I feel so incredibly grateful and privileged to do the mahi I do. Last week affirmed that for me ten-fold.

The day centred around building Emotional Intelligence in a group of incredible educators, with the view of taking this mahi to their students.

Through a day of professional learning, they began to understand the history and key competencies that underpin their emotional capital. They then explored their individual profiles, grounding their new knowledge within their own world. We also explored their team Emotional Capital profile and looked at how they could amplify their strengths and work together to lean into areas for development.

We are not machines, nor are we robots. As humans, we are complex and multi-dimensional in our neurology, psychology, spirituality, and physicality, to name a few. As organisational leaders, leading a group of people is (I believe), one of the most complex parts of your role. 

The thing is however, we can sometimes lose focus on the people over the product or outcomes. When deadlines are looming, work is piling up and the pressure is on, it can be more about the grind, than any purpose or meaning. 

The question to ask yourself is “How often are your people in this mode? Is the ‘grind’ your normal?”

Working with some remarkable teams reminds me how privileged I am to be collaborating with individuals possessing exceptional skills, boundless energy, and extensive experience. Much like in our personal lives, our collective effort involves a journey of learning and adapting within our fields, as we prepare for the work ahead.

One of the key factors in how we get on in life is our ability to manage our mindset. Like training our bodies for an event, we can also train our minds to deal differently with life and work events. Without this training, we give up personal power and simply react to events around us.

When it comes to emotional intelligence, our inner critic can get a little rowdy!  Though we may try to be actively listening so we can deeply connect into a conversation, if we allow it, our inner critic can put up barriers that don’t allow us to be present, with our mind open, so we can really hear. 

Actively listening means we not only listen, but we seek to connect, understand, and ‘get’ not only what is being said, but the person behind the words. I’m concerned that we have begun depersonalising a process that is based on human connection. 

So how do we manage our inner critic so we can truly connect?