ARE YOU AFRAID OF BEING SEEN AS AGRESSIVE?
When does needing to get things done cross over into aggressiveness?
Everyone has stories of a relationship that was damaged by actual, alleged or perceived over-assertiveness. It’s a surefire way to damage relationships and ruin trust.
Leadership can be a constant tug-of-war between assertiveness and empathy. To be professional and a successful communicator you need both of these skills, whether you are in a traditional position of leadership or not. There have been times when I’ve completely f**ked this one up too!
Assertiveness is the quality of being confident and self-assured without being aggressive.
Empathy is thinking of the impact your decisions and actions have on others.
Assertiveness without empathy damages relationships and leads to conflict.
Empathy without assertiveness is ineffective and tends not to result in action.
What's the answer?
👉🏼 Empathetic listening with calm, considered assertiveness.
👉🏼 Demonstrate empathy before being assertive.
Last week I rolled out a new virtual version of my Mastering Professional Influence & Communication 2-day training. This topic was a delightful mix of vulnerable sharing, war stories and my wonderful participants inspiring me with their commitment to being even better.
So I’ve got 2 questions for you to consider:
What side of the assertive/empathy tightrope do you tend to fall on? (Extra points for thinking about when)
When is aggressiveness in an organisation okay? (Hit reply and let me know your answer)
If you or your team are interested in Mastering Professional Influence & Communication, I run it as an in-house (virtual if preferred) and public course. I strongly recommend it to anyone who interacts with other humans!!
You’ll learn:
Ethics and integrity
The role of biases
The fundamentals of NLP
Mindset mastery
Listening, questioning and coaching
Managing Power and ‘difficult’ people
Influence and persuasion
Building trust and psychological safety
And we’ll have plenty of laughs along the way.
Want to learn more or how to lock’n’load Mastering Professional Influence & Communication? Get in touch below.