Conflict
You don't have to fight!
The biggest challenge in dealing with difficult situations is to first of all manage your own emotional reactions to them. It is easy to see the other person as difficult and to blame them for your uncomfortable feelings. Acknowledging and accepting your own feelings to yourself is an important first step to making a positive response to someone who you find challenging.
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Listening
Mental well-being at work – are you flourishing or languishing
Mental Well-being at Work
Are you flourishing or languishing? According to Shaun Robinson, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation New Zealand, these words are a useful way of determining mental health and wellbeing. Previously, good mental health was simply the absence of mental illness. “This is far too restrictive”, Shaun said at a presentation on World Mental Health Day at Work.
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Listening
Personal problems at work cause stress
John Kirwan was one of the most devastating wingers that New Zealand and world rugby had ever seen. A prominent and revered figure at the dawn of the professional age of rugby, he seemed to live a charmed life. But he did have personal problems at work.
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Conflict
How one man defused a situation with one very simple skill…
It’s very easy to respond to aggression with aggression… but what if we reacted differently?
Conflict
You don't need to fight! Here's how you can switch your brain from emotional to rational.
A couple
He experiences this question as an attack. He tenses up and goes silent. That’s his usual way of coping when emotions like this arise in him.
Conflict
Acknowledge the emotion
A man walks into … his manager’s office. His face is red, hands shaking and eyes nearly popping out of his head. He is mad about something! “This new directive is just nonsense!” He roars.
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Listening
The power of listening
Listening can be the hardest part of a being a great manager or colleague.
There is always a lot going on in the other person’s life that they are trying to understand, make sense of and cope with.
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Listening
Listen – don't rescue
I was doing a big ‘download’ recently with a friend. I seemed to have a jumble of problems that I needed to name out loud. At first he offered a suggestion to each thing I said: “Have you tried this…” or “It could help if you …”
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