Skip to main content

3 Mental Roadblocks to Engagement

The ability to engage in conversation(s) leads to countless possibilities and opportunities. Whether those opportunities are in the classroom, the teacher's lounge, the CEO's office, the workspace, the coffee station, or on the sales floor - engaged conversations are important.  Engagement matters!

The Benefits of Engagement

When it comes to effective and meaningful engagement, I have often been my own worst enemy. My experiences have taught me that I am not alone in creating “mental roadblocks” to my own success with "effective and meaningful" engagement.

Many people I have coached and consulted have the same issue.  Below are a few of the “mental road blocks” that may need to be addressed in the engagement processes. Identifying and “owning” these roadblocks may allow us to seize more opportunities for creating "effective and meaningful" engagement.

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

3 Roadblocks to Engagment

Personal bias. 

Our personal filters, like it or not, are present in every engagement transaction we encounter. These biases cause us to assign value, or lack of value, to others in the during the engagement process. Our bias, when not addressed or taken into account, can be detrimental to the engagement process. Our perspectives can become clouded with “what” we believe to be true when in reality it may not be true at all.

Low expectations. 

Personal bias and low expectation go hand in hand. For instance, if you enter an engagement transaction with the belief that your presence will not make a difference in the outcome, then more likely than not, you will be correct and the transaction will be a waste of time for you and everyone else involved.

Selfish ambitions.

This is more than likely the most challenging mental road block to effective and meaningful engagement. As a former sales person, teacher, and executive, I can tell you, selfish ambition is alive and well in many people you encounter. It is also alive and well deep within you. Like it or not, it is there.

As you reflect on these road blocks, consider that they can be overcome. We are not trapped by our personal bias, expectations for others, or our own ambitions. In fact, we can learn to capitalize on them in effective and meaningful ways.

Failing to understand these "3 Mental Roadblocks to Engagement" and their overall impact on "what" you do and "why" you do it, may slow both personal and organizational success and growth.

___________________________

As always – if you would like to learn more about this topic - or - book me to speak with your organization, operators are standing by!



-->

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Friday with Friends - "Relationships Matter"

As humans we crave relationships. We are relational beings. Need proof? Next time you go on a plane pay attention to how many people who are seemingly strangers will talk to each other for the duration of your trip. Relationships matter not only to us in society, they matter to us as educators. When I was in college, my education professors always put an emphasis on student relationships. Making sure we interact well with students. I wish that I could provide a silver bullet to developing relationships with students or a simple ten point checklist to follow to create better relationships with students, but the fact of the matter is that I would then be lying to you. It's funny. At points I have heard stories of some students who misbehave for some teachers. Those same students are like angels in my class; I love working with them. Sometimes I have students who challenge me but don't challenge their other teachers. Relationships depend entirely on t...

Friday with Friends - Coach D's Corner

A few days back I read a Facebook post from Coach Meghann Dodd - whom I first met while conducting a leadership development exercise for her students.  Her FB post highlights the love, care and kindness that many teachers have brought into their classrooms.  Often, these remain overlooked by the masses. Meghann Dodd will be successful teaching because she is genuinely interested in her students.  It is these type of behaviors that create engagement "beyond" the textbook. Without further ado, let's hear it for Meghan Dodd! *********Coach D's Corner***** ***** Not too many funny ones today more of a prayer request - I'm sure there will be plenty of funny this year with the crowd I have! Today I tell you moments that have touched my heart over the last 3 weeks of school... **A student shares with me that he is having a really hard time and just wants to stop coming to school. He tells me that he never had a dad and just feels like he's at the...

3 Keys to Meaningful and Effective Praise

Praise-based feedback is a "tremendous and significant" driver in the engagement process. Praise-based feedback, when meaningfully and effectively delivered, can open the doors to engagement that might otherwise be closed or remain closed. Delivering meaningful and effective praise based feedback communicates "value" to the person receiving recognition, "awareness" of the positive attributes of their actions, and "gratitude" for what is being done. The result of meaningful and effective praise based feedback is encouragement that opens the doors to engagement. In order to meaningfully and effectively deliver encouraging praise based feedback, the following three keys must be in place: Observation. Effective and meaningful praise is built strictly from observation. When praise is delivered, cite a specific example or series of examples that have been observed. (Example: "I appreciate how kind you are to our guests. S...