Working Resources for Leadership - Bay Area Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching for Stress Resilience – Creating a Culture of Authentic Appreciation

Authentic Appreciation

Are you working in an enlightened organization where leaders truly care about the emotional health and well-being of employees? Do the leaders in your organization express appreciation on a regular basis? Does your company or law firm offer stress prevention programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “Do I regularly express appreciation to others for their talents and successes?” Emotionally intelligent leaders truly care about helping employees achieve healthy, happy and productive lives.

Are you a leader who models healthy stress management by creating a workplace culture and climate where appreciation is expressed in the moment? Are you able to create a high performance workplace where employees are fully engaged emotionally? Do you have an organizational culture which values appreciating all of its employees on a regular basis? Do organizational leaders encourage stress prevention and wellness?

Resilience

You can decrease stress by creating a positive mental state before or during stressful situations. You can learn specific techniques to refocus your mind before you become stressed. It is possible to reduce the time and energy needed to establish a calm and thoughtful state of mind.

Research studies show appreciation-generating techniques can reduce the production of cortisol (the stress hormone).  Regularly showing appreciation has been demonstrated to lower blood pressure, improve hormonal balance and increase the body’s production of antibodies that fight stress producing pathogens.

Recognizing employee strengths and talents and expressing appreciation are key stress-management components. Coaching and mentoring programs can help companies develop corporate cultures and healthy workplace climates that encourage creativity, productivity, optimal performance and full engagement.

Researchers have found that expressing appreciation in the workplace reduces stress and improves performance. Company leaders can learn to create a mindset of showing appreciation by focusing their attention on what each employee does right in the moment.

Company leaders can experience great joy and fulfillment when they see the faces of employees light up when they feel that management acknowledges their significant contributions. Showing appreciation creates an emotional energy that helps create a happy, productive and stress resilient workforce.  

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who shows authentic appreciation and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Executive Coaching for Optimal Health – Managing Stress for Health and Well-Being

Optimal Health Health

Are you working in an innovative organization where leaders truly care about the health and well-being of employees? Do the leaders in your organization support others in maintaining a healthy lifestyle? Does your company or law firm offer stress management and wellness programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “Is maintaining a healthy lifestyle one of my important values?” Healthy business leaders have high levels of energy and support employees in staying healthy, happy and productive.

Are you a leader who models a healthy work/life style?  Are you able to create a high performance workplace where employees are emotionally and physically healthy and fully engaged? Is your organizational culture supportive of healthy work-life balance for all of its employees? Do organizational leaders encourage stress prevention and wellness?

Health and Well-Being

Too many companies purchase the health plans they can afford and then hope to maintain costs, without realizing that corporate culture and individual responsibility have a dramatic impact on overall employee health and healthcare costs. Some CEOs take the attitude that employee health is none of their business, whereas others see health as something intrinsic to corporate values.

Achieving reductions in healthcare costs without employees’ buy-in is difficult, as many health issues are related to lifestyle. Obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and an inability to manage stress are associated with 50 to 70 percent of all illness and medical problems.

Wellness programs provide structured efforts to improve employee lifestyles, and screenings before the onset of disease enhance health and reduce costs.But less than 5 percent of the $1.8 trillion that Americans spend on healthcare goes toward prevention, and even progressive companies spend 80 times more on cure than prevention.

Some wellness programs consist of little more than posters and reminders in company newsletters. And since they are voluntary, wellness programs attract those who tend to be healthy—not the individuals who need the most help.

Corporations have a responsibility to reduce stress, which is responsible for many risky behaviors like smoking, alcohol abuse and poor eating habits. But health packages are affordable and effective only when employees take responsibility for managing their own lives and bodies.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who displays the qualities of calm leadership and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Executive Coaching for Navigating Stress - Personal Mastery of Stress

Are you working in an inventive organization where leaders navigate stress effectively? Do the leaders in your organization help others sustain high performance while under pressure? Does your company or law firm offer stress management programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “How well do I navigate stress and maintain high levels of energy under pressure?” Stress resilient leaders have focused energy and help others become stress hardy working under pressure.

Are you a leader who models a calm and inspiring leadership style?  Are you able to create a high performance workplace where employees are emotionally and physically healthy and fully engaged? Is your organizational culture supportive of healthy work-life balance for everyone? Do organizational leaders encourage stress prevention and wellness?

Personal Mastery
 
Personal mastery of stress begins by recognizing that it’s a palpable force in the workplace—one for which we must proactively prepare. Of course, a certain amount of stress is the norm in business, but recognizing its signs and symptoms is essential for diminishing and controlling detrimental reactions.

Accepting a degree of chaos becomes part of the challenge. Instead of looking at change and uncertainty as a series of calamities, we can reframe these situations as exhilarating experiences that provide opportunities.

As with river rafting, one’s environment cannot be controlled. But with the right skills, we can navigate and enjoy the turbulence instead of fearing it. Negative stress can be reduced by reframing our perceptions.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who displays the qualities of calm leadership and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Stress Management Exercise for Tough Times - BRIEF RELAX-REFRESHER

BRIEF RELAX-REFRESHER

Stress is a very powerful force that involves awareness, attention and energy. It can be managed and empower you.  If you let stress control you, the resulting distress can be harmful to your body, mind, and spirit.

1. Find yourself a comfortable position with as few distractions as possible.

2. Gently close your eyes and focus your attention inward.

3. Imagine a radiant light dissolving your stress.

4. Take a few easy slow breaths, taking air in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

5. Say to yourself, “Alert mind, calm body”.

6. Now take a deep, soothing breath all the way down to your abdomen.

7. As you exhale, let your facial muscles, neck and shoulders relax.

8. Feel a wave of warmth and heaviness sweep down to your toes.

9. Allow the relaxation to re-energize your body and mind.

10. Slowly open your eyes, stretch, and ease back into normal activities.

                    Golden Rule: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff... ultimately it’s all small stuff.

Stress is a natural response within all of us and it can serve as a valuable source of increased energy and creativity. When coupled with an optimistic attitude, positive or eustress can help you accomplish the things in life that are most important. However, knowing how to manage unwanted stress and relax is essential to your enjoyment of life. Remember that you are in charge of your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. You can choose to be happy, healthy, and relaxed.

Executive Coaching for Mastering Stress – Saving Ourselves from Stress

Mastering Stress

Are you working in an organization where leaders handle stress effectively? Do the leaders in your organization help others meet their goals while under pressure? Does your company or law firm offer stress management programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “How well do I manage my stress and energy under pressure?” Stress resilient leaders have calm energy and help others become stress hardy working under pressure.

Are you a leader who models a calm and caring leadership style?  Are you able to create a high performance workplace where employees are emotionally and physically healthy and fully engaged? Is your organizational culture supportive of a healthy work-life balance? Do organizational leaders encourage stress prevention and wellness?

Saving Ourselves from Stress

There are four paths to counteracting stress and disease at work: two personal and two organizational, according to research in the book What Happy Companies Know, by Baker, Greenberg and Hemingway.

An individual’s or organization’s failure to take responsibility can quickly destroy a team. The organization must refrain from imposing unreasonable productivity requirements, and individuals must recognize their limits—a difficult prospect for high achievers.

Businesspeople and athletes share a common desire to achieve a personal best. “Good stress” strengthens our mental and physical abilities, but we need reasonable mental conditioning.

Just as individuals have a responsibility to be physically and psychologically fit for duty, an organization must provide a healthy environment, with specific policies to bolster workers’ health and well-being.

More importantly, a company can reduce stress by changing its corporate culture, including increased awareness of the value of appreciation, gratitude and positive emotions.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who displays the qualities of calm leadership and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Executive Coaching for Stress Resiliency – Calm Leadership under Pressure

Calm Leadership under Pressure

Are you working in an organization where leaders manage stress effectively? Do the leaders in your organization help others maintain their productivity under pressure? Does your company or law firm offer stress management programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “How well do I manage my stress under pressure?” Stress hardy leaders have calm energy and help others become stress resilient under pressure.

Are you a leader who models a calm and supportive leadership style?  Are you able to create a high performance workplace by creating a workplace where employees are emotionally and physically healthy and fully engaged? Do you and your workforce have a healthy work-life balance? Does your organization encourage stress prevention and focus on wellness.

High Performance under Pressure

Whether out of fear of losing their jobs or a desire to turn the company around, people often display amazing abilities to work under pressure. One of my CEO executive coaching clients shared how his company is having a bad fourth quarter due to the economic downturn.  He related that he has a tendency to get complacent when things are going well, but loves to solve problems under adversity. He was transparent and shared with is senior team there would be cut backs in bonuses, raises and other compensation. The CEO’s leadership style is collaborative and emotionally open. So that rather than retreat to fear and get stressed-out, each member of the senior team became energized and engaged in how best to make the necessary cuts.

When we are asked to sustain too great a load for too long a time, there’s an undeniable detrimental outcome. Athletes and soldiers understand the impact of physical and mental strain, and they pace themselves to avoid burnout and injury. The rest of us continually expect more from the people we employ, not to mention ourselves. Most people can manage the additional stress if leaders create a climate of trust and are open and honest about current economic realities. People need to know that their leaders care and that support is available to meet difficult challenges and get through tough times.

Have you ever wondered why salmon die after spawning? When they swim upstream from the ocean to their spawning grounds, fighting currents and obstacles, their adrenal glands become hyperactive. The constant “on” cycle causes control mechanisms to fail, and the adrenals keep pumping. After spawning, salmon do not die from exhaustion; the cause is excessive stimulation when the adrenal glands fail to shut off.

Executives and leaders are particularly at risk for putting themselves in highly charged environments, where expectations of surviving successfully are high and there are few timeouts for recuperation.The greater their responsibilities, the more stress CEOs have. They harbor tremendous expectations for achieving goals over which they may actually have little control.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who displays the qualities of calm leadership and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Executive Coaching for Stress Resiliency – The High Costs of Stress

Stress Resiliency at Work 

Are you working in an organization where leaders model stress resiliency? Do the leaders in your organization help others to become more stress resilient? Does your company or law firm offer wellness or stress management programs for management and employees?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is “How well do I manage my stress?” Stress resilient leaders have calm energy and help others become stress resilient.

Are you a leader who models a calm and reassuring leadership style?  Are you able to create a high performance workplace by creating a workplace where employees are healthy and fully engaged? Do you and your workforce have a healthy work-life balance? Does your organization encourage prevention and focus on wellness.

The Costs of Stress

Stress can be defined as the cognitive, emotional, biophysical and behavioral reaction to a threat, real or perceived.

Stress reactions are costly. Stressed executives can exhibit the same heart-rate increase, elevated blood pressure and hormonal release when running late for a meeting or confronting an armed thug. Stress depletes our physical, emotional and mental resources, which ultimately reduces companies’ productivity and profits.

The Canadian consulting firm Chrysalis contends stress is responsible for 19 percent of absenteeism, 40 percent of turnover, 30 percent of disability costs and 60 percent of workplace accidents.
 
Healthcare costs for stressed workers are 46 percent higher. Total stress-related business costs (disability, death, insurance, medical expenses, accidents, loss of employees, sick leave and reduced/lost productivity) total between $250 billion and $300 billion annually in the United States. Starbucks, which prides itself on its employee programs, now spends more on healthcare than on coffee procurement.

Americans’ working hours increased 3 percent from 1979 to 1999. We are sleeping approximately two hours less a night than people living 50 years ago. Far too many people whose jobs should help sustain life find them to be a source of stress and fear, killing them spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who displays the qualities of calm leadership and stress resiliency. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching and career coaching clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to mbrusman@workingresources.com.

 

Executive Coaching for Working with Difficult People - Emotional Intelligence at Work

Are you working in an organization where leaders are good at dealing with difficult people? Are the leaders in your organization savvy regarding emotional intelligence?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself is “How do I effectively deal with difficult people?” Emotionally intelligent leaders confront and deal with difficult situations.

Are you good at managing conflict with others? Do you inspire others by having a coaching style of leadership that facilitates communication? Are you adept at dealing with difficult people and strong emotions?

Dealing with Difficult People

They’re everywhere. Walk into any workplace and you’ll find them. Regardless of your company’s success or employee-friendly culture, difficult people pose challenges for managers and team leaders each day.

Some are angry; some are anxious. Others are fearful, negative and obstinate. Some spark frequent disputes with their peers. Still others quietly stonewall and fail to follow through on commitments.

You cannot afford to avoid dealing with difficult people. Whether they’re direct reports or peer managers, their frustrating behaviors will take a toll on your ability to manage others and produce stellar results.

The more serious forms of difficult behavior are, in some ways, easier to deal with because they are blatant and often illegal. In cases of harassment, sabotage or physical threats, swiftly follow your clearly outlined company policies and implement the appropriate consequences.

But long before overt infringements arise, there are subtle forms of damaging behaviors that should not be tolerated or allowed to escalate. Confronting and dealing with these sticky situations will prevent more serious problems in the future.

Unfortunately, many managers avoid dealing with difficult people and strong emotions in the workplace. “People problems” are often cited as the most challenging — and time-consuming — part of a manager’s job. One study found that 42 percent of managers’ time is spent on defusing office conflict.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become an inspiring leader who effectively manages conflict. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.

Leadership Secrets to Persuade Others – Emotions First, Logic Later

Are you working in an organization which values leaders who are good at persuading others? Do the leaders in your organization focus more on logic and reason than emotion when attempting to influence others?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself is “Am I relying on data and arguments more than emotion when persuading others?” Inspiring leaders influence others by appealing to emotion.

Are you good at persuading people at work? Do you focus on appealing to people’s emotions? Are you focused on persuading people to achieve goals that emotionally engage your people?

Feelings First, Logic Later

Most of us try to persuade by using our best arguments, best data, logical flow charts and rationality to generate the thinking, decisions and actions we seek. Business leaders still believe everyone relies heavily on logic and reason to make decisions. We’ve traditionally believed that emotion wreaks havoc on rationality, especially in business.

As science evolves, we’re starting to realize that emotions come first. Not only do they guide our decisions and actions, but we’re incapable of making decisions without them.

We use the emotional parts of our brain to make rational decisions. Emotional context helps us make the best choices, often in a split second, long before the rational centers of the brain are even activated.

It’s estimated that managers spend 80 percent of their time communicating with others, trying to persuade them to accomplish what needs to be done. But how well have leaders and managers understood how humans process information and make decisions?

Perhaps we should pay attention to what the new brain science tells us about persuasion.

Ethos, Logos and Pathos

Aristotle identified the three basic elements of every persuasive argument:
•  Ethos — the credibility, knowledge, expertise, stature and authority of the person trying to persuade
•  Logos — the appeal of logic, reason, cognitive thinking, data and facts
•  Pathos — the appeal to the emotions; the non-cognitive, non-thinking motivations that affect decisions and actions

These elements are the powerful cornerstones of every persuasive argument or presentation. They aren’t weighted equally, however, and therein lies the hidden secret of unlocking your persuasive powers.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a leader who persuades others by appealing to the emotions of others. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.

Executive Coaching Secrets to Generate New Ideas - Creating an Innovation Idea Factory

Are you working in an organization which values innovation by leaders at all levels? Are the leaders in your organization focused on purposeful work?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself in the present moment is “Am I diligent, persistent, and committed to achieving extraordinary results?” You need to have faith in your own inventiveness and encourage the new ideas of others at work to successfully achieve remarkable results.

Are you open to creative thinking or typically critical of new ideas? How effective are you at encouraging the exploration of new ideas? Are you energized by creating a climate of innovation at work fueled by meaning, purpose, and a creative spirit?

Creating an Idea Factory: Lessons from Edison

Perhaps the greatest creation of Thomas Edison may have been his invention factory. His Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory was the world’s first R&D facility. He built it for the “rapid and cheap development of an invention” and delivered on his promise of “a minor invention every ten days and a big thing every six months or so.” In six years of operation, it generated more than 400 patents.

Rather than focusing on one invention, one field of expertise, or one market, Edison created a setting that enabled his inventors to move easily in and out of separate pools of knowledge, to keep learning new ideas and to use old ideas in novel situations.

They used old ideas and materials in new ways. The phonograph blended elements from past work on telegraphs, telephones, and electric motors.

In 1820, H.C. Oersted, a Dane, discovered that a wire carrying an electric current was surrounded by a magnetic field. In 1825, W. Strugeon, an Englishman, wound a live wire around an iron bar and created an electromagnet. In 1859, H. van Helmholtz, a German, discovered he could make piano strings vibrate by singing to them. Later L. Scott, a Frenchman, attached a thin stick to a membrane; when he spoke to the membrane, the other end of the stick would trace a record of his voice sounds on a piece of smoked glass. Then, in 1874, a Scotsman from Canada, working in Cambridge MA, put these elements into one instrument. The instrument was the telephone and the man was Alexander Graham Bell. The only thing Bell contributed was a fresh synthesis; there was no new discovery.

In innovation there is talent, there is ingenuity, and there is knowledge. But in the end, innovation requires hard, focused and purposeful work. If diligence, persistence and commitment are lacking, then no amount of talent, ingenuity or knowledge will produce results.

Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a more innovative and creative leader. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and creativity, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.