KNOWLEDGE CENTRE

Be Slow To Anger

Be Slow To Anger

January 27, 2022

This week I heard a phrase that resonated with me as both a HR Consultant and a Business Owner. Be Slow to Anger.

This I found to be a very powerful phrase.

All too often I come across situations where Business Owners will have served their Companies and themselves best if they had been slower to anger. So what do I mean?

Have you ever found yourself unable to speak to a staff member because you feared what you may say? Seeing a red mist descend upon you and being too cross to talk for fear that it may end messily.

Have you seen a Manager react rather than respond to a situation and meet aggression with more aggression?

In life in general we are often too stimulated to recognise that we are not at peace.

Too few of us regularly meditate than should.

We don’t take enough time to reset each day in order to be the best version of ourselves.

Me included. I’ll daily journal for a number of weeks, feel satisfied about how well it is working and then become complacent that I don’t need it for a happy life.

When we are over stimulated it can be easy to overreact to more stimulation. Take a situation that occurs in business life. Someone has let you down. If you are already a Manager on a tight fuse then this common occurrence may lead you to overreact. Become emotional and then ultimately lose control.

With our clients, we encourage our Managers to be assertive.

To regain control, where it has been lost.

Serving employees best; by seeking assertive behaviour from themselves, and others.

To not tolerate any aggression whether it be passive; or otherwise.

In many cases this will be asking the employee to sit down to discuss the issue. When we are calm we can often conduct these meetings most effectively.

Another tip is to remove the personal. Yes when you have a tight team, under performance feels personal. But you can choose to see it differently. When it is not personal it is easier to have clearer thoughts, to regain a sense of perspective and to weigh up alternatives. You may have to tell yourself that “this is not personal” on several occasions for you to believe what you are hearing. These things happen. We often remind our clients that whilst it is uncommon for them, it is common for other Managers in a similar situation. Whilst this is true it also reinforces that this is not about them.

Business Owners and Managers who are slow to anger are able to control their emotions. See what is needed with clarity and avoid even trickier conversations later down the road. It’s a skill that can take time to master.

I have to remind myself to respond and not react on a weekly basis. Having a chat with yourself is a great way to get your thoughts in order. If it sounds off to your ears; there’s a very good chance it will sound off to someone else’s.

In terms of meditation.

What better form is there than to take it in outside. The senses will be stimulated and you will relax just by being ‘in nature’.

Taking a dog for a walk can do wonders for Business Owners and Managers who need to reflect and to construct a response. Don’t forget you can tell the dog about what’s happening at work. I am reliably informed he/she doesn’t report his mum/dad to the ICO for a breach of GDPR!

If you need any assistance with managing your employees, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01527 909436.

 

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