Laura Guilliam - Relational Ingenuity

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Laura Guilliam manages leadership research and development projects at Progressive Insurance. Her primary interest is the individual and cultural impact of emotionally intelligent leaders—creating and sustaining positive organizational relationships within virtual and in-office work environments. Laura brings 26 years of practitioner experience to the ongoing study of organizational development and change.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Akron, a Master of Science in Project Management from Boston University, and a Master of Science in Positive Organizational Development and Change from Case Western Reserve University. She also earned a certificate of Appreciative Inquiry in Positive Business and Societal Change and a certificate in Emotionally Intelligent Leadership and Executive Coaching at CWRU. Laura is currently working on her Executive Ph.D. in Values-Driven Leadership from Benedictine University, Chicago.
Quotes From This Episode

• (Regarding Progressive) "We are a company that believes relationships are the core of everything. "
• "I love supporting leaders. I think it’s one of the hardest, most selfless jobs, and I love supporting people who’ve invested and said, 'I want to lead people.' So that’s what I’ve made my mission, and I will always serve that group."
• "Our interactions have positive and negative charges; our words have positive and negative charges, our gestures have positive and negative charges. If you’re responsible, and you care about the relationships, you will mindfully pay attention to how many of those you deliver.”
• "So these are kinds of things that we're teaching, in our virtual leadership...it's virtual 101 - pay attention to the positive and negative that you deliver day-in and day-out to your people because they're getting bombarded with negative all day long. So what are you doing to help them get through that?"
• "So this is really important in the leadership, really important in the virtual space, to pay attention to these most positive and, and negative charges, rarely will you lay your head down at night and say, 'Gosh, today was completely neutral, I had neither good nor bad.'"
• "There's so much fantastic work done in the academic field that needs to get in the hands of practitioners. "
• "We're coming up with creative ways to stay connected and build our relationships. So I'd like to tap into that and see how leaders are getting creative."
• "The one thing that COVID didn’t take from us was relationships. And so that’s what we have. And that’s what we’re left with, and obviously, it’s a passion point of mine...How do I help my leaders protect those relationships?"

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• The Hidden Brain
• The Overwhelmed Brain
• The Daily - The New York Times

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