Being the Leader You Were Meant to Be with Ashley Cox
In this episode of Good Enough for Now, Ashley Cox, a leadership coach and entrepreneur, shares her insights on building and sustaining a successful business by hiring and developing teams. With a mission to help more women become leaders and creating jobs for moms who can excel at home and at work, Ashley leans on her own personal experiences around self-awareness, negative feedback, perfectionism, personal development, and more.
Ashley believes everyone can be a leader: in their family, at church, in their community, and at work, and that women are their own worst enemy when it comes to hiring because they wait too long to take action. In this episode, we talk about intentional leadership, why trust is a big part of leadership, what accountability really means, and how to make sure that everyone you work with has their voice heard.
Listen in to hear more and to see what a true ray of sunshine Ashley is.
LISTEN NOW
what we cover in this episode:
The challenges women face in stepping into leadership roles, including confidence and conditioning to be nice.
The negative stories we tell ourselves about our ability to lead and why everyone is a leader.
How to lead with intention, understanding your core values, and holding yourself and your team accountable to create a culture where teams thrive.
The benefits of cultivating self-awareness and self-love to make better hiring decisions and communicate honestly with your team.
How to view feedback as a two-way street instead of something negative we have to do.
Ashley’s mission to get more women into leadership roles and why it’s so important.
How perfectionism can be both good and bad, and why it's important to embrace imperfection to foster creativity, growth, and innovation.
Resources
Normalize Mental Health, Forge Habits of Hope with Lindsay Recknell
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn
What Good Enough For Now Means To Ashley Cox
I love sitting with what is good enough and what that means to me today, what it meant to me yesterday and last week. I feel like it can change and it can evolve just like we evolve as humans. So “good enough for now” is that I'm good enough to make decisions with the knowledge that I have right now. I'm good enough to take action with the skills that I have. Right now I'm good enough to hire the help that I need and deserve right now and I'm good enough to change my mind if I made a decision that I don't really care for anymore.
ABOUT Ashley Cox
Ashley Cox, PHR, SHRM-CP is the Founder and CEO of SproutHR, a boutique HR consulting firm that educates and empowers women-owned businesses on how to hire and lead profitable, sustainable, impactful teams with confidence, ease, and fun.
At SproutHR, Ashley and her team focus on values-based hiring, compassionate and intentional leadership, and amplifying impact. With over 16 years of experience as a certified HR professional, Ashley is also a subject matter expert, speaker, podcast host of The Impact Ripple, and author of the book, Transform Your Stories.
-
Stephanie Kruse 0:05
Welcome to Good Enough For Now, a podcast aimed at dismantling perfectionism one conversation at a time. I'm Stephanie Kruse and along with my guests on the show, we share stories of false starts unexpected you turns in moments of reinvention that happen as we move through life. Thanks for joining me. My hope is that our conversations will help you stay grounded, feel a little less alone, and a little bit more together.
Stephanie Kruse 0:36
Hey, everybody, welcome to this week's episode, I talk with Ashley Cox, who is a human resources expert. But really, she is a ray of sunshine. You guys are really gonna like this conversation. Ashley and I discussed her work, which is helping mostly female entrepreneurs expand their business by hiring and developing their teams. But what we really got to the heart of is, how to think about what you're good at having confidence in letting go of the work that you don't want to do. And also knowing yourself well enough to be able to build teams that are going to help sustain you and grow you and sometimes that has to happen before you even need it. I think we as women have a great capability to do all the things that we want to do and multitask, but that gets us in so many pickles when we are struggling with our self confidence, or with our ability to actually get it done. Ashley is the founder and CEO of Sprout HR, a boutique Human Resources consulting firm that educates and empowers women owned businesses on how to hire and lead profitable, sustainable, impactful teams with confidence, ease and fun. At Sprout HR, Ashley and her team focus on values based hiring, compassionate and intentional leadership and amplifying impact. With over 16 years of experience as a certified HR professional. Ashley is also a subject matter expert, speaker, podcast host of the impact ripple and author of the book, transform your stories. Ashley Cox, thank you so much for joining me on good enough for now.
Ashley Cox 2:25
Oh, thank you so much, Stephanie, for having me. It's an honor to be here today.
Stephanie Kruse 2:30
So you and I connected through a former guest Lindsay right now. And she and I talked a lot about optimism and positivity. And when I spoke to you, I mean, I wish people could see us talking right now you are like the biggest ray of sunshine. So. So, so I was immediately drawn to your story. And to kick us off, I want you to tell me where you are in your life right now.
Ashley Cox 2:56
Yeah, well, I appreciate the love, I really do. And I think Lindsay is an incredible human. And the fact that we got to connect through her is just such a joy. So where I am right now in life is I am a seven year business owner, I am a wife, I'm a dog mom, I am really on this journey to love myself more to to understand and to really connect with that innate worthiness that we have as human beings, and bringing that into the work that I do with women. And I support women who are hiring and leading teams. And so there's a lot that comes up. When we open ourselves and our businesses, the things that we've created through our blood or sweat or tears, our stories, our histories. And it uncovers a whole new side of us as women especially. And so I think that it's a really beautiful sort of parallel trajectory, that I find myself on doing this work for myself and with my clients right now.
Stephanie Kruse 4:03
It's like a nice reflection, right? You're getting that feedback. And when you think about consulting with your clients, what do you find is difficult for women when they step into leadership roles?
Ashley Cox 4:17
Oh my goodness, I think the number one thing is the confidence that they need to have in order to be in that leadership role. Because you know, societally, culturally, we are conditioned to be meek to be submissive to be people pleasers, right? We're the caretakers, we're the lovers. We're the nurturers, we're the givers. And so then to step into the role of now I'm telling other people what to do and I have expectations and I have needs that I need to communicate to other people is really challenging and and a lot of women think that they can't do it, or in order to do those types of things. They have to be Come someone that they're not. And I think that's such a disservice to women because the compassion, the nurturing the loving of others that we, most women naturally have, right? Those Those are traditionally feminine gifts and feminine energies. It feels wrong, because, well, you can't lead that way, you have to roll with an iron fist, and you have to be demanding. And this is how we get things done. And productivity, productivity, productivity, it's the only thing that matters, right? Like, if you're listening to this, you're probably thinking yeah. And that's horrifying. And I don't want to be that person. So, like, you don't have to be that person. And that's the biggest gift, I think, you know, in the work that I do with women is reminding them that who they are, is enough. And that they have the ability to lead in amazing, amazing ways with the skills that they already have.
Stephanie Kruse 5:59
It's so interesting, you talk about the confidence level, right? You know, there, there's been a lot around women taking on executive or leadership positions, and then feeling like, wait a minute, do I belong here? Who do you typically find that you work with? Are you working with women in corporate positions? Are they more entrepreneurs? And how are those groups different?
Ashley Cox 6:22
Yeah, I work primarily with women owned businesses, and they have under 50 employees. So they're hiring their very first employee, or, you know, maybe they're leading a team of 25 or 35 employees. And I think the biggest way that they differ is that they have, you know, women traditionally have the least amount of support, they're underfunded, they don't have the same kind of resources or networks that our male counterparts do. But they have more of that in corporate, they really are completely isolated and alone, and often don't have even peers who are at their same level or ahead of them that they can build those kinds of relationships with and learn from and lean on and have mentors in that space.
Stephanie Kruse 7:04
So is this where that myth of like the crazy maniacal women entrepreneur comes in?
Ashley Cox 7:11
Oh, totally. You know, and I heard a quote this week. Oh, no, now that I mentioned, and I'm gonna couldn't remember her name, Courtney Martin, I believe it was. And it was this whole long, she's a poet. And so it was this whole long thing that she had written. And at the end, she said, we were the daughters of the women who said you can be and do anything, yet we heard you have to do everything. Right.
Stephanie Kruse 7:43
It's tough. That's a whole other podcast. Yeah. You know, it's so important you bring this up? Because I do think there, you're right. There, there is a sense that just pile it all on. And when you work with women that are feeling that way, or looking for ways to shed some of these myths themselves and kind of punch through it, or how do you use a system for that? Is that counseling?
Ashley Cox 8:17
How does that work? I love that you bring this up, Stephanie, because I think if one client has told me, nearly probably 99% of them has said, Who working with you is like going to therapy, I didn't even know I needed this. Because it's true, we uncover and we have to go really deep. Because the way that we're leading is a direct reflection of what we're thinking, what we're what we're feeling, the beliefs that we have about who we are in this world. And I talk a lot about, you know, these are stories that we're carrying around with us that may or may not be serving us, right. There's some stories we carry around that we're we're like, super empowering, and we're belief driven. And yes, I've got this mission, and I'm so excited, I'm going to help all the people. And then there's things you know, those stories that creep in and that that little toxic, you know, voice in your head that says, But who are you to do this? Who would listen to you? You're not a leader. This is the one a lot of my clients if you're not a leader, who were you to lead, I'm sorry, ma'am. You lead in every aspect of your life. And we're going to talk about that. And so it's it's looking at leadership in a variety of ways. It's not just saying you're only a leader, when you have employees who report directly to you, that is too narrow of a definition. Maybe you're a leader in your family. I mean, you're balancing the budget, you're you know, managing multiple responsibilities. You're managing multiple schedules in your household. I don't even know how you parents do it. I'm not a parent. I can barely take care of myself, let alone a bunch of little humans running around right And so we don't give ourselves as women enough credit where credit's due, when we show up as leaders every single day at church, at school at home and all of these places, and so then it's really not that different when you have a team of employees. You've got this, you know how this goes. But it is it is an expression in a different way with different human beings.
Stephanie Kruse 10:24
Yeah. I like how you talked about, you know, who am I as a leader if I don't have a team? And what are some of the particular challenges when you see clients that start to think about hiring others, right to get some of that work distributed? Or maybe grow their business? What's unique in this space with women in that in that way, as well, Have you found?
Ashley Cox 10:52
Oh, women wait entirely too long to hire? We are our own worst enemy lady's own worst enemy. The the counterparts, our male counterparts are out there, they're hiring faster, they're hiring more people than women typically do. They're hiring. You know, with more confidence, like I know, like, this is what I need, I'm going to do it. I mean, they're taking more risk. And women are typically very risk averse. You know, our whole job is to save, to budget to scrimp to scrounge, to make things work to, you know, to take what we have and make something out of it. And men's job is to go out there and to like, forage and hunt, and bring bring home, the bacon and those things. And so they're used to taking more risk, because that's how they've been conditioned, and women have been conditioned very differently. So you starting a business, first of all, is incredibly outside of most people's comfort zone, and especially outside of women's comfort zone. And then to say, well, now I'm going to take this, this baby, this blood, sweat and tears that I've created out of nothing, I'm going to invite strangers into it. Are you kidding me? I'm gonna ruin everything. So we have a lot of a lot of fear around hiring. And that being the wrong decision, that being too much risk. A lot of women lose sleep at night over? How am I going to make payroll? How am I How am I going to deal with this problem that came up what, you know, if it's just me, I only have to control me. But now we're adding other people. And I start to feel like I'm incrementally losing control. Because now it's not just me. And that's really scary.
Stephanie Kruse 12:37
Yeah, yeah. It's that like idea of delegation and trust, you know, and so many women aren't capable of doing all the roles of performing all the tasks. And how do you think about being intentional? I think one of the things I was reading about is intentional leadership. And that sounds really planful to me. So how do you guide? Or what methods do you use to help that be more planful and not just sort of, oh, my gosh, I'm overwhelmed. I'm gonna dump this all you know, and try to hire five people all at once. And I don't know what I'm doing. I've been there done that.
Ashley Cox 13:16
I cannot tell you're speaking from experience. Um, you know, I think one of the things that can feel really overwhelming is how intentional you do need to be. And so that's why we need to hire sooner, so that we have time, and we have capacity, and we have energy in order to be more planful. And I think that what happens a lot is that we wait until the EverLiving last minute. And when we're absolutely in desperation for help, and all of a sudden, it's like I'm throwing spaghetti at the wall and just praying something sticks, right? So that's obviously not the best way to go about it. But I always tell people, even if you're like, I am not sure I'm going to hire people one day, there are things you can do now to set yourself up for success. So that way, you can start planning and thinking and being really super intentional, whether you're hiring contractors, whether you're hiring employees, and it's just starting, you know, with your values. And that's a part that a lot of people talk about, like Oh, core values, core values, like every company has them, and they put them on the wall and their own fancy documents, and this, that and the other but I mean, are the core values that you've built your business on? Who are you as a human? How do you serve people? And what kind of impact do you want to leave in this world? Like, those are the values we need to talk about? Because that is what's going to help you hire aligned people. It's what's going to help you make better decisions. It's what's going to help your team make more aligned decisions with the kind that you would make, because we're more coming from an aligned values center, then everything gets to be easier. Everything gets to be more fun. It gets to be more exciting, more creative, more innovative, and that's where We really find that our teams thrive. But when we're misaligned on values, then you're you're constantly dealing with conflict. With, you know, interpersonal issues, you're dealing with all sorts of problems that can be avoided. Because we didn't take the time to think about what kind of company do I want to create? What kind of culture do I want to nurture? How do I want for my team to show up and in even just a quick example would be, you know, I want everybody to feel like they have a voice in our company, right. And so one of the values is that we all lead, we all get the opportunity to come to the table with ideas, we get to express those ideas, we get to be heard. And that means we have way more great ideas than what I could come up with on my own. So it makes your job as a leader, so much easier, and your company so much more vibrant.
Stephanie Kruse 15:53
I love that. And I think that, you know, the values alignment is so key. And you can tell really quickly, you know, I think the other great thing about women is we're pretty intuitive, usually. And so you can tell, you know, there was like, you hear those stories of like, well, I kinda knew that was right when I made that decision, but I did it anyway. And now I'm really in a bad spot. So how do you live that? How accountability, right is the word that comes to mind? So how do you think about holding your team accountable? holding yourself accountable as a leader?
Ashley Cox 16:29
Yeah. So it has to be a part of every single day, right? A lot of times we think of and we as a society, think of it see accountability as the thing you do to somebody who did something wrong. Right? Yeah, you did something wrong, now I'm going to punish you. That's accountability. And that's not it at all. Like that's one facet of it. And hopefully, that's the facet that we can avoid by being proactive. And by doing these other things, you know, that we can to set ourselves up for success. So thinking about accountability, as you know, in a team meeting, we're going through the core values at the beginning of the meeting, we're having a conversation around them intentionally. We're talking about how this core value plays a role in this project, or in this service we're creating. And I think one of the most important things that that we do at Sprout HR, and that we do with our clients is we talk about how do we integrate these values into every single thing we're doing, not just creating them once and then tucking them away in a Google doc somewhere, and somebody asks us what your values are, and you're like, I got that. But then you don't actually know what's on that sheet. So you know, it's pulling them in and saying, Okay, we're going to start every meeting with our values, or we're going to celebrate, you know, what, what's a win that you had that relates to our values this week? That's a super simple way to get people thinking about it, because they have to know the value to know, like, how did I win, right this week, and then we're celebrating, you know, the way that we're integrating it within projects, like, I'm so proud of this project, because we incorporated these three really important values for our clients. And this is how we're going to make an impact in this world. But every project, every meeting, every conversation, every performance review, every disciplinary conversation, we're tying it back in and we're we're circling it into those values so that they don't just become something we give lip service to, but they truly become something that's integrated into the company culture.
Stephanie Kruse 18:27
Yeah, I mean, I think about how to integrate that into things like job descriptions, right. So you were talking about planning for hiring before you actually start hiring. So if you're just a team of one nascent business, are there tools to help yourself, start getting ahead of this and be accountable? I mean, is this a values exercise at its core? Or, you know, more of a personal sort of inventory?
Ashley Cox 18:58
Yeah, I think it can be a combination of things. You know, I think it's important to understand who you are as a human who you are as a leader that's showing up in this world. And the more we can know about ourselves, whether it's through assessments or behavioral programs, or just personal development, reading, reading some books and just having a better understanding things like the Enneagram and I think that's a super fun, easy way to just be like, Oh, that's totally me. Oh, that's totally me. You know, those realizations, right?
Stephanie Kruse 19:29
Oh, yeah. Meyers Briggs. Yeah. ENTJ it's all good. Yeah.
Ashley Cox 19:34
I'm an ENFP. And I'm a seven on the Enneagram. And I'm like all the wild fly by the seat of your pants kind of people. So I know that I needed a right hand gal who had a very different personality, somebody who was more organized, who is process oriented, who could help us create some systems so things didn't have to be so hard so that we didn't have to keep making stuff up all the time because Ashley got some wild hair and decided that we're gonna do this whole new thing. Um, you know, having also someone who can say those are 15, great new ideas, actually, let's put them over here in this folder. And then we'll add those to our project list as we, you know, have space instead of actually just implementing 15 things.
Stephanie Kruse 20:14
Oh, it's so funny. As you're talking, I have this image in my mind of like, the football coach who's like assistant is holding him by the belt loop. So he doesn't like go on the field. You know, he's just, like, ready to go off? I mean, I don't know why a sports analogy came up between two women here, but some reason that's what I holding your feet down on the ground?
Ashley Cox 20:35
Yes, Mara is the anchor. And you know, I'm kind of the kite that's out there Lego. Look at all these amazing things we can do. And we are both valuable. And we both have a place in this business. And, and all of you and your team members and the people that you work with, whether they're contractors or employees or business partners, you have your special, unique role. And so when you can understand who you are, and what your your brilliance is, and where your shortcomings are, because I'm always honest, I'm like, listen, y'all don't want me to organize things. That is not who I am this world. But Maura, Maura will hook us up, she will help us be you know, very organized. But knowing that allows you to hire better knowing that allows you to say, This is who I am, and this is who I need. And these are going to be some of the things that I do. Like, these are some of my quirks. And I talked to Maura about this, when I hired her, I said, Listen, I have at least 15 new ideas every 30 seconds, I'm gonna need your help managing me. And so you know, it's also able for you to be really upfront and honest with people that you bring onto your team, where you can say, Hey, I know this is a quirk that I have, I'm not going to change. So you know, is this something that you really would be excited? And you know, like, Mara, like several people, they love that challenge. Oh, I love that you have so many ideas. You know, I don't have that many ideas. I think it's exciting. It's inspiring to work with somebody whose brain works like that. And I'm like, and thank God, you can keep us organized and on track and not be derailing the train every five seconds, because you know, that brilliance comes with shortfalls, and the vice versa is true, right, some of our shortfalls have brilliants. One thing Mara likes to say is, I'm always like, wow, how did you fix it? That's such a smart way to do that. She goes, it's just because I'm lazy. And I'm like high limits.
Stephanie Kruse 22:27
I don't care what your motivation is, as long as it comes out exactly what we need. Right.
Ashley Cox 22:33
And I think I think that's the fun part of it is we get to know ourselves, we get to know each other, we get to fill in the gaps. You know, there's there's certain things that neither Mara nor I like to do. So we're already planning that next person. We're like, who we're gonna hire next, who can do this? Because just because you don't like to do it doesn't mean that nobody likes to do it. In fact, there's somebody out there who loves to do all the things you hate.
Stephanie Kruse 22:58
Yeah, that was one of my favorite lists I did with a former colleague was what do I love to do? What am I good at? And what do I hate to do? Had I only thought to take all the hate stuff and put, but then I feel bad about it. Like I'm giving somebody something that I dislike, which is my own problem, right? But
Ashley Cox 23:17
I love that you bring that up, okay, let's talk about that stuff. Because this is a very common thing that comes up is that guilt around, but I don't want to give people the things I hate doing. They hate doing what you love doing. So the fact that you're giving them things that you hate doing are probably the things they love doing. So they're real glad that you're doing the stuff you're doing so they can do the stuff they do. And everybody can be happy.
Stephanie Kruse 23:40
Thank you. You've solved that for me therapy, I will send you a Venmo for my therapy session. That is fantastic. So you're super smart. How did you were you born this way? How were you able to come to these? What is your life experience that has gotten you to this place?
Ashley Cox 23:58
Well, I appreciate that. I'm also going to give a shout out to my mama. Thank you, mom for raising me so well. I think a lot of it is is you know, it's it's nurture and its nature. I think that there is a lot of ingrained skill. And there's things that I'm just really good at. And for me, I'm super, super grateful to be able to take all of my very best personality traits and skills and loves and combine them into a job into a career into a passion. But I definitely did not get there on my own. And there was some tempering to the personality and making sure that I'm staying focused and going in the right directions. And as much as I self deprecate. I have very much learned a lot over the years through, you know, college through professors who really made an impact in my life through mentors, through bosses good and bad, because you can learn something from everyone you've ever worked with. Right?
Stephanie Kruse 24:56
That's absolutely true. That is absolutely true.
Ashley Cox 24:59
I I think some of my best skills came from some of my most challenging bosses that I worked with, you know, the things that I was like, You know what, I am not going to do that, that does not feel good. I don't feel respected, I don't feel appreciated. You know, in my personal life, I've I've dealt with a lot of different, you know, traumatic challenges and different things over the years from, you know, an estranged father to going through a domestic abuse situation with an ex spouse. And I think that those things allowed me to explore who I am as a human, and allow myself to continue to become who I want to be in this world and knowing that those experiences while they are very much real and true, and they happen to me, and they, you know, led me to where I am today, they don't get to define me. They don't get to define who I get to become, and who I get to be in this world. And I think that's the most powerful part.
Stephanie Kruse 26:01
Oh, my gosh, yeah, I, you know, you hear people talk about getting to a sense of self awareness, to be able to really unlock how they want to live their life and to be able to see themselves, and mostly to be able to see other people clearly. And so much of the work you do is relational. Yeah. And when we think about relationships, there's an aspect of feedback. I have found that that's difficult sometimes for people to give feedback, especially if it's not feedback that's positive. How do you help coach through that? Or how have you found that that works for you, in a personal way, in a professional way?
Ashley Cox 26:47
Yeah. And I think this is such a good point, Stephanie, because I think a lot of years I also spent being afraid of giving or receiving any kind of feedback, because it felt like the the people I thought I could trust in my life. Were constantly giving me negative feedback, you know, you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you shouldn't do this, that you're, you know, lots of toxic sort of, you know, stories, right? And so you carry those over into your work life, and all of a sudden, you're like, Oh, this is uncomfortable. And it feels traumatic, right? It feels like we're bringing up things that we want to forget, or we, you know, I've already worked through this, I don't want to I don't want to deal with this again. But I think that it's it's reframing it in a way that helps you understand that the feedback that maybe you got in a toxic environment, whether that was with a parent, with a spouse, with a toxic boss, or a toxic workplace wasn't a healthy representation of feedback. And so we have to look at it and say, Well, if I could make feedback means something different. What would that be? And I'm like, Okay, well, for me personally, feedback is what helps me grow. It helps me develop a greater sense of self awareness, and helps me be a better leader. And when I can be really open to not just giving my team members feedback, but welcoming it from them as well, then we all get to grow collaboratively. It's not a one way street. To me, feedback is always two ways. And how can I be a better boss for you? How can we create a better company? How can we create more ease? How can we create more structure? Because I'm a little off the wall sometimes, right? You know, it's, it's saying, I want to hear from you because your voice matters. And my voice always didn't matter. And I think that's one of the most important ways that I've grown as a leader.
Stephanie Kruse 28:47
It's so empowering. And I think, particularly for women, you know, I was listening to Reshma Saujani, who has done a lot of work around Girls Who Code and now she's doing things around, you know, women and equity in the workplace. And she was talking about, stop telling women, you we need to get into the boardroom and make the A we've been making A's. We just need more space at the table, you know, what are you going to do that's different? And I think that that is, you know, how do we structure what we come with reframe it, and acknowledge that it's making it better if we can work together, right, yeah.
Ashley Cox 29:31
And slowing down to create the space for it. So much of our culture is driven by like I said earlier, productivity, productivity, productivity, you know, it's like how do we grind out more more more, with less people, less money, less resources, you know, it's how do we make this work at the highest level? But sometimes and this is what all of my clients will tell tell you, if you talk to any of them, they're like what is actually always telling you gotta go slower, go faster. You got to slow down gotta slow down. And because we're moving too quickly, and you cannot be intentional with the direction that you're going, if you're just out there driving willy nilly down the wet road, and now you hydroplane and you're off the road, and you're in the ditch and things are just like, what is happening to me, slowing down is the way that we create what is happening in front of us.
Stephanie Kruse 30:21
That's a great one. i Yeah, you know, I used to do a lot of strategy work. And you know, you talk about like, really high level, and this is the values conversation, right? What is our blue sky plan? What would we want to have this company be? And every one wants to go right into the details? We can make this you know, task 12345. Right. And so it is it is that slow down? Let your mind process have a conversation about it. I love that. Yeah. And so when you think about, you know, you've you've been consulting now for, you know, had this business for seven years. You've developed, obviously, a competency around coaching women leaders into how to hire and grow their businesses and grow their competency, obviously, do you know as well? Where does this end for? Where does this lead up to for you?
Ashley Cox 31:20
Yeah, I have this, I'm on this mission, to get more women into leadership roles, because I think that when women are in charge, we do amazing things, we make really smart decisions that benefit the whole, not just the one that's in power. And I think we have too much too many people who are currently in power, who are only in it for themselves. And and we have an opportunity to take care of more people by having a bigger voice, by making more money, by having the opportunity to create company cultures that are vastly different than what we've experienced in the past that really focus on the whole human. You know, that's one of my big things is that, you know, when I, when I have somebody on my team, it's not just oh, Maura at work, it's Maura, the mom, Maura, the wife, Maura, the volunteer, Maura, the, the woman who deserves to take care of herself and to be whole and to be healthy and to be happy in her life. It's not just more at Sprout HR. And I'm going to try not to cry. But it's just so important for me that women get the opportunity to be amazing professionals, and amazing moms, and I'm not a mom, myself, but I work with moms, I support mom leaders, I see the dreams and the challenges and the frustrations and the struggles. And it doesn't have to be that way. We can create jobs that support working moms, so that they can give everything they have to their families and to their children and to the things that are most important to them at home, and then come to work and be brilliant, and be smart and be driven and be successful. And it doesn't have to be either or it gets to be both. And but we have to intentionally create it.
Stephanie Kruse 33:15
Yeah, yeah, that's real systems change, right. And it's, it's refreshing to see some normalization of talking about this. It's the putting into practice piece, right. And I think, you know, you being out in front of it in these when the businesses are smaller, helping grow them with this intention and reframing from the beginning, that feels like you're making that happen.
Ashley Cox 33:44
It's wild to think about it is wild to think about, you know, all the brilliant clients, you know, I don't come up with all the amazing ideas, I help them cultivate the amazing ideas that will be most supportive to them to their families, to their their employees, and the things that they come up with just consistently blow my mind. And I'm like, you get to create that. You know, if you're thinking, Oh, that's not going to work. Why? Just because it hasn't been done before? Because you don't see someone else doing it. What would it look like if you had unlimited PTO? If your moms could take off whenever their kids were away from school, you know, whether it was for a bank holiday, or it was for an in service school day, or it was for a snow day? Or it was for a holiday or was whatever, that's what we do. Yeah, that gets to be our reality. We just have to choose.
Stephanie Kruse 34:35
Yeah, choice that's, that's huge is being able to think about choices you make and even the choices you're making a choice even when you don't act on an idea to and how do you see I mean, given that some of what the podcast is about is trying to sort of dismantle perfectionism as the ultimate goal, right perfectionism and of itself is not bad, but how it causes us maybe to make behave Here's our choices. How do you see perfectionism play a role maybe positively or negatively in the work that you do.
Ashley Cox 35:09
I love that you address that it can be both that there are times where perfectionism really is awesome, like I want for my neurosurgeon to be a perfectionist,
Stephanie Kruse 35:20
please get this right, right, under present, like just is not your thing. So b minus in neurosurgery
Ashley Cox 35:29
plus, plus, plus, plus plus, you know, so, obviously, at Sprout HR and at the companies we work with, we're not saving lives, by any stretch of the imagination, right? We're not flying to the moon, we're not doing something that's going to be catastrophic if we get it wrong. I think that perfectionism serves when we, when we think about creating the perfect culture for our employees, we think about the perfect way that it would it would be to be able to support our people and to take care of our clients and to run our businesses. I think where perfectionism gets in the way is when perfectionism creates or leads to inaction, when we're so scared about getting it right. And I tell you, every client comes to me like, I gotta get this right. And I'm like, okay, and if we don't get it, right, it's not a problem. Because there's their strategies, their solutions, there's things I know that you don't know, that we can do that will make it easy if something goes wrong. And I promise you, anytime you're working with people, something will go wrong. So just know. Just know it right up front.
Stephanie Kruse 36:34
Accept it, embrace it.
Ashley Cox 36:38
Yep. And I think at the end of the day, you know, we we get too hung up on things like, oh, they, you know, they made one typo in this Instagram post, we're going to look like fools. Nobody cares. Of course, there's always the grammar, you know, nerds out there who are, you know, trolling you in the comments, and they're like, Wow, let's shut up and listen that but you know, what, I'm not doing the work. They're not making the impact. They're not bringing to life, the big vision and the excitement and the, the prosperity and the wholeness that you can bring. So you know what, they made a typo. Okay, that's fine. Most of the time, people can do B plus work, and it is adequate, it is perfectly good enough. Know, the areas where only a plus work matters.
Stephanie Kruse 37:23
Right, pick it, pick it right? Priorities.
Ashley Cox 37:26
You can't be seven things, okay? So pick like one or two. Pick one or two can't have that cannot be the whole list.
Stephanie Kruse 37:35
Reminder. I'm sure some people do need to hear that.
Ashley Cox 37:40
Honestly, I mean, this is coming from a you know, the girl who set up her Instagram account when she first started and had it hell@Sprouthr.co Instead of Hello@Sprouthr.co. So like, you can't really judge other people when you're making mistakes yourself.
Stephanie Kruse 37:57
I love that example. Thank you for sharing. That is the best.
Ashley Cox 38:05
We're all human, we are going to make mistakes. If you hire humans, they are going to make mistakes. If you work with robots, they are going to make mistakes, nothing is perfect. And I think that's where we get so stalled in getting the kind of support we need. Because if they're not exactly like me, and they're not going to do this exactly like me, then that's not perfect. And that's not okay. Well, I guarantee a couple of things. Number one, you're not perfect. And I'm really sorry about that, if I'm the first one to tell you, it's really hard to hear. But maybe they're going to figure out a way to do it better than you do. Maybe it's going to be more efficient, maybe it's going to make more money, maybe it's going to serve your clients at a better level. That's the exciting part of hiring. And when we're focused on like, perfectly hiring the perfect person who's going to be just like me, which is a bad idea in and of itself, because we need somebody who's complimenting us, not cloning us. That's where we lose the beauty of hiring. That's where we lose the scalability. That's where we lose the innovation. That's where we lose the creativity and the vision and the in the big picture. So it's a big it's a big topic.
Stephanie Kruse 39:15
Yeah. But I feel better just just hearing you, you say that out loud. So you've helped me today so thanks. So the last question and given that we were just talking about perfection, is the phrase good enough for now, title of the show? What does it mean to you?
Ashley Cox 39:36
I love this question. And I love just kind of like sitting with what is good enough and you know, good enough for now mean to me today. What did it mean to me yesterday? What did it mean to me last week because I feel like it can change and it can evolve just like we evolve as humans right? So good enough for now is that I'm I'm good enough to make decisions with the knowledge that I have Right now, I'm good enough to take action with the skills that I have right now. I'm good enough to hire the help that I need and deserve right now. And I'm good enough to change my mind if I made a decision that I don't really care for anymore.
Stephanie Kruse 40:17
That's the best everything is editable. That's the book you're gonna write
Ashley Cox 40:22
a book number two coming soon to a shop and you're you. Fantastic.
Stephanie Kruse 40:28
So speaking of coming soon to us, how do people find you?
Ashley Cox 40:32
Yeah, so I've found the perfect way to express this it sprouthr.co everywhere you go.
Ashley Cox 40:40
Oh, I like it. Yeah, so Facebook, Instagram,
Ashley Cox 40:43
LinkedIn. That's our website sprouthr.co. Please connect with me. Let me know that you heard me here with Stephanie on the good enough for now podcast. And I'd love to just know that you came from her audience because I know that you are brilliant and amazing and more than capable of doing anything that your heart desires.
Stephanie Kruse 41:05
And I can't wait to listen to this back just for that alone. Talk. Exactly. It totally is. All of these are a pep talk, I have to say so. I can't thank you enough for joining me. It's been such a pleasure. I've loved our conversation and I wish you all the best.
Ashley Cox 41:20
Thank you so much, Stephanie, again for having me this has been an absolute joy and I really hope that everyone who tunes in finds love and support and a pep talk waiting to happen.
Stephanie Kruse 41:33
Thank you so much for joining me. Please share the show with your friends by word of mouth, send them a text and maybe leave a rating and review. It really helps people find good enough for now. Don't forget to also follow on your favorite podcast player like Apple or Spotify. So you can get new shows automatically each time they're released. You'll find show notes a goodenoughfornowpod.com And you can connect on Instagram a goodenoughfornowpod. See you next time.
