Common Outlook Consulting Inc. New Perspectives
WHAT YOU SEE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU STAND
January 2016 - Issue # 16-01
Founder's Message

One of the signs of wisdom is the ability to apply what we've learned to the different facets of our lives.


For example, the negotiation skills you've been learning in our workshops and also in our recent articles can become an integral part of, and enhance your interactions outside the negotiation room. After all, in essence, they are skills that are bedrocked in emotional intelligence - in awareness, in the ability to adapt, and in empathy.   

 

To assist you in transferring and integrating those negotiation skills to other settings, this month we're asking you to assess the overall interactions you had with others last year with an eye to uncovering the areas that need reinforcing or change. Our article asks a number of questions designed to give you valuable insights.

 

The insights will serve you well, because in February we'll be launching a series of articles reflecting the newest in Change Practices. To do justice to this topic, we need to explore what drives human behaviour - what causes us to embrace and/or resist change, and so on. After all, it is said that the only universal constant is change. Truly, one of life's great ironies.

 

We are choosing this as a theme because I am nearing the end of a two-year investment in pursuing a second Master's Degree: an Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change. I have had the privilege of participating in this program at the world-leading global business school called INSEAD (pronounced IN-SAY-AD), based in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, with partner universities in China, Europe, and the US. INSEAD is little known in North America, but famous in the rest of the world.

 

This has given me the opportunity to be at the forefront of some of the best information the world has to offer about change - and more broadly, about what drives human behaviour. Even more, it has given me the great privilege of being able to pass that knowledge on to you.

 

Happy New Year! I trust that many of you had a chance to slow down and reconnect with family and friends over the holiday season. Here's wishing you a fruitful year in 2016, full of growth and gratitude.

 

 

Quote
  
"He who knows others is learned;
He who knows himself is wise." 
~ Lao-tzu, Tao te Ching
 

 

Tip
 
Assess your behaviours and attitudes with an impartial rather than a critical view.

 

Coming Up  
 
February marks the launch of an exciting series, exploring the drivers of human behaviour - specifically applied to change - the only true universal constant. See you then!

 

Article

 
In this article, rather than give you our information or opinions about something, we have once again chosen to ask you a series of questions to help you learn from your own experience. We hope they are useful for you.  
 
The following questions look at emotional intelligence through the attitudes you carried, the behaviours you showed, and the kinds of communication you used in the past year.  
 
Their intent is to help you set a clearer and better path for yourself in the coming year. Take some quiet time to reflect on these - perhaps while sipping on a delicious, hot, tea or coffee. Make some notes in a place where you'll refer to them later.  
 
Some of these questions might be difficult or might require some real reflection, which might cause you to put them off, but you can revisit this a few times; you don't have to do it all at once. Probably even 15 minutes on your first round will give you a good start. Then let some of the questions "brew" for a while in your unconscious mind. When you revisit the questions, you'll almost for sure have some new insights. And if you truly want to improve the way you deal with people, it takes some effort. But the payoff is significant, and can endure your whole life.
 

 Read more 

Founder:

Peter Hiddema


 

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