“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 …
“To be done right, I have to do it myself.” “Why is this happening to me?” “I’m gonna have to figure this out myself.” “I’m not supported.” Have you ever felt any of these ways? These are common patterns I have to disrupt in my mind on a regular basis. These beliefs are false, but ones that I bought into at a very young age as I was trying to make sense of the world …
I had two friends pass away last month, within one week of each other. Both were young (45 and 50 years old) and both were incredible women who made such a bright impact on the world in their too-short lives. When something like this happens, it makes me think a lot about my life, how I’m spending my time, who I’m spending it with, and whether or not my God-given gifts and talents are being …