Happy Monday, everyone! I’m gearing up for a busy (and hopefully productive) week ahead full of different meetings, projects, new blog partnerships, preparation for one of my best friend’s wedding (😱) and more. With so much going on, it’s easy to take stress, anxiety, and anger from one project/meeting/experience into another. However, recently I’ve noticed how impactful my mood and proverbial baggage can be on my team, friends, family, and boyfriend.
With this realization, I’ve become hyper-aware of how I can be less adaptable when I walk into rooms and more influential. This is something I have to work at every single day but over the past few weeks I’ve been trying a few tactics out to help influence the energy in every situation that I put myself in.
Below are five tips that I’ve found effective:
1| Acknowledge everyone in the room. My BIGGEST pet peeve is someone walking into a meeting without saying hello and vice versa. To help influence more positive energy, I try to acknowledge everyone’s entrance into the room with a simple ‘hello,’ no matter how distracted or busy I am.
2| Ask questions. When things seem negative or low-energy, start asking questions. It can be simple questions about how your team’s weekend was or the work that you are discussing, I guarantee that launching an open dialogue will help a) get people more invested in the energy of the room because now they are a part of the conversation and b) uncover why the room seemed negative in the first place.
3| Keep things factual. I’m an extremely enthusiastic and empathetic person who tries to keep everyone’s feelings in mind in work and play. However, sometimes it does more bad than good. A lot of people don’t see the good in people and overly-emotional conversations can be easily misconceived.
4| Keep people accountable. If you continuously allow people to walk all over you, their attitude and energy are never going to change. If someone is bringing the energy down consistently, talk to them one-on-one and see if there is anything you can do to help change it. While you might NOT be able to do anything to change it, you are raising the concern and they’ll probably (hopefully!) take it into consideration the next time.
5| End on a positive. Meetings get intense, brunch with your girlfriends can get dramatic, but always, always, always end on a positive. This will help ensure that nobody in that room is taking negative energy to their next experience.
This is NOT easy. I’m still working at it every single day. It’s really hard to keep things positive when shit totally sucks, but I promise you it will be worth it in the long run.
