An Update from Ashlee, Sway's CEO

This past year my husband and I made a big move from Portland, Oregon to Iowa City, Iowa. The Midwest culture has been wonderfully hospitable and I've enjoyed being surrounded by farm lands: mostly corn and soybean. Fun-fact: Did you know that the Mid-West produces 57% of the corn the U.S. consumes?

As a team workshop facilitator, I began traveling again last fall for in person Sway Leadership trainings. It was a privilege to experience so many teams transform from feeling misunderstood to receiving the tools they need for genuine human connection and team cohesion. Our workshops resulted in genuine team collaboration that expanded 10 fold. This year we are excited to continue offering active communication through our training and retreats.

Currently, I am in the process of creating, alongside my colleague, Ryan Moyher, a nine month coaching program, “A Coach Training Program to Build a Coaching Culture at your Organization.” 

there has been statistics displaying a mass amount of people leaving their jobs. As an employer, we recommend having the “we want you here” interview and stating your intention explicitly. Ask your employees, "How are you liking work?", "What is making you come to life in this workspace?", "What's been difficult for you?" Make the way you manage professionally development your staff conversational. Adding in techniques of coaching aids in your effectiveness of this.

Another prevalent theme we uncovered through coaching is that these last couple of years has resulted in a lot of burn out. People working from home have experienced a blurring of lines between home and work often time leading to burnout. At Sway, we’ll always instruct our clients to take care of themselves, reverse burnout, and set boundaries on how they can say, “yes” and show up for their life.

Thank you for taking the time to read our short version of a newsletter.