Jennifer Cavenaugh’s Post

Coach For Democracy: Coaches supporting mission-driven leaders to increase their impact in the world. Happy to support your work Marcy Swenson and David Goldsmith to lift up public sector and not-for-profit leaders through this election cycle. I just received my first client connection today. By the end of the day we'll be ✅ connecting, ✅ setting clear goals for our work together, ✅ eliminating obstacles, and ✅ creating a plan for action. All in a day's work. I can't wait to get started. ********* If you're looking for support to 🌟 increase your impact, 🌟 gain clarity, and 🌟 create accountability let's chat ☎.

Take back the laugh. Own it. We're entitled to our emotions. To feel them. All of them. Life is too short. Your work is too important to not feel it fully. 😂 Tears of joy or 😢 Sadness. Let them wash over you. 😡 Be angry when you're frustrated or disappointed. Life is often not fair. People let you down. When it happens, feel it. Your health depends on your ability to let it out. 😆 Laugh because we're all a bit quirky and funny in our own ways. If we're real. And because sometimes life is so hard or circumstances so impossibly ridiculous that all you can do is laugh at the inanity of it all. (And because grown men dressed head-to-toe for the holidays still makes me laugh.) Stacey Isaacs So let it out. Laugh it off, enjoy the moment, feel the energy. Then get back to work. *********************** What do you do to feel your emotions fully? What can we do to create spaces that are more accepting of each other's range of emotions that are healthy and productive for us all? I'd love to hear from you. And if you could use a partner in processing all that life has to offer, let's chat. ***See the comments below for a perspective on women's laughter

Appreciate elevating the importance of care giving role for all the life stages we each travel. My grandparents were also rocks to our family as my parents worked full-time jobs, my stepfather often two jobs to raise 5 kids. My grandfather Clyde Irving Abrahamson drove us to swim practice 7-9 a.m. every weekday in the summers, then put us to work in the garden which was the size of a city-parcel next to his modest two bedroom home. My grandmother Ellie Sylvia Abrahamson canned the veggies, made dinners, ironed the sheets fresh off the clothes line. My mom Jo Ann Harris then became the rock when they converted their garage into an attached ADU for my grandparents to move in with them. I come from a long line of caregivers. And they yes, they deserve their places in the history books. Who else is missing from the history books? #history #grandmothers

Dial up your speech and turn your AUDIENCE into PARTICIPANTS in 4 easy steps: At my State of the City speech, I didn't want to just talk for :30 about everything I loved about our city our vision, our leadership, our spirit of generosity and volunteerism, everything that makes our community special. I wanted participants to be a PART of the conversation. Yes, I wanted them to leave with a deeper understanding of our challenges and what we're planning to do differently. And I also wanted them to deepen their commitment to civic engagement. To know there's a place for their ideas and effort. To build trust in their city leadership by investing in our relationship. So taking some tips from my State of the City address, here are a few ideas for how you can turn your next speech into an opportunity for ENGAGEMENT and CONNECTION: 1. Put your RSVP to work to begin the engagement.  Don’t just ask whether they’re coming.  Use the opportunity to ask a question.  Keep it simple. Less than :60 seconds for them to share a bit about themselves and the topic. 🚩 In my case it was “What’s one thing you LOVE about living in Piedmont?” 2. Have name tags and make them work double-duty.  For most speeches and community events,  the audience remains anonymous,  to you and to each other.  Where’s the community in that? 🚩In our case, not only did we provide name tags  but we asked participants to add below their name,  what they love about our city,  in one word. This instantly gives them a point of connection  when they meet their neighbors  before and after the event. 3. Let them tell their stories. Allow time and create space for audience members  to connect by sharing their own stories.  Every community member has their own experience  with their community and they want to share it. 🚩 I paused early in my speech and asked participants to turn to a neighbor  that they know LESS well  (not the person they came with) and share the story of how they fell in love with our city. This invites them to be a part of the topic, to have a perspective, to get to know someone else in a new way, to find common ground. 4. FEED them. Food invites participants to linger longer. Provide simple beverages and snacks in a welcoming environment so they can continue the conversation and connection after your talk. 🚩In our case, we moved outside onto the patio on a beautiful spring evening, which made it clear we were here to get to know them and we valued their time and PARTICIPATION. This creates the container for them to deepen their engagement and connection that you started at the beginning. Which ones have you tried? ✅ RSVP with a question, ✅ Double-duty name tags, ✅ Partner shares, ✅ Refreshments to linger That’s how you build community and turn audience members into participants, before, during and after, one speech at a time. What else works for? #communityengagement #localgovernment #eventplanning

Did you just dig that hole? Does it feel like someone is working to fill it in? Does this video remind you of the our discourse around challenging topics? The arguments we’re often having that are getting us nowhere. Individually And collectively. The shouting into the wind that no one can hear. Sometimes it feels like we’re each working furiously.  ✔ Arguing to make our points ✔ Looking for the data that confirms our positions ✔ Waiting for the other to take a breath so we can jump in with new arguments. But aren’t we just filling in just-dug holes, neither making any progress? What would it look like  If we just stopped for a minute? Slowed down. Tried on the other’s perspective. ❓ What do they want?  ▶ A deeper hole, more meaning? ▶ Are they looking for something? ▶ Are they burying something? ❓Where are we aligned?  ▶ We both value digging, both are hardworking. ▶ What else? ❓How can I help?  ▶ Dig together? ▶ Maybe in the same direction? ▶ Maybe just side-by-side? ▶ Could we take turns? ▶ Use a shovel? ▶ Stop the digging and rest? If you feeling like you may be Working against the efforts of others Or they're undermining you Likely inadvertently, If your relationships feel more tense than fluid, If there's more friction than flow, Perhaps it’s time talk? Let’s connect and try a new perspective. #navigatingchange #conflictresolution #difficultconversations #leadershipcoaching

“When Mother Nature presents a waterfall, you have to take the plunge.” A life motto and that's served me well. I’m a bit of a water bug 🐞 I was a competitive swimmer 🏊♀️ as a kid.   I prefer to hike near a fast flowing stream. My happy place is house boating  on Lake Shasta, CA So when Mother Nature shows up  In the form of a shallow pool In the river  At the bottom of a waterfall.  I have to take the plunge ⛴ . Even when  It’s only 62 degrees outside? Yep. Even when the alpine snow melt that created this running water  feels like it still contains  the snowflakes ❄ that created it Yep. Taking the plunge 💦 Soothes sore muscles 💦 Clears the mind 💦 Stimulates the vagas nerve   💦 Creates a lasting memory with a new friend. The benefits of nature are vast.  And with a motto like “Take the plunge” It takes the guessing out of whether I’m goin’ in. What mottos serve you? When do you resist something hard (or cold) when you know taking the lunge will serve you? I'd love to hear from you... #leadershipcoaching #coldwaterimmersion #motto

"It wasn't the rats or the asbestos." And yet we fell in love. “What was it that first made you fall in love with your city?” In my state of the City address, I asked that question of the participants. Here's what I shared: My partner Dan and I moved to Piedmont in 2003. With two boys aged two and under. And the dream of our daughter who would be born in our new East Bay community. For me I wanted to give my children a slightly different of version of the childhood I had. My mom was a single working parent raising three small kids. We lived in a multi-family apt building. When my mom married stepfather, they had two more children. We moved into my third house in three years' time. My family dynamic and home life felt like a moving target. By third grade I switched mid-year to my fourth school. I craved stability. As a parent, I wanted my kids to be able to put down roots, as I know mv mom did, too. When Dan and I were looking for a home, We bought a neglected house on a busy street that came with Rats and Asbestos, Sinks in the closets, Toilets with no sinks, A refrigerator that stood in a doorway, Cracked driveway, A fence that leaned at a 45-degree angle. But no gutters, Working furnace, Running sewer line, Drainage, or the Foundation to keep the whole thing standing. But it came with the promise of a home in a neighborhood with high-quality public schools where we would know our neighbors. It was more than we could afford, but it was more than ENOUGH, and that’s what we fell in love with. A home is about more than the four walls and a roof over our heads. (Although there are many struggling to attain that, tragically, which is not to be diminished.) It’s about community. That’s what our run-down house offered. The building blocks. And that’s all we needed. Organizations, teams, houses, families are like that. They’re incomplete, messy, falling down, works-in-progress. But they often contain our hopes, dreams, vision, values. And that’s usually more than enough. What are you celebrating that’s imperfect, but more than enough? How can we embrace the imperfect to use that as the foundation for your dreams? I'd love to help you. Let's set-up time to connect.

There’s nothing like fresh tracks. ⛷ Skiers and🏂 snow boarders know the feeling of careening downhill through freshly fallen snow. (Shasta and Bailey love it , too.) It feels like no one has tread on the terrain before. If you’re discovering a new mountain, winding through the trees 🌲, your path uncertain, it can feel daunting.  (Sadly, every ski season brings tragic news of winter athletes losing their way on the mountain.) But it doesn't have to limit us. There’s confidence in knowing that before last night’s snowfall there were riders here just the day before. Their tracks are underfoot.  We just have to trust.  To follow the fall line.  To keep our heads looking up at the horizon  and down hill at the sometime.  In the line the mountain offers us.  *** Businesses and organizations are no different. Although we might be creating fresh tracks, there’s confidence in knowing there are leaders and mentors who've gone before us. And coaches to help. And like on the mountain, where it’s best not to ski in the trees alone, you don't have to struggle through your career on your own either. When you take on hard challenges, know there is support out there. We can do hard things together. When you're next creating fresh tracks in your career, I'm here for you on every run. #leadership #executivecoaching

What's to LOVE about Piedmont? Join me, current and former city leaders, volunteers, commissioners, advocates, and city staff as we discuss the State of our City TUESDAY May 7th at Piedmont's beautiful Community Hall. We'll be sharing our vision, leadership, and plans for the future. While we're celebrating what brought us to our city to raise our children or age in place, we'll also be getting real about the challenges we face and what we're doing about it. Spoiler alert! Our super power is our community. Our deep bench of generous volunteers, organizers, donors, and advocates who come together to support our community, local businesses and our dedicated and hardworking staff, including Rosanna Bayon Moore Chelle Putzer Jeremy Bowers Dave Brannigan Anna Brown Mike Szczech Kevin Jackson just to name a few. Shout out to former Mayors Margaret Fujioka who started this effort in 2016 and Mayor Teddy (Vasquez) Gray King (she/her) King who brought it back in 2022. #Piedmont #LocalGovernment #Mayor

The ripple effect of the impact is what matters. I was so honored to work with the founders of Love, Hope and Healing, Inc., an organization dedicated to "empowering at risk, underserved and under represented youth and families to build brighter futures through wellness, mental health support, and mentorship." When I'm not doing direct service work, I'm inspired to uplift the leaders on the ground transforming their communities everyday. Working with founders Donte and Yolanda Bates was a pleasure (and it seems they appreciated the support, too). They couldn't have been more genuine, authentic, and caring. I'm grateful to @catchafire for connecting us. #coaching #leadership #givingback #facilitation