Bridge Between - Page 26 of 33 - Connecting Potential to Performance

Three Components of Emotional Intelligence

November 5, 2014December 1, 2014 Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

For a long time, intelligence was divided into “book learning” and “street smarts.” People now come realize the importance of emotional intelligence. A person with emotional intelligence produces better work, knows how to relieve stress, manages emotions well, and forges stronger relationships. They also get along better with people and can work well as team members and leaders alternately. Whether your particular brand of intelligence involves book learning or street smarts, you can still develop emotional intelligence and become successful in your field.

See the Glass as Half Full. A key component of emotional intelligence on which everything else depends. How do you develop the talent of seeing the positive side? One excellent way is by watching what you say. If you find that you are a critical person who tends to see the glass as half empty, make an effort to see things the other way while you’re talking to people. Instead of saying, “Bill never finishes anything on time,” you might say, “Bill is a very detail-oriented person who takes his time doing things. However, he does them well.”
Make Yourself Happy. Oftentimes people focus on keeping others happy. You may spend a lot of time doing the things others want you to do. As you go through your day, you need to ask yourself if the things you’re doing are making you happy. In the eastern traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, this is called mindfulness. In truth, it’s using self-awareness. Ask yourself how you feel and use your feelings as a map.
Stay Healthy. As any psychologist will tell you, physical health is an important constituent of mental health. If your body is unhealthy, your mind is also going to be unhealthy. Your very first priority in life should be your physical health. Make an effort to eat healthy and exercise every day. Keep in mind that you don’t have to push yourself more than absolutely necessary. If you’d rather take a brisk walk than do weights, then by all means, take a brisk walk.
Surround Yourself with Positivity. You can literally surround yourself with positivity by changing your surroundings. Paint your walls a cheery color. Hang paintings or posters that you like. Buy books that appeal to you. Listen to music that recharges your batteries. Make friends who are also positive so that you can learn from their example. Work in a place that you find encourages positivity. Honing your social awareness will enable you interact well in groups by recognizing dynamics and picking up on social cues.

Where are areas you want to improve your emotional intelligence?

4 Skills An Effective Business Leader Must Possess

October 21, 2014October 21, 2014 Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

Though there are many skills an effective leader possesses, we will discuss four that our particularly useful in the workplace.

The Power of No

The ability to say “no” is crucial in both managing a team and managing expectations of clients or other leaders. It is a powerful tool against inferior work as well as unrealistic timelines. By saying “No” it opens up the ability to say “Yes” to the things that you want and are beneficial to the organization.

Delegation

The sensibility to delegate is important for a leader in order to keep from being overwhelmed by smaller tasks which would them unable to focus on the bigger picture. While a manager must be aware of daily processes, there is no rule that says they must do these tasks. Delegating also helps train the next set of employees to become leaders. It allows a leader to optimize their productivity and concentrate on the small set of actions that will have enormous results.

Adaptability

A business leader must be adaptable in order to deal with ever-changing team dynamics and business requests to get work delivered efficiently and effectively. Today’s workplace is a non-stop, demanding place to function in and to thrive in such a space, leaders must be able to change with whatever the team, the weather, the clients or the internet throws at them.

Communication

Lastly, strong communication skills—both speaking/writing and listening—are a skill that leaders of all levels must not only posses, but also constantly improve upon, to guarantee that their teams, clients and partners feel respected, “looped in” and heard. Clear communication is the basis for trust in the workplace and an open dialogue between all parties fosters a sense of community.

By adhering and growing their skills in these foundational principles, you can cultivate your business leadership acumen and be a guiding light for your organization.

Please contact us to learn more about leadership and its impact on your business operations.

Hungry for High Potential? Feed Your Body and Your Mind

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

Are you familiar with the term “high potential”? It’s possible people told you that you had high potential. Maybe you heard it with reference to a product, service or idea that was new to the market. Either way, there’s something exciting about this phrase which allows you to imagine a great future. A seed has high potential because although it’s tiny, it can grow into a full-fledged tree. First, many conditions have to be fulfilled. A seed needs to be watered regularly. It needs sunlight. And it needs soil of a good quality in order to grow. How can you realize your high potential?

Feeding Your Mind

The most important thing to help you achieve your high potential is feeding your mind. Many people place a lot of emphasis on education and learning. These are good examples of feeding the mind because you’re exposing it to new things, which people in general consider valuable and useful. Does this mean that reading a romance novel doesn’t feed the mind? Not necessarily. If you plan to write a romance novel or become a genre novelist in general, then reading romance novels also feeds your mind. The idea is to keep exposing yourself to new influences and to ask yourself whether they’re helping you grow.

Feeding Your Body

Some people focus more on feeding the mind while others are into feeding the body. For a balanced perspective, it’s important to have both, something which even Aristotle pointed out in his Nichomachean Ethics. If your body is diseased, in pain or addicted to unhealthy substances, you’re not going to be able to think clearly. You’re not going to have new ideas. And you’re not going to fulfill your high potential. Conversely, if your body is in good shape you’ll be able to think well and put your ideas into action without fatigue, pain or disease getting in the way.

Being Creative

Did you know creativity has a direct effect on your potential? Be intentional on time allotted for regular creativity. Some people prefer to lie fallow for a while, gather up their energy and finally be creative in a big way. For others, it’s better to be a little bit creative, take a short break and then go back to drawing board. You know which method works best for you. The idea behind creativity is to make efforts to consciously increase your exposure to the world.

Five Tips to Take Your Productivity to the Next Level

October 3, 2014October 1, 2014 Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

In life, you want every advantage you can get. One of those advantages comes from your personal level of productivity. These five tips will help you discover a new, higher level of productivity based on your values.

Always add value. Deciding what to do each day can be difficult, doubly so when there are more things to do. Start each day by thinking about which of your tasks adds value to your life and goals. If there is something on the list that doesn’t, cross it off and forget it.
Save your energy. Too often do people put too many tasks on their lists. Save your energy by putting only 3 to 5 things on your list and concentrating on getting those done. Concentrating on fewer tasks actually gives you the energy to see them through to the end.
Do one more task for you. Who said life has to be all about work? After you get your few tasks done, add one more for yourself that aligns with your interests. If you’re doing it right, your interests will overlap your values and it won’t feel like work anyway.
Have a system. According to Natasha Vorompiova, a professional systematizer for corporates and individuals, creating a system for everything can make the difference between running in place and always moving forward. The reason why it works is because you can fall back on the system you’ve created when something inevitably comes up unexpectedly.
Embrace technology when needed. In today’s world technology is front, center, and often on the peripherals of everything we do. Why not make it easier on yourself by using technology which syncs your tasks from one platform to another? Startup entrepreneurs at Insanitek Research and Development highly recommend Zapier for it’s ability to cut across platforms to sync tasks no matter what you are doing.

Productivity should not be a word that saps your energy and creativity. It should be a word that makes you excited to get up in the morning to see what you can do. We can help you with that ➳ contact us. We’re listening!

Six Surprising Facts How Small Changes Lead to Big Results

October 2, 2014September 30, 2014 Shannon Cassidy Leave a comment

You may be surprised at just how effective small changes can be in leading to big results.

Here are six reasons why you don’t have to start big to achieve big things.

Big steps can seem overwhelming: Beginning your journey with small steps makes it is easier to get started. Since getting started on a big task usually seems to be the most difficult part, starting small will help you in the long run.
Small goals are more attainable: While small goals may seem insignificant, they are also easier to achieve. Once you’ve started achieving small goals, you will be more motivated to continue.
It’s gratifying to achieve many small accomplishments: A sense of accomplishment helps you feel better about yourself. This makes it easier to move on to the next step toward achieving all of your goals.
Small things add up over time: If you accomplish one small goal 3-4 times a week, over the course of a month you will have reached an average of 14 mini goals. This is quite an accomplishment considering it all started with something that seemed insignificant at the time.
It’s easier to procrastinate when it comes to difficult tasks: It’s much easier to put off doing tasks that seem too big and complicated. When something seems overwhelming, most of the time it just seems easier to not even try.
It’s harder to make excuses for not doing small tasks: Starting with small steps makes it harder to justify putting them off. Knowing that you only have to put a few minutes towards reaching your goal gives you very little excuses for not doing it.

For help in getting started on your five degree shifts, contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!