"Navigating change with Intention: Expert tips for personal & professional growth"
| TaskHuman

Jamie: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of TaskHuman Talks. I am your host and fellow wellness provider, Jamie Carroll. Today we’re going to be talking about all things leadership and professional development in order to help you create lasting and sustainable change in 2025. With me, I have our coach, Alexandra Popkova. Thank you so much, Alexandra, for joining me today.

Alexandra: Thanks for having me, Jamie.

Jamie: I’m so excited. It’s always such a pleasure when we have our chats on these podcasts. Let’s dive in. Why don’t you tell everybody about what you do as a coach on the platform?

Alexandra: Sure. I’ve been with TaskHuman for almost three years now. It’s been quite a journey for me. I started as a leadership and executive coach. I work with expats and leaders. It might sound like two very different audiences, but honestly, it’s all about managing very high levels of uncertainty and complexity in your life and business.

Jamie: Yes. I feel like I know myself that’s, give me a call, Jamie.

Alexandra: Yes. As a parallel role in TaskHuman, I also act as a community lead for the Americas region, where I organize the community of fellow coaches.

Jamie: So you’ve got your hand in several things this year.

Alexandra: Yes.

Jamie: I want to dive into leadership because I know that’s your specialty. How do you help your clients identify critical skills for leadership?

Alexandra: That’s a great question to start with. Many times when you have a conversation with clients or their managers, the conversation is very superficial. They might reach out to you asking for something like, “I need to work on my communication skills, my leadership,” and then my question is, “Okay, what exactly do you mean by that? What’s happening in your reality, in your life, in the office, that brought you to this conclusion that you need to work on your communication? Why now? It was working fine before and then you woke up today and thought, I need to give a call to work on my communication skills. What’s going on?” Then we would probably dive deeper into that context. Many times, as you can guess, the focus area for development is not really communication or leadership. It’s something else. We just use words that everybody can understand.

Jamie: Absolutely. So it’s almost like peeling the layers of the onion, so to speak, to understand what they’re going through and identify the skills that are going to be really critical for them in developing leadership.

Alexandra: Yes.

Jamie: Once you have those skills and you’re helping them with it, how does professional growth play into that? I feel like professional growth is a big one for leaders. We’re always wanting to learn and grow in some way. How do you point them in that trajectory of personal growth? Or does it have a lot to do with the skills that you’re helping them with?

Alexandra: I’d like to take a step back. First of all, when we talk about professional goals or professional development, I always say there is no separation between personal and professional. Ultimately, it’s your goals. You might reach out to a coach on a platform because you’ve just been recently promoted and it’s your first time in a people manager position, something like that. Very typical example. You are reaching out to get better at what you do, to manage your team better, but ultimately, it’s all about your growth and your development. Our first focus might be the discussion of how you want to be as a people manager, but it’s just a matter of time. Sooner or later, we’re going to discuss how you want to be as a partner, as a parent, as a friend, as a daughter, because you can’t really divide it into, “Oh, it’s Jamie at home and Jamie at the office.” It’s really about a holistic approach to your growth and development.

Jamie: I had a coach one time tell me, “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” Is it something like that?

Alexandra: Absolutely. Yes.

Jamie: Professional and personal development are kind of one. When you have people that you’re working with who are really wanting to step into this space and grow as a person, whatever that is at home or in their job, things can get in the way. It’s the new year, we have these new goals, we have these new ideas of who we want to be and who we want to become, but things can get in the way. How do you help people stay on course?

Alexandra: New Year’s resolutions. I know what you mean. I think the most important question and the conversation that I have with my clients is really understanding and exploring why you would take your time, focus, and attention to change something in your life. There are many things that we kind of dream about, but ultimately they are nice to have. I always give this example: it would be nice to have a yacht in the Mediterranean. I wouldn’t mind. Obviously. But it’s not my goal. It’s not something that I put on my to-do list as my priority and then take steps to really get there. It’s nice to have. When we talk about New Year’s resolutions or any type of goal-setting process, personal or professional, many times we step into this idea of romantic ideas of how we would love our life to be. But really, it’s not my goal. Any change requires energy. So on top of everything that’s already happening in your life, why would you take more of your energy to make a change? And if the answer is about what you want from others, that’s actually a great red flag that’s easy to spot. Every time you hear a client say something along the lines of, “I want my team to be productive,” “I want my company,” or “I want my family to do something or be something,” I ask, “Okay, why would you care? How is that beneficial for you? If your team was productive, how would that affect you as a manager?” And then we can go deeper into so many other things. Self-awareness cultivates self-awareness. When we can really lead ourselves, that’s when we can really lead others.

Jamie: Absolutely. What role does networking or mentorship play when it comes to leadership and professional development?

Alexandra: I think it’s really one of the support networks that many times we underestimate. Especially now post-Covid, many of us work online. It’s me, myself, and I in front of my computer. I have different projects, but ultimately, I don’t change. I just sit and talk to different people. It’s easy to lose that sense of community and connection. When you work at the office, you have lunch with your colleagues, you go out, you get coffee, you’re chitchatting between meetings. Some type of interaction is happening. It’s much harder to get there when you work online. I think that’s one part of the context we need to be mindful of right now. Ultimately, many times when I work with my clients and I ask them, “Who could you reach out to for support?” the first reaction many times is, “Nobody. I don’t have anybody to help me. I just need to Google it, figure it out on my own, or take a course.” But then with a few follow-up questions, we surprisingly figure out, “Oh, I have a list of 10 people in my network that I could reach out to and probably get some type of advice, tips, tricks, or just have them share their experience.” That’s already super valuable. I don’t need to start from scratch. Something really important that I keep repeating to my clients and to leaders is: don’t be afraid to reach out for support. That does not mean you’re weak. Many of us can share this belief that if I’m in that position, it means I need to know everything. People reach out to me for questions and direction, so how can I ask questions? But no, it’s actually a sign of strength. Find strength and empowerment in the act of reaching out for support.

Jamie: It can feel lonely for some leaders. I can imagine. Like you said, it’s like, “Well, I’m at the top. I’m supposed to have all the answers. I’m supposed to be giving to everybody else.” So it’s important to have that community, that network, and even that mentoring and coaching, like yourself, to support them through things. Self-care can also play a big role in leadership and professional development. How do you help your clients put self-care practices into place and have that kind of work-life balance, as people like to call it?

Alexandra: Work-life balance does not exist, first of all.

Jamie: I was going to say, does that even exist?

Alexandra: One of the really powerful practices and tips I like to share is creating the third space. For example, when we used to move from work to home, you would physically go to work and then drive back home. Now, many times, you just close your laptop. That’s pretty much the whole transition you get. Many times when you move from the first space to the second space, there is no transition in between. What ends up happening is that we come back home to our families and bring all the stress, moods, office gossip, and we keep the same attitude. Maybe a few hours later we realize, “Oh, actually, I’m in my pajamas, I’m at home, I can take a deep breath and relax.” It affects not only us but also the people around us, because ultimately we all want to build quality relationships with the people around us. How can I be the best manager at work and the best wife to my husband when I come back home? The idea here is to create that third space in between to help you transition. If your routine, for example, is to go from the office to the gym and then home, that journey helps you transition. If you don’t have it, artificially and proactively create it for yourself. It could be as simple as, before you interact with your family, go to your room, take a deep breath, take a few minutes to understand, “Okay, I’m at home. What’s the priority right now?” Change your clothes, take a shower, and then when you’re ready, go to the kitchen and have a conversation: “Hey, I’m at home. How was your day?”

Jamie: Just setting that intention can be enough, right? That intention that this is going to be my third thing. I love that. I’m thinking right now, “Oh, I could go take a walk and then come back.” And then it’s like, okay, now I’m in my home setting. I think that’s so important and we don’t really think about it, because so much of the workforce these days is still work from home and you don’t get that transition space.

Alexandra: Absolutely. And I love what you just said. That intention setting is crucial. Many times we just find ourselves working back to back. After this podcast, you have another meeting, I have another call. Then at 5:00 p.m. it’s like, “Oh my God, I’m hungry. I’ve been hungry since one, but I didn’t notice it.” You just keep going and move from one space to another, from the podcast to a business call to coaching clients, but again, it’s about transition. You don’t help yourself transition because many times we don’t have any space in between. Your call finishes at four and you automatically connect to the next meeting. You don’t take a break. This is how we do planning. Then what happens is we don’t really ask ourselves that very important question: what’s the priority? What’s the focus? What’s my intention for this specific conversation? Now we’re recording a podcast with Jamie. What’s my intention? Why am I here? Just because she invited me? How do I want to show up? How do I want to show up for my coaching clients, for my consulting, for my manager, for my team?

Jamie: Again, it’s that going within first to get the results without. I love how we keep getting these thoughts. I want to talk to you about habits. What are some habits that go along with successful leaders and how can people incorporate them into their everyday life?

Alexandra: The first one is something we already mentioned: intention setting before you change the activity. If you’re going to send an email to your team, ask yourself, “What’s my intention with this email? What do I want them to know?” Another technique I would recommend is grounding. Use your body as a main tool and resource. It’s always available to you 24/7, so use it wisely. Be self-aware of what’s going on when you’re triggered, how what’s being discussed is impacting you, and whether the way you show up is aligned with your intention. Use your posture to help you stay grounded and focused. A very easy thing that I use, especially when I work with clients one-on-one, is that I know every time I lean to one side and cross my legs, I call it my cafecito pose. It’s the pose when you grab a coffee with your friend and you’re like, “So what happened? And what did you answer? And did he get back to you? Tell me more about that.” At that moment, I am so far away from coaching. I’m not coming from the right place. This is my curiosity, but it’s not necessarily me being an expert and professional and helping my client at that moment. So I use my body to help me stay focused instead of trying to identify when I am gone in my thoughts. Because part of my attention is right now on you and what I want to share, but also part of my attention is on what I’m going to have for dinner or what I’m going to do after the call. Just being aware of that is already a very powerful practice.

Jamie: Our body language emits energy. There have been studies where if someone is folding their arms, it can come across as if they’re not interested. So again, bringing your awareness to yourself and how you’re moving, even how comfortable you are. Sometimes we don’t even pay attention to that.

Alexandra: We just keep going. Being productive, supposedly.

Jamie: We just keep going and we don’t pay attention. You hit the nail on the head talking about work from home because it’s gotten so much easier not to really have to think about those things. You can kind of rush out of bed and jump into a meeting with a nice top on and your pajama bottoms still on. So it’s really taking that time to be in the energy of the person that you’re being that day.

Alexandra: Yes.

Jamie: What are your top three tips for leaders moving into 2025 who really want to hone in on their leadership skills or professional development?

Alexandra: The first one would be self-awareness. Everything else is really built on this one. Use the technique of the third space and intention setting. The way you show up and the way you communicate, is it truly aligned with your intention and focus? Be really clear.

Jamie: Those are really easy steps to begin implementing, especially the transition one.

Alexandra: I love it.

Jamie: And of course, I think the self-awareness and intention-setting piece is going to be so important, and working with one of our coaches, like yourself, can help. If you’re out there listening and you’re ready to step into your leadership skills and professional development, make sure you give Alexandra a call. You can find her on our platform. Is there anything else you want to share with anyone listening?

Alexandra: I think we covered some major points, honestly.

Jamie: We did. I think we covered it all. You have some good things to start working on. Thank you so much, Alexandra. Always a pleasure.

Alexandra: Thank you, Jamie. And thanks everyone for tuning in.