Corporate CPR Episode 79: Why We Can't Expect People To Leave Their Personal Life At Home.

On today’s show we talk about why we can’t expect people to leave their personal life at home. Natalie Boudou is an executive coach and facilitator working with executives, senior management, and leadership teams from a wide range of corporates and international organizations. She's a specialist in the field of resilience at work. Her expertise covers areas such as agility, positivity, emotional intelligence, and communications skills. She helps clients to define their objectives and needs and to improve their performance at work. Throughout her career she has excelled at coaching teams and getting the best out of people and she brings this passion and skill to her coaching practice. Natalie has worked closely with multinationals, the U.N. and NGO’s developing resilient leaders and highly engaged and collaborative teams.Key TakeawaysWhat’s wrong with the philosophy that people should leave their personal life at home? We are complete human beings, and our power is not just how we work, but also what we bring to the workplace. We can’t check our emotions at the door. Does having to hide your emotions at work become a burden for employees? Yes, when you can't express your emotions freely there’s an emotional labor that takes a toll.Is there a problem with people being themselves too much at work? It’s important for people to have emotional intelligence to understand their feelings so they know how to handle their emotions at work. They need to learn how to dial them up or down based on the situation. A lot of this has to do with the organizational culture, are emotions embraced?Do our emotions ever lie to us? As in, “This is hard so I should just give up.” That's an example of a mindset, which are usually unconscious. Sometimes acknowledging the emotion associated with a way of thinking can be helpful to realize a mindset you have.What about stereotypes in the workplace?There are stereotypes about how different genders should act. Women have been portrayed as too emotional which has been used against them, especially when they move up the corporate ladder.  Male stereotypes have to do with not showing emotions.What are your recommendations for organizations to break down stereotypes?Create clarity that stereotypes of the past are not valid. Give employees flexible work arrangements to create equal opportunities between genders, especially around family. Get curious about how it feels for people to be at work and what they think could be improve. How do encourage employees to share more about how they are really feeling?1) Ask questions 2) Listen  3) Care about the answerHow do you create an atmosphere of trust?The team leader needs to be fostering this safety and the rest of the team can support it. Have an open team discussion to set up ground rules about what will make the team feel safe.Leader needs to show vulnerability.Feedback should be regular and constant. Advice to be a good listener?Think about your challenges to listening. Ask others how you are as a listener?Give yourself time. Think of listening is a long-term investment.Top 3 takeaways:Check in and get curious about what people say.Especially with hybrid teams, be more intentional about having an emotional connection with your team members.Take time to listen to people. Connect with Natalie:Website: https://www.human-force.ch/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieboudouexecutivecoach/