When did you last flirt and celebrate with the world?
Leaders, Nothing great has been and nothing great can be accomplished without Passion. G.W.F. Hegel (1770 – 1831), German philosopher Passion is a key topic with all my coaching clients at some point in our process. Professionals require passion to be able to inspire and motivate themselves and their teams. And by doing so, they create engagement, commitment, and direction. What is passion? For me, passion is a very strong feeling about a person or a thing, an idea, hope, dream, or possibility that your mind naturally gravitates to. It’s positive affinity towards something or someone that creates enthusiasm or unusual excitement. In the workplace, passion can provide you with a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment.Over-emphasizing your passions, e.g. by becoming a workaholic, can lead to obsessive behaviors and painfully impact your relationships. Not enough passion can lead to a state of indifference and a lack of sense of purpose [...]
Feedback is Everywhere
Leaders, As it’s time to prepare for the mid-term performance evaluations with your teams, I thought it might be worthwhile sharing as to what could enhance the effectiveness of your feedback discussions. I will talk about formal and informal feedback in this blog post. Giving feedback can be one of the hardest leadership tasks. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t found one that is harder during my managerial career. Anxiety easily comes into play: You don’t want to injure the relationship, you might fear an emotional reaction of your team member or you might be afraid that the data that you used for the evaluation will be questioned; and you might be cautious because of the potential impact of your feedback. This spring, I designed and facilitated a leadership development workshop for a client, an international Switzerland-based company in the financial services industry. Around 50 line managers participated; they had [...]
Anger Management: Take control and express yourself
„Whenever anger comes up, take out a mirror and look at yourself. When you are angry, you are not very beautiful.“ Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames Recently, my little 6-year-old niece, had a fit of rage. She burst out with fury out of the blue when she was at my parents’. She cried, yelled, and screamed at my mum who could not calm her down. She worked herself up without any obvious reason. My dad who was disturbed by the noise, came out of his study, and was deeply moved to see my mum in tears, and asked his granddaughter “What is going on, sweetheart? What is this dispute about?” My niece just said “Grandpa, I do not know what to do with my anger.” And my dad answered in a very strict tone “When you are irked, peeved or angry, the first thing you do [...]
A secret energy source: Discovering and respecting other’s differences
Leaders, Have you ever found another mind that exactly thinks like you? When was your tolerant mindset challenged last? Is respecting other’s differences already part and parcel of your organizational DNA? What are the secret ingredients that you foster and encourage for a tolerant workplace?
Wishing you much happiness this year!
I just got off the phone with a friend and fellow board member of the network for tolerance (www.netzwerk-toleranz.de) whose story truly inspires me. Let me tell you why. Jens is in his twenties and totally into social media, developing software, websites and apps. After a rough start, it took us a while to understand that – though our language and our approaches are different – we actually want the same. Last year, Jens was accepted as stem cell donor. And it didn’t take long for the DKMS (German association for bone marrow donations) to call that he would be the perfect blood match for a severely ill person suffering from leukemia. Jens went through all the medical procedures including minor surgery; and he was pretty much impaired by the consequences. When he shares this experience, though, he always focuses on how good it feels to help someone, realizing that [...]
Have a very happy Holiday Season and a wonderful New Year
Dear Clients, Colleagues, Friends, and Family, As the year 2013 draws to a close, we are taking the time to reflect on its highlights and challenges. It has been a year full of learning, change, and joy. Inspired Executives has two Managing Partners now, issued an eBook on change management, and immersed in more coaching-relevant training activities. And above all, we have worked with more new clients; whose transformation is our success. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We wouldn’t be who we are without you. We are looking forward to new projects and to collaborating with you in 2014. With all our heart we wish you, your teams and your families a delightful, cozy, and inspiring holiday season. May the new year be crowned with success, growth and opportunities for you. Yours, Annette B. Czernik & Heike W. Maurer Inspired Executives annually donate to not-for-profit initiatives that [...]