Cathy N.
Burnout Prevention and Wellbeing Speaker & Trainer at Sensational Leadership
Human Resources
Education: Manchester University - Indiana University
Reno, NV, USA
Biography
Cathy Norris is a professional speaker and trainer who helps overworked leaders and HR professionals manage stress and prevent burnout for themselves and their teams. Her keynotes and workshops help attendees look beyond time management to uncover individual and organizational strategies to enhance their emotional wellbeing.
Cathy has over 30 years of experience working with companies from AT&T to Walmart across four continents as a consultant, Learning & Development manager, and leadership and wellbeing coach. She has presented to over 100 organizations and podcasts, including SHRM, DisruptHR, the Association for Talent Development (ATD), and NBC’s Sheila Mac Show. Cathy served as 2022 President of the Northern Nevada Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
In addition to completing PhD studies in Instructional Systems Technology, Cathy earned an MA in Education and is a Certified Emotional Intelligence Trainer and a Conversational Intelligence® Coach.
Her interactive and engaging approach has made her a sought-after speaker and facilitator for company wellbeing initiatives, industry association meetings and conferences.
Passion
My passion is helping overloaded professionals prevent burnout and elevate their wellbeing at work, particularly HR professionals, senior leaders, and other complex roles.
I'm also passionate about helping organizations look at their existing structures to discover how they can improve wellbeing by increasing psychological safety and a sense of belonging for all employees.
Featured Video
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
Everything is negotiable
Topics
Best Story
In an overseas regional Learning & Development Manager assignment while serving multiple VP stakeholders with no staff to help me, I was responsible for everything from handouts at every training to the regional training strategy. Overwhelm was my modus operandi, which I accepted as a normal part of corporate life.
One day, I strangely woke and just couldn’t go to work. I later found myself in a doctor’s office crying my eyes out. Diagnosed with clinical depression, my subsequent journey through cognitive therapy helped me take control of my work and life decisions, avert serious burnout and gave me the new perspective that my health, wellbeing and happiness were more important than any job.
I now help overloaded professionals distinguish overwhelm from burnout, recognize the symptoms of burnout before burning out, and learn tools to maintain emotional wellbeing at work and at home.
Origin Story
My journey from burnout to emotional self-awareness inspired me to learn about emotional intelligence and the neuroscience of emotions. I became certified in emotional intelligence and founded Sensational Leadership to help stressed-out high-achieving leaders integrate emotional intelligence skills to improve their relationships, reduce stress, increase joy, and meet change with courage.
After the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic struck, my Society of Human Resources Management Chapter asked me to speak about emotional agility during crisis. This evolved into a year-plus weekly program to support HR professionals' emotional wellbeing. The mental health benefits they gained led me to focus my speaking and training programs on emotional wellbeing and burnout prevention.
Sharing what I've learned about managing stress and emotions in high-intensity workplaces brings me deep fulfillment as it helps overworked professionals recognize how they often block themselves from their own emotions and how to practice resilience in the face of emotions that distress them.
Example talks
Overworked or Burned Out? Spot the Warning Signs Early
Work burnout is a growing concern for overworked leaders, employees and organizations
alike. While feeling overwhelmed is common, many individuals fail to recognize the subtle
signs of burnout until it significantly impacts their wellbeing and performance.
In this eye-opening session, Cathy will highlight how burnout shows up by sharing four
research-based symptoms of burnout. Attendees will be given an opportunity to identify
the symptoms they’re most at risk for with a 2-minute Burnout Symptom Assessment.
Cathy will share strategies to address each of the four symptoms, highlighting approaches
that address core wellbeing needs.
Attendees will:
· Distinguish the differences between overwhelm and burnout
· Gain awareness of burnout symptoms to look for in themselves and team members
· Assess attendees’ risk of burnout in each of the four symptoms
· Identify personal prevention strategies for each of the four symptoms
“Cathy's workshop was just in time for our team to use new tools to manage work overload
and achieve more work-life balance. Her authentic presentation style put the team at ease
and allowed our group to open up and share their challenges and struggles with work
stress and burnout. I highly recommend Cathy's program!”
—Julie Regan, Executive Director of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
I've given this as a 60-minute talk for a SHRM meeting and a SHRM conference, for internal training in organizations, and podcast interviews (without giving my Burnout Symptom Assessment but providing the link).
Creating Trust in Challenging Conversations
When you use your conversations to elevate trust, even during difficult conversations, you will create positive energy in your people, increase their engagement and boost their creativity and innovation. This workshop or presentation focuses on elevating the level of trust within teams and increasing the quality of their interactions and conversations.
Cathy takes participants through powerful and engaging activities designed to help your team understand the impact their words have on the neurochemistry of others. They’ll learn the 3 Levels of Conversation for achieving three types of informational goals and how to use each in a healthy way, which results in positively influencing their team members’ engagement, creativity, and productivity.
Attendees will:
‣ Understand the power of conversations and your conversational patterns
‣ Tap into your executive intelligence by working with your brain (not against it)
‣ Turn conflict into co-creation with three Conversational Agility tools to master interaction
dynamics
“Cathy’s message about building trust is critical to becoming more effective leaders and communicators. In addition to highlighting the ways we compromise that trust, Cathy provides clear tools and steps to maximize trust-building. As a meeting and conference planner, this is a message my clients and leaders need to hear as they seek to improve themselves and their organizations.”
- Elizabeth Shaw, Event Planner, CEO, Davine Events
I've given this as a presentation for SHRM and other professional associations, at a conference, and internally within organizations.