How to build resilience

Photo by Johnson Wang
Photo by Johnson Wang

There is enough stress in life for everyone – in private as well as in professional life. Stress makes us the hostage of our emotions, fogs our judgment and consumes a lot of energy. Different personalities deal with stress in different ways. Some of them have a violent temper, others prefer to pull the blanket over their heads. And then there are people who seem never to be stressed. They steer calmly through the waves of life and have inner stability – resilience. The good thing about it is that you can also learn this.

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You can’t motivate

Photo by Clark Tibbs
Photo by Clark Tibbs

You can’t motivate your employees. You can only try not to frustrate motivated people.

You have to let this insight settle a bit. Don’t you see it as one of the duties of a leader to motivate employees pushing them to do their best? What about all the motivation trainers who have propagated a joyful “Chakka!” as a battle cry? What about all the group dynamics that arose while running over glowing coals? Continue reading “You can’t motivate”

How to build committment

Photo by Quino Al
Photo by Quino Al

One of the most difficult terms to translate from English into German is “Committment”. In contrast to the German “Verpflichtung”, the direction is exactly the opposite. It is not the boss who says “Komm mit – Come with me”, but the employee who gives his commitment – he commits himself.

From a leadership perspective, this leads to a special challenge: How do I manage to make him follow me voluntarily?

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Private life in business

Photo by Dayne Topkin

How much private life can we let into business? This question is not so easy to answer and there is no single correct answer. I know good managers in HR departments who consciously draw a dividing line – after all, they never know when they will have to have a very serious conversation with their counterpart. On the other hand, the high project pressure during out-of-town assignments forges young consultants together so closely that, logically, deep friendships develop as a result. So, what should you do?

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