Leadership Tip

How to keep your performance levels up

Do you like to follow the news at work? Be careful what you read: Research has found that consuming negative news has a significant detrimental effect on our mood and emotions, undermining our performance for the rest of the day. Here’s how to keep your performance levels up without tuning out the news altogether:

  • Turn off news alerts. Most alerts are negative by default, so shut off email and phone notifications for the news. If something really important happens, you’ll hear about it soon enough.
     
  • Cancel the noise. Turn off the radio for the first five minutes of your commute. When you turn it back on, don’t listen to angry talk radio, and mute commercials when you can.
     
  • Change the ratio. Start your day with stories about solutions and empowering people, not stories that focus only on problems.

The above leadership tip...
was sent in response to a question from a participant on our 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme and adapted from Consuming Negative News Can Make You Less Effective at Work by Shawn Achor and Michelle Gielan. Whether you're a first time manager or an experienced leader, straightforward, practical advice on best practice is hard to find. Until now. To find out how you, your team or your organisation can benefit, please join us on our next complimentary webinar or contact us.

Subscribe

Free weekly email on things you didn't know last week with links to articles on leadership excellence. To view previous editions click here.


Unlock your potential

Whether face to face, or over the telephone, we can develop your leadership skills, support you in making important decisions, and help you reach your potential.

Read More

Leadership Articles

10 actions for effective communication

High-quality communication is an essential element in business and organisational performance. Effective communication relies on engaging with people, having a commitment to building strong and productive relationships and realising that we communicate... read more

10 actions for advancing your career

Standing out at work isn’t about wearing a flashy hat - though, that could help. The more effective way to make an impact is by developing the skills that will get you noticed. Here are 10 strategies for advancing your career: Make skills... read more

10 actions for achieving best performance

Success does not begin with radically changing the way you work or acquiring new skills: the first step is to take what you already do to the highest level.  However trivial it may seem, if you can do a task more smartly than you did before, and... read more

Leadership Tips

How to create a vision that motivates

Great leaders don’t just set goals - they paint a compelling picture of the future that energizes people to act. A motivating vision doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, but it does need to be clear, grounded, and empowering. Here’s how to create one that... read more

How to be more assertive

The more words you use, the more it sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Long explanations often come across as uncertainty or overcompensation. Two or three clear sentences will always sound more confident - and more respectful of... read more

How to improve interpersonal conflicts

In today’s fast-paced and often high-pressure work environments, the ability to navigate interpersonal relationships is more critical than ever. Even the most capable teams experience conflict - it’s a natural byproduct of collaboration, diversity of... read more