“Think from your heart or feel from your mind?” with Vibhuti Sharma

This situation has impacted all of us, no doubt. How we can change our mindset to adapt to this ambiguous situation? Unbox’s quest for answers had us knocking on the doors of three distinguished panelists. In the second webinar of the ‘Unquarantine Your Mind’ series, titled ‘Unquarantine Your Mind – Mindset Shift’ held on 28 May 2020, the focus was on –
  • Positive Psychology for better mind management
  • Leveraging self-awareness and Emotional Intelligence
  • Effective crisis management with a future-focused approach
In a three-blog series, we elucidate the insights given by each one of the panelists. Our first panelist is Ms. Vibhuti Sharma. She is an Executive Coach for Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Presence. She is also a seasoned Leadership Facilitator – BFSI expert and NLP practitioner with over 20 years of experience in Business Operations and L&D
  1. What do you see most of us doing today?
The concerns of a slow down are hitting all of us and it is an opportunity for us to metaphorically pause, slow down and focus on what really matters – the people around; they are the most important. Despite the diversity, people have collectively stood up to this pandemic as one. The one thing that stands out while people are trying to adapt to the new normal is the united human spirit and all the acts of kindness and compassion that we see around us.
  1. What is the one essential skill to navigate this?
The one skill that needs to be demonstrated is mental toughness and as the saying goes, “Tough times don’t really last but tough people do.” The centerpiece of mental toughness is the ability to see opportunity and at the same time, act upon it. Mentally tough people are emotionally intelligent, resilient to change, relentlessly positive, and most importantly, they are action-oriented.
  1. How does the role of a leader change now from what it used to be?
Leaders need to become more people-centric and show that they really care about their team. Initially and logically, a leader’s role was that of a problem solver. However, there is a tilt towards Affiliated Coaching Leadership Style. Leaders are spending more time coaching and speaking with their team. They need to become more empathetic. They need to be good listeners and enablers who initiate conversations that are far deeper than just transactions. So just be there and navigate through this process of change in a positive direction.     4. How can leaders be more ‘human-centric’ in their everyday transactions? Empathy is the cornerstone to lead in tough times. You can move teams forward only if you have empathy and compassion. The kinds of empathy that a leader could use are:
  1. Cognitive empathy – pertains to the understanding and perspective aspect of empathy. It is about understanding what is going on and having conversations where you try to know what people are going through.
  2. Emotional empathy – is about the We understand what is happening, but can we really step into the other person’s shoes and relate to how they are feeling? You get into the journey with the person to embrace the feeling of what really is happening.
  3. Compassionate empathy – is more about ‘taking action’. Tough times are about taking action. One of the most essential things a leader can do is step up, hold the hands of the team members, and move them forward.
     5. What should we do now? Any situation, adversity in life can become better if you’re ready to relook at it from a cleaner lens. Something that the pandemic has taught us is to self-reflect and be self-aware – look at what you want to stop doing and what you want to continue doing in the coming days to stay relevant. If you’re relevant, you’re in the business, in the game!

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