Communication and Soft Skills For IT Engineers

Why Communication and Soft Skills For IT Engineers?

We have been working and living with IT engineers for several years. One of their biggest challenge is to develop communication skills that will enable them to be great business leaders. Equanimity Executive is very excited to bring its expertise to those amazing professionals.

Equanimity Executive will provide communication skills training at the Idea Center in Miami, FL. The World Cup of Sales and LaunchCode are partnering on this project to offer IT engineers quality soft skills training so they can not only be successful technical professionals but great business leaders. If you are interested in attending one of our public session, please check the dates of our next training.

Communication Skills For IT Engineers Launcode

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Your [Presidential] Choice, A Decision Based On Emotions

By Ron Bonnstetter

Do You Know the SCIENCE Behind Your Presidential Vote?

An election year is always a polarizing time for the country. A nation is divided not only by the issues, but the strong emotions evoked by those issues.

This year is particularly fascinating (or frightening, depending on who you ask) with candidates rising in the ranks who are downright shocking to many individuals. To say voters are scratching their heads as to how the top candidates have stayed at the top is the understatement of the century.

Take Donald Trump, for instance. Headline after headline, and article after article, debate how his campaign has catapulted so far with no political experience and shock-value speeches. Bernie Sanders’ rise to popularity has been equally interesting; never before have voters embraced a candidate with such strong socialist views.

What’s happening here? Water cooler chatter may have you believing the country is falling apart, but I believe another culprit is to blame – neurology.

You see, the rise of candidates like Trump and Sanders can be attributed to voters’ disdain for the current political environment. They are rejecting the status quo and craving change – and this is manifesting by them embracing a candidate they believe represents the opposite. It’s simple avoidance.

The power of avoidance

And what we know about avoidance is that it’s a more powerful force than acceptance.

In addition, voters are making their decisions based on emotions, anger and fear being on the top of the list. When we look at emotion-based decisions from a brain perspective, gamma waves activity is an early indicator in the process. In this case, a presidential candidate giving us a pre-cognitive response before we’ve even had a chance to process or rationalize that response. Furthermore, moments after our brain has a strong knee-jerk reaction, it many times works to justify that decision, rather than weigh it objectively.

So essentially, if the masses are emotionally charged about America’s political landscape – as we know they are – when they hear a candidate’s message, there’s a high probability their brain has instantly made up its mind to accept or avoid that message in less than a second’s time.

Ultimately, it’s likely no amount of rational thinking or argument will help a voter change their mind, at least without awareness of what is happening at a neurological level.

Precognitive emotion or rational decision

Much is at stake this election cycle, as with any election year. However, with awareness of how the inner workings of our brains function, reflect closely why you are casting your ballot for a certain candidate. Ask yourself if you carefully weighed your decision or if your choice came as more of a knee-jerk reaction and you are spending all your time justifying that emotional, precognitive decision.

Request a Complimentary Success Strategy Consultation including an assessment of your choice. Simply enter promocode  ” BLOGFREE ” when making your appointment or visit TTISI.com for more info about our assessment provider.

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Helping yourself inside out: Hacking Anxiety attacks

Anxiety Attacks: Hypnosis and Coaching to attack the panic!

 by Yasmine Verberckt, hypnotherapist and Reiki Healing level 1 & 2 practitioner in Southern California.

Sadly anxiety has become the number one Mental Health issue in North America.  It is estimated that one third of the American adult population experiences anxiety in their life – National Institute of Mental Health. To put this in perspective: these numbers are similar to the obesity statistics of 2011-2012.  So what is anxiety really, why has it become such a big issue and more importantly what can be done about it?

We all experience anxiety in our lives at one point or another. Occasional anxiety is quite acceptable and a normal part of life.  We may be anxious when interviewing for a job, while awaiting test results, when in a life threatening situation or having to make an important decision.

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease typically about an event in the past or the future.  Feelings and the degree of worry can vary quite a bit depending on the individual can’t they?  I am sure you can think of at least one person in your life that is overwhelmed, stressed out, nervous or shall we say anxious?  On the other hand very likely you also know of a different kind of person, you know the one I am referring to; the one that seems to handle it all, juggling a career, school, kids, … and is just a ball of life and energy no matter what happens.  How can that be? They both have eyes, a nose, lungs, a heart and a mind.

AAAHHH the mind.  Even though the anatomy is similar, the way it is used may be different.  We are on to something here, can you sense it?

Most of us have this notion that the mind can be divided into the conscious and subconscious part.  Most of us are also aware that the subconscious part is the biggest engine of the two.  The one that drives your behavior,thoughts and therefore feelings.  Compare it to your computer’s programming.  This program of yours has a very simple yet effective mechanism in place.  We use different words for it, some of them may be familiar, they all are referring to the same: the fight-flight response, sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system or our basic instinct for survival.

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What does this have to do with anxiety?

Thank you for asking, we are getting to the nitty gritty here.

Play a game with Yasmine

What happens to your body and your emotions when you find yourself in a situation that is uncomfortable, makes you nervous or let’s go big: life threatening.  Perhaps a speech you’re about to give, the boss called you in her/his office, the doctor really wanted to speak with you, a partner that couldn’t talk to you on the phone but had to see you in person?

– sweaty palms                                                             – panic

– queasy stomach                                                       – expecting the worst

– heart starts beating faster                                    – feeling worried

– breathing shifts                                                         – muscle tension

– worse case scenario’s seem to always win     – feeling drained

– ….

Let’s keep playing; what are some of the symptoms associated with anxiety?  What are some of the bodily reactions when we feel threatened or in danger?  YES!! similar to the above.  This means we can conclude that non life threatening situations are also activating our basic instinct for survival.  See our mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and fantasy.  Movies aren’t real, they are a projection of images, yet we respond to them with our emotions, we laugh, cry, get scared or if it’s a bad movie we may yawn. The movies we decide to play in our head, based on a past or future event, trigger the same program.  WOW! so it IS all about the mind.

Now what?

Read more on Yasmine’s blog!!

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Executive Coaching Social Community

At Equanimity Executive we believe in the opportunity to engage with our prospects, followers, and clients around life coaching, leadership development and executive coaching topics. Our goal is to educate, develop and assist individuals and organizations reaching their goals.

Since the beginning of May, our team decided to design contests and activities which will support learning and personal growth at no cost, simply by following us. Those activities are a great way to deepen the connection we have with you as well. Many of you, newsletter subscribers (over 3500 in 2015) have been reading our content for years. Today, we have a chance to engage even more with you, our loyal and curious leaders and self-leaders.

Gabriela, our new Client Success & Awareness Specialist is dedicated to bring you fun and practical activities through coaching games and tools, reflective work and so forth.

We are excited to connect with you soon on social media and hope to help you reach some of your goals and raise your level of awareness.

Upcoming activities and events include followers and fans generated content as well such as a photo or video contest to get to know you better as well. This tap into the human drive to compete and learn on a more interactive way. We feel there is a need for connection to be able to apply everything that we share. You will never see the results you want, unless, you work on them and start playing in achieving them.

As a company we established a set of goals and concepts that we want to achieve. Belinda is constantly innovating and is looking to have fun doing it! Her purpose is to share life skills, help you build resiliency and become a true leader.

Our concept in a more detailed way is based on:  social media activities that connect with our fan based and engage with like minded people.

Join us on Social Media for our next adventures including

Weekly or bi-weekly activities

Free Information and Education about leadership, work life balance, stress management and more

Rewards in form of coaching services, spa gift cards and more

Opportunities to belong to Equanimity Executive (EQX) community

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Why men and women should be worried about our professionalism and not our high heels

Tenue professionnelleComme vous le savez peut-être, je suis française. Né, élevé et vécu en France depuis plus de 30 ans. La tenue professionnelle fait partie de notre culture et elle a une signification différente. On s’attend toujours à ce qu’une femme professionnelle porte des talons hauts, un costume ou une robe ajustée, car le look professionnel compte pour votre carrière. Les cheveux et les mains doivent être impeccables.

J’ai remarqué que travailler un emploi professionnel signifie un certain nombre de choses, y compris s’habiller pour impressionner dans de nombreuses organisations aux États-Unis. Surtout pour les femmes qui veulent un rôle de direction. Une volonté de regarder la pièce et d’agir, elle s’applique aux deux sexes. Cependant, une connotation sexiste persiste encore à ce jour sur les femmes qui travaillent dans des bureaux partout dans le monde.

Une perception cruelle?

D’une manière ou d’une autre, les femmes sont jugées sur leur apparence. Les femmes vêtues de jupes crayon moulantes et de talons hauts sont considérées comme excellentes pour l’image de l’entreprise, mais pas pour des rôles stratégiques, tandis que les femmes vêtues de pantalons amples ne sont souvent pas considérées comme des leaders potentiels. Même pour tenter d’équilibrer leurs tenues, les femmes du bureau reçoivent des commentaires sarcastiques et un jugement cruel de la part des deux sexes.

Certains peuvent penser que la solution claire à ce problème est que les femmes s’habillent de manière plus professionnelle – pas de décolleté, pas de jupes courtes, des talons de chat minou uniquement, etc. Le plus conservateur, mieux c’est. Le seul problème avec cela est la censure flagrante qui l’accompagne. Les femmes, tout comme les hommes, ont le droit de s’habiller comme elles le souhaitent, dans des limites raisonnables.

Valorisez le professionnel de chacun que vous rencontrez, quelle que soit son apparence

La vraie solution à ce problème est simple: chacun doit s’occuper de ses propres affaires. Se concentrer sur la tenue d’une femme, certes, ce n’est pas extrêmement révélateur, plutôt que sur la façon dont elle se conduit en tant que femme de carrière professionnelle est imparfait et faux. Ce n’est pas sa tenue!

Au bureau ou en dehors, la valeur d’une femme n’est pas basée sur les vêtements qu’elle se sent suffisamment à l’aise pour porter sur son corps. Tout vêtement qu’une femme se sent assez bien pour porter en public est une étape importante de son développement personnel et doit être traité comme tel. Un jugement et une dépréciation persistants sont dégradants et amènent une femme à moins penser à elle-même; cela fait également que les autres la considèrent comme «moins que». Une conversation ouverte sur la tenue professionnelle peut être nécessaire pour répondre à l’apparence et à la convivialité de l’organisation, mais ne doit pas gêner ou limiter les individus dans leur «ÊTRE».

La seule chose importante dont les gens devraient s’inquiéter au bureau est de savoir si tout est fait et bien fait. Cela ne se reflète pas dans ce que les gens portent, hommes ou femmes. Distraire ses collègues avec des commentaires est bien plus distrayant que les tenues que les femmes portent.

Nos conseils pour contester la perception que les autres ont de vous:

1-Demandez des commentaires constructifs sur votre tenue vestimentaire pour évaluer quels sont les principaux attributs ou défis que les gens perçoivent à propos de votre façon de vous habiller
Ne vous sentez pas offensé par ce que les gens pensent, utilisez cette information comme une opportunité de relever ouvertement tout défi et de rediriger les gens vers vos forces et vos qualifications

2-Soyez propriétaire de votre style et respectez l’apparence des autres
. La meilleure façon de perfectionner cette compétence est de se concentrer sur ce qui est dit et non sur ce que vous percevez. Ne vous laissez pas distraire par une tenue ou une apparence de quelqu’un.

3-Soyez attentif
Dans un même bureau, les individus viennent de différents milieux et de cultures différentes. Soyez simplement conscient de la façon dont votre tenue vestimentaire peut déclencher inconsciemment quelqu’un en raison de sa foi, de son système de croyances ou de son éducation dans une autre partie du monde. Ce qui est acceptable pour vous, peut ne pas l’être pour eux et vice-versa. Soyez curieux au lieu de porter un jugement et vous pourriez apprendre quelque chose sur une autre culture que vous ne connaissiez pas.

Coaching exécutif pour les femmes

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The biggest myths about workplace equality

Égalité au travailL’une des plus grandes erreurs que nous commettons aujourd’hui en tant que main-d’œuvre est de croire que l’égalité en milieu de travail n’est pas encore atteinte. Beaucoup liront cet article comme un déni de ce que vivent les femmes au travail. La discrimination de genre existe toujours comme le racisme ou toute autre discrimination, mais ce n’est pas l’état d’esprit le plus courant dans nos organisations occidentales.

Le défi est que le comportement ne correspond pas encore à l’état d’esprit et que les comportements inconscients biaisés ont un impact sur les femmes au travail.

Men and women are guilty of cultivating those behaviors. A client recently told me she could not trust any other women in the organization because they were competition to her. This limiting and unconscious behavior was leading her to discriminate other women by ensuring they would not get too close to reach her level.

In reality women in leadership positions still struggle to break the glass ceiling and assert themselves in a male-dominated professional environment due to lack of self-awareness and self-empowerment. On the men side, biases persist by habits and the solution as well is to focus on self-awareness combined with widespread education. A woman shared with me a story that reflect an unconscious behavior. While she was visiting a client with a male manager, she, a director, was discarded by the client for the entire first part of the meeting. During a break, the male manager leaves which left the client with the female director. The client realized its unconscious biased behavior and apologized. Gender biases are engrained in our culture and it will take conscious efforts from both women and men to create new beliefs and behaviors that support true equality.

Until then, the place to start is in debunking a few of the more persistent myths that hold women back in the workplace. Take a look and see if any of the following apply to you.

Myth 1: hard work and patience will get women promoted

While certainly a good foundation for workplace advancement, any woman looking to land that big promotion needs to do more than keep their head down in the back office. Making oneself more visible and open to new connections is key, and the most direct route to advancement. Think about it – if your boss barely knows your name, how likely do you think you are to gain recognition? The truth is that women need to become comfortable with sharing their talent and successes. Last year, I met with a couple of female attorneys and they mentioned it was very uncomfortable for them to be recognized in public for only doing their job. They feel visibility is too much about “bragging” about their accomplishments, but when men do, they realized they are totally fine with it!

Myth 2: workplace equality is just a women’s issue

It’s true that respecting women’s independence and personal development is paramount, but the reality is that gender equality will only be achieved by a combined effort from all sides. Drawing on men and women from different industries and bodies of government will be necessary to affect widespread change. The fight might not be the best course of action though. A collective effort to support education and reflection instead of blaming men for their unconscious behavior should be the most favorable action to take. It only makes sense—since the benefits gained from a more cohesive and balanced workplace help everybody by creating more diverse teams with a broader range of skill sets and perspectives.

Myth 3: we should leave the problem-solving to our superiors

Appealing to our higher-ups is a great strategy to take charge of our situation and make change happen. However, it is too easy to forget some of the smaller, more close at hand strategies that can promote workplace equality. Maintaining a confident executive presence will show coworkers your strength and capability as a leader. Finding ways to problem-solve directly with coworkers will help build connections and foster mutual respect.

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How your emotional quotient will help you lead

Accept Differences With EQAs the worldwide workplace continues to diversify, our understanding of the essential qualities that make successful leaders tick only goes deeper. People with a high emotional quotient, or ‘EQ’ benefit from a number of very unique advantages. Rather than being all about a head-first, top-down management style, different companies are each finding their own leadership solutions, and employing a wider range of skill sets in these roles. And while experience, education and authority still play a role in every leader’s repertoire, we are learning to give more credence to aspects of emotional intelligence that affect the way leaders do their jobs. Here are just a few advantages:

Accepting differences

The ability to relate to others means a leader is more able to play to their individual team members’ strengths. Rather than forcing workers to conform to pre-existing roles, a flexible leader with a high EQ will understand how to best use the tools they have at their disposal. Also, having the flexibility to work with anyone in any situation should be an indispensable trait that all leaders have.

Excellent motivators

A boosted emotional intelligence lets the best leaders push team members past their limitations and offer an extra bit of motivation. This creates more efficient and directed work, but also instills a more healthy corporate culture. Before you know it, the infectious enthusiasm of your high-EQ leaders will spread across the entire workplace.

Always mindful

Leaders who put their subordinate’s needs before their own are great at keeping their team working at their fullest potential. Targeted feedback offered on a consistent basis keeps priorities straight, and timely responses to any inquiries or requests keeps workers happy. In time, a well-tended to corporate environment will create an atmosphere of trust, and a more developed network of communication.

Accountable

Those who benefit from a higher EQ know that a leadership position does not place them above their coworkers. Keeping oneself accountable to the rest of the team will encourage others to follow suit and help drive a self-directed workplace. It is no secret that reliability and consistency are the best way to earn long lasting respect.

 

How is your EQ? Find out Today! 

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Employee disengagement: the core cause and the sure cure

Whether you’re a manager or an employee, chances are you’ve had personal experience with disengagement in the workplace. Disengagement takes on many forms; zoning out, apathy about the company and its mission, lagging production and minimal effort are just some of the symptoms. This blog post will help you better understand the one core reason that employee disengagement happens, and what can be done to fix it.

The one reason is this: employees feel dehumanized. If you think this is an over-simplified reason, bear with me. You see, much like employee disengagement takes on many forms, the dehumanized feeling that leads to disengagement comes from a variety of sources.

One can be insufficient compensation. No matter how contentious the current debate about the national minimum wage is and no matter how pervasive the idea is that employees should just suck it up and be grateful for having a job at all in a limping economy, the fact of the matter is that employees won’t invest more than minimal effort and engagement in a company that doesn’t invest enough in them to keep them happy and comfortable.

Other employees feel dehumanized because their individual talents, expertise and skills are overlooked. Employees may or may not have the same credentials that their higher-ups do, but they often have unique insight through hands-on experience about how a business runs, what’s not working and how certain facets of the business could function better. Unfortunately, this knowledge often goes unnoticed and unused. Employees may also be harboring untapped talents that could make the work environment more enriching, pleasant, cooperative and unique. Not having those individual characteristics acknowledged or valued is immensely frustrating and dehumanizing.

Employee DisengagementSome employees feel dehumanized by a poor work-life balance, gaps in communication between departments, burnout, lack of bonding experiences with coworkers and a whole host of other issues.

But much as these issues all have a common factor, so do they have a common solution: re-humanization of the work space. This involves higher-ups taking a personal interest in the well-being, insight, personalities, attributes and worries of employees. Managers and employers should make it a point to know their employees well enough to understand what would make each of them feel more valued by the company. For example, if a manager finds out that an employee is a skilled painter, utilizing that employee to paint the break room would make that employee feel more valuable to the company. Even if the company is too small to accommodate mass raises in salary, taking one necessity off employees’ plates, like providing lunch so they have one less expense, makes employees feel like their bosses are human beings too who want to give them a voice and a sense of worth.

The moral of the story here is that working men and women are most likely to remain engaged in the workplace if they feel they are being fairly valued to the best of the company’s ability, if they are sought out for practical advice on the company’s operations and if they are recognized and celebrated as individuals with unique assets to bring to the table. It’s not enough to just be employed, to be cogs in a machine. They have to feel like they’re being treated as human beings.

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Four Ways to Enable Your Boss to Be a Better Leader

Have you ever thought of your company leadership as needing empowerment? You expect them to empower you as the employee, and that relationship goes both ways. To encourage your boss to be a better leader, you need to support them, too. For management to be truly effective, they need to know their team has faith and trust in them. So, how do you enable your boss to be a better leader? In honor of Boss Day, here are some ways you can empower your boss and pay them back for all they help you with.

1. Don’t criticize behind their back

It’s an easy go-to to bond with your coworkers by criticizing the boss. You may think it’s harmless and will never get back to your boss. However, these harsh words will most likely make it back to your boss. Not only is it unprofessional, but it can demean your boss. You might not have really meant it, but consider how you would feel if your boss was criticizing you behind your back to your coworkers. If you truly do have constructive feedback, bring it straight to your boss. Having face-to-face conversations where you give your boss feedback in a respectful way can enhance their leadership skills.

2. Give positive feedback and constructive criticism

Speaking of feedback, it’s helpful for your boss to receive feedback from employees. You might think your boss never wants to hear how he or she is doing, but that’s probably not the case. When your boss makes an effective change or really leads your team in the right direction, say so. Just because they are the boss doesn’t mean they don’t like receiving compliments. Also, if you have suggestions or constructive feedback, voice them to your boss in a respectful way. However, with constrictive criticism, make sure you have a relationship with your boss where this is acceptable. Don’t cross a line by being rude or coming out of left field.

3. Support his or her personal growth

You may think of your boss as simply a figure head, but he or she has career goals as well. If you see your boss doing something out of their comfort zone or actively getting involved in an outside organization, support that. Your boss will support your personal and professional growth in return.

4. Play nice with your team

Don’t undermine the company and your boss by causing strife within your team. You don’t have to be a pushover, but try to create camaraderie and trust among your team. Your boss will truly thank you for being a team player. This allows your boss to not mediate between fighting coworkers and instead, focus on bigger goals of the company. When you free your boss up from petty office fights, a lot more can be accomplished.

Overall, put yourself in your manager’s shoes. How would you feel if you were the boss, and you had an employee just like yourself? Make sure you’re always empowering your boss, and he or she will empower you in return. Strong leadership benefits the entire team, so celebrate your team and Boss Day by supporting your leader to be the best they can be.

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Why turning 40 or 50 is better than Christmas morning!

Vous défaites l’arc, déballez le colis, et à l’intérieur se trouve une version de vous-même âgé de 40 ou 50 ans. Maintenant, si vous êtes bien en dessous de ce score, avez la plus grande partie de votre tour à jouer, vous secouez peut-être la tête tristement à la pensée d’un tel cadeau indésirable. D’un autre côté, si vous avez renversé quelques quilles de plus, gagné un coup ou deux, vous pourriez hocher la tête en souvenir.

Au milieu se trouvent ceux pour qui c’est une réalité. Il se pourrait bien qu’une course autour du parc à la poursuite de votre chien de la famille soit un peu plus difficile qu’auparavant. Peut-être ces CD – vous vous en souvenez? – vous avez acheté les années précédentes ne semble pas aussi à la pointe de la musique qu’autrefois. Peut-être, juste peut-être, que vos orteils ne sont pas aussi pleinement visibles qu’ils l’étaient auparavant.

In times past, at 50, you’d be middle-aged. Not now, not yet, and not for quite a while. As medical skills keep improving, as health and fitness advice becomes more worthwhile, you are simply entering your prime. That midlife crisis you might even have been promising yourself is almost a generation away – and probably won’t even happen then!

Instead, you truly have the chance to open a new chapter in your career. Experience has been gained, now it’s time for it to be used. A TV analyst, examining the skills of an international sportsman, once shrewdly assessed that the individual had simply played the same single international fixture 40 times over. Nothing seemed to have been learned from the experiences he had been through, no significant changes made to his past patterns of behavior. Or, as Muhammad Ali once put it: ‘A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life’.

50 ans et transition de carrière
This is a time of opportunity. It’s YOUR time to define yourself and your career. However, many people fall into the trap of defining it through their dislikes, or through striving simply to meet the expectations of others. This can be through work peer pressure, and family demands or expectations. With the former, often there is a desire to drag people down to the level of performance where others feel in their comfort zone. At this time of your life, you have the emotional intelligence and practical experience to refuse to be bound by these constraints. You have learned enough, although you’ll always learn more, to forge your path rather than simply follow a trail left by others.

This is a time to appreciate what you have learned and to know how best you can put it to use in the years ahead. It is time now for that new chapter – or maybe even a brand new book – but a defining one, not simply a retelling of what has gone before. Coco Chanel once told us: ‘Nature gives you the face you have at 20, it is up to you to merit the face you have at 40 or even 50’. If your face has reached that milestone, it’s time to turn it proudly to face the world on your terms, to meet your expectations, to make it into the place where you want to be.

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