May 2020

Every day, at work and at home, we take in multiple world and life experiences. Some are great and rewarding and some are not-so-nice (to put it mildly). Why are some experiences not-so-nice? We all have our own filter, agenda or emotional hot spot (the things that emotionally trigger us). How do they serve us? They add colours, flavours and labels to our experiences. Here’s something to think about: in your daily interactions, which filter, agenda or emotional hot spots do you have in place? Are these filters clouding your relationships and your...

When you’re emotionally fired-up, it becomes difficult to help yourself and others too. Your brain’s emotional centre (limbic centre) is activated, which means you’re at greater risk of saying or doing things you’ll later regret. How can you zoom out and regain perspective? Ask questions! David Rock, author of Quiet Leadership, notes this simple strategy can take you off the Drama rung and on to the Planning and Vision rungs on the ladder to success. Visioning questions give logical food to the brain, thus triggering the ‘business centre’ (Pre-frontal Cortex) and settling the...

We all get emotionally charged at work and in life from time to time. Projects, tasks, relationships and office politics are bound to create frictions and frustration. It’s human and expected. But, if we stay in a place of Drama, our ‘emotional centre’ (Limbic Brain) gets activated and overrides our ‘business centre’ (Pre-Frontal Cortex). Our ability to zoom out, have clarity and regain our Vision is compromised. If we get locked in that state, we further trigger our Amygdala and activate our flight, flight or freeze responses. In those states we certainly...

Last week, I shared about planning (as much as possible) your way through the pandemic. David Rock, author of Quiet Leadership, says there are 5 different ways we can think about or communicate our projects, tasks, processes and goals. He calls this the Choose Your Focus model.   Vision      2. Planning        3. Detail     4. Problem       5. Drama   Imagine a ladder. Most of us spend too much time on the Detail rung. Become too burdened with the nitty gritty Detail and you drop to the Problem and Drama rungs. You lose sight of the big picture; you...