.

Elin Barton: 16:40

Really? Really?

Nicole Van Valen: 16:42

Because it's, it's really get— So I did a webinar not too long ago, right, with a nonprofit organization. And a participant there on the leadership team said, “This is slightly better than my therapy session.” So it's almost like it's undercover therapy...[Laughing] the webinars and presentations that we provide. People really get an understanding of the things that they didn't even think of. So one CEO of a marketing organization, they had a hard time figuring out what brings them joy. They're like, “Oh, well, I love doing strategy in my, in my business. That's what brings me joy.” And, you know, so I'm thinking, “That's great, but maybe we can tap into finding out some other things that brought you joy. Maybe what were some things that you did before you founded your business that brought you joy?” The other partner in, in that organization said, “You know what? I love art. I used to paint all the time. My daughter, my seven year old daughter loves painting and drawing. I'm going to take her to a, we're going to go take a drawing class together.” So that was her way of understanding, you know, her joy, you know, in discovering herself and rediscovering herself. Because I like to say every time there's a change or a challenge, I have a three step model that you can utilize to help you discover yourself, design the landscape in front of you—that's like your culture—and then go ahead and deliver on your goal. So a lot of people get surprised at what they're hearing. Some of it is what they've heard before. And they, they say, “Oh my goodness.” Some of it's new things. Sometimes they're learning from other people that are in the, taking the course as well, and they learn from each other. So there's a lot of new knowledge gained and reigniting knowledge that was already there, that people knew what they needed to do, and now this just gives them permission to do it.

Elin Barton: 18:46

Yeah. Wow. And the, the concept of joy is really interesting to me. I was thinking about that, actually today. So I'm a gardener. And a lot of times when I'm gardening, I think about business and, and I, you know, sometimes get really good ideas. So, oftentimes I'm like, “Wow, this is a really good metaphor for...[Laughs.]. I could write a social media post about this.” And today I was out there and we're recording this in the fall. I live in upstate New York, and this is the time of year when garden, like, I love my garden, but I'm kind of over it now, you know. It's kind of getting messy. It's just not as fun as it is in the spring, you know, when everything's blooming and coming, coming up fresh. Now it's all kind of getting a little ugly and it needs a lot of maintenance. And I was thinking about that. I love gardening, but, you know, sometimes business gets like this too, where, you know, you're, you're in this, whatever it is, like,...[Grudgingly]... “Oh, I've got to go out and make more sales calls. Fantastic.” And finding that joy, you know, finding that spark really makes a huge difference not only to your, like, experience in the moment, but to the outcomes too.

Nicole Van Valen: 20:04

Yes. And, you know. So I told you about the dancing and cheerleading. So that was my resilience resource as I was coming up and trying to climb the corporate ladder and all of that. But as I got older, I developed new joys, right? So gardening is one of them. So when you brought that up, I was like,“Oh my gosh, yes, I have the banana tree, a mango tree, coconut tree,” like all kinds of trees out there. And my husband's like, What, what are you building, a jungle?” [Laughs.] So there's that. But then there are other things that could be subtle, that don't take a lot of effort that bring you joy. So another one is drinking a hot cup of chai tea, like just the feel of the tea going down my throat. It's just so relaxing. Golf. I love golf. So you can pick different things, little things that bring you joy or increase your energy where you don't have to go put on gardening gloves and get all sweaty, because I'm in Florida,...[Laughs] ...and do all of that. So it could be a quick walk around the block. That's when I get my greatest innovative ideas, is walking around, walking my dog Layla, goldendoodle, around the neighborhood for 20 minutes.

Elin Barton: 21:13

I mean, it sounds like maybe it's just taking a moment to be present. And the other day, I came across something online. It was, I guess it was a challenge to look at this piece of art for, just one piece of, one painting. Digital, you know, it's a real—actually, I think it was a tapestry. So it's an actual piece of art. And it was served to me on my phone. And the challenge was, look at this for ten minutes. You know, zoom in and look around. And it was really interesting to do that because when do we ever do that in our real life? Just take ten minutes and get really curious about something like a piece of art? It was, it was a very interesting experience.

Nicole Van Valen: 21:58

That reminds me of when I was little—well, I still kind of do it, I'm a kid at heart—but just going outside and laying on the grass and just looking at the clouds for ten minutes, because then you see all the different shapes and it's moving. Now you make me want to go do that.

Elin Barton: 22:13

[Laughs.] But why, so, you know, kind of tying it back to the business world and, and, you know, where, where you live professionally, with your company and your audience. Like, why is that so important? Because it's so easy to just go, go, go, all the time. But why is it so important to pause, get centered, and, you know, find that, find that like essence of joy from time to time?

Nicole Van Valen: 22:41

Yeah, because I tend to be a Type-A personality. So when I'm going, going, going, I'm just laser focused and I'll just go through and push through everything, lack of sleep and all of those things. But that's not sustainable. You know, we're human beings. We need to refuel. We have to take time to eat, hygiene, like all of the things that disrupt us from... [Laughing] ...doing the things that we want to do, we have to take care of ourselves. And then when we do it, we find out, oh, we actually enjoy taking care of ourselves because it gives us that respite. And when you give yourself that respite, you, it propels you faster forward. And then you have time to actually refocus because we're, there's constant change happening, right, and constant challenges. Sometimes we're laser focused, going in one direction, but we never took time to, to slow down to see, is that the right direction to go in? Because some things in society may have shifted and we may need to do things a little bit differently. So it's good to sit back. You know, some people do it a couple times throughout the day, once a week, however you want to do it, that works best for you. It's a time, it's like a little mini strategy time. Even just, I was doing a breathing exercise virtually with a team that was in the mental wellbeing space, and I had them close their eyes and take three deep breaths in through their nose, all the way down to their stomach and back up again, three times. The feedback that I got was incredible. I had one person say, “You know what? I was supposed to go ahead and draft this legal document”...[Laughs] ...that they were procrastinating on for the whole day, and they felt re-energized in those three breaths to go ahead and do that. So it's vital for us just to kind of step back, go slow so we can go faster towards our goals.

Elin Barton: 24:35

That's a really great reminder. Is that what people will find in your book, The Joyful Leader?

Nicole Van Valen: 24:42

They are going to find so much in the book because I'm an undercover nerd, so.[Laughs.] So what I did was I had great stories from myself and my background with mental health, learning and performance and development and procurement. However, I went out and got, interviewed experts across all different industries on resilience. So in the book, you're not going to only get my stories, but you're going to get other athletes in various sports, people in entertainment and philanthropists, their experience of how they were able to be resilient and how joy played an impact in that. You will also get detailed ways and tools within the book of how to craft your own resilience through your own joy. There'll be an assessment in there for, for you to get more self-awareness, understand resilience, and how to be inspired to have a growth mindset so that you can learn how to build sustainable relationships, to meet the goals that you have and be comfortable being yourself. So all of these things are going to be found in the book The Joyful Leader to help discover resilience through joy, how to transform your leadership, how to reduce your stress, and even more importantly, take that and foster a culture of well-being in your organization and so you can impact others. So you're gonna get these practical tools, you're going to get these stories. You're going to get peer-reviewed research and expert insights across industries on how to cultivate joy and resilience. It's available for preorder on my website, so you can find all the details there.

Elin Barton: 26:35

Mmm. Fantastic. Love it. And I really. You know, this podcast is about impact. So the fact that you're taking joy, resilience, these topics and making your mark, you know, making your impact around this, is so impressive and exciting and important, honestly. You know, we spend so much time at work and, it's, I feel like it's easy to just work, work, work, work, work and never think about these topics. And before you know it, 40 years has gone by and like, and, you're, nobody's guaranteed to have those 40 years or 60 years or however many years you get. So it's just so important. I love that you're doing this work.

Nicole Van Valen: 27:21

You know, I get so much from doing this work. Each time I talk to someone about it or we have discussions, people just automatically are re-energized, and then they remember, “Oh, yeah, it's okay to be happy and be a leader. It's okay to laugh and be joyful and be doing serious work to impact others.” We don't have to be these crazy, stressed out people.

Elin Barton: 27:44

We don't have to be these crazy, stressed out people.

Nicole Van Valen: 27:47

No, we're spreading the resilience. We're having a resilience movement internationally, nationally, all of that. I want as many people to be as resilient as possible and spread that, that joy.

Elin Barton: 27:59

I love that, and I love that impact that you're, you're bringing to the world. It's, it's wonderful. So, Nicole, I think I'm going to wrap this up here. I, I love this conversation, so much great stuff to share. How can people find you and connect with you and, and, you know, reach out to you if they want to maybe hire you or find out more?

Nicole Van Valen: 28:22

Ooh. [Laughs.] Yes. I would love to be connected to as many people as possible and, and have that impact. So the best source is my website, keaneinsights.com. So that's www.keaneinsights.com. And there you can find all the information about the, my book the assessment, the e-learning course, all of the different goodies. Please connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm there often, under Nicole Van Valen. And then you can connect to Keane Insights across all of the platforms as well. And I like to put out tidbits on resilience and stress management, change management, all of those good things to, just to help elevate you to be your best professionally authentic self.

Elin Barton: 29:08

Oh super. Well, we'll put those links in our show notes, obviously and let everybody connect with you. Before we leave, can you give us one tip to bring more joy into our life today?

Nicole Van Valen: 29:21

So I would challenge you to close your eyes and take three deep breaths. That's it. And then open your eyes and go and deliver on whatever you are about to go do.

Elin Barton: 29:39

Okay, I’m going to do that as soon as this podcast is over. [Laughs.]

Nicole Van Valen: 29:43

I'm going to do it too.[Laughing.] We’ll be doing it together.

Elin Barton: 29:47

Okay, that sounds great. Well thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

Nicole Van Valen: 29:52

All right. Thank you.

Elin Barton: 29:53

Okay, thanks, Nicole.[electronic music concludes]

Emily Adams: 30:01

And now here's our Impact Tip of the Month. If you are in a leadership role on your team, talk with your team about the importance of work/life balance. Some ways you can demonstrate that you really mean this are by allowing flexible work hours, offering remote work options, and making it clear that taking breaks, vacation days, and personal days is highly encouraged.[electronic music starts] Thanks for listening and make sure to do good in the world this month. If you have questions you'd like us to address on the podcast, you can reach us at info@riveocreative.com. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss out on any of our incredible upcoming guests. We'll see you soon at the Riveo Impact Lab.[electronic music concludes]