Blog

July 22, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

I've been asking clients to share how they’ve been feeling as Hong Kong navigates a third wave of Covid19. Typically, the responses have been anxiety, concern, anger, fear and a sense of defeat. They ask me what to do, how to be optimistic, ditch the negativity and keep on going. In her book Emotional Wisdom, Lynn Macwhinnie says every emotion presents a fork in the road and - consciously or not - we choose the path we take. For example, we may select anger and disappointment, or joy and courage. By default,...

July 16, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

When I ask my clients what their mind practice is, they often stare back at me puzzled. We often focus on body practices for physica lhealth - the gym, swimming, and more. Body practices keep our body healthy, muscles toned, cardiovascular system strong and they pump in feel-good hormones. But, what about mind practices for mental health? The mind body connection is real. One cannot be strong, healthy and resilient without the other. If your mind is caught up in daily stories, the circle of concern, and rumination, you embark in strong emotional...

July 9, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Not again! You've forgotten the details discussed at last week's meeting and you didn’t take notes. What's up with your memory nowadays?! Are you sleep-deprived by any chance? Sleep deprivation is a common complaint for Hong Kong executives. Sleep preps the brain for the next day by forming new pathways for learning and memory retention. If you're not getting a full night’s sleep you WILL start to drop the ball. I see 3 recurring causes amongst my executive coaching clients:   Emotional Stress – the high demands for performance combined with long working hours,...

July 2, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Your meeting did not go to plan. Everyone and everything annoyed you. But did the meeting lead to your bad mood or your mood lead to a bad meeting? You were tired and irritable long before you stepped into the room. You were outside your 'window of tolerance.' Coined by Dr Dan Siegel, your 'window of tolerance' refers to the zone of arousal of your optimal state - the zone in which you're best able to function. To receive and process information, and self-regulate to the demands of everyday life with minimal difficulty....

June 25, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Tired of watching your team yawn their way through a workshop and dump their never-to-be-seen-again materials in a drawer? There’s a reason why training programs and workshops fail. Your employees need to know why they're upskilling or developing and the benefits to them. The Conscious Competence Learning Model by Martin M Broadwell shows the 4 stages we go through when learning a new skill or behaviour.   Unconscious Incompetence – you don’t know that you don’t know (your blind spot) Conscious Incompetence  – you're aware of your gap because of feedback Conscious Competence...

June 18, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

And there you were thinking your manager was onside when you vented about your annoying team members and their behaviour! Instead, she thought you were a chronic complainer. Why? Perhaps you're in the Blind Spot. According to the Johari Window - a powerful model identified by late psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham - we have 4 possible perception experiences in a group context.   The Open Self – what you and others are aware of The Blind Self (blind spot) – what others are aware of, but you aren't Hidden self – what you're...

June 11, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

You have two candidates for the job: A and B. You choose A – the one you believe to be the most qualified. What if the names & genders on their resumes were removed? Unconscious bias is real. In fact, 98% of your brain activity is COMPLETELY unconscious. In Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts and memories that influences judgments, feelings or behaviours. We access these resources naturally and spontaneously to make decisions. Sometimes, this works out well for us. Other times, it significantly impacts our behaviour and...

June 4, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

You’ve enthusiastically shared an idea to boost your company’s bottom line. “Good!” your boss says. Sounds positive, right? So, why do you feel deflated? In his renowned book ‘Silent Messages’, Professor Albert Mehrabian shares that our tone, facial expressions, posture and gestures can easily contradict our verbal messages. You have the ability to hear the silence. To comprehend what isn’t been spoken. To recognise When “Good,” actually means “What on earth?!” How can you tell when ‘yes’ means ‘no’ and vice versa? Mehrabian shares the following equation: 7% VERBAL LIKING + 38% VOCAL LIKING + 55%...