Press your “Pause Button” in a Trigger Situation

My blog for this week is inspired by a “quote of the week” that I received in my mailbox.  The quote is by Doug King and reads, “Learn to pause…or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you”.

Effective leaders are often recognized as having good people skills. But the person they are most skilled at handling is themselves. They start from the inside and work out.

Emotional Intelligence is an inside-out job. It starts with oneself. The more skilled a leader is at emotional self-awareness and emotional self-regulation, the more effective they are in leadership.

Research in the area of emotional intelligence has shown that when people are aware of their emotions and reactions, they are better able to self-regulate and choose how they want to respond.

Emotional self-regulation is the ability to step back in an emotionally charged situation and “hit the pause button” before responding. When you do this, you can make better decisions about what to say or do (or not say or do) in that situation.

When situations trigger a negative response, we are more likely to act in ways that are defensive, disrespectful and unproductive.  When leaders form a habit of “hitting the pause button” they are better able to recognize how to respond in ways that would be helpful to change, effective communication and resolution.

Here is a simple exercise to help you experience the benefit of “hitting the pause button”.

1.       Describe a situation that typically triggers a negative reaction for you.

2.       “Hit the pause button” – step back and ask yourself:

• What is my self-talk around the situation that is making me feel negative?  And, how can I coach myself to stay calm and focused?
• What do I want the outcome of this situation to be? And, how can I respond to best lead toward this outcome?

3.       Choose the response that is most respectful and productive.

Warm Regards, Georgine

Innovation – Turning Ideas into Action

Every organization has a unique personality.  And, every organization has aspects of their culture that really work for them – things that have helped them be successful, developed their reputation and engaged their employees.

I’ve been working recently with a client organization on the development of a leadership curriculum that will help sustain the strengths of its culture.  I have been inspired each day I have the opportunity to work with them.  And, especially inspired when observing how the value of innovation is alive and thriving in their organization.

Innovation can have different interpretations or meanings for different people and organizations.  In this organization, innovation is a noun of action.  Innovation is about putting people’s ideas into action and it requires patience with process and trust in relationships.

In this organization, the state of the economy has a direct and immediate impact on their bottom line and budgets.  And, like any other organization they need to continually develop and make sure that their employees have the tools and equipment to do their jobs.  So, they have been challenged over the last decade to maintain their momentum of progress in organizational development.

How do they do it?  What’s the evidence that innovation is alive in their culture?

I think that evidence was best explained by one of the leaders in the organization.  Here is what he told me.  “It’s easy to find solutions when you only think about adding resources or staff.  It requires innovation to drive progress when resources are scarce. We are very resourceful as an organization. We can find 9 ways to do things where as in another organization they may simply say, we can’t do it.  We have the fortitude and persistence to figure it out. We can do so much with so little. I think that we’ve created a culture where it’s kind of fun for people to try to figure out how to get it done. I remember a workshop that we did recently where we brainstormed cost savings and revenue generating ideas.  We literally ran out of wall space and paper!”

If you would like to turn ideas into actions in your organization here is some advice from one organization that does it well.

·    Focus your vision on your customer driven purpose
·    Generate ideas with the people who do the work
·    Develop the best ideas with an interdependent team
·    Educate and advocate for your ideas; this builds trust
·    Practice the discipline of patience and perseverance

Respectfully yours, Georgine