All right, everyone. Thank you for joining us
once again on Did You Know, the ESCO HVAC podcast.
You know, we spend a lot of time in the technical
delivery and the technical skill side, but sometimes
we don't step back and think about like our own
selves and our own authentic style and delivery
and who we are as educators. So today we're blessed
to spend some time with Christyn Mueller. How
are you doing today? Great. How are you? I'm
doing wonderful. You know, we started having
a conversation about delivering your authentic
self and even just understanding your authentic
self. And I know like for myself, when I came
out of the field and started teaching, I was
a nervous wreck. I was like, you know, who am
I supposed to be? What am I supposed to look
like? How am I supposed to dress? And it took
a little while for me to find out that it was
really about delivering what I was hired to do.
be myself and understand that. But that's not
always the easiest thing to understand. And so
I know you did a class at our conference and
it was incredibly well received. And so I thought
maybe we could like regroup on that and dive
a little bit deeper into like our authentic self.
I would love that. I would love that, Clifton.
So the thought comes to mind as well as I'm facilitating
often and I walk into a classroom and I'm thinking,
who should I be today? And then you take a step
back and you're like, I shouldn't be anybody
but myself because the stories that I'm going
to tell or the personality that I'm bringing
to the table, if it's not me, they're not going
to get anything out of it. Because as educators,
you have to remember. You're at the front of
the room because you know something that they
don't know. Or you're there because you're bringing
something that they want to learn from you. So
that's the number one place to start is keep
reminding yourself you're here because you know
something. And it's your job to display that.
I am wanted here. I do know what I'm talking
about. I hope I do. Yeah, I am wanted. I know
something and I'm bringing some energy to the
table as well. So even thinking back to the conference,
I think my session was at 7 a .m. Why not start
with a game? Right. Let's start with a game,
because that's what I love to do in my free time
is just have some fun. So it's bringing that
energy and that life to to a classroom when folks
may or may not want to be there. Right. We definitely
have those. Yeah. You know, I think about some
of the most successful educators in our industry.
And once I've gotten to know them, I've been
so fortunate to be able to meet and talk to these
people that I used to learn from. And then typically
after meeting them, I find out that, wow, they're
the same person off camera that they are on camera
or in front of the classroom. And I think that
kind of brings that comfort level. I think we
present better when we're in our own skin. Absolutely.
Absolutely. From the stories we tell to, again,
your personality, what you're wearing, all the
things, it allows you to be a little bit more
comfortable. We started saying at the beginning
of this clip that, are you nervous? I'm nervous,
right? But why? Because we're wearing what we
want to wear today. We are who we are. And I
will never apologize for that. Even even thinking
about internal presentations, you know, reviewing
them ahead of time. It's but should you say that?
Should you? Should you not? Why not? I am who
I am. And I'm not going to apologize for a joke
or a story, even if a story doesn't fully make
sense in that moment. It brings people back.
to what I want to talk about as well. Boy, I
know I was just scared to death when I became
an educator on that because I didn't know like
what stories do I have are relevant? You know,
what stories are they going to be received well
because I don't know the audience. And sometimes
I go through classes and not share some of my
best content because maybe I just wasn't like
comfortable in my own skin at the minute. And
later in life, I realized that. And that's really
not a great perspective to have in front of a
classroom. Exactly. Exactly. I think for the
first several years in my career, nobody knew
I had children. They had no idea I did because
I was under the impression I leave my work or
my home life at home. Right. And my work life
at work. And then I thought, you know what? No,
because some things that are happening at home,
some of the funny stories that happen or some
of the life lessons that I'm learning in my house
are really applicable at work as well. So why
not let them in to to your authentic self? I
think I am. better engaged as an educator when
I am 100 % myself. Wow. Okay. We're letting the
curtains down. I'm going to open some vulnerability
here. You sparked something, especially about
children. So one of the things that I have always
struggled with in my professional career is that
I've been divorced twice. And when I bring that
up in class, people are like, well, do you just
suck at relations? I was like, well, that's a
piece of it. I've had to learn a lot along the
way. But as a technician, I typically worked.
When I was on overtime, when I was on call, I
would work 70, 80 hours in a week, and I missed
a lot of home life. And for a long time, I was
very embarrassed of that, that my work had such
a detrimental consequence in my personal life.
Even though I was excelling professionally, I
struggled personally because of that. And after
I started sharing that in classes, especially
with those hungry, those hardworking service
technicians, once I started sharing that, a lot
of them would say, you know, I've always wondered
that if I work too much. Does it affect the home
life? I'm like, it absolutely does. And I don't
think enough of us talk about that because in
reflection, there's a lot of things I learned
as an adult once I started focusing on these
communicating skills and interpersonal communication
and understanding my own emotional intelligence
that I started realizing that those kind of stories,
those genuine, those struggles, those heartfelt
experiences that we may. be a little bit ashamed
to bring up in front of a class, sometimes it
is the thing that can make us connect even stronger
to that class. So it's an uncomfortable place,
but it's a place of growth like most uncomfortable
situations are. Yeah, if you're not uncomfortable,
you're not growing. Exactly. Well said. Right.
And I think I think, again, those lessons learned
make you a better employee. They make you a better
educator and they make you a better leader over
time. And we're all we're all leaders in our
own right. So it allows us to take those situations
and share that vulnerable situation, become transparent.
It allows you to be a little bit more approachable
as well. So I said, you know, you're you're at
that classroom in front of the classroom because
you know. something that potentially they don't
know. But you also have to take the wall down
and be that approachable person that we all want
to be. And sometimes it's sharing those scary
stories or saying, hey, I really messed up today.
Here's what happened. And they're like, oh, I've
done that too. Or I've been in that situation.
And let's talk about it, right? So it's not scary
or embarrassing. It's let's all learn together
as one. Yeah, I have a really close friend and
I try not to call him out socially, but I'm going
to today, Paul Grimm. So Paul Grimm is an amazing
educator. He's just a phenomenal friend and human
being. And every time I ask him about doing classes,
he's like, I don't know what I have to offer.
And I don't think he realizes how much he actually
has to offer. And I think many people, they...
struggle to become educators. They struggle to
make that transition from technicians into the
classroom only because they don't see themselves
as having something to offer, not realizing that
they have so much to offer. And it's getting
past that mental barrier. I mean, it really is
a mental barrier to understand who our authentic
self is. If someone is asking us to present a
class, It's probably because you know what you're
talking about and we want that to be shared with
the world. Yeah, absolutely. It takes a little
bit of, to your point, self -reflection. You
know, what do I bring to the table in allowing
feedback from others to come in and take that
positive feedback and grow from it? I think so
many times we're not willing to. to ask for the
feedback. So we have to seek the feedback and
then be open to hearing what folks have to say.
And you'd be surprised, right? They'd say, oh
my gosh, you're so great at that. Or why haven't
you thought about doing this? And it just takes
that one encouragement sometimes to be your authentic
self and to say, hey, you know what? I was meant
for this because I don't know that many of us
walk into this thinking. I'm going to be an educator
for adults for the rest of my career. We happen
to fall into it sometimes because it was that
little piece of encouragement that came to the
table. We have such a shortage of technicians
in our industry. In most trades, we have a shortage.
But the thing that we don't always talk about
enough is the fact that we have just as much
of a shortage of educators. When COVID came along,
Many of our experienced educators took early
retirement. And so we have a lot of new generation
of instructors coming into the classroom, which
is wonderful. But I also like to reach out to
those experienced technicians that have never
thought about. teaching, have never thought about
becoming an instructor because what they have
to give back, they don't always understand the
value in that, right? Those experiences, those
life lessons, those little things that could
save one minute here and five minutes here and
10 minutes there. Well, when you bring those
into a classroom and you start sharing those,
well, those little one minutes start multiplying
by however many people you have in that classroom.
And it just starts multiplying and steamrolling.
So I always like to encourage, you know, our
our listeners, our technicians that haven't yet
became educators, but have always wondered what
it would be like. I can tell you it's a very
gratifying experience to be able to feed minds.
That's really what we're doing when we come into
the classroom. And so making that step, that
self -reflection of who am I? You know, do I
have what it takes to. speak in front of a classroom.
And I always like to ask the question, have you
ever given any technicians around you words of
advice? And if you have, you actually already
have became an educator and may not have realized
that. And so we want to push, we want to push
everyone to understand what they can be and who
they could potentially become. Absolutely. It's
those things that the book can't teach you. You
can sit in a classroom all day long, but it's
the stories that people are going to walk away
with. And I was saying before, and you were mentioning
it too, but feedback. I keep feedback from every
class, every presentation I ever give, and I
keep it in a folder. When I'm having a day, Clifton,
when I'm having that day, I go back to that and
say, you know what? I am good at this. This is
what I meant. to do. So some of those things,
and we're mentioning stories and what impact
you can give somebody. A piece of feedback I
read this morning was some of the stories and
lessons that we talked about in the classroom
will live on for years. So we'll take these with
us in our job. take onto our team as well. So
I think that's the powerful piece of being an
educator is it's not always what's on the slide.
What's on the slide is great, but it's what you
are bringing to the table within your authentic
self that makes the biggest difference. I hadn't
really thought about that from that self -reflection
aspect. When we were coming out of the conference,
you know, in the feed loop app, the new app that
we've been using for the conference, there's
a section for feedback for the classrooms. And
it was just a couple of days after the conference,
we were all regrouping, starting to sort through
some of the things. And I got an email from Renee.
She's like. I just seen the coolest thing. Look
at this information. And she shared it. And it
was your email about all of the reviews from
your classroom because you had had a feedback
request from everyone in your classroom. And
now it completely makes sense. Like that could
be a strong motivator for why am I good at what
I'm doing? Actually reading the responses from
the classroom. It reminds you to be who you are.
That's the biggest thing that I take away from
it. It's not, wow, Kristen, you killed it. You're
great at this and just keep hyping yourself up.
But it's a reminder that, yeah, it was okay that
I took 30 seconds to tell that silly story. It's
okay that we took the first five minutes to play
a game, but that's who I am. And then it's going
to bring folks in to pay attention to the meat
of what you have to offer as well. You see a
little glimpse of, okay, she's not just somebody
standing at the front of the room. She is who
she is. It's what you're going to get, whether
that be, you know, a silly outfit or a silly
game. You never know, right? Yeah. I definitely
go with the silly outfits. But it's so funny
because since I've started doing that, right,
that was actually supposed to be a one -time
thing. You know, when we went to AHR two years
ago, that was my very first time going to AHR.
It was my first big conference in my new role.
And I was just like, man, it's got to be big
or it's got to be nothing. And so, you know,
I grabbed some gold sequined suits for the team.
And we went to AHR in gold sequined suits. And
it brought so many questions and comments. But
out of that. I started getting requests. What
are you wearing next? What are you bringing next?
And I thought, okay, great. This has now become
like my thing, whether I want it or not. But
then I started seeing other educators breaking
out of their comfort zone, doing classes in outfits
and costumes. And it started making me think
that, man, wow, if we could help release that,
like let that inner self, let that true self.
be more comfortable in their skin in front of
the classroom, it does become a more interesting
and engaging classroom. Absolutely. Because,
again, you're bringing your true self to that
classroom. You're not pretending to be somebody
that you're not. The amount of energy it takes
to be somebody that you are not meant to be is
exhausting. Oh, yeah. We think about how nervous
are you at that front of the classroom or did
you review all of your materials? You know, what
questions should I ask? How do I keep them engaged?
There's a thousand things going on. Imagine adding
to it. somebody that you're not. And, you know,
how should I stand? What mannerism should I have?
Should I smile? Should I not? All the things
that you're not, perhaps, you know, it's going
to expend so much energy that you just don't
have. And I'd rather put that into being who
I am and giving them the material that I'm there
to do. Yeah, no, absolutely. You know, I always
reflect back on my very first classroom. So I
came out of the field. I spent over 20 years
as a refrigeration technician and building automations
engineer. And when I came into the classroom,
I was so nervous. You know, bought a new sport
jacket, new slacks, new shoes. I was just clean
and trim. And showed up for the class, and it
was a continuing education class. And in Indiana,
continuing education is not required. And so
I was all nervous and excited, and no one showed.
I was heartbroken. I was like, I thought I was
doing everything right to be this. instructor,
this person. And then, so I got past that on
that first class. And on my second one, I was
like, you know what? I'm not putting that kind
of work into it. And so I was just in almost
work clothes, like not quite technician, but
pretty dang close for my second class. And I
was in there and I was wiring up an EC motor
onto an exercise bike. And I was running light
bulbs and I was running all the wiring and people
started actually coming in for class. And they're
like, Are you the instructor? And I'm like, uh
-oh. I've got students this time. They're like,
what are you doing? I'm like, I'm having fun
generating power from a motor off from this exercise
bike. And then it just went. I realized just
that if I could be myself in all my quirkiness,
people really enjoyed it that much more. It wasn't
what they were expecting. It wasn't that instructor
that I. portrayed on day one that I was uncomfortable
being in. It was just myself. Yeah. I mean, one
of the biggest things, it's silly, but one of
the biggest things we talk about presenting or
being an educator is wear something that you're
comfortable wearing. If you're not comfortable,
you're pulling at your jacket, you can't walk
in the shoes because they're not meant for that
environment or so on, right? So wear what you're
comfortable wearing, be who you are, and just
bring your whole self. I think about... you know,
again, transparency and just being authentic
in general. So one of my team members said this
morning, I said, wow, that was a silly story.
I don't know why we went there in your one -on
-one today. And she goes, but that's okay because
you're approachable, right? You're approachable.
And I was nervous for a conversation today. So
it brought the wall down, right? It brings the
walls down and just allows you to be that approachable
educator that you want to be. I love it. So moral
of the story, bring your authentic self and be
proud of it. Yeah, be proud, be proud. Don't
apologize for who you are. Again, you're there
because you know something that they don't know
and you're there to share yourself with them
as well. Not just the content, but your stories,
your experiences and everything that you're bringing
to the table, whether it's a sequined suit or
not. Clifton, I'm not sure, but bring it because
just bring it. That might be the name of this
podcast. Now I think about it, just bring it.
Just bring it. Yep. I love it. I do too. Krista
Mueller, thank you so much for joining us. How
can our audience learn more about you and what
you're doing in our industry? Check out LinkedIn.
I have a lot of things going on out there as
to where I'm presenting what I'm doing. New and
exciting initiatives that were going on. I'm
also a member and a board member of the Women
in HVAC organization. So please, please join
that as well if you have the opportunity. Okay.
Well, we thank you so much for your time today.
Absolutely. Thank you, Clifton.