Prioritize

One of my favorite “guiding principles” when facilitating a meeting is that we can all be a “teacher of others and learner from others.” I don’t know about you but I have had the opportunity to learn a lot from others – and I keep learning a lot.  From mentors to friends to strangers, if […]

In our coalition work, we are focused on getting others to work together – or as one of my favorite coalition colleagues used to say “play nice and share our toys.”  While in some situations and with some groups and organizations, this can be really easy. In other circumstances, this can seem impossible. One of

Over the past several weeks, we have been discussing concepts related to Emotional Intelligence and one of the aspects we have not discussed is the need to step away and take a break. In our work with coalitions and relationships, we constantly connect with people and practice our emotional intelligence skills. While this is a

As much as we practice our Emotional Intelligence skills and work diligently to build and maintain strong relationships, there are going to be times when we get it wrong. We may be impatient, annoyed, unkind, disinterested, self-centered, lack compassion or lack self-control. In a recent meeting, I noticed that some of my colleagues seemed overwhelmed

Our coalition work is relationship work. Without people and relationships, we would not have coalitions. While we may be focused on an area of collective interest, our work is all about people. This is why the concepts of Emotional Intelligence are so important. Last Friday, two tornadoes swept through our city. While we may have

Over the past year, I have been slowly reading through Brené Brown’s new book, Atlas of the Heart. In this book, she focuses on labeling, defining and creating a common language around emotions. As we consider applying the concepts of Emotional Intelligence, creating a common language can be particularly helpful in all domains. As we

Have you thought about your energy lately? Or the energy around you? Do you leave meetings feeling completely drained and exhausted or do you leave meetings energized and ready to take action?  Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing emotional intelligence and recognizing more about ourselves and others. One of those areas relates

Since our coalition work is highly dependent upon relationship-building, our ability to interact positively and manage our relationships well is a critical component of coalition building. While overall Emotional intelligence, self awareness and self management and social awareness are important, the concept of relationship management brings it all together. When we know ourselves and others

As a coalition leader, you likely spend most of your time working with others, but are you able to recognize, understand and empathize with them? While we will never fully know the context, story or situation that our coalition members or partners are experiencing, when we practice the Emotional intelligence concept of social awareness, we

Leading coalitions is a lot like caregiving. We check in with our partners, assess how they are participating and engaging, answer questions and find ways to connect them to one another. We may serve as facilitators, mediators and conflict-resolution specialists. While these are important Emotional Intelligence practices, if we are going to do them well,