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The Power of Psychological Courage: Steps to Building Resilience

It’s no secret that the modern workplace can be challenging from unrealistic demands, interactions with peers and clients, cultural issues, and life in general. However, it’s not just raw talent that makes for a successful employee. Psychological Courage is taking risks by facing challenges instead of avoiding them and confronting fears, uncertainty, and emotional distress to take decisive action. Psychological Courage is crucial for navigating stress, conflict, and change. The result will be empowerment, building stronger relationships, and ultimately enhancing performance.

Psychological Courage will require showing vulnerability, speaking openly and honestly, and learning from failures to shift them into opportunities.

How do we move into Courage:
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Sympathy, Empathy, and Compassion Article

There have been so many posts regarding compassion, empathy, sympathy, and pity; however, do we really understand the difference?

Compassion, empathy, and sympathy are all related concepts but have distinct differences. Compassion is an emotion that motivates behavior; it leads to action. It involves understanding the struggles of another person and wanting to help them. Empathy is a feeling of shared experience; it’s being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand their feelings. Sympathy, on the other hand, is an emotion characterized by feeling sorry for or sad about someone else’s plight. While sympathy does not always lead to action, it does show understanding and concern for another person’s suffering or misfortune. Pity, on the other hand, is a feeling of superiority that demeans those for whom it’s felt; it does not lead to any kind of helpful behavior.
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Effectiveness – Productivity, Skill, and Value

Productivity, skill, and value are often discussed in the same breath, but they have different meanings and benefits.

  • Productivity is the efficient use of resources to achieve a desired outcome or result. It can refer to individuals and organizations – for individual productivity, it usually means doing more with less effort, while organizationally, it can mean getting the most out of your team or resources.
  • Skill is about mastering a craft; it takes time, dedication, and practice to develop skill. If you have the skills necessary to do something well, you’re likely to be able to do it efficiently and effectively.
  • Value is the contribution that an individual or organization makes. It’s not about how much you can produce in a short period of time but about how meaningful that production is. Value speaks to the quality of your work and its impact on others; it makes people or companies stand out from the crowd and become successful.

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Setting Up for Success in the New Year

Start by reflecting on the past year. What went well, what didn’t, and why? This reflection allows you to gain an understanding of where you are currently and helps you identify elements to focus on in the new year.
Next, narrow your focus to create achievable goals for each of the four categories – Work, Relationships, Finance, and Health.
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How to Enjoy the Holidays

The Holiday season is here, and although many look forward to some time off and spending with friends and family, a great deal of stress, obligation, and exhaustion can accompany this time.

So here are 3 steps to enjoy and be grateful during the holidays.

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Ending the Year on a Strong Note

As we move into the end of the year, it’s important to take stock of where we are and where we want to be. For many people, this time is to reflect on the past and set goals for the future. It is also important to take time for ourselves during the busy holiday season. However, it can be a difficult balance to strike, but it’s important to focus on what was and what will be most important to us.

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Failing Forward?

What is the definition of failing forward? 

First, learning from failure, and second, taking action steps to move forward. John Maxwell’s “Fail Forward” and Ryan Babineaux/John Krumboltz’s “Fail Fast, Fail Often” are great resources for this topic. What happens, though, when you are in a risk-averse environment or your leader fears failure? Likely, failing forward is not tolerated; it may not be said in words but is demonstrated in action. 

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End of the Year asks for a Raise or Promotion. Yes or No?

The end of the year is typically a busy time for most organizations as they finalize their budgets and prepare for the upcoming year. This can make it difficult to justify asking for a raise or promotion. However, if you have been performing well and feel you deserve more compensation, the end of the year may be the best time to ask.

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What can employers do around Quiet Quitting:

Quiet quitting is quitting your job with no notice or quitting the idea of going above and beyond.  Per Gallup, 50% of the US workforce make up quiet quitters.

When an employee gives notice, it can be a tough pill for any company to swallow. As the old saying goes, it’s not necessarily the quitting that’s hardest, it’s the quitting without notice that does the most damage. Whether two weeks or two months, employees who leave without any kind of notice put extra stress on their team, and their manager. Of course, sometimes life happens, and people have to quit without notice.   Below are steps and best practices your organization can take:

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“Don’t Take it Personally”​ is not helpful

There’s a lot of wisdom in the old saying, “don’t take it personally.” But is it okay to say that to someone whose upset? Is it helpful, or is it just a way to brush off their feelings and ignore what they’re going through?

We no longer live in a world where personal and business are separated. We never did; however, the phrase “don’t take it personally” is not helpful; it is dismissive. Our personal and our business are now blended. Furthermore, taking it “personally” is not what we need to address. It is the reaction we are trying to avoid or ignore.

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