Year: 2019

Why should you identify your triggers?Triggers are those people, places, or situations that, while not inherently upsetting, evoke, or trigger, a deeply emotional and often negative response in you, such as anger, strong annoyance, or deep frustration. You may “act out” when you feel triggered in these moments, whether by yelling or saying something sarcastic, going silent and seething, or getting confused or flustered. Sometimes, as with post traumatic stress disorder, a trigger, even a smell or sound, can even cause flashbacks, intense pain, sadness or panic. The triggers I mean aren’t as severe as these examples, but are instead the more subtle triggers of regular life. It is important to recognize these triggers for two main reasons: In the moment where your trigger is pulled, that recognition can help you maintain or…

When we feel hurt, confused, or angry at work, it can hijack the entire day. And often, those feelings develop from an interaction we have with another person.Sometimes our feelings emerge from a situation that is clearly upsetting, confusing, or angering--we've been demoted, demeaned, or told contradictory things that lead to confusion. At other times, our feelings may actually be generated by a story we are telling ourselves, as much as by what is actually happening.It is important to know when we are telling ourselves a story that isn't based in actual fact. We may make big decisions based on our feelings, such as staying away from a meeting because we felt rejected by a person’s words, or choosing not to pursue an idea if we feel the other has…

I’ve been writing lately about finding leadership identity, and how knowing ourselves better can improve our lives. But there’s another reason to cultivate self-knowledge and leadership identity: the better we know ourselves, the more effective we are in a team. In a new article in the Harvard Business Review, To Improve Your Team, First Work on Yourself, Jennifer Porter, who is managing partner of a leadership and team development firm, writes that her group is regularly called upon to fix what the clients often call “dysfunctional” teams. When she and her colleagues drill down more deeply into the cause of all this “dysfunction,” they often uncover a lot of finger-pointing, and a tendency for team members to pick out certain individuals as the ineffective ones, and the ones to blame for all…

The question of leadership identity has come up often with clients over the past few months. When a person is seeking to make a change, whether it’s changing careers, looking for a promotion, or a move to the next phase in life, ( kids going off to school, for instance), they can get stuck in where to begin. It’s especially hard when, as is common, a person can’t articulate what they actually want and why.We are able to choose more clearly if we first define who we are: our core purpose, our soul. If we can do that, we can begin to understand our leadership identity, and create the culture and context around us in which we can thrive. Under those conditions, anything is possible. I know of two good ways to…