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How to Find Out Your Style of Leadership

How to Find Out Your Style of Leadership | Arc Integrated

A topic that has been coming up regularly at Arc Integrated is how exactly to find out what kind of leadership style fits you best. There are a lot of styles out there and we often get stuck with the question “how do we choose the right one?”

Today, I will be going over some of the best ways in which you can answer that question so if that is of interest to you continue reading below!

Tip #1: Know What Works

The reality is, of all the leadership styles out there, there are some styles that will work for you, and others that won’t. What we know from over the course of four decades is that regardless of geography, industry, or even the size of your company, the teams that have the most psychological safety, are the teams that perform at the highest level. 

Therefore, if we know this to be the case, then the leadership style we should be embracing is the one that yields the best psychologically safe conditions for the team environment. By psychologically safe, we are referring to the idea that all employees and members of a team or organization can have their ideas seen, heard, and felt with absolute comfort. 

Tip #2: Evaluate Options & Study

I am going to go over four different styles that I think are important to take a look at. While definitions may vary, there are links to thought leaders in each of these areas for more study, if you’d like to pursue.  If you are a leader, I encourage you to look these over and notice the nuances of each of these approaches:

  • Conscious Leadership – This type of leadership is a style of self-awareness where the objective is to build a culture of “we” instead of “me”
  • Servant Leadership – This style of leadership puts emphasis on the team’s growth and well-being rather than on the leader themselves or the organization as a whole
  • Situational Leadership – This style of leadership revolves around matching behaviors with the performance needs of the individual/group
  • Authentic Leadership – This style of leadership inspires others around them by creating meaningful relationships and garnering high levels of trust

The best way in which you can figure out which leadership style works and what doesn’t is by testing the behaviors out individually and seeing the results.

Tip #3: Ask Yourself Strategic Questions

Another core element that we know about good leadership is that self-awareness and leadership are always linked. It’s impossible to become an excellent leader without having some degree of self-awareness. So, how exactly do we become better at self-awareness? My tip is to improve on the questions that you ask yourself.

Here are some examples of questions to ask yourself for improved self-awareness:

  • How am I motivated?
  • How do I aspire to inspire others?
  • How are others motivated? 
  • What are my strengths as a communicator? 
  • How do I hold people accountable?
  • What are some of my “blind spots”?

These strategic questions can be helpful in navigating what kind of style we have as a leader.

Tip #4: Find Yourself a Leadership Coach

There are many resources out there in regards to leadership coaches, and we certainly do a lot of this at Arc Integrated. Here at our firm, we provide executive coaching for leaders that want to improve their ability to motivate, inspire and create high levels of engagement within their teams and organizations. 

The biggest question that we often hear, however, is “how exactly do I find the right coach”? In my book CHANGES – The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals, and Mastering Adaptability, I have devoted an entire section (part two) on how to find the right helping professional. There are about four chapters in that section that teach you how to find different professionals and in this case a leadership coach.

Tip #5: Be Flexible

The best leaders that we have personally worked with are those that are able to be flexible based on a number of factors. These factors can include:

  • The culture they are in
  • Who is in front of them 
  • The task at hand 
  • Familiarity with the individuals or task

This flexibility translates especially well when you are dealing with your style of leadership. It is important that we learn to be as flexible as possible as we navigate through our own path on finding our personal leadership style.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to watch the in-depth video version of 5 Ways Leaders Can Find Their Leadership Style, click here.

Additionally, if you have an interest in finding out your leadership style you are more than welcome to take our leadership quiz. The quiz takes about two minutes and you can receive immediate feedback from us!

As usual, schedule a time to connect if you have any questions.

Be well,

Michael

Resources:

Learn more about Arc Integrated:

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How to Improve Your Leadership Skills in the Workplace (When We’re All Working Remotely)

How to Improve Your Leadership Skills in the Workplace (When We're All Working Remotely) | Arc Integrated

Let’s face it, working remotely can be pretty great and it has its benefits. We can have a better work-life balance, healthier lifestyle, and we even get to save more money (no more transportation to the office, no office rental fees, etc)! 

But does something feel a little off? Perhaps you’re finding yourself to be less motivated every day. You may have a more laid-back attitude to everything to the point where it’s affecting your work ethic and you’re starting to struggle with managing tasks. You’re not alone. 

Recent conversations with our clients have revealed to me the negative aspect of working from home, especially as more people start to notice their at-home work life affecting their personal lives. In this blog post, I’ve outlined some tips to help you improve your leadership skills, for those who have been struggling with leading their teams remotely and for those who are just looking for some guidance on change management as they transition from managers to leaders.

Tips to Improve Your Leadership Skills 

Practice Discipline 

A good leader needs discipline, and in order to be an effective leader, it’s mandatory to practice discipline in both your professional and personal life. Leaders are often judged by their capacity to lead by the amount of discipline they display.

A good way to start practicing discipline at work is by meeting your deadlines and being punctual. Yes, even in a remote environment, it’s just as important to your productivity to be prepared and to show up on time for virtual meetings and gatherings. 

 “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments” – Jim Rohn

If you are naturally disorganized, start working on that. Begin to implement good habits like waking up early and getting daily exercise to get your body producing mitochondria. Exercising is the best form of discipline; you begin to have more control of your body and your life. So set up that alarm clock and get your body moving!

Practice Patience

Patience is such an essential skill to practice; leading effectively – especially during a crisis- takes an immense amount of patience. If you aren’t able to compose yourself during frustrating moments, you certainly won’t be able to lead others to be calm. It’s easy to become impatient with others but being a good leader requires you to support others in times of stress.

“Our patience will achieve more than our force” – Edmund Burke

Build your patience by starting to consciously recognize and predict when it will be tested. For example, if you know an obstacle is coming, you can be more mindful about increasing your efforts to stay calm. Try to recall moments where you felt a lot of pressure or had a very tight deadline and you were able to be successful. By recalling past moments and assessing strengths and wins, you will be able to leverage solutions and confidence for handling each situation better.

Improve Communication

Without frequent communication, working remotely can cause you to feel disconnected. Communication is more than just a video call or sending a quick message or an email. It’s a crucial skill for you to have, whether you’re working onsite or remotely. Strong communication skills are not only valued in the workplace but also valued in your personal life. 

You need to master the skills of effectively communicating with your team and establish tools, channels, and best practices for yourself and your team members to communicate with one another. Another equally important skill is the ability to identify causes of communication breakdowns and ways to address them. This is a great way to practice conscious leadership.

One other key question to ask in every communication exchange is this: Am I moving the conversation forward or am I stalling it?  Stay tuned for another post on the risks of stalling communication. 

Develop Situational Awareness

A leader is someone who can see the bigger picture and can predict problems before they occur. This is a skill highly valued when handling big projects with strict deadlines. The ability to forecast and offer suggestions to avoid potential issues is crucial for a leader.

To begin developing your own situational awareness as a leader, start by being mindful of your surroundings and people. It’s important to observe and notice the behavior in others; by doing so, you will increase your emotional intelligence and have a better understanding of people, and know how you can support them and respond to situations more effectively.

Inspire Others

Leaders are meant to motivate and inspire the people they work with and set examples for others to follow. Your characteristics and behavior will inspire more than you will ever know.

Be there for your team when they need you. Offer them support and encouragement and share small victories; it is something people will appreciate.  

It also doesn’t hurt to practice vulnerability and show them the ways you’re working to improve yourself. People are often inspired by the people they work with. Focus on an area where you feel needs improvement and begin working on yourself; emotional intelligence is always on.

Empathy

People often think empathy is a soft skill that can get in the way of making tough decisions or leading a team, but that can’t be farther from the truth. The ability to understand and share emotions with others is an extremely valuable skill to have.

Given the pandemic state, people are under extreme stress and anxiety, so approaching your team from a place of understanding can reduce tension and increase communication and productivity. It shows that you as a leader can understand and connect with your team and can build trust and gain respect.

Emotionally intelligent people know how to empathize with others as they understand that it is a trait that shows emotional strength, not weakness.

Leadership is not something that only happens in an office; leadership is about the culture and environment and the space that you create, not just for yourself but also for your team. Good leadership skills are essential to advancing in your career, but they also take time; the skills you are learning will not come to you easily, so remember to be patient. If you get stuck, I’ve listed some resources below to help you. Consider the option of a professional coach or mentor that can help guide you and offer support. 

You can also learn about strategies you can implement to create long-term professional and personal change from my book CHANGES. Grab the FREE Changes Playbook here.

As usual, schedule a time to connect if you have any questions.

Be well,

Michael

Resources:

Learn more about Arc Integrated:

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Managing Mental Health in Isolation

Managing Mental Health in Isolation

If you are reading this near it’s release, we are all in the midst of a global pandemic.  Most places have shelter orders, social distancing or other regulations in place.  It is an unusual time.

It is a time where our mental health is even more of a priority than ever.  During times of uncertainty, chaos and distancing from each other, the importance of taking care of ourselves dramatically increases.

Here are three tips to ensure strong mental health during quarantine.

1.) Use Tools to Connect – Fortunately, we are in a world full of tools and resources that allow us to remain connected virtually.  In addition to social media of course, consider utilizing tools like Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp & MarcoPolo to remain connected professionally and personally.  Physical isolation can take its toll on our mental health but thankfully, we can still remain social.

BONUS – the link to Marco Polo is my direct link, please feel free to reach out with any questions. 

 

2.)  Keep a Routine – In times of uncertainty it helps us to “control the controllables.”  There are always things we can control.  The more we succumb to having our routine disrupted, the more our mental health is at risk .  Some of our routines may be forced to shift given the nature of our work, childcare needs, travel changes and other necessary adjustments. The good news is we can choose to create new routines which not only impact our physical and mental health but also keep us productive. Consider asking these questions as you create a new routine:

How might I use this time to learn something I am passionate about but haven’t yet made time for?

How might this time be used to propel me even further toward my goals once this quarantine is over?

What can I include in my new routine that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to practice?

 

3.) Mind Your Perspective – In the midst of chaos the one thing we always have control of is our own perspective. This choice in perspective will either support our mental health or be a detriment to it.  While the current situation globally, nationally and locally is creating real crisis, we still get to choose what perspective to hold.  Holding a perspective of hope, opportunity and thoughtfulness also helps to create momentum toward decreased panic.  We can all be a force to support each other’s mental health. Consider these questions to help shift your own perspective:

What is the positive lesson we can learn from this global condition?

How might we come to the other side of this situation even stronger as a community, a country or as human beings?

How might I use this situation to create greater compassion and resiliency for myself and others?

If you get stuck, there are resources.  You may consider the options of a professional coach, therapist or mentor for instance.

For a quick guide on how to decide which helping professional is right for you as well as how you go about picking one, check out Part Two in the book CHANGES.  

As usual, reach out with any questions.

Be well,

Michael

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Being an Emotionally Intelligent Leader

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The Best Listener at Work

How to Become a Better Listener at Work | Arc Integrated

You may wonder why being a good listener at work is really valuable.  However, if you experiment with improving your workplace listening skills, you will see changes.   In the fast past, high demand jobs so many of us have, really good listening may be something of a novelty.  This may because of the ever-impending deadlines, the many distractions we have or the workplace stress.  If you commit to being the best listener at work, you may notice that some of these challenges shift.

So how might listening skills impact your work place experience?  Well, consider your experience now.  How well do you feel heard at work?  What do you notice about people how are really present with you when communicating vs. those that are anxious to move to the next “to do”?  I would imagine that when someone is really present with you that it is easier to talk to them, you may feel more connected or more at ease. What if you were that person for everyone else?  How might this impact your workplace experience if people knew that when they spoke to you, that they could count on you to really pay attention?

Particularly if you are a leader, really good listening skills go a long way.   Being able to connect, understand and communicate effectively with your employees is a crucial component of an effective leader.   According to a study in The Journal of Occupational Health, it was found that… “psychological stress reactions were lower in subordinates who worked under supervisors with high listening skill, while no statistically difference was observed among older subordinates.” 

So if we know that our listening skills have an impact on our overall work stress, it seems like a great advantage for us to actively improve these skills.  Below you’ll find three tips to improve your listening skills

1.) Offer more clarity

Repeating something back to someone in the way that you heard it will help to reduce miscommunication.  Repeating a statement also offers the opportunity for this person to add additional clarification if necessary.  This way of “active listening” ensures that this person is being understood correctly and shows them that you are paying attention.

2.) Focus

Sometimes we can get caught up in how we are going to respond to something.  Thinking of what to say next reduces our ability to listen to what someone is saying.  Attending to what someone is saying without focusing on how to respond will create stronger communication.  Remain focused on the present moment and really digesting what it is that someone is communicating. 

3.) Breath

Often times at the workplace we are moving a million miles a minute, which reduces our ability to take in information in any given moment.  Taking a few moments to breath as you speak with someone will help you to be more present and process what they are saying more effectively.  Before you speak or when you are feeling overwhelmed, stop and take a deep breath.  This may sound trivial but can do wonders for not only stress but your ability to communicate and listen effectively. 

After you’ve had the opportunity to put these behaviors to the test, I would invite you to make a comment below.   I would suggest that in order to notice results you may have to practice one or all three for at least four times a week for three weeks.   After you’ve practiced, consider answering the following questions –

How did they work if they did at all? 

What did you learn?  

How long did you practice each new behavior?  

Best,

Michael

P.S. If you want to learn more about how to improve your listening skills at work, in order increase influence, engagement and build effective relationships, we can help.  Schedule a free consult today to see if are a fit to work together

 

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Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Corporate Training, Personal Development and Equine Therapy

Based on the title you may be thinking that these things are totally un-related, but you’re here, so thank you!  I lead a group therapy session a couple of times a week with about 10 attendees and the topic of animals and our connection to them recently came up.  We discussed different kinds of therapy approaches, like dog therapy, or equine therapy for example.  The same day I had a friend bring this topic up, which I figure is enough for me to write down some thoughts, since this is something I have experience with.   The interesting part is corporate training, personal development and equine therapy, are in fact, connected.

A few years ago I went through the process of getting certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA).  This association is the international leader in equine training specifically for mental health and personal development purposes.  What this means is that they certify psychotherapists and horse professionals, to work together to facilitate different kinds of experiential learning. These experiences can be for the purposes of individual development, individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy or corporate/group training.

So the question may be, what one thing has to do with the other?  For someone that has never seen this process unfold, it may not seem like a relevant fit.  The way horses and horse professionals can help to work through challenges with individuals or a group, is essentially through observation.  For example, a typical Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) or Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) session, consists of the facilitators (therapist and horse professional) giving the individual or group a task to accomplish with the horse.  This task could be to help move the horse through a gate, move the horse around an object or help a horse move in a direction without touching it. There are many activities/tasks that can be implemented but they are all ground activities, not requiring the participant to ride the horse.

During and after these activities both the therapist and horse professional make observations of how the person or people are engaging with the horse and each other.   What shows up here is powerful.  Just like in experiential education, when giving a group a task to accomplish together there are markers that form organically – personality styles, communication style, natural leaders/followers, conflict and/or resolution of conflict etc.  What is most interesting about the EAP/EAL process is that the horse acts as a mirror for behavior and engagement.

During my time training as an EAGALA practitioner I was astounded by how fast things came to the surface through this process.  For instance, when watching a family interact with an animal and attempt a task, it became immediately obvious what kinds of challenges the family had in their communication with each other.  In this example it was easy to see which member wanted to control and override the input from other members of the family.   This created conflict of course and made it more challenging for the family to accomplish the assigned task.  Part of the feedback came from the horse as it experienced the intensity from one individual.  Part of the feedback came from other members as they became frustrated with the challenge of the task, which the horse also reflected.  It was powerful to watch.

So how did their communication styles come up you ask?  This is the value of working through an EAP/EAL program. The response you get from a horse is authentic, immediate and not bound by the same kind of bias that people have.   In addition, the horse professional helps to make observation of behavior of the horse while the therapist observes how the person is engaging.

Horses are able to pick up on the subtleties of behavior and intention because they are sensitive prey animals.   So this means that if there is fear, anger, ease, curiosity or frustration – the horse will give feedback to these emotions/behaviors.   Because the horse is so sensitive it gives immediate clues and reactions to the behaviors and intentions of individuals and groups.  Some of these behaviors would be easily recognized while others are more subtle, which is why it is helpful to have a horse professional present. In the therapeutic context, understanding and processing behaviors and emotions can impact personal development and resolution of some of the challenges.

At this point you may be asking if this type of intervention has any credibility from research. The answer is yes, it absolutely does.   For example, one study found that well-being and reduction in psychological distress immediately improved after EAP and held stable after six months.   For a more detailed look at research as it compares to traditional therapy approaches, consider this article that acts an overview and comparison.

So how does this therapeutic approach have anything to do with corporate training or leadership?  This is where EAL enters the picture.  EAL differs from EAP in that EAL focuses more on education and learning rather than a therapeutic approach of resolving mental health issues or challenges.

In an EAL setting valuable skills can be obtained that would certainly impact the effectiveness of an organization.  For example, often times EAL is done with teams on an organization in order to improve communication skills, leadership or team building.  This process is still facilitated by a mental health professional and horse professional, but the intention is different.

In an EAL session with a team of professionals for instance, a simple task will be given to the team to accomplish with the horse.  This task results in emerging behaviors and communication styles that will then be valuable for the team to later process.  For instance, within a given task there may be leaders that emerge, communication that happens (or doesn’t), response style of collaboration or anger. In addition, there may be partnerships that naturally form on the team that previously did not exist or resentments that manifest that perhaps hadn’t previously.

The same question may emerge regarding efficacy of this particular kind of experiential education.  One of the more interesting pieces of research on EAL has to do with Emotional Intelligence, a current point of focus in many leadership and team building approaches.   This research is a great review of the field of EAL as well as Emotional Intelligence. The research found positive results for EAL as an intervention for improving Emotional Intelligence.

So, as we’ve seen, horses, therapy and leadership are in fact related!  For more information about EAL and EAP, I recommend visiting the EAGALA website – http://www.eagala.org/.  For more information on Emotional Intelligence as it relates to leadership, consider this article by Daniel Goleman.   If you are interested learning more about this topic or discussing a potential workshop to build team or leadership skills, please contact us!

Keep Learning,

Michael

P.S. If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

 

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Beat the Post Vacation Slump!

How to beat the post-vacation slump | arc integrated

It’s that time of year.  You may have recently returned from a trip, visiting relatives, vacationing with friends, or maybe just enjoying a few days off.  However your holidays were spent, I hope they were rejuvenating and enjoyable.  Getting back to the grind can be a challenge.  I’ve certainly experienced it and I know many friends, family, and clients have too.  Today I want to talk about how to beat the post-vacation slump!

Whether the holidays were filled with fun, laughter, and excitement or anxiety, busyness, and overwhelm, coming back to a routine may be tough.   Below you’ll find some strategies about how to get back to being at the top of your game in work and in life, in addition to some tips for the next time you go on vacation.

Be Clear 

Personal Life – This is the time for New Year’s Resolutions, woohoo! The truth is that the majority of them don’t stick.  According to some data, only 8% of people accomplish their New Year’s Resolutions.  However, there are many strategies on how to improve the likelihood of change that lasts.  I would argue that part of the reason people don’t accomplish their resolution is that there is not enough clarity around the goal.  In order to get back in work mode and also work towards new goals you have, consider outlining the details in order to build clarity.  This could mean creating a yearlong vision and then working it backward to a six-month goal, a three-month goal, and eventually an action step you can take today!

Work-Life – Meetings often are less productive after many people have been out of their routine or away from work.   You may see less productivity in the meetings outside of work too.  To remedy this, set clear expectations for what the meeting will review and accomplish and do not veer away from this objective.  Make sure there are clear action steps for all members of the meetings you attend.

Stay Focused

Personal Life – In order to stay focused on our personal goals and re-engaging in our routines post-break, there needs to be some way to stay motivated.  Build focus through keeping reminders that are visible and related to your goal.  Alternatively, creating a writing practice that explores the reason for working towards this goal can help to stay motivated and focused.  Also, creating accountability in some way may be helpful in building focus.  Accountability could be created through working through a goal with someone else or hiring a coach to help explore what is holding you back.

Work-Life – Lack of focus at work often shows up in the context of getting tasks accomplished or having a productive meeting.  Often times meetings set out with many things to accomplish and by the end have not completed their intended outcome.  Stay focused on what is most important and do not add too much to the meeting, always expect that things may take longer than anticipated.  Have no more than three main objectives per day that are on your “must complete” list.

Action Items, Expectations, and Deadlines

Personal Life – Reaching goals is all about combing process and product.  It’s great to read self-help books, follow thought leaders, or engage in the philosophical debate about mindset, intention, and positivity.   The next step is combing all of this wonderful theory with small steps in the right direction.  Keep in mind that these steps can be small, but should be consistent.  Keeping after deadlines and continuing with actions items after exploring ideas will lead to progress.

Work-Life – The same issues exist in the work world when we have meetings or discussions around an idea.  Ideas often need to be translated.  People feel that meetings are a waste of time when there is no clear outcome, objective, or “to do” item.  Always be clear about expectations for all attendees.  Have attendees commit to their particular action item as well as deadline so everyone is clear on each person’s objective.

Keep your Routine in Check

Personal Life – Having some kind of routine in your personal life will do wonders for your mood, clarity, energy, and productivity.  The holidays are an easy time to get thrown out of a routine, whether is exercise, eating healthy or a daily practice, it’s a challenging time of year to keep up with our best intentions.  Here is a great resource from The Model Health Show about holding onto a good routine, even during the busiest time of year

Work-Life – Getting back into a routine is easier to do with work when it isn’t totally avoided during a break. This certainly doesn’t mean you have to be checking email every day or doing work on vacation….that is definitely not recommended.  But keeping sleeping to a minimum may be helpful when it’s time to get back to work. Also, reading while on vacation may help to keep your mind active and productive so that it may be easier to re-engage when it’s time.

Push Yourself!

Personal Life – I hold the firm belief that we are much more capable than we often give ourselves credit for, in every sense.  Care to experiment with this idea?  Try pushing yourself past the invisible finish line that you’ve set for yourself.  Go to the extra class, read the extra chapter, do another set, run the extra mile, take the risk in a relationship. Make a consistent effort to go past your comfort zone, you’ll be surprised what you learn.

Work-Life – The same concept of going past where we think we are capable of applies to work.  Consider how much you get done in the typical day and see if you can double it.  No, I don’t recommend working 16 hours instead of eight.  Working more efficiently and pushing past some of the self-set boundaries is a better (and healthier) experiment to try.  Consider how much time you spend during the average day being distracted by non-work-related issues or work that doesn’t necessarily make you more productive but makes you busier.   Evaluate how to be the most productive version of yourself and push out any limiting beliefs that may have held you back previously regarding how much you could accomplish in a day.

Re-Evaluate

Personal Life – This time of year is a great time for downsizing, clearing out, resetting, cleansing, and letting go.  What has been serving you this last year and what no longer helps you to become the best version of yourself?  You can pose this question to any facet of your personal life from your relationships to your diet to how you spend your time.  Evaluating the different aspects of your personal life allows you to set clearer goals and intentions for the year ahead and also helps to come back stronger from time off.

Work-Life – Is the job you’re in the one you want to be in? Taking the time to evaluate how much you are really committed to the work you are doing can be a helpful way to not only improve your re-engagement post-vacation but also help you make changes to your current situation.  If you are certain the work you’re in is for you, great!  Take the opportunity to evaluate how you will make this coming year a better one than the previous.  If you determine that your purpose is elsewhere, come up with an exit strategy. Outline your strengths, objectives, and timelines.  This will help make the rest of your time in your current position not seem as daunting.

*Challenge of the week*

Pick one of the strategies above and take action!  Just one.  After you’ve experimented for one week, come back and leave a comment below and share what you learned. Let’s help each other make significant changes this year!

All the best,

Michael

P.S. If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement, and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

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Expressing Your Anger at Work

 

Expressing Your Anger at Work

Expressing Your Anger at Work

Getting frustrated at work is common.  However, how you express it or don’t, may greatly influence the environment that you’re in, as well as future opportunity.  While expressing your anger at work may be generally frowned upon, there are certainly strategies that will help with this process.  Consider these three tips below when expressing your anger at work.

  1. Timing is important – Remember that when you are anger this may not be the time to resolve an issue. However, coming back to a situation after decompressing and letting the parties involved know how it impacted you will allow you to be a better communicator and express the importance of the situation, improving the likelihood of resolution.
  2. Understand what helps you decompress – Having an understanding of what kinds of strategies are most effective for you in reducing anger is important.  This may be walking, exercise, writing, listening to music or a wide variety of other things.  Taking the time to explore what works best will benefit you in the long run and give you the chance to effectively express and reduce anger instead of letting it become a problem.
  3. Remember the context – This is a very important component. Even though telling someone exactly how you feel may seem like the best idea at the time, the context may suggest otherwise.  Being mindful of how and where you are expressing anger, if at all, may be a very important factor to consider.

The better question to ask may be how to reduce anger in general.  Understanding how to control our feelings may be beneficial in many different environments. Having the ability to respond to events rather than react, may serve us well.  If we know how to control our sense of reactivity then we may respond in a more appropriate way. Understanding ourselves, how we respond/react and triggers that we have, may involve some self-exploration.

Interestingly, the expression of anger may be totally culturally contextual anyway.  In our culture we tend to look at the expression of anger to be generally unfavorable.  In other cultures expression of anger may actually be of health benefit.  In a study by The Association for Psychological Science, they found that expression of anger in Japanese culture was associated with better biological health.  This suggests that anger isn’t necessarily positive or negative but the meaning that it is applied to it may impact the results of its expression.

This idea of exploring our anger to identify what kind of meaning we apply to it may give us another reason for self-exploration.   Certainly the negative or positive consequences of expressing anger are still being studied.  In the meantime, we do know that improving our understanding of self and how we respond and react can have a great impact on our work and home environments.

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

If you are curious to learn more about personal development, workplace challenges, interpersonal dynamics, goal achievement and a wide variety of other topics, sign up today! www.www.arcintegrated.com/newsletter.  It’s totally free.

You’ll also receive a FREE tip sheet with Five Strategies to Build Motivation!

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The Human Side of Business

The Human Side of Business - Arc Integrated

The Human Side of Business – Arc Integrated

In a featured article within Askmen.com titled Ways Relationships are like Business we explored the human side of business.   The idea of businesses having more to do with people, relationships, connection and communication is a cornerstone of the work we do at Arc Integrated.

 

Please see three ideas below on how relationships are like business.

 

If you skipped ahead and are curious about the three ideas, here they are –

1.) Don’t be desperate

2.) Slow and steady wins the race

3.) Mind the focus

You’ll have to watch the video for how to apply these ideas.

We are curious about your experience with the dynamic of relationships and business.  As a spring board for comments, consider answering any of these three questions below –

 

How have you seen the human side of the business you are involved in impact the success or struggle of that business?

What other examples can you provide regarding the commonalities between business and relationships?

What is one thing you would change about the interpersonal dynamics of your workplace?

Thanks,

Michael

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The Best Way to Improve Productivity

 

The Best Way to Improve Productivity

The Best Way to Improve Productivity

There are an endless amount of resources out there for how to improve productivity.  In my search I did not find a definitive answer to the best way to improve productivity.  I think there is an answer to this question though.  The best way to improve productivity….is your way.

Finding out ways to hack your own laziness, distraction or “busy” lifestyle is tricky.  But the most effective way to improve productivity will be the one that is most connected to you.  A place to start when identifying what kinds of practices to experiment with may be the endless lists online, such as this one on – boosting productivity in real life.   As you may notice, I even wrote one of these tips.  The tips and strategies are definitely good to start with.

Experimentation and practice is where the rubber hits the road.  The next step is exploring the strategies in a way that answers the question of – how does those strategy resonate with me?   Using strategies that are most connected to who you are will yield the best results.

There are certainly some exercises and strategies that are more about self-exploration than others.  Here is a short list of strategies that may help to improve productivity, but more importantly offer the opportunity to explore what’s holding you back, and who you are.

Personal Development and Productivity

Take a vacation 

This may seem counter intuitive since taking a vacation is not necessarily the most “productive” of activities. However, letting go of some of the demands and hustle for a few days can help you to re-identify what is truly important, as well as give you a boost of energy when you return.

Create a daily practice

When looking at habits and common traits of successful people, one thing is usually consistent, they have some sort of regular practice. Having a daily practice helps to create mindfulness, discipline and routine – all things that impact productivity.

Practice discipline, everyday

Similar to the daily practice, focusing on ways to practice discipline can help to build routine and productivity in many areas in life. Discipline can be practiced in a number of ways through fitness, healthy eating, work duties, behavior in relationships, self-reflection and many other aspects in life.  The practice of the discipline itself may be just as important as the goal related to it.

Get up and move

You may have heard the recent commentary about sitting being the new smoking. There is substantial research to back up the idea of sedentary lifestyle greatly impacting health, wellbeing and productivity.   Exploring ways that help you to enjoy regular daily movement will make these little breaks easier to commit to and more likely to stick.  Again, this is about personal exploration of what works for you.

Explore your passions and purpose

Understanding what you are passionate about will help in building strategy around all of the previously mentioned tips. If you aren’t sure, that’s ok, start experimenting.  Start with these two questions –

  • What would I love to do every day if I had an unlimited amount of money?
  • If I had unlimited resources and I could only do one thing to help the world, what would it be?

How have you enhanced your own productivity? 

Thanks,

Michael

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