Empowerment

August 13, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Intuition - one of the greatest gifts you have to guide you in times of doubt and uncertainty. Arianna Huffington describes it as a hunch: the inkling that your inner voice is telling you to do or step away from something. Our ancestors used it to survive; can you access your intuition too? Imagine you have antennas that pick up on frequencies within the environment and from people. It picks up on people's intentions and emotions too. But there are other frequencies causing interference: digital devices, the internet, TV and more....

August 6, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

What do you do when you have an AHA moment? That lightbulb moment – the one that brings clarity to a confusing situation. The International Coach Federation calls this moment ‘Evokes Awareness’. It’s a core competency of coaching that  - through the use of powerful questioning, silence, metaphor or analogy – facilitates client insight and learning. When you have your Aha moment, do you Use it to create change where needed, or Retreat because you’re not ready for change? More than often I see resistance and retreat rather than readiness for change....

July 28, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Did you know that the fear of coronavirus is changing our psychology? It's driving us to be more conformist and tribalistic; our moral judgements are becoming harsher and our social attitudes more conservative. We’re afraid, so we’re holding on to what we know to survive. We don’t have to let fear define us! We can't control what’s going on around us, but we can control what’s going on within us. This is where you hold the power. Inspired by Marie Kondo's art of decluttering, think “your mind is like your house”. YOU decide what goes in. Products, services, people, news...

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...