In a group setting as a life coach it is important to balance power dynamics.
It is important to create a space of mutual respect and understanding.
Being inclusive creates an expansion of thoughts and ideas in openness tolerance and acceptance of new possibilities.
In a group setting it is important to hold space by balancing participation through inclusive ways like encouragement appreciation and rewarding contributions. This ensures the power dynamics are kept in check by empathic approach and moderation by allowing space for all to speak up, so as to prevent lopsided conversations.
Have you had any such experience as a team member ?
Do share your experiences of power dynamics at play in group setting.
Building people up is a skill worth valuing and investing in. For great teams are not formed simply by hiring for roles. A whole lot of nurture and consistent care goes into team building. A strongly motivated & purpose driven team is empowering for any organisation no matter the odds.
Besides all the values and skill training imparted to a team there is one very important team builder that makes all the difference. The power of positive words, used and conveyed by the leaders, the appreciation, that is authentic, genuine hopeful and trustful. This is a game changer that drives home the message that we are together, no matter what.
One kind word changes the trajectory of the day.
Here are a few positive ways to communicate with your team.
Words that share genuine care and support :
How are you doing?
What are your challenges now?
How can I support your growth?
Words that create confidence and empowers:
I believe in you.
I trust your judgment.
Tell me more about what you think we should do?
Words that share appreciation for the effort and encouragement :
This calls for a celebration
Thank you
If you haven’t already do try incorporating these words in your conversations with your team from today and watch the power of these words unfold.
Building trust creates a rapport for greater communication. Besides listening actively, addressing any issues and finding resolutions together immediately builds trust in a team. Being authentically approachable adds to the trust. Creating a transparent process and protocols for idea sharing helps. Showing appreciation for the ideas generated brings forth confidence to share more. Most importantly, giving credit where it is due by acknowledgements fosters trustful teams. Creating a responsive, cohesive and collaborative team requires transperncy in purpose.
Empathic leaders find it easier to understand the challenges of their teams but they also need to be empathic to themselves to avoid burnout and manage their lives.
Stress Management for Leaders
If you are feeling stress beyond a level you can handle as a leader you need to introspect.
There could be many factors that build up the stress often without your own knowing. It can happen to anyone after all we are only human. And it would be good to acknowledge the importance of work life balance and self care.
Are you biting more than you can chew? To manage work stress as a leader, while delegating work check, if you are delegating tasks with clarity to the team.
Are you approachable and exercising patience in communication?
Are you checking if they have understood your requirements?
Are your mails, messages and your attitude, building people up?
Remember the way you chose to behave rubs off on people. While it’s only human to err and there could be good & bad days, being a leader is a responsiblity. For you have the power to influence and impact lives.
Likewise your actions beliefs and behaviour can affect your own health. Hence managing your own stressors empathically become paramount as a leader to get work done.
Every now and then tweaking your own approach, to the changing needs, being flexible and adaptable helps you and your team towards reducing work stress.
Why delegate work, when you can do it on your own. Because it is common sense that with growth, work increases you will need people to get things done. And without trusting people, you cannot build a team that you can trust. A huge part of delegation is about being accountable to get the work done well.
Successful delegation empowers a team. It is about finding the right person or team for the job. Mastering the art of delegation is rewarding in the long term for it develops and builds skills enhances productivity. It validates the values of collaboration and trust to the team hence improves the attitude at work in a team.
Moreover it improves the time management not only for you but for the team and the organisation thereby increasing productivity and this can help find balance in professional work and personal life.
Do you delegate with the right attitude and for the right reasons?
Your emotions are your friends. Sometimes you find them at war with each other. They need your understanding. They are your supportive vents of expression to take the pressure off and make you sense the pleasure of life.
Create a beautiful life by improving your emotional health. And develop your emotional intelligence. It helps you identify where your strengths are and where you need to work on.
Emotional intelligence gives you a headstart in managing not just your emotions but also an ability to understand and to even influence anothers emotions.
In leadership roles this gives you an edge in managing people and teams
So how can you begin to improve your Emotional Intelligence?
Start by cultivating empathy for life. See things from anothers perspective. It will increase your understanding and help build strong relationships.
Work on your communication skills by practice of listening actively and respectfully. It can positively impact the way you are perceived.
Practice self awareness to become more mindful of how you feel and how your own emotions affect your thoughts and actions.
Acknowledge stress and balance it well by being active by regularly walking or picking a sport, or even dancing.
Think positively about life by inculcating a positive attitude.
At the same time allow your self to seek feedback to understand where you are doing fine and how to improve further.
Emotions are part of being human. Working on your emotional health and developing your emotional intelligence can be a game changing skill in life.
An old man meets a young man who asks: “Do you remember me?” And the old man says no. Then the young man tells him he was his student, And the teacher asks: “What do you do, what do you do in life?” The young man answers: “Well, I became a teacher.” “ah, how good, like me?” Asks the old man. “Well, yes. In fact, I became a teacher because you inspired me to be like you.” The old man, curious, asks the young man at what time he decided to become a teacher. And the young man tells him the following story: “One day, a friend of mine, also a student, came in with a nice new watch, and I decided I wanted it. I stole it, I took it out of his pocket. Shortly after, my friend noticed the his watch was missing and immediately complained to our teacher, who was you. Then you addressed the class saying, ‘This student’s watch was stolen during classes today. Whoever stole it, please return it.’ I didn’t give it back because I didn’t want to. You closed the door and told us all to stand up and form a circle. You were going to search our pockets one by one until the watch was found. However, you told us to close our eyes, because you would only look for his watch if we all had our eyes closed. We did as instructed. You went from pocket to pocket, and when you went through my pocket, you found the watch and took it. You kept searching everyone’s pockets, and when you were done you said ‘open your eyes. We have the watch.’ You didn’t tell on me and you never mentioned the episode. You never said who stole the watch either. That day you saved my dignity forever. It was the most shameful day of my life. But this is also the day I decided not to become a thief, a bad person, etc. You never said anything, nor did you even scold me or take me aside to give me a moral lesson. I received your message clearly. Thanks to you, I understood what a real educator needs to do. Do you remember this episode, professor? The old professor answered, ‘Yes, I remember the situation with the stolen watch, which I was looking for in everyone’s pocket. I didn’t remember you, because I also closed my eyes while looking.’ This is the essence of teaching: If to correct you must humiliate; you don’t know how to teach “
In continuation to my earlier post on trust I share a few verses that flowed along…
Trust is the lifeline Between people That keeps hope alive In faith and belief That things will come through In trust life resurrects And success sustains In feeling fulfilled.
A lack of trust Erodes relationships Personal or professional For when trust is broken Efforts become meaningless For sense of purpose is lost Without trust Every thing crumbles… Until trust is gained Nothing matters.
Any technological l advancement calls for updating of skills and most of all adaptability.
Adaptability of any new technology calls for embracing change and developments in both actions & attitude…
For adaptability calls for new learnings with the curiousity of an optimist. A willingness to uncover the new. to acknowledge with enthusiasm In exploration and discovery Of the potential possibilities. And the acceptance of errors & misses inspite of the best efforts & most of all a relentless development of resilience to bounce back on the path.
Do share your thoughts and insights on Adaptability.
Thoughts, make an impactful difference. Choosing to think positively makes dealing with transitions, and adapting to the changes easier If you experience unexpected challenging changes in your career. It’s good to acknowledge three things One, that it is a new opportunity for new learnings Welcome the possibilities. Two, you can begin to apply your unique combination of skills and knowledge from your previous experiences and bring a fresh perspective wherever you are. Explore your potential.
Three, that if things seem difficult at first, you are paving the road to resilience. Keep the faith and stay patient .Times change. Persevere When you think of life in plusses, every turn becomes a beautiful path..
Sometimes life makes you teach yourself many things…
Giving the benefit of doubt
There are many crossroads in life be it in a career with any organisation or in partnerships, or even personally between people or teams, where point of views are different and clash of perspectives on decisions are bound to occur.
Can you agree to disagree?
For most, it is challenging as its not always easy to come to terms with what affects you or makes you emotional. Yet learning ways to give the benefit of doubt, calls for development of strategic skills.
It is important to process any conflict of interest, you may have with others , first with your own self.
Check if you can find the root of your disagreement with a particular decision.
What is it that you are not aligned with?
Why are you feeling this way?
Empathic Perspectives
Then begin to imagine if you are able to bring empathy by setting aside your feelings on what you are yet unable to accept and think from the other persons perspective, does the view alter then? Does it change your thoughts a bit?
If you can alternatively, also think if you choose to agree, in the larger interest, does it benefit or can it make your team bond together.
Let’s also not discount the possibility of you having less information about the reasons for any decision taken.
Ultimately, whatever way you chose to think or act is your choice to take. But sometimes when it may seem impossible to make sense of things do remember, there is always more than what meets the eye!
Savvy Raj 
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