This series of questions is taken from the experts' response section in our newsletter, where every week during the month of September we took the time to answer your questions and provide them with answers designed to help you better manage this particular context. Our objective at Rising Up is to help you develop your skills over the long term with methods that work and that have been proven to work.

1. Managing emotions at work

“Good morning! When I am at work and talking to my colleagues, I try to be effective and focus on what other people want, but most decisions that people make are frustrating, and I start having trouble suppressing my emotions. What should I do?”

Our response to Benoit:

We must deconstruct this myth that our emotions handicap us to such an extent that we must reprimand them, or even “put them aside completely.” Cognitive neuroscience has taught us in recent years how much Our emotions are valuable clues to help us act and learn. They guide us and guide our choices, we just have to listen to them whether they are positive or negative.

✅ Step 1: Let's listen to our negative emotions, Let's analyze them finely to understand why we feel this sense of frustration? Is it because I have The impression of not being listened to by my team? Or is it because I am systematically sidelined in strategic decisions? Accepting your negative emotions is already a good part of the answer! We all have the right to feel them.

✅ Step 2: Let us express it to our colleagues with the same transparency. I feel left out in this situation X or again, it pains me to see that my proposals were not accepted and I would like to know why?? Maybe they just didn't want to ask you for nothing, or a solution was imposed by a third party without asking anyone for advice. Or if there are tension points, Put into words the problem while remaining factual? What solutions can you find together to ease the situation? Should we find another method in strategic decision-making?

Instead of brooding over negative emotions or trying to turn them off, let's analyze them and express them to others! You will see that it is always easier to resolve this type of situation with several people only alone? You will feel liberated and much more serene!

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2. Capturing and maintaining attention

“Hello, I am a teacher in Business School and I realize that my students have even more difficulty concentrating during their classes. I lose their attention in less than 20 minutes and find myself without solutions. How to do it?”

Our response to Pauline:

It is true that the context in which we are at the moment sometimes makes it even more difficult to maintain the attention of its students in the classroom! And then with the mask important elements of our faces and even those of our students are invisible to us. So I understand how challenging it must be for you every day!

✅ One of the first solutions is to fully understand the environment in which we teach in order to adapt our practices. Why am I telling you this first, because contrary to what we think attention is not an on/off button whether it turns on or off after 20 minutes, it's more complicated than that. Neuroscience research has shown us that our attention is a bit like a butterfly that sometimes lands for a long time on one flower, then on another and can return to the previous one. What makes the butterfly leave or return is linked to the environment. If it's too easy, she leaves, if it's too complicated too. On the other hand, if it is right in the middle and in addition it attracts my curiosity, I will stay!

✅ A second solution is good measure this level of difficulty by observing the reaction of your students and then by arranging the teaching sequences accordingly. For example, you can break up a difficult sequence (where you often lose your students) into several steps spread over several sequences. Or put a mini-pause between each step with another easy exercise! With lots of tools at our disposal, we can manage the attention of our students well, good luck!

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3. Soft Skills in Business

“Hello, at the time of the current crisis, isn't it so much to integrate the value of soft skills, and in particular emotional intelligence, into recruitment processes? Shouldn't they be valued on a resume?

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Our response to Mélanie:

It's a great question, and it's actually what we're working on with some of our customers right now. Knowing how to identify them and then highlight them are crucial steps, but is it within everyone's reach? Many companies have been using personality tests for years (the classic Big Five or the MBTI), or are interested in new emotional quotient tests. One of the major problems with these tests is that they do not allow us to have a fairly accurate overview of soft-skills. Their spectrum is quite narrow. Moreover, these tests include numerous methodological biases. In particular on the idea that in each of the direct statements present in the questions everyone could identify with it, this is what we call in psychology the Barnum effect (or subjective validation effect). Obviously, no one can blame these researchers for creating these tests because the question is very complex! However, let us be vigilant and aware that they only give part of the reality.

Our experience at Rising Up, and in particular with the expertise of Nawal Abboub, Ph.D., with pre-verbal children in development, did we design tests, not only with direct measures (questionnaires) but also with indirect measures. Our R&D center is in fact in the process of building a 360 diagnosis to assess in particular the management of emotions, reasoning ability, ability to adapt to certain situations, etc. If you are interested in this diagnosis you can write to Hicham who will be happy to discuss with you.

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