Category: Leadership
Relationships at Work: Give What You Want to Get
Strong leadership is based on strong relationships. Have you considered your relationships lately? Here’s what to consider and how to improve them.
Tips for Transitioning after the Pandemic
Hope you all are well and getting outside to enjoy some of this Spring weather. As my blog readers know, getting outside in nature to relax and renew is an important part of self-care. Don’t miss the Spring! And as we transition from Winter to Spring, it’s a good time to consider the transition to the world after the Pandemic. Recently, SIYLI (Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute) conducted a global survey that included 59 countries. In that survey, 85% of respondents reported that Emotional Intelligence skills were critical for the present and in the near future for all of us, personally and professionally! We need now, more than ever, to deepen our human, heart-centered skills to make some big transitions. Check out this article from SIYLI! Here are the article highlights and some excellent tips: Many of us are probably feeling a mixture of both excitement and anxiety about returning to (a new version of) “normal” life. The future we are shaping will require authenticity and vulnerability—pillars that we collectively strengthened over this last year. Human-centered skills like mindfulness and emotional intelligence can support our re-entry process. These skills support us to reflect on what we learned. Then, we can integrate those lessons …
Empathy in the Caring Professions
by Marguerite Ham Balancing Empathy and Burnout I recently read an interesting article in Quartz about the possibility that empathy could cause exhaustion and burnout. This can happen to anyone, but particularly to people in professions which involve caring for people in distress: the ill, the bereaved, the mentally ill, or people in a life crisis. There are three different types of empathy. All of them are part of emotional intelligence: Cognitive empathy means you intellectually understand other peoples’ persepectives and what language would be most effective in communicating with them. Emotional empathy is feeling what the other person feels — which can, in some cases, be too much for us to bear. Empathic concern makes us want to help people in need. We need to look out for “empathy distress,” which happens when we absorb too much of the negative emotions of others. This is widespread in today’s COVID-19 pandemic, even in non-caring professions. Imagine how easy it is for someone in a caring profession, like funeral service or medicine, to slip into this condition! Self-care for empathy distress You can help yourself avoid empathy distress with a good self-care regimen and exercising the self-management part of emotional intelligence. …