• Highheels

    Do I need to leave my job to follow my dream?

    Quite often I hear the perception that one would need to leave the job in order to follow the dream, be happy or however you want to call it. But as the job is paying the bills – and in some cases quite well – leaving the job is a high hurdle. In turn, these people feel like not being able to live their dream. Somehow the feeling stays that they would be happier at another place. If you are at this point in your career, I would like to challenge you a bit. Let’s assume, you will not win in the lottery and you need your regular income to…

  • Highheels

    What is your superpower?

    Everyone is new to the team. Noone knows each other. And as the intro, each person should name his/her superpower. Analytical thinking is joined by encouragement as well as positivity and topped with baking or collaboration. This perspective of a team where everyone brings in a strength that results in a multi-power group, resonantes in the participants. You can see everyone smiling, relaxing and enjoying the moment. What is your superpower? What do you like to bring to your team? And what is it that others love about you being around? Take a moment to reflect and explore. It strengthens your self-perception, resilience and mood. And once you are done…

  • Highheels

    Screaming at people is not an option

    “Don’t you ever do this again”, the manager screams into the telephone. What sounds like a scene in a 90s wallstreet movie is still happening today in the corporate world. Less frequent for sure – but there are still people around who believe that screaming in business is a valid way of communication. The aggressor surely feels superior using his loud voice to intimidate the oponent (aka the team member or colleague) and stop an unwanted conversation or reply. The consequence almost always is a hurt relationship that soon will break if there is no apology. Let’s examine why someone uses screaming as a communication tool. The effect of having…

  • Highheels

    Are you smarter than a 4-year-old?

    Researchers asked 4-year-olds to do a puzzle. After they succeeded they asked them to choose: either do the same puzzle again or try a harder one. Even at the age of 4, several kids decided to go for the safer option for success and repeated the first puzzle. While you would think that you would most definitely have choosen the harder puzzle, let’s take this game into today‘s reality. What tasks do you pick at work? How often do you face a new problem? And how often do you opt in for a new way of solving the problem instead of repeating successful ways of the past? When it is…

  • Highheels

    Your positive attitude is fake

    “Your positivity is fake”, is an accusation that people with a confident mindset might hear regularly. This sentence often comes with the argument that life isn’t always sunny and that the negative aspects need to be named aswell. But do they? Is there a global requirement that requests to name all aspects in all situations? For sure, there are moments of important decisions when all aspects need to be taken into consideration but this is not a general requirement when adressing an issue in the company, project or team. Actually, it is quite hindering when you want to take the next step with your team. As a leader, you have…

  • Highheels

    How weakness could be our strongest teambuilding (Part 1)

    “I would never go back to that company”, a friend tells me. “There is a culture where you cannot share your real emotions. You are forced to play cool at all times. This is toxic.” I nod silently. Although the professional business environment certainly encourages less emotions than other work places, there is a tendency in some company cultures to extinct emotional up and downs in order to not seem ‘weak’. To be precise: not ‘weak’ towards clients or competitors, but even within the same team the competiveness can be so challenging that grief, sleepless nights and illnesses are hidden. In consequence, colleagues who hit bad luck in life are…

  • Highheels

    Why I don’t want your advice

    “Forget all I have advised you in the past years“, my boss says in our last meeting on my last day of work “and just continue doing what you think is right. You will need it where you are going.” I am smiling. He is smiling. The past years, I have been some sort of a troublemaker in his department – in the best sense of the word. I brought in new ideas, conducted trainings in project management for the colleagues, started cooperations with HR and delivered some projects despite adversity. But I didn’t blend in with the colleagues who just wanted to do their job. He advised me from…

  • Highheels

    How to find a good coach

    Coaching supports change. You might want to bring your career to the next level or you are in need of a decision. Whenever you aspire change, coaching is a helpful tool to support you in the journey. The techniques used will always bring in different perspectives while you keep your freedom of choice without feeling judged. You can think of a coaching session as a think tank where you can throw your ideas on a white canvas and by looking at it from all angles, get new insight and inspiration. The role of the coach is to adjust the light, turn the picture and move your head around by asking thought-provoking questions. Once you have…

  • Boots,  Highheels

    What social work on sunday morning at 6am taught me

    It is early sunday morning. Cold. Dark. Rainy. The group of people meets to work together for a few hours for a social cause. ‘How is the energy level’, the leader of the group asks and smiles into the tired faces. You can call a 5 on a 10 scale a good average. One person puts it quite nicely: “Now I am a 5, put I am here because I know that at the end of our session, I will be a 10.” Four hours and a lot of work later, the group gathers for the wrap up. Everyone smiles and is happy. The work ran smoothly, there was time…