We've all been there at one time or another. You have just lost your job of many years. You're facing a particularly challenging situation with a customer or a colleague. There's wind of downsizing or a merger, causing uncertainty. You've been passed over for promotion.
Being able to effectively express yourself and influence others in your job and career is critical to motivation and engagement. The benefits are many and include:
-Increasing job satisfaction as issues that might otherwise fester get aired and dispelled.
-Gaining a greater sense of control over aspects that impact you.
Abraham Lincoln once said that “if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”. While power is a ubiquitous and necessary aspect of corporate life, it is the abuse of power that has vilified the very term in recent years.
Deep down, most of us want to be - to feel - authentic. To be free of the emotion that rules us. To achieve a place of peace and calm. After all, we all come into this world truly authentic.
But while we may begin as truly authentic beings, life happens.
Today's workplace can be a demanding environment. We are often asked to do more with less, required to work in larger, cross-functional teams that brings with it interpersonal challenges, or forced to deal with external change and uncertainty.
All of this change and associated emotion can make one feel strained, adrift and powerless.