[Alicia Davis] Stacie, we have been coaching and doing team building with lots of people lately around emotional intelligence – both for themselves as leaders – also for how they are supporting their teams, and being able to manage and regulate their own emotions and reactions. Right?

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, it’s really been interesting. It does seem to be the topic of the moment. And I think, you know, when we’re thinking about, as leaders, how we can support our team members, those folks on the team who perhaps are having a difficult time working with each other or perhaps working with other people within the organization, I mean, we’ve all been there, right? When we’ve managed staff – this happens all the time. And I think it really all starts with awareness, you know, it’s really important that the staff person be able to really be clear on whether it’s the person, the situation, the topic, whatever it is, that seems to be creating the kind of reactive moment. And then I think this is where we can really offer some guidance or counsel around the power of the pause, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right, it’s the power of the pause, right? And the pause is, literally, when you’re noticing that anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, whatever it is, what that feeling is, where you just want to jump in kind and disregard what the other person is saying or doing and put in your opinion. That’s the moment where it’s really helpful to slow down that process. So, helping someone really understand that taking a breath, taking a beat, you know, taking a couple of breaths, three seconds, five seconds, and 10 seconds. And then really considering this is when the thinking brain can kick back in, right, like really considering, okay, what’s really important from this interaction, right? Like, that’s actually a really good place to have people start from?

[Stacie Watson] Yes, it really is, because I think we can all get sort of distracted by the details or the stories that might or might not even really matter that much, but we all can get attached to them, right? And we can do it, as you know, leaders ourselves, and we certainly can see this with our team members. So I think the more we’re able to help them, you know, as coaches, we often talk about beginning with the end in mind, you know. If you were able to have a successful conversation with this person or have a successful outcome in this meeting, what would that be? And then everybody can perhaps focus there as opposed to getting distracted by the history or the patterns that maybe haven’t been as helpful. And I just think as leaders, we model this, and we can also really teach this to our team members, and emotional intelligence, I think, again, it’s just such a critical skill for all of us.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right, for sure. And we’ve got in our Learning Academy, we’ve got the Emotional Intelligence: Leading with Your Head and Your Heart, training session coming up in a couple of weeks. So, if you’re interested in that for yourself, or maybe even for some of your team, check out the link below or go to academy.TLStransforms.com. And I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] We are the owners and co-founders of Transformative Leadership Strategies. And thank you so much for listening. Take good care.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.