A Coaching topic relevant for this sunny spell: Own your Weather!

In my Executive Coaching practice I regularly discuss with coachees that how you show up matters – to your teammates, your wider colleagues, your clients. Attitude is contagious – for better and for worse – and I’m a huge proponent of the advice “Own your weather”. So, what do I mean by that?

Whether in our social circle or in our work we have likely all experienced what I’m talking about: a friend arrives at a pub visibly in a bad mood and the whole group is swiftly deflated; a colleague greets a new initiative with evident cynicism and the entire team’s enthusiasm is punctured; or a team member steps into a meeting looking and sounding positive and the energy in the room lifts markedly.

As these examples highlight, you’ve likely experienced others having this effect but rest assured you do too! The way you show up – your attitude and energy, the words and tone you use, your facial expression and body language – impacts everyone around you whether you are a leader or a member of a team. I like to think of it in terms of weather: you can be the person who brightens a room with their sunshine, or you can be the person who casts gloom from the raincloud hovering over their head!  Either way, you choose your attitude aka you ‘own your weather.’

In more formal coaching terms what I am talking about are 2 key elements of Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness and self-regulation. Self-awareness: be aware of the impact that you have on others – both positive and negative. Self-regulation: manage yourself thoughtfully and intentionally to ensure that you show up as you wish to and have the impact you want to have.

Authenticity is an important quality so owning your weather does not mean that you should be ‘happy-clappy-fake-positive’ or pretend that everything is great when it’s not. Rather owning your weather means that when you are frustrated or you disagree with a decision that you consider the impact that your response will have on others (‘self-awareness’) and you think carefully about how you express that frustration or disagreement (‘self-regulation’).

Does owning your weather take thought and effort? Yes. Is it worth it to be the person who lifts a room rather than brings it down? Absolutely!

I’d love to hear your tips for owning your weather in the comments.

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Posted in Four common themes from my coaching work