How do you give gratitude? How do you receive it? The American holiday of Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Karin Hurt of the blog Let’s Grow Leaders has compiled an excellent gratitude-themed compilation of essays to help honor the holiday. Topics include: – How to Give Thanks and Praise – The State of…
Communication
The Musicality of Leaders and Teams
Have you ever considered that leadership has a musicality to it? My latest Smartblog on Leadership article explores how successful leadership messages contain the three key elements of music. It occurs to me that you could also look at teams through the “musicality” filter. Melody – the key theme for the team; its purpose Harmony…
Zen of Jen – Practice Saying “No” with This Easy Exercise
Saying “no” isn’t easy for many people. From team members worried about speaking up to their boss, to saying no to a great “opportunity”, it can be difficult to figure out the right way to decline an offer. One of the main reasons we hesitate to say “no, thanks” is that we worry about the…
Deflecting Compliments is Not an Olympic Sport
Have you noticed that some women seem loathe to receive a compliment? It’s almost like one-upping in reverse: who can denigrate themselves the fastest in a conversation? If deflecting compliments was a sport, some women would be Olympic gold medal contenders. Case in point: in a comedy sketch shown on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer,…
Auditing Your Workplace Relationships
First published in 1989, Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was life-changing for me in many ways. I especially appreciated the concept of the Emotional Bank Account, even though it technically isn’t one of the “habits”. Throughout my life, this simple idea of relationship “deposits” and “withdrawals” has helped me monitor…