Girls on The Run: Week 2 Recap & Challenge

Welcome back to my weekly recap of our "Girls on the Run" practices.

My hope is to: 1) better communicate the depth and power of this GOTR program/curriculum, 2) help parents raise bolder, braver girls/kids, by sharing ways to reinforce these lessons through weekly challenges and 3) serve as a resource that can inspire & support other youth coaches.

WEEK 2 RECAP:

What we did this week, besides running:

This week, we started an end of practice ritual of "Energy Awards." Awards are such an awesome and easy way to reinforce values and behaviors, praise what great looks like, give a emotional surge to the receiver and set a bar for others to aspire to. I used to work for a company that did research on employee performance. One of the most meaningful findings I remember was that when someone witnessed a teammate receive an award, their effort increased and it lifted the performance of the entire team. I am going to think through how I start some awards for my own team at work. Why am I not doing this already?

And, while I'm at it, I am going to start awards for my family: A "Roszak Family Award" is being conceptualized. I've asked my 8 yo girls to come back with a proposal for how we might do it. We're thinking a monthly award and we are still working out the nomination ritual, and if we align it to family values, etc., but the winner can choose a special dinner and we'll probably make a little certificate.... Ideas welcome! And, please let me know if you already do something like this or are inspired to.

BONUS Idea: Youth coaches, leaders, parents, give awards!

Shout out to our GOTR awards winners this week....

• Bella – for her enthusiasm and always listening and volunteering to help set up the next activity
• Avery – for her cheerful attitude and clarifying questions
• Josie – for listening to her body and speaking up for what she needed

Session 3: Introduced “Star Power” – the power to know and be our selves.?

[This was all confidence & resilience - how to recognize when we’re in our “Star Power”/confidence, when it’s challenged, and how to get it back.]

Practice Activity: To play around with this concept we played ‘tag.’ The girls were ‘stars’ and the coaches were the ‘clouds’.? If you were tagged by a coach/cloud, you became ‘frozen.’? This represented being confronted with an obstacle or something that dampens our ‘Star Power’… To get ‘unfrozen’ the girls had to do a Star Power jump to re-activate their Star Power.? We all have times when clouds cover our Star Power.? We talked about things that cover our Star Power and how to re-activate it.

• Ask your daughter: “What is Star Power”?? When do you feel your “Star Power”?? What does it feel like in your body? Is there anything that I do that helps brighten your Star Power? When do you feel like you are missing your "Star Power"?
• Bonus activity: Consider sharing a time when your own ‘Star Power’ was challenged and what you did to ‘get it back.’? When our children, or direct reports understand that there are things that have challenged us, it increases the likelihood that they will share when something is challenging them.? This vulnerability & authenticity is a source of power of a family or team. ?
• At Work: A few years ago our VP of NAMER Sales brought in an external executive coaching team to introduce a program to build a culture of trust, and enable high performance teams. The coaches facilitated & cascaded a series of "Super Powers & Opportunities" workshops. In our immediate teams, we shared and opened ourselves to feedback on our "Super Powers" and "Opportunities." It was high risk and high reward. There were tears, breakthroughs, and deep bonds formed. I've since led similar sessions for my teams and it's been a catalyst for vulnerability, trust, and high performance. It's easiest to run a workshop focused on the "Super Powers" only, and that's a solid start. > Pre-Work: Everyone comes w/ their shortlist of their 'super powers' [and opportunities] // Everyone prepares to share where they see super powers from all of their peers. > Facilitation: Each person gets 15 - 20 minutes if just Super Powers. 5 minutes - the individual shares, then they invite feedback from others to share where they've seen these Super Powers show up, the impact on the customer or team, and offer other Super Powers the person may not have stated. > Wrap up: Consider where/how to leverage these Super Powers as a team. [We could go a lot deeper here. DM me if you're intrigued. There is much more prep and expert facilitation is needed if we introduce the "opportunities" portion...]

Session 4: Understanding your “Happy Pace” – the pace that ‘feel right’ to you

[This was all about noticing what YOU like.? Once you know what YOU like, you can play in that space, voice it to others and advocate for yourself].

Practice Activity: We walked/jogged/ran and did jumping jacks at different places and NOTICED what felt like the most comfortable pace for each of us.? We used this practice to notice what felt like a good pace to run our 5K and encouraged the girls to think about what their ‘happy pace’ is with other things in LIFE - when they feel in their own flow. ?

• Ask your daughter: What does finding your happy pace have to do with your Star Power? [Listen for something like ‘knowing what pace feels right to me’ helps me know who I am, what I want and to me more confident and powerful.]?
• Bonus Activity: To push this concept further, have a conversation about how even when you notice and advocate for your going at your own ‘happy pace,’ sometimes we will have to go at other people’s pace or do what others are doing. ?In work we call this ‘disagree and commit’ and I recently taught my girls this concept.? I encourage them to voice when they don’t want to do something, or what would make it better, in their opinion.? Even if we don’t go with what one of them asked for, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t share in the future, it just means that sometimes we must do what the majority wants to do or what the leader says we need to do. ?At that point, you must either ‘get on board’ or ‘disagree and commit’ which means it doesn’t have to be your top choice, but you must go along with it and make the best of it.

Please share if you have any of these conversations with your daughters or teams, and please share feedback!

GIRLS ON THE RUN, LET’S HAVE FUN,

Coach Megan