Every year in November, I dedicate myself to 30 days of gratitude. Nov. 1: Daily acts of gratitude and a habit of connecting with others helps us feel safe, relax, breathe easily, and enjoy life. This year, I’ll be celebrating the many ways we practice gratitude and create positivity in our lives and the lives of others. It feels good and it’s good for you. Feeling safe and accepted is a powerful predictor of overall health. It is also the…
Emotions can help us improve decision making. Unfortunately, emotions can also get in the way. The key is to make decisions based on emotional intelligence, not raw emotions. Most of us don’t think of decision making as an emotional intelligence skill, but often, it’s emotions that get in the way of good decisions. Using emotional intelligence to inform your decisions can help you get better outcomes. Using emotional intelligence means being aware of what you are feeling when weighing your…
Empathy–and other behaviors rooted in emotional intelligence–are essential to creating the conditions for high performance. Empathy is the basis for workplace behaviors that lead to higher performing teams. Building a real culture of performance means going beyond putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It means using empathy and all the other positive behaviors that build relationships of trust and belonging, including listening, recognition, curiosity, compassion and gratitude. Taking time to build authentic relationships of trust is essential to motivating and…
The key to emotional self-expression is the Goldilocks rule: not too much, not too little, just right. Too little emotional self-expression can make you seem weak, and too much can make you feel oppressive, aggressive, or unacceptable. Learning how to express your emotions in just the right way helps unlock your power to increase motivation and engagement. Emotional self-expression is the ability to express yourself in ways that build relationships without offending or demeaning others. It helps you use your…
Building emotional self-awareness increases your ability to motivate, influence, and get results from others. If you listen into C-Suite executives nearly everywhere, you will hear them discussing how this group or that person will feel about a decision. Often, there are long conversations analyzing how to take everyone’s feelings into account before deciding on the right course of action. They are practicing emotional self-awareness, the ability to tune into how they and others feel about something. They know that the…