As we head towards the end of the year most of us start thinking about what we’ve achieved and not achieved and what we would want to do differently or better in the coming year. I’ve never really thought of these as New Year’s resolutions. I’ve always thought of a New Year’s resolution as something very specific and practical, like giving up smoking, losing weight, starting to exercise, and something which most people actually never stick to. But that of course is not the case at all. It’s natural to think about which aspects of one’s everyday life one can improve on, and I’ve been doing this for years, without thinking of it as a New Year’s resolution. These have ranged from drawing up a plan for how to spend my time each day more productively, to mapping out the goals I want to achieve in the various categories of my life. Of course, we don’t always do this only at the beginning of each year, but I think the timing lends itself to it happening far more as we move from one year to the next.
It’s clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has given all of us a major wake-up call to review the way we live our lives. Not only have we been made acutely aware of how fragile life is, but even more so we’ve been made aware of the significance of freedom of movement. Millions of people have reassessed their lives with record resignations happening in the USA, prompting the term, The Great Resignation. Microsoft research apparently indicates that 40% of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year.
The world has experienced a major shakeup, but not everyone is responding to it in the same way. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to work from home have mostly enjoyed it and have seen a definite improvement in lifestyle and stress management. I have however heard of a lot of people who do not enjoy the solitude of working from home, and who need the interaction with colleagues, not just from a social aspect but also for the stimulation required for improved or effective work performance.
The biggest realisation for me has been the significance of relationships in our lives. Whether it is with your spouse, your children, your extended family, colleagues, those who report to you at work, or maybe those who you must report to? How we experience these relationships, how they make us feel, what we achieve or don’t achieve through them. This is our life! There simply is nothing that has a bigger impact on us than this.
So ask yourself, how’s that working out for you? …
I’ve done that. I can tell you there is a lot of room for improvement. But how does one improve that? If I want to get my body fit and healthy, I can exercise, and I can change what I eat. But how do I improve my ability to communicate with those around me in a way that makes our relationships flourish, that we have a positive impact on each other? How do I act to ensure that we’re enjoying each other’s company instead of arguing or in the case of work colleagues, that we’re achieving the level of productivity or creativity that is required? Imagine
There is a specific skill that is required to be successful at “managing” relationships. Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer coined the term ‘Emotional Intelligence’ in 1990 describing it as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”
In the 1990’s Daniel Goleman became aware of Salovey and Mayer’s work, and this eventually led to his book, Emotional Intelligence. Goleman argued that this skill was in fact the most crucial driver for success in business. Far more than cognitive intelligence. He described emotionally intelligent people as those with four characteristics:
They were good at understanding their own emotions (self-awareness)
They were good at managing their emotions (self-management)
They were empathetic to the emotional drives of other people (social awareness)
They were good at handling other people’s emotions (social skills)
Thank goodness there is a way for us to improve how we fare in each of these characteristics. There are many books and articles one can read on the topic. But just like there are many gym routines and exercise plans that could help you to get fit, unless you actually perform the exercises over a prolonged period of time, you will not strengthen those muscles. The same applies to the “muscles in our brain”.
I have been fortunate enough to link up with Mark Baker again after many years. Mark is the CEO and co-founder of Mygrow, a company that specializes in building emotional intelligence, both for individuals and for teams. This is the third time I’m talking about EQ and promoting this course. I’m doing it because I am absolutely convinced of the benefits, and of the need for this. It is something that every person should be doing. In fact, it should be a compulsory subject at school. Leadership
Mygrow offer a 7-day free trial for anyone who wants to experience it first before committing. Simply click on this LINK and take it from there.
Finally, a massive thank you to each one of our clients who have supported us during the past year. Although it has been a bit of a let off compared to 2020, this beloved country of ours presented us with new challenges, which I don’t think are going to disappear any time soon. Despite that, and in fact, because of that, it is vital that we prepare ourselves to be able to tackle the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities, which we will only be able to do if we have the strength of mind for it.
I wish everyone a wonderful break, as short as it may be, and a fresh perspective on the New Year. To everyone celebrating Christmas, I wish you a special time with your families. It’s my favourite time of the year. The tree and decorations are up and my spirit is lifted. See you next year…
Chris Stofberg
Managing Director
Modern Hair & Beauty
About Modern Hair & Beauty
Modern Hair & Beauty – previously Modern Hair – was established in 1950 as a distributor of professional hair products to the hairdressing industry in Southern Africa.
As the licensed distributor of Wella Company-owned products in Southern Africa, much-loved brands such as Wella Professionals, Nioxin, System Professional, Sebastian Professional, SEB MAN, and Kadus Professional can be found in salons' easily.
Other brands in our portfolio include popular Brazilian hair treatment Sweet Hair Professional, and our most recent addition, Reuzel – Holland's finest pomades and barbering products. We also produce our own affordable in-salon care range called Swish.
As a company, we continuously strive to offer the best possible support and care to all of our customers through dedicated and trained sales representatives, timeous delivery of orders, targeted marketing and promotional support, and regular in-depth and up-to-date seminars and education. Training centres are situated in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.
But it's the fostering of great customer relationships, many of them decades-long, which runs deep, passing from one generation to the next. It's this legacy, as well as our extraordinary, passionate and dedicated team, that services over 2 000 salons within South Africa and our international partner salons in Mauritius and Angola too.
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