Blog

Feb22025

Insights about job performance and cognitive ability

Job performance encapsulates a set of behaviors employees can exhibit in the workplace. These behaviors impact organizational goals and can have positive or negative connotations. Job performance is a multidimensional concept that includes: Task performance Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) Counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Understanding how these behaviors interact and the role of cognitive ability in…

Jan262025

Potential Negative Effects of Setting Specific, Difficult Goals in Motivating Employees

Goal setting has long been recognized as a powerful tool for motivating employees and enhancing organizational performance. By establishing clear and challenging objectives, organizations encourage focus, persistence, and innovation among their workforce. However, while goal setting is undeniably effective, an overemphasis on setting specific, challenging goals can inadvertently lead to several negative consequences. Among these…

Jun142024

Effective Communication and Authenticity: Keys to Landing Your Dream Job

Effective multimodal communication skills and authenticity are crucial for landing your desired job and navigating professional challenges from entry-level employees to organizational leaders. Presenting yourself confidently and infusing your resume with your unique story are critical steps to achieving this. By developing your communication capacity, you can lead your life with authenticity, connection, and impact.…

Jul122023

Strategies for savoring life experiences

In today’s fast-paced world, many people struggle to enjoy and fully engage in their personal and professional experiences. The constant influx of new information and the desire to constantly do something different or more can be overwhelming. This pressure to always strive for more affects most people in modern society, leaving them with little time…

Jun262023

Unlocking resources through character strengths: a powerful strategy for individuals and organizations.

This reflection stems from the need to recognize the invaluable resources each person can bring to the organization when more emphasis is placed on their character strengths. Each person possesses a series of unique positive dispositions that can be defined as character strengths expressed in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Park et al., 2004). Character strengths…

Jun232021

Managing emotions

During the past few months, everyone is experiencing multiple emotions such as anxiety, stress, loneliness, being overwhelmed, frustration, concern, and confusion. When you experience unpleasant emotions, you go into survival mode and stop thriving. Your immediate response is to fight, flight, or freeze. The areas of the brain responsible for taking in information are cut off during these moments of high levels of stress…

Jun32021

The state of flow

I often hear stories of people who are constantly chasing something more in their life. It might be money, power or a new job title. This continuous race seems to be the only way to feel better, satisfied or fulfilled, but at end there is always something missing or a reason to be unhappy. Further, most people tend to compare themselves to others on how rich, powerful, talented, smart, successful others are, and wanting to push themselves to do more. All…

Apr72021

Taking a selfie to know yourself

A photo is a record of a memory, a trace of a lived experience that will bring back important moments of your life. Taking a selfie is the metaphor that describes the process of becoming more self-aware. What does it mean to take a selfie of your inner world? It is taking a picture of who you are. What does it happen…

Feb22021

Knowing the Ideal Self trough coaching with compassion

As a professional coach, my first step in the coaching process is to establish a trusting relationship with the client, so they discuss their hopes and dreams openly and perceive a sense of safety to explore new thinking and behaviors. I use the proven methodology of coaching with compassion and the Intentional Change Theory (ICT) by Richard Boyatzis, distinguished professor of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science at Case…

Jan222021

Health and psychological well-being

Health and psychological well-being are some of the most important aspects of what people value in their lives because these two elements have an impact on quality of life, social life and personal identity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (1946) “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease…

Jan172021

Courageous leadership

Recently, I read an inspiring and insightful book about personal stories of five leaders – Ernest Shackleton, Abraham Lincoln, Fredrick Douglass, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rachel Carson – and this helped me to reflect upon what it means being a leader in my life and how I can help my clients to develop their leadership identity. This reading was a source of learning and inspiration for my life and profession. The…

Jan62021

Searching for happiness

Some months ago, I attended a course designed and created by Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener, one of the world’s foremost authority on positive psychology coaching. The theme of the course was happiness and discussed a wide range of theories and research results from the study of happiness. Dr. Biswas-Diener argues that happiness is a process not a destination, basically happiness fluctuates between moments of ups and down. Happiness…

Dec32020

A lifelong learning process

Heading toward the end of this incredible and challenging year I think it is important to reflect on learnings, achievements and next goals. I have spent a lot of time alone and with no chances of social interactions during the last months. Hence, I decided to dedicate this time to personal and internal growth. It’s a long and complex process, there are moments of positivity and hope, and other moments of discouragement and sadness, since this…

Jun182020

Having hope during a challenging period

During these months I have been thinking that it is important to look at what resources people have to cope with this challenging time. A powerful factor that everyone possesses is character strengths, the symbol of individual differences and specific psychological traits. Character strengths are individual positive traits that display in thoughts, behaviors and feelings. They are the most fundamental resources to leverage when you want to thrive despite…

May252020

Unpredictable changes and leadership identity

This is a historical period of challenges, transformation of human relationships, way of working and lifestyle. Suddenly an external threat has imposed a new direction to your personal and professional life. Nowadays, almost all the organizations, people and society face an unexpected change. Change can be unsettling and intimidating and, triggers feelings of uncertainty, doubts…

Feb162020

Listening as a coach

Active listening is one of the fundamental skills to be a coach. A good listening skill allows to create a relationship with the client showing openness and warm presence. It is an important tool to establish a connection, to be in tune with clients’ emotions and welcome their words. According the International Coach Federation:…

Feb22020

Managing emotions in unfamiliar situations

Facing unknown situations is a specific aspect of life. You choose to move to a new place or start a new job or endeavor. At the beginning, unfamiliar situations require attention and energy to discover and clarify what happens around you. I’m fascinated by the unknown because I can learn something new. In January 2019, I moved…

Jan282020

What do you want to achieve?

What do you want to achieve? This is the main question that leads a coaching conversation. I have noticed that clients do not often have an immediate and clear answer. A possible reason is that this person has never thought thoroughly about their life, career or future opportunities. Sometimes, people do not completely control the path of…

Dec162019

The quality of life and human needs

Quality of life is a broad concept that encompasses physical, social, psychological, and spiritual being, and most of all an ability to be actively engaged in the world around. The World Health Organization defines the quality of life as “An individual’s perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems…

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