SOLUTIONS – By Krishna C. Kalva
Emotions shape the atmosphere of our minds
One of my recent columns focused on the concept of deal coaching and how we could personalize a relatively used business term to coach ourselves in dealing with our thoughts and emotions. Taking some inspiration from the column, I would like to build a bridge toward another term that most of us are familiar with: agility.
Agility by its nature is our innate ability to respond swiftly and skillfully to different situations.
It is the nimbleness to adapt and stay resilient to the ever-shifting circumstances.
For example, imagine the changing weather with dark clouds in the sky giving us an indication that it might rain heavily today. Seeing the dark clouds, we prepare ourselves to carry an umbrella or a rain jacket to avoid getting wet. Similarly, when it is a bright and sunny, we carry shades or sunscreen to protect ourselves.
The act of assessing a situation at hand and preparing to respond skillfully is called agility. The understanding that, like the changing weather, emotions come and go.
conditions can also be applied in other situations, for example in dealing with our emotions.
Emotional agility is our capacity to recognize and label an emotion and act skillfully while anchored in the understanding like the changing weather, that emotions come and go. Emotions shape the atmosphere of our minds, influencing our decisions, actions and words. And how do we develop emotional agility and why does it matter?
The Right Approach
Imagine yourself working on a very important project at work. Due to the nature of the topic and complexities involved, you are expected to collaborate with multiple stakeholders. You quickly realize how important it is to remain on top of all the conversations to be able to manage the expectations and swiftly plan the deliverables.
You see an opportunity that introducing sound project management practices creates greater transparency about the project, thereby improving overall collaboration. As a project manager you have a choice to implement either a waterfall of information or an agile project methodology to drive different topics. However, you also believe that if there is lack of insight on how to leverage a particular methodology, it creates an opportunity for the project team to learn and drive the project.
While success is measured based on the project deliverables, one of intrinsic drivers is how the team felt collaborating with one another and the approach collectively chosen to achieve the desired results. For example, the team chose a three-dimensional approach consisting of recognition, understanding and skillful navigation; that focuses on the individual feelings and the dynamics of project execution.
Getting 3-D
In the context of feelings and emotions, a three-dimensional approach can be applied both in our personal and professional lives.
“Recognize” is a phase wherein we actively observe our thoughts and feelings to identify the underlying emotion. It is a phase of introspection to clearly identify what we feel. For example, happiness and anger.
Once we identify what we are feeling, the next phase is to “understand” the message the emotion is trying to convey. By understanding the feeling and emotion, we will be able to collect our thoughts and understand the message of the feeling.
A profound author once said: I sat with my anger long enough to understand that its real name is grief. “Skillful navigation” is the last phase wherein we choose our actions based on the understanding gained by identifying and understanding the underlying emotions.
One of the key outcomes of applying a three-dimensional approach is gaining perspective. Through the lens of perspective, we become emotionally agile by being mindful of our thoughts and skillfully choosing actions based on the situation at hand. The three-dimensional approach also requires interdependence, a concept that was briefly discussed in one of my previous columns.
As we associate our chosen approach with interdependence, it is also important to consider that the underlying emotions involved are impermanent. Meaning, as thoughts come and go, so do our feelings change over time based on the situations and the people with whom we interact, that are interdependent and impermanent in nature.
Conclusion
Let me take you back to the original idea, agility. Agility as a concept is mostly associated with and practiced in the business world. However, through personalization the concept offers a newfound perspective that can be applied in our daily lives.
Through personalization, we give ourselves permission to remain agile by being in the moment, actively observing our thoughts and emotions. Through emotional agility, we remain unattached from any preconceived labels toward our thoughts and feelings and see every moment unfolding as being interconnected.
Krishna C. Kalva is program manager for sales leadership excellence in Germany for Siemens Healthineers. Email him at krishnachaitanya.kalva@siemens-healthineers.com or connect through LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/krishna-chaitanya-kalva-a2773123.
