ARTICLES

Elsabé Manning regularly writes articles on topics such as emotional intelligence, professionalism and relationships. The list of articles is regularly updated. Visit again or follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn to see when new articles are posted.

TRIGGERS EXPLAINED

Being triggered means that an event or conversation triggered an old painful memory of a traumatic experience from the past. It can be someone shouting at you, lying to you, being mean, disrespectful, or perhaps rejecting or abandoning you. You may experience the same...

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PROCEDURE TO DISMISS AN EMPLOYEE

People often dismiss an employee without following due process. An employee stole from the employer and the employer caught them red-handed and fired the employee on the spot. Demanded that they leave the premises immediately. The employee has laid a grievance against...

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ARE EMPLOYERS OBLIGED TO PAY STAFF DURING LOAD-SHEDDING?

If the company’s employment contract stipulates working hours and the employees turn up for work, they must be paid, even during load-shedding. The employer may however structure shifts to coincide with load-shedding schedules and pay employees according to the shift...

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Job Seekers

Your CV should be very professional. No spelling mistakes. No grammar mistakes. South African spelling. Good layout. All bullet points and numbers should be in line with each other – not all over the show. Don’t say: “references available on request.” List your...

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GOOD NEWS FOR EMPLOYEES WHO EARN LESS THAN R18 673 PM!

The new annual earnings threshold under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), and the Employment Equity ACT (EEA) will be R224,080.48 per year (R18,673 per month) from 1 March 2022. It was R211,596.30 per year (approximately R17,633 per month). The BCEA and...

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STEPPARENTING

Stepparenting can be very stressful when you don’t understand your role and if you don’t know how to behave with your stepchildren. If you are a stepparent then this article is for you. The role of a stepparent Your role is to be a caring, respectful and helpful adult...

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SPEND TIME WITH YOUR CHILDREN

Make time for your children. Have meals with them. Talk to them. Listen to them. Converse. Don’t watch TV during this time, and ban cell phones at meal times – for good. Have you noticed how much more you converse with your family during load-shedding? Mealtime should...

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DEVELOP YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM

Small babies can read body language and they respond to tone of voice, so if you get angry because they’re crying, they will be negatively affected. Remain calm and speak in a kind, soothing voice. Even tiny babies read your facial expressions and tone of voice. Your...

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COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CHILD

Explain why you say no. Don’t say: “Because I said so!” They want and deserve an explanation. Explaining to your child why you want them to do something, or why you don’t want them to do something, explains the value of it. Once your child understands your reason,...

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CATCH YOUR CHILD BEING GOOD

We are so good at catching our children being naughty or doing something wrong!  We should focus more on catching them being good. “Thank you for helping your little brother with his puzzle this afternoon.” “I noticed that you made your bed this morning! Well done!”...

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PARENTING: BE CONSISTENT

How would you feel if your boss consistently came down hard on you on a daily basis and never allowed you to make even small mistakes? What would it do to your emotional state and self-esteem? Be kind when things go wrong or when your child does something you don’t...

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PARENTING: BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL

Children learn from the people they look up to – mostly their parents. Display behaviours that you would like your children to display. Be kind. Be honest. Be calm and behave well when things go wrong. Watch what you say in front of them – even your toddlers. They...

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PARENTING: ADJUST YOUR PARENTING STYLE

What works for you when your child is two years old may not work when your child is ten years old. You won’t teach a two-year old how to use the stove, but you should be willing to teach a ten-year old. If you constantly find yourself saying “no” to your child, you...

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ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR WEAKNESSES AS A PARENT

Acknowledge your weaknesses and shortcomings as an imperfect parent and resolve to work on it. You don’t have all the answers and you won’t always get it right, but you can do better every time something goes wrong. Learn from your mistakes and fix it. Do better next...

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Coaching & Counselling For Teens

I can assess and uplift your teen’s performance in a very short period of time, in all aspects of their lives – their behaviour, school work, manners, relationships with all role players, social behaviour, attitude, goals, responsibilities, communication including conflict resolution, and most importantly, emotional intelligence.

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LOSS AND RECOVERY

When we suffer a loss we grieve the loss, and the more significant the loss the deeper and more intense we grieve. Grief causes a range of feelings from deep sadness, anger, guilt, yearning to regret. Recovery depends on your background, beliefs, and attachment to...

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DO YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER?

DO YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER? Are you as organised as you should be? Do you know how to write accurate yearly, quarterly, monthly and/or weekly plans? What do you know about daily planning and time management? You may have staff who are well qualified but they...

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Personal Boundaries

Personal boundaries are the guidelines you put in place regarding how you want to be treated by others and your expectations regarding their behaviour in your presence. Healthy reasonable boundaries can create mutually respectful relationships. Your response to...

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VIDEO-CALLING ETIQUETTE

Having good manners and following etiquette is important if you want to be viewed as a respectable person – even in cyberspace. It doesn’t matter who you meet with in a video call, it is important to follow the following rules: It is crucial to have good manners in...

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CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is the objective gathering and analysis of facts to reach conclusions and form unbiased judgments. Critical thinking requires emotional intelligence, good communication skills, self-discipline, problem-solving and analytical skills, logic, patience,...

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Counselling And Coaching

Are you struggling with your current circumstances? When we're in emotional, physical or financial trouble we can't see the wood for the trees and we may fall apart. It's at this point that you need to turn to someone for counselling or life coaching. If you need...

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HOW TO BUILD YOUR CHILDREN’S SELF-ESTEEM

“No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” (Eleanor Roosevelt, This is my Story, 1937) What is self-esteem? Self-esteem refers to the beliefs you hold about yourself and whether you like who you are. If you suffer from low self-esteem you probably hold...

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COERCIVE CONTROL

Some forms of domestic violence include physical, verbal and emotional abuse. Coercive control is a form of oppressive bullying using fear and isolation to control. The abuser would limit or prevent access to money and transport, monitoring their partner’s communication with friends and family, stalking them by following them and use other tactics to control of the victim.

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MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS UNDER PRESSURE

Do you struggle under pressure? Let’s face it – successful business is built on successful relationships. Your career success depends on how other people feel about you and how well they support you.

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HOW TO DEAL WITH ABSENTEEISM

10% of employees account for 50 per cent or more of total absenteeism. Employees who continuously let the team down by not turning up for work can cause real problems for management – they are high-maintenance employees.  Here’s how to deal with it:

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FORGIVENESS

Hatred, anger and resentment change your heart and mind – it eats away at your soul.  By holding on to these negative, disabling thoughts and feelings, you sentence yourself to life in an emotional prison.  Negative energy will dominate your entire life and you will be trapped in agony and pain.

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EMPATHY

Empathy is the ability to be aware of, understand and to appreciate the feelings and thoughts of others.  Empathy is the ability to be sensitive to what, how and why people feel and think the way they do.

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DECISION MAKING

No one makes the right decision every time, but by developing your decision-making skills, you can increase your success rate.

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PROFESSIONALISM WHEN INTERVIEWING FOR JOBS

I would like to discuss your behaviour when interviewed, today – not your CV or your qualifications and experience. Your behaviour (everything you say and do, including your body language) will be scrutinised from the moment you arrive until you leave.

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HOW TO MANAGE UP

Do you know how to ‘manage’ your boss? It is so important to know how and when to discuss important issues that affect you, your career, your glide-path, or anything else that requires your manager’s input, consideration or permission.

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INFLUENCING OTHERS

Having influence over people means that you have the ability to gain support for your opinions, views, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, goals and objectives by using language to persuade people to buy into your way of thinking.

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GOSSIP

Gossip can be defined as idle, malicious, slanderous or destructive talking or writing about another person or situation with the intention to hurt them, regardless of fact. Gossip can be true or false, but it is still gossip.  It is by far the most common social weapon.

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COMMUNICATE WITH INTEGRITY

Communicating with integrity means to show more compassion and respect toward our conversation partners. This invites and influences them to do the same toward us.

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AUTHENTICITY

The dictionary defines authentic as: ‘genuine,’ ‘real,’ ‘trustworthy’ and ‘undisputedly credible.’ Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be viewed as genuine and real and therefore trustworthy and undisputedly credible?

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YOUR IMAGE

A new positive image will inject energy and spark into your life and career. It will have a major effect on how you interact with others and it will even affect your bottom line positively because when you feel good about yourself you will attract like-minded people and great business and career opportunities to you.

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UNEXPRESSED EXPECTATIONS

We often don’t express our expectations to others and yet we expect them to deliver on our unexpressed expectations. These unexpressed expectations cause…

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TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

The ‘toxicity’ referred to in the term ‘toxic relationship’ refers to, not only the behaviours such as name-calling, physical, emotional, sexual and…

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SELF-SABOTAGE

‘Before you can empower the reality of being fulfilled and complete, you have to stop empowering the reality that you are not …’ (Anonymous) If you have…

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CODE OF DRESS

For specific functions, there are specific dress codes one should adhere to in order to remain totally professional at all times. The dress code will be…

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GOOD MANNERS

Having good manners is a prerequisite of professionalism. Your conduct is a reflection of your upbringing, education, values and principles, the…

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CONFLICT SEEKERS

Do you work, live, or interact with someone who seems determined to engage you in some kind of conflict? Do you find yourself getting hooked into their…

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LISTENING

Most people spend about 70% of their waking hours in some form of verbal communication. Yet, how many of us have ever had any formal training in the art…

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CARING AND COMPASSION

People who are placed in positions of authority—especially people in management positions in organisations—may sometimes show a lack of compassion toward…

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