When did you stop playing? Probably around the time you had your first child (ironically) or got that promotion with the big salary. If you’re like me, your expanding to-do list and pressure to keep up with all your responsibilities began to take priority. And maybe, like me, you started studying time management and high-performance productivity principals and reasoned that play was not something that helped you achieve your ambitious goals. When we stop playing, …
“Is your life hard, Mom?” my 8-year-old asked, as I huffed around the kitchen cleaning up the 80th round of snack plates since school had been called off for an entire week for the 2nd hurricane in 2 weeks. His comment snapped me right into mindfulness as he unknowingly became the mirror I needed to peer into that day. (Our children and relationships are always a mirror into our next level of self-mastery.) I softened …
Giving feedback is like crafting the perfect member or client experience—it requires care, thoughtfulness, and a little finesse. But what happens when someone isn’t quite ready to hear your helpful advice and gets defensive? Here are 5 tried-and-true emotional intelligence strategies to handle defensive moments with grace, so you can use the learning opportunity for growth and accountability, all while keeping service smooth and seamless: 1) Approach as a coach who wants to help. (“Let’s …
Will emotional intelligence make me a “soft” leader or lower my team’s delivery of excellence? Heck to the NO! This is a common concern I get from leadership coaching clients I work with. They think if they change their ways, are less authoritative, and more human-focused, performance will suffer. But the opposite is true. Since Daniel Goleman coined the term emotional intelligence (EQ) in 1995, it has been extensively studied by Harvard, Yale, Learning in …
One of the most common questions I get after delivering a keynote on emotional intelligence (EQ) to mid-level managers is: “How do I get my senior leaders to recognize the importance of EQ?” This tells me that this human-centered approach to leadership is not often embraced by senior leaders — even though we now have decades of data that shows that EQ results in high-performing teams and an elevated service experience. It’s a shame EQ is not …