Charting the Course for Masterful Storytelling and Dynamic Leadership

Embark on an inspiring episode with our cherished guests, Mary Michailides and Helen Rose, the original members of the Leading Through Stories team. Together, we weave a tapestry of tales encapsulating the origins of 'Leading Through Stories' and reveal our personal designs for the year ahead. As we think back on the strides we've made, Mary extends a heartfelt thank you for an enriching collaboration, while Helen regales us with her adventures in business and family milestones. Witness firsthand how the interplay of our personal narratives and professional experiences enriches our shared narrative.

This episode is a testament to the transformative potency of storytelling, goal-setting, and accountability in sculpting leaders and writers alike. Helen unveils her passionate pledge to author two books by 2024 and Kristy shares the ingenious 5-4-3-2-1 strategy that guides her in moving towards her goals. As Mary advocates for the pivotal role of self-awareness in leadership development through her business Maria M Consulting, we also celebrate Allissa Blondin's metamorphosis from a blog assistant into a ghostwriting phenomenon, and Dr. Lisa Belanger's profound contributions to mindful living, now showcased in the television series "Caregivers in the Wild" created by Mike Lang. We wrap up our session with an empowering CEO-of-your-own-life exercise, a reflective prism through which you can evaluate and enhance every facet of your being, nurturing growth for you and your team.

Other links mentioned

• Watch the Livestream with Helen & Mary
• Register for a Common Language Kitchen Table Night screening
• Sign up for a digital storytelling workshop with Kristy Wolfe
• Watch Bob Wolfe's story, Legacy 

About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.

Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?

This podcast is presented by Common Language DST, digital storytelling facilitation training for health and wellness changemakers.

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Transcript

Kristy Wolfe: 0:00

having the space and the time to process a story and work through it, to create this video, is something that's amazing, and we've talked about in the past that it can be public, but it can also just be something for you, and my hope for 2024 is to do some more workshops where the product isn't necessarily need to be anywhere. That it's the process for those people as they're working through their stories, and so I am doing some work with Canmore Counseling. They're doing something called the Heartbased Business Academy in January and February, and so I've set aside some time to work on what it is I want to be bringing, and what I want to be bringing is workshops and retreats to the Bow Valley around digital storytelling. So I've said it, I don't know how long it's going to take, but that's my goal.

Kristy Wolfe: 0:45

Welcome to Leading Through Stories, a podcast that explores the how and why of digital storytelling. My name is Kristy Wolfe. In each episode, I connect with storytellers or common language digital storytelling facilitators to learn more about the health and wellness stories they are creating and sharing. Life is made up of meaningful moments. Which ones do you want to share Now? Today, we're doing kind of like a bonus episode. This is a little exciting. I'm actually really excited to have Mary Michailides and Helen Rose back on. This is the original crew from Leading Through Stories these two women. When I was like I want to try live streaming, they were like, yes, let's do it. So in the pandemic we did this once a month. We did a live stream and then when I said I'd like to try turning that into a podcast, they said yes, and then we did it for another year.

Kristy Wolfe: 1:34

So we have two seasons of conversations. The first year was really conversations just between the three of us and our experiences and what we bring through our work, and then the second season was every second episode we would bring on a guest. So we had Fiona Groves and we had Alexis McKeown and we had who else do we have? Lisa Belanger I'm actually seeing her tonight and Heather Patterson. So we had like a number of different guests and I have to tell you both that this is really what led the way to me taking Leading Through Stories a little bit further with digital storytelling and what you allowed me to learn and to practice and the conversations we got to have really started this all off. So thank you so much. And we were just before we started recording, we were talking about how we haven't seen each other. So I got to see Helen yesterday and I saw Mary recently. But, ladies, how are you?

Mary Michailides: 2:34

Kristy, thank you for those comments. I need to let you know that you know, as I think about our relationship, the three of us it is enhanced who I am, what I do at so many levels, and so, as much as you're thanking us, I'm saying thank you to both of you for this incredible friendship, but also the learning that's gone along with this.

Helen Rose: 2:54

So, yeah, nice to see you guys, we have that kind of friendship that if we don't see each other for a year and we see each other, it's like it was like we just saw you yesterday.

Kristy Wolfe: 3:04

you tell us what you've been up to. Tell us about Cinder Heli. What's been going on for you?

Helen Rose: 3:08

Okay, so Cinder Heli has been like year 13 now of business, so that's been fabulous and that's that is wonderful and I have, you know, wonderful staff. I don't really have a lot to do day to day with it. I kind of deal with, you know, invoicing and any client issues, if we have any, which is rare. But for me this year it kind of turned into a year of family for me and I have a very dear friend who is like my sister, who is unfortunately going to pass into the other world and so that's sad. So I've been home quite a bit in Ontario looking or just being with her when I can. And then I've got my littles, who anyone knows me how crazy I am about my little granddaughters and my son and daughter-in-law just went to Mexico for their very first vacation away from their kids and I got them for seven days. Oh my God, so much fun.

Mary Michailides: 4:11

What a blessing, Helen you know as I think about for the kids and you as well. Wow, that's amazing.

Helen Rose: 4:17

You know, a bit down last year because my business wasn't my other business isn't really flourishing and I thought, okay, just take a break here. So you know how fate works. I've been approached by a wellness college out of Vancouver who asked me to teach their leadership program. Isn't that crazy? Congratulations, that's amazing, I know. So we're just kind of figuring all of that out right now. And for 2024, I'm going to sit down and finish the two books that I've had outlined for like five years. 2024 is my year of writing.

Kristy Wolfe: 4:51

Mary and I do to help keep it accountable with the books.

Helen Rose: 4:56

You could just send me a text and go. What's up, sister?

Mary Michailides: 4:58

Helen, this reminds me so much of some reading that I was doing early this morning, and this comes out of Harvard and they talk about 100 most useful productivity tips and the one is called time boxing. So what that involves and I'll send this out to you it's you know. And so, as you're thinking about your books or your books, how do you brain dump? You know what are your priorities in getting this book done or these books done. So you identify the top priorities and then actually what you need to do is time box. So then you need to identify what time you're going to get what priority completed, and the template is beautiful. It's called the time box, coming out of Harvard, and I don't mean I don't mind being a part of your time box on a I don't know monthly, weekly, daily process. So you let us know what you would like us to do to help you with your time boxing. Thanks you guys. That's awesome.

Kristy Wolfe: 5:57

Well, and on that note, because that's a great idea and it makes me think of, in my journals I do a five, four, three, two, one. We've talked about this before five years. Where am I going to be in four months? What do I, what can I do in three weeks? Two days, one hour, and so January is like going to be the start of a new journal, and I love that part of just laying out in different parts of my life what I can do right now to get to what I want to do down the road.

Helen Rose: 6:22

Yeah, and I think that's really important and I know you both know this. But if you put everything on your plate at once, it becomes too much and you don't get any of it done. And so I love that chunking it down. Even if it's getting up at five in the morning intentionally writing, even if it's setting aside six o'clock at night and intentionally writing, or whatever it is you want to be intentional about, and it's really important and you're making yourself accountable by doing it, because I think we all do that. It's like eh, eh, I've got so many projects that I want to do and I don't do any of them, right, I think that that actually speaks to like how we made the decision to kind of turn leading through stories into something else.

Kristy Wolfe: 7:06

We all found that we were, we had too many things on our plate, and although we love that time of every month getting together, it was more and more difficult as our lives went in different directions. So, mary, what, what have you been up to? What are you excited about for 2024?

Mary Michailides: 7:21

You know what I think, Kristy. Thank you for the question. One of the things that I'm really excited about is thinking about the teams that I get to work with and actually getting them to think about where they are in their learning journey, and I'm talking about clients that include either principals or emerging leaders, or med students or some law students that I'm working with or organizations in the non-for-profit. The question is where are you, where do you want to go and how will you get there and who will support you? So I love those questions. It really ties into some of the work out of my book. You know the instructional talk through process. I'm most excited about five groupings of teams that I get to work with on a monthly basis, and so through those leadership learning series, we are able to develop not only the relationships and trust that is inherent in kind of reflecting on where I am, where I want to go, how I'm going to get there, but also the productivity and the leadership development that is emerging, especially from some of my emerging leaders. I just kind of sit back and am in awe and, as I work with our direct reports, they're leading things in their schools.

Mary Michailides: 8:41

So Dean and I my husband and I were asked to do a keynote presentation a couple of weeks ago. You know, keynote presentation on the importance of self-care, wellness and we thought, sure, that's not a big deal. You know, we've got lots of experience, we've got lots of supports, we've got lots of resources. And then they told us that the keynote was half a day. It's like, okay, that is not a keynote. So for 600 people really looking at getting people to reflect on, obviously a productivity, but how are you living well to continue to lead well. So those are some of the things that we're doing, yeah.

Kristy Wolfe: 9:17

I also love like. So we are in very different industries, right? Mary and I know each other from education, but I'm no longer in that education space. But the fact that we get to talk about what we're seeing in the areas that we're in and, Mary, it sounds like, as you've progressed, you are dealing with different sectors as well and that, like the conversations that come up because different perspectives are coming. It's not helpful to always have conversations with educational leaders. You need other leaders brought in to talk about it and you've always done a really good job. When you had your conference at the Banff Centre, that was the first time I met you and you had Pilar from the Edmonton Public Library. You had, I believe, her name was Shona.

Mary Michailides: 9:59

yes, Emergency physician at Stollery yeah.

Kristy Wolfe: 10:02

Those conversations and listening to those people speak at an education conference was mind blowing for me, definitely like set a path a while ago.

Mary Michailides: 10:12

And it's interesting, Kristy, when you say that, because initially when some of these organizations call me to kind of say, hey, we need your help, we have young med students that need coaching and mentoring to get into med school, it's like that is not my forte and they're kind of I am not a doctor. I, you know. This is the comment that I had with one of my clients. I know nothing about medicine other than my doctor I love and I'm really sad she's retiring this year, by the way and they said that's not what we want you for. We want you to guide our young students through the lens of who they are.

Mary Michailides: 10:45

And so there's so many parallels education, business, non-for-profit. Helen, you were talking about your, your team from Cinder Heli, you know, and I only do the bookkeeping, was your quote a few minutes ago. Your leadership actually has created that team. And when I think about the words of trust, high levels of engagement, you know, supporting them through the challenges and successes and celebrating successes, it doesn't matter, Cinder Heli, it's Wolfe Automotive, it's Common Language, it's educators, it's really interesting.

Helen Rose: 11:19

I think that's really what you just said was really important, and not to diminish my role in the company, but I'm super proud of myself and I had to learn as a leader, to not micromanage. Does everything happen the way I would do it? Absolutely not, but I've also got 30 years of life experience on my team. When they introduced me to someone, it was our boss, Helen. Nope, I'm not your boss, I'm your team member.

Mary Michailides: 11:45

It's about relationships and sense of belonging. So I've got a question, Kristy, you asked about. You know Helen's work and my work. I can not tell you how excited I am to read your posts, your LinkedIn comments, to see those digital stories and the impact that they're making in many people's lives. So tell us a little bit about your highlights.

Kristy Wolfe: 12:10

Thank you. I just finished my level three Common Language Digital Storytelling training. So, along with Mike Lang, we are now the people that are training people who would like to do digital storytelling and so, honestly, this finished a week ago. The two people that I was training were connected to the Alberta Children's Hospital, their physicians and they are looking to do research. So I definitely still do stories with individuals who come to me about stories. Right now I'm finding there's more in the research world and my connection through medical families and supporting family engagement and research.

Kristy Wolfe: 12:43

So I leave tomorrow, which is Friday, to go to Children's Healthcare Canada where I am presenting at their conference, the Transitions to Adulthood. We're presenting the workshop we did with Heartbeats and Western Canadian Children's Heart Network. So, again, talking about digital storytelling, how it can be used for quality improvement, how it can be used to support conversation between as we were talking about families and patients and health care providers, and how do we kickstart conversations in those spheres, I'm super excited there will be a live podcast that comes out from CHC, because there are four of us actually related to common language that are going to be there, so we're going to do a live podcast while we're there.

Helen Rose: 13:26

That's amazing, and you know, Kane is a gift, and that's the thing I'm always about is what is the gift that's been given to you? Now? You've got the gift of a beautiful, two beautiful sons, but look at the gift that Kane's journey has brought all of you.

Kristy Wolfe: 13:41

That's beautiful it is. It's really neat to see, like, where this has gone and it's only been two years with Common Language and learning digital storytelling, but I have such a passion for it that it's easy to keep talking about it. It's easy to keep doing it. I got to see Mary in October because we did a digital story screening in Edmonton. Those three storytellers, Christie and Kathleen and Cindy, did a podcast with me about what it's like to go to a screening and have that experience. Mary, what did you think? Cause you hadn't been to a screening before.

Mary Michailides: 14:12

Yeah, you know it was really interesting for me. Helen, you just talked about the gifts that we're provided with Every one of those stories there was a gift conversation about what this has done for my family and our friends and those actually in the audience. I mean three amazing stories and tears. After all of them I'm thinking I don't even know these people and I'm so emotionally connected. And two things stood out for me the most Kristy, you talk about common language, common understanding. We talk about that in education, so we make no assumptions.

Mary Michailides: 14:50

We start from a similar foundation and each one of those stories taught me something about myself and so I was a little selfish thinking and I was sitting beside people from Wolf and one of the service managers and it was really interesting in that small group conversation. But we really had a conversation about what does this mean for us in our lives and how do we selfishly think? Aren't we so fortunate? As difficult as some of these situations are and I mean it hasn't been an easy journey for those families when is the gift and what does that do in gifting others to reflect on who they are, and how do we turn a potentially very challenging situation to a situation where we're resilient, we're gonna get through this, and here are the gifts that our children or our teams bring to us. It was fabulous. Thank you for the invitation.

Helen Rose: 15:48

You can't go to any of Kristy's screenings and not walk out with tears and it's good tears, though and to your point, mary, it doesn't matter what the story is that's being told. I think the most important thing are two things You're not alone, and we all share the same emotions.

Kristy Wolfe: 16:07

Well, Helen and I have to say, because Helen's done a digital story and yours is also about a tough topic it's one of the things about digital storytelling is likely you cannot tell the story when you're in that trauma. You have to wait until you're like far enough away from it to have that perspective, to look back and kind of see maybe things that did come out of it that were a positive. And not every story turns into a positive. There are some stories that the ending of that particular digital story doesn't leave you on a like oh, everything's been like. This is now a new great normal for them.

Kristy Wolfe: 16:36

That isn't always the case, but I think that having the space and the time to process a story and work through it to create this video is something that's amazing, and we've talked about in the past that it can be public, but it can also just be something for you, and my hope for 2024 is to do some more workshops where the product isn't necessarily need to be anywhere. That it's the process for those people as they're working through their stories. And so I am doing some work with Canmore Counselling. They're doing something called the Heartbased Business Academy in January and February, and so I've set aside some time to work on what it is I want to be bringing. And what I want to be bringing is workshops and retreats to the Bow Valley around digital storytelling. So I've said it I don't know how long it's going to take, but that's my goal.

Mary Michailides: 17:22

I really love that the digital story process is two to four minutes and you just took the words right out of mouth. It's about the process versus the product. But I must say when your father-in-law story was presented that yes was probably a beautiful process that you and Bob went through, because it was a surprise. I mean, I'll let you kind of give the details there, but that product is so important for his family and the Wolf team that works at Wolfe Cadillac to know. Here's the legacy of a hundred years. So I'm begging to differ just a little bit. I'm sure that process was beautiful for you and Bob and the surprise, but that product will not go anywhere. That is part of the Wolfe legacy.

Kristy Wolfe: 18:12

Well, okay, so Mary's talking about this because the screening that she went to was part of the Wolfe Automotive Group was starting a speaker series called Women on the Move and I was the first speaker. I wasn't in my capacity from Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation or with the Automotive Group. I was coming from digital storytelling and so I talked a little bit about digital storytelling. We had three storytellers and the fourth story we decided to do was bring in Bob's digital story about the hundred years of the Automotive Group, and it was the right audience because there was a number of people from the Wolfe Automotive Group team there and, just thinking about the stories that lead to the businesses, a lot of people that I work with end up telling like a personal family story.

Kristy Wolfe: 18:53

But I think that every business has an origin story. I think every nonprofit has examples of why people are connected to that nonprofit that they could be telling, and I agree I love the products. I think the products are really important, but I also want to stress it doesn't have to be about that part, and I actually find that it's usually about both. There's a process goal and there's a product goal and that that's kind of how it comes back together. But I want Helen to talk about Allissa Now. Allissa was someone who was helping us when we were doing the first two seasons of leading through stories. She was writing blogs for us, so she would listen to the live stream and then she would write a blog for us because I don't know, because we didn't want to do it, but also because she's amazing at it. Helen, tell us about what's happening for Allissa right now.

Helen Rose: 19:39

So I met Allissa I don't know how many years ago, and she's just this beautiful human being like inside and out. She's just lovely and she just gets you. It's crazy Anybody she has their voice and she's so good at it. Anyway, I had coffee with her. She wrote this book that I got. It's called Confessions of a Ghostwriter and it is so inspiring because the first.

Helen Rose: 20:07

I don't want to tell her story, though. I think you just need to read it, but I will tell you that when she decided she wanted to be a ghostwriter, someone had said do you do ghostwriting? She's like, oh yeah. And then she googled what is a ghostwriter? But she's really just coming along so well in her career with this.

Helen Rose: 20:26

She gave up her full-time career with the City of Airdrie to jump into something. She wasn't sure if it was gonna work. I mean, she's really good at it, but it doesn't mean it's gonna be successful, right? So she wrote this book and it turned out her book is the second highest book that's been gifted. Normally, when you write a book and you have your launch, someone buys a copy for themselves. But she's finding a lot of people are buying two or three copies to give to friends because everyone wants to tell their story, whether it's in the written word or in digital. The book is so good and it's just about how to tap into your higher consciousness to write your book, which is write your story right. So yeah, just a little plug for Allissa. If you want this book, it's on Amazon. Confessions of a Ghostwriter.

Kristy Wolfe: 21:12

I will also put the link in the show notes for this, so when we send this out, we'll send out her information as well.

Helen Rose: 21:18

It's just fun to watch someone follow their dream and have it come true.

Mary Michailides: 21:22

I'd like to plug in the opportunity that we had to work with Dr Lisa Belanger. Her newsletters and her ability to engage an audience is like none other, I must say. Shout out to Lisa, Dr Lisa Belanger, her newsletter in looking at prepping for the Christmas season how do we take good care of ourselves? That whole cup of mindfulness. If you haven't snooped on her website, please do so. It will refresh you and actually guide some of your thinking. So thank you Lisa, thank you Lisa, thank you Lisa.

Kristy Wolfe: 21:59

Well, I mentioned that I get to see her tonight. So tonight is the premiere of Caregivers in the Wild, which is the TV series that Mike Lang did, and Lisa is one of the experts, like the therapists that come on these trips. And another friend of ours, ashley, is one of the parents because it's caregivers. So sometimes it's parents, sometimes it's poses, sometimes it's grandparents kind of thing that go on these trips and have an adventure but also work through some of what that caregiving experience is. So I am excited to see what's next for Lisa, for Mike Lang, for all of these things that are going on. It's just incredible to see the web of how our lives and our connections and the people that we have met through each other intertwine. On that note, ladies, we've been going for 35 minutes, so we're going to say thank you and we're going to sign off and say, I don't know, happy new year, can I say?

Mary Michailides: 22:54

one thing before we sign off, please. This is your take back, bring backs. In signing off, I want you to reflect on the following comments. You're the CEO of your own life. It's now time for your performance review. You need to rate yourself between one and 10, one never, 10 always.

Mary Michailides: 23:14

And there are 18 questions you need to kind of respond to and I'm not going to read them all to you. But are you setting clear boundaries for yourself? 10, always, one never. Second question do balance work and life? Well, another question, last but not least do you listen to your gut? So there are 18 questions that get you to reflect on your performance evaluation of yourself as your own CEO. And then you need to reflect on where are you the strongest, what could you improve and what is your first, next step? So, for those of you I know you work with a team. Maybe get your team to do this. I've got principles doing this. I've got my emerging leaders doing this. It's that self-reflective process. So you're the CEO of your own life. I'll send this off to you, but we're honored Ladies.

Kristy Wolfe: 24:08

this has been phenomenal. It was so great to see you all. The best in 2024. And we're going to find a time to actually sit down and have a meal together. Everyone has a story to tell. We would love to hear from you. We always include a link to the stories we're talking about in the episode show notes. Please let us know what resonated for you in today's episode. Your comments will be passed on to the storyteller. You can email us LTSpodcast2023@gmail. com, or find us on Instagram at leading through stories. Leading Through Stories is sponsored by Common Language Digital Storytelling Facilitate a training for health and wellness changemakers. Don't miss the next episode. Subscribe to Leading Through Stories on your favorite podcast platform.