• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

METRONY.COM

Digital Marketing Consultancy

  • Home
  • Consulting
  • Contact
  • Digital Marketing Audit
  • Social Media Review

communication

How leaders de-stress

by Admin

Every time I type the word “distress,” my spellchecker underlines the word in red squiggly lines and wants to change it to “distress.” Maybe the spell checker is wiser! When unable to “de-stress”, then maybe you are in distress.

De-stressing can be tough for anyone, but leaders sometimes face situations unique to their station. There are times when many feel there is no one to speak with or at least no one who can truly understand a situation. That may be because a decision is unique to your job or personal life. It takes someone who truly understands due to their own experience or because they have witnessed someone else’s, to truly relate to all the dynamics of a decision or non-decision.

How-leaders-destress-440

A colleague went through a particularly difficult and very public conundrum. A decision he made, resulted in a backlash from his long-time co-workers. It was a personal decision that was a matter of who he chose to sponsor as a replacement prior to her own retirement. He had no decision-making ability in the successor, but of course could voice who he felt was a suitable replacement.

I called him every time I saw it hit the news. The rumor mill was even more active. We were not and still are not close friends, but I wanted to let him know there was someone out there who understood. I knew he had good friends who also grasped the dynamic of the situation, but I was in an equivalent organization; in an equivalent position so felt I could empathize well.

It is an unknown whether I helped or not, but he answered the phone every time I called, listened, talked with and thanked me.
There are times when leaders cannot find someone to relate. There are times when leaders, bound by non-disclosure agreements or other legal restrictions are limited to discussing matters only with their attorney or other directors. How do you de-stress then?

How-leaders-destress

Filed Under: communication, leadership

Leading Through Intimidation

by Admin

Leading-Through-Intimidation-440

Recently I posted a late night plea for help in a tech support forum I belong to on a popular, professional social network. Although a member of that group for years, it was my first support request. I’m not going to leave a link into the actual post but this is a rather popular exchange for anything business related:

Michelle Held commented on a discussion in Joomla* Helpdesk.
Michelle: Does anyone know of a theme that has an email sign-up box IN a slider? maybe 60/40 split eg slider at top of home page left, and email sign-up on the right side – (NOT in the sidebar)?? THANKS!
Like Comment (2) 13h ago

In the morning, I read the response:

Angry Group Moderator* (AGM)
AGM: With all due respect Michelle, but with questions like these won’t get you far in this group.

  • a. typically a slider should be plugin territory
  • b. would it be so hard to add content to a slider
  • c. have you actually used Google to find such sliders?

13h ago

Did you choke on your coffee like I did? This is the actual transcript. The post came from the group owner. I checked the title of the group I posted in to be sure I did not post in one of my nonprofit or women’s groups. I scrolled down a bit to look at what the other group members typically post. I definitely was in the right group, or so I thought.

I wrote and erased at least two clever replies before posting this:

Michelle Held: So sorry to burden you. The answers are:

  • a. Yes I know, that’s why I’m asking
  • b. For me, yes
  • c. Actually lately I prefer Bing but ‘yes’ again My first question but hey thanks anyhow guess this group is not for me

7h ago

The thought of being afraid to ask a question is foreign to me. I read about it all the time, but don’t share the emotion. Deciding not to let this ruin my day, I quit the group and headed off to the gym. Two sweaty hours later, still haunted by the feeling that I wrote something wrong, I pick up my cellphone and find this text message from a friend:

“Hahaha I just saw your “exchange” on XXXX*!!!! that guy sounds EXACTLY like the jack*ss I used to deal with in my vtn2* group!!!!”

A few friends have taken to Facebook as well, leaving snotty comments on my wall and signing their names as Mr. AGM.

Mean people suck!
What did he mean by “with questions like these won’t get you far in this group?” I won’t go far? This is just an informal, free support forum a group of strangers subscribe to.

This callous forum moderator with his low emotional intelligence is probably not equipped to manage a group, at least not today. Did he even understand the sarcasm of the response? It is doubtful. The forum members cannot possible feel inspired or confortable after reading his response. This group leader created a culture of disrespect and intimidation by responding so harshly.

Kevin Surace, Inc. Magazine’s 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year speaks about disruptive innovation in Brené Brown’s book Daring Greatly. Kevin said it best, “I don’t know if it has a name, but honestly, it’s the fear of introducing an idea and being ridiculed, laughed at, and belittled. If you’re willing to subject yourself to that experience, and if you survive it, then it becomes the fear of failure and the fear of being wrong.”

*Names are changed

Leading-Through-Intimidation

Filed Under: Blog, business, communication

Use Body Language to Send a Message

by Admin

Body language can send just as much information (more even more!) about what your feeling than your words can. Noticing the signals that people send out with their body language is a very useful social skill. Learn how to interpret a few of the key messages in other people’s body language

Body Language Infographic

Filed Under: communication

Copyright © 2023 · METRONY, LLC

  • Home
  • Consulting
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Articles
  • Contact