Communications Leadership in Challenging Situations

January 15, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Leave a Comment 

slam_door
Times of increased stress and anxiety provide a great staging area for self-aware communication. Although Its increasingly important to nurture relationships, create natural influence and expand social capital, anxiety and stress means more conflicts, misunderstandings and more chances to turn people off.

Its not always the result of a big argument or conflict. Turn-off can be the cumulative result of, subtle, one-word put-downs (”whatever” and “obviously” come to mind), or interrupting and cutting off others.

The effect is to verbally slam the door on people who quickly back off from, or avoid you. The consequent feelings of rejection and insecurity increase fear and accelerate the cycle through which what is expressed constantly contradicts what is desired: that is, connection, acknowledgment, appreciation and understanding.

When mindfulness is neglected in personal and professional conversations and interactions, social equity can quickly slide into a negative balance state. The overdraft, and the unconscious communication habit, can be cured.

There’s a lot of emphasis placed on increasing social IQ in order to better pick up on the subtle cues people exhibit when they negatively respond to you. These are good intuitive skills to learn, but paradoxically, the negative response is often exactly the thing that’s unconsciously desired.

There’s a hidden payoff when words result in the other person feeling threatened, unfairly accused, rejected, discounted, marginalized or drained. The jolt of satisfaction gotten from lashing out or sniping is powerful, and feeds the ego’s need to be right, and superior. But it doesn’t last. What lasts, is Klesha, described in Sanskrit as trap of suffering that can be eradicated only through awareness.

Conscious communication results from practicing a different response in challenging situations. This is done by noticing how the mind races to assumptions and judgments, and how strong negative feelings follow those thoughts. Stopping the mind, and giving the fearful or angry emotion some space, can be done in a matter of seconds. The technique’s effectiveness is increased with slow deep breathing.

Gradually, a shift occurs in which you realize that what you thought you so desperately needed from others, was within your power to give yourself, all along. Interactions and conversations will then initiate from a point of power, not need, and a place of giving, not getting.

Making this shift means fully living up to, and modeling, communication and service leadership.

[Post to Twitter] 

Filed under: alignment, change leadership, communcation, expansion, leadership, relationship, self-awareness, social capital, stress relief
Tagged: , ,

The value of You!

November 24, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Leave a Comment 

RedShift: The New ROI-Of You

RedShift: The New ROI-Of You

If everything you read or hear about money and finance contradicts your present experience, what you want and where you’re going, why look or listen? Think about it: do you want the so-called “experts” to determine your worth?

You may protest, saying you have $100 in the bank and owe $20,000, so you know you’re toast. Really? By what criteria? Most of the financial valuation criteria was designed for a world economy that bears little resemblance to the present, and maybe none to the near future.

So perhaps:
You’ve heavily invested in your physical well-being that will likely prolong your life for 20 years. Is that not a high-yield investment?

You’ve created a global micro-branded business that is not generating much revenue. What about the many intangible assets that can be amortized? How much? How long?

You’re beginning your encore career and are concerned with making yourself and the world better. How do you value your present and future impact? On how many lives? For how many generations even after you’re gone?

You’re sticking out, for 8 more years, a job you despise to meet your financial goals. How do you value what you really owe for that 8 years, or beyond?

The probable scenarios are countless. What does yours look like?

Remove your attention from the 100% negative financial reporting and boldly claim and create the value of you. Its not a fantasy. Its creative authority. Perhaps your -$19,900 negative worth is actually +$4 million. Which will you intend?.

[Post to Twitter] 

Filed under: Consciousness, In Transition, career, global microbrand, going solo, innovation, knowledge, networks, personal brand, relationship, shift, social capital, social networks, solo psf
Tagged: , ,

Social Networks Part 4: Quantitative ROI

October 6, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Leave a Comment 

RedShift Social Media-Network Model for Business

RedShift Social Media-Network Model for Business

Businesses across all industries are paying more attention to social networks which are predicted to explode worldwide. Although clearly there’s tremendous opportunity and potential it can be overwhelming to grasp the rapid disruption happening and the voluminous information getting pushed out.

Decision makers need help discerning what’s valuable from what’s hype and in taking a direction that makes sense for them. My goal is to help them do that with a unique 4-stage map that is more strategy than tactics and more visual than wordy.

My posts on stages 1-3 are:

The purpose integral to my model is that businesses of all size increase their natural natural influence by using social networks to expand their social capital, brand awareness and sense response skills and abilities.

The quantifiable return in my model is the sum of actionable metrics that follow the qualitative experiential learning of the earlier phase. Its nearly impossible to assign a dollar figure to every social media action. Its more reasonable to present ROI as a story of the benefits of your social media initiative. What’s most important in the very organic world of social networks, is patiently directing the movement, or progression from one stage to the next and not losing commitment to authentic community relationship-building in the quest for ROI.

I developed this model to support a practical approach to social media with recommendations including:

  • Determine if and how social networks can help you grow your business and/or improve profitability.

  • Accept the disruption resulting from a shift from seller to buyer power.

  • Involve people in the decision making process who will challenge assumptions and habitual responses to change and disruption.

  • Understand that it will take two years to measure returns on integrating social networks, whether external, internal (behind the firewall), or both.

  • Model natural and authentic communications both offline and online and give incentives for participation.

  • Don’t wait, over-plan, over-control, micro-manage or over-analyze. Adopt a test and learn approach to social networks.

  • Be open-minded and creative about results and metrics you choose to track, knowing that you could get an unexpected equivalent result, or something even better.

  • If the above don’t convince you, consider the cost to your business of doing nothing.

[Post to Twitter] 

Filed under: authenticity, culture, direction, disruption, emergence, enterprise initiatives, expansion, global microbrand, integral, micro-business, networks, personal brand, relationship, social capital, social media, social networks, tribal wisdom
Tagged: , , ,