Building Thriving Workplaces through Compassion with Nathan Regier

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets our guest is Nathan Regier, CEO of Next Element Consulting, author, and expert in compassionate leadership who helps leaders and organizations harness the power of positive conflict to drive growth and transformation. With a unique background as a clinical psychologist, Nathan shares his insights on building trust, fostering collaboration, and creating workplaces where people thrive through authenticity and connection.

You can find him on:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nateregier/

https://www.next-element.com/

Transcript

Nathan Regier: 0:00

What's rewarding is watching change happen and watching people go into situations where they feel hopeless or they've been doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, or it just hasn't gone well. And they approach the situation with new eyes, new strategies, and they see different results. Someone that I look up to, Wayne Dyer. He said that when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Davis Nguyen: 0:22

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight-figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda: 0:53

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Sewards Podcast. I'm your host, Regin, and today's guest is Dr. Nate Regier, a clinical psychologist, author, and the CEO of Next Element, where he helps company culture leaders transform workplace conflict into powerful opportunities for collaboration through compassionate accountability. For more than 16 years, Nate has been at the forefront of reshaping how organizations handle tension, trust, and communication. His work with Next Element blends compassion and accountability into practical frameworks that equip leaders to cut through drama, build trust, and foster cultures where people connect deeply while driving meaningful results. And it's a pleasure for me to have him on the podcast today. Welcome to the show, Nate.

Nathan Regier: 1:43

Thank you so much, Regin. It's great to be here with you and your audience.

Rexhen Doda: 1:47

Thank you so much, Nate. It's a pleasure for us to have you on. And I actually wanted to ask you about Next Element. I know it's been around for a while, for like 17 years now, since 2008, where we started it. So wanted to understand, like at the beginning of it, like what inspired you to come into this business. And I know part of it is also coaching in it.

Nathan Regier: 2:08

Prior to starting Next Element, I was a practicing clinical psychologist. So I like to say I'm a recovering psychologist, even though that was the foundation of the work that we do. And while I was in that position doing psychology, I had the opportunity to experience a lot of different things in this organization. I got to do employee assistance programs. I got to do even adventure ropes courses and team building. And I had some amazing mentors and the opportunity to experience ways of being with people and organizations that made such a big impact. And so we felt like we really wanted to get out of the therapy room and into the boardroom. And that's where we wanted to make our impact. So I joined with several other of my colleagues, and we started NextElement with our mission was to bring compassion to every workplace in the world. And since then, we've continued to develop and refine our proprietary assessment and training methodologies and coaching methodologies so we can do just that.

Rexhen Doda: 3:03

Interesting. And so throughout these 17 years of like working with your clients and going through the journey with them, the coaching journey, what about it do you find most rewarding?

Nathan Regier: 3:13

I would say what's rewarding is watching change happen and watching people go into situations where they feel hopeless or they've been doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, or it just hasn't gone well. And they approach the situation with new eyes, new strategies, and they see different results. Someone that I look up to, Wayne Dyer, he said that when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. And we see that happening for people every day and has an impact on the bottom line, and that's even better.

Rexhen Doda: 3:41

Interesting. So for those of the audience that are listening, and to give you some context here too, we have two groups of audiences. One of them is other coaches, either career coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches. And we also have an audience that we didn't intend to initially when we started the podcast, is a borrowed audience from all of the coaches that we've interviewed in the past. So we have the audiences of our guests too that are listening because they've shared the podcast episode with their LinkedIn profile and their email list. So we've gotten some of their audience. So for those listening that might even fit this, how would you describe the ideal client profile? Is there a certain demographic, psychographic? Do they have some common goals or other commonalities?

Nathan Regier: 4:22

Yeah, good question. And I would say that we could talk about this in terms of individuals, like a coaching client as well as corporate organizational clients. Our ideal individual client would be a leader at any level of their professional career, and they're seeking to be more effective. And what they have realized is that as they've moved up in leadership, the skills that got them there are not the skills that will help them be successful. Because the higher up we go in leadership, the more we need nuanced skills of communication, conflict resolution, negotiating change. And leaders don't get taught that generally before they get promoted. And so they're struggling with this and they want to be effective and they're wondering if they really, really leadership is for them because it's hard. So they're an ideal client. Organizationally, companies that are trying to build more people forward cultures, no matter what the industry is, if they are really interested in putting people at the center and building dynamic teams of people that trust each other, work well together, and move through difficult times together, that is an ideal client for us. And especially when top leadership is supportive and it's aligned with their strategic mission.

Rexhen Doda: 5:27

Cool. And so how is it like for these companies, either the organizations or like the one-one clients that you're working with? What is the engagement they have with NextElement or with you? And we can dive into if there's a team as well or how they work directly with you. But what is the engagement like? What do the offers look like? Is there some sort of a program of a certain length that they go through? What is it like to work with NextElement?

Nathan Regier: 5:51

A great example would be one of our current clients, is ERMCO. And they are one of the nation's largest creators of transformers, the electric transformers that help power the power grid in the US to carry commercial power around. And they are a very traditional manufacturing-based culture, but they want to become people first and want to attract the younger generation and create a great culture and great engagement. So our engagement is multifaceted. We started with executive leadership training with a top senior leadership team so that they could role model and demonstrate the skills they're going to push down. Now we are training 150 mid and upper level leaders in the same skills. We do half day trainings and then we follow up the virtual practice sessions and impact groups, and we're certifying two people inside the company to be trained the trainers so that they can continue to coach and train the material. And now we're about to get involved in some executive coaching situations to help these executive leaders get on board and move into this new way of being because it's hard. It's very challenging. And so we're helping them get on board. And then we're also going to launch an e-course, a self-guided e-course for every single employee to be able to learn the fundamental basics of compassionate accountability. So we're impacting the culture at every level.

Rexhen Doda: 7:06

And so it's basically not just working with the leader himself, but there's also, I guess, some work working with the team as well, since you mentioned the e-course, which is launching soon. Absolutely.

Nathan Regier: 7:17

Yeah. I mean, we might be training a department manager and his team will take the e-course, and then we will support him in implementing those concepts in their daily activities, in the when they're going through conflict together, when they're struggling with change.

Rexhen Doda: 7:30

Where do you find, and this is a question that mostly coaches who are listening will find interesting, where do you find your clients in terms of marketing? Is there some sort of a marketing channel that you see working really well for you?

Nathan Regier: 7:40

You know, it's multifaceted. I would say there's no one channel that works best for us. We use LinkedIn to establish credibility, have conversations, see where the energy is, and we also use it to recruit people to come to public webinars where we share about what we do, we show case studies, answer questions. But honestly, word of mouth and referral is one of the most significant ones we get because when people experience the change, experience the transformation, and they trust us, they will make referrals.

Rexhen Doda: 8:06

That makes a lot of sense. So looking into the future, it's been like 17 years within the industry. For the next one to three years, do you have any specific goals or business goals for next element?

Nathan Regier: 8:17

Yes, we do, actually. And a lot of it focuses around assessment. We've developed several psychometrically validated, scientifically validated assessments that help give leaders and organizations really critical metrics on the health of their culture. And one of the metrics that we use is called the drama resilience index. One number that shows how an individual or an organization is managing the stress of conflict. Are they letting it turn into drama or are they using compassionate accountability to build trust and connection and get results at the same time? So we think it's going to be a vital sign for any healthy organizational culture. So we're investing a lot in exposing people to the assessment and using it as a lead generation opportunity and then also bringing assessment more to the forefront for our customers.

Rexhen Doda: 9:05

So is this something new or has it been around for a while now when it comes to the drama resilience index, this assessment?

Nathan Regier: 9:13

We've been measuring these things for about 14 of the 16 years, but we keep refining the assessment, keep improving it, and keep generating new and better ways to present the data so that it really is meaningful and actionable for our clients. And also accumulating a global database. So we have a lot of intelligence about what we're seeing.

Rexhen Doda: 9:31

So apart from the let's call it DRI or the drama resilience index, what other assessments are there? Is this the only one? There's others.

Nathan Regier: 9:40

We also have several assessments that we use to track outcomes. One of them measures changes in personal efficacy and team efficacy or confidence. And then we also have what's called the program impact assessment, where we can assess how our programs are impacting leadership skills, personal relationships, professional relationships, and so on. So we can show real outcomes data to our clients. And we can also use it to do goal setting and measure change over time.

Rexhen Doda: 10:05

Cool. And I believe for the ones that are listening, they can find these assessments in the website, right next-element.com, if I'm not mistaken.

Nathan Regier: 10:14

Yeah, if you go to next-element.com, right there on the front page, you can try our assessment and you can find out your own DRI, a drama resilience index.

Rexhen Doda: 10:23

Thank you so much for explaining that, Nate. So for the next one to three years, you will basically be pushing these assessments more to help out more companies, right?

Nathan Regier: 10:32

Yes, that is the first priority. We also are bringing AI in. We're being strategic about how we want AI to help us. We're going to probably be launching an AI agent that is going to be a support tool for people who learn and apply our conflict methodology, how to do healthy generative conflict. We have a formula, we have a proven system and a rubric, and we're going to be using AI now to help support people in continuing to do that on a daily basis, conversation by conversation.

Rexhen Doda: 11:00

So would this be like when you say AI agent trained around the drama resilience index or like into how to handle conflicts? What would it entail?

Nathan Regier: 11:09

You can probably imagine, like we have Grammarly now that just automatically gives us real-time updates on grammar. Or right now you can pick the tone that you want to write in and it can adjust it. This will be a support for difficult conversations, conflict, tension, and stress. How do we have those conversations in the most constructive, beneficial way so that it doesn't degenerate into drama and people can get support in how to do that?

Rexhen Doda: 11:33

Many coaches, by the way, do find the AI to be a little bit of a worry for the future, but in your case, you're molding together with it, which is great. Well, it's a good question.

Nathan Regier: 11:44

It's a good issue. We can't live without it, we can't live with it, right? We often worry about new technology. Two things we're discovering is the more that AI can start taking over data management, taking over automation of things, the more people are craving authenticity and true real connection with something that is genuine and authentic. And it's amazing how anybody now can pick out something that's been created by AI almost. You can feel it, you can sense it. No matter how good it gets, humans are going to want to know what's real and what isn't real. And when are humans more real, except for when they're having conflict? It doesn't get more real than that. And so that's where I really think our niche is, and that's where our unique contribution is in an AI world, is to create ways for people to come together and be real and be authentic in the moments that matter most.

Rexhen Doda: 12:31

And just for the coaches who are listening, when it comes to next element, is there a team structure that you have behind? How do you describe that?

Nathan Regier: 12:39

Yeah, our core team of principal owners, there are five of us, and we each have specific roles to run the company. Several of us are contributors also on the side, but for the most part, we are building the business to support a global network of trainers. So we have about 120, 130 coaches, consultants, and trainers that are using these tools under license and purchasing materials from us, and we're supporting them. And some of those are inside companies, training and development departments, coaching departments. Some of them are independent. That is the business and how we operate it. So we really only have five principles.

Rexhen Doda: 13:15

So you'd say that the majority of the business is a licensing business as opposed to you working directly with the clients, or is a mixture.

Nathan Regier: 13:25

We talk about active and passive revenue, two different categories. We are consciously trying to shift the balance to more passive revenue, which is indirect revenue from licensing, materials purchases, those kinds of things. Our e-course is passive revenue, but it's an ongoing struggle. You know, we're a smaller business and we're looking at about a six to a 10 year off ramp for selling or transitioning out. And so we're working to shift that balance to the majority of our revenue being passive.

Rexhen Doda: 13:54

So, where do you see the main challenge in that? Or like for next element right now, what would you say is the next big challenge that you're trying to solve for?

Nathan Regier: 14:05

The next big challenge we're trying to solve for is to make ourselves dispensable because each one of us as founding owners, we have our personalities, we have our unique history, we have our expertise. And so we're trying to codify that, automate it as much as possible, and create products that don't rely on us being present physically. And so transcending ourselves while still being able to deliver the same quality and impact is the big challenge for us.

Rexhen Doda: 14:32

Nate, another thing I wanted to see from your perspective and your experience uh running Next Element, what would you say have been some good investments that you've done throughout your journey that you either learned a lot or got a good return from? And these could be investments of time, money, or both. What investments would you have preferred to have avoided if there's any bad investments as well?

Nathan Regier: 14:55

You had to bring that up. I'm sure all of us have those stories. I would say some of the best investments we make every time when we have tried to simplify our products, engineer and design them to be simpler, easier to understand, cleaner, and more compelling, that always pays off. Our goal is to reach more lives, so it has to be less complicated. We also have invested in our building our own infrastructure to support our assessment environment, support all of our trainers. That's been a great machine. It's still running 15 years later and it's getting better every day. So we can control that. We love that. Probably some of the investments that happen that we probably would change if we could was investing in branding. And that's what we've learned as a firm of our nature is branding doesn't create business. The culture is what creates business. And so, yes, we need a good brand. We need a coherent image, we need good logos and everything. But in terms of branding as a way to sell business, you cannot manufacture a brand. You have to earn it. And so I would caution people on spending too much money on instant success or instant branding. It doesn't work.

Rexhen Doda: 16:03

Cool, that makes sense. So when you say instant branding is basically all of these nice things like a good website or like the logo and things like that, that's not actually that's like what the instant branding would mean, but it's not really you don't get brand by that.

Nathan Regier: 16:19

Yeah, I mean, having people write fancy ways of describing what you do that has all kinds of crazy, amazing language and makes you look so great, that's not gonna work. It might get a little bit of attention. If you don't deliver and if you don't build the relationships and you don't come through with high quality, those things can backfire.

Rexhen Doda: 16:35

Interesting. And so for all the coaches out there that are listening, and this is the final question too, is what advice would you give to these coaches who are thinking of scaling their impact?

Nathan Regier: 16:47

I think it depends. I'm speaking to the coaches, I think it depends on whether you want to sell your business someday or whether you simply want to give it a great run, make the biggest impact you can, make a good living, and then retire. Two different trajectories. If it will be dependent on you, that's great. You can add revenue by creating support things, videos, other kinds of learning. Marshall Goldsmith, one of the most famous coaches, who is also kind of his own business. Now he is an AI agent. You can buy a subscription, and every single thing he's ever written or ever done is out there. So you can pretty much have a relationship with Marshall Goldsmith, but he doesn't have to show up. That's a resource that will transcend him. So that's one way to do it is to create supporting things, microcourses. We've chosen the route of certifying other professionals and selling materials to them. So we equip them with our behavioral technology. Those are just some of the ways that coaches can expand their reach and extend their impact.

Rexhen Doda: 17:43

Thank you so much for coming to our podcast today. This was lovely to have you on the show. For everyone who is listening that wants to connect with you or find you, they can go into LinkedIn, look up Nathan Regier. They'll be able to find your profile. They can also go into the website next-element.com. Is there any other way that people can connect with you or reach out to you? Keep it simple. That is the one way. It will get you to everything you need. Thank you. Thank you so much, Nate.

Nathan Regier: 18:11

Absolutely. It's been great to be with you.

Davis Nguyen: 18:13

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.