403: From Prioritization to Productivity- with Brin’na Rollins-Williams

[00:00:00] Lori Highby: Hey everybody, Lori Highby here. Welcome to the Social Capital Podcast. Our show notes are found at socialcapitalpodcast. com. To you, the listener, I want you to know that I appreciate you and I'm thrilled to have you here for another amazing episode. If there's ever anything that I can do to support you, please reach out.

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The topic of relationships. Is very important. And that's why today I've got Brin'na Rollins Williams on the show as my guest. Brin'na is an unshakable optimist who is an accomplished people leader with over 10 years of leadership experience at Target Fortune 50 Company. From an intern to district senior director, overseeing multiple stores, thousands of team members, and over 500 million in annual revenue.

A purpose driven leader with a track record of delivering results for a consumer facing brand. She has demonstrated ability to navigate rapid change, solve problems, and collaborate with cross sector stakeholders to achieve organizational and community goals and objectives. She has a demonstrated history of leading teams directly along with multi unit within the retail industry.

Skills include event speaking to senior leaders and large teams, leadership development, navigating large scale change, driving innovation, building and managing diverse teams, and fostering a strong, inclusive corporate culture, increasing overall engagement and retention. All right, Brin'na, welcome to the show.

[00:02:29] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Hi, thank you so much for having me, Lori.

[00:02:31] Lori Highby: I'm excited to have you here because I know we're going to have an amazing conversation. But what I want to talk about right now is how do you help leaders scale?

[00:02:41] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: The majority of my career has been spent in the professional space. And after almost 11 years with the company, I decided to really pivot into what my passion is, which is truly focusing on people development. And the reason for that is specifically to help them scale their own personal growth. And when I think about leadership and just the impact that true leadership to its core can have through influence, in the workplace, but most importantly, outside of the workplace, I have really taken the time to identify, you know, what do I take with me in each role that I've had experience with? What has worked? What hasn't worked? What stood out to my team that I worked with and I've decided to create my business platform off of it.

And so the first thing I would like to bring up is from a six to eight week program perspective. Allowing leaders to scale starts with the foundation of understanding their true personal own goals and values and aligning on what that looks like. And when you do that, you can make appropriate decisions day in and day out that really are fulfilling to you as an individual at your core.

And that's where that unlock for fulfillment can start to come from both professionally and personally. But on top of that, we do a lot of inner resilience work, We go through how you can bring your own courageous self to the stage and show up in a way that makes a lasting impression, but is also true to who you are at your core.

I've had a lot of experience in navigating overwhelm, burnout, exhaustion, and I've had to learn a lot of things the hard way. And so I think it is a piece of life that exists with everyone, especially in a retail environment right now. And so helping others navigate that burnout, navigate that overwhelm to get them out of a space that it feels fight or flight or feels like this is it.

There is a light on the other side of that. And I would love to share, you know, how to do that effectively without losing yourself in it or sacrificing who you are at the expense of your career.

[00:04:47] Lori Highby: Yeah, that's great.

[00:04:48] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Yeah, I think a lot with that, you know, boundaries, distractions and really learning how to be effective and successful with your time, but rooting all of those decisions back into who you are at your core. So that in a nutshell, I would say are different avenues that I explore and work one on one with individuals through in order to help them scale the output of their actions and their leadership through the hard work.

[00:05:15] Lori Highby: And I know you've got an amazing story that that got you to where you are today.

But when you're working with leaders, I'm curious, and this is something everyone experiences, how do you decipher what is urgent versus what is important?

[00:05:29] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Oh, I love this question. So I do think, first off, a common mistake is that many people identify actions as both important and as urgent, and it's really important but also very difficult to differentiate what that looks like and have ruthless prioritization to not waste your time but to also show up and produce work and results that are matching if an action is being asked as urgent or important.

There's a tool that I learned about in college. And I thought, you know, I'm never going to use this in the real world. And once I got into corporate and I continued to lead teams and build our roadmap of everything that we need to achieve, how do we do it effectively? And we really broke it down by using a model that's called the Eisenhower Matrix.

And this is publicly available. It's taught about widely in college from organizational management structures, but it really focuses on defining each and individual action that needs to happen in a simple and relatable way. And I think if you're able to explain like the nuance behind the action that's being asked, you can introduce a whole different side of how you operate in terms of prioritization day to day.

And so we break it down into the four quadrants of important versus not important, urgent versus non urgent. And there's a question that I've, I've filtered through, you know, they ask a hundred different questions on different websites that all tailor back to this matrix. And so I did try to analyze that and pull out different themes and got it down to six questions that are pretty manageable.

And if it's, you can use a personal example of, you know, I need to walk the dog today. Well, to you, that is, that could be personally important because it helps drive the, you know, the health of your animal. It could be urgent because their health is declining. But on the flip side of that, when you think, Oh, I got to take the dog for a walk. You may in your mind, make the decision, well, it is important, but I can do it tomorrow. I can do it later. But if you consistently identify that this is urgent because, this is important because, and it's a personal choice. But on the flip side, I get, you know, a phone call from my boss and now I've got this huge project to take on.

Well, obviously your boss is very important and typically what they need is urgent. But it is important to be able to identify yourself that this is urgent because someone needs it, but the work itself, not necessarily as critically important to do it in this moment. And so when you look at the four boxes within the matrix, there is an option that that is labeled urgent but not important. And what that means is you schedule for it. And so we can get into how to articulate what the four quadrants look like. Is it a do it now action? Is it a decide I need to schedule time to do this later? Is this a, I can delegate this and who can help me do this to take this off my plate so I can focus on, you know, more and more critical things I need to do, or is this a distraction that I need to delete? And so breaking down that quadrant, you can break up examples of every action, both personally and professionally, and how you need to respond to them in terms of urgency and importance. And what we do is when I work with individuals, we do this model on a clean slate and we do it personally first, professionally second, and we merge the two together.

And what I've found is that majority of people when they think personally, right, they place things that are that can change day to day and that's typically what people give up to sacrifice what they need to do for work. And when you analyze the work matrix, a lot of times it's just not prioritized correctly.

Because in our minds, we don't slow down enough to pause and really assess what action we need to take and how we need to go about taking it. And so we spend our wheels, we waste our time on things we shouldn't be doing. And at the expense and the sacrifice of what's on that personal matrix is typically what, what gets dropped.

And that can be from, I need to make it home to my family for dinner. I need to make it to my kid's soccer game. I, you know, need to go visit my parents and grocery shop for them. It could be anything that you've got that is important to you. It's interesting how often that's the first thing to get sacrificed when you look at what it's being sacrificed for. And analyzing that side of it, it's typically because it is not identified correctly of how we should take action. And so, though that's a tool that I use and it is very effective. I've used it in the business world with my team and I've asked them, you know, okay, I'm asking for these 10 metrics for you to improve, right? Where do you think these fall?

And what I found is at the time when I ran 10 different stores, they all had a different assessment of what was urgent and what was important. And so what I found is one, that's my fault. You know, when 10 people miss the mark, it's because they got the wrong message from me. And so first off owning that and saying, okay, how did I not explain my desire or my need correctly, Let's call a timeout and let's realign. And present that together and realistically, what can you commit to? And when can you, you know, improve this metric by? And yes, there's urgency to deliver, but once that commitment is made and everyone understands it's a difference of a building and what they can handle for their team, for their process, for what they're handling, that's different store to store team to team.

And it just allows for clarity and unity across one platform to all be on the same page of how to respond as more things come in while not losing sight of what your ground foundational improvement work still looks like when it comes to deciphering how to show up and take action.

[00:11:32] Lori Highby: Yeah, well, there's so many good things to unpack there.

One thing that really stood out to me, and I didn't know where you were going with it initially, but when you're doing the important versus urgent kind of grid, and I'm familiar with this approach with the Eisenhower Matrix is that you're putting the personal first. And. I, when you talk through that, I'm like, Oh, that, that is right.

That is important. You know, we get stuck in the slog of working that, you know, and we don't necessarily think about putting some of these practices into place that we know to be efficient and productive. In our personal life as well. And I think that's great.

[00:12:12] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Absolutely. And I think, you know, towards the end of this, I do have an exciting, you know, freebie to share with your audience.

And it ties back to this example and this tool. And as simple as it is. If you do it correctly, it will provide you a moment of reflection to be like, wow, I know why I feel like I'm not showing up as the wife I want to, or the sister I want to, or the daughter I want to. And you can see the choices that you're making on prioritizing things that are costing you on the other end.

That drive a lot of that irritability with yourself of not being able to do all the things all the time. And a lot of times it's rooted in not prioritizing correctly, because we don't analyze that if it is important for me or for someone else, if it is urgent for me or for someone else, or if it's a distraction.

And so I'm excited to share that in a little bit as well.

[00:13:07] Lori Highby: Yeah, well, we'll cover that in just a moment. So one more question for you then how do you balance personal and professional growth then?

[00:13:15] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: I think that balance really does start with identifying and understanding. Even what your personal and professional goals are to begin with. I think sustaining anything long term though, it does require effective mechanisms of commitment in your life. And what I mean by that is an effective mechanism is something that consists of input and action or output and results.

And a tool to measure both of those is something that you can adopt into your routine. And it doesn't have to be this, I don't have, you know, an hour to give a week, a day. But it's something that you have that you can commit to that allows a feedback loop to be possible so that you're able to iterate and improve what doesn't work.

But if you don't give your time, the chance to say, This was my plan. It either flopped or I was able to do it. And this is how it made me feel. And not to get too deep in the fields. Right. But like, I do think that there, that feedback loop of reflection is so important to sustain healthy balance for professional and personal growth.

And just an example of that for myself, because I've operated in a very fast paced environment, majority of my career. And I never set clear boundaries for myself. I really struggled to say no. And so if somebody was like, Oh, I'm struggling with this, I then would insert myself to not only help them figure it out, but add a piece of that problem to my own plate.

And I really didn't understand just how much I was doing that until I started journaling. And it's not like I'm, I'm jotting down everything I do every day, but there are moments throughout the day where I say, okay. Okay. At the end of the day, when I'm sitting in bed for five minutes. You know what happened today that was unexpected in a good way, and it could be I saw the wind blow the flowers and like that was a peaceful moment, you know, be a best friend or a family member that I haven't talked to in a long time, I was able to connect with them and for that five minute conversation that made me feel good.

It also could be I didn't show up, you know, with my team the way that I wanted to, and I felt like I left my team confused. I feel like I left my team frustrated. And in that moment when I'm thinking through three examples like that, it allows me that feedback loop of the journaling mechanism to say like, okay, here's what I want to do better tomorrow.

And one question I always ask is what could I have done today that would have made today better? And I've had a range of, you know, I could have called my family to check in and see how they're doing. We're long distance across the country with a time change. And so typically I think about that late and I missed it, or it could be, I wish I would have taken a walk today, not an hour, even a five minute walk outside to just get some breathers.

But as I start to flip back day, over day, if I start to see Call the family, call the family, call the family. That's on me to make that choice. But I think sustaining growth is when you give yourself the chance to have that feedback loop and give yourself the vulnerability and the honesty to be like, here's what I think I need to fill my cup personally so that I can then go show up how I need to and want to professionally.

And just protecting yourself for that feedback loop. It could be journaling. It could be an app on your phone as just like a prompt of happiness that you get. But journaling has been very effective for me, and it takes me maybe five to ten minutes a day, max, but being intentional with what I ask myself to really think about of how things went throughout my day and how I can improve it tomorrow and in the future.

[00:16:52] Lori Highby: Yeah, well, that's great. I really like the, I wrote this down in the question, what could I have done today to make today better? I thought that was really a powerful, like, reflective question. But then as you commented, like, has there been a trend on the same thing that I'm writing every single day that maybe I should make some changes happening?

[00:17:11] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Yes.

[00:17:11] Lori Highby: That's great.

[00:17:12] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Yep.

[00:17:13] Lori Highby: Fun. We're gonna, we're gonna move to kind of a more fun question now. If you could go back to your 20 year old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of or differently with regards to your professional career?

[00:17:25] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Oh, man, this is good. You know, a lot of things come to mind that I am thankful for.

So I can think I can narrow it down to about three things. I think, Leading with my core values has been huge. And I think what I've learned, and I wish I would have told myself is that you don't have to choose between a successful professional life and, or a successful personal life.

What I've learned years later is that you can be great at both personal and professional, and that you can have greater levels of success than you would if you only focus on one of those. When you integrate it from the get go, you make more aligned and tactful decisions and how you show up at work, how you show up in your personal life, and you can actually get fulfillment in both and be proud of the direction you're going, how you impact others.

And you can do both. But I think I told myself it was one or the other for a really long time, and I lost myself in that. And then when life throws curveballs at you or does slow down enough, you start to wonder, you know, who, who am I? What do I stand for? Who do I want to be? And I lost that side of me for way longer than I had wanted to.

And so message to anybody, you can do both and you can enjoy both and be fulfilled in both. A nother thought that comes to mind is not taking things at face value and just execute them because it's the task at hand, I think in the environment of being raised to move very quickly and make, you know, immediate decisions and go straight into action mode.

I didn't learn how to go slow enough to really, you know, intimately understand the bigger picture and the why, and some of the things that I was doing before I shared my opinion or before I shared my direction. And so really being tactful to challenge the status ,quo and to be a disruptor in a respectful way, but protecting the time to really pause and slow down so that when I do make a statement or I do make an opinion or I do give direction it's because I've done the research and it's because I, I am confident in my decision and it may not pan out right, but then I know I'm comfortable learning in that because I was clear on the choice that I decided to make, and not just taking it for face value to jump in for the sake of doing it fast.

I think the last thing that I'll leave with is the greatest leaders that I have worked with, researched, connected with inside and outside my own career. I always think like, wow, they're so extroverted and they're such a genius and they're so smart and know all of these skills I got to learn.

And it's almost like I put them on this pedestal. And when I slow down and really back up, the one thing that they are all the strongest and most successful leaders is that they are the best simplifiers. They clearly articulate their vision. I think in turn they can become inspirational and get those around them hyped up and get them bought into whatever goal or result is that you're chasing to desire, but I also think that regardless of the professional or the social position, they're also really happy with who they are.

And it's because at the end of the day, they know their values. They know who they are. They know who they want to be for others. And they don't sacrifice themselves in order to be successful. And so I think just staying as simple as possible. And if it's not something that you can explain to somebody that has no idea what the topic is, then we can make it simpler.

I think those three things are what I've taken most in my life and learned when I look back and think, you know, I made a, I wanted to fit in with the environment and the world that I was in.

Yeah. So hopefully those three nuggets are somewhat of a learning lesson. I know I would definitely give back to myself if I could.

[00:21:20] Lori Highby: Yeah, no, those are all great. And there's so much to kind of dive into there, but I'm going to pass the torch to you and give you the opportunity to interview me now.

So what's something you'd like to ask me?

[00:21:32] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Oh, I love this. I think from getting to know you and understanding, you know, how broad your platform and just experience has become and seeing the digital age change with us right now. Not necessarily from a fear based standpoint, but what are you excited about? And how you can continue to grow your platform, your relationships and your business impact, but in a positive way with the growth of the community right now, from a digital standpoint.

[00:22:04] Lori Highby: Yeah, that's a great question. Thanks for asking. What's exciting, but also somewhat scary is what's happening with AI. But one of the things that we're really leaning into right now is automation and AI. And the reason I'm excited for this is because I believe, and I observed this with like my nieces and nephews is everyone's glued to technology.

But I want to really advocate for leaning into automation and technology so that we can get back to being more human and having face to face conversations and not always being glued to the technology devices. So there's obviously a time and a place for digital and it's really become part of our norms and how we function as humans professionally and personally.

But I think there's lots of opportunities to leverage these tools that are available to us to create efficiency so we can be more human again.

[00:23:02] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: I love that! That inner resilience piece of embracing cautiously optimistic in driving it back to human connection is exactly what I love to hear.

Cause I do think there's emotion, right. And there's connection in relationships and not being able to save that piece of it in a digital world is going to have its impacts, and so I love that that's where your mind's at. Thank you for sharing that.

[00:23:25] Lori Highby: Well, thank you for the question. All right. Any final words of wisdom you want to share with our listeners and maybe talk about your freebie a little bit here too?

[00:23:33] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Yeah, I can definitely do that. I think the fact that you're listening to this podcast means that you're also interested in adding tools to your toolkit. And I would just encourage you to never lose that intentional dedicated time for continuous learning and growth.

I think in a corporate world or the business world, we rely heavily on comfortability with, okay, if I need this, my company will offer, my company will do. And personal growth, personal development is an individual responsibility. And so continue to be the leader that you are, invest the time that you are and be intentional with the time and decisions that you make because they will pay off in a huge way.

And being vulnerable with yourself and surrounding yourself with mentors or coaches to offer different perspectives is a blessing. And I encourage you to get involved with one. If you do not, it has changed my life and the trajectory of where I want to go just by being able to offer a different form of perspective and have real discussions with as I'm also reflecting on myself and growing through those pains as well.

And last but not least from a freebie perspective. So as I mentioned earlier I do work with individuals and have a plethora of tools. They're all not like this example of the Eisenhower Matrix.

[00:24:53] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: But I do believe the power that the Eisenhower Matrix has to unlock priority integration can be very helpful to balance both your personal and professional life. And so, um, I'm going to be offering, and you'll be able to download and access yourself a template of what I take my clients through.

And so there are blank templates to do a personal one, a professional one, so you can separate your mindset. and merge them together. And there's a definition of what each box means, how you can decipher the quadrants of, do I do this first? Do I need to schedule it? Is this something I would delegate? Is this something I would delete?

And how do I assess that? Along with my six questions that from a pattern perspective can offer some insight. And I've provided an example in there as well, but I look forward to hearing after going through this, what you think of it. And so I would love to hear from you via email or on social platforms.

So be on the lookout for that and I'm excited to hear what you think.

[00:25:52] Lori Highby: Great. We'll definitely include all the information in the show notes. Finally, Brin'na, if anyone is interested in connecting and they want to reach out, what's the best way they can do that?

[00:26:01] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Great question. So you can reach me through my website. It is Brin'na, B R I N N A at legacyfulfilled. com. Or you can find me on social media. Both LinkedIn and Facebook is Brin'na Rollins Williams or on Instagram, Brin'na. rw. So exciting things to come as I am just launching my business current day, but I look forward to connecting and networking and just getting to learn who you are and hopefully working together in any capacity in the future.

[00:26:36] Lori Highby: Love that. All right. We will include all that information in the show notes. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

[00:26:43] Brin'na Rollins-Williams: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it a ton. And love getting to connect with you today and share a little about myself and my business.

So thank you, Lori, for the time.

[00:26:52] Lori Highby: Totally. All right. Well, this wraps up an episode of Social Capital. Huge thank you to Brin'na for taking the time to connect with us. If you have a burning marketing or relationship question, just reach out. I'd love to answer it on the show and as mentioned before let's connect on LinkedIn.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. I hope you enjoyed today's show and I want you to go out there and get noticed.