What’s up Kaizenovators, happy Tuesday Two Minute Drill. Today’s topic of conversation is engagement with empathy. For so many years early and even kind of midway through my leadership journey, I would deal with really challenging and troubling times, and a dictator-like approach. And when things didn’t go well, I would even react with discipline, a disciplinary tone.
Don’t Be a Dictator
You probably know that approach does not work, so I will share it with you. Not only does it kill relationships with your team members, but it also kills the entire culture of the organization.
What I have learned through many failures, trials, tribulations, lots of reading, lots of learning, and lots of mentoring from some great coaches like Jeff Lecher, is that the most important thing I can do is engage with my team with empathy.
When you hire the right people, in the right seats, doing the right work in the right way, at the right time. When there are challenging times that are occurring, they are suffering just like you are. It is our role as leaders to engage with them with empathy.
How does that help? Well, first and foremost, it helps them understand where they are coming from, and what they are dealing with at that moment. Two, what that does, is build a stronger connection with you as a leader and help them feel safe. Three, all of that helps to provide a culture of problem-solving, the ability to not worry as much, and focus on solving the problems at hand.
Again, I highly recommend that when you are dealing with challenging times in your business or your practice, engage with your team with empathy, understand where they are coming from, connect with them, and then make sure that you focus on the solutions at hand and have as much fun as you can. That will also lighten the mood and help you engage your team in the most meaningful way possible.
That is this week’s Two Minute Drill. Have a great week.
Your questions and feedback are always welcome and appreciated!
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What’s up Kaizenovators, happy Tuesday Two Minute Drill. Hannah, you may have seen her in a couple of other Two Minute Drills here at the vet in Arlington Virginia. About 10 days ago we found a soft tumor on her paw, a little bit fixed about the size of a candied-covered Almond. That brings today’s topic of conversation palpating your pets.
Check Your Pets Regularly
We took Hannah the next day to get her needle biopsy done and it came back positive for mast cell cancer. I did not even know that dogs could get skin cancer, but apparently, they can. Mast cell cancer is one of the most common types of skin cancer that dogs can get. When found early it is typically curable, but when found late it becomes much more challenging as with any other cancer.
One of the things that we have done with our dogs ever since they were puppies is constantly palpating them, feeling them, squeezing them, checking under the skin, the subcutaneous tissues, and their paws just regularly. Because of that, it made it much easier to find this tumor and have it addressed. Today, Hannah will have the two middle toes of her rear left paw removed. Hopefully, there will be clean margins and therefore it’s expected to be mostly curative if not completely curative. If there are no clean margins around the excision site, then more aggressive treatment is needed, either radiation or possibly leg amputation. This is pretty serious business.
Again, I am going to encourage all of you pet owners. I don’t care if you have got a dog, a cat, a turtle, or whatever you have, make sure that you are palpating them and checking them regularly because early detection can truly save their lives. I know you can send lots of love and wishes to this beautiful baby girl. I will keep you guys posted on her progress.
That is this week’s Two Minute Drill. Have a great week.
Your questions and feedback are always welcome and appreciated!
Connect with us on Instagram or email us at [email protected]
What’s up Kaizenovators, happy Tuesday Two Minute Drill. Today’s topic of conversation is connection. I am here at Georgetown University to teach master’s students about complementary and alternative medicine. It is always a great time, these young minds are just ready to take on the world.
Strengthen Your Connection
Being on campus makes me think a lot about the connections that I built while I was in college, many years ago. In fact, I was really lucky because this past weekend I got to spend almost 48 hours with some of my closest friends from college, and the connection and being together was phenomenal. For me, the connection that I felt with these guys might have been as strong as I’ve ever experienced. I believe part of the reason is that I have a stronger connection to myself. I have a stronger understanding of what makes me tick and the areas where I want to learn how to improve and grow as a human being.
As I told you in one of my Two Minute Drills way back in October when my parents were diagnosed with COVID and I was going through a lot of stress, I was going to start exploring some mental health options and get some counseling, and I’ve done that. I’ve been doing it now for the past 10 months. It’s made a huge difference for me, understanding how my upbringing and my experiences growing up has shaped my thoughts and shaped my behaviors, and because of that, I’ve gained a greater understanding and connection to myself, I’m able to have a much greater connection to the people that are in my life. That has and is going to continue to make a big difference for me.
So I encourage you to strengthen your connection with yourself through counseling or otherwise so that you can continue to strengthen your connection with others because isn’t that what life is about?
that’s this week’s Two Minute Drill. Have a great week and see you all on Thursday for this month’s webinar around metrics.
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Your questions and feedback are always welcome and appreciated!
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