We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natasia Nolan-Hodge. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natasia below.
Natasia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?
I had an opportunity to work at a big-four consulting agency. I was super excited and intimidated at the same time. What made this exciting was the opportunity to work for a global organization that garnered prestige while learning/gaining new skills. What was intimidating was having to step out of my introverted comfort zone to make new connections. When I joined, I did not have a project lined up nor did I have connections. I was starting from scratch. In these organizations, you are matched with a performance counselor – their role is to help make connections and ease you into the culture. My performance counselor was not a good fit and was not helpful. Her demeanor was aggressive, overbearing, and unsympathetic. It was a shock I wasn’t prepared for. I met a few people like this throughout my tenure there. Being introverted it felt like I was facing never ending challenges. The lesson I learned from this experience was to stay true to myself. There are people who you may not “click” with or people who misunderstand you because you are not like them. It’s okay. Staying true to you, being authentic, helps you find the people who you will genuinely connect with. Those people get you, are for you, and can help open doors that propel your growth and career. I met someone there, who is my mentor to this day, and had I not been true to myself in an environment where being “fake” is considered the norm, I would have missed out on finding true people who have my back. This is the same in business. You must learn to discern people to know what opportunities are good and those that are not so good. I’ve had opportunities presented where things didn’t seem right and I choose to pass. Being true to you, being authentic, allows true connections and opportunities to be presented that can be beneficial for your business and you.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have over 18 years of experience in the Human Resources (HR)/Human Capital (HC) field. I’ve had an opportunity to work in corporate HR, as a federal HR employee, as a consultant, and business owner. I was introduced to the HR field by happenstance. I was working on contract at the Pentagon as an administrative assistant. In this world, if the contract is not available those working do not have a job. I was pregnant at the time, so the company allowed me to work in their corporate office supporting the HR department until I had my baby, which was a couple of months. Thankfully, they brought me back and created a position where I was a recruiting and training coordinator. This provided me with insight into the HR field and one I quickly became to love. I was able to work in a couple of roles there and then decided to pursue jobs that would expand my skillset in various aspects of HR/HC. Through my experience I learned I love HC strategy, particularly in the area of Talent Development. When employees have clear paths for development and growth, they show up engaged and ready to perform at their best. This is the core service of my business, Insp1ration Coaching & Consulting LLC. I help organizations develop talent strategies to grow and nurture in-house talent. This could be through optimizing the organization through organizational effectiveness activities, or developing customized talent development strategies to complement organizational efforts. I complement this offering by providing executive coaching to equip leaders to manage teams and achieve organizational goals. I also enjoy working with people 1-on-1 and offer services to individuals who want to level up in their career through coaching and learning programs, such as the <i>Unleash the Leader Within</i> course.
I’ve found that organizations tend to throw money at sales to achieve goals instead of developing their employees. In a study by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), reports that replacing an employee costs 6-9 months of their salary, and a lack of career development opportunities is the top reason employees leave. Additionally, in a study by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Executives who receive coaching show a **61% improvement in job satisfaction** and enhanced decision-making, leading to improved organizational outcomes. Talent strategies nurture employees to be their best while establishing safe environments for them to thrive. When you have engaged people, who love what they do, feel valued, and have clear paths of growth, there is no limit to what an organization can achieve. My love for working with people and creating systems to help them grow in organizations is what I’m most proud of. When you see the systems work and the employees grow, its an amazing feeling!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn was paying attention to the numbers, as it relates to social media. Often times we are measured by how many followers or how many likes we receive. What those numbers don’t tell us is true engagement. Having a smaller set of followers who are engaged, leave a comment, and come back for more, is a better metric. You are building a community who gets you, likes what you have to offer, and are inspired. I mentioned about being authentic in an earlier question and that is how I approach social media. I may not have a ton of followers or get a ton of likes, but the comments I receive thanking me for the inspiration or asking follow-up questions, means more to me than anything. Another part of this lesson I’m learning is that you have to build new networks. I think new business owners often rely on their current network, which is a great start but what you are offering may not resonate or be needed by those you know. They may help put the word out but you ultimately expanding or building a new network is needed. Again, being authentic will help you attract those who really need what you are offering.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In the beginning I thought having an idea and then coming up with the strategy to launch a business would be enough. The thought and ideation of it gave me energy until it was time to implement. I’ve gone through several different iterations of the type of services I would offer until landing where I am today. Additionally, I thought my network would automatically help me get the word out and obtain clients. That did not happen. I had to step out of my comfort zone and network to meet new people. I joined communities that taught me new ways to make my business more efficient. My last point is to never be afraid of change. What works today may not work tomorrow, so I had to learn to adapt and pivot. I’m still on a journey, learning lessons along the way, and I’ll never stop trying. My journey may have been hard but those who receive and appreciate what I offer, make it all worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.insp1ration.com
- Instagram: @insp1rationcoaches
- Facebook: @insp1rationLLC
- Youtube: @insp1rationwNatasia (personal) and @insp1rationcoaching (business)
- Other: Unleash the Leader Program www.unleashtheleaderwithin.com