Professional Development Archives - Page 4 of 20

Thank You! Dealing With Compliments

Some people have just as much problem dealing with compliments as others have to deal with criticism. But it’s important to learn how to deal with compliments because they can be a way to build up your self-confidence and start believing what others say realistically.

Say Thank You – When someone goes out of their way to give you a compliment, the best way of dealing with it is to say thank you and mean it. Look them in the eye and say, “Thank You”. This is going to not only go far in giving others a good impression of you, but also help you believe the compliments you get.
Don’t Make Excuses – When someone gives you a compliment, don’t make excuses about why you’re not good enough. You’ll turn that person into a liar and make them uncomfortable. In fact, you mainly teach them not to compliment you at all, and then you’ll start feeling bad about yourself later.
Share the Credit – Sometimes, someone will give you a compliment but someone else deserves it too. The best thing to do at that moment is to share the credit with the other person because that is the truth. Don’t do this unless someone else really is responsible for the outcome, though; you don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Be genuine and real about it.
Mind Your Body Language – When you are getting a compliment, don’t giggle, cover your mouth or slouch. You should look right at the person and thank them with gratitude without feeling awkward.
Don’t Try to Out-Compliment Someone – When someone you admire gives you a compliment, don’t automatically start to compliment them too until it becomes a battle of the compliments. Instead, just thank them. When the time is right you can compliment them too.

Learning to deal with compliments is a good way to build your own self-confidence to a higher place. When you are confident enough to smile and say thank you and mean it, you are doing great and oddly, people will like you more.

Creating A Feedback-Rich Culture

Creating a feedback-rich culture, no matter what type of group or team you’re dealing with, always starts at the top. When the leader or perceived leader of any group shuts down others for their ideas, thoughts, or opinions, it spreads to the entire team and sets the tone of future collaboration. As a leader, it can be hard sometimes to lead a group in a new way with an open feedback-rich culture, but it can pay off in big ways.

Teams that are free to express concerns, present new ideas, and disagree with each other tend to be more innovative and productive – as long as the leader can set the right tone so that the environment continues being supportive. Let’s look at some ways that you can build a safe environment and set the right example and tone.

How to Build a Safe Environment

Let’s look at some direct ways to build safe environments which will create a feedback-rich culture and make the most of everything you can do together as an organization, workplace, classroom, or team.

Make It Safe to Express Emotions – Emotions are a normal human function that shouldn’t be shoved down. Whether it’s a hard to deal with emotion like anger, or a fun emotion like enthusiasm and happiness, all should be free to express them in a healthy way in a feedback-rich environment.

Set Clear Expectations – When you set up a feedback-rich culture, it’s not just a top-down thing even though it begins with the top. Everyone should give feedback and understand how to do it safely, as part of the normal course of the day, along with knowing the goal of sharing that feedback.

Encourage Disagreement – When you have a culture that’s working right, everyone has a right to their own opinion and to disagree. Even the person getting negative feedback can disagree with it. They can even state that they need to think about it. It’s all acceptable.

Learn to Take Honest Critique – One problem with feedback is when you’re on the receiving end of a critique. Whether it’s positive or negative, learning and teaching how to take it properly with respect is an important aspect of creating a feedback-rich environment.

What Tolerance Really Means – When we talk about tolerance, there has to be some form of line, right? Tolerating a difference of opinion is different from tolerating abusive behavior. So ensure that you explain that clearly.

Make Feedback Part of Everyday Life – Feedback needs to be part of your daily life and used in all ways that you communicate in all channels. Making it a complete circle in person, in an email, in surveys, on the phone, and by conference is the best way. Everyone has different styles, and this is going to help.

Share Positive and Negative Feedback – Don’t just share feedback when it’s negative. Some managers like to manage by exception; they’re hands off until there is a problem. This can make you seem very negative. Therefore, start providing feedback that’s good too.

Praise More – In a feedback-rich culture, the positive should always be shared more than the negative. If you sandwich any negatives inside the positives, it will always go over better. It’s like the saying with kids, “Catch them being good 100 times a day”. That way, when you catch them in something you don’t want them to be involved with, it is listened to harder. The main thing is to celebrate success, especially when that success comes due to the feedback given.

Allow Everyone to Set Boundaries – Sometimes, if someone is finding it hard to take feedback, they should be able to stop it. Not permanently. But, let them take a breather when they ask and make an appointment to get back to it after thinking.

Nurture a Learning Environment – Learning and growing is part of a feedback-rich culture. If you keep everyone growing and always learning about their job, other aspects of the job, and communication in general, it makes everyone better.

Build Relationships – When you focus on relationship building and team building in your team, group, organization or class, it’s going to make a huge difference in how people relate to each other in every aspect of their performance.

Be the Example – Like mentioned before, it all starts at the top. Demonstrate listening to and responding to feedback. Show that feedback makes a difference with your policies and your actions.

It really is that simple to set up a feedback-rich environment. It’s going to be a lot better once you implement it. Once you’ve got it set up, anytime you bring on someone new you can offer communication training that will get them up to speed understanding this environment before their feet hit the floor.

Is Your Life Out of Balance?

We’ve all heard about the concept of work life balance, but this is easier said than done. We tend to live in an “always on” society where we are constantly connected to our email, work websites and more. As BBC Breakfast reminded us this very morning people have become increasing addicted to their smartphones with people taking them everywhere (including the toilet!) and checking them every 12 minutes.

Your Work Life Balance Review

It can be all too easy to fall into the habit of working every waking hour just because we have all this connectedness at our fingertips. Then our relationships and our health start to suffer. If you’re wondering whether your life is out of balance, here are 14 signs to look for.

1. You’re Tired All the Time, even After a Full Night in Bed

This is a sign that things are too much for you.

2. You Have a Headache, Backache, or Sore Jaw Regularly

These are signs of stress manifesting itself in a physical form. The jaw ache can be from grinding your own teeth (bruxism), often in your sleep, because you are so stressed.

3. You Spend Far Too Much Time at Work and Not Enough at Home

This indicates that you are a workaholic and could be damaging your home life.

4. You Are Out of Shape/Obese

This is a sign you are not practicing good self-care. You might also be rewarding yourself with food because you have been working so hard, or are so tired that you are falling prey to unhealthy food cravings.

5. You Don’t Have Clear Goals

You are so busy you are being reactive, rather than proactive and working toward a plan.

6. You Struggle with Your Priorities

You need to work, but your family situation is intruding on it in various ways. Or, your family situation is a difficult one which prevents you from working as much as you would like and results in money issues.

7. You Feel Like You Have No Control Over Your Own Life

You want to make decisions for yourself, but still seem to be stuck in the same old rut.

8. You Procrastinate

You delay in doing things because you lack motivation, so that even with the work piling up, you can’t seem to move forward. You might also procrastinate because you are a perfectionist, or because you don’t really feel that what you are doing has any value.

It may also seem that your life doesn’t belong to you anymore.

9. You Sweat the Small Stuff

Any new challenge seems like a huge ordeal, rather than just another obstacle that needs to be overcome.

10. You Are Too Detail-Oriented

You might spend time going over your projects again and again trying to find errors, or adding to the projects so that it barely ever gets finished on time. You need to learn to accept that good is good enough.

11. You Are Disorganised

Your workspace and working habits have gotten away from you. Filing is piling up and emails go unanswered. Your home is a pigsty and is starting to annoy anyone you live with or who comes to visit you.

12. You Withdraw from Others

You start to avoid colleagues, friends and family because you are so busy, and because you feel so stressed about the work you are doing. Instead, you should seek out the right people as a sounding board and support network to get you through the tough times.

13. You Spend Long Hours at the Office and/or Working from Home

You seem to be at your desk constantly, but you’re not quite sure what is getting accomplished.

14. You Are Irritable

If you are moody and irritable, this is a sign that things are not right with your work life balance because you are so stressed.

Get Your Work Life Balance Back!

If you recognize these signs, don’t ignore them. They indicate that your work-life balance is off-kilter. So what are you going to do about it?

In a series of articles on Work Life Balance (click on the link) I look at various ways of getting your life back in balance – but right now what can you do about any of the 14 points mentioned in this article and more importantly what are you going to do?

Personal Skills Mindmapping Exercise

Before you do this mindmapping exercise please watch the Personal Skills Mind Map video below to get started…

The idea is to focus on all of your skills and talents and then dwell on all of the benefits and advantages that these skills bring you in life, business, etc.

This can be a great technique if you need a confidence boost or to raise your energy/spirits.

Set a 15-20 minute timer so you can do this quickly with as much focus as possible.

You will spend the whole time concentrating on your personal skills, natural talents, etc.

For each skill you uncover, you are going to acknowledge all of the advantages and benefits of having these skills.

This brainstorming session will help you mind dwell on your strengths and create a boost of confidence for your day!

Do this for yourself when you need a “pick me up”.

You might also want to try this with colleagues, friends or family as well. It can be a great collaborative exercise!

Nine Simple Meditation Techniques

I want to share some simple meditation techniques with you that I hope will prove helpful. Studies show that individuals who participate in regular meditation tend to have a more positive outlook and focus less on the negative situations that everyone has in their lives. It makes it easier for them to emotionally navigate issues affecting them. This is because meditation activates the more positive parts of your brain.

Learning to meditate is like anything else you want to do. You need to learn how to do it, then practice doing it, and do it regularly so that it becomes a normal part of your life. That’s really the process of developing any type of habit that is good for you. Keep practicing and keep doing it.

Nine Simple Meditation Techniques

Let’s look at some simple meditation techniques to make meditation work for you.

1. Prepare for Meditation – The best way to help yourself get used to meditating is to set up a process that prepares your mind and body for meditation. It might be having a cup of tea, drinking some lemon water, or doing something else that makes your mind think that it’s time to meditate.

2. Try to Sit Still – When you start meditating, it’s important to find a comfortable position to sit in so that you can sit still. Don’t try to make the poses that everyone else makes if you’re not used to it. The most comfortable sitting up position for you is best.

3. Pray or Use a Mantra – Sometimes, saying something repetitive can calm your mind and help bring your mind into the present. When you are meditating, you don’t want to think of the past or the future; you only want to think of right now. Reciting a prayer that you know, or a mantra, or even a poem can be helpful in bringing you to the present. If you have an Alexa device or something similar then you can also use some of the “Skills” that are available to support you in your meditation

4. Close Your Eyes – Getting rid of visual stimulation is something that will help you become more mindful. Try closing your eyes but don’t look down. Instead, keep your head up and your eyes upward even as they’re closed. This will help keep energy while you are meditating. Ideally, you don’t want to fall asleep while meditating.

5. Choose a Safe Place – When you meditate, you want to be in a safe place that helps you not worry about your surroundings. You don’t want flies attacking you or sounds to be interfering with your concentration. You want the temperature to be comfortable, and to ensure that you remain undisturbed during the process.

6. Get Comfortable – It’s important that you feel comfortable. If you have health issues, you can sit in a chair or on a pillow. You can even sit on a yoga ball while you meditate. The important thing is that you feel comfortable and aren’t experiencing a lot of discomfort and pain.

7. Make the Time – It’s important to set a regular time for meditation. That way your mind and body become accustomed to the fact that you’re going to meditate at that time. When you do something at the same time each day, in the same way, it forms a habit that you’ll need to include in your life.

8. Watch Your Posture – Keeping the right posture during meditation is a good way to ensure you can breathe well, not cause yourself pain, and maintain your energy. You can take on any number of poses, but the one that is best for you is the one that is most comfortable and doesn’t make any part of your body hurt or go numb from cutting off circulation.

9. Learn Proper Breathing Technique – One of the most important aspects of meditating in a way that helps is to learn to breathe properly. The most helpful method is to breathe normally the way you always breathe. But, some people tend to have shallow breaths. Ensure that you breathe in to raise your diaphragm so that you’re getting plenty of oxygen.

Once you set your life up for regular meditation, you’ll find that you get into the zone faster and more easily as time goes by. You will eventually even be able to take five minutes to yourself while waiting in line at the post office, and you will feel refreshed instead of frustrated throughout your day as you become accustomed to using meditation to help you. I really do hope that these Simple Meditation Techniques will help you.