Article written by: Nicole Clifton @ nicoleclifton.com
Businesses and teams that thrive don’t just happen. There is often a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, and sometimes part of that work is choosing to bring in an outside person to bring objective perspective to help steer companies in the right direction. Options for Senior Living chose to start doing this with Nicole Clifton in the fall of 2017, bringing her in as a Leadership Development Specialist. Many people know that OFSL started out in 2003 run exclusively by the owner Scott Fischer and that over the years, his team has expanded. Particularly in the last few years, their growth has been exponential and therefore the size of the team has grown to meet the need. As the team was growing, what Scott Fischer came to realize is that there were lots of team dynamics emerging that he hadn’t had to worry about when the company was smaller. He realized that in order for OFSL to be the best company it could be, in order for their business to go to the next level, he needed to be willing to invest in developing his employees into the healthiest leaders they could be.
That’s where Nicole came in. About 2 ½ years ago, Scott approached Nicole about partnering with his team. He believed in his employees and wanted to invest in who they were as people, seeing potential in each person. Nicole possesses a Masters in Psychology and has worked for almost 10 years in leadership development, and so felt eager to step into this work with OFSL. She has returned to their staff meetings several times over the last few years, helping them to understand themselves better and helping them to understand each other better.
Nicole believes that some of the best leaders are ones that are self-aware, that understand how their personality and behavior affects those around them. When they have a level of depth in that area, they can depth of understanding and compassion for those they work with. As they practice those skills around mature professional relationships and emotional intelligence, those skills also reflect in the way they interact with clients and other business partners, even positively impact the relationships in their personal lives. Nicole says that she is fully aware that some people see these as “soft skills” and therefore aren’t necessary to address in the workplace, but actually, relationship and connection are pretty consistent in every line of work and therefore are needed because they are a part of everything that happens.
So as you’re looking at 2020 for your team, company, or organization: what do you want for your group this year? Maybe you’re in a good place and you don’t want to lose that momentum, so you want to continue to invest and pour into the quality leaders you have because you want to keep them. Maybe things are okay, but you feel stuck in a rut but aren’t sure why, so you need some outside perspective to help you move things in a more positive connection. It is also possible that your team may be struggling, and that you want to help your company culture and team dynamics to improve but aren’t sure how. Or maybe you don’t feel like your team is quite ready to take that journey, but you as a leader want some individual coaching on how to lead your team in new ways. Nicole has worked with teams of all sizes and leaders of all ages, helping them become the best versions of themselves. She has partnered not only with OFSL, but with other companies they are associated with, and has had productive, rewarding experiences with them all. She would love to partner with you this year and help take your group to the next level.
Kindly,
Nicole
To see more from me, you can find me at:
Website: http://www.nicoleclifton.com
Individual Coaching through Restoration Counseling: https://www.restorationcounselingnoco.com/nicole-clifton
TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uLHjwpuFXc
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Blog: https://nicolecliftonblog.wordpress.com/