We were lucky to catch up with Lisa McClanahan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?

Creating a more inclusive workplace comes down to our individual abilities to do four things:

1. Encounter people with no pretense or judgment. A lot of times when we meet people we start formulating a story about them as we get to know them. What if we were willing to set that story to the side and simply lean in and listen to what they are actually saying? What if we set our judgments off to the side and replaced them with curiosity and started asking questions that were about seeking to understand as opposed to how to label them?

2. Explore all the possibilities of how you could partner with other people to create something that’s far better than what either of you could do alone. Be willing to share your piece of the puzzle, while allowing others to share their piece of the puzzle. Be willing to allow people to move your puzzle piece and play with it so that we can figure out how best we might “fit” or work together. In other words, be willing to be vulnerable and not so defensive…yes, I know, easier said than done.

3. Engage and learn to make decisions in a collaborative and consensus based manner. You’ll always end up with a way better solution, when everyone feels they had a say in the decision and their voice was fully heard.

4. Express the decision together. Be willing to support, encourage, and hold each other accountable to the group’s decision.

When we practice these four principals over and over in our families, communities and work spaces everyone will feel included and honored for who they are.

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’ve been in the business of partnering with people to empower them to live abundantly by embracing their true selves and purpose for over 35 years. I began my journey of coaching people by being a swimming coach while I was still in college at the University of Texas. Upon graduating, I began working in corporate America in Human Resources. I held a wide variety of positions and worked my way up the corporate ladder from training and development specialist to Director of Human Resources in a variety of sectors, including government contracting, manufacturing, technology, and retail.

In 2011, after walking through a divorce and discovering that I had not been living my true self or my purpose out within my family or community, I became committed to living life more authentically and vulnerably while walking through change and upheaval. It’s often our darkest moments that lead to our greatest transformations. In 2012, I launched Greater Grounds, where we’re committed to you, your vision, and helping you live it out courageously in your family, community, and organization. We believe this grows greater communities, one person at a time!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have spent a life time developing the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. After battling a chronic auto-immune disorder for over 5 years, I was actually on a healing path by partnering with holistic health providers. Just as I was returning to what felt like normal for me, I was out jogging one morning and was hit by a hit and run car in my neighborhood, in which my lower left leg was crushed by the vehicle. After several long months of moving from wheel chair, to crutches, to cane, to walking again it was discovered that I had developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). This is a situation in which your parasympathetic nerves in the injured part of your body function improperly causing constant pain. There is no cure for CRPS. After exploring all types of chronic pain relievers, from acupuncture to pain meds, one doctor suggested having a spinal cord stimulator implanted to send low levels of electricity directly into the spinal cord to relieve the pain. I did my research and decided this was the best path forward for me and scheduled the surgery, which at the time was going to involve at minimum a 2-4 month recovery with lots of assistance needed.

Anyone who has lived with someone in chronic pain knows it is not an easy journey. And after a journey of 7 years with chronic health issues, my husband at the time decided he could no longer be part of the journey and left me two weeks before the surgery. This was devastating and I felt like the wind got completely knocked out of me. But in reality, this was the beginning of my journey of discovering my true self, and understanding my “why” or purpose, and learning to live it out in my family and community. I discovered what it meant to be authentic and vulnerable and be able to receive help, love, and support from those who will walk through hell with you and when needed carry you, when you can no longer walk.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I learned from the story I shared on resilience, is that the only way we get through life is by being connected to others. It’s in community that we learn the beautiful dance of giving and receiving, loving and suffering and learning to stay connected or commune-in-unity. When you find that community where you are fully known, accepted, loved, and you know you belong, you learn to fight like hell and stay committed to them, because the truth is, that type of commitment and community are rare to find.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.greatergrounds.net/
• Instagram: @greatergrounds
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreaterGroundsLLC

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