Leadership

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%...

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

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...

May 21, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

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...

May 14, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

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...

May 7, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

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...

April 30, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Sleep

There’s only so much planning we can do during this ever-evolving crisis. But some planning is essential for our emotional and mental wellbeing. The brain is a pattern-recognition machine. It thrives on certainty; it’s constantly trying to predict the future and it’s always ready to assume the worst. Enter the daily plan! A plan can offer some certainty and crowd out negative thoughts. As much as you can, plan your day. Define your goals, set activities, schedule nurturing breaks and time with loved ones (if you’ve got young kids who upend your plans,...

April 23, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Feel like you’re losing control? You’re not alone: a curveball like no other, the global pandemic has taken over our lives in countless ways. Many are feeling stressed and overwhelmed.   What CAN you control in these difficult times?   Acknowledge your Circles. Like me, you have one circle of influence and one circle of concern. Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, advises that these circles represent the two areas where you can focus your time and energy: the circle of concern (all concerns) and the circle of influence (the things...