Again, it’s worth repeating that our demeanour, attitude and
behavioural styles have an impact on the organization whether we
recognize this or not.
When all else fails, ask your kids
As work pressures become intense, it’s tempting to follow the old
advice: ‘If you are feeling stress, tension and a headache, do what it
says on the medicine bottle: take two and keep away from children.’
But if you can resist this temptation, the advice and feedback from
your children, if you have any above toddler age, will be valuable.
It is safer to hear from your daughter that you pull a face when
impatient or bored, than it is to hear from the boss of a corporate
client explaining a contractual detail. Or rather, the corporate
customer will not tell you, but simply take the business elsewhere.
Our view of how we are comes not only from formal appraisals. It is
worth asking our partner and friends how we are – little or major
things from whether we get cross when we can’t find our way while
driving, to how we express anger over a personal conflict, or how we
set about making major life decisions. As in the workplace, there can
be surprises. Many people have experienced hearing from a friend,
‘Cheer up, it might never happen,’ when in fact they were feeling
perfectly cheerful. So, how often do we appear miserable in the board
meeting, without realizing it? What impact does this have on the
chairman? On our chances of promotion?
Those with teenage children probably have the richest source of
honest feedback on how we come across. Think about it: who is more
intelligent, less guarded, more savvy but also, crucially, more
desperately wanting to admire and respect you and to care about
how you come across? Mothers have known for generations that
The purpose of this exercise is to improve
organizational performance, not simply engage in the
fun process of learning about ourselves.
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