Remote Coaching Dynamics: The Journey to Clarity with Redhook CEO Brie-Ann Forhecz - ep. 084

Join us for an exciting new episode of the Remotely One podcast, broadcasting from the Tandem booth at the Transform HR conference in Las Vegas! Our host, Kaleem Clarkson, was thrilled to welcome guest Brie-Ann Forhecz, Founder and CEO of Redhook Coaching. Hailing from the Jersey Shore and now based in Manhattan, Brie-Ann brings over a decade of experience in HR management and a passion for coaching to the table.

As the CEO and founder of Redhook, a coaching company specializing in executive leadership, Brie-Ann is no stranger to the challenges and advantages of remote work feedback. In this lively discussion, she explores the intricacies of giving feedback in remote settings and emphasizes the importance of building trust with clients, especially in a virtual environment.

Brie-Ann also shares valuable insights into the coaching process, highlighting the importance of creating an open and warm atmosphere to foster trust and collaboration. With a focus on partnership and individualized support, Brie-Ann helps leaders gain clarity and drive meaningful outcomes in their professional journeys.

From the flexibility to work with clients worldwide to the opportunity to support leaders in diverse cultural and organizational contexts, remote coaching offers unique advantages. Despite the challenges, Brie-Ann highlights the immense potential for growth and innovation in this global work world.

And of course, no conversation with Brie-Ann would be complete without a glimpse into her Jersey Shore days. Hear the hilarious story of her encounter with none other than Bruce Springsteen himself on a beach in Seabright, New Jersey!

Join us as we explore the dynamic landscape of remote work coaching and gain valuable insights from Brie-Ann's wealth of experience and expertise. Don't miss this conversation filled with laughter, wisdom, and practical tips for navigating the challenges and seizing the opportunities of remote work in today's world.

Learn more about Brie-Ann:

• Brie-Ann’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brienyc/
• Redhook Coaching: https://www.redhookcoaching.com/

Transcript

Kaleem: 0:35

All right. We're here. We're here live at the Tandem booth. Shout out Tandem. Shout out Mal. I see you over there. We're at the Tandem booth and our guest today is originally from Jersey Shore. That's right. That's right. Where the TV show was based. You know, the tank tops, the tans. That's where she's from. Oh, goodness. They currently live in Dusk City. Which if you don't know what the city is, it's Manhattan. I learned that. Everyone's not from New York. So she lives in Manhattan right now. They're a graduate of the Yukon Husky, shout out Yukon, whoop

Brie: 1:13

whoop, whoo. Go Yukon,

Kaleem: 1:16

whoo. I don't know if that's a thing. Also got your master's degree from uh, George Washington. That's right. Shout out George Washington. Wow, wow, DC. Yeah. She got her HR start in 2013. Yeah. That's a long time ago. I know. Goodness gracious. Yeah. 2013 in the PEO space. Yes. Something that I wouldn't have guessed growing up in Jersey Shore, living in the city. She loves nature. She is our nature. they are the CEO and founder of Red Hook, which is a coaching company for executive leadership, listeners and viewers. Please give a warm welcome to Let's go. Wow.

Brie: 2:15

Thank

Kaleem: 2:15

you. Thank you for joining us. Wow. Yeah. What a start. We're amped up right? We're amped up. Okay, now I'm here. Wake up. Wake up. You know, you know what I love about doing that is just looking at everybody looking at you

Brie: 2:26

shining. Yeah, actually I didn't notice anybody else but you in that. That was fantastic. for that.

Kaleem: 2:33

So, we're at the tandem booth, obviously we gotta ask the question on feeding. Yeah. So, you probably give lots of feedback as a coach.

Brie: 2:44

I have given a lot of feedback in my HR past.

Kaleem: 2:47

Yes. Yes. So, what are some, maybe some challenges or some tips, or maybe like what's different about giving feedback in a remote

Brie: 2:55

work center? Yeah. Well, remote is, Such an interesting aspect because it brings so much uncertainty to so many scenarios. Okay. Okay. There's an underlying, well, how is this person feeling? Because I'm only getting so much time with them to do specific things at a specific time in the day. So sometimes you're going in with these, Unknown relationships are where you stand when it comes to even thinking about giving, trying to give somebody feedback in a remote setting. So that's what I think about first is uncertainty that the environment creates.

Kaleem: 3:37

So you are doing executive leadership coaching. Can you tell me, I love your name by the way, it's a great name. Thank you. Great name. Thank you. Red hook, red hook. Red hook coaching. Yup. Yup. Yup. What makes you unique? What are you doing? What are you doing to help leaders?

Brie: 3:55

I bring leaders clarity.

Kaleem: 3:56

Ooh, how? How do you do that?

Brie: 3:59

I bring leaders clarity through my approach, I would say. Okay. One, I like to create an environment that is open and warm. You really gotta build that trust. Yes, which remotely is quite interesting to do, right? It takes time. Somebody had a great quote this morning at one of the sessions who said, you know, you earn trust in drops, but you lose it in buckets.

Kaleem: 4:24

Yes. You earn trust in drops, but you lose it in buckets.

Brie: 4:27

That is a good one. So in our remote world, your drops are that 30 minute intro call to figure out, Hey, what kind of problems do you have? In a way that makes people feel like I'm with you in this. I actually very curious, want to understand you and your problems and figure out with you along the way. Is that the right problem? Have we identified the correct problems? Is that actually meaningful to you? And so in the coaching remote world, I think some of those really early on conversations in your coaching consult, it's so important just to really show up from a grounded place to show this person why you have shown up. And I think that's where some of the trust truly begins and you are continuously earning it in those drops over time.

Kaleem: 5:16

And because, please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I gathered there is, and because you're not in person with that person. Right. It's really important on those calls when you have those calls to really be present and really add those drops to the bucket. Yes, totally. Yeah, that's fascinating. That's fascinating. So, For a lot of people, it's been only since 2020 since we've been remote. There's a lot of advantages for some, you know, some people, there are some disadvantages. What are some of the advantages for coaching or what are maybe some of the challenges with coaching while doing it

Brie: 5:50

remotely? Yeah. Where do we want to start? Let's, let's start with challenges. Yeah. What are some of the challenges? Yeah, me too.

Kaleem: 5:57

I like to end on positive. Me too.

Brie: 5:58

I'm a positive Yeah. So challenges to the remote coaching. I mean, little bit what we just chatted about. It's, it's getting in front of your clients. Okay. And really helping them to understand what this partnership is going to be. Without them feeling judged, without them feeling like they're not going to have a partner in coaching as well. So I think

Kaleem: 6:23

A partnership. So Coaching is a partnership is what I just heard you say. Like it's, we're doing this together type thing.

Brie: 6:29

I would like to think of it in that way, in that I'm in your corner. I like to say in coaching that I lead a process, but you drive all the outcomes.

Kaleem: 6:37

Ooh, do you hear that? You hear that? Say it again. Get it for emphasis, right? Yeah. Right in the

Brie: 6:43

camera. I lead the process. But you drive the outcomes. Yeah. And so in that, over time, I think you really do build a partnership because there's this mutual understanding of here's what I'm bringing for you. But you're actually going to make that your own because it's yours, right? You are the expert.

Kaleem: 7:01

I can't do the thing

Brie: 7:02

for you. Yeah. And I don't want to do it for you because our brains are totally different. I'm a Jersey girl. Remember,

Kaleem: 7:09

you don't want to know what I want to do. Okay. So now that we've talked about like some of the challenges, yeah. What are some of the advantages of this global work world that we're in

Brie: 7:21

now? I mean, it's like the world is your oyster, the leaders. I mean all the oysters. There is just so much opportunity to get people support in becoming leaders they want to be. In so many different areas of the world that might have different cultures that you may be exposed to different types of situations, the sizes of companies, the types of people you have access to who are around you. In addition, I mean, look at people being able to live lives and wherever in the world they want to be and still be able to get this type of service and support and help. And me also. I'm selfish side to being able to maybe be on a, you know, at a beach. Yeah. You know, right before the coaching

Kaleem: 8:06

call. Hey, if your coach isn't in a healthy space, how can they help someone else? So I mean, that

Brie: 8:13

is really true. And I don't know that a lot of people think about that very much, but you got to do some self work, right? Really show up. Well, yes.

Kaleem: 8:20

how's the scheduling with remote? Does that make it actually a little bit easier? Do you find that people try to squeeze a session in, you know, in between, whereas, you know, maybe in person, it'd be a lot

Brie: 8:31

harder. They can't, I mean, executives are busy people, so there's a lot of squeezing. I would say I am there to serve. And so what works for that coachee is what we'll do. I will for sure check in if I'm noticing that maybe there's some distractions or maybe observe some things that I feel maybe that coach is not entirely present. We'll halt for a second, and I might address that and say, Hey, what can we maybe remove that's going on in your mind right now to put aside? Or, Does anything need to be said to kind of get be cleared before we start? So i'll work with schedules, but I want to make sure that my coachee is coming in to a place where They can make the full use of this coaching session and be creative And get into that mental space where they can really think about new solutions to

Kaleem: 9:19

their problems. So you are as a remote coach still Taking an assessment of their personal time. I mean of what they're doing in the moment Trying to gauge anything you can as far as distractions. that's interesting. So tell me about this little encounter that you had in Jersey. Tell me about this encounter that you had. Okay,

Brie: 9:41

okay. Tell me about this encounter. Okay, and you don't know about this encounter. No, I do not. know that. Hey,

Kaleem: 9:45

I do not know, so, okay, okay.

Brie: 9:47

So I think I was about 13 years old, and as you know I'm a Jersey girl, so family vacations down the Jersey shore. I was on the beach in Seabright, New Jersey, and I must have pulled up my chair alone, my family in the background, to be near the water and just kind of, you know, observe. I was a kid. What am I doing? I don't know. Just

Kaleem: 10:07

checking it out. Checking it out.

Brie: 10:09

What do I know? This guy, there's like kind of scraggly, you know, his beard's kind of little all over the place. He's got some like gold chains and shirt off

Kaleem: 10:19

sunglasses. Total Jersey.

Brie: 10:21

Oh yeah. The guy starts walking by. I'm not paying attention until like, I realized it's coming, it's coming up, it's coming up to my chair. Okay. And so as a kid, I'm kind of like strange, stranger, danger, stranger, stranger, danger, stranger, danger. Oh yeah. So. He comes up and he takes his hat off, puts his sunglasses in his hat and he hands it to me. And he's like, do you mind holding my hat while I go for a swim?

Kaleem: 10:47

Ha ha ha ha ha

Brie: 10:49

ha ha ha. I'm like, whatever you want, buddy, just, please exit. So I'm holding this guy's hat and I'm kinda like sitting there watching him. He's going on the bouncy thing in the ocean, having a grand old time by himself. Next thing I know my aunt and mom run up. They go, do you know who that was? Who was it? Bruce

Kaleem: 11:08

Sproosty. The boss? The boss. The boss. Yes. Oh my God. Hey there, sweetie. Would you hold my hat while I go swimming? Stranger danger, boss. Stranger danger. That's the best story. Boss, if you're checking this out, please send her a new hat. It would be great. Yeah,

Brie: 11:27

there's a New York, I think it was a New York Yankees hat. Okay. Yeah.

Kaleem: 11:30

Right on brand. Yeah. we're here, we're at Transform. We're at the Tandem booth. What's your favorite Flo Rida song?

Brie: 11:38

Apple bottom jeans, boots

Kaleem: 11:44

with the fur,

Brie: 11:45

with the fur I know it, I know it I just didn't want to

Kaleem: 11:52

take up too much time It's

Brie: 11:52

okay, it's

Kaleem: 11:53

okay We could go home all day Well, so much for joining us, Brie-Ann I really appreciate it Thank you, Kaleem I'm definitely going to be following you on LinkedIn Everyone check her out Awesome, awesome Thank you once again Thank you, it's been great Awesome.