WorkJoy Jam with Beth Stallwood – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to the WorkJoy Jam, the podcast where we explore the intersection of joy and work. I'm your host, Beth Stallwood, and in this engaging episode, we dive into "The Power of Play" with the vibrant Em Stroud, a corporate clown coach who's turned joyful play into a business revolution.

As adults, we often find ourselves shackled by societal expectations that suggest play is solely the realm of children. But what if embracing play could unlock creativity, productivity, and genuine connection in the workplace? In this episode, Em and I unpack the practical benefits of integrating fun into our daily routines, redefining play for the adult world, and the transformative effects it can have not just on individuals, but on organisational culture as a whole.

From reimagining meetings with a more active and playful setup to sharing accidental moments of joy through simple acts like out-of-office messages, Em Stroud offers tangible strategies to sprinkle play into our working lives. And, with a reminder that play isn't one-size-fits-all, we'll discuss how finding your unique play style can enrich every aspect of your life.

Whether you're someone who thrives on the thrill or a person who finds a deeper connection in quieter activities, this episode will inspire you to craft moments of delight and encourage a cultural shift towards a more playful business environment.

Stay tuned as we explore the power of play with Em Stroud and challenge the notion that work and joy are mutually exclusive. Join us on the WorkJoy Jam, where we're jamming on the joy of work, and the work of joy!

 Connect with Em 

Instagram @emstroudldn - @clowningaroundpodcast - @laugh.think.play

LinkedIn : https://uk.linkedin.com/in/em-stroud

Website: https://emstroud.com and https://laughthinkplay.com

Welcome to another inspiring episode of the WorkJoy Jam! I'm your host, Beth Stallwood, and today we are diving deep into an episode that's all about understanding our needs and nurturing joy throughout our professional journey.

Joining me is the multifaceted Alice Sheldon, whose career has spanned from schoolteacher, to barrister, to CEO, and whose passion for psychology and neuroscience has fuelled her work in personal development..

In this episode we explore how Alice's career choices were meticulously intertwined with her values and how these decisions led her to a life brimming with joy and purpose—despite the challenges she faced along the way.

Alice will share her profound insights on nonviolent communication and how understanding human needs has reshaped her approach to relationships and conflict resolution. We'll confront the pressing need for emotional education that extends beyond academia into our everyday interactions.

Have you ever encountered a "bridge club moment"? Well, Alice will explain how taking a moment to understand our reactions and needs can not only improve our personal lives but also our professional relationships. And she’ll share a personal anecdote on handling emotions and being uncomfortable in social situations—proving that we all have something to learn when it comes to navigating our emotional worlds.

So, whether you're battling work monsters or weathering storms of emotion, this episode promises to be as enlightening as it is joyful. So tune in and get curious!

Connect with Alice 

You can find out more about her work at www.needs-understanding.com.

Website: https://www.needs-understanding.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sheldon/

Sarah Browning is the founder of the Time for Kindness programme and a kindness cheerleader and communicator. Sarah helps organisations, especially in the not-for-profit world, find ways to communicate their kindness stories. I think this subject is so important when we think about work joy; the idea of noticing and sharing acts of kindness when we see them and thinking of the kindest possible way of doing something even when those things might be really, really tough.

https://timeforkindness.co.uk/about/

Sam Flynn is a social media trainer and digital wellbeing expert. In this episode, we talk all about the relationship we have with social media and our phones and how easy it is to become lost in the scroll and stuck in these zones. We find ourselves investing our precious time in things that perhaps aren’t making us feel great and contributing to the things we really, really want to be doing!

https://samflynn.co.uk/

Felicity Dwyer has been working with organisations and specifically managers, for the last 20 years or so. She is a coach, facilitator and author of Crafting Connection which is out now! In this conversation we talk about different levels of connection – not just the conversations and communications we have with others – but also the connection we have with ourselves, understanding our own values, preferences, styles and the things that are important to us and that are a starting point for being able to connect with others. We also talk about connecting with our bodies and not just getting stuck in our minds.

https://felicitydwyer.com/

Catherine Stothart has a varied and long career working with some great organisations and helping them as coach and facilitator. She is also an author and leadership development expert. I really enjoyed chatting with her in this episode around how we get on with people at work and how we can avoid some of the conflict that stops us bringing out the best in ourselves or other people We also talked about motivation – what motivates us and other people and how we ensure a sense of purpose in what we are trying to do each day.

https://essenwood.co.uk/

Felicity Cowie is a former journalist and now consultant in the area of communications, helping organisations work effectively with the media to get their messaging right. Throughout her career history, Felicity has worked in high speed and high energy environments likes newsrooms and on newspapers as a journalist, honing her ability to work quickly and accurately. We touched upon the atmosphere in these fast-paced working environments, the challenges, the highs and lows and what some of these organisations can do to better cope with these challenges which can be the cause of work gloom for a lot of people. 

https://www.cowiecom.com/

Eleanor Tweddell is a coach, mentor, author of ‘Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happens to you’ and founder of Another Door where you are encouraged to rethink work and see change as opportunity. During our chat we talk about redundancy and enforced change at work and we discuss how we can use these moments as an opportunity to take ownership, reconnect with ourselves and embrace the change to make us more joyful.

https://www.eleanortweddell.com/another-door

Zoe Hill is the Operations Director of coffee organisation, Paddy Ann Scott’s, and in this episode we talk about her career, some of the challenges she’s been through, both personally and professionally, and how she is now really focused on the culture of the organisation and its people. We talk about how she is getting her work joy right now through some purpose-led activities. 

https://paddyandscotts.shop/

Simon Alexander Ong is a coach, speaker and best-selling author and in this episode we talk about his career, how he really focused on his own development by really asking himself what success looked like for him and how he worked towards it over a number of years. Simon and I also talk about the thinking behind energy and how we can use energy management rather than time management to be able to progress, to get what we want to be able to live the life we want, living life with that intention and really understanding what our purpose is and how we get there.
https://www.simonalexanderong.com/