Pandemic uncertainty?Take mindful pauses!
I am, like most of you, working from home. I "tele-coach". It works well. I should be relaxed but I feel restless/anxious. I find that the most difficult part of this pandemic is the uncertainty we are all facing. Uncertainty about our health. Uncertainty about how long we have to stay home. Uncertainty about our future plans. Uncertainty about our jobs. Uncertainty about the economy. What to do?
First, it’s important to understand that fear is a basic human mechanism. It helps us survive. But fear mixed with uncertainty can lead to something quite bad for our mental health: anxiety. And when anxiety is spread by social contagion it can lead to panic.
Taking a mindful pause works by keeping the thinking parts of our brains “online” so we can help rather than hinder. Taking a moment to pause in stressful situations, whether that means you take three deep breaths or simply pay attention to the feeling in not-anxious parts of your body (like your feet or your hands), helps ground you in calmer emotions.
Breath and ask yourself: What do I need to do this hour?
Do not use the word INNOVATION when it comes to engaging employees
Innovation is a management buzzword . In fact, it has been the buzzword for so long, you could say we’ve developed a cult around it. There is only one problem: We managers might love innovation. But most of our employees hate it. The word “innovation” might speak to your external stakeholders, but when it comes to engaging your employees, it’s time to stop using the word. Research shows why:
Leef in het nu, niet voor later
Ik zat in de auto en hoorde dit liedje van Klein Orkest. De tekst trof mij. Tijdens mijn coaching gesprekken hoor ik mensen praten over de toekomst, hun carrière pad en of over hoeveel jaar ze nog "moeten". Of over hun relatie die niet goed is. We hebben het dan over het beïnvloeden van het huidige leven en wat het betekent om niet te blijven zitten waar je zit. Deze tekst inspireerde mij om nog bewuster te kiezen wat goed voor mij is. Ik hoop dat deze tekst jullie ook inspireert.
When leaders delegate successfully
In my own work as a leadership coach, I have recognized when leaders delegate successfully. It’s important for delegators to set aside their attachment to how things have been done in the past but reward novel approaches that work by doing the following:
Positive performance but Position eliminated
While it seems counterintuitive, strong performance in your role doesn’t equal job security. I’ve seen plenty of firsthand evidence of this through coaching a wide range of executives in diverse industries. Research supports this reality as well. In a Zenger and Folkman study, 77% of employees whose positions were eliminated had received positive performance reviews in the year prior to their dismissal. As the researchers proved, numerous factors go into a company’s decision to retain or eliminate individual employees. When our position is eliminated, even though when our performance was positive, we get a false sense of security. By recognizing the signs that your job may be in jeopardy, you can take the needed actions to prepare, and make choices that will expand your options in the future.
Sometimes the clues are so subtle that recognizing them is difficult. But being attuned to these 4 underlying messages is critical to career survival.
Terugblik 2019
Het was voor mij een leerzaam en inspirerend jaar. Dank aan allen met wie ik dit mocht delen.
=De gemiddelde leeftijd van mijn cliënten daalde.
=De vraag naar work-life balance nam toe.
=De vraag naar team-leadership versus management nam toe.
Thema’s:
=Gelijkwaardigheid.
=Het minder verpersoonlijken van werk.
=Het omgaan met weerstanden zonder het op jezelf te betrekken en het omgaan met autoriteit als je daar gevoelig voor bent.
Regelmatig hebben we de volgende conclusie getrokken:
Workplace wellness- less burnouts
When employees are put in a high-stress situation — whether from unclear expectations, unreasonable deadlines, or a hectic workspace — they are at risk of moving into fight or flight mode. This is something that happens to our bodies when we feel threatened. The primal, more emotional, parts of our brain takes over, and our ability to think long term, strategize, and innovate decreases. If we stay in this mode too long, eventually, we get burned out. Below read the 14 most important tips for managers to help prevent burn-outs.
Saturday 16 November 2019 hits: 578
Sollicitatie personal pitch
'Vertel eens iets over jezelf?'
Een lastige vraag in het sollicitatiegesprek, want hij is zo breed en vaag. Hierbij een aantal suggesties:
Humans over robots?
50 % of the jobs cannot be automated because of emotion and context.
First, emotion. Emotion plays an important role in human communication. It is critically involved in virtually all forms of nonverbal communication and in empathy. But more than that, it is also plays a role in helping us to prioritize what we do, for example helping us decide what needs to be attended to right now as opposed to later in the evening. Emotion is not only complex and nuanced, it also interacts with many of our decision processes and is difficult to build into an automated system.
Second, context. Humans can easily take context into account when making decisions or having interactions with others.
Feeling guilty towards your parents?
This weekend I heard two stories from young male adults about feeling guilty towards their parents (father) because of the choices they want to make in their adult live. I thought ...very interesting in this time and age. So I asked them:
“How come you cannot talk about this subject to your parents? “
They said: “Fear for disappointing them and quilt for not being the perfect son.”
When I asked more questions, I heard that most of their thoughts and fears were not real but felt real according to their assumptions. And what they had experienced as a child.
But now we are adults...Unfear yourself.... Let’s learn to talk more as equals about our mutual expectations. And check our assumptions by being explicit in our questioning. F.i.” What does disappointment mean to them?”